TGO -
Tremendous Growth Opportunities
September
2008
by Judy Ann
Michael, MBA
Copyright
2008 - All Rights Reserved
CLOSET CLEANING
I was very blessed to have a
great afternoon with my friends early last month. About a dozen folks came for lunch and chatter, and we all
got to catch up and have some amusing conversation that ranged from hair
products and the condition of our scalps, to chocolate (great brownies &
chocolate torte), dead grandmothers & their earrings, the cat sealed into a
wall, and finally – closet cleaning.
A friend of mine, who is
going through a life coach training seminar, mentioned that one of her
challenges was to get rid of 500 things.
FIVE HUNDRED????
We all questioned her –
what counts as a single item? A
pair of shoes? A single
email? A dish? A deck of
cards? A photo album? In general, what we would consider a
single “unit” of something is what we could discard.
For some reason this concept
stuck with me, because earlier in the week I had listened to an early morning
TV show from a wonderful television minister that I have watched for years by
the name of Joyce Meyer. She was
using pieces of her wardrobe to symbolize how we need to clean out not only
things, but also emotional attachments we have to things and situations that no
longer fit us. She showed an
example of a pair of overalls that she had had for 20 years, didn’t fit her and
never would, yet she had difficulty throwing them out. I had to agree with her, but thought I
was pretty up to speed on not holding on to things that no longer worked for
me.
Back to the party.
A couple of hours after the
“500 Things” discussion, we were sitting around in the late afternoon, chatting
away, when we heard a CRASH! I ran
to the front door, thinking someone might have fallen down the stairs outside
of my apartment. When I saw
everything outside was fine, I knew exactly what had happened.
The rack in my closet had
fallen – an annual event in my life. Luckily, my very organized and efficient friends mobilized
to help me, transferring all my clothes, purses and other miscellaneous items
to the other bedroom for me to sort through, accomplishing in a few minutes
what would have taken me a long time to do. Later that evening, I started sorting through the clothes
and items, seeing what I could get rid of that no longer fit me or that I
liked.
But then I kept thinking….500
things. I could actually
find a few hundred things to give away or throw out. But if I had 500 things to leave behind me, then that
meant….AAARRRGGHHHH – I STILL HAD 1000’S OF THINGS THAT I KEPT!!!
I don’t know why it horrified
me but it did. What was I hanging
onto that I didn’t need? There’s a
lot of things I like, and I am not a minimalist by any means, despite the
recommendation by Becky in Portland who last year gave me the advice to do so!
Needless to say, I felt very
‘busted’ somehow, so I started to get rid of stuff. It started with some clothing and ended with about a 200
item donation to a thrift store.
Then a bunch of emails. And
then I saw it in the book that my friend Judy and I were writing. In good humor, she started to write
about some things that had happened to me in the past, and started to put a
twist on them, and I could feel that twist in my soul. How could she do that? How could she dredge up and make light
of that part of my life?
More closet cleaning. This time on the inside.
I had to take that situation,
and do some purging of old emotional attachments that no longer suited me. I found that it was very private, very
deep, and not something I wanted to acknowledge. But it needed to go anyhow, and Spirit and a close friend
managed to bring it up to light so I could get rid of it. I think I had done
the same for her in my writing, so she could face some of her own demons. Now it was my turn. Yuk. Good. But yuk.
LEADERSHIP AND MONEY
In July, I received a flyer from a company called Get Motivated
Seminars about a seminar that was coming to town with some very famous
speakers. First, I was angry that
I received their flyer, because I diligently strive to keep my name off of mass
mailing lists.
But this flyer would prove to change my life and my thinking.
I could not believe what I saw on this flyer. The list of speakers to be in
attendance included some very famous people that I admire including Colin
Powell, Suze Orman, and Rudy Giuliani.
And the price, which seemed unreal, was less than $5 per person. So I ordered a dozen tickets for $19,
lobbied several friends to go, and off we went. Given the price, I expected there to be more people in Key
Arena (where the soon to be departed Seattle Sonics play basketball), but there
were about 20,000 people in attendance, which did not even fill the stadium.
Each of these speakers talked about leadership, each in their own
way. Terry Bradshaw, the former
NFL quarterback gave his somewhat bizarre experience on becoming a leader,
where he explained that his job as a Quarterback was to crouch down, look at
another guy’s butt, get a ball and throw it to some unknown player that he had
to find in the midst of chaos.
Brian Tracy, the consummate salesman, talked about America being a land
of opportunity that we do not appreciate, but would if we visited other
countries that had virtually nothing.
Colin Powell talked about the one thing he misses the most being in
retirement is his 757 airplane he had at his disposal as Secretary of
State. After retiring, the first
time he took a plane, he got stopped and searched by the TSA for the very rules
he helped implement – he was a black man, paying cash for a flight, with
no luggage. It was very
humorous, but he went on to distill his thoughts on leadership to a very simple
phrase he learned in the Army – “Follow Me”. Have a mission and a set of goals that stretch you and your
followers, and tell them what role they play in the mission. And take care of those Followers by
giving them the tools and resources they need to get the job done.
How often does that happen?
Unfortunately, not very much.
I learned a lot that day from those speakers and that Leadership
is mostly about looking ahead, not behind, and following a set of values to
reach your goals. Very simple,
very powerful.
Another speaker, Phil Town, spoke on investing, an obvious ploy
for an upcoming seminar he wanted us to attend. In my mind, I had a zillion excuses not to go, but one major
reason to attend. I am in charge
of MY money and need to learn as much as I can to invest and manage it
properly. As much as I would like
to trust someone else to manage my investments, I always feel like I am giving
away my power, and that I have the intelligence to be a leader in my own life
by accomplishing things that scare me.
So I signed up for the investment seminar, and joined my bud
Louise so we could support each other.
A few days after the Leadership seminar, I arrived at the massive
auditorium, with nervousness in my gut, but determination to learn. A great instructor went over the basics
of the stock market and investing over a two day period. It was a ton of information, but
somewhere inside, past my nervousness, I felt I could do this. So I laid down a chunk of cash for some
additional training, feeling like I had just agreed to jump the Grand Canyon
and into an abyss.
I knew I had to make that leap into something scary because I took
a hard look into my future and saw something even scarier – that there is
only me to provide for my future.
I don’t have a spouse with a big life insurance policy, a massive
inheritance coming my way, or a big chance of winning the lotto. And even if I did, how would I know how
to manage it?
The government will not be providing for us much longer, and if
they did, what kind of lifestyle would that be? The facts show that women outlive men by 10-15 years, so if
you are married, you will outlive your husband. And it is anticipated that 80% of Baby Boomer women will be
living in poverty after age 65. I
don’t plan to be one of them.
Bottom line: it’s up to me to be a leader in managing and
investing my own money.
After I sucked up to those hard facts, I realized that managing
and investing could bring some pretty amazing opportunities my way – if
only I could get past my own fears.
What if I got really good at this and didn’t have to work anymore? What if I got really good at this and
could do ANYTHING I wanted to do – what would that look like? What if I could learn and help others
to make money and expand their sphere of influence?
It was as if The Universe was forcing me to look at an open door
of opportunity to see how I would react.
What if I found a way to realize all my hopes and dreams by
intelligently managing the prosperity that was offered to me?
I cannot tell you how many synapses were firing in my brain from
these new thoughts of opportunity.
And along with all these thoughts of opportunities came all kinds of
fear thoughts, or excuses really.
What if I lost everything?
What if I couldn’t do this?
What if I quit my job because I was making money on my own and everyone
thought I was crazy?
Yeah, I actually thought that.
But after having attended the Leadership seminar just a few days
prior to that, I remembered how much opportunity we have available to us, that
Leadership is about establishing stretch goals that are well defined that lead
you to a NEW place, not just keep you in the SAME place you have always been.
So I am ready to go somewhere new. I won’t be quitting my day job just yet, but that is a long
term goal that I am considering.
In the meantime, I am doing what I love to do, which is to learn more
about me and my fears and opportunities, and challenge myself with something
new and exciting (while learning to minimize the risk at the same time).
I think the humorous coincidence about this was on the last day of
the investment seminar, there was a massive group of Buddhists on the first
floor of the convention hall we were in.
About 2,500 Buddhists, including hundreds of monks, were in attendance
for a day long Purification Ceremony.
Along with me, it seems that lots of other people were there that day to
intentionally clear themselves of anything that may be hindering their soul’s
advancement.
And I think I am doing the same thing.
SAY GOODBYE TO TGO
It’s been about 5
½ years since I started writing my TGO. It started in April of 2003, when I was on a business trip
to LA and staying in the Extended Stay America in Burbank, CA. I remember thinking, “what if I wrote
down what I was thinking and mailed it to my friends?”
So I wrote a few
things in a newsletter format, printed it out, and mailed it to 20
friends. I got some really good
feedback and continued to write my thoughts and observations. I have enjoyed writing TGO and sharing
my thoughts with everyone and the comments that I received that many of the
articles resonated with you.
Words cannot express
how much your comments have meant to me, and I want to thank you for that. But I have decided to end TGO at this
time. I don’t really have a
specific reason to tell you why, other than just an internal, but good feeling,
that it is time to do so. It kind
of feels like when Mary Tyler Moore ended her TV show during its highest
ratings, or other shows have done the same. They want to leave at the top of their game, and that is
something I want to do too.
I know TGO has been a
way to let you know how I am doing and what is going on in my life, so please
feel free to email me if you would like to keep in touch. As I said I appreciated your support
over the years, and of course, wish you the best in all your endeavors!
For 6 past issues of TGO, please
visit www.JudyAnnMichael.com
