1. January Studio
2. Forgot Be Not
3. January Links
4. Wrap-Up
Yahoo! 2007 is underway! Football playoffs, snow (a little bit) in WV, ocean swells and COLD water in St. John, sailboats and yachts everywhere...yeeha. The company's come and gone for the holidays, you're settling back down into your routine, you're super excited for the all-important holiday approaching (duh, Super Bowl). I've made three goals for this year: to illustrate and publish my first book, to run the NYC marathon, and to skydive. Committing myself by admitting that to anyone reading this holds me to it. Yikes. Where's that backspace button...? Have you tried anything new for 2007, if you wanted to?
This newsletter comes to you towards the end of January, several weeks into the New Year. Time enough to be well on your way to maintaining your New Year’s resolutions…or to be forgetting them. Why is it that so many of us make resolutions to try something new or stop a behavior, only to lose our motivation after about a week (or less)? Why are there so many self-help and self-development books, web sites, conferences and training organizations gear towards self-improvement? It’s a huge industry. So many people feel dissatisfied with their current state and look for ways to improve it. Repeatedly. Why do we drop off and lose our gumption so easily?
The problem lies in the external focus of many self-development approaches. They consist of recipes to be followed and actions to be imitated. But to truly change, you have to shift your focus within. It's easy to admire some successful person; far harder to see whether doing as they did (or claimed they did) will work for you, in your circumstances and in combination with your individual character and desires.
It's like the mass of books and courses and diets devoted to losing weight. Pretty much, there's only one way to lose weight: restrict your calorie intake, get off your butt. It’s a simple concept. But it’s not an easy one. Unfortunately, many of us don't want to eat less or exercise more—or not so that it makes a difference. Instead, we look for ways to outsmart the system to maintain our usual habits and still get thinner. We move from one approach to the next, never sticking with anything long enough to become permanent. It's the same with self-help and self-development.
The flaw is the gap between what we gather about self-improvement from books and courses (and web sites) and what we implement consistently. Most approaches are strong on inspirational stories and results, but do not explain fully how to match their situations with our own. As a result, we become frustrated with meager results and soon move on to try yet another approach.
Successful development begins with two simple steps: to become fully aware of yourself and what is driving you to live the way you do, and accept that it is the way it is. It sounds simple enough, but it can be hard to carry out. Many of us don't want to recognize and admit, honestly, who we are—let alone take the next step and accept it. We want to be different, to be better, to hide our flaws and weaknesses and pretend they never existed.
Self-deceit never works, just as eating burgers and fries daily won't cause anyone to lose weight. The first step in self-improvement is to look objectively at who you are and accept that you are who you are. That doesn't mean trying to make yourself believe the way you are today is right. It means accepting that's the way things are, then determining if that is working for you or not. If it’s not, you probably know what you need to do or how to find out what needs to be done. The ball’s in your court…which can be a very empowering thought. Run with it.
Andrea Leland's Caribbean Documentaries
Recently grabbing the front page of the island newspaper and generating hype among the three Virgin Islands, Andrea has worked passionately to create and produce her own independant films. Her latest, The Jamesie Project, is soon-to-be-released next month. Her website offers insite into her intriguing projects and artwork.
Or, check out The Jamesie Project:
Media Bistro
For those interested in or working in the media industry, this site feeds your appetite for all media news and careers all over. It's clean, contemporary and full of information.
MacLife
From the people who brought you MacAddict magazine, they've now become MacLife. Their site offers tips, tricks, information, news and all sortsa cool Mac stuff for all those who love Mac.
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Asolare Design
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