Take the Priority 3 Challenge

Carolyn Manning hosted a fantastic international virtual conference today. If you would like to read what everyone had to say, go on over to Thoughts and Philosophies and browse through all the comments.

I was very honored to have hosted the 5 pm EST hour. My topic was Prioritizing Before You Go Crazy. I almost did go crazy today but it wasn’t for lack of prioritizing. For some reason I was challenged with technical difficulties that kept preventing me from commenting. I think I stomped in on Jessica Doyle and Bes Zain , The Reasoner, with my technical woes. Thank you for your understanding.

I was having a great deal of difficulty in trying to get a hold of Carolyn so I used the back door by going over to Rick Cockrum’s blog, Shards of Consciousness, and asked him to post a message for me. Thank You Rick!

To make a long story short, I was finally able to get into Carolyn’s comment section and as long as I didn’t touch any buttons and stayed put, I was able to submit my comments. Whew!

Now the Challenge

If you’re like me you may have about 20 things on your list and can’t seem to get many of them done because you try to do them all at once. I have the misconception that all my tasks deserve to be listed as #1. (Doesn’t this sound like the inability to say no?) Since that is impossible, I would like to put out a Prioritize 3 Challenge. Here is how it works:

Pick 3 tasks from your list and prioritize them in order of importance to you. Your challenge, if you choose to accept, will be to complete the top 3 tasks in the order you listed. Let me know how it works for you. This is totally on the honor system.

I’ll start it off. Three of the things I need to do or want to do or must do are; Go to the gym (exercise is very important), File the mail (I have 3 days worth on my desk, what’s another day?), Continue research for my book (this is time consuming). I placed them in this order: 1) gym, 2) filing, 3) research. I will report tomorrow night to let you know how well or how badly I did.

Write it down,

Carma

The Three P's of Prioritizing

Procrastination, Perfectionism, Prevention

I am inviting you to come by Friday May 11 at 5 p.m. EST for a stimulating conversation. I will be hosting one hour of Carolyn Manning's virtual conference Getting it Together. Carolyn explains on her Productivity Goal blog why this Friday was chosen on the same weekend as the SOBCon conference will be going on in Chicago.

Not everyone is able to attend SOBCon, unfortunately, so Carolyn is helping us to experience the Conference Inclusion.

My subject will be Prioritizing Before You Go Crazy. This is a great topic and Carolyn has a great line up. I feel very honored to have been asked to participate. What a fitting topic for writers. My problem is that all my "To do's" are number one and that is why I cannot prioritize. Acckk! Oh my, my, isn't that the silliest exucse you have ever heard?

It has worked for me in more ways than one. :)

1. I never have to reach a goal because I can't choose what to do first.
2. I have a valid reason to procrastinate. (See how these two relate?)
3. Without a priority list, I don't have to worry about succeeding or failing.

Drop by and talk with the likes of Bes Zain, The Reasoner; Rick Cockrum, Shards of Consciousness; Jessica Doyle, Jessicadoyle.ca; Leah Maclean, Working Solo; TechZ, TechZ Online; Klearchos Kapoutsis, Klearchos Guide to the Galaxy; Nneka, Balanced Life Center; Lyman Reed, Creating a Better Life.

Look forward to talking with you then.

Write it down,

Carma

What Do Clients Want?

The only two words that clients “want” are in the next few paragraphs. As you read, I want your mind to figure out what they are before you read them. When you see them, I earnestly hope you say, “I KNEW IT!” and ultimately that will be your invitation to go do something about it.

This may be a bitter pill for some but many clients/customers have a PERCEPTION that writers don’t deserve much pay, writers don’t work hard, and writers are a dime a dozen. This is very deceptive and NOT MY PERCEPTION at all. In fact it is a myth.

Writers are the hardest working people on the face of the earth and we should be able to beat the living tar out of that perception.

What do Clients want? They want someone to Exceed Expectations. That’s it. How do we do that? Over at Every Dot Connects, Connie Reece says it’s about Starting the Conversation.

Connie says: “My dad was a gifted salesman, I never once heard my dad use what could be called a sales pitch. Instead, he just talked to people. Struck up conversations.”

Think about it. Nothing happens until you talk to someone.

Writers are also sales people. Yes, we are. We sell our work and ourselves every day.

Drew McLellan gives some sage advice Your job as a marketer is not to sell. Your job is to help the customer want to buy. A distinct difference.

What better way than to talk to people. Have a conversation. Find out what they really want. Do they want you to be the myth-buster?

Write it down,

Carma

Forgive and Forget

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Emerson’s quote captures an essential activity. Forgiveness of the past. What is missing from Emerson’s quote, of course, is any hint of how does one ever manage successfully to do that?

The words are easy to say but what if you can’t forget them in any amount of time? Or, worse, what if “forgetting” means simply shoving them down into some dark space in your subconscious where they will fester for years... or even decades and eventually erupt in some outpouring of incomprehensible babble?

How can one finish each day with no resentment and forgiveness unless they have the necessary qualities of mercy and forgiveness already present within to make the act of getting rid of “my old nonsense” effective or possible? Learning to honestly admit failures, inadequacies and resentments, first to yourself then before the universe, seeking the sense of forgiveness and release that will make it possible to “forget them” as Emerson says you must.

It is possible, perhaps even necessary, to engage in forgiveness as a fundamentally selfish act—forgiving people or more importantly, forgiving yourself because you desperately need to become free from the acids of resentment that will otherwise burn into your soul. Resentment and bitterness will kill your creativity as quickly as a fire doused in water.

However, the process of forgiveness can empower you to deny permission to your old habits that keep pulling you down. Also this act empowers you to not keep repeating day-after-day tiresome and depressing patterns of personal failure and resentment.

Do Not give permission to your old habits and depressing patterns of personal failure to drag you down. Let each day of your life become an upward spiral. Repeat this mantra every day:

“I ain’t what I ought to be and I ain’t what I’m going to be, but at least I ain’t what I was.” (unknown)

Write it down,

Carma

Mind, Body and Spirit is Ki

As my friend and I walked past the Jungshim Ki Health Energy booth, a Master teacher smiled and asked if we wanted a demonstration of the special massage. My energy blockage must have manifested it self to him very strongly because Master Cha grabbed my hand to pull me over to him. Placing his hands on my shoulders, he began pressing very hard into my muscles. It almost hurt. Immediately I felt something release, then he took his hands away. Of course that was the teaser so I decided to go for the full thing.

Master Cha motioned me to lie on my back on the cot where I was in full view of every passer-by. The Jungshim Ki Treatment began and throaty sounds began to emanate from Master Cha as his physically powerful hands maneuvered their way over every key point of my body. I was very nervous but decided that since we were in a public place and he was a professional, that I could rest easy and enjoy this Ki Treatment.

As each of his hands engulfed both my ears and turning my neck side to side, his loud breathing, almost panting, shooossssh, shooosssh, then, a human sonic boom escaped from his mouth in short bursts, sounding like it was in excess of 10 decibels,. This was repeated many times during the treatment. The noise seemed to intensify when his hands were around my neck.

The Ki Treatment is a unique acupressure and energy treatment. When the Ki Treatment was over, Master Cha, smiled pleasantly asking how I felt. I felt very calm and light. Ki Masters believe that Ki Energy revitalizes body, mind and spirit and restores our connection with Nature.

This Ki Energy experience took place at the New Living Expo, this past Friday, where my friend and I were greeted with familiar sights and smells from the 60’s. The focus of this expo was on connecting mind, body and spirit and a renewal of commitment to the betterment of the environment. Natural herbs, crystals, natural foods were on hand. Each booth was connected to mind, body and spirit or environment. Also, free physic readings were available.

We all could use a little more postive emotions in our life. Cultivating a beautiful and positive mind is essential to maintain a healthy body and a stable flow of energy.

Write it down,

Carma

Out of Body Out of Mind. Do You Visualize?

Saturday was a frantic day and I still had to buy my son-in-law’s gift for his surprise 30th birthday party. I had decided that I would purchase a gift card to his favorite restaurant, Lucy’s Asia Bistro. They have a sumptuous sushi bar, if you like sushi. Personally, I wouldn’t call sushi, sumptuous. Meager would be more like it.

Nevertheless, the surprise party was to begin in approximately three hours. This gave me ample time to drive over to Lucy’s and pick up the gift card. Mentally I had prepared a list of “to do’s” (similar to word association only the words are replaced with pictures in my mind). I mentally visualized my arrival at Lucy’s. I saw my car turn left onto the street; I could see the beige color of the building, the oval shaped red and orange sign with a giant letter A on the outside of the building and the party store across the parking lot.

My mental “to do” list was deeply settled into my subconscious while my conscious mind was paying attention to my driving. I left home feeling confident and assured. Neil Diamond’s song, Soolamoin was playing loudly on my CD player and my hands were tapping the steering wheel as I pulled up to the stop light.

Red became green and as I turned left onto the two lane highway the large unmistakable orange logo of Home Depot practically jumped in front of my car. Bewilderment poured over me like melted butter and I felt like I was awakening from a long sleep. “Where am I”? I said to no one there. I kept one eye on the road and in further disbelief I kept my other eye on Home Depot trying to figure out how I got here.

The next 15 seconds crawled as I tried to make sense of where I was…I mean I knew where I was but I was not where I was supposed to be. I had given my subconscious a destination, a plan, a direction and it complied becuase it arrived at Lucy's before my body did. Then, as fast as it had happened, it was over and I realized that I had not reached Lucy’s yet.

What is it about visualization? Visualization is a worthwhile and valuable exercise when practicing how to succeed. Many successful athletes and artistes use visualization with their regular practice. Successful leaders talk about it all the time. When has visualization been successful for you? Write it down,

Carma

What's In A Name?

Today I made a business decision to change the name of my blog Karma's Word and web site, Karma's Window, to Carma's Word and Carma's Window respectively. This prompted me to think about What's in a Name anyway? How important is it to our business and personal identity?

Does your name define you? Did you choose your name? How many of us changed our name as we grew older?

As you may notice, my name is Carma With a C. Not Carmen, Carmel or Carnival, although I have been called all of those.

What’s in a name anyway? I didn’t pick my name, did you? You remember the song by Johnny Cash, A Boy Named Sue? The song more or less tells the story of a boy named Sue who had to defend his name all his life. He dreamed of the day he would meet the man who named him Sue and how he would tear him apart.

Father and son met up in prison and Sue confronted him, asking Why did you name me Sue??? The father replied that he knew Sue would not have a father around to teach him to be strong so he gave him the name Sue knowing that would make him tough because he would have to defend himself all his life. The point is that even before we are born, many decisions are made for us which will influence our journey in life.

My grandmother named me Carma. Many years later my mother told me that grandma did not have anything mystical or spiritual in mind when she named me. She wanted me to be different since I was the first granddaughter. Maybe she was a little like Sue’s dad and believed the name would give me character. I would be different.

I like my name now, but while growing up it made me more introverted than if I had been named Mary Lou. I dreamed of changing my name to Mary Lou, Donna, Peggy Sue... all the names songs were written about. No one wrote a song about Carma.

Naturally, I was shy during my school years which were during the era of miles and miles of mesh, net petty coats, rolled down bobby socks, buck skin shoes and felt skirts with poodles on them and James Dean. Young girls were expected to grow up, get married and have children. I didn’t disappoint that prognosis, however, how I accomplished that was not what my mother had in mind (another story). Nevertheless, as an adult it was much easier to be Carma, I was the cool girl with the cool name. This is when I began to like myself a little better.

What's In Your Name?

Write it down,
Carma