Books I’m Reading

by Diana Long on August 16, 2010

Here are a few of the books/audio and video that I’ve read recently and highly recommend. Grab a refreshing drink, one of these books or audios and enjoy!

The Zen of Social Media by Shama Kabani – Shama helps to clarify and help you to handle the “beast” of social media. She gives some really great step by step instruction and strategy as well as highlighting some case studies. Highly recommended.

Flip the Funnel- Joseph Jaffe-This book is not a book about how to aggressively go out & “get more customers” rather the “flip of the funnel” concept that Joseph teaches is to pay more attention to the customers you already have. His key points? Provide beyond excellent customer service and nurture the relationship with them. He addresses the web 2.0 and provides strategies to fully utilize it to serve the customer.

ProBlogger- by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett- A super, primer for all bloggers. Lear what you need to know about everything blog related from technology to content to building your own community.

The Matrix Energetics Experience-
Richard Bartlett- I am a huge fan of Sounds True, Tami Simon’s company which provides audio programs from the best of the best in personal and spiritual development. I purchased this program from them. This progam by Dr Bartlett is really fantastic. I have attended Dr Bartlett’s live training, and while I enjoyed his teachings I actually like this recorded program better! It’s packaged beautifully and has a set of 6 audio trainings, 1 DVD training, cards and a manual. It’s really interesting and mind expanding . It’s way out of the box!

Ann Boleyn and The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory- My daughter recommended this book to me and I was completely drawn into the time of England’s KIng Henry the 8th. Around the same time, we discovered the excellent Showtime series, The Tudors. It’s fabulous. Rich with content, visually beautiful, excellent casting of the characters. Just plain great!

On This Journey, We Call Our Life: Living the Questions
by James Hollis- I’ve been processing my dreams for almost 2 years now with a Jungian dream analyst. It’s been a most fascinating process. This book is written by a jungian dream expert and the questions he poses and the wisdom he shares is deep and will stir your own transformation.

Women Run with the Wolves by Clarissa P Estes- Also from the genre of jungian influence. Dr Estes is a remarkable story teller. Using her incredible stories to help the reader to connect and identify with that which is hidden in our unconscious. You’ll find yourself relating to the characters and the escapades they have with what you are creating or wanting to stop creating(!) in your own life.

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Bye-Bye Overwhelm

by Diana Long on August 3, 2010

Overwhelmed? Have too many projects floating at the same time that you find you are not able to focus, make progress and get things done?

This is so common!

In coaching my clients, this challenge of “so much to do” and feeling overwhelmed is one of the most important things to address.

If your “to-do list is beginning to look like a never ending list of “shoulds”, you’re probably feeling tired before you get started with your day. Not a great way to live and actually a very poor way to attract more clients, money or opportunities.

It can be easy to get all excited and create blockbuster size big goals so you have the “big results” you dream of. With all the marketing- hype on the internet scene, it can be easy to pulled into program after program, feeling like you need to keep adding to your arsenal of tools and skills. On top of that, most entrepreneurs are highly creative so they find themselves constantly creating new concepts for programs and products.

It’s smart to keep learning and growing. In fact, in this evolutionary, rapidly changing time in our history, you absolutely need to invest in yourself, your business and technology. It’s also a smart business strategy to dedicate time for research, development and innovate with creative, unique products and services.

The problem is that your output of energy is not balanced. What happens is that your energy is directed to too many things and is causing you to “leak” energy. This results in feelings of being tired, discouraged and empty.

Wouldn’t you love to be feel more ease and flow each and every day? To feel that you efforts are focused and that you are inspired to take actions that actually create results you can see (your book is written, your new webinar series is ready to launch, you’ve got 3 new clients & more cash flow)

Here are 3 strategies to dramatically reduce your overwhelm & find your “sweet spot” of productivity & ease:

1. Release- Let go of the “junk”. Adopt a monthly habit of clearing out what no longer serves you. This can be limiting beliefs, broken systems in your business, and all those uncompleted items (do it, delegate it or dump it!)

2. Scatter & Focus- the secret of a professional juggler? Scatter and focus. The spinning plates are tossed up in the air, and with an intent focus on ONE plate at a time, the artist is able to maintain the balance. Try the Scatter & Focus approach:
Write down all of projects on paper. Review your projects list. Which “speak” to you first? What has more energy? Choose to focus on ONE project at a time and commit to following through to it’s completion. Then choose your next focus and repeat. This truly works!

3. Stretch Goals – Bold,juicy goals are truly motivating,but goals that are so huge and so far away from where we are today actually serve sabotage you. Instead of making up goals that freak you out and paralyze you, make a goal that has these qualities: It’s doable, you believe you can have it and it’s a stretch for you. These kinds of goals are so much easier to achieve. What happens next? Now you are on a roll,because the energy of success brings us more success!

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Choicepoint– Put Your Stake in the Sand

July 20, 2010

Are you crystal clear on what you truly want for your life and for your business ? Have you put your “stake in the sand” for what you want…. for what you believe in? Now is the time. Author-scientist Gregg Braden teaches, we are in an unprecedented time on the planet and that human beings [...]

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What Stage of Growth Is Your Business In?

July 5, 2010

We’ve got a beautiful lush planting in my garden called periwinkle. We learned that “periwinkle” grows according to its own rhythm: the first year it “sleeps”, the second year it “creeps”, and the third year it “leaps”. Had we not known and trusted this natural growth process, we would have been frustrated and unhappy with [...]

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Do You Have an E-mail Addiction?

July 1, 2010

A good friend and colleague of mine, was close to tears when we talked recently. She was feeling overwhelmed and frazzled and with the all the responsibilities of her own business. Her self confidence was sagging. As we talked, a major obstacle was revealed. She was an E-mail Slave. The magnitude of e-mails she was [...]

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Mo-Jo and Flow

June 24, 2010

Remember the silly Austin Power’s movies from a few years ago? Austin Power knew the power of having his “MoJo” . Yeah baby! ” MoJo” is a great word to describe how it feels when we’re top of our game, when we are feeling your best and exuding natural confidence & charisma. Things just seem [...]

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Are You Willing?

March 25, 2010

Are you willing to do what it takes? This is an excellent question to ask yourself. In order to make my dreams come true, am I willing to: Change what must be changed? Do what must be done? Financially invest in myself and my business ? Pitch my ideas even it scares me and I’m [...]

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Interview on Fox-ABC News

March 21, 2010

I’m so excited to share with you..I was recently interviewed on the Fox-ABC news show! What’s even more exciting is that I got to share all about my brand new product, The Dream Card Game (TM) These cards are truly magical. I’ve had clients who’ve written books, flown planes, traveled to exotic locales, made buckets [...]

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How To Stay Positive When Things Are Going “All Wrong”

March 18, 2010

Staying upbeat and positive especially during challenging times is an art form. It’s also a really important skill set. Do you have a truly profitable mindset? Do you have a core belief that the Universe is a ‘friendly place? To have a ‘truly profitable” mindset means to recognize that even when the s**t hits the [...]

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Anything You Do with Heart, is Art- Part 2

March 14, 2010

Recently I posted this short article & some pictures of my current art project, a gigantic abstract painting that will be hung in our living room. In that post I shared what one of my favorite thought leaders & bloggers,Seth Godin said about art: Seth’s definition of art contains three elements: 1. Art is made [...]

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