live
life on purpose
work at what you love
follow your own road
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About Your Subscription
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Changing Course
is dedicated to helping you:
~Live Life on Purpose
~Work at What You Love
~Follow Your Own Road
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Inside Today's Issue
Featured Article
Profit from Experience
Featured Resource
Yes You Can
Guest Article
Get Back on Track!
Upcoming Workshops & Teleclasses
Live
& Learn
The View From the Other Side
Resources for A Change
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There is
only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to
give others absurd maddening claims upon it.
~ Christopher Morley |
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Opportunity Knocks
Profit from Experience:
The Key to Your Right Livelihood May Be Right in Your Own Backyard
By Valerie Young
We all know the story of Dorothy in the Wizard
of Oz. Swept away to the enchanting but forbidding Land of Oz by a tornado,
Dorothy endures all manner of challenges in an attempt to achieve her one and
only dream of returning home to her family in Kansas. It is not until the end of
her frightfully wondrous journey that Dorothy has an epiphany. "…if I ever go
looking for my heart's desire again," she tells Glenda, the Good Witch of the
North, "I won't look any further than my own backyard." More often than not it’s
the same way with career options.
Too many people either fail to see – or outright
dismiss – how the personal experiences in their own "backyard" are ripe with
possibilities for income streams or indeed complete careers. Every small
business I ever had originated from some event, realization, or challenge I’d
personally experienced.
For example in the early 80s, I took a course at
the University of Massachusetts called Dynamics of White Racism with a dynamic
and utterly passionate doctoral student named Judith Katz. To say that the
course had a profound effect on my world view would be a gross understatement.
So much so that I didn’t just want to study with Judy Katz – I wanted to BE Judy
Katz. (If you’re interested in the field of diversity training you can read an
interview with Judith at
DiversityUIntl.com/awards.html).
That single course also set me on my future career direction.
A senior at the time, I went on to enroll in the
same graduate school Judy was just getting ready to graduate from. A few years
later, I was the founding coordinator of what is now the Social Justice program
there. I paid my way through school as a self-employed facilitator conducting
training programs on racial awareness and diversity for resident assistants
(dorm counselors) at colleges and universities around the country.
When it comes to actually applying your experience
to your work, who you are - your personality, your temperament, your skills -
are as important as the thing you love to do. In this case, the key to my
success as a speaker standing up in front of audiences as large as 400 to 1200
people about potentially loaded "isms" was my sense of humor. I used it to
effectively diffuse tension, minimize unproductive guilt, and get everyone -
regardless of race, gender, religion, physical ability or sexual orientation -
to take the issues seriously and yet also learn by laughing at themselves.
I loved being a graduate student. The hours were
pretty flexible and although I had assignments to complete, in a lot of ways I
was my own boss. Things were going pretty well… that is until it came time to
actually hunker down and write a 200-plus page dissertation. That’s when the
self-doubt, procrastination, and intense feelings
of intellectual fraudulence set in. It’s also when I stumbled upon study in a
psychological journal on the so-called the Impostor Phenomenon by Dr. Pauline
Clance and Dr. Suzanne Imes.
No one could have felt like more of a fraud then I
did. I mean who was I kidding? I was this 24-year old, working class, first
generation college kid – and the only one to go on to graduate school – in a
doctoral program with all these mature, much smarter, and far more worldly
professionals. I mean, who did I think I was? I’m still not sure how I managed
to slip through the admissions process undetected. But there I was. So rather
than waste three years of course work, I realized I’d better finish what I’d
started and get out before I’m discovered.
That’s when it hit me. If I have to write the
darned dissertation anyway, why not focus my own research on understanding
perfectionism, fear of failure, ambivalence about success, chronic self-doubt
and other self-limiting patterns and philosophies that seem to plague so many
women and quite a few men?
Studying the thing that was the most troublesome
to me at the time was what helped me work through it. The writing part proved to
be every much the ordeal I knew it would be, but at least I knew I’d have a
publishable document at the end. Researching achievement blocks and interviewing
other women from different fields and stages of their careers help me to lower
my own internal yardstick to a far more attainable human level. As exciting, I
like to think that the over 30,000 people – men and women alike – that have
attended my workshop on How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to
Think You Are have benefited from my experience.
From here, my career took a detour that led me at
age 30 to take my first real job-job. What a change from the comparatively
care-free life of a perpetual student. Talk about your rude awakening. You see,
my consultant friends at the time were pulling down the big bucks consulting to
corporations. Most of my clients, in contrast, were colleges or professional
women’s organizations.
So I decided to take a job in the corporate
management development and training department at a Fortune 500 company so I
could 1) demystify the corporate world (that took about a week) and 2) earn my
corporate credentials to take with me when I returned to consulting. My plan was
to stay in the cube world for a year, two tops. After a year and a half, I
switched to a management job in strategic marketing and five years after that,
there I was – well-paid but miserable.
When my mom passed away unexpectedly from a heart
attack at the too young age of 61, I realized life was too short to not work at
what you love. For the next year and a half, I spent just about every waking
hour of my personal life plotting my exit strategy. Little did I know at the
time that I would go on to take everything I was learning about finding your
calling, about the beauty of multiple income streams, and what it takes to
change course and turn it into my vocation.
There are lots of ways to use your own personal
experiences and the unique insights and lessons learned along the way to guide
you onto a new career path. In the next issue we’ll look at some creative ways
that people have done just that. You’ll meet people who have taken their
dysfunctional financial habits, bad food habits, physical disability, stint in
corporate America, even their own troubled youth and turned them into viable
income streams. You’ll see how they found a way to share their unique approach,
technique, experience, and even humor with others – and get paid to do it.
Between now and then, take some time to reflect on your own life and think about
how you, too, might profit from experience.
About the Author
Outside the job box expert, Valerie Young,
abandoned her corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence at
ChangingCourse.com offering resources to help you discover
your life mission and live it. Her career change tips have been cited in
Kiplinger’s, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today Weekend, Woman’s Day, and
elsewhere and on-line at MSN, CareerBuilder, and iVillage.com. An expert on the
Impostor Syndrome, Valerie has spoken on the topic of
How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are
to such diverse organizations as Daimler Chrysler, Bristol-Meyers Squibb,
Harvard, and American Women in Radio and Television.
Find more articles written by
Valerie at
ChangingCourse.com/articles/ |
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Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and
faithful, and you will accomplish your objective.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Featured Resource
Today… With Just A Little
Encouragement,
You Can Take Control Of Your Life And Truly Live A Richer,
More Balanced Life Doing Work You Really Love
 If
you really want to create a more balanced, rewarding life doing work you truly
love, you'll need to create a mindset that will instantly turn ‘can’t’ into ‘can.’
There will always be dream dashers.
But the world is also full of people who believe
in the power of a dream. There’s just no better way to adjust your mindset than
by "hanging out" with a group of people who know how to guide you along your
path and give you that inspirational jolt you need to stop wishing and start
doing.
That’s exactly what you’ll get in Yes You Can!
The Inspirational Kick in the Pants You Need To Take Control Of Your Life and Go
After Your Dreams.
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I can accept failure, but I can't accept
not trying. ~ Michael Jordan |
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Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |
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Guest Article
Get Back on Track!
By Laura K Bryant
Ninety-eight percent of those who set New
Year’s resolutions don’t follow through. Don’t allow yourself to be like
everyone else! Whether you never started or you stopped doing whatever it
was you were doing, you can achieve what you want using the tips below:
Be honest with yourself.
Analyze what happened. What worked and what didn’t? Did you even start? Do
you truly know what you really want? Did you revisit your goals regularly?
Use the answers to these questions to start again.
Get disturbed with your current situation.
You’ve got to get emotional about your current situation to stay motivated
to do something about it. What will it cost you if you don’t reach your
goals? What will it mean for how you feel about yourself? How will it
negatively affect your life if you don’t reach your goals? And what
benefits or pleasure will you get if you achieve your goals? Envision
yourself achieving what you want most in life. How will that feel? What
will it mean? Actually, feel the consequences.
Keep the faith. Know that every
decision you make on a daily basis, no matter how small, can help you reach
your goals. Have faith that what you do will add up; it will make a
difference!
Take immediate action. When you create
a goal, immediate action is critical. Make a commitment to yourself that
whenever you create a goal, you will do something, anything within the next
12 hours to help you reach that goal. For example, you want to find another
job but have no idea where to begin. That’s OK; just start doing something.
Get a book from the library about choosing your best job and start reading.
Check the Web for resources. Whatever you do will fuel other ideas to keep
you going.
Condition yourself for success. Most of
what we do on a daily basis is habitual. The key is to create a ritual or
habits that will condition you for long-term success. Make it a habit to
take consistent, persistent action to reach your goals. Read your key goals
daily; visualize what success looks like for you; journal daily about the
pleasure you’ll get from reaching your goals; schedule time on your calendar
weekly, monthly, and yearly to review your current goals and set new ones.
By changing your daily rituals, you can literally condition yourself for
success! Why not start today?
About the Author
Laura K. Bryant is a women’s weight-loss expert, speaker, and author of, "Trust
Yourself to Transform Your Body: A Woman’s Guide to Health and Weight Loss
Without Diets." She combined her over 20 years of research in health and
fitness, her passion for empowering women, and what she learned from her own
40-pound weight gain and subsequent loss to form her business, Inspire Fitness,
designed to help women create their own customized plans to reach and maintain a
healthy weight. Visit Laura at
TrustYourselftoTransform.com
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We can chart our future clearly and wisely only
when we know the path which has led to the present.
~ Adlai Stevenson |
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Upcoming Workshops & Teleclasses
Women in the Know Conference
Fashion Institute, New
York City
March 10th, 2006
You don’t have to be a jeweler
(or for that matter a woman) to benefit from attending the Women’s Jewelry
Association’s Women in the Know conference. Any current of aspiring
entrepreneur will gain from learning:
In the
Market for Money: The 5 Essential Stages
Empower yourself and your
business by getting beyond the idea that money is something you leave to
your accountant. This session will show you how embracing the right money
mindset can give you a revealing new view of your business, and how this
powerful way of seeing can multiply your control over your business's
direction and its future.
A Woman
Empowering Women
Marsha Firestone, Ph.D.,
President and Founder of the Women's Presidents' Organization (multimillion
dollar businesses reaching further through peer education) will talk about
her own leadership role and the empowerment she has brought to women
entrepreneurs. She will discuss five themes and how they have impacted her
own development as a leader.
Jump Start
Your Career With Inspiration: Five Ways to Get Unstuck and Moving Again
Are you looking for the magic
formula that will transform your career? Learn how to use inspiration to
create a career plan that will work, how to jump start your career and get
back into action quickly, and how to tap into the power of inspiration for
yourself so you can transform your career and your life.
Personal
Branding -- How to Brand YOU for a Lifetime of Success
Marketing guru Leslie Grossman
says that by branding YOU, you can recreate yourself and your career
multiple times because you stand for something. Leslie will share the steps
of personal branding and how it can lead to a lifetime of success, both
personally and professionally.
Oh, and I’ll be there too. I’m
honored to be keynoting the event. My lunchtime presentation is titled:
How to Feel
As Bright and Capable As Everyone Thinks You Are
Do
you often dismiss your accomplishments as a "fluke" or "no big deal?" Are
you a perfectionist? Do you sometimes hold back because of nagging
self-doubt? Are you a chronic procrastinator? Learn what every woman (and
man) needs to know about competence, the Impostor Syndrome and the art of
winging it.
Don’t miss this dynamic,
intimate once-a-year conference featuring outstanding speakers,
thought-provoking educational and motivational presentations and
unparalleled networking opportunities.
Your registration fee includes the full day
seminar, coffee breaks, lunch, and wine reception.
To register or to learn more visit
WomensJewelry.org/WITK.html
Turn Your Everyday Snapshots into Cash
This May in Paris,
You Can…
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Learn from
professional photographers the techniques they use to shoot pictures
that sell for $150, $400, $600 -- and even higher…
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Get hands-on
practice applying your new skills -- while you explore one of the
world's most enchanting cities…
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Discover how
travel photographers create a need for their photos
-- and double or even triple your photography income…
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Find out just
how easy it is to turn your snapshots into cash… and enjoy the
freedom, independence, and travel that freelance photography
delivers…
The Ultimate Travel Photographer's Workshop
May 24-27, 2006
Paris, France
Visit:
ThePhotographersLife.com/paris2006/changingc
for more details or
call (866) 879-2924 or local at (561) 278-5557. Spaces are limited. Reserve your seat before April 17, 2006 and you'll save $300.
P.S.
On a personal note,
I've had the good fortune to see Rich Wagner in action (that's Rich
Wagner in the photo here) and was thoroughly impressed with his depth
of knowledge, first hand experience, and unique approach to turning
photos into cash.
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 Find out how you can escape the J-O-B box…
and uncover a whole new world of possibilities.
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Tap your wildest dreams...and create a
step-by-step plan to make them happen right now...
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Discover the powerful secret to becoming a
successful "Opportunity Analyst"...and learn to transform your passion
into your job...
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Come away with the tools you need to
create work – and a life – you really love.
Join "Outside the Job Box" expert Valerie Young
and Barbara Winter, best-selling author of Making a Living Without a Job for
what promises to be an extraordinary two days – filled with energy, enthusiasm,
wisdom...and practical, life-changing know-how.
June 2-3, 2006 Ventura, California
August 11-12, 2006 Northampton, Massachusetts
September 15-16, 2006 Madison, Wisconsin
To be on the early bird mailing list to receive
workshop details the minute they’re available, email us at
workshop2006@ChangingCourse.com.
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I like to listen. I
have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.
~ Ernest Hemingway |
Live & Learn
3 Simple Lessons
A subscriber
sent me this link to an utterly uplifting video:
YouTube.com/watch?v=p6cOp6EDFlI
Watch it and I
think you’ll agree that it’s a moving reminder of many lessons. Like the
fact that there will always be people who see limitations instead of
potential. Or that you never know what you’re capable of until you try.
Perhaps most importantly, though, as you set out on this great adventure of
changing course, remember that even if your first, second, or even the third
attempt fails, keep shooting for what you want because sooner or later
you’re bound to hit the target. And when you do, your success will surely
exhilarate yourself and all the dreamers who come after you.
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View From
the Other Side
"….after
an hour of two of jotting random things on paper, the idea seemingly popped
out of nowhere. Almost like my subconscious mind had been ticking over in
the background, working it all out… I scribbled it down and within about 10
minutes a picture of what needed to be done had emerged."
~ Twenty-one-year-old
millionaire Alex Tew from Wiltshire, England on how he came up with the idea
to earn $1 million (US) for college by selling 1 million pixels for $1 each.
According to NBC Nightly News as many as half a million people a day have
visited his site
TheMillionDollarHomepage.com and he recently sold the last pixels.
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Resources for
A Change
Run Your Own Creativity
Workshops
If you like the
idea of running your own creativity workshops but don’t know where to start,
you can purchase one of author Suzanne Falter-Barnes’ How Much Joy Can
You Stand? workshop facilitator guides. For seasoned workshop
facilitators there’s the Joy Facilitator’s Training LITE version. If you
need more help there’s the more extensive How Much Joy Facilitator’s
Training. Order the Lite version on or before March 12th and save
$70.
TinyURL.com/5blee
Coming Next Fall: Teach
Others How to Work at What They Love
If doing the
work YOU love means leading a room full of people through exercises to help
them work at what THEY love then stay tuned for the Work at What You Love
Without a Job Workshop Licensing Program. To receive pre-notification of
this program launch send an email to
ILove2Teach@ChangingCourse.com
Train to Become a Trainer
Langevin
Learning Services has been training people to become professional
workshop leaders and instructors for over 20 years. They offer
workshops on such topics as Humor in Training, Making Training
Stick, and of course, Training 101. If you can get your current
employer to send you – all the better! Learn more at
LangevinOnline.com
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