Greetings! One of my favorite e-zines each week is from Barbara Winters who wrote Making a Living Without a Job. She literally travels the world giving workshops on how to be joyfully jobless. She is worth subscribing to. Make sure you go to her website and check out the content. Her contact information is at the end of her article which follows:
FIRST THINGS FIRST
While there are many ways to measure success, one of the best is adding up the number of Firsts in your life. When we were kids, every day was full of Firsts. As time goes one, many people simply cease doing anything that is not a repeat of a past performance. It's the path to early senility.
How can you experience a life filled with Firsts? How can you find yourself exclaiming, "I've never done that before?" It may be easier than you think. Everyday life offers an abundance of opportunities to do something you've never done before.
Drive a new route. Eat a new food. Get to know a stranger. Pick up a book from a section of the library you don't usually visit. Try a new marketing approach. Post your first message on Twitter. Take a public speaking class. Write a poem. Wear a color that's been absent from your wardrobe. Gather your ideas in an ebook. Plan a business project with a new partner. While ritual and tradition may be comforting, making a conscious decision to pile up Firsts can be addictive. Doing so can also lead to larger adventures since it's a guaranteed confidence builder.
In order to bring more Firsts into your life, your imagination needs to be fully engaged. While we all have random first-time experiences, they can be far between if we don't instigate them ourselves. Learning to think in new ways, in turn, is vital to growth. "It is one of the paradoxes of success, " Charles Handy discovered, "that the things and ways which got you where you are, are seldom the things to keep you there." You've got to keep creating Firsts if you want to see progress.
The enemy of living this way is the undeservedly popular Comfort Zone. While that zone is different for each of us, it's the place where there are no surprises, nothing unexpected. It doesn't build brain cells, it doesn't stir the imagination. It's the place where we keep the remote control and emotional control. Parents often encourage their adult children to live in a Comfort Zone, thinking it's a place that prevents worry. However, the Comfort Zone is a holding tank; it doesn't lead anywhere.
No matter where you are nor how old you are nor how long it's been since you've had a First, come up with one right now and do it. Then find another and do it again. Expect that you'll experience discomfort and welcome it as an ally in creating a richer life, not a sign that you should turn back.
"Those who try to do something and fail are infinitely better off than those who try to do nothing and succeed," said Richard Bird. Start building your own list of Firsts and see how much fuller life becomes...one First at a time.
Contact Information
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Email: barbara@joyfullyjobless.com
Web: http://www.joyfullyjobless.com
Happy, happy,
Gail
P.S. Check out my bookstore on amazon.com.
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Feature Article:
ROOM SETUP
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Lighting: The light on the speaker area should be brighter than the audience area. Entire room should be as bright as possible.
Platform: Open with no head table.
Lectern: To the left of the platform for the Introducer.
Table: small draped table on the right side of the platform for speaker's props.
Temperature: Set room temperature at 68 degrees.
Equipment: Slide projector with remote control, screen, microphone (wireless Lavaliere), flip chart on easel.
Put together a checklist of items or conveniences you would like available for your presentation.
Check and double check well before the audience arrives. There is nothing worse than not having an outlet available when your presentation depends on PowerPoint.
Insist on a letter of confirmation listing the requests you have made.
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Quote of the Day
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"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."
- Eric Hoffer
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