Newsletters

Your Fresh Start is a monthly newsletter for conscious, self-aware people who want to new ideas and perspectives on their work/lives for increased self expression, satisfaction and income, essentially, bringing more 'life' into livelihood.

Welcome to Issue Three of Your Fresh Start - August 2008 … And Please Pass It On to Others

How Much Inspiration Can You Take?

By Melanie Keveles, MA, CPCC, MCC - Master Certified Coach

Truth be told I don't travel anywhere anymore without my ipod.  On my way back from the bank and post office, I realized how little lately I've listened to NPR or others of my previously favorite radio stations.  My new favorites are the podcasts I've downloaded such as Learn from My Life, Living Dialogues, Theatre of the Mind. I guess the closest I've come to listening to something commercially broadcast is excerpts from Oprah's Soul Series.  Everything I listen to inspires me!

For example, this morning I was listening to an interview on Learn from My Life with Daryn Kagan.  Daryn was a CNN correspondent for 12 years until in 2006, CNN didn't renew her contract.  She says that while this was a 'bummer,' she used this event as an opportunity to launch herself into what she herself really wanted to do - rather than follow stories about war - she was there during the start of the Iraq War and for 9/11 -- she wants to inspire people with what others' are doing in a more positive vein.

So she's written a book, created an online presence and invited people to share their inspiring stories with her.  Rather than using the sophisticated equipment she was used to at CNN, she now asks her interviewees to supply their own video.  She says it's amazing how many people have video cams or access to video cameras.  She puts her subjects on speaker phone and has them look into the camera as she interviews them.  She asks them also to supply her with several still photos.  Her subjects mail her their videos and she uploads them to her site.  How simple is that?

And she solicits her own advertising.  On her Web site, she invites people to support her with these words:

Advertising on DarynKagan.com is a unique way to associate your product with the wonderful feeling visitors get when they experience the website.

We are creating custom advertising packages that allow you, the advertiser, to sponsor the home page, the webcast, individual category pages, or our Blackberry delivered content.

Who needs CNN when we individually can make our own way in the world?

Another recent guest on the Learn from my Life podcast was Dan Pink, author of Free Agent Nation, A Whole New Mind, and most lately, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.  Dan Pink is a guy we can all learn from.  He's invented himself through and through and continues to reinvent himself.  He's a true solopreneur who continues to follow what interests him as well as what interests the rest of us.

When he left Washington as the chief speech writer for Al Gore, Pink went to work for Fast Company Magazine.  While there, he turned an article idea into his first book that explored the explosion of people becoming their own bosses as solopreneurs.  From there he explored the skills needed for the 21st Century, telling us that because of Asia, automation and affluence, our whole brains will be needed in this new century.  His latest book uses a Japanese adult comic book form called “manga” to tell the story of a young man having career angst.  In this format, Pink identifies six key ideas that help us navigate career success today.  He freely shared these ideas in his interview on the podcast:  1) There is no plan; 2) Think strengths, not weaknesses; 3) It's not about you; 4) persistence trumps talent; 5) Make excellent mistakes; 6) leave imprints.

This is sage advice for 21st century career navigation!  Planning was feasible in more stable times - when our lives and the world were seemingly more predictable.  But today, more than ever, it's wise to follow our interests, just as Dan Pink has done.  There's no master plan that can be relied on for great stretches of time any more.  Thinking strengths rather than weaknesses is advice we're heard also from Marcus Buckingham in his book, Now Discover Your Strengths.  It's so blatantly obvious that we all do better focusing on our strengths.  Rather than trying to shore up our weaknesses - why not partner with others who have those as their strengths?  No brainer!

What I think Pink means by it's not about you is that we need to see ourselves as resources for others - look at how we can solve others' problems - the more we do so, the more in demand we become.  I heard just this from a client of mine this week.  Her light bulb moment came when she started networking with others and telling them she was available as a resource to them - the moment she did so, her phone started ringing off the hook - people took her up on her offer and suddenly thought of tons of people to connect her with!

Persistence trumps talent - another no brainer - of course - it's the most persistent people I've seen who get the opportunities they want - it's really always been that way - even Napoleon Hill told us so in Think and Grow Rich - he learned that from self made Andrew Carnegie back at the beginning of the 20th Century!

Make excellent mistakes - if we're not willing to fail, we shrink back and literally don't do anything - weren't post it notes excellent mistakes?  And finally, leave imprints - what that tells me is what I hear from so many of my clients - they want to leave a legacy - they want the world to know they were here!  And so we see people like Kagen and Pink leaving imprints - leaving big foot prints - and we can be inspired by what we hear on these podcasts.

Do yourself a favor - start tuning into learnfromyourlife podcast - get inspired.  While you're over at itunes, see what people tuning into this podcast are also listening to.  Frankly, that's been the way I've discovered podcasts I might otherwise not  have known about.  Just think about this - there are tons of new ways to be inspired - how much inspiration can YOU take?  You'd be surprised - you've got great capacity!

Reprint Rights

Please feel free to reprint this article as long as the following bio (and link to my site) is included with the article.

Melanie Keveles helps people make long-forgotten dreams come true. A master certified coach, she's helped her clients find greater career satisfaction, launch entrepreneurial ventures, and get their books published. Do you have a dream that you keep yearning over? Call Melanie today and take the first step to realizing it. You can reach Melanie at , at 715.394.4260, or www.startingfreshcoaching.com.

You'll also want to read Melanie's upcoming book. Co-author of Fired for Success: How to Turn Losing Your Job into the Opportunity of a Lifetime! (Warner Books), Melanie is under contract with Praeger Books for a forthcoming book on entrepreneurial women, Scrappy Startups: How 15 Ordinary Women Turned their Unique Ideas into Profitable Business.