Stress Relief is Just a Laugh Away

CareerBuilder (CB) did a survey of human resource managers on quirky requests by employees. Here is my top 10 from the CB list.

1. Allow clothes changing in cubicles
2. Tanning bed in the break room
3. Beer in the vending machine
4. Request to have jail covered under Family Medical Leave Act
5. Instituting Bikini Fridays
6. Time off to pursue side business as a clown
7. Replace desk with a futon so employee could lie down and work
8. Request to only be required to work during daylight hours because employee is scared of the dark.
9. Request for a special smoking area for medical marijuana.

10. 10.Request to have the team meeting to be held in Hawaii.

You just know number 5 was a submitted by a guy! Although if number 1 is approved, he might just get number 5!

Keeping your spirits up is crucial when job-hunting. Actively seek out amusing things like the above list. It will make you smile and relieve your stress. Speaking of stress ...

Two weeks ago I talked about Holiday Stress. My local newspaper, the Sacramento Bee had an article today on, “Don’t let stress ruin holidays.” Here is the link to the full story. Here are some highlights and additional comments.

Simplify. Be courageous and say "no" to excessive obligations or overindulgence. Downsize your obligations so you can up-size your fun.

Boost your energy with exercise. Find ways to incorporate 30 minutes of exercise into your daily regimen, even if it means parking far away in the mall parking lot. You will decrease your stress levels and increase your energy.

Sleep seven to eight hours a night. Chronic sleep deprivation increases fatigue and stress.

Continued sleep deprivation can result in trouble concentrating, blurry vision, impaired judgment, and even more severe mental effects. After just a few days of no sleep, people can begin to experience hallucinations, mania, and nausea. Luckily, if you repay your sleep debt right away, those effects vanish immediately. The immune system is also thought to be maintained while asleep; people who don’t get enough sleep tend to be more susceptible to infections and have slower healing times.

Sleep deprivation also has an effect on how the brain stores information. A study showed that those who were taught a task and allowed to sleep afterward remembered what they had learned better than those that didn’t sleep. Among school-aged children, those who get even one less hour of sleep than their peers have shown to perform more poorly on tests of memory and attention.

Get some sunlight. Make sure you are in the sun at least 20 minutes a day to help boost your vitamin D and maintain your diurnal rhythm and mood.

Take time for you. Try to get 20 minutes a day to yourself, away from TV. Meditate or listen to your favorite music – it will help you decompress. Break it into two segments: try 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night. I do my time at sunrise and in the evening about 12 hours later. It balances my day and keeps me on an even keel. I’m alone at sunrise, which means I’m uninterrupted! Bonus.

Rethink your spending. A consumer study in October by Context-Based Research Group showed, surprisingly, that many people feel the recession has positively affected their mood. Many are focused on doing meaningful activities in place of spending: 50 percent of adults plan to give gifts in the form of volunteering, and 80 percent are spending more time with their family and friends this year.

See your doctor if increasing depression, anxiety, fatigue or stress is affecting your relationships with others, your performance at work or your health.

Practice gratitude. Learn to love each moment and to live a life you love. This is an amazing de-stressor.

Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” This also applies to you and your life. Don’t put it off. Don’t wait until … you’ve lost weight; after the holidays; when “I’m not so stressed out”; you get a job/better job; or whatever your "something" is gets improved. Just start doing the change you want in your life.

What are you grateful for? How often do you ask yourself and others this powerful question? Sadly, many of us don’t take the time to ask or answer this question on a regular basis – especially in the midst of these difficult times.

Thanksgiving is a perfect time to spend some time acknowledging what you’re grateful for this week and over the next few weeks during the holiday season. However, focusing on gratitude is something that we can do all the time, not just on special occasions or during holidays. Sadly, we often feel “funny” or get embarrassed expressing our appreciation and gratitude. Gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions and states of beings we have access to.

Gratitude not only makes us feel good, it’s also one of the greatest attractors of abundance, love, peace, success, health, connection, and more. The more we focus on what we already have, the wonderful aspects of our lives, and what we appreciate; the more we end up having to be grateful for. Stop for a moment right now and think about some of the things that you’re grateful for in your own life. Make a list – either in your head or on paper. We each have so much. When we take the time to acknowledge our many blessings, we utilize the power of gratitude in a way that benefits us and those around us in a profound way.

An Attitude of Gratitude. We can expand our capacity for gratitude in our lives by creating simple and genuine practices. It doesn’t really matter what we do or how we do it, just that we come up with easy and meaningful ways to focus on what we’re grateful for all the time. Below is a short list of some different possible gratitude practices. Pick one, many or choose something else:

• Write cards or emails expressing your gratitude for others – and do this for no specific reason or occasion
• Meditate/pray and focus on what you’re grateful for
• Have everyone at the dinner table share something they’re grateful before you eat (or go around in the car or other times you’re together with your family and play this “grateful game”)
• Ask people what they’re grateful for (and/or ask this question as part of your outgoing voice mail message)
• Use a “gratitude journal” and write in it regularly

While so many of us understand and know about the power of gratitude, it’s the practice and expression of it that really has impact. When we take the time to think about, feel, and express our gratitude and appreciation for life, others, and ourselves – we can literally transform our lives and relationships in a beautiful way.

Let me know how your job hunt is going. What are your particular challenges? What is your attitude of gratitude? Send me an email to eal@EALCoaching.com . I’d love to know how you are doing and what strategies you are using.

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

Warmly, Elisabeth Elisabeth Adler-Lund Executive And Life Coaching Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

Is Your Age Your Best Job Hunt Asset?

While hunting for a job is never easy, if you are a seasoned worker, you have assets younger folks don’t. First and foremost, you have experience. When talking to a prospective employer, be sure to emphasize how, “I can do that! Here are all the things I can do based on my years of experience.” Talk about the problems you’ve solved, challenges you’ve overcome and innovative solutions you came up with. Emphasize the value of that experience-bank. The unemployment rate for workers aged 55 and older in October 2009, was just 7%. This is far below the national average of 10.2%. A significant portion stays unemployed longer, however. Age bias does exist, and the tough economy isn’t helping anybody. But, you are a valuable employee with so much to offer employers. Here are some strategies for you. Create an online presence. This is a two-for-one idea. First, go to LinkedIn and create a profile. Detail your work experience for what kind of job you want. Just like a résumé, only put down what is relevant or the job you want. Let’s use Tom as an example. Tom spent nine years working in a large financial institution. He went from bank teller to branch operations officer. He hated it. So when he created his LinkedIn profile, he listed the job, but put down no details. On the job he had and loved, working as a grant-writer for a non-profit, he put down relevant details and accomplishments. He also moved it up on the list. When he wrote his profile, he briefly mentioned his experience in a variety of industries. Then he talked about his passion for fundraising for a cause he believed in. He went on to talk about some great causes he’d like to be involved with more closely. Second, it also is a demonstration of how an “old dog” has learned a new trick. One way to alleviate fears about your age is to keep up with the times. Make connections with others. Participate in online industry-specific groups on the site. Include a link to your online presence in your résumé. Write a recommendation for someone, and have them return the favor on LinkedIn. Confront the stereotypes. In your cover letter or résumé, say how you adapt to change. Talk or write about how you adapted to changing corporate policies and directions at a previous job. Emphasize that you adapted well. If salary is an issue, explain how you’ll be cheaper to train because of your experience. If the threat of retirement is the employer’s worry, talk about how you do plan on working for another ten years or what you plan. If the hiring manager is afraid you’ll want their job, talk about how you bring leadership experience, but don’t need a leadership position. Talk about mentoring younger or less experienced colleagues. Stay current. You want to be an irresistible candidate. You do that by staying current in your field. Talk to people who are working in your industry and/ or attend workshops and conferences. Talk to younger workers. Ask everyone, “What are the hot issues today?” Then be knowledgeable about the challenge or be prepared with a solution for the interview. Your résumé. Create a skills-based or functional résumé relevant to the job you are applying for today. Tailor everything towards that specific job. Focus on the experience that is relevant to this job. Don’t include everything. If “everything” relates to this job, only go back 10-15 years. The exception? If you want a job like you had when you first entered the job market thirty years ago, by all means list that job. Tie your relevant experience from other jobs back to this job. Remember, skills are transferrable and portable. Stand out from the crowd. Make your story stand out. Start off with a strong attribute you have for the job in your cover letter. For a teaching position: “The demand for dedicated teachers has never been greater. America’s future requires experienced professionals, like me, willing to share and teach.” For a grant writer for a domestic abuse shelter: “The demand for your services is greater than your ability to answer. As an experienced professional with a passion for helping people, I will write successful grants for you.” Let me know how your job hunt is going. What are your particular challenges? Share your experiences in the comments section. Or, send me an email to eal@EALCoaching.com . I’d love to know how you are doing and what strategies you are using. A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream. Warmly, Elisabeth Elisabeth Adler-Lund Executive And Life Coaching Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

Are You Stressed?

Tis the season to be stressed. Yep, we are entering the … > > > > > > > > > > > Holiday Zone. < < < < < < < < < < < < It isn’t as if you aren’t stressed enough already. You have work, you have family, you have a demanding boss, you have all the events your kids belong to, you have work at home, you have work at … whoa! You have too much going on. What are you going to do about all this activity? Are you stressed-out?

First, breathe. Just put everything on pause for two minutes, and just breathe. For these two minutes, notice your breath going in and out. Just focus on your breath. Notice how it slows down as you focus on it. Breathe in for a count of four; breathe out for a count of four. Now breathe deeply in for a count of four, hold it for a count of four and then breathe out for a count of four. Repeat this throughout the day. Especially, do it when you are about to explode from the frustration and overwhelm.

Plan A

The “A” stands for attitude. I’ll bet you had thought this is where we talk about priorities and making a list. Only partially true. Your attitude towards what you are doing is more important than what you are doing. Stress is supposed to be a part of our lives. It is only when we are overwhelmed that we think stress is bad. If it wasn’t for stress, we would have many fewer accomplishments, on a personal level and on a societal level.

Yes, stress is good for you. Like all good things, stress is good in moderation. It is when it gets out of control, when it takes over our lives and snuffs the joy out of other things that it is bad for us. “I've learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.” (Martha Washington, 1732 - 1802)

Now before you think I am trying to get you to change your mind about stress, I think you do need to consider how important what you are doing is and is it in your best interests to be doing it.

Importance and Best Interests

Things that you do usually break down into three categories. First are the “must do’s” – and these include your family, your job or source of income, your friends and your community. The second category of to-do’s is the should-do and the final category is the nice-to-do. Not everything in these broad categories is required. What are your goals as a family, for example? If one of your family goals is to all sit down together for dinner, how do you accomplish that? Perhaps compromise and creative thinking can also accomplish your goals. Perhaps by setting a goal of just four nights of ‘family dinner is doable. Or by bringing the entire family to a practice, you can have a family dinner, picnic-style at the practice.

The second category of to-do’s are should-do’s and third are nice-to-do’s. When a season has its own set of demands, they often take the place or add to your should-dos and nice-to-dos. Again, review what you are doing or planning to do against what is important to your goals of: family, work, friends and community. What will further your goals and what is getting in the way? A couple of years ago, I did it all – baked the cookies, made homemade gifts, decorated “everything” and was too tired to really enjoy the season or my family. At the same time, many family members had gone on diets. You guessed it, my cookies went untouched. This, in turn, hurt my feelings. When I asked, “What, you don’t like my cooking anymore?” The family member asked if I was trying to sabotage their diet! Talk about a communication gap. We laughed about the mix-up in expectations and intentions. Now, I take in the bigger picture and weigh my to-do list against how it affects everybody. This has had the happy effect of dropping some things off my list or reducing the load. I love to bake, but now I only bake cookies for those who will welcome them. This has reduced my baking time and expenses. Win-win.

How important are the obligations and commitments that you have right now? The things that you usually do at the holiday times, how important are they really? What can you delegate? Who can support you? What are your limits and where do you draw the line? How important is your fun-level to you? For everything you put on your list, ask the question, “What benefit will it bring to the goals I have for my family, work, friends or community? If your goal is more family time, don’t put “join the holiday choir” on your list, unless singing is your passion and giving back to the community your goal. Just because you “always” do it, doesn’t mean you need to keep doing it. Perhaps it is time to let someone else do it. Pass the torch. Enjoy the fruit of their labors for a change. Own Your List

Now that you have a list of just those things that are truly important to you, enjoy doing those things. “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” (Norman Vincent Peale, 1898 - 1993)

When you are stressed, when you are harried, remember you chose to do these things. Take a couple of minutes and do the breathing exercise outlined at the beginning of this article. Breathe. Do the counts for a slightly longer period, but stay comfortable. You can do it at a stop light. You can do it in the middle of cleaning up the kitchen. Better is to do it when you take out the trash! Enjoy the night sky while you breathe. You’ll come back in the house with a smile on your face.

If you are very stressed, ask, “Is it time for a course correction?” Do you need to reevaluate what you are doing? If so, do it. Get back to enjoying life and the things you are doing. If it isn’t fun, it isn’t worth doing. Life is too short not to have fun at all times of the year.

Do you feel burdened with too many responsibilities and not enough time for personal enjoyment? Balance is important in your life. Call me and we’ll evaluate the balance in your life, and identify areas that are out of balance and develop a personal action plan to determine your most important priorities. You’ll learn how to set limits, delegate and gain support. You’ll develop a personal action plan to achieve better work life balance. A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream. Warmly,

Elisabeth

Elisabeth Adler-Lund

Executive And Life Coaching

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494

E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

From Appalling to Zen

If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you know I like to start off with a question. The process of answering the question is usually what my blog is about. Today I am varying from that format. I have a a few things that I have come across this week, that I'd like to discuss. Appalling The national unemployment rate is at 10.2% for the month of October 2009. According to the article in the Sacramento Bee (Business section, dated 11/07/2009) "Economists expect the jobless rate to keep climbing, perhaps to 11%, as employers produce more with fewer workers and shy away from hiring." This could be good news. I remember reading that economists said it would get worse with double digit unemployment, and then the recession would be in recovery-mode. The article goes on to mention that employers are shedding fewer jobs now, than they did at the beginning of the year. This in turn is fueling the 3.5% growth of the US economy, for three straight months of gains. "History tells us that job growth always lags behind economic growth," President Barack Obama cautioned in a statement from the Rose Garden on Friday. The article went on to say that when discouraged workers who drop off the unemployment rolls and under-employed workers are factored in, a more broadly defined unemployment rate stands at 17.5%. WOW! Hmmm, maybe appalling wasn't strong enough. President Obama signed a new $24 billion stimulus bill on Friday. He called the October jobless report, "a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead." Economic Challenges You and I cannot create economic growth, wherever we live, if we don't hire other people. If you're unemployed, you just want to get yourself hired. How do you do that? The first reality to accept is that the old ways will not work with these economic challenges facing employers. You must be able to demonstrate that you will bring more value to their workplace than you will cost in salary if they hire you. Employers feel that they can't afford to make a hiring mistake these days. That is an economic challenge for you and the employer. They will often go under-staffed to avoid that mistake. Business sometimes suffers, but they know and understand that mistake. The unknown person/employee they don't know. That old expression, "better the devil you know" fits well here. This is the shortened form of the full idiom, 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't', and means that it is often better to deal with someone or something you are familiar with and know, even if they are not ideal, than take a risk with an unknown person or thing. Employers have created work-arounds for being short staffed. It is what they know. You? Not so much. This why networking is such a valuable tool in a job-seeker's tool box. Networking Networking is not social hour. It is not getting something for nothing. It is not going to boring meetings or chamber of commerce meetings, necessarily. It IS meeting people, getting to know them in a professional setting and showing them some value. Let's say you are an accountant. You go to the local accountants' professional association and meet other accountants. When people introduce themselves or you ask "where do you work?" follow up with, "How do you like working for ...?" When you find someone who enjoys working somewhere, ask "why is it so good to work there?" When you are asked, "where do you work?" say, "I'm in transition right now. I (just left/was downsized from) XYZ Corporation and would like to work for ..." Then you specify what kind of company (size, industry, corporate culture, whatever is important to you). Then you ask if they know about any COMPANIES like that. Don't ask about jobs during a networking event. Ask about companies or bosses or industries or corporate cultures. As you chat, ask what their greatest challenge is right now or recently or currently. If this challenge falls anywhere near your area of expertise, offer a solution or a tip or what has worked for you. Offer value. Exchange business cards. Then in a couple of days, when you see an article that addresses their particular challenge, send it to them with a note. "I saw this article and thought of you. I really enjoyed meeting you the other night/day at the Accountants Plus meeting. Let me know if it helps." That simple and you have provided value to them and reminded them of your existence. They now connect you with many positive attributes (smart, a go-getter, a person who follows through on committments, perceptive, valuable, etc.). Priceless! Business Cards Yes, you need business cards. It should contain the following information:

• Your name
• Your telephone number - cell phone preferably
• Your email address
• The job title you wish to have
• 3-4 attributes or skill sets

It should be professional looking and not cluttered. A simple design that reflects your professional personality is ideal. There are online templates and distributors that you can use. Many offer a small quantity of free cards. MS Word has a built in template through "labels" or go online to download one from Microsoft Office. Buy some business card blanks from your local stationary or office supply store and you are good to go. It is simple and easy to do. Just do it! Contact Employers Use the index to the phone book’s Yellow Pages to identify subjects or fields of interest in the town/city where you want to work. After you’ve identified your subjects or fields of interest, you look up the organizations under those headings; then you call them up, make an appointment or just go visit them. While there you ask if they are hiring for the type of position you can do and do well. Think of this as a reverse job posting. This method will uncover the hidden or unadvertised job market. This method works about 69% of the time for job seekers. The Internet The Internet works 10% of the time to help people find work. If it works for you, great. But realize; only one out of ten people will find work from the Internet. So it give it just 10% of your time, just in case. Yeah, you'd think it worked better than that. Especially, if you have ever watched a Monster.com ad on TV. You are comforted by all the tools at your disposal (internet, ads, agencies, résumés, networking) yet the most effective method of finding meaningful work depends not on the tools you have. It depends upon your Vision. Your vision of yourself and what you want to do with your life. Vision Do homework on yourself, taking inventory in detail of all you have to offer and what you are looking for. This revolves around three simple words: What, Where, How. WHAT. This is all about your transferrable skills. These are usually verbs (analyzing, organizing, researching, etc.) You inventory and identify what you have and that you enjoy using. These are the skills you are usually best at doing. These skills are called ‘transferrable skills’ because you can transfer them to any field or career you choose. WHERE. This about job environments. This is where you will do your most effective work. These are usually nouns (technology, finance, chemistry, the arts, hospitality, etc.). HOW. This is how you do your job – your career and your job of finding a job. You need to find out five things.

1. The manner in which you perform your job. (usually adverbs or adjectives – thoroughly, quickly, etc. These are also known as traits.
2. The job titles of work that involves your transferrable skills in your fields.
3. The names of organizations (in your desired geographical location) that have those kinds of jobs (your target companies).
4. The name of the person that has the power to hire you at the target company.
5. How can you best approach that person to show them how your skills and knowledge can help them with their goals and challenges.

It doesn’t sound like a job-hunt method, but it is. By doing the hard thinking this method requires, you have a 1200% better chance of finding a job than if you just send out résumés. And not just any job – a rewarding job that matches your talents. You can also more accurately define yourself and exactly what you are looking for beneath the shifting shape of job titles. You now you are a person who …, not just an accountant (or whatever). This in turn makes it easy to describe to your family, friends, network just exactly what you are looking for and in great detail. ZEN Last, but certainly not least, you can accurately describe to employers exactly what is unique about you and what you bring to the table, that competitors for this position don’t bring. The challenge with this method is that it involves work. The hard thinking about yourself kind of work that most job hunters try to avoid. It “takes too much time,” or “demands too much thinking.” It is not the easy way out of unemployment. It won’t take “forever.” The stakes are high. The rewards are high.Why this method works so well is one word: VISION. The more detailed the picture of your future job is, the more likely your are to reach it. You get out of something what you put into it. Isn’t a job that is rewarding to you, that you will look forward to, and that fits who you are, worth it? You have all these tools available to you. Yet, the most effective method of finding meaningful work depends upon your Vision. Your vision of yourself, and what you want to do with your life. Confucius said, "Choose a job you love, and you'll never work a day in your life." Isn't that a goal worth working toward? Let me know how your job hunt is going. What are your particular challenges? Share your experiences in the comments section. Or, send me an email to eal@EALCoaching.com . I’d love to know how you are doing and what strategies you are using. A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream. Warmly, Elisabeth Elisabeth Adler-Lund Executive And Life Coaching Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

Are the Lilliputians Holding You Down?

In the story of Gulliver's Travels, the mythical giant Gulliver is incapacitated by the little Lilliputians who tie him down with a million tiny threads. Often, in our own lives, we get held down by little (petty, even) annoyances. Sometimes they have have been around so long, we no longer "see" them. They just become part of the background of our lives. Just one of the things we put up with. Many years ago, when I first started learning about coaching, I was introduced to the concept of "toleration's". These "little" things, left undone, unexamined or incomplete eventually erode our focus and slow our momentum. Although more than 10 years have passed since I began my career as a coach, the list of so-called "little things" that slow people down has remained almost constant. Here is a list that is by no means all encompassing. In fact, it is intentionally brief. I have discovered, in and out of coaching, that I hear about the same things again, and again. So here is a "top ten" list of things that consistently hold people down. Review the list and make a commitment this week to tying up at least a few of the loose ends that, left undone, might unravel the progress you so want to make in your life and business right now. 1) Clutter. Basically clutter is stuff you haven't made a decision about. It might be paper or some other type of junk clogging up your life. Do a "clutter scan" and commit to eliminating at least one clutter clog this week. Set a timer for 30 minutes and work all-out for that 30 minutes - you can do it. Outer clutter often reflects inner clutter. The more clear your outer reality, the more inner peace you will find. 2) Emotional baggage. Are you still letting your emotional history dictate your present and future happiness? What do you need to do to let go of the old emotional junk? Nobody had a perfect childhood. We were all raised by imperfectly trained people - amateurs really - who did the best they could. Get counseling. Work with your spiritual advisor. Find a way to make peace with your past. Let it go. Let it be. 3) Forgiveness. Forgive others for what they have done to you. This eliminates their power over you. You don't have to agree or condone what they did, just forgive them for doing it. Holding a grudge is holding the pain. As long as you hold the pain, anger and grief, you continue to let the perpetrator hold power to re-hurt, re-anger you. Let it go and watch how you gain peace. Forgive yourself for not being the perfect, mistake-proof human you want to be. You are human. You are great and wonderful, just the way you are. The more we let go of any perceived injury, be it a rude driver or sales clerk, or forgiving yourself for your own flaws and imperfections, the more energy you have to embrace the present moment and make the most of it. This change can make a quantum difference in the way you're living your life. 4) Unread books or magazines. Shelve the books you aren't reading or donate them. Recycle the magazines that are more than a month old. And cancel subscriptions you no longer have the time to read. 5) Someone else's goals. Are those goals you've set really yours? Or are they someone else's "should list" for you? Make the decision to figure out which, and then let go of all the stuff that isn't part of your personal passion list. This is your life, live it your way. 6) Out-of-date insurance policies, wills, trusts and other legal documents. Archive away what you no longer need. Make sure your policies and other legal papers are current and cover what you need covered. Regular communication with your professional service provider can keep things in shape for when you need them. 7) Incomplete communication. It doesn't matter if it's a week old, a month old, or a year old. Find a way this week to close the loop. 8) Half-finished hobbies/projects. I had some projects going once for a couple of years. A new friend asked about them after a couple of months (they were still just sitting there). It made me notice them again. One was for something I no longer owned! It made me reconsider all of them. Only one had any relevance to my current life. I donated them to an assisted living facility. You could also donate them to a school, a shelter or some other group or organization that can use them. If you have a room full of half-finished projects they are taking up more space than you realize and are keeping you from living fully and effectively in the present. There are lots of ways you can clean this one up besides dumping them in the trash. But clear them out! 9) Organizations you belong to. Are you maintaining a membership in an organization that no longer fits in with your current life? We change. We move on to different things and different ways. Do yourself and the organization a favor by ending your membership. Make room for someone who is looking for exactly that type of organization. We all need to periodically review our time commitments and ask the questions: Does this still provide value for me? Am I providing value to this organization or just taking up space on their membership roster? 10) Relationships you've outgrown. This one can be difficult. Please don't think I am recommending that you dump your friends or family. However, if you're spending the majority of your time and energy around people who are not contributing to your life in a positive way, or worse, are energy vampires, it's time to raise your standards and re-think and re-feel that relationship. Rethink who makes you feel good and who supports you and your endeavors. As you do that, re-feel the emotion you associate with that person. For example, you think about a parent that may make you feel badly and hasn't been supportive. You re-feel that relationship to, "Yes I love them, but I will limit my time with them. When we are together, I will remember to not take things they say or do personally." Take a look at anyone you may have unfinished business with, make a sincere effort to complete it and move on. This change can make a huge difference in the way you're living your life. Which items on this list are you going to make a commitment this week to tie up? If left undone, any one of them might unravel the progress you want to make in your life and business right now. These "Lilliputians" are just the kinds of things that can tie us down big time! Make the decision this week to get busy tying up the loose ends in your life. And in the process free yourself to be the "giant" player in life you were meant to be! You may have some that don't appear here and I'd love to hear them. If you want help tackling this list, let me know and we will get it done together. A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream. Warmly, Elisabeth Elisabeth Adler-Lund Executive And Life Coaching Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com