You are currently browsing the archives for February, 2010
Do you like the Chicken Soup for the Soul books?
I have to admit, I don’t really.
There’s not enough story for me; not enough depth.
To me they are more like chicken broth for the soul, than chicken soup for the soul.
I like stories with a little more detail. I want names, places. I want to know why someone made a specific choice, a decision. I want more depth than the Chicken Soup series offers.
That’s why I love BJ Gallagher’s book “It’s Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been”
This book is filled with stories with lots of details. Most of the stories are interviews and reveal the stories within the stories.
The book is broken down into several sections with two-three stories/interviews in each.
It’s Never Too Late to…
Make Your Dreams Come True
Start a New Career
Go Back to School
Express Your Creativity
Gather Wealth
Become Athletic
Find True Love
I enjoyed this book immensely and want to pass it on. And, even though I’ve read it, it is in mint condition. I never (rarely) write in my books and I don’t break the binding or dog ear the pages.
If you’d like to read this book, I’d like to pass it on to you.
If you are subscriber to The Dreaming Cafe’s newsletter you are already entered to win.
If you are NOT a subscriber, sign up here:
The Dreaming Cafe’s weekly newsletter is designed to inspire, inform and empower you as you travel your own creative journey to self discovery.
I will select a random winner from all subscribers on Saturday, March 6, 2010 and the winner will be announced in the Dreaming Cafe’s Sunday, March 7, 2010 newsletter.
Related Posts (free book giveaways):
Michael Nobbs’ “Take the 20 Minutes a Day Challenge” post yesterday really got me thinking.
I posted a comment on his blog asking myself “Should I art journal, exercise, meditate, write, or something I’ve always wanted to do, but claim never to have the time for?”
I expanded that thinking to ask myself, “What would be fun? What have I always dreamed about, but was afraid of admitting or committing to? What have I never done before, but always wanted to? What things have I enjoyed in the past, but have not done lately?”
Make videos. Tell stories with pictures. Learn to draw. Make birdhouses. Paint birdhouses. Design a garden.
These are things I think about, but rarely have time for.
I realized I rarely have time, or make time, for fun, new things, or even fun, old things.
I read to relax. It is my favorite pastime. And, I write.
I started art journaling, but usually it is to help get stuff out of my head onto paper. It’s mostly therapeutic, but I do have fun. It is an activity I can get lost in.
But, “What else is there? What am I missing?”
I rarely do anything just for fun, with no purpose other than to play.
I scares me a little that I’ve forgotten how to play, to just have fun. It scares me to think I’ve allowed so little time to play in my life.
Then yesterday I got a glimpse of what having fun can be like again. I was working on a special project, and I did have a purpose, but in the midst of it all I got lost and had a great time.
I told a story. I played with words. I made myself laugh. For hours I was wrapped up in an imaginary world and I had a blast.
I haven’t done that kind of writing in a very long time.
I like to have a purpose. It helps me focus. But, I also need to remember to have some fun and to play.
Break it down. Take baby steps. This has worked in the past, why not now?
That’s where Michael Nobbs’ “Take the 20 Minutes a Day Challenge” comes in. He has the same philosophy. Twenty minutes a day? I can do that.
My challenge…I am going to write for fun. I am going to start writing stories again. I am going to engage my imagination and just let the words and stories spill out of me.
I’ll follow Michael’s guidelines…
Dedicated time: between 11am and 12pm or 7pm and 8pm.
Supplies: I only need a notebook and a pen.
No distractions: No Twitter, Hulu, phones calls, etc. (okay, I can do this.)
Public commitment: This blog post says it for me.
Time limit: 20-minutes a day, no more, no less.
Rewards: When the twenty minutes is up, I’ll take a break, relax an have a cup of tea.
Then, tomorrow I’ll do it again. And, the next day and the next.
Although this project is about having fun and playing it helps me to have a purpose. So I think I’ll make Fridays, “Fun Day” and share some of my 20-minute challenge results.
How about you? Will you take the 20-minute challenge?
1. Dress for work.
Causal is okay, but no sweats or pj’s. You are a professional and this is a professional work environment.
2. Connect with others.
Take time everyday to engage with people on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Read and comment on other people’s blogs. Send and answer a few personal emails. Skype a friend. Arrange a lunch date. Yes, connecting with others takes time, time out of your day and time away from your work, but if you shared an office with other people how much time would you spend connecting? It’s just as important when you work out of your home office.
3. Work with a project or editorial calendar and a to-do list.
Knowing ahead of time what needs to be done on any given day provides structure. It helps you to dive right in and get started. It also can help signify the end of the work day. When today’s to-do list is complete, or all the “A” items are done you know the work day is over. You then have a choice, continue to work or call it a day.
4. No eating in the home office.
A cup of tea or coffee is fine, but no snacks. A home office is for working, not eating.
5. Take a break.
Have a snack or a meal while sitting down at the dining room or kitchen table. If the weather is pleasant, eat outside on the deck or picnic table. Use real silverware, plates and napkins. Treat yourself well. You deserve it.
6. Celebrate.
If you just finished a big project or received some good news reward yourself and celebrate. Take your spouse, kids or a friend to lunch. Send an email to all your friends. Tweet your celebration and invite others to celebrate with you.
7. Remember who’s the boss.
No one can tell you what to do or when to do it. That means you have to be the boss. You have to make the decisions and keep your commitments.
8. Working from a home office is about working.
Remind yourself, your family and friends, that when you are in your home office you are working. You are a professional. You have work to do. No one is going to do it for you. Even if your ‘office’ is a corner of a room, or the kitchen table for a few hours, respect the space and what it represents.
If you are a subscriber and received my newsletter this past Sunday you know that I made a big decision last week that involved turning away from an old way of life and turning into a new way of life.
Following that turning point I realized that if I am going to make this new life work it needs ALL of my time, attention and energy.
And, I am ready to give it everything I’ve got.
But, before I can do that I have some old business to attend to. I have to say goodbye and close down New Route Logistics, my consulting company.
I have to say, that I was quite proud of this website and its content and of my business’ overall vision and purpose.
New Route Logistics was a BIG step for me. I started it at the end of 2008. It was originally conceived as a partnership, but that fell apart and I decided to move forward on my own. It was exciting and I learned a lot, even though in the truest sense of the word, it was a dismal failure.
It never captured my imagination or my heart for any length of time and never received my full attention. Spending forty hours or more working on a project bid that 99.9% of the time was never committed to was more like my day job than a dream job.
It was never a monetary success, but it provided me with many priceless gifts.
It proved to me that I could take action despite not knowing how to start.
It proved to me that I could take action despite my fears and self doubt.
It showed me the power of taking one small step at a time.
It gave me courage to keep trying.
It fed my desire to start something of my own.
And, it opened the doors to new possibilities.
Today I am in the process of taking down the website for New Route Logistics and saying goodbye.
I took a few screenshots for my memory book and thought I share them here.
Today The Dreaming Cafe is one-year-old.
The Dreaming Cafe started out as a free Wordpress.com blog on Monday, February 23, 2009.
My first post was called “What is The Dreaming Cafe?” If you are curious, it is still a public post and you can read it here: http://thedreamingcafe.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/what-is-the-dreaming-cafe/
A year later and my vision and mission remain, although much clearer, like a picture coming into focus.
I know I am on the right path.
I know The Dreaming Cafe is headed in the right direction.
My mission is to use the written word to share stories, ideas, and resources in ways that inspire, motivate, inform and empower others to embrace their own creative journey to self discovery.
Self-knowledge, self-care, self-expression and self-employment are all topics The Dreaming Cafe explores.
It sounds selfish, but it’s not.
To be the change you want to see in the world, you must first know who you are and what you want. Peace, love, change…they all flow from the inside out.
The Dreaming Cafe is a safe place to start.
The Dreaming Cafe is about…
Exploring who we are now and who we can become in the future.
Embracing the moment, while dreaming of better tomorrow.
Taking responsibility for ourselves, our hopes, our fears and our dreams.
Moving forward despite our fears, self doubt and insecurities.
Putting one foot in front of the other, and taking one step at a time.
Leaning into the vision we hold for ourselves, our family, our community and our world.
Exploring from the inside out and discovering who we are and why we are here.
Dreaming, learning, exploring, creating and taking action.
Leading by example in both word and in deed.
Kindness and compassion.
Love and peace.
Hope and inspiration.
And, using the written word to communicate, to teach, to share, and to help heal the world, one word, one idea, one person at a time.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for hanging out with me over the last year and making this one of the most rewarding adventures of my life.
When I joined Derek Sivers email list last year he sent me a personal note.
“Wow!” I thought. “This is real!! And, way cool.”
I thought about what it meant to me to be contacted personally, not just with an autoresponder, by the man behind the blog/website.
I realized I wanted to do that. I wanted to connect with people and know more about them. I wanted my readers / subscribers to be more than just a faceless name in a database.
Today, I too, email all of my new subscribers. Sometimes it may not be right away, but I do contact them. And, if they have a blog or website and they share it with me, I check it out. If they are on Twitter and share their ID, I follow them and say hello.
It’s not a marketing ploy. It’s about connecting to people, getting to know them better and building a community.
I know how much it meant to me when Derek emailed me and if someone has taken the time to subscribe to my newsletter I want them to know that I appreciate it.
This morning Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Non-Conformity shared what commitment meant to him in the post Overnight Success, Year Three. What he wrote about resonated with me and reflects my own commitments to myself and my readers.
Ken Robert today also talked about commitment, about keeping promises to yourself at Mildly Creative in his post Gearing Up For Your Next Big Move – Realizations from My Relocation.
These two posts led me to think about my own my commitments and promises to myself, especially those related to The Dreaming Cafe. They were the catalyst for me to write this post.
Over the last few weeks I have been thinking of ways to reach more people, to grow The Dreaming Cafe. In addition to just personally emailing new newsletter subscribers and answering emails from readers, I wanted to commit to reaching my readers more consistently. I wanted people to know they could rely on me to be here for them to share stories and resources to help them on their creative journey to self discovery.
I know how I feel when I find a new blog and connect with what the writer has to say only to discover they post sporadically, only once or twice a week, or only once a month. I feel frustrated and disappointed.
I don’t want people to feel that way when they visit The Dreaming Cafe. I want them to know that I will be here, consistently, just about every day. To make this happen I set the goal of having 500 blog posts by December 31, 2010. This means writing and posting five to six times per week for the rest of the year.
Keeping my promises to myself and to my readers is extremely important. It’s a matter of honor and self respect and about respecting those who have joined The Dreaming Cafe community.
So, here is my commitment to you, the reader:
Weekly newsletter – emailed every Sunday, 5am EST – Personal stories, recommendations and resources written especially for those on the creative journey to self discovery.
Follow all new subscribers on Twitter. (Don’t forget to tell me who you are.)
Friend all new subscribers on Facebook. (Again, don’t forget to tell me who you are.)
Personally email all new subscribers and find out more about them and how I, and The Dreaming Cafe, can help them.
500 blog posts by December 31, 2010 – Sharing stories, videos, tips, resources, book reviews, interviews, and anything else related to the creative journey to self discovery.
« Older Entries
