Once upon a time,..

Those four words are some of the most powerful in the English language. Hearing or reading those words means a story is coming next. You don't know who, what or where it is taking place but you know that something great is about to happen. Great stories have been starting with them since 1476 in Aesop's fables. Those four words are triggers to launch imagination and emotions around the world.

I can't speak for you but my go to genre is Fantasy. Has been for many years and although I love all sorts of work and always appreciate an elegant turn of phrase these books literally hold the magic for me. When I hold one in my hand new or old my brain starts to work and I put together the bits that I know or begin to determine the tiny relevance of the picture on the cover  ( Oh I know, but face it we all do it, with books and people). I find myself asking ,"Where is a castle, in foreboding winter world, like that?" Or "Why does she have that tattoo? Sometimes when I'm outside my genre I wonder about the crime at hand and what kind of a gun that is. Perhaps it's a historical piece and I discover I know almost nothing about architecture from the last century.

The stories tell us things, teach us things and sometimes even warn us about ourselves.
I have realized the power of those words and I am grateful [see last post] that I have both the ability and opportunity to read anything I want.

Many of us post signs and pictures in our bedrooms bathrooms and offices to inspire us to keep on keeping on. I have:
 Carpe Diem, and Nolite Dies Sine Linaes
They mean, Sieze the Day, and Never a day without a line,

I have a few others in English too: like the very encouraging;

"We got some daylight left. You want to use it or what?" from Steven King's Eddie Dean to Roland in The Gunslinger saga.

and the instructional; WRITE! it's a verb

I have more that i rotate in and out on the bulletin board, but I've added another this week. It puts me in a frame of mind that remembers how important reading of any kind is. Fiction or function, a book always brings you something, and in this modern world of whizzing electrons and non stop communication in tiny bursts, a book slows you down. A book stimulates you brain, builds the skill of reading itself, enlightens, inspires or fascinates. Sometimes they frighten, horrify or even titillate.They can delight and confuse make you raise a hand in triumph, or sag with tears. No matter what you read a book affects you, often now and occasionally in the future, when something you read becomes something you learned and you were able to use that information or knowledge in your own life. . 

So now when I finally hit the bed and look at the wall opposite me I see the phrase;

 Once upon a time.... 

And I pick up my current book for a few minutes. 

You should too. 

Thanksgiving All Year

Well Canadians have just had our thanksgiving and the American weekend is coming up and I want to share a little history tradition and maybe inspiration for you in the future.

My family and many families I have had the opportunity to spend time with over the years, including a fabulous evening at a friend's this year, have a tradition of a round table moment when everyone states out loud what they are thankful for. It is a warm and heartfelt moment with friends and family every time, And although I was able to hold back I found myself at the brink of tears when my turn came. This is a common occurrence for me and although I don't know the exact details I understand that the welling up of emotion comes from the gratitude I have and that I am about to share it. See our gratitude, the things we are thankful for, especially those deeper things that you realize if you take more than a few seconds to really consider your circumstances, Those things are what make you realize how much different your life could be if you had to live without them. Recognizing things that you really should be thankful for all the time can make an enormous difference in how you see the world.
This concept I call the Attitude of Gratitude and information about it is readily available in the public domain from many so called guru's. So after you see my few points below go looking if you want more. The point is being grateful changes your attitude, and that changes your thoughts, and those change everything so find things to be grateful for everyday or once a week to keep yourself positive and in a great emotional balance. It is easy to get caught up in complaining and wanting.  Be grateful instead.

Lary's Be Grateful guidlines:

• Little Things. - your health, your mind, your ability to walk a block or two, the ability to make change, count beyond 100, and write a letter (or an email). These things separate you from millions of people on the planet. How about the clean kitchen, or the new placement of the couch? Being grateful for what you have focuses your attention on positives instead of what you want or lack. You will only build on positives, and focusing on negatives gets you more of the same by drawing your attention to them,
• Big things-this fantastic Earth we live on. To quote Louis CK, "Everything else for millions and millions of miles sucks." Or maybe parts of it like oxygen and gravity are what you want to be grateful for today. 
• Funny things - toilet paper is pretty great, and the fact that farm animals cannot fly is also fantastic and certainly limits car washing and dry cleaning bills. I have a friend who is grateful for waking up every morning, because the alternative is not good. Think of something that makes you laugh and be glad for it. Laughter really is good medicine. 
• People-there are people in your life: some blood, some not, that make a difference. Remind yourself to be thankful for what they have given you. Friends and family, Great Grandmother's stories, and best teachers and bosses are always good to remind yourself of people to be grateful for because they have helped make you who you are. Not convinced? Who was your favorite teacher in high school? Why, did they inspire you, challenge you or force you to be better, or try harder? Ok, so now who won the Stanley Cup or the Grey cup or World Series or Super bowl that year? That person you thought of meant more than you imagined. 
• Yourself - Always be grateful for who you are. You are unique even if you are a twin. You have things that make you special or different and you should be grateful for you. You hear your own voice the most often, be sure it is telling you the right things. 
• The Other Side. This is the hardest one. Things will go wrong sometimes. Completely out of your control you might have accidents, mishaps, job losses, broken things and arguments with people you should love. It's okay. Find the other side. Car accident after work. Are you okay? are others okay? Good, it could be worse. Job loss might lead you to the coolest opportunity in years. Maybe it allows you to start a new business or take a holiday. The point is to see the other side. Broken dishes mean you just might get to shop and replace the whole set. Allow it to be positive and be grateful for the opportunity or experience in your life. 

Enough for today, 

Thank you for reading!

Lary

3 Things I've learned from Chili Palmer.



If you don't know or don't remember Chili Palmer is a loan shark/shylock character from the movie Get Shorty. Originally released in 1999, this was a major hit and was a number one box office film grossing over 12 million. The characters are well written funny and relevant throughout. Chili Palmer is the best, and despite the criminal background he professes, never actually does anything truly mean to anyone else. His character holds some of the qualities I have in myself and are valuable for almost every aspect of life, especially business.

1. Dress well. This is the "like a boss" mentality that is somewhat pervasive these days in speech but not in action. Ladies, most of you get this already so this is mostly targeted for the men in the audience. I am constantly dismayed by the jeans and t-shirts most men wear and the contrast between that look and the women they are with. Appearance matters, and if you are in business at all, the day you hit the grocery store in your sweats and a ball cap is the day you will run into one of your important clients. You have irrevocably changed their opinion of you.  Most men at work look like they were not responsible for their own clothing. They look like they have found a clean shirt and yesterdays dress pants and whatever shoes were at the door on the way out. I actually was in an office one day and one of the principles was wearing two different shoes. Can you imagine a woman doing that ever?  So create some complete outfits, and get help if you need to. Most menswear stores have people who can show you how to complete an look.  Looking like you know what you are doing is half the job, no matter what the job is. Most of my friends will tell you I rarely leave the house in a T-shirt. It's about presenting a sense of credibility.

2. Speak Carefully.
Besides being judged on your image, your words reveal a lot about who you are. Chili's rules are : mean what you say, and don't say anything you don't have to. Talk when you need to, and maintain a conversation but don't feel the need to fill the silence all the time. If you are doing all the talking you aren't listening to your client who may reveal key information that will help you help them. Never swear. Swearing is almost always a shortcut to real adjectives that have meaning. Swearing in a business setting demeans you, lowers your position in others eyes and often proves that you don't belong in a leadership role. It doesn't matter if your client swears, as long as you don't it sets you apart slightly. Control is important. Saying only what you mean keeps the conversation clear. Of course any attempt at trying to deceive a client or customer will come back to haunt you , it always does. Be honest and straightforward.

3.Be Calm.
Excitement is an emotion that fires off all kinds of hormonal chemicals. Walk and pace a few minutes before an important meeting. You can burn off a little energy and your voice and demeanor will reflect it. Walking in to someones office knowing you need to ask for a huge order can be frightening. Remember it isn't personal, it's business. The first time I asked for a $100K worth of advertising I was thinking in the back of my mind, (That's more than I make in a year). It affected my presentation and I lost the deal. Business is business, just because you don't order bottles of wine over the $50 mark in restaurants understand that many people do. Stay calm, breathe, pace a bit before, meditate in your car or office. Do whatever helps you relax a little before the big deal starts.

Knowing your stuff is part of this. Do your homework, know the client and your presentation in overwhelming detail. You won't need it all, but you never know what piece of information might be crucial. Knowledge is power and the powerful are seldom nervous. Lawyers do this all the time. In court you don't want just enough evidence to get by, you want overwhelming information that supports your case.

All The Best,
L

One of the things I hear constantly is,"How do you stay productive?" And it's often a challenge as a freelancer to stay motivated when you work from home. There is a fridge and stove and a bed and a couch and a TV and recorded movies, books to read.... And there are lots of distractions not in the house, like local parks, the pub down the street, a coffee shop just five minutes walk away, and of course other parks beaches, theaters and general fun stuff happening downtown or nearby.  So here are a five things I try to apply to myself on a regular basis when I am feeling drawn away from my desk or less than productive..

1. Start.
Sometimes I just sit in the chair and stare at the screen for a few minutes. It is virtually impossible not to think of something that can be done at the desk if there are not actual contract deadlines to meet in which case teh project inevitably pops up. Others have said getting started is 80% of the day. I agree. It doesn't get done if I'm not in front of it so that is the best place for me to be.
 
2. Targets or Time.
 I like to set a task target like 1000 words or 2 hours before I get up. I know sales people who commit to 50 or 100 cold calls before they get up. The secret is to limit your chance of  stopping before you are done. Setting a timer on my phone works great when I have a project that is long and it gives me a reminder to take a break. Other times struggling to get the 1000 words done keeps me in the chair until I hit the milestone. Now sometimes it's also important to keep going when you are on a roll and this happens too. getting started and focusing on 1000 words is great, but if the timer goes and I'm in the zone, I just cancel it and keep on going. I know that I can stop when i need to after that but why bail on good energy. Use it  while you got it flowing.

3. Pareto Principle.
I get the most from about 20% of what I do. That's important because focusing on the keys is part of being productive. This can be so valuable I actually know an advertising firm that dropped clients that were not in their own top 25%. It's about the time of course. You only have so much and if you are spinning your wheels trying to coax a few extra dollars out of a client that represents only 2% of your business you need to ask why did they get a priority. If any of your top clients need anything at all you should definitely handle that account first. Spend your time where your money is.

4. Batching
This works because it puts your brain into a certain gear, just like a car transmission. As a freelancer I have several modes of operating and they include reading and research, business writing, creative writing, marketing writing, editing, consulting, self marketing, and my business management. I like to stay in a single mode as long as possible, or until a project milestone hits before I change focus. Business writing is different that creative, and client contact or emails is unrelated to editing.Keep one hat on and change when you need a break from the first mode.

5. Go faster.
This is odd, but increasing your speed increases your output in everything. walking, reading, typing etc. In a course I wrote about speed reading I use this analogy: Imagine you are in a car traveling fast down a highway. Ahead you see a small town and the speed limit warnings tell you to reduce speed. You do, but it's hard. It's difficult to slow down to pass through town. Your brain was all conditioned to go fast and it resented having to slow down. Once in town at less than half your highway speed you feel like you are crawling, and a stop light seems to take forever. But as you leave you feel the excitement starting to build because you are increasing speed again. your brain is releasing endorphins because you are back at its happy speed. And you feel the release as a gratitude for not having to go slower. Train your brain to go faster and it will encourage you to stay faster.

Put a few of these to work and let me know how you feel after a week or so of practice. 

Be well.
L

So I had a birthday recently. a big one. A milestone you might say, and at 50 I am remarkably happy with life. Just in the past week I have come to real terms with my life, my environment my reality and my goals.
Here are a few things that I am happy about or want to share.

I am happily divorced.
I met someone else really cool
I miss my Dad, often.
I love my kids, and they love me back.
My Mom and sisters are always closer than I thought. I love them too.
Never give up on your dreams. If you always wanted something make a plan and make it happen. Wishes and dreams just need a little action and then they become real, the world will help you once you start, trust me.
Good friends are more valuable than fancy stuff.
Mid life is the best part.
Sleep is important.
Meditation is important
Game of Thrones may be the best fantasy series ever written. Sorry, Mr. Tolkien I am falling off the fence.
There is no rewind, go forward in your life and let things that happened in the past stay there. Learn from them if you can.
It's not the muslims, or the arabs, the israelis or the police, the skinheads, or the sihks, the christians or the chinese, it's people who kill people. Only people can stop it.
Everyone should watch  the movie Zeitgeist. at www.zeitgeist.com or on netflix. if you haven't yet do it, soon,  before the powers realize the secret is getting out.

Be good to each other.
The power of gratitude and good will, positive energy and happiness come back to you when you put them out there. So do bitterness and anger, rage and hate.

I'll talk more about human energy another time.
Get out there, be well, and do good for someone else once today.

L

Wow, it has been a while.
Things change, life moves on. I would dearly love to rant on about how google changed everything and i lost access to my account because they separated google apps and google plus has since come into play and you cant have multiple accounts on a single address or something like that but the truth is I forgot how to access my account and which email I used to access google apps tools. it has taken over a year for me to figure out how to get in and out of my now multiple accounts.
(ps once you create an account it's listed forever unless you find the complete removal page.)
So this post is short and just a quick update about me and life and work and stuff.
I am still writing which is good. I am a worker at writing, in that I do not follow my muse and write only when the mood strikes me. I write, everyday whether I want to or not.  And now that I have access to the amazing blogger I will be able to post here again too.
Unfortunately i have to suck up the shame of not accessing this regularly enough to keep it safe and usable. I forgot email and passwords and life is continuing to fill up with multiple identification issues. just the loyalty cards in my wallet for the stores I shop in are now at 11. I do not have loyalty cards for everyone, I only have the ones I deemed necessary or worthwhile. I have multiple emails and multiple passwords and multiple sites I must sign into. Which makes me think about one of my favorite movies of all time, The Fifth Element. i remeber how excited Lilu is when she tries to board the space shuttle for Phlostan Paradise with her Multipass. I wish I had a multipass for everything I do.
Then again I wonder how closely monitored we would all be with govenrment issue Multipass cards and how easy it might be for real trouble to occur if it was lost or stolen, faked or duplicated. That's the writer in me creating conflict where non exists I suppose. I still wish I had a MultPass. I bet there's an app for that.

Later.
L