Monday Musing: Deadlines

So, I wrote a book this weekend. What did you do?

OK, it's more accurate to say that I compiled a book, since much of it consists of posts that have already appeared on this blog. Still, there is so much that goes into self-publishing, and I did it in a weekend. Why so quickly? I have a speaking engagement coming up, and what speaker isn't instantly more legit if they have a book? Deadlines are powerful like that. Why? Because I nearly stopped writing the book about 64 times this weekend.

I didn't stop because I wouldn't make the deadline.

And now I have a book.

As a loyal reader of this blog, I'll make sure that you hear about how to get your own copy.




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Thursday Thoughts: Go Confidently

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Monday Musings: Not a Match

{Photo credit: http://fortheluls.com/tag/bank/}

My bank decided to join the crowd and charge a fee to customers who do not have a paycheck automatically deposited into their account. This was a clear sign to me that they no longer want small business owners or freelancers as customers. I went in to close the account. They were very polite and tried to keep my business, but I told them we just weren't a match anymore.

I don't pretend to know what they need to do to stay in business, but they sent a clear message to me. I am no longer who they want as a customer. Sometimes there is no need to get angry or fight. Just recognize that you are no longer a match and move on.

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Thursday Thoughts: Life Does Not Have to be Perfect

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Designate the Time

{Photo found via Pinterest}

I set phone dates with friends all the time. Why? Because I want to make sure that we talk, and sometimes it just doesn't happen unless we designate the time for it. By setting a date, it's an event. We may shift the time slightly, but we have acknowledged that it is important, and we make it happen.

What do you keep saying is important, but you don't take the time to do? Set aside time for it and make an appointment to do it.

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Monday Musings: One LIttle Word

{Photo Credit: www.aliedwards.com}

It's Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Today is a day to set a vision for a better future, as he did in his most famous speech. Today's post presents a way to help you set a vision for a better future for yourself and anyone within your sphere of influence.

Last year one of my friends in the blog-o-sphere brought my attention to a movement by Ali Edwards to set an intention for your year with One Little Word. I loved it. Last year, my word was momentum. For me, momentum meant that things that had been a conscious effort became a bit more effortless as they start to run themselves. Momentum implied progress toward a positive outcome. Momentum also meant building habits to the point of autopilot so that I could focus my attention on new projects. I created momentum by eating more healthy, exercising more consistently, performing more often and in better shows, creating new coaching opportunities, serving the people around me in new ways, blogging more often (did you notice?), keeping better records throughout the year, networking more efficiently, and spending a whole year in conversation with my mastermind group. As I look at my 2011 blessings and accomplishments, I see the effects of my momentum.

This year my word is action. For me, it means a few things:

1. Action = moving from idea to implementation: For every 1000 great new ideas I have, I act on 5. I know that it's not possible or prudent to act on all 1000 ideas, but this year, I will act on 10.
2. action = not procrastinating: It's not just about acting on new ideas, I also need to keep normal life up to date.
3. ACTION = exercise and movement. I have drifted away from some of my favorite dance classes, and I want to reinvest. I also have started a new set of exercises on my own.
4. "Action!" =  the start of filming. I am going to explore the world of film and television, of which I know almost nothing. Don't expect me on the Golden Globes next year, maybe something more along the lines of waitress #3 in the background whom you can glimpse if you pause the DVR at just the right moment.
5. ACTION = helping coaching clients move forward in bold new ways to make a difference in their world.

I think action is going to be a good word. I've already started to use it as a battle cry to motivate myself on cold days. Are you considering what might be your One Little Word and need some ideas? You can read everyone's words on Ali Edwards' blog. I'd recommend it. It's quite inspiring.

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Thursday Thoughts: Get Closer to Where you Want to Be

(Photo Source: adaywithtwo.blogspot.com)

Along with today's Thursday Thought, I just wanted to recommend a quick article on Huffington Post published yesterday about life coaching. It presents two helpful ways to understand the difference between therapy and coaching.

1. According to Martin Seligman, the founder and pioneer of positive psychology, life coaching revolves around the essential question: Do you want to be pulled by your future or driven by your past?

2. Carol Kauffman, founder and director of the Institute of Coaching and an assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, put it differently... "The difference is that in therapy you follow the trail of tears with a goal of healing," Kauffman said. "As a side-effect, people's levels of function and job satisfaction go up. In coaching, you follow the trail of dreams with the goal of igniting the person to be their best. As a side-effect some kind of healing can happen."

While therapy will always have an important role in certain situations, coaching has an entirely different focus and approach. Read more on Huffington post!

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Find the Plug

A plug tucked behind a bed

As we all travel with more and more electronics, we all have things to charge. Hotels are notorious for being short on plugs, and tucking them into places that are difficult to reach. I'm thrilled when I encounter a hotel that has been redesigned with plugs in mind.

There's a whole new level of challenge when you stay in another person's home. Make sure that you locate a plug before your host leaves you for the night. Sometimes you may not be able to find it, or may need help moving a piece of furniture in order to access the plug.

Locating the plug can be the difference between accidentally sleeping in or waking on time to the alarm on your fully charged cell phone.

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Monday Musings: 10,000 Hours

At the 34th Street subway station, there is a small boy who plays classical music on an electronic piano at breakneck speeds while his father stands at his side. It seems to match the pace of the trains to hear Mozart played five times faster than you've ever heard it. Whenever I see him, I think about Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers and how he determined that it takes 10,000 hours to reach truly expert levels at anything. The Beatles played for years in German bars to reach 10,000 hours. Bill Gates was playing with university computers while still in high school, reaching an expert level of 10,000 hours before most people his age. To reach 10,000 hours you need passion, focus, determination, and perhaps a father looking over your shoulder as you play classical music on the subway platform.

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Thursday Thoughts: Sing Because You Have a Song

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Get started on a year of personal development with a 4-week interactive eCourse. Another group starts January 10, so join before the next group fills up! Explore the topics of Personalize, Organize and Realize with like-minded people.

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Tuesday Travel Tip: How I Actually Got There

Today's travel tip isn't how to literally get somewhere on your next road trip. It is a way to get somewhere on your journey of life. Today's tip may be a challenge for some people. Others will want to dismiss it as coincidence. However, I don't believe in coincidence (we can chat more about that if you'd like). I share today's travel tip for those who will find it useful and empowering. I'd love to hear your reactions.

Last New Year's Eve, my mastermind group and I created vision boards. They were filled with words and pictures of what we'd like our lives to be in the coming year. Among other things, I set goals to work as an actor a certain number of weeks and to work at a certain caliber of theaters. That sounds pretty specific, but within that was something super, duper specific: I cut out the audition notice for a certain national tour.

I don't like to be so specific about my resolutions, at least the ones over which I don't have much control. If I set a range of criteria that is just a bit above what I'm currently doing, I increase the chance that I'll reach my goal. It's frightening to actually make my resolution so specific in a very competitive field. It makes it more obvious if I fail, and I don't have control over the factors. A goal of getting a specific theater job is not like doing 100 situps in a minute since someone else makes a final decision about whether you reach the goal. That's probably why I immediately forgot that I'd included that national tour on my vision board.

Last week, I took out that vision board to prepare for this year's session. (Yes, I know you're supposed to look at it every day, but I'm an Urban Nomad. I travel light.) I was shocked when I saw that audition notice on the vision board. Why? Because the producer of that show actually called me. I set a specific goal and it happened, just not in the way I expected. I wasn't cast when the tour began, but someone had to leave the show and I was next on the list. Even more surprising was that I didn't take the job. I was already booked to do something even better!

It's not magic: I had to take action, because they certainly never would have called if I had not even auditioned. It's also not a guarantee: my life unfolded in even more surprising and interesting ways than I dared to dream. Finally, it's not unattainable: Even though hundreds and hundreds of people audition for these tours, I knew that I could be a serious competitor based on previous experience.

Go back to your resolution and make it super specific, and then take every action that you can to make it happen. And then watch something even more interesting unfold.

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Are you in Minnesota or New York City? Register now for my live, 90-minute workshop on "12 Essentials for 2012" in the next few days! Anyone serious about making 2012 a great year is encouraged to attend.

Learn what actions to take as you work toward your goals! Another round of interactive eCourses begins in one week, January 10! Spend the next 4 weeks exploring the topics of Personalize, Organize, or Realize.

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Do you know a smart, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2011.

Monday Musing: A Report on "Green" Christmas

Regular readers of my blog know that each year my family has a theme for our Christmas stocking gifts. Last year was shapes, the year before was numbers, and the year before that was experiential. We've had themes for about fifteen years, so I actually get inquiries on the theme from some of my friends who look forward to brainstorming with me about what to get for my parents, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my two nieces, ages 8 and 1.

 My mom always starts with a warm up activity. This year she created a quiz in which all of the items included the word green. Then she gave her gifts wrapped in lovely lime green paper. Her gifts ranged from green tea to green pencils made of recycled materials.

My brother made a green meal for everyone: kale and spinach soup and leafy salad. So yummy.

My sister-in-law gave donations to various green causes in honor of each of us. My 8-year-old niece lead a craft activity for everyone using primarily green beads. I gave a variety of green colored gifts in recycled bags that ranged from green sippy cups for my youngest niece to early reader books about God's green earth for my older niece to green scrapbook supplies, pesto, olive oil, fair trade coffee and and a green scarf made as part of a sustainable program.

My father added to the green food gifts, primarily with vegetables. And of course our tree was green, so we took note on how thematic that was. My youngest niece wasn't in green, but I couldn't resist a picture of her in her Santa hat!

My 8-year-old niece suggested that next year's theme be symmetrical. Watch for that update a year from now!

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Get started on a year of personal development with a 4-week interactive eCourse. Another group starts January 10, so join before the next group fills up! Explore the topics of Personalize, Organize and Realize with like-minded people.

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Do you know a smart, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2012.

Happy New Year

January 1: it's just a date, made up of numbers, arbitrarily picked on the calendar. In some ways, nothing changes on January 1.

But I love it. I make changes on January 1, just because I can.

I love all sorts of new starts, and I'll take whatever type is given to me. I get a new start as an Urban Nomad each time I settle into a new place for an extended stay. I get a new start when I begin a relationship with a new coaching client. I even get a new start when I get something as small as a haircut. I still honor the new start that September brings, just because the beginning of the school year was a new start for me for so many years.

So for me, New Year's Eve is a new start. I appreciate the chance to look back at what I've accomplished, new friends I have made, and other things that have changed. I also get to look forward and dream about what could happen in the coming year, and then evaluate which dreams really fit who I am and what I'm going to do to make them come true. Dreams without action go nowhere, but dreams coupled with action have taken me to so many places, both expected and unexpected.

As I say on my webinars, I live and work completely within my passions and I believe that you can too. Let's talk about how. You could start with a 2012 Super Strategic Map Making Sessions: New Year's Resolution Edition one-on-one or via group webinar or a 4-week interactive eCourse that starts January 3 or a series of private coaching sessions. In whatever way we connect, it's time to get started.

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Get started on a year of personal development with a 4-week interactive eCourse that starts this Tuesday! Explore the topics of Personalize, Organize and Realize with a group of like-minded people.

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Do you know a smart, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2012.