What would a wise woman do?
It takes a lot of effort to successfully write and get a book published. Our friend and writer Laura Steward Achison just had her first book released: "What would a wise woman do?" Questions to ask along the way.
Laura worked in the computer industry for many years, successfully running a company like The Computing Center in Connecticut and Florida. Not quite two years ago, she decided to sell it. This book, in part, talks about that journey and some of the take-a-ways from the process. The book is available on Amazon in hard copy and in Kindle form. It's also available from Laura's website: whatwouldawisewomando.com/
Laura Steward Atchison is a creative entrepreneur and writer who brings wit and wisdom to her readers. Her current endeavor is founding Wisdom Learned, LLC. Ms. Atchison gave birth to the idea of a new company that focuses on educating other business leaders through experience and lessons learned from the trenches.
Big Mo - A creative job seeker
What Direction are you going in?
What direction are you going in?
Sounds like a simple question with a simple answer doesn’t it? No, it’s not a trick question but one that requires more thought than most of us give to the answer. I’ve learned that there is a bigger, more useful question than just asking what direction I am going. It is actually more important to ask, “Where do I want to be and, will where I am going get me there?”
Information or Transformation
I spend a lot of time reading business and life transformation books and regularly attend seminars with some of the top experts in their fields to increase my knowledge to improve my life and my business. At times, I leave those events on fire to make changes in my life and business but something happens when I get home or back to work. The daily realities seem to push all the insights learned to the background and just never seem to get put into action. Does this sound familiar?
How many times have you been to an event and written down a laundry list of “brilliant” insights you were ready to implement and then forgot about? Each time you read a book or attend an event you say, “This time it will be different” but you never seem to change anything?
Ask yourself, “Am I interested in information or in transformation?” BEFORE you go or BEFORE you start reading that latest business or self-help book.
Why settle for fine?
Editor's Note - We have known Laura for over 10 years as a computer systems integration business owner, entrepreneur, and prolific writer.
Have you ever said, “I’m fine” rather than, “I’m great”? How about when you’ve gone to a restaurant and said the food was fine rather than it’s wonderful and yet you kept going back to that same place rather than find another restaurant that had better food and service and perhaps even a better price? Fine to me means that it is just satisfactory. That the experience just meets my minimum requirements for that interaction. I don’t know about you, but I prefer my life to be filled with exceptional experiences whenever possible especially if it is possible for me to shift the experience with just a little effort.
I was talking to my mom the other day, she recently had open heart surgery and is recovering at our house, and I asked her how she was feeling. She said she was fine but when I prodded her for a deeper answer she said she had a headache and she was in pain. Comparatively, she was fine to where she had been a few weeks prior, but she really wasn’t fine. A couple of Tylenol and about 20 minutes later she felt great. You could even see it in her eyes. Why are we willing to settle for fine when we can be great?
All it took for great to happen in this case was Mom being willing to admit what wasn’t great and then analyze if there was a way to change fine to great. I have found that 99% of the time it is that easy to move from fine to great, wonderful, awesome or even just to good. In a restaurant, it may mean sending the salad back if you asked for it with no dressing and it came out laden with dressing or engaging the wait staff in a conversation and asking their name to let them know you appreciate them. Watch how your service improves with just that little bit of attention on your part.