CREATIVE SUCCESS NEWSLETTER NUMBER 30 - February 15, 2003

CREATIVE SUCCESS NEWSLETTER
Gail McMeekin, LICSW
Career/Creativity Coach and Author
Mailto:gail@creativesuccess.com
http://www.CreativeSuccess.com
NUMBER 30 - February 15, 2003

SUCCESS STRATEGIES FOR CREATIVE SOULS SERIES
WELCOME

We start off this issue with two wonderful learning offers!

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SPECIAL OFFER # One: Free Positive Choices Teleclass with Gail
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Between now and the end of February, if you purchase my book, The
Power of Positive Choices: Adding and Subtracting Your Way to a
Great Life OR my 90 minute audiotape workshop, Positive Choices:
From Stress To Serenity (with mini-workbook and three powerful
visualizations), you are invited to a free one hour Positive Choices
teleclass on March 13th at 9 PM EST. Both the book and the tape are
loaded with exercises to reduce stress, encourage well-being, and
help you to create the life you want. The teleclass is planned
so that you have several weeks to start working with the Positive
Choices Program on your own. The teleclass will then teach you
even more strategies to help you to get rid of your Serenity
Stealers and initiate more Positive Choices in your life.

Place your order on my website at:
http://www.creativesuccess.com/store/store.html.
We will be in touch with you about the call details.

These products have been featured in Redbook, Shape, The Improper
Bostonian, Human Resource Executive, Investor's Business Daily,
and America Online, just to name a few. If you own the book and
the tape already, they are a perfect gift for someone you care
about who is stressed, in transition, or ready to ramp up their
life! I look forward to a dynamic and powerful teleclass with you
on March 13th. This offer ends on February 28th and only 30
people can attend the class so order now!

CREATIVE SUCCESS STORE PRODUCTS
(http://www.creativesuccess.com/store/store.html)

- The Power of Positive Choices Book
- Positive Choices: From Stress to Serenity Audiotape Workshop
with Mini-Workbook
- The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women Book
- The Kali Guide: A Directory of Resources for Women

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CREATIVE ACTS AND RESOURCES
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Special Offer #2: SECRETS OF PROSPERITY BONUS OFFER

Thanks to several episodes of synchronicity, I have had the good
fortune to connect with Joan Sotkin, Queen of the information
packed website http://www.ProsperityPlace.com. Joan is an
inspiring entrepreneur, author, and innovative prosperity coach.
Her book Build Your Money Muscles: 9 Simple Exercises for
Creating Wealth and Prosperity(TM) teaches you a great technique
called EFT to help you to release your emotional scarcity issues
and instructs you step-by-step how to take charge of your money.
Joan tells her own inspiring rags to riches story and encourages
you to get out of denial about your financial woes by healing
your abandonment issues and figuring out your net worth and money
saboteurs. As Joan so wisely points out, if you make money or
inherit money and are not emotionally prepared for it, you will
most likely squander it. As Joan says, "By focusing on your inner
blocks to prosperity and gradually establishing healthy financial
habits, your prosperity is assured."

If you decide to get Build Your Money Muscles(tm), which is
packaged with more terrific products, Joan has generously offered
our readers a $10.00 discount. When you check out, just enter the
numbers 0541 in the CODE field to get the discount. Be sure and
check Joan's site for teleclasses and an abundance of great
articles and products. If getting your money house in order is
one of your Positive Choices this year, Joan is an experienced
and knowledgeable resource. Visit http://www.ProsperityPlace.com

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I WANT TO SHARE THIS FABULOUS QUOTE WITH YOU!
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"Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening
your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and
your heart will never unclench. Care about other people's
approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work and then
step back. The only path to serenity."

-Tao Te Ching-

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SUCCESS STRATEGY #3: PROACTIVELY MANAGE YOUR
CAREER AND YOUR LIFE
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In the past two months, I asked you to define Personal and
Heartfelt Success and to focus on your 3 top Priorities for 30
days. (If you are a new subscriber and missed these issues, go to
the newsletter archives at my website
http://www.creativesuccess.com, click on news and go into the
archives through the link at the end of the page). This month we
are going to accelerate your self-reliance. We are living in an
unprecedented time in history and are being asked to make-up new
paradigms and develop new strategies for managing our lives and
our careers. Except for a select few, corporate America is not
going to take care of us long term. Abandon those fantasies right
now. In this age of downsizing and shrinking benefits and
retirement funds, you now own the responsibility for your life
and your career.

The new workplace requires flexibility, multiple skills, constant
retraining, sales and marketing facility, creativity,
technological expertise, and an entrepreneurial mind-set. As for
your lifestyle, there too you have options. Do you want to live
in the city or the country or on an island in the Pacific? Do you
want to live and work at home or do you crave group energy? If
you have a family, what kinds of relationships do you want with
them? If you long to have more time for something you love to do,
can it become your work?

Having to take responsibility for your own life can be
overwhelming, but here are a few guidelines to help you to
navigate the challenges:

1) Review your family history and extract the wise lessons you
learned about life from the people you respect. THEN release the
axioms that are simply out of date or don't apply to you. Many
people got messages from their parents such as "you should trade
your happiness and freedom for security" or "do whatever it takes
to please your boss". I sometimes tell my clients that they may
want to temporarily shield their parents/relatives from the ups
and downs of a career transition. I often say, "Don't expect your
parents to think this is a good idea to start a business (or
change careers or quit an awful job)." If you've been laid off,
even though you did a great job, some people may not understand
that you are a victim of the times. In this era of change and
turmoil, lots of excellent people have to retrain or start over
or make new choices. You need people in your life who can cheer
you on, not give you advice based on fear or a lack of
understanding of the new workplace.

2) If you have a job you enjoy, don't get too comfy. I tell
people to keep their resume updated, network continuously, stay
up to date in their field, and keep their eye on the door. You
never know. You also need to stay very tuned into the company
priorities so you can position yourself in alignment with the
organizational goals. But even if you do everything right, it may
still end. Do not have all your professional contacts at one
company. Find a network group that resonates for you or start
your own Success Team.

3) My colleague Cliff Hakim wrote a book a few years ago titled,
We Are All Self-Employed. Even if you are working for someone
else, you need to think of yourself as an enterprise. It is
likely that at some point, you will be forced to make a change
you don't like. Expect it and plan accordingly. If you have your
own business, choose it. Don't just think of it as a "second
choice" because you lost your job or you can't get a job or
whatever. It is an opportunity­so invest in it. As many of us
will be working well into our seventies and maybe beyond, having
a business is a great edge against age discrimination. Learn what
you need to do to play your strengths and get help from people
who excel at what you don't.

4) If you allow yourself to think of your lifestyle as part of
your career decision-making, then you can tailor your jobs or
your business to your life priorities. Are you a single parent
who wants to be home in the afternoon? Have you had it with
traveling every week or office politics? Do you have a passion
for solving some world problem or trying an experiment?
Technology has given us multiple freedoms­leverage them and
develop options that fit your lifestyle and personal values.
Since 911, my clients have been looking carefully at their
lifestyle issues and choosing to think about living where they
want to and what really matters in their lives.

5) Seek out new mentors or role models. Read about career
transitioners, talk to business owners about their successes and
failures, research what's "hot" in your field. Be open to new
locations or flexible schedules or new projects. Take the risks
necessary to go after what you truly want.

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CHALLENGE
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1) Are you proactively seeking to create your Personal and
Heartfelt Success? If so, keep pursuing the goals that motivate
you. If not, knowing that you cannot depend on an organization to
take care of you, how do you want to take care of yourself? Let
go of the illusion that someone else is going to rescue you­they
aren't.

2) Who in your life supports your brilliance? Who in your life
puts you down or fills your head with fear or lack of confidence?
Support is critical in this era of change and uncertainty. You
have an opportunity to surround yourself with creative people who
want what's best for you. If people are competitive or non-
affirming, filter them out. You deserve positive energy in your
life.

3) For additional info on taking charge of your life, check out
the Articles at http://www.creativesuccess.com.

4) Purchase one of the Positive Choices programs from my
Webstore, work on your personal stressors, and join us for the
free teleclass on March 13th at 9 PM EST. (See Special Offer
above)

Creatively yours,

Gail McMeekin, LICSW