Easy Change Strategies (5)

In case you wondered ...this is me "NYdigger"

Hi there. Some changes come as a surprise, like when you wake up really early in the morning from the rising sun over the seaside horizon. This is where I would like to work from time to time. Have to put this on my wish-list! What's on yours? Let me know.

Easy Change Strategies (4)

Mark Twain via last.fm

Hi there!
After you've heard some of my suggestions on how to change, I thought it's also time to share with you how I change.
Step One:
I read, read, read..... (I believe it's a quote from Mark Twain).
In the "old days" I used to read magazines, newspapers and books.
Now I read some of that AND lots of online content.
Unfortunately, I have the appetite of a Renaissance man, i.e. I am interested in many different aspects: Music, dance, theater, paintings, etc. What has that to do with CHANGE?
Well the more you know the more you have aspects /points of views for any situation.
Of course as change facilitator I am always looking for information, which can be of interest to my clients. Let me give you an example:
One of my clients is a highly trained former international banker with experiences in the health care and government administration (i.e. me!). I want to change my current position, so I am looking for aspects that appeal to me and which can help me advance my situation.
Learning how to blog is certainly one way of doing something different.
Still, I do look for the practical advice. Here is one which I copied from the Wall Street Journal onto my Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=122313216196&h=sIlLg&u=Bhz7L&ref=nf

See what I didn't learn yet? I missed copying the actual link. But if you paste this into a new browser window, you'll get to an article on "How to Take an Assessment Test"
(and don't we all love to take those??).

And for those of you who would like to know more about Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Ericksonian Hypnosis here are two links to the people who introduced me to the world of NLP:

NLP Group Seminars International: http://www.purenlp.com/
and
Douglas O'Brien and Associates: http://www.ericksonian.com

If you like to learn in a fun and entertaining way - these are great guys to learn from.
(and they don't even pay me for this plug!)

There is one more TIP for today, one I learned a long time ago from an "old" lady, who unfortunately has since passed away. I went to a class at the Learning Annex (www.learningannex.com/ ) in New York City:
"Speak and Grow Rich" - There must have been 200 people in the room and I will tell you
that everyone of us was within minutes fascinated by the woman up front: Ms. Dotty Walters, the founder of the International Speakers Bureau
She really knew her stuff. But the most memorable (for me) point she made was this:
When you get junk mail, most of us are frustrated and try to get rid of it. I, however, (said Dottie), I look at those pieces of junk mail as opportunities to find new business ideas.
Looking for needs that can be filled.
So here is your "homework": Find a need that others have - you don't have to fill it, unless you want to. Just start looking for opportunities for someone to fill a need.
That will get you going......or not?
Let me know how this works for you. I am looking for feed back!
See ya.

Easy Change Strategies (3)

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And then there were three!
I hope you had fun trying some of the recommended strategies. For those, who already discarded them.....tsk tsk!! Remember that saying: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"
Any real lasting change requires a minimum of 3 weeks (21 days that is!) of repetition or you can call it continued practice of the strategy.
Remember the time you learned to walk? Of course not, we were to busy figuring it out! But if you ever watched a toddler making her first steps....
and oops there she is on the diaper padded behind. Now there are three kinds of kids:
1) the ones who lie around and wait quietly until someone notices and comes and picks them up
2) the ones who right away let you know, this is not what they want - SCREAM is how they get some one to pick them up
3) the ones who look around, take in their environment and once they find the target of their attempt to get up and walk, they start crawling (that they already know how!).
For us adults it comes out to this: Are you a "whiner", a "waiter" or a "go getter"?
In any case, we didn't learn to walk in one try or in one week either. So if you are serious about changing the situation, relationship, career or whatever, remember that it will take some time and effort.
One particular strategy, which I have used in business, is called "X-minus-days" (at least I called it that). Say on the 20th of the month you have to deliver a report/study-paper or project.
The 20th is "X" then count how many days you have till the twentieth, that's "minus days".
Let's say there are 5 days. So you can divide the project into 5 day parts. Each day you have to accomplish 20%. WOW that was easy wasn't it? All of a sudden what looked like a mountain, is only 20%. The trick of course is to always leave a little extra time for the last day. There is always something that seems to need tweaking! Then of course you can cut the daily work into hourly objectives (possibly involving others?) And "voila" you have a plan AND a time-table!
In Neuro-Linguistic Programming it's called "chunking down".
Currently I am reading a book that was written in 1996 by Steven K. Scott, Co-Founder of
American Telecast Corporation (the ones who created infomercials with celebs like Cher etc.)
He calls it the Law of Dream Conversion: Convert dreams into goals, goals into tasks, tasks into steps! (Works even now 13 years later in the new age of i-video)
So try the down chunking and let me know how it worked for you!

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Easy Change Strategies Two

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So you came and looked again? Have you changed yet in the direction you wanted?
Whether you wanted or not - you HAVE changed (you're a week older, if nothing else).
Lost some hair? Gained some weight?
Millions of cells in your body have been replaced!
And all that without us noticing it.
Change can surprise you. Ever met an old classmate and thought boy did (s)he age!
Guess who else? Duh!
What I'm saying is.....change does not have to be difficult or requires always a great deal of effort. It can happen fast, even instantaneous,
So let's go for some more "Easy Change Strategies":
A Buddhist monk once introduced me to a very interesting way to change my perspective: A walking meditation. Preferably walk barefoot. Concentrate on the feet touching the ground. Feel it! Experience the walk as it is created by your muscles and bones moving your body one step at a time. Walk slowly. Try to notice all the little movements in your feet, your legs and the rest of the body.
I noticed that when I move slowly I have a hard time not to wobble! Interesting.
Of course this turned out to be an exercise in awareness training. Oh yeah, and then you notice that you are much more connected to your environment. So that changed.
And just when you had experienced that change the monk suggested to walk slowly
BACKWARDS. Wow what a difference that made.

You probably ask yourself, what the .....does that have to do with me wanting to change my job, or relationship or personal circumstance? Well, surprise yourself and try this exercise. You will find that your perspective changes. And if nothing else, you then have another point of view as perspective for the situation you want to change.
Another solution might suggest itself almost without trying, change happens!

Look forward to more "Easy Change Strategies" and Achieve Your Goals!

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