The New Leaf™
The Official Newsletter of Authentic Promotion™
Volume 6, No. 6, February 10, 2004
U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-311X
Molly Gordon, Master Certified Coach
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Question of the Week
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In This Issue
Question of the Week
Toward a Real Success Formula
Simple Gifts: Best Biz Books (and a Bonus)
Open for Business: Claim Success Now
The Bedside Table: Live Browsing
Resources and Links: Set Your Compass to a Profitable, Client-Centered Practice
Small Print: Copyright | Getting On and Off the List
Privacy Statement | Contact Info
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Fast Focus
Toward a Real Success Formula
Long time readers already know I'm a skeptic about success formulas. Life is not a one-size-fits-all matter, and true success is too individual and sacred to be reduced to a few steps or gimmicks. Still, in my work showing professionals and artists how to be as successful in business as they are in their callings, I have found that two questions almost always help unpack the mystery of each personal path to success.
1. What is it that you cannot help but do? This may not be part of what you think of as your expertise. For example, I cannot help but read, study, and write. Not only that, but I can't help but synthesize what I learn, and I have a particular affinity for paradox and apparent contradictions. This has everything to do with my work in the strange alchemy of marketing and personal transformation.
2. What is it that you are afraid people might learn about you? Oh my. Which of the countless personal examples shall I choose? Try this one: I never finished college. What I know (and, more to the point, what I am learning) is the result of testing what I learn in books and various trainings against real life. Again, this has everything to do with my work, for theories fall apart very fast under the pressure of launching and growing a business.
So, no one formula for all. But two matters for reflection that may well orient you more accurately to your sweet spot, that place where you are meant to show up, serve, and prosper.
====>Thriving in the Sweet Spot: Naming a Meaningful and Profitable Niche. Are you struggling to tell people what you do really? Do you want a simpler, more effective way to market your work? Thriving in the Sweet Spot will teach you a way to name your niche that increases your scope and your value to prospective clients while simplifying the process of marketing. Four 90-minute teleclasses on Tuesdays from 2 – 3:30 pm eastern time February 17 and 24, and March 2 and 9. Classes will be recorded for those who cannot make these dates and times. Learn more or sign up at authenticpromotion.com: http://www.authenticpromotion.com/teleclasses/sweetspot.html
Simple Gifts
Best Biz Books (and a Bonus)
Life is short, let's do the bonus first. The folks at Marketing Sherpa have once again released a summary of online marketing best practices with permission to spread 'em around. You can download your "Wisdom Report" from http://wisdom.marketingsherpa.com
Ready for a new business book? I've compiled a short list of six books with brief descriptions of why I consider them keepers. If you work for yourself (or want to) it is essential that you learn about business. This list will get you started. To get it, send a blank email to mailto:bizbooks@mollygordon.com .
Getting the Most Value from Your Biz Book Investments
1. Choose one book at a time.
2. Make a point of going back to books (and your notes) a month or so after you've read a book. You'll be surprised at how much you've been applying and you'll see new steps that you're ready for.
3. Do read the books you buy. They won't make you money sitting on the shelf.
4. Use each book like a workbook. Try the techniques and suggestions. Think about what you are reading. Talk about it to others.
5. Make time. Set aside an hour or more a week to read and implement new ideas. This is part of your overhead; build it into your planning.
6. Focus. Choose one or two things to try and put them into practice before you add something else.
7. Don't break your teeth on the parts you hate. Move onto ideas and practices that you are within or just beyond your comfort zone.
8. Do stretch your comfort zone.
9. If something in a business book seems to conflict with your values, challenge yourself to articulate exactly what the problem is, then see if you can find a values-based way to implement the ideas.
10. When you disagree with the author; look for a bigger context, a better solution, a truer direction. Read as though you are in a juicy conversation.
Open for Business
Claim Success Now (part one)
What if success is not something you achieve after you have taken certain steps, but an experience that flows right now from who you choose to be and how you choose to relate to the world? This is probably not a new thought to most readers, yet it may be one that often seems more ideal than real.
There are many reasons why the present experience of success eludes us. For one thing, sometimes our choices simply fall short of our aspirations. In those times, we do not experience success because we have not, at least for the moment, succeeded in our own eyes.
But what about the times when we have acted in good faith without tasting success? What's going on when we taste such "unsuccessful" feelings as bitterness, fear, sadness, or cloying self-absorption. What is up with that?
I propose that one factor is that we have not learned to experience success. Like a compulsive overeater gulping a gourmet meal, we may be so overcome by our habitual hunger that we cannot taste the riches we've obtained. And no matter how much we eat, we leave the table with a hungry spirit.
Perhaps this explains why so often the path to improved performance involves slowing down and savoring what is rather than speeding up in pursuit of what could be. It's not that seeking after distant goals is wrong, but that the search must be founded in present commitments and values. We must learn to claim success by experiencing it fully in the present moment.
Habits of the Body
Our bodies have habits-- attitudes, postures, patterns that shape and filter our experience and broadcast it to the world and to ourselves. If we assume that the habits of the body constitute "truth," we are constrained to feel and to believe only those things that agree with that truth. When the body is tired, we may judge that we are less able, whole, or resourceful than we actually are. If our habitual stance is timid or contracted, we may find that our scope feels small no matter how big our vision.
To counter limiting habits of the body, we can learn to observe and gently question our patterns. In this we have a surprising ally: the feeling of defeat. Feelings of defeat or discouragement can become the prompts that remind us to notice how we are being in our bodies, and with increased awareness comes increased choice about how we choose to embody our experience.
You can prove this to yourself by observing your posture this very moment. First, notice if you instinctively changed your posture when you read that sentence. If so, feel into the change, sensing the tiny moves of your torso, arms, legs, neck, and head and attending to any shifts in your attention, mood, and energy that may have accompanied the change. If you did not change your posture, simply observe the current set of your head and neck, the way your shoulders relate to your back, whether you are leaning forward or back or to either side. What's happening in your stomach and solar plexus? Allow things to shift naturally as you bring your attention to them, and notice how your state of mind or sense of wellbeing shifts with them.
(Next week: Habits of the Mind)
Claim Success by Working with Your Beliefs Are you tired of worn out clichés about positive thinking yet wanting some way to work responsibly and creatively with your thoughts so you can be more successful? This class shows why positive thinking is not enough and equips you to work with your belief systems in a practical, wholistic way so you get the results you want. Four 90-minute teleclasses on Tuesdays from Noon to 1:30 pm eastern time February 17 and 24, and March 2 and 9. Classes will be recorded for those who cannot make every session. Learn more about Believe! Working with Your Beliefs to Build Your Business at http://www.authenticpromotion.com/teleclasses/believe.html
I welcome your comments and questions. Please send your letters to letters@mollygordon.com . If you do not want your letter to be included or quoted in the Readers Write Web page, just let us know. Please do not reply to this newsletter as your message will be lost in cyber-limbo.
The Bedside Table
Live Browsing
I happened into a bookstore this week and indulged in some live browsing. Here’s what I brought home:
Six Degrees, the Science of a Connected Age
Duncan J. Watts
Why this one? Well, I find it hard to resist cross-disciplinary studies, network theory, and what is purported to be a highly readable, but not dumbed-down, style.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393041425/mollygordonperso
Prey
Michael Crichton
It's been decades since I read one of Crichton's thrillers, and it was a conversation between Crichton and Ken Wilber (he does get around these days, at least telephonically) aired at integralnaked.org . I was intrigued by the scope of Crichton's thought and also by the theme of this book, self-organizing and evolving intelligences nanoparticles running amok.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061015725/mollygordonperso
Integral Naked is a membership based Web site delivering audio recordings of conversations between Ken Wilber and a variety of fascinating people ranging from Genpo Roshi to rocker Stuart David to Carolyn Myss. There's a large archive of these conversations and a new one is added every Monday. Other benefits of the site are a members' forum and live events. Check it out at www.integralnaked.org . If you decide to subscribe, please put "mollygee" (without the quotes) in the referrer box. That not only earns me a free month – woohoo!—but it helps me track the level of interest that readers have in matters integral. Thanks!
Doubt, a history, The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson
Jennifer Michael Hecht
Is it just me, or are 12 year olds writing history these days? Oh well, everything but the author's photo suggests that this will be a good read. While most of the cover endorsements are from academics (with the notable exception of a rave from none other than Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion fame), the subject matter and the fact that the author is also a poet convinced me to give this a try. According to the flyleaf, Hecht "celebrates the heroes of doubt," examining how such people as Emily Dickinson (a favorite of mine) and Ludwig Wittgenstein (I just wanted to write a sentence with his name next to Emily's), not to mention Jesus and Confucius, "drive history forward buy challenging the powers and conventional wisdom of their time and heritage."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060097728/mollygordonperso
World on Fire, How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability
Amy Chua
I have no idea what this author's political flavor is, though based on the synopsis of her views it promises to be more complex and thoughtful than worn out "conservative versus liberal" worldviews. If she comes even close to accomplishing what the New York Observer describes as, "confront[ing] the world as it is, and our actual place in it, with a humane and intellectually formidable imagination," then I'll feel my $14 was well spent.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060097728/mollygordonperso
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Resources and Links
Your Compass to a Profitable, Client-Centered Practice
The folks at Client Compass have developed a powerful yet easy to use tool for building your client-based professional service business. Client Compass lets you easily create and manage client information including intakes, session notes, billing, and all the administrative functions that support you to create prosperity by showing up and serving your clients. In addition, there are a Practice Building component for identifying "Ideal Clients," strategies for growing a coaching or therapy business, and prospect tracking. You have 60 days to try it and request a refund, so your risk is nil. http://www.cartville.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=32114
Play Mr. Picasso-head at
http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=30aec1b
We've featured this link before, but it's been a while and it is worth mentioning again. Thanks to the folks at Fishy Art Co. in Austin (TX) for sending it along.
Thank you for supporting The New Leaf by purchasing the products and services recommended below. I personally test every product I recommend, and every merchant will refund your investment if you are not satisfied. If they don't make it right, I will.
Small Print
Copyright | Getting On and Off the List
This newsletter is sent only to confirmed double-opt in subscribers who have signed up at mollygordon.com, learntolovemarketing.com, or authenticpromotion.com or who have emailed a request to be added. This mailing is part of a recurring series of weekly email newsletters and occasional supplemental offers.
You can get off this list at http://www.mollygordon.com or by sending an email to mailto:http://www.mollygordon.com . You can subscribe at http://www.mollygordon.com.
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by Molly Gordon, MCC. Copyright (c) Shaboom Inc.(r) 2004. All rights reserved. www.mollygordon.com
"Shaboom, Inc." and "Authentic Promotion" are registered trade or service marks of Shaboom, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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