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               WORKIN' MY WAY NEWSLETTER January 2009
 Welcome to new subscribers and to 2009. I have always liked the
New Year season because it means I can put the past year to bed and
look forward.  Whether you need to move beyond a difficult year or
celebrate a successful one, the new beginning means a chance to
start again.   Be sure to send me your mantra for 2009 by
commenting on my blog.  Copy and paste this link:
www.lifeandworkbydesign.com/blog

For those of you who missed the announcement over the holidays, I
will continue to offer a 90 minute Dreamer's Dialogue for $100 for
January and February  (a $40 discount.)  This consulting session is
designed to help you figure out how to move forward on a dream or
stream of income idea.   It includes a free e-book copy of the
book, Finding Your True Calling: The Handbook for People Who Still
Don't Know What They Want To Be When They Grow Up  by Valerie
Young.  

Take the first step to a bigger, better life by calling for a free
30 minute consultation to see if this will be helpful to you. 


Or If you are already interested in becoming an "outside the box"
creative career consultant, Changing Course.com has a new
self-directed study course available for 2009.  Follow this link to
find out how you can begin to build an independent business that
will use your creativity, imagination and fulfill your desire to
help others. Copy and paste this link in your browser:
http://tinyurl.com/6t5yof

**********************BOOOORRRRRRRING! ***************************

We've all heard it from the young people around us - it's generally
said with great disdain in response to a suggestion from a parent
or grandparent.   But what about you?    Did your new year start
out BOOORRING last week?  Back to the same old, same old - job,
commute, bad boss, senseless running around, endless repetitive
chores?   Are you stuck in the proverbial rut?   
I wonder sometimes if those people who leave their Christmas
decorations up until
March do it just because it is a change - something different to
look at - and taking them down means going back to the boooorrrring
usual life and look.
    
Do you drift through work all week just to get to Friday and the
freedom of the weekend?  Do you get to the evening and wonder where
the day went because you spent it doing busywork?  Do you look
ahead six months and see nothing new on the horizon?   Is there any
idea floating around in the back of your mind that never quite
makes it to the front because there's not enough quiet time to
contemplate it? 
 
I distinctly remember the year I got to New Year's Eve and wrote in
capital letters in my journal - THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT!  The
year was 1996 and I meant it.  That was the beginning of my own
life/work makeover.
  
Is it time to redesign your life and/or work?    Do you want a
change - really want a change? Here are three things you could try
this month. 
 
1.	Buy a journal or notebook entitled New for 2009. This can 
be an actual written chronological journal
or you might use it to jot down ideas for possible new endeavors
and add information to them as you can. This is the place you can
come back to as time allows to get your mind back on the track of
your changes.     Too often we get a great idea, but the hustle and
bustle of everyday life soon pushes it aside and it gets lost.  
  
2.	 Draw a life map of your possibilities and obstacles; If you
don't know anything about mind or life maps, Google Mind Mapping to
read an article at Wikipedia for some examples.  This is a great
exercise to get the ideas flowing and is a visual way to "dump" all
the ideas, problems and
thoughts in your head onto one page where you can see how they
affect each other.    

3.	Make a list of things you want to change, accomplish, see, 
do or learn.   You might start with two lists -  "What's Right in my
Life?"  and" What Needs to Change?"   

Use the month of January to gather your thoughts - turn off the car
radio or cell phone while you are sitting in traffic or on the
train or bus and just think.  Forego one evening of TV each week to
work on this assignment. 
  
Make this the year that you change your life from BOOORRING to
exciting and challenging. Schedule at least 1 hour a week to
complete some or all of these suggestions and I promise you will
end the first month with a new attitude toward the possibility of
change. 
    
Next month I'll suggest ways to start working on one specific goal. 

*********************Book Reviews******************************** 

Instead of reviewing a new book this month, I'd like to recommend
some old favorites for starting your year off right. 

    * For wannabe writers - get Writing Down the Bones by Natalie
Goldberg; 
    *  For aspiring artists - try Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way; 
    *  if you have lots of passions The Renaissance Soul by
Margaret Lobenstine is excellent;
    * for the over 50 crowd, Encore by Marc Freedman or the new
edition of
      What Color is Your Parachute for Retirement are both
inspirational reads; 
    * If you just need to get started, This Year I Will by MJ Ryan
is easy to follow;
    * if your goal is to get involved in something that improves
your community or the larger world, read Making a Living while 
Making a Difference by Melissa Everett.  

There is a Book tab on my web-site that will take you to my
bookstore on Amazon.com.   My store contains all the books I
recommend making it easy to choose good, useful titles.

You can purchase directly from that page for the same price and
no-shipping policy of the main Amazon site - but I get a small
commission -so you can help me while you help yourself.     I
appreciate the support! 

*******************Inspiration for Hard Times ********************


I am completely aware that this new year may bring some pretty
hefty trials and tribulations to some of you.  I've already heard
of several lay-offs among my readers and clients.  The world and
our nation, as well as each of us as individuals, are facing
dramatic changes in life as we have come to know it.  

As one of the "elders" I have learned that we will survive and I
have found that I am always stronger when I come out the other side
of a bad situation.  We can get through this period and we will be
better for it.   I offer the following quotes from some wise folks.

  The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their
power to harm us.
                                             Voltaire

  There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have
grown hopeless about them.         Clare Boothe Luce 
 
  If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house
is on fire - then you've got a problem.    Everything else is
inconvenience.    Robert Fulghum

   My e-mail box is always open if you just need to chat....
               lifeworkdesigner at me dot com