|
Working With Power
The online newsletter dedicated to helping you integrate the 12 elements of power for sustainable success with ease.
In this issue:
A Woman Under Pressure: 4 pages
Approximate reading time: 14 minutes
A WOMAN UNDER PRESSURE
|
|
SPECIAL FREE EVENT:
First Event of the Working With Power Book Club,
with Special Guest Jennifer Louden
Thursday, February 22, 5-8 pm at Third Place Books
Need great new girlfriends? A wonderful way of organizing your life (and brain?) that works for you as a woman? Wanna find it all in one place? Come to the first event of our Working with Power Book Club. Our friend Jen Louden (author of “The Woman’s Book of Comfort” and other bestselling books for women like us) will be speaking to a public audience at 7; we’ll all get together with her beforehand for dinner and girlfriend time. In future months, we’ll recommend another book and invite you to get together somewhere cool to discuss and support one another.
FREE event: Buy your own dinner (and wine?) from one of several restaurants at 3rd Place Commons – free talk with Jen Louden at 7 pm at 3rd Place Books
So that we know how many tables to reserve, please rsvp to bookclub0222@workingwithpower.com and we’ll send directions and details.
About Jennifer Louden’s new book, The Life Organizer: Jennifer first created her new book for her own needs as a busy mother, writer, and artist. One reader said, “This book makes you stop and question why you’re running through your day and more importantly … WHAT YOU WANT…Only be determining what you want can you start to make decisions that really serve you.”
The website www.thelifeorganizer.com gives a great overview of the process Jen will be talking about at the mini-workshop on the 22nd.
Check out the book at Amazon or your local independent bookstore.
|
|
|
The ever-sassy Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “"A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water." Don’t we know it!? And that’s what we want to talk about this month: how does your strength – or more specifically, your power – come out when you are “in hot water,” under pressure, or facing a deadline or a crisis? How you handle pressure is one of the four areas we address in our one-day Power Makeover (see the box below to learn more), because it’s one of the places where our Distortions of Power come out most strongly, and therefore one of the best places to “make over” how you’re using your power. Then, you’re more effective, with less stress than before.
So what kind of distortions come out when YOU are under pressure? Are you like the clients who’ve told us…
“Everything else is on hold while I complete this big project.”
“When I’m under this much pressure, I just need people to understand I may have a short fuse.”
“No one can help me with this; it’s my responsibility, and I’ve just got to push through till it’s done.”
“I’ll (you name it: exercise, get more sleep, see my friends, eat well) after this thing wraps up.”
As much as these feel like “reality” when you’re in the middle of a project, they are choices that indicate to us that you’re distorted in how you’re using your power. These and many other reactions to pressure are NOT the only way, and these reactions – rather than the pressure itself – are the reason deadlines and intense projects are so exhausting. We want your projects and “busy seasons” to be exhilarating and rewarding for you. We’re not perfect at this ourselves, but those who see us in action often tell us that we have a remarkable ability to take on a lot without wearing ourselves out. To learn how we do it, and how you can, too, read on to the Practices section below. Better yet (warning: shameless plug!), come join us March 2nd at the Power Makeover!
|
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday, FEBRUARY 20, 7-9 a.m.
at the Bellevue Harbor Club; Bellevue, WA
Tame Your Clients: A Woman’s Way to Create Enduring Relationships Without Burning Out
Keeping all our clients happy can be exhausting, especially when some of them are hard to please. We try to draw the line somewhere so we don’t burn out, but we have to keep them happy, because they’re our source of income. What’s the solution? At this training, you’ll learn specific strategies for giving clients what they REALLY want, knowing when and how to say “no,” setting limits clients will hear, and resolving conflicts with ease. No matter your industry or role, connecting with the other women at this training and learning these powerful tools will make you feel confident and clear – and make even your toughest clients sing your praises!
$45; includes training, breakfast, materials, and surprise gift.
To register follow one of these two links:
If you’re a member of the Columbia Tower Club, call the concierge at 206.622.2010 If you’re NOT a member of the Columbia Tower Club, click here.
Thursday, FEBRUARY 22, 11:30am - 1:30pm
Goals That Work for You: A Woman’s Way to Getting Real Results
Lunch at the Columbia Tower Club
You know you need to set goals, but none of the processes you’ve tried were fun, and they didn’t really work. Sure, you reached some of your goals, but they weren’t always as satisfying as you’d thought they would be. And other goals gathered dust and made you feel like a slacker when you looked back at them. This time, it’s different! At this training, we’ll help you set the right goals and go after them in a way that really works. By integrating both your masculine power and your feminine power, you’ll be more effective and focused, and way less stressed.
$60; includes training, lunch, materials, and a surprise gift.
To register follow one of these two links:
If you’re a member of the Harbor Club, click here.
If you’re NOT a member of the Harbor Club, click here.
Wednesday, February 28, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm
Twin Palms; Pasadena, California
Ditch Your Perfectionism and Double Your Power
If you're really, really good -- but never good enough for your own standards -- you're not alone. Perfectionism is an epidemic among accomplished women (and don't we think it's the secret of our success?). At this workshop you'll meet other amazing women who refuse to settle for "good enough" but are tired of the constant struggle to get everything perfect. And you'll have fun together learning how to meet your high standards without exhausting yourself in the process.
$60; includes training, lunch, materials, and a surprise gift.
Register Now
Friday, March 2, 7:30 - 4:00
at the Bellevue Harbor Club; Bellevue, WA
THE ONE-DAY POWER MAKEOVER YOU NEED
Want to hit higher goals? But wondering how you’re even going to maintain where you’re at? Want to be a better leader? Better partner? A more peaceful person? The Power Makeover is our one-day assess-and-address program that will leave you with great connections with other cool women, a clear map of where you can immediately get better results with more energy to spare, and specific tools in four key areas:
- Handling Pressure and Stress
- Hitting and Exceeding Your Targets
- Working with Difficult People (and not becoming one!)
- Life Outside Work (or lack thereof?)
Next date: Friday, March 2, 2007, 7:30 – 4:00 pm, with a no-host mixer afterward
Learn more online at www.powermakeover.com.
This one day is life-changing and power-accelerating. We’d love to see you there! If you have a team of women who’d like to register together, call 206-686-7697 for a group discount.
Mondays, 10:00 am PT, Starting March 5
Via Teleconference
The Small Business Power Project™
We love women who run their own businesses! Our managing partner Amanda Murphy, MBA is going to take 20 of our very favorite business owners this spring into the ground-breaking Small Business Power Project(TM). She will dedicate herself to those 20, helping them focus, showing them how to integrate their power for maximum results, and how to perfect a winning business model. If you’re one of them, she will be as dedicated to your results as she is to her own.
If you think you might be one of our special 20 business owners, visit www.powerprojectonline.com to read all about the new program. Amanda would love to have you join her. This is the first program ever to incorporate both Amanda's personal business expertise AND the 12 Elements of Power – don’t miss it! |
|
PRACTICES FOR WORKING WITH POWER UNDER PRESSURE
The following practices have helped us and our clients thrive even when facing a crisis or deadline. Please e-mail us E-mail us and let us know your experiences with them.
1. FOCUS, BUT DON’T GET CROSS-EYED: By all means, when we’re under extraordinary pressure, it makes sense to streamline life. But remember which activities your body, mind, and spirit need for you to be at your best, and step those UP, not down. Eating well, exercising, getting fresh air and plenty of sleep…Admit it, you’ve left some of these by the wayside when you were under pressure. But it didn’t make you smarter, faster, or happier. It’s counter-logical that taking time for you would help your deadline, but it’s NOT counter-intuitive, is it? Makes perfect sense, ‘cause it’s TRUE.
2. FEEL THE ARMY BEHIND YOU…AND LET THEM HELP YOU: A woman under pressure often becomes so determined and self-reliant that she forgets her resources. Imagine yourself with not a few, but dozens, hundreds, and thousands of people and other resources behind and all around you. Some of them have answers to your questions, solutions to your obstacles, or just encouragement. And you need all those things. Others can help you fend off the distractions and interruptions. How do you access all these resources? ASK.
3. GET REALLY, REALLY LAZY: Sit on the sofa and eat bonbons? No, not that kind of lazy! That’s for after the deadline, right? Mid-situation, though, the kind of laziness we’re talking about is an efficiency of thought and action. Declare, “I will not waste time worrying, clenching up, stressing, or thinking in negative ways. Too much to do! Plus, it doesn’t help!” Move fast and work hard with actions that are productive, but be ruthlessly lazy about the thoughts and actions that just don’t help.
Remember: The tiring thing about pressure is not the action or the deadline, it’s what we do with our power while meeting those demands. Use your power in integrated ways, and you’ll find that you can take on even more, while using less energy. Only then will you get a sense, like Eleanor Roosevelt said, of your REAL strength.
Until next time,
Here’s to your integrated power!
Blessings,
Sara and Michele
|
© 2006 Sara Harvey Yao and Michele Lisenbury Christensen. All rights reserved. Feel free to forward or re-publish, with the following copyright and contact information attached:
"By Sara Harvey Yao, MA and Michele Lisenbury Christensen, MA, PCC. Please visit www.elementsoffemininepower.com to read more about the twelve elements of feminine and masculine power, learn about events with Michele and Sara, and request a free audio CD introducing the elements."
To make subscription changes, please don't e-mail us; click the link at the very bottom. You can make your change or end your subscription in just a few seconds. Challenged? E-mail support@elementsoffemininepower.com. Thanks!
PRIVACY and Spam Policy: You'll never get an e-mail from a stranger as a result of this list, since we never sell, rent, or give away our subscription list. All privacy, no spam!
TO SUBSCRIBE FREE: Visit www.elementsoffemininepower.com/subscribe.html
Takes about 20 seconds. You'll receive our audio introduction to the Elements of Feminine Power and every month we'll send you fresh ways to activate your power for sustainable success.
|
|
