WORK IN PROGRESS
(Life, Me, You, This Newsletter)
Vol. V, Issue 22, November 15, 2001 ><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>><<>>
FINDING A STRATEGY THAT WORKS FOR YOU
Do you muddle through, or drift along, or do you have a
strategy to help you get where you want to go? Where
life in general is concerned, strategies need to begin by
being broad and basic, even though, as we fine-tune,
and focus in on specific goals or intentions that are a
part of our strategies, they usually need to become more
specific.
For example, for most of us, in our goal of having a life
that is joyful and rewarding, the first decision to be made
is... what does that mean to us? Do joy and rewards
come from an absorbing career? From a family, so that
the career becomes a means to the end of enhancing
that family? From a combination of both? From the free
time that enables us to pursue our hobbies? From a
search for inner or spiritual growth? Does that search
actually underlie both family and career? To what extent
are they, or other areas on which you may focus,
interdependent or are they separate? Do they support
each other or are they in competition with each other?
All of this self-searching is needed if we are to decide
how to maximize our chances of achieving the life we
seek - but which we may not yet have clarified. If we do
not clarify what we want, then we cannot design it. If we
do not design it, we cannot expect to live in it.
Certainly, the strategy of "going with the flow," of just
relaxing and allowing the universe to bring us what it will
has its merits. Some people can be very happy living
like that. Some even manage to grow, and to move
toward living their full potential... but it is not easy. After
all, if you go with the flow, allow the current to carry you
whither it will, then you will not build muscles in the battle
to swim in the direction YOU desire. You may not grow.
You may not fulfill an ambition, not achieve whatever
dreams you had when you were young and shining eyed.
Yet, I will admit, going with a flow is a strategy. Just be
sure that it is a strategy that you knowingly choose, not
one that "just happens," because you cannot tell with the
current is flowing toward peace and joy, or toward
dangerous white-water or even a veritable Niagara Falls.
More challenging, but more likely to be rewarding, are
two other strategies. One is to decide what you think is
possible, reasonably comfortable and available, and to
build your life within that framework. Your chance of
succeeding is good, and you may find that frame to be
wonderfully rewarding.
Then there is the third strategy, the one in which you
look around to decide what you want to achieve, and go
after it regardless of the odds. No matter that you do not
have the tools, or the skills, no matter that your goals
may be half a world away. I am thinking of the folks who
make lists when they are young, and firmly plan to
achieve, or experience, their goals... and do it. I am
thinking of Legson Kayira, of whom I wrote back in 1998
and whose story appeared in Cynthia Kersey's book
UNSTOPPABLE **. Legson wanted to go to college in
the USA. From his home in Nyasaland (now Malawi) he
walked across East Africa and north to Cairo back in the
1950s. When he set out he had five days supply of food,
two books, a small axe, and a blanket. The extraordinary
story of how he did indeed get to college in the USA, and
later became a professor at Cambridge University in
England, is enough to make the word impossible
meaningless.
I am not advocating that, as you decide what strategy will
guide the rest of YOUR life, you opt for the seemingly
impossible. For some people, the apparently impossible
goal is so important that any alternative is unacceptable,
but for many of us the achievable is what is important.
What I AM advocating is that you make conscious
choices about your life, and KNOW that you do have
choices, and that there are always alternatives. Then,
with that knowledge, consider what strategies work for
you. Today a client and I discussed the fact that. in
sales, people often adopt a strategy that works well for
them, but then, as soon as they find themselves being
successful, they abandon that strategy... and wonder
why they are no longer so successful.
Looking back on your life, what has worked? Are you
still using some version of that strategy, or are you
wondering why things aren't going well, without noticing
that you have abandoned the strategies that worked?
Do you know what does NOT work? Yet, are you still
tending to do it? Hmmm... time to talk with someone who
can help you get out of that rut.
We are already almost one year into the millennium...
what will you do with the rest of it?
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** For my review and more information about
UNSTOPPABLE go to the book page of my website and
scroll down from the following link:
http://www.choicecoach.com/5Books/BookPage.htm#Inspire
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CHOICES
I am open to the possibility of some occasional Question
and Answer format in Work in Progress, or at my web
site. Do you have questions that could be answered
here? If so, please send them, even while you recognize
that your choices must be made only by you, and that
advice by an e-zine writer (and/or coach) is simply input.
That input needs to be added to and balanced against all
the other input that you have about your situation,
including your own thoughts and feelings. In order to
make your choices, the wise thing to do is to gather all
available input, and then make your own decision, a
decision that will NOT go against your own instincts and
beliefs.
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RECOMMENDED READING
Expect the Unexpected (Or You Won't Find It): A
Creativity Tool Based on the Ancient Wisdom of
Heraclitus by Roger Von Oech, George Willett
(Illustrator)
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus was the first
"creativity teacher" says Roger von Oech, whose
best-selling book A Whack on the Side of the Head set
the standard for out-of-the-box thinking. In Expect the
Unexpected, Von Oech uses 30 of Heraclitus's pithy and
paradoxical epigrams to approach problems in a fresh
manner. He explains his premise: "Creative thinking
involves imagining familiar things in a new light, digging
below the surface to find previously undetected patterns,
and finding connections among unrelated phenomena."
Von Oech uses the epigrams as creativity
exercises--accompanied by mental puzzles, anecdotes,
questions, and punchy footnotes--to demonstrate that
Heraclitus's 2,500-year-old creative insights have aged
well.
For more information, check out:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0743222873/personalandcareeA/002-8534146-380480
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Copyright 2001 Diana Robinson, Ph.D. Work in
Progress may be reproduced in its entirety only,
including this copyright line. Disclaimer -The contents
herein are solely the opinions of Work in Progress
owner, and should not be considered as a form of
therapy nor advice. There is no guarantee of validity or
accuracy. If expert assistance or counseling is needed,
services of a competent professional should be sought.
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