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live life on purpose work at what you love follow your own road
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   Changing Course Newsletter: Issue 23Date: Jul 16, 2001Subject: Changing Course Newsletter: Issue 23 Changing Course Newsletter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ Issue 23 - July 16, 2001 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brought to you by Changing Course http://www.ChangingCourse.com Dedicated to helping you: ~ Live Life on Purpose ~ Work at What You Love ~ Follow Your Own Road Barbara Sher, author of "I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was," calls Changing Course "wonderful, inspired and informative." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUOTE FOR THE DAY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. ~ Theodore Roosevelt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FEATURED ARTICLE: The Fence Picket ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Douglas D. Germann, Sr. I remember the day I grew up. I was a pudgy kid, the kind who was easy to beat up. Jeff was a tough kid who lived two or three doors away. He would, as the mood struck him, throw me to the ground, sit on my stomach and hit me in the shoulders and face. There was little I could do. One day, as Jeff approached, he pulled a loose picket from a fence and swung it at me. I put up my elbow to protect myself, and the rotten board broke when it hit me. Jeff, startled, stared at the broken board on the ground. Something in me broke, too. I remember consciously deciding to act like a maniac. So I picked up the board and chased after him, screaming wildly. Jeff ran toward his house. I caught him from behind and pulled him down. I threw the fence picket to the side and pinned him to the ground like he had shown me. I hit him right fist, left fist, right fist, left fist. Suddenly I found myself lifted in the air. Jeff's father had pulled me off. The same father who had never pulled Jeff off me. My father must have seen all this from the front door, for almost as soon as Jeff's father was propelling me through the air, Dad was out there arguing with him. Mom called me from the door and I went inside. I was too young to know about adrenaline and what victory was really like. As soon as the door closed, I burst into tears I did not understand. They were not tears of fear, hate or shame. They were tears of... growth. I had grown up some that day. I knew then that I did not have to be a victim of anybody else. For many years I thought my power came from my decision to act crazy. I was wrong. It was only in later years that I learned the truth: my power came from my decision to act. Crazy was not essential. The decision is always the most essential part, acting is secondary. Perhaps you do not remember being a victim. Perhaps you were a Jeff, or perhaps you were never involved in such juvenile activities. Yet life has a way of getting in our faces. And then we must decide. It may be easy to let life happen to us. We might decide to take the crap from the boss because we have only a few years to retirement. We might decide to let our illness have its way with us and spend our days in front of the TV. We might decide to chase after a nicer car and a bigger house seeing those around us doing the same. We might compete with others in our industry or company for more sales, bigger work forces, larger budgets. Yet in doing such things we are victims. We are letting others, or even momentum from our own past decisions, decide our lives. Once we see this, we can say, "Someday you reach a point...." What we mean is that we come to our senses. We decide what is right and true for us. Then perhaps the house and car and bigger bottom line mean less to us. Or perhaps they mean even more. But then we have decided consciously. Then we have grown up. At least a little. Douglas D. Germann, Sr. works with people who want more meaning in their lives and with organizations who want to grow their leaders. For more inspirational articles, visit http://www.footprintsinthewind.com For permission to reprint contact Doug at 219-255-0022, or e-mail Doug@FootprintsintheWind.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INSPIRATION TO FOLLOW YOUR BLISS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear." ~ Anthony Robbins "Success is not a doorway, it's a staircase." ~ Dottie Walters "When someone tells you that you can't go any farther, just tell them to look behind you and see how far you've come." ~ Lorna Pitre ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IN THE LIVE YOUR DREAM STORE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Find lots of great products to help you Live Your Dreams at the Changing Course Store at http//www.changingcourse.com ROAD MAP FOR YOUR DREAMS Valerie's booklet, 10 Steps to Escaping the Job World and Creating the Life You Really Want may be just what you need to put you on the track to a richer more rewarding work/life. Even if you don't order a darned thing, I invite you to read Step One of the 10 steps at http//www.ChangingCourse.com/articles/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VAL'S PICKS AND PONDERINGS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My pick for this week CoachVille is an online training firm and resource center for personal, professional and corporate coaches. Members pay $79 for a lifetime membership which affords them access to scores of RealAudio trainings, client forms, checklists, practice-building tools and other online community resources. The site is advertised as being for seasoned coaches or those who think they might like to become a professional coach. This new coach training site was started by Thomas Leonard, founder of Coach U (he sold that site 1n 1996). Even though his new site is in the early phases of an ambitious "official" fall roll-out, I was impressed with his new site for four reasons. 1) Coachville is wonderfully resource rich. I was genuinely impressed with how much information and how many resources the site offers. 2) I especially like the fact that the training is highly affordable. A LIFETIME membership is only $79. In comparison, Coach U charges over $4000 for their training program and it takes two years to complete. Coachville is able to provide training at a significantly lower price because it is web-based vs. the TeleClass or in person training provided by Coach U. If money is not an issue and you prefer that method, check out Coach U's site at http://www.coachu.com 3) Another plus is that Coachville gives you an entire year to take advantage of their training materials and other resources and to decide if coaching is for you. If you are not 100% satisfied you can ask for a complete and immediate refund. I recently joined myself and so far I am getting what I want from my membership. 4) Coachville offers a very generous affiliate program. Meaning, when you join you will automatically be registered as an affiliate with your own unique affiliate ID number. If you refer a friend or associate to Coachville and they join, you will receive 50% of the $79 membership fee. That means Coachville will pay you $39.50 for every person who joins CoachVille via your site or e-mail (they will provide you with a unique URL/link that you add to your site and/or e-mail signature). Or, you can give out your affiliate ID number and the person can type in this code as they register. Which is what I am going to do here. My affiliate ID number is 532204. If you like what you see (and obviously, ONLY if you like what you see) and you decide to sign up to be a member of Coachville, you will be asked to input the affiliate number of the person who referred you - which in this case is yours truly! I don't expect to get rich as a Coachville affiliate, but I also can't see, as the expression goes, "looking a gift horse in the mouth." If I can offset my rising utility bills, help pay for my new roof, or foot the bill for some new bell or whistle for ChangingCourse.com simply by recommending a resource I would have suggested anyway - heck, why not! SPECIAL OFFER: Join Coachville by July 24, 2001 and you may participate in their 100-day Practice Building Program at no additional charge (normally, $99 by itself). New members coming into Coachville after July 24th will need to pay an upgrade fee in order to participate in the Full Practice 100 Program. To learn more about Coachville visit http//www.ChangingCourse.com/resources.htm Part 2: A bit of pondering on following a dream... So many of my role model Barbara Sher's words speak to me. There is one quote in particular that has really stuck with me. It's from Barbara's book I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was. This is what she said: "When you get near people who are pursuing their heart's desire, you can see the intensity on their faces. Life is just too short to live without that kind of focus." I couldn't see Don Sanchez's face, but none-the-less I could still feel his excitement when he told me, "I want to explore the world!" Don not only wants to travel the globe, but do so with a purpose. "I have a wonderful gift of health to share as I'm a dentist" says Don. "I would love to live and possibly teach in Europe or some other exciting place." Don wanted to know if I thought he was, in his words, "crazy." The first thing I told Don is what I tell anyone with a burning passion - namely, you'd be crazy NOT to go after your dream! The truly insane response would be to throw up your hands before you've taken even one single step. As kids we dream big, bold, wonderful dreams. As adults we douse our fabulously big dreams (or others do it for us!) by saying it's, "not realistic," "not practical," "too hard," etc. A lot of people are afraid to dream because they don't want to be disappointed. If you allow yourself to dream does that mean you will get everything you want every time? Probably not. But if you close your eyes and imagine your ideal life and then could achieve even half of it - wouldn't it make sense to at least try? Changing course is one part determination and three parts information. Don has the motivation. All he needed was information. I suggest Don, or anyone who dreams of living or working in another part of the world, go to http//www.ChangingCourse.com/resources.htm There you will find a link to a wonderful site for "Escape Artists." British General W.J. Slim once said, "When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take - choose the bolder." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |