Shut Up and Take Action

(To listen to this blog rather than read it go here: http://tinyurl.com/2t3vgw )

Hi Everyone,
I think I want to rant a bit. There are so many things to reinvent in the world. If I were queen for a day... here's what I'd love to change:
- the whole political system in this country -- too much fighting and back stabbing
- the fact that people don't seem to understand one another -- the old "walk in someone else's shoes idea" ... if you're rich, spend a few days living like a poor person; and if you're poor, spend a few days living like a rich person. You'll see we all have issues.
- all the award shows ... could we just combine them into one long show ...?
- public fighting ... as on TV. I'm sick of the NBC issues. Do we need all these talk shows anyhow?
- lack of respect. I live in NYC, ride subways and buses. I can't tell you the number of young people that NEVER get up and give their seat to an older person who might need it. I can' even tell you how many younger people don't hold the door when they walk out, but rather just let it slam on the person behind them.
- news reporting... couldn't they just report what's happening without trying to destroy the person they're reporting about... people can make up their own minds.

Well, I could go on and on about my opinions. I won't. The point is ... there's much to change in the world AND we are mostly unable to pull those changes off. We can complain and whine; we can vote for change; we can write our editors, etc ... do what we can. There's a lot of frustration in trying to change big systems.

That being said .. we CAN effectly cause change in our own lives and maybe even those close to us. If we're sick and tired of how things are, we can work to shift our circumstances and have different experiences.

Stop saying "I can't." Stop thinking you can't. You can. If you're willing.

Much of my own personal change these days is circumstantial and sometimes feels out of my control. I have a scary health diagnosis, am getting treatment. It's an annoyance and I can't change that I have it. But, I can reinvent how I look at it all and deal with it. It IS up to me.

So, where in your life do you need to shut up and just take matters into your own hands to make some shifts and changes? I challenge you to take some action.

Share your thoughts, your actions... let us know what you're up to.
Reinvention is not overrated .. it's amazing and liberating and empowering.

Hang in there.
Ann

If Starbucks Can Do it ... You can do it!

Hi Everyone,
I've been on hiatus for a couple of weeks .. some travel, and some other business. I'm back and will be more regular.

ReInvention is such a hot word. I get a google alert everyday about reinvention and it's chock full of all sorts of articles. I read about movie characters being reinvented, companies reinventing, individuals blogging about how they're reinventing their lives. It's wonderful. So, I started wondering even more why the word is so popular and why so many people are re-examining their lives or the cultures of their companies, etc.

It's not rocket science. Our world is in a whirlwind of challenge and change. We have wars, we have devastating earthquakes and tornadoes, we have a very volatile economy and many unemployed people. There is no certainty at all .. in anything. Even the wealthy are having to sacrifice and watch more carefully. Nothing can be depended on. No one escapes the effects of all this turmoil.

So, change becomes the issue. If things aren't working, then do something different. Period. I'll continue to stress that all the time.

I just saw an interesting article on Starbucks. During the last couple of years, they realized that their popularity wasn't where it once was. They needed to go back to the drawing board and consider the quality of their products, create new foods and flavors, begin a social media blitz. They reinvented a great deal. (You can read the whole article here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1955588,00.html)

So, what makes you any different than Starbucks. What do you have to stop doing or start doing that might make all the difference? Where would reinvention help you? Do you need to shift your attitude? Your career? Do you need to move locations? Do you need to commit to something? Take stock ... look around at your life.

I refer to our present life, at least for most of us, as remaining in the status quo. We do what we do, we don't spend too much time analyzing it, we DO spend time complaining about it. But, do we do what it takes to shift it into something we don't want to complain about?

I'll use myself here as an example. I speak professionally and I coach people. I've had different focuses over the years. Originally I started Humor University. I brought humor to the workplace (even wrote a book about it.) I continue to speak and to coach, but have transitioned quite a bit into this whole reinvention topic. I work with companies to shift their culture .. still bringing fun and happiness into the corporate environment. I work with individuals wanting to have some shift in their life. I run reinvention workshops. However, in this last one .. the workshops, I'm not attracting enough people. I hear people all around me saying how confused they are and how they want things to be different. But, when it comes to plunking down some cash to get into the workshop, they don't. So, I have to rewrite my brochures to be more compelling, or do more social media pushing or something. I have to get some advice on how to reinvent the reinvention workshop literature so that people are drawn to it. Maybe I'll even have to call it something different.

You see, it's about "tweaking." How do you tweak what you do all the time to continue to raise the bar? What does it take? If you're an entrepreneur you do that all the time. If you're a business, you do that all the time.

So, I ask you .. where in your life do you have to "tweak?" Where do you want to raise the bar? What do you want to be different? ANd, what's one step you can take today to begin to do that?

Happy ReInventing.
I welcome your comments.... especially on what you would call a reinvention workshop so that people would come.
Thanks, and happy weekend.
ann

Creating a ReInvention Vision

Okay, so in your head, maybe in the middle of the night, you say to yourself, "my life sort of sucks" or "I'm ready for something new and different" or "I think I'll move to Bali and start over." But, then you wake up in the morning and your day begins, like every other day and you silence the internal voice, suck it up and do what you always do.

Is this a familiar scenario? And, for how many years have you been doing this?

I get email all the time from people who dream quietly and sometimes even desperately, in their heads, but then squelch it and continue with the same old same old. Is it that they're idiots? NO, it's that they're scared, don't know how, feel overly obligated to others, dependent on the current lifestyle. You name it and the excuse is there.

More seriously, in some cases, they just don't even know that they are unhappy or that there are lurking desires. They're clueless, out of touch. They've buried their desires so down deep inside that they don't even remember them.

Wherever you are in this spectrum -- from KNOWING that you do want things to be different to CLUELESS ... here's an exercise you can take on. It works on the subconscious level and you don't even really have to think.

It's called Visioning or Creating a Vision Board. I'll take you through it one step at a time.
1. Get the following supplies and have them ready: a bunch of magazines, a pair of scissors, a glue stick, a poster board.
2. Give yourself permission to just go with it, not think and be playful.
3. Start to wonder / inquire inside: What would I love my life to look like in 2010?
4. Start going through the magazines. Everytime a picture grabs your attention, just rip it out (In addition to pictures, Words and phrases count)
5. Take all the pages you ripped out and start cutting out the portions of them that appeal to you -- photos, captions, words, etc.
6. Using the glue stick, start gluing them on the poster board. Be creative. You can cluster them (e.g. .. I have a section on my board related to business, another related to health, another to relationships) OR just put anything wherever you like the way it looks. THERE'S NO RIGHT OR WRONG WAY TO DO THIS.
7. You can further decorate it if you'd like ... not necessary.
8. Once you have enough on the board, feel inspired by it, then put it up someplace where you can see it regularly. (I know it might not add to the beautiful art you have.. but you'll find a place.)

Voila -- you're done. Then, many times, every day, as you walk by the board, you'll be reminded of what "lights you up" for the next year. It will start working on you.
It's a way cool idea.

The only reason not to do this is to stay in whatever rut you're in. However, at the end of the year, do not complain that you're in the same place.
The reasons to do this ... well .. .everything. It's based on the premise, that if you can see it .. you can create it. It's what is talked about in the Law of Attraction.
So, it's up to you. How do you want to create your year?

I hope you take this on and enjoy it.
Happy 2010.
Remember -- no resolutions .. just intention and action.
Cheers and Have fun,
Ann

ReInventing a New Year, New Decade, New You! Take YOU ON!

Happy 2010 ....
We are three days into this new year and decade. I've taken a bit of downtime and I've been reflecting about the last year, the last few years and what is to come. I'm energized and excited. I hope I can encourage you to feel that way too.

So, is it time to ReInvent a whole new relationship with yourself, your life, time, etc? Are you ready to take a LEAP? Are you tired of reacting rather than reinventing? If so, I've got some great questions to ask you. And, I invite you to answer them .. perhaps in a journal or on your computer in a word doc.
TAKE YOURSELF ON!

If you have any yearning for 2010 and the next decade to be DIFFERENT than the past, then do this for yourself. You DON'T have to settle!! Period. End of story.

First, some questions, then some resources.
Questions:
1. What are you thinking about as you begin this new year?
2. What are your reflections about the past year? How was it? (be honest)
3. What lessons did you learn this year?
4. What are your biggest challenges going into the new year?
5. What have you been putting off that now needs to happen? What are you waiting for?
6. How would you like to be better at your job or at work? What needs to be reinvented there?
7. If you were the best at what you do ... what would that look like?
8. What would you like to do with your one wild and crazy life? In other words, what have you always wanted to do, but haven't? Is this the year?
9. What are you grateful for?
10. What are your first 3 steps of action ... beginning NOW?

I hope you really will answer these questions and take yourself on. If not you, then who?
I know that change can be scary ... but much better to take it on willfully and by choice than to have it thrust upon you.

However, if change has been thrust upon you; if circumstances have intervened when you least expected them, then go here and listen to my most recent article called: Thriving After ...! http://tinyurl.com/2t3vgw I hope it excites you to move forward.

There are many resources for you to read and visit. Google the word "reinvention" and see what comes up. Go to http://www.selfgrowth.com and read fabulous articles. Stay tuned to my blog. I'll be challenging you regularly.

There are NO excuses NOT to take yourself on. I always ask myself, "if not now, when?" I absolutely refuse to settle for things being the same old, same old - the status quo. I invite myself to go further .. to go beyond who I know myself to be. And, I invite you to do the same.

Happy Week One of reinventing the new YOU, the new year and the new decade!
Please leave your comments on how you're doing. I'd love to hear from you.
Onward,
ann

P.S. DO NOT make resolutions -- you don't keep them, so they are insignificant. Just move forward with intention and action.