Self Improvement Newsletter
Issue # 432, December 19-20, 2006
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Improvement Newsletter, Click here!Please Visit Our Sponsors
Self Improvement Newsletter
Issue # 432, December 19-20, 2006
FREE Self
Improvement Newsletter, Click here!
Please Visit Our Sponsors
* Self Improvement and Personal Growth Weekly Newsletter
*
Issue # 432, Week of December 19-20, 2006
Publisher: David Riklan -
http://www.SelfGrowth.com
In this issue:
-- Quotes of the Week
-- Personal Growth Products and Services
-- Article: What You Need to Know about Choosing – By John R. Dempsey
-- Article: Progress Trumps Perfection – By Nan S. Russell
-- Book Review: The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart – By Julia
Cameron
-- Brief News of the World
-- How to Subscrïbe and Unsubscrïbe from this Newsletter
Current Subscribers – 252,334 subscribers.
Remöval instructions are listed at the end of the newsletter.
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*** Quotes of the Week ***
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People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and
the conventional way of doing things. – R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895-1983,
American Architect and Engineer
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will
never grow. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet and Essayist
Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled
and perhaps remedied. – Pearl S. Buck, 1892-1973, American Novelist and Pulitzer
Prize Winner
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*** Article: What You Need to Know about Choosing – By John R. Dempsey ***
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Choosing is like breathing. You do it--must do it--all day, every day.
Deliberate or habitual, in matters big or small, you are always choosing--what
NEXT, what NOW, what IF, what WHEN.
Like breathing, choosing can become so automatic that you are not certain how or
why it works. You may not understand how or why it sometimes fails you.
Remember these ABCs of choosing, and you can breathe easier, become better at
weighing your options in every situation, and become more effective in all your
choosing--deliberate and habitual, big and small.
Two sides to every story
The story of choosing has two sides--perceiving and interpreting. To choose
well, you must consider each side of the story independently of the other. You
must consider the whole story, of course, and yet you must always distinguish
clearly between what you perceive and what you interpret. The line between
perceiving and interpreting can be very thin and very flexible. You can easily
mistake one for the other.
Remember: You can only interpret what you can perceive--choosing requires both.
What is and what's possible
To choose well, you must consider "what is" that is relevant and meaningful for
you. You must also consider "what's possible" that is relevant and meaningful
for you. "What is" is the linear world of apparent cause and effect, immanent
reality, and your physical senses perceive this world fully, accurately, and
consciously. "What's possible" is the latent world, transcendent reality, and
your intuitive senses perceive this world fully, accurately, and unconsciously.
Your beliefs, preferences, and habits may limit your capacity to perceive fully
and accurately, both consciously and unconsciously.
Remember: You perceive consciously and unconsciously--choosing requires both.
What you think and what you feel
To choose well, you must consider both the thoughts and the feelings that you
generate in response to your perception of what is and what's possible. You
interpret logically when you apply your mental awareness and intelligence--your
thinking--to consider the meaning and relevance of what you perceive. In
contrast, you interpret nonlogically when you apply your emotional awareness and
intelligence--your feelings.
Remember: You interpret logically and nonlogically--choosing requires both.
Every choice affects both what is and what's possible
Choosing is a creative act, generating change in both the immanent and the
latent worlds. Your choices lead you to action; your actions lead to outcomes.
Your actions and outcomes create ripples that change both what is and what's
possible.
You perceive the continuously changing landscapes of what is and what's
possible. You may sometimes feel that the pace of change is impossible for you
to keep up with, or you may feel paralyzed, unable to choose any action or
outcome.
Remember: You choose what's possible to make what is--choosing changes both.
Risk and reward
As you perceive and interpret what's possible, you naturally find some actions
and outcomes that appeal to you, some that repel you, and some that move you
neither one way nor the other. An action or outcome that repels you is a risk;
an action or outcome that appeals to you is a reward. Actions and outcomes that
move you neither one way nor the other are less risky and also less rewarding.
Actions that appeal to you may have outcomes that repel you. Outcomes that
appeal to you may require actions that repel you.
Remember: Risk and reward are two sides of the same coin--choosing engages both.
Choosing takes time, energy, and attention (TEA)
You consume a brew of your own time, energy, and attention while perceiving and
interpreting a situation and your options. You weigh the risks and the rewards.
You perceive, you interpret, you perceive--back and forth--all the while
consuming more and more of your precious TEA.
You may consume only a sip, or a cup, or even a full pot of your TEA. You may
take your TEA in solitude, share it in quiet conversation, or serve it freely.
Your time, energy, and attention are limited resources, continuously consumed by
necessary perceiving, interpreting, and choosing. When you share your TEA with
others, you perceive their interpretations, and they perceive your
interpretations.
Remember: You put some time, energy, and attention into every choice--big or
small.
Divergence and convergence
Perceiving determines how long choosing continues. You must perceive enough to
complete the choosing, and yet you must interpret to know what is enough.
You delay choosing when you devote more time, energy, and attention to
perceiving what is and what's possible and less to interpreting what you think
and what you feel. Interpreting determines when choosing ends. You hasten
choosing when you devote more time, energy, and attention to interpreting what
you think and what you feel and less to perceiving what is and what's possible.
You must know when to stop perceiving and when to start or continue
interpreting.
Remember: You delay choosing when you focus on perceiving; you hasten choosing
when you focus on interpreting.
TEA and possibility
The time, energy, and attention you devote to choosing vary with the amount of
risk and reward that you perceive and interpret. Some choices need only a modest
serving of TEA--you easily favor big-reward, small-risk options and ignore
small-reward, big-risk options. You serve less TEA for small-reward, small-risk
options. You may serve lots of TEA for big-reward, big-risk options. Your
capacity for full and accurate perceiving determines how well you understand the
risks and rewards involved when you are choosing.
Remember: You allot your time, energy, and attention to choosing according to
the risks and rewards that you perceive and interpret.
TEA for two
Much choosing becomes routine, everyday, little sips and cups of TEA choosing.
You create habits for everyday choosing, such as what you eat, how you dress,
where you go, who you see. For these things you consume less and less TEA,
perceiving what is and what's possible and interpreting what you think and what
you feel.
A lot of your choosing is for special occasions, requiring you to bring out the
good china for TEA. The frequency and quality of your special occasion choosing
depends greatly on the amount of TEA you have spared from everyday choosing. The
habitual choices that serve you well one day may not be suitable the next. "Big
and scary" special occasion choices can seem bigger and scarier when you hardly
ever entertain them.
Remember: You cultivate habitual choosing to free up time, energy, and attention
for higher-stakes choosing.
About the Author
This article was written by John R. Dempsey, contributing author to "101 Great
Ways to Improve Your Life: Volume 2." Since 1979, John has been a professional
consultant in public and private sector organizations in the U.S. and Canada,
developing and delivering effective educational and experiential workshops as
well as consulting and coaching with groups and individuals. His main website is
http://www.optionist.com, and you
can contact him via e-mail at
JDempsey@optionist.com.
His article above is one of 101 great chapters that can be found in "101 Great
Ways to Improve Your Life: Volume 2." This powerful compilation book -- with
John Gray, Jack Canfield, Richard Carlson, Bob Proctor, Alan Cohen, and
countless other experts -- contains 101 chapters of proven advice on how to
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*** Article: Progress Trumps Perfection – By Nan S. Russell ***
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In the late 17th century, Lord Chesterfield, an English writer and politician,
wrote to his son, "Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well." Three
hundred years later, we still heed this advice from the fourth Earl of
Chesterfield. Yet doing it well doesn't mean doing it perfectly. The 21st
century workplace requires more than doing something well.
More accurately, today's adage should be: "Whatever is worth doing, is worth
doing." That's the secret people who are winning at working know. It's action,
not inaction, practice not theory, and progress not perfection that builds
success, achieves results, and actualizes dreams.
After hearing me speak at a professional conference, a young woman sought me
out. She was struggling with this concept of progress over perfection and asked
for advice. "How do you do it?" she asked. "How do you accept something as
finished when you know it could be better?" She proceeded to tell me that she
was managing a project that was over budget and nine months past the deadline.
Her boss had made his displeasure clear. Yet, she struggled. "If only I had more
time to do it right," she pined.
Here's the thing. There's a difference between doing your best under the
circumstances, and trying to achieve perfection. As a person who, at times, has
perfectionist leanings, I understand doing things well. I know there is always
more you can do to make it better, grandeur, niftier; always more to add,
augment, or debug; more ideas, more tweaking, more revisions to make it close to
the illusionary perfect status. But, I've learned in twenty years in management,
in order to survive and thrive, progress trumps perfection.
If a toddler didn't walk until she could walk perfectly; the musician didn't
play until he was accepted by the Philharmonic; or the inventor didn't invent
until she had a multi-million dollar product, we'd think it crazy. And it's no
crazier for us. Whatever our work, we must move it forward to get results. Our
work is a work in progress. And so are we.
People who are winning at working test and pilot and risk and even fail
sometimes. They evolve a process, an idea, or a product bit by bit, laying
elements to build a strong foundation. Perfect is not the goal. Results and
progress are. As the saying goes, "Better is the enemy of done."
You see, sometimes the message is more important than the vehicle that delivers
it; the idea more important than the packaging, the work-around more important
than the ultimate fix to the problem. Sometimes it's not. But that's a judgment
call.
So unlike many who spend their days trying to make something perfect, people who
are winning at working spend their days making progress. Making progress, any
progress, fuels their motivation, creativity, and energy. It builds their
momentum. And it ignites their results. Want to be winning at working? Make
progress.
(c) 2006 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.
About the Author:
Sign up to receive Nan's complimentary biweekly eColumn at
http://www.winningatworking.com.
Nan Russell has spent over twenty years in management, most recently with QVC as
a Vice President. She has held leadership positions in Human Resource
Development, Communication, Marketing and line Management. Nan has a B.A. from
Stanford and M.A. from the University of Michigan. Currently working on her new
book, "Winning at Working: 10 Lessons Shared," Nan is a columnist, writer, and
speaker. Visit http://www.nanrussell.com
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*** Book Review: The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart – By Julia
Cameron ***
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In her best-selling "The Artist's Way," Cameron offered a 12-week program aimed
at recovering one's creativity. Each chapter ended with exercises designed to
help a reader glimpse his or her inner artist, which, Cameron said, had been
buried alive under a mountain of negative conditioning. Now Cameron urges
readers to go deeper still. As before, she urges them to write three daily
"morning pages" of stream-of-consciousness prose and to take themselves on a
weekly "artist's date," a solo outing designed to help them get better
acquainted with their inner selves.
But here, Cameron gives new emphasis to her advice about the value of a daily
20-minute walk: "The job of your adult self, for the course of this book, will
be to walk your creative child back to health." All the exercises here -- from
the considerable task of writing one's narrative history to doll-making; from
creating collages representing difficult relationships and mulling over the
common themes of favorite movies -- are intended to make readers feel deeply. "A
pilgrimage is a physical process," writes Cameron. "What this means is that the
tools of 'The Vein of Gold' will be more deeply felt, and therefore more deeply
resisted, than the tools of 'The Artist's Way.'"
The book is divided into "kingdoms" -- of sight, story, sound, attitude,
relationship, and spirituality. Each leads readers closer to their own "vein of
gold" -- to that territory of experience and possibility that, Cameron says, is
indelibly theirs. For those seeking the wellsprings of creativity, this book,
like its predecessor, is a solid gold divining rod.
-------
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