Yes, there is a real face behind the e-mail!
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Greetings!
January is often thought of as a busy month for goal setting. However, as I look around at my friends and colleagues, I realize January is often busy in another sense: I'm surrounded by September birthdays. Mine is on the 18th, Tina's the 19th's, David's the 16th, Barbara's the 11th, Paul's the 10th...You get the picture.
In America, how we view birthdays is very much affected by our society's standards around aging. It seems that the first 25 or so birthdays are worth celebrating, and each subsequent birthday becomes the basis of either jokes about approaching/hitting "the Big 3-0 (4-0, 5-0...)" or of complete denial ("I don't even wanna talk about my birthday coming up").
I'm in a pickle with this impending birthday of mine. On the one hand, I'm really looking forward to free food at my favorite restaurants, chocolate/chocolate b-day cake, fresh flowers, phone calls, cards, being with some of my favorite people, toasting my mid-life blooming (I don't do crisis), and celebrating the fact that I'm in far better shape than ever before - emotionally, mentally, spiritually. (I'm doing so-so on the physical shape.)
On the other hand, I'm at an age where a lot of my peers are grandparents, which means I'm at an age where I could be a grandparent (assuming I'd chosen to have children), which is a concept that threatens to make my head explode. It's just too weird.
So, rather than try to decide whether I feel excited or appalled, I'm going to acknowledge a lot of the former and a tiny bit of the latter, and just go for two servings of cake. Happy Birthday to Me....
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Tip of the Week
Apply rules of improv comedy to your business development.
When you're serious about business, it's a good idea to add some comedy to the mix:
- Trust yourself and your "partner" (strategic ally, client, vendor, etc.)
- Say "yes, and...", rather than negating and denying.
- Listen, watch, and concentrate.
- Give and take.
- Work to the top of your intelligence.
I address these and other rules in my Biznik profile, and I invite you to have fun checking it out.
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How's This for Success?

When you're clear on what you need, you make it easy for others to help you.
My friend Cindy, who reps a line of wonderful essential oils from doTERRA, said she wanted to connect with veterinarians. My niece Amy is a vet at Minnetonka Animal Hospital, where she and her colleagues are known for integrating the best of Eastern and Western medicine to care for their patients. I introduced them and am waiting to see what happens. However, the essential first step was being able to clearly identify people who might end up being excellent resources for each other.
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A Really Good Resource
There are some books that truly stand the test of time. Psycho-cyberntics, by Maxwell Maltz, is one of them.
In it, Dr. Maltz talks about how our minds influence all aspects of our lives, from our self-talk to how we perceive our physical features. He includes some fascinating stories about his work as a plastic surgeon which, while technically superb, often failed to make his patients feel their looks had improved at all.
If you want some hard-hitting ideas to counteract self-sabotaging thoughts, this is worth checking out.
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Thanks to my friend Flickr.
Here are this week's heroes who graciously allowed me to use their images, posted in the Creative Commons area of Flickr, in this issue of Networking Nuggets:
trophy by Shorts and Longs light bulb by aloshbennett
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One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is the understanding that we have control over our thoughts, and that our thoughts directly affect our attitudes, actions, and results. We have the power to start a "do-over" any time we want, in any area of life we want.
Wishing you joy as you claim your personal power...
Kathleen Stepping Into Big 612-716-8239
Life is good.


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