Oh, the places I’ve gone/have been/will go! And here they are!

A few weeks ago, I was emailed by Ana of Red Dress Studios to answer the question, “What advice would you give to women business owners that want to build their confidence muscles (& generally rock at what they do)?” I emailed my answer &, uh, promptly forgot all about it. Imagine my thrilledness when Ana tweeted me to announce that the e-book  was now available as a free download on her site! I clicked right over & found myself in the company of my inspirers & heroes: Danielle LaPorte, Christine Mason Miller, Jessica Swift (she dropped the Gonacha!), Jennifer Lee, Sarah Bray, Tara Joyce, Leah Piken Koladis…do I need to go on? I think not.  I’d link to ‘em all, but figured you’d rather get their websites and gems of wisdom by downloading the ebook. I’m so very proud to be a part of this!

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Jump by Jessica Gonacha Swift. I’m planning to take a big jump next week, but can’t tell ya about it yet. I’m such a tease!

Yay hooray for Link Love! While I’ve always been lovin’ the links, I love this series just because it gives me an excuse to thoroughly go through my Reader at least once a month. I totally con myself into thinking reading my blogs is work, because I have to link it up for you guys here. I’m so tricky, & I love it!

In order not to suck up the entire rest of your month, here are my Top 20 February posts (in no particular order, because rating them would be ridiculously evil):

• The Fire & Perspective on Swirly Girl
• Empathy on Follow My Bliss
• Imperfect Balance & I Intend to Wake Every Day, & Try on Torpid Trifling
• Mixtape #3 on Kind Over Matter (all their mixtapes rock the friggin’ houseoff)
• Open-Heart Surgery: Six Life Leadership Lessons Discovered in the Midst of Heartbreak (get the tissues ready!) on More in You
• People Want to Help You on Unicorns for Socialism
• If There Were No Criticism or Praise, Who Would You Be? on Awake at the Wheel
• If You Were a Superhero…, Listen: You Already Know All the Answers & Let Your Sun Shine on Treasuring (stop being so brilliant, Jess!)
• Why Are You Apologizing? on Seth’s Blog
• The Perils of Justifying Yourself on White Hot Truth
• How to Change People’s Minds About You on S.Joy Studios (there are 5 steps to this post, & the link here goes to the last step which links to the other 4 steps. Yes, this is a tricky way for me to include 5 posts that count as one. Insert evil laugh here)
• How Not to Hurry & The Hidden Art of Achieving Creative Flow on Zen Habits
• Feeling Small Makes Me Feel So Good on Rise of the Innerpreneur
• A Tiny, Sweet Thing on The Fluent Self
• A Fable About Possibility, Hope & Following Your Dreams on Owning Pink

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It’s amazing how many places you can go without leaving your apartment. Of course, I’m talking about my multiple appearances on the Interwebs this week!

First off is the monthly Spring instillation, which is now a weekly one! That’s right – instead of one long-ass video, or 1 long-ass video cut into smaller pieces, we taped 4 stand-alone segments & are posting a new one each week. How great is that? Click here for the first part of our discussion on support, & don’t forget to comment for your chance to win our weekly giveaway (yup – weekly! How cool are we? Answer: very cool).

Note: this is not my self-portrait, but the button you click on to get to the self-portraits on The Mathematics of Glamour. (more…)

Resolutions from this site made up my very first installment of Motivation Monday, and I had to add some new ones I love to the first Motivation Monday of 2009.

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I’ve mentioned Sophie Hainsworth on this blog before – most recently in this week’s installment of Freakin’ (Great Links) Friday – but she recently sent me an email that I HAD to bring your attention to.

It started:

“I invite you to take part in a creative project between you and your trusted friends, to bring further awareness to the fact that inspiration is everywhere…”

All of my Motivation Monday posts have been image-based, but when my client Sophie emailed me this poem, I knew it had to be included within this series.

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive. (more…)

MICHELLE WORLD:

• I take the time blocks I’ve created for myself and rework them so there’s more free time/me time.
• I view my schedule as a guidepost and not a steel cage.
• I take responsibility for what needs to be accomplished & the structure I set for myself, but I give myself a freakin’ break and allow some flexibility for The Good/Important Stuff.
• I take time for myself & view that time as not a luxury but a necessity.
• I don’t put things (shoes, clothes, dishes, papers) down – I put them away.
• I have a lot of freakin’ fun!
• I let go of the tasks that aren’t really working for me now. I put them somewhere for a rainy day, or a different time. If I hesitate in doing so, I dig deep to see why and possibly how I can fit this into my life.
• I realize there’s no time for the bullshit and let it go, too.
• I only concern myself with pleasing the people who mean something to me.
• When I realize something is broke and I have the tools to fix it, I follow those steps for just a day. Then I can see what works for me and throw out what doesn’t. Rinse & repeat.
• I ask others for support.

As you can tell from my post yesterday, I was being a bit tough/down on myself about all the things I’ve been looking to change that I wasn’t following through on. I know I couldn’t live in Ideal World just like I couldn’t live in Realistic World. Neither one of them would work for me.

So, I decided to live in Michelle World – a place where I can grow and thrive, be comfortable and relax, face resposibility and achieve my dreams. I started to see what that place looked like for me and how I could get there. With a nudge from Merci Miglino, an ICA trainer who allowed me to be coached on structures during class last night, I saw how I can take all of these tools I’ve put in place and make them un-scary. I saw how I had fear around them being too rigid as well as thrusting me into Responsibility World a little sooner than I was ready. When I recognized that fear & shaped it in a more positive way (in coach speak it’s called “reframing”) I saw the possibilities.

The possibility of not feeling like a chicken with her head cut off. (more…)

Photo care of 2 1/2-Months-To-New-Years-Resolutions Resolutions

I’m a reader of a few financial blogs, and I recently came across an old post from The Simple Dollar detailing the challenge of 101 Goals in 1001 Days. And then I came across the same post (except for the goals themselves, of course) in Starshyne Productions‘ blog. I could go into the specifics, but I won’t insult your intelligence – it’s exactly how it sounds. And I want to do it, too.*

So, here’s my list of specific, measurable, decisive, focused realistic & stretching goals to complete on or before September 4, 2011 (Doesn’t that seem far, far away?):

1. Be credit card debt-free
2. Be a homeowner
3. Establish my own work space
4. Work fully for myself (no day job!)
5. Do one show/year [0/2]
6. Plan a “big” trip (overseas) with Luke
7. Send a thank you note for every gift received
8. Conduct at least 3 workshops [0/3]
9. Conduct at least 3 teleclasses [0/3]
10. Write at least 3 articles and post them online [0/3]
11. Get a financial planner that is not my accountant
12. Write an eBook
13. Graduate from ICA
14. Join ICF
15. Continue to blog here with at least 429 more posts [0/429]
16. Go to an ICF Conference
17. Complete the 3-Day Walk for breast cancer
18. Meet at least one of my twiends face-to-face
19. Take one scholarship client/year [0/3]
20. Join a networking group
21. Paint every room in my house/apartment with a non-white color. White is so un-homey.
22. Speak at an event
23. Visit The Bronx Zoo
24. Visit The Cloisters
25. Have a 2-show date in one day with my Mom
26. Go to The Met with Luke, my Mom & Chuck
27. Spend a holiday with my Dad in Florida
28. Have another girls weekend (in Atlantic City?)
29. Get 6 massages/facials [0/6]
30. Get a real make-up lesson
31. Purge my closet of every single clothing item that doesn’t fit or I don’t like, no matter how much I might “need” it at some point
32. Take a flying trapeze class. Yes really.
33. Host 5 movie nights in the movie theater room (cool amenity, huh? Thanks fancy NYC building!) [0/5]
34. Offer my Mom and stepfather at least one night in our apartment
35. Spend 2 full days in my pajamas [0/2]
36. Learn how to make 3 “real” dishes (pizza, burritos & pasta doesn’t count) [0/3]
37. Throw a dinner party on the roof for 6 people
38. Hire a designer for a WIGU logo
39. Redesign my site to coordinate with the WIGU logo
40. Redesign my blog to coordinate with the WIGU logo and be more reader-friendly
41. Add necessary widgets to my blog (Twitter, Digg, delicious, etc)
42. Start a newsletter
43. Send out 6 copies of said newsletter [0/6]
44. Create a Facebook group for WIGU
45. See Guys & Dolls, no matter the cost
46. Change my name. Everywhere.
47. Update my performance site
48. Continue helping Opening Doors become the powerhouse they deserve to be by helping behind the scenes. Hm, this isn’t measurable. OK – produce 1 show for Opening Doors.
49. Start a client database
50. Order photos for wedding album &…uh….get it
51. Frame 6 wedding photos [0/6]
52. Return unwanted wedding gifts
53. Hang up/find a home for all framed photos
54. Make wedding photo book for Mom & Chuck
55. Make wedding photo book for Dad & Diana
56. Make wedding photo book for Nana & Papa
57. Make wedding photo book for Sheila
58. Mail all birthday cards 7-5 days prior to that person’s birthday
59. Take 1 martial arts or boxing class
60. Make recipe book with easy, healthy recipes
61. Stop picking my g.d. fingers!
62. Have a weekend road trip getaway with Luke
63. Take a road trip to see the fall foliage
64. Team up on a garage sale with a friend (that has a garage)
65. Find the paper I wrote on my Papa’s life
66. Establish weekly phone calls with my brother
67. Establish weekly phone calls with my Dad
68. Give blood
69. Give 5 homemade gifts or cards [0/5]
70. Take 6 voice lessons [0/6]
71. Read all books in the WIGU Bookstore [1/10]
72. Get my watch fixed already
73. Have 100 things on my Celebration List
74. Transfer the quotes I’ve been collecting to my brand new blog page
75. Scan all notebooks and recycle the paper versions
76. Beat Luke at Monopoly. Or any other game. Just once.
77. Clear out bin of Stuff That Needs A Home and use for something else. Because you’ll never just dump your crap there again.
78. Clear out bin of Papers That Need A Home and use for something else. Because you’ll never just dump your crap there again.
79. Attend a clothing swap
80. Start a new ING account for appearance purchases only. Set it up to deduct $50/month & stick to this budget!
81. Figure out where to put your money each month & make it automatic, especially with the joint checking account.
82. Create a WIGU budget, calculating the cost of web hosting, newsletters, a contact database, design fees, stationary, etc.
83. Get to 1,000 Twitter followers
84. Map out my time blocks for 2 consecutive weeks and stick to them. I’m serious [0/2]
85. Print out this goal list & keep it in my Moleskine
86. Put this list in a new blog page & keep it updated in real time, along with a countdown
87. Take my vitamins every weekday morning (calcium, one a day, vitamin c)
88. Read 10 novels of my choosing (0/10]
89. Take 10 bubble baths [0/10]
90. Eat dinner with Luke on the roof deck
91. Donate $100 to charity (0/$100]
92. Have a beach day
93. Buy fancy schmany hot chocolate
94. Learn how to update my website myself
95. Eat lobster
96. Attend a Mets game with my family at the new CitiField
97. Go to the Brooklyn Flea
98. Take a group marketing class with Veronika Noize
99. Work with my own business-building coach for at least 24 weeks [0/24]
100. Make an inspiration board, because “vision boards” are too hippy-dippy for me
101. Start a book club for/with my girlfriends & have 3 meetings – NOT all hosted/organized by me [0/3]

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As my avid readers (hi, Mom!) know, I’ve been getting organizationally coached by Julie Bestry of Best Results Organizing (and yes, there is a larger post on that to come as soon as I can collect all my thoughts). Because she is awesome, she provided me with a copy of her eBook, Tickle Yourself Organized.

I’ve heard about Tickler Files before, but all that I took away from my reading was that “The Tickler” was a great name for a supervillain. Doesn’t that sound like Batman’s nemesis? A friend of The Joker?

OK, so I did pick up a bit more about The Tickler in my cursory reading of Getting Things Done as well as the productivity blogs I devour, but I didn’t honestly think it would be conducive to my life. What do I need to be reminded about, besides paying bills? I set that up to get an email notification when one was due, so that was that. No Tickler necessary.

Well, it wasn’t until I read Tickle Yourself Organized that the lightbulb appeared over my head (& it was on a crowded subway, so everyone could see it): (more…)

What I’m Grateful for This Year

by Michelle Ward

I’m grateful for the love I receive every minute of every day from my sweet, funny, kind, intelligent, handsome husband. I’m grateful that he asked me to be a part of Team Awesome for the rest of my days, and that I took his name so the world would know it. I’m grateful to be his wife and will forever remain proud of the man that will always stand beside me.

I’m grateful for the wedding of our dreams that happened just 10 short weeks ago – the amazing vendors, the lack of rain, the family and friends that went above and beyond. I’ll think of that day every day and will be filled with love, happiness and gratitude. (more…)