Getting Rid of Ads!

**************************************************
"SIMPLY SUCCESS" - SHORT POST - June 19, 2007
=======================================
>Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work
Bruce Elkin: Life/Work Renewal Coach
Personal - Professional - Organizational
http://www.BruceElkin.com
Sent to subscribers only. Names are never shared or sold!
To leave list or change email address, scroll to bottom.
**************************************************

Hi ,
Gorgeous blue sky and sunshine here today. Summer seems to be timing its arrival to coincide with the solstice. I love it!

Regular readers of these dispatches will know that I often talk about focusing on what you do want in your life rather than what you do not want and would like to get rid of.

A couple of readers (OK, more than a couple) have asked, "Is there not anything you would love to get rid of?

My knee-jerk reaction was, "No. The circumstances or events we encounter are best seen as life's givens. See them merely as aspects of current reality -- part of the raw material out of which we create what we truly want.

But lately, I have been rethinking that point of view.

There is one thing I WOULD like to do away with. And doing so would make the world a better and easier place to be. It would also make creating what matters a lot simpler.

So WHAT would I get rid of?

ADS! Television commercials, jingles, billboards, glossy ads, and those logos splashed almost everywhere at nearly every sports event. "This blue line sponsored by ABC insurance!" Who needs them?

Most advertising presents a conflicting message. It claims a good life is possible (we can see it in the ads). But we can't have it --unless we buy just the right mix of stuff. But stuff changes. New is soon old. In becomes out. Enough is never enough.

"Commercial success, American-style, demands helplessness," says simplicity author David Wann. "Advertising intentionally jams our signals so we'll remain dependent on products rather than nature and our own resources."

So, advertising can keep us permanently frustrated. It also tempts us to get rid of our bad feelings, or relief from them, by going after ever-more stuff.

Doing the same thing, over and over, even though it does not bring you the results you want--isn't that a form of insanity?

Even the glossy new "simplicity" magazines are more about getting relief and feeling good in the moment than about creating real and lasting simplicity, or a sustainable and successful life.

Such magazines, which one critic dubbed "boomer porn," feature ads for upscale cars, designer clothes, expensive electronics, chic furniture, and costly, but usually unnecessary, kitchen gadgets.

One even has a section titled "Solutions: Life's Little Complexities Resolved". A sub-section, "Four Problem Solvers for $50 and Under," includes single use sunscreen and an electronic stain eliminator.

Buying such items is supposed to simplify your life. Underlying such messages, though, is the deeper message that you and your life not good enough as you are—not until you buy this neat stuff. Then you'll be fine. Yeah, right!

These ads cater to people who want a quick fix of the good life. Buying stuff is easy, seductive, and addictive. But it fails to satisfy. Thus, these magazines act like drugs for "stuff junkies." Over time, you get less from them, but crave them more.

If you are afflicted by the hunger for more, and new stuff becomes your drug of choice, you are likely to find yourself in a repeating pattern of worse then better then worse . . . .

You get temporary relief or fleeting pleasure from a new electronic stain remover, or an organic cotton SUV cover, but when the relief passes, you are be back where you started—but with a larger credit card balance, and frustration about not being able to simplify or create your life successfully.

Stress soars as you work MORE to make MORE money so you can buy MORE stuff to get relief from the stress of working MORE. On this "hedonic treadmill," you pump hard, pay dearly, but go nowhere.

Over time new stuff becomes clutter. Authentic simplicity and happiness rarely even appear on the horizon. Your power to transcend life's complexities and create a simple, successful, and sustainable life is eroded, or destroyed.

And that, my friends, is why, if I were King of the world, I would get rid of all the glossy, mind-numbing advertising for stuff we don't really need and don't really want.

I'd keep only the more informative ads, and ask even them to tone down their hype. And I'd continue to see a landscape littered with ads as just one aspect of my current reality, and do my best to rise above in favour of creating the life I'd love to have.
------------------------




> ARE YOU DOING WHAT YOU LOVE?
Would you like to create what truly matters to you?
=========================================
I work with capable people who are stuck, stalled, or struggling with complicated life/work challenges. I help them develop the SKILLS, STRUCTURE, and SUPPORT to make the complex simple, get going again, and turn their visions into reality!

I can help you find what you love-and create a life that shows it!

> Summer is a great time to learn how to create what matters. I have 3 spaces available for July, and am interviewing for August. If you would like my fr.ee 7-page info package, e-mail me with "Coaching Package" as subject at Bruce@BruceElkin.com
---------------



> USEFUL WEBSITE AND PLANNING TOOLS:
=============================
Thinking about creating or upgrading your website and marketing approach? I use these tools with great results and recommend them without reservation.

* For info or to purchase a copy of THE WEBSITE TOOLKIT,
please go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=73714

* THE ACTION PLAN TOOL KIT can make designing and
implementing a marketing plan easier, effective, and fun.
Go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=73714
-----------------------



>THIS WEEK'S QUOTES:
====================
"TV is no friend of anyone trying to simplify ... In fact, TV's very existence depends upon an incessant parade of advertising intended to make us feel discontented with our experiences, possessions, relationships, and appearance."
-Donald S. Whitney

"Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich."
- Sarah Bernhardt

"You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your
dominant aspiration."
-James Allen

"The Buddha is sometimes quoted as saying that desire is
suffering. A more accurate translation is that selfish desire is
suffering -- in fact, the source of all suffering. But desire
itself is simply power, neither good nor bad.

"Without the tremendous power of desire, there can be no progress on the
spiritual path; there can be no progress anywhere.

"The whole secret of spiritual transformation is turning selfish desire into selfless desire, transforming personal passions into the overwhelming desire to attain life's highest goal. This is not repression; it is transformation."
- Eknath Easwaran
-----------------------


Don't let those ads make you frustrated. Create your own good life!
All the best!
Bruce
**************************************************
> BRUCE ELKIN:
Personal, Professional, and Organization Renewal Coach
>Call: 250.388.7210 www.BruceElkin.com Or Skype Me!
**************************************************
> View the current issue of my full newsletter at
http://createwhatmattersmost.blogspot.com/
-------------------

Fit To Stetch: Success On Your Terms!

**************************************************
>SIMPLICITY and SUCCESS:
Creating What Matters MOST in Life & Work
Vol. 5, #5, June 13, 2007 All rights reserved.
Bruce Elkin: Life/Work Design Coach for 20 Years
http://www.BruceElkin.com
Sent to confirmed subscribers only. List is never shared or sold!
* To leave list or change email address, scroll to the bottom.
>View back issues and weekly "short posts" on my blog at:
http://createwhatmattersmost.blogspot.com/
**************************************************

"Those who do not create the future they want
must endure the future they get.
-- Draper L. Kaufman, Jr., in Systems One

Hi ,
Summer is struggling to replace spring here on the West Coast of Canada, but spring is determined to stay put. We get a rainy day, then a sunny day, then a partly rainy, partly sunny day.

I don't complain. After all, it's June. And according to the long-term meteorological stats, June is one of the rainier months. And summer, statistically speaking, doesn't arrive on the west coast until July 12.

So, I relax and enjoy the days for what they are. Rainy, sunny, mixed--they're all good.

Lately, I have had a number of requests from other coaches and consultants to use my Fit To Stretch article and distribute it to their clients. Naturally, I'm delighted, but thought I should almost make this updated version of Fit To Stretch available to you.

I hope you find it useful.
---------



> FEATURE ARTICLE:
FROM FIT TO STRETCH: CREATING SUCCESS ON YOUR TERMS
===========================================

Abraham Maslow said we long to be “that which we glimpse in our most perfect moments.” But, too often, I've noticed, we are afraid to act on the potential we see in such moments.

Instead of filling us with hope, such glimpses can trigger doubts and fear. Viewing others' success, we judge ourselves as failing to realize OUR own potential. We wonder, why can't I succeed?

You can, if you will try something new.

To succeed on your terms, create what matters most to you. As Kate Wolf suggests, "find something you really care about, and live a life that shows it."

But most of us don't know what we really care about.

“Learning what to want, says British consultant Geoffrey Vickers is the most radical, the most painful, and the most creative art oflife.”

So, we react and respond to circumstances. We struggle with problems. We worry about issues. But, because we don’t know how to CREATE results, we rarely get beyond a focus on what we do not like and do not want. Our actions focus on getting rid of problems, or seeking relief from their intensity.

Getting rid of what we do not like does not often bring into being what we do like. It does not lead to us creating what we trul ylove and want to see exist. So we rarely succeed at what matters.

True, there are coaching, career planning, and goal-setting approaches. Can't they help us achieve the results we want?

Sometimes, but not as much we'd like. At best, career planning is personal strategic planning. You assess resources, note problems and weaknesses, set “realistic” goals, and take action. You FIT your goals to what you know you can do.

But, fit-focused planning does not work-–in life or work. Harvard's Gary Hamel says fitting goals to resources is a recipe for mediocrity. Realistic goals often focus on problem solving, and more often lack the power to lead to consistent action.

So what are we to do?

“Set no small goals," an old saw suggests, "for they lack power to stir our souls.”

Successful goal-setters set goals that matter, then stretch to create them. Creating stretch between where you are and where you want to be is the most important step to take. Realistic goals then become strategic steps to success.

Successful creators are more inventional than conventional. They build bridges between where they are and where they want to be. How? They make it up!

Creators use an approach that is driven by vision, rooted in reality, and uses creative tension to energize and guide action toward results.

Creators integreate the following key elements into their results-creating process:

VISION: Vision is a clear, compelling picture of a result you want. Vision just has to be clear enough that you'd recognize your result if you created it.

You don’t have to believe your result is possible, or have all the skills or resources to start. Creators learn and invent what they need to create results. So, stretch for what matters, regardless of what you have. Being realistic is the next step.

CURRENT REALITY: Vision must be grounded in reality. Be honest about where you are and what you have. Making things better than they are, or worse, distorts reality, and weakens your foundation for action. Describe reality, don’t judge it!

CREATIVE TENSION: Holding vision and reality in mind together sets up creative tension, and energy to act. Out of the gap between vision and reality, a kind of magnetic pull—an attraction—emerges. Use this tension to energize and guide your actions in the direction of your desired results.

ACTION LEARNING: When vision is clear, and grounded in reality, then take action. If conventional approaches work, good. Use them. If not, invent what you need to create your result. Make it up!

CREATE AND ADJUST: Learn from experience. Start small and create small successes. Build momentum. Momentum is important, because it keeps you going when motivation wanes. Momentum is necessary for completion.

FOLLOW THROUGH TO COMPLETION: Use momentum to finish results. Celebrate success, and use the energy of completion to start your next creation.

So do not fear those glimpses of your own greatness. Cultivate them, nourish them. They can be seeds of great results and great success.

The key to succeeding on your terms is expand those glimpses into clear, compelling visions, ground those visions in reality, and then create a bridge from where you are to where you long to be. If you don’t have what you need, make it up!

Once you grasp the power of creating's to produce results with whatever you have, you'll look at circumstances and situations differently. You will say, "Maybe this can help me create the results I long for." And you'd be right.
Bruce Elkin is a 20-year Life/Work Design Coach, and author of Simplicity & Success: Creating The Life You Long For. He works with high potential people who are stuck, stalled, or drifting. He helps you create what matters—in spite of problems or obstacles. • Get his new ebook Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods and Create What Matters Most—With Whatever Life Gives You! at www.BruceElkin.com,




> ARE YOU DOING WHAT YOU LOVE?
Would you like to create what truly matters to you?
=========================================
I work with capable people who are stuck or struggling with complicated life/work challenges. I help them develop the SKILLS, STRUCTURE, and SUPPORT to make the complex simple—and turn visions into reality!

>I can help you find what you love-and create a life that shows it!

>Summer is a great time to learn how to create what matters most. I have 3 spaces available for mid-June and July/August. If you would like my fr.ee 7-page info package, e-mail me with "Coaching Package" as subject at Bruce@BruceElkin.com
---------------




> RESOURCES I RECOMMEND:
==============================
> SUPER MARKETING AND WEBSITE TOOLS:
Thinking about upgrading your website and marketing
approach? I've used these products with great results and
recommend them without reservation.

* For info or to purchase a copy of THE WEBSITE TOOLKIT,
please go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=73714

* THE ACTION PLAN TOOL KIT can make designing and
implementing a marketing plan easier, effective, and fun.
Go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=73714


> THE SOUNDER SLEEP SYSTEM:
Can't sleep? Need help relaxing and drifting off?
Get THE INSOMNIA SOLUTION by Michael Krugman. It's a great book
on how to get the deep, restful sleep you crave. I use MP3 files
in which Michael teaches soothing, restful guided exercises. For
info, go to http://www.soundersleep.com/start.php?mpuid=1215


> A GREAT NEWSLETTER BY AN EX-CLIENT OF MINE:
If you are interested in Health, Environment, and Negotiation,
please check out the eNewsletter HEN. Written by Julia
Menard, a Victoria-based coach, and mediation expert, HEN is
an excellent source of info. E-mail
with "sub.scribe HEN Musings" in the subject line.


> FR.EE VALUES and HAPPINESS ASSESSMENT:
Martin Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness, offers an
excellent way to support you in creating happiness in daily life.
Go to www.authentichappiness.org and do his Values-in-Action
Signature Strengths Survey. it will help you increase your
authentic happiness. I do it. It works.
-----------------



> 6. THE LAST WORD: QUOTABLE QUOTES
=============================
"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we
stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of
heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes
against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at
anchor."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They're what make the instrument stretch -- what make you go beyond the norm."
- Cicely Tyson

"Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?"
- Ben Franklin

"Every lesson is a widening and deepening of consciousness. It is a stretching of the mind beyond its conceptual limits and a stretching of the heart beyond its emotional boundaries. It is a bringing of unconscious material into consciousness, a healing of past wounds, and a discovery of new faith and trust."
- Paul Ferrini

“Tell me, what will you do with your one wild and precious life?”
- Mary Oliver
------------



> THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
==============================
THANKS for forwarding my newsletter and short posts. New
subscribers keep the newsletter thriving. So please keep forwarding
them to friends and associates. I appreciate your support.

If you received this from a friend, please sign up for your own sub
at http://www.bruceelkin.com/newsletter.html
You'll also get 3 fr.ee gift.s!

All the best!
Bruce

***************************************************
>BRUCE ELKIN: Life/Work Design & Renewal Coach
Author:- Simplicity & Success: Creating the Life You Long For
- Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods & Create What
Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You
> http://www.BruceElkin.com 250-388.7210 Skype Me!
**************************************************
All material herein is copyright (c) Bruce Elkin, 2006.
-----------------
1-35 Cook Street, Victoria, British Columbia V8V 3W6, CANADA

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit:
http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TOwcLIystMxs7JzsLExs
---------

Love What You Have; Create What You Want

**************************************************
"SIMPLY SUCCESS" - SHORT POST - May 9, 2007
=======================================
>Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work
Bruce Elkin: Life/Work Renewal Coach
Personal - Professional - Organizational
http://www.BruceElkin.com
Sent to subscribers only. Names are never shared or sold!
**************************************************

Hi All,
After a spell of lovely weather, it has clouded up again here on the South Island. But, hey, it was nice for 5 or 6 days, and it will be nice again after this spell of rainy weather passes.

One of my pet peeves is people who complain about the weather.
And myself, when I slip up and do the same.

Just the other day, I was standing on my deck when a neighbor walked by and we exchanged greetings.

"Hey, Al. How you doing?"

"Great, Bruce. How about you?

"Great. I'm loving this sunny day."

"Yeah, but, it's been such a cold, rainy winter."

At that moment, both of us let go of the present moment, and drifted back into memories of wind storms, heavy rains, and unusually chilly days. Brrr!

I tried to re-orient us in the present.

"Makes today even more precious, eh? We better enjoy it, while we can."

"Yeah, but this system is supposed to collapse before the weekend, and it's going rain for 3 or 4 days."

Again, we left what Timothy Miller calls "the precious present", and were off, speculating on a less-than-precious future.

Why do we do this? Why can't we just enjoy the precious present as it is?

Perhaps, as Miller suggests in his book HOW TO WANT WHAT YOU HAVE: Discovering The Magic and Grandeur of Ordinary Existence, it is because we are so wrapped up in ONLY focusing on what we want--often just on MORE--that we do not HOW to want what we have.

But in creating, you learn to want (or at least accept) what you have so you can build a solid platform on which to create what you most want. You learn to love both your vision and your reality.

As I've said here numerous times, every vision of what you want must be solidly grounded on a clear, accurate, an objective description of what you have.

We spend almost all of our creating time in current reality, in the precious present, so we might as well learn to love it. Yes?

In martial arts, where hundreds of hours of practice on the flat plateau of a learning curve eventually accumulate into a joyous acceleration of results, and ascendance to new heights of ability, students are taught to "love the plateau".

Once they have mastered a new level, and stretch for the next level, they once again have to slog their way along flats of the learning curve. So they spend a lot of time on the plateau.

It is the same with writing, painting, creating a life, starting a business, reinventing yourself in the second half of life . . . learning to love what you have, to love the plateau, is essential.

If you don't love that flat part of the learning curve where much time and effort is expended for few results, you will not stay on it. You will stall, drift, or quit, and try something else. And then something else again . . ..

But, if you stay on the curve, slowly working your way across the plateau, putting in your miles, your practice, you inevitably find yourself on the accelerating--and exhilarating!--steep part of the curve, where small amounts of effort produce large results.

Sound good? It is. But to get there, to create what you want, you gotta learn to love the plateau, to love what you have.

One way to practice loving what you have is by trying to find the good in every day, even rainy ones. By enjoying the precious present in every moment you can.

Start with sunny days; they're easier to love than most rainy ones, for most people. But in time, with practice, you might discover that it doesn't matter whether the day is bright and sunny or pouring rain, you love it anyway.

That's a simple, successful, and sustainable way to approach life, and to enjoy "the magic and grandeur of ordinary existence."
-----------------


FROM MY BOOKCASE:
=============
HOW TO WANT WHAT YOU HAVE, by Timothy Miller, PhD,
Avon Books, NY, NY [1995]

Miller is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist and a practitioner of Buddhist thought and practice. Bringing both together in this wonderfully useful book, he offers useful advice and practical steps toward opening ourselves up to the immense and subtle beauty hidden with our ordinary, everyday lives. Highly Recommended!
----------------------




>THIS WEEK'S QUOTES:
====================
"If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life."
- Albert Camus

"Being in the moment involves giving maximum appreciation and love to your present experience."
- Sara Paddison

"The fast pace of our lives makes it difficult for us to find grace in the present moment, and when the simple gifts at our fingertips cease to nourish us, we have a tendency to crave the sensational."
- Macrina Wiederkehr

"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every
wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on
their island opportunities and look toward another land.
There is no other land, this is no other life but this."
-- Henry David Thoreau
------------------------

Enjoy the precious present.
All the best!
Bruce
**************************************************
> BRUCE ELKIN:
Personal, Professional, and Organization Renewal Coach
>Call: 250.388.7210 www.BruceElkin.com Or Skype Me!
**************************************************

The Word In Your Heart: Yes? or No?

**************************************************
"SIMPLY SUCCESS" - SHORT POST - June 1, 2007
=======================================
>Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work
Bruce Elkin: Life/Work Renewal Coach
Personal - Professional - Organizational
http://www.BruceElkin.com
Sent to subscribers only. Names are never shared or sold!
To leave list or change email address, scroll to bottom.
**************************************************

Hi All,
Looking out my window through leafy-green trees at a clear blue sky, and wondering what to write about, I decide to share a lesson I learned from an old friend.

John had been an award-winning architect. But he’d felt he was swimming upstream against a growing trend to bland, corporate architecture and “money-driven design.”

In spite of success, John left his profession, its politics, and a sprawling city. He set out to rebuild his life as an artist, homesteader, and family man in a beautiful mountain valley.

There, he was happy. He and his wife built a house, cleared land for a farm, and grew their own food. John painted and taught. He enjoyed a wonderful long-lasting relationship and helped raise inspiring, self-sufficient children. His paintings changed from pretty, but commonplace nature scenes to vibrant, character-filled paintings of people, and began to sell.

I asked him why he thought things worked out so well.

“Because," he said, "I started saying "Yes!" to whatever life gave me.”

“If an opportunity appeared, I took a look; I tried it out. In spite of fear or doubt, I said "yes" and went for it. It made a huge difference. After a time, I felt I was living my life without regrets.

“There was a downside,” he added. “Saying ‘yes’ to everything can be hectic. I had a lot going on. Sometimes more than I could handle.

“However, significance emerged out of all that doing. I learned that I had to say ‘yes’ to important things to give them space to grow. To make that space, I learned to let go of less important things.

"Letting go is a way of saying ‘yes’ to change and endings. When I said ‘yes’ that way, things evolved organically. I became at ease with change, welcomed it. Results came easier for me.”

The Word in Our Heart
After talking with John, I realized the wisdom of something Martin Seligman wrote in Learned Optimism. “Each of us carries a word in our heart,” a NO or a YES.” What, I wondered, was my word?

Through my work with Robert Fritz, I had started saying “yes” to what mattered to me. However, the dominant word in my heart was still “no.”

In my attempts to better myself, and my world, I focused primarily on environmental, social, personal, and interpersonal problems. Most of my energy went to worrying about things I did not like and did not want, and trying to get rid of them. Or, relief from them.

Trying to force creations into being, I tried to overpower the forces in play with my will. That sometimes worked, but it was draining. Worse, the results rarely lasted.

I also used conflict as a tool. When creating did not come easy for me (as I thought it “should”), I slipped into NBC thinking—nagging, bitching and complaining. That depleted my energy, irritated others, and led to more problems and conflict.

Don’t get me wrong. I was not like that all the time, or even most of the time. I created things like a mountaineering school and a wilderness program for teens. I developed programs, published articles, and gave speeches. But, after my chat with John, I knew a strong, committed Yes was not yet the primary word in my heart.

When I made it so, things improved for me, too.

I let go of my need to solve problems—the world’s and my own. I focused instead on creating what I want in my life and world. I began to do as Rumi suggests in “An Empty Garlic”: “Let yourself be silently drawn/by the stronger pull of what you really love.”

It was a great day when I realized that true success and happiness came only when I involved my heart, took ownership for what I most wanted, and said “Yes!” to my heart’s desires.

Suddenly, life got simpler, and easier. I still faced obstacles and adversity, but I accepted rather than fought them. I embraced them as “givens,” raw material out of which to create what truly mattered to me. I learned from them, and rose above them.

Eventually, I realized that I could create success and happiness with whatever life gave me. That was a truly great day.
----------
Adapted from my ebook Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods and Create What Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You!
------------------------



>THIS WEEK'S QUOTES:
====================
"When we learn to say a deep, passionate yes to the things that really matter, then peace begins to settle onto our lives like golden sunlight sifting to a forest floor."
-Thomas Kincaid

"Knowing what you want is the first step toward getting it."
-- Mae West

"The question is not what a man can scorn, or disparage, or find fault with, but what he can love, value and appreciate."
- John Ruskin

“If you see your tasks in life as drudgery, then they are drudgery. On the other hand, if you see them as gifts of the Universe manifest through you, then your tasks are done in the spirit of love and generosity. You step out of your ordinary life and make it extraordinary. Little by little, you realize that your life truly makes a difference and you are filled with a wondrous sense of gratitude and abundant flow. A heavenly feeling, indeed!”
- Susan Jeffers
------------------------


Say "yes" to what matters most to you, and see what happens.
All the best!
Bruce
**************************************************
> BRUCE ELKIN:
Personal, Professional, and Organization Renewal Coach
>Call: 250.388.7210 www.BruceElkin.com Or Skype Me!
**************************************************
> View the current issue of my full newsletter at
http://createwhatmattersmost.blogspot.com/
-------------------

Too late to start? Or just the perfect time?

**************************************************
"SIMPLY SUCCESS" - SHORT POST - June 5, 2007
=======================================
>Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work
Bruce Elkin: Life/Work Design Coach
Personal - Professional - Organizational
http://www.BruceElkin.com
Sent to subscribers only. Names are never shared or sold!
To leave list or change email address, scroll to bottom.
**************************************************

Hi All,
After a couple days of record-breaking warm weather in BC, the clouds have moved in and the showers have started. Ah, well . . .
We need the rain for the gardens and flowers.

A question many of my clients wrestle with is, "What if I'm starting too late?"

Whether they want to writers or small businesspersons or coaches or marathon runners, the question, "What if I'm starting too late?" is not a useful one. It tends to scare the questioner into inaction.

Why start, if it is "too" late?

There is a world of difference between starting late and starting "too" late. The first is a description of current reality. The second is a judgment, a conclusion that distorts current reality, and makes action -- experiments and exploration -- seem futile.

Even "late" is a judgment, albeit softer than "too late." In the creative process, you would simply describe when you're starting.
No more, no less. Just the facts. I'm starting my novel when I'm 26, or 56, or 86. One of my writing mentors, Bill Kittredge just published his first novel at the age of 75. To rave reviews!

Consider this passage from a new and powerfully memoir A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas. It contains wisdom that you can apply to any endeavor you may want to start, writing or whatever . . . (I've put it in paragraphs for easier on-line reading.)

"I didn't start writing until I was 47. I had always wanted to write but thought you needed a degree, or membership in a club nobody had asked me to join. I thought God had to touch you on the forehead, I thought you needed to have something specific to say, something important, and I thought needed all that laid out from the git-go.

"It was a long time before I realized that you don't have to start right, you just have to start. Put pen to paper, allow yourself the freedom to write badly, to get it wrong, stop looking over you own shoulder.

"You idiot," I would say to myself after half a page. "What makes you think you can write?" and then I'd crumple it up and aim for the wastebasket."

She goes on to explain how, through practice, she discovered her own voice, and to make the stories she told her own, from her heart.

"I was off and running," she says. "For the first time a story was more important than my own ego, and the know-it-all voice that told me not to bother held no sway."

About 15 years later, she published A Three Dog Life, which writer Stephen King says is the "best memoir I've read."

So do not ask whether it is too late to start creating what matters most to you. Get clear that you truly do want to create it, get clear about what you have (strengths mostly, but weaknesses, too), and then start.

I have worked with many people who thought they needed a degree before they started, but discovered they did not once they started and made progress.

I've worked with many people who thought they needed to be "perfectly" clear about their result before they started, but discovered that clarity emerged in the doing, through action, and learning from experience.

I've worked with people who thought they needed "more time" before they could start, but found that learning to create helped them manage their priorities better, giving them more time for what mattered most.

If there is something you would love to create, start it. Take action in support of it. Even if it is the wrong action, it is easier to change direction when you're moving than when you're stuck or stalled.

Put what matters most to you at the top of your list, and be bold.

"Boldness," said Goethe, has genius, power and magic in it."

Once started, your energy will swell. The way will become clearer. Practice will make more sense. And, by drawing on passion, patience, and perseverance -- and practice, practice, practice! -- you will create what matters to you.
------------------------



TOOLS TO HELP YOU GET STARTED AND KEEP MOVING
===================================
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Great stuff to help you get started with your small business or
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-----------------------



>THIS WEEK'S QUOTES:
====================
"We don't know who we are until we see what we can do."
- Martha Grimes

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
- Michelangelo

"The time came when the risk it too to remain tight in a bud was more painful that the risk it too to blossom."
- Anaïs Nin

"Ambition by itself never gets anywhere until it forms a partnership with hard work."
- James Garfield

"The secret of success is constancy of purpose."
- Benjamin Disraeli
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> CAN YOU HELP ME BUILD MY MAILING LIST?
=============================
Our list has gradually increased to about 825 subscribers. I'd love to get it over the 1000 mark in the next month or 2 -- and I'd really love your help in doing so.

Please forward my newsletter posts to friends and colleagues who you think would appreciate them. Or recommend that they read them on line at http://createwhatmattersmost.blogspot.com/

Success breeds success. The more subscribers we have on the list, the more viable it is, and the more likely it is to stay viable.
So, please, if you like what you read here, help me build the list.
I truly do appreciate your help. Thanks!
---------------

And don't forget, if you want to create something start it. Be bold!
All the best!
Bruce
**************************************************
> BRUCE ELKIN:
Personal, Professional, and Organization Renewal Coach
>Call: 250.388.7210 www.BruceElkin.com Or Skype Me!
**************************************************