Empowering Links: Week of 24th December
Best personal development resources for the week:
Senia helps you discover the 4 ways you can tell who is happy; self-esteem, a sense of personal control, optimism and extraversion.
Business Pundit opens up your eyes on how to network: for introverts. I like ‘at first, you have to kiss a lot of frogs’ and ‘go regularly to things you like’, because they help you realize that uncomfortable feeling you have while meeting new people at new places is normal, and you just have to get over it to get the results you want (via Escape from Cubicle Nation).
Have a quick temper? So does Gretchen, and she has 8 tips for squelching your anger.
A thought-provoking quote about the work we do highlighted by Liz:
“He said, ’The work we do is a reflection of who we are. If we’re sloppy at it, it’s because we’re sloppy inside. If we’re late at it, it’s because we’re late inside. If we’re bored by it, it’s because we’re bored inside, with ourselves, not with the work. The most menial work can be a piece of work done by an artist. So the job here is not outside of ourselves, but inside of ourselves. How we do our work becomes a mirror of how we are inside.’ ”
~ Michael E. Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
If a loved one died of cancer, would you find yourself asking ‘what do you like about this?‘. Carl did, and used this reframing method to transform his grief into learning.
Elona shares the secret of being a good teacher (and a good anything in my opinion); good teachers are like good gardeners.
How did best-selling author and speaker Jack Canfield become an international consultant by intending it to happen? Acting Like Godot reveals the power of acting as if.
And finally, it’s that magical time of the year again. A very Merry Christmas from Life Coaches Blog 
I agree that a key to self management is self esteem. I would offer that true life inspiration happens when you find something you love to do and make it a part of your everyday experience. Here’s an exercise:
1. Write down 10 things you love to do or that bring you the most joy. I call this the “You List”
2. Then record how many times a day you do one of the things on your list
3. Give each day of the week a rating from 1-10
4. Your best day usually comes out to be the day you do the most things on your “You List”
I can easily relate to the first part of the story, in the past I was one of those people pretending you have done something and then be very uncomfortable when someone asks more detailed questions.
It is not a good feeling and being upfront from the beginning really saves you the embarassment later.