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I’ve moved this blog to my new blog address which is:  startingfreshcoaching/blog which lives inside of my Web site, StartingFreshCoaching.com. 

Please visit me at my new blog for my most recent entry.

Thanks!

Melanie

One Thing Leads to Another!

Ok – I left off some time ago.  I was stymied by my commitment to write about podcasts I was listening to.  And then I hit a fallow time – I was really taken by the election (who wasn’t) and so was consuming all my free time focused on everything I could find on it. 

Now I’m back to having some time for myself (not much I must admit) when I’m not coaching, training new coaches, building my business or writing my book.  One of the people I just interviewed for my book was Susan Bratton, founder of Personal Life Media.  I found her and her podcast network in the most round about way.  And I credit this find to my good fortune of ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, being a person of great curiosity.  My curiosity never disappoints me – I must admit.  My mother told me that I used to fall asleep standing up with my eyes open so I wouldn’t miss anything!

Getting back to this podcast network I found – I was fiddling around on youtube one day and put in Byron Katie’s name – I love her process which she calls The Work and I wanted to see if there were any fresh videos of her doing her process with someone who was suffering from their thinking processes.  What I found was an audio program with some still photos that someone had posted.  On this program Katie and her husband Stephen Mitchell were being interviewed by a guy named Duncan Campbell on a program called Living Dialogues.  I liked the way in which this interview engaged with them and so I started looking for more information about this podcaster.

I found Duncan Campbell’s show through the itunes store and then started listening to his program.  I started counting it among my favorites.  He’s had some of the very same guests I’ve heard on Kelly Howell’s Theatre of the Mind, but tends to jump into the fray with his guests rather than interview them.  Some might find this troubling – they might want to hear from the guests, but I actually found this an interesting process – that together with his guests, Duncan really gets to the depth of issues. 

Then my curiosity took me to look at the network on which Living Dialogues rests – and lo and behold – there’s a continuously growing group of unique programming on it. 

I was intrigued that the founder of Personal Life Media, Susan Bratton set out originally to create a podcast, but then challenged herself for thinking so small and decided to start a podcast network!  I liked her style and thought she’d make a great interview for my forthcoming book, Scrappy Startups about female entrepreneurs.

So as my style, I picked up the phone and called the number listed on the the Personal Life Media Web site.  And who should answer, but Susan Bratton’s husband, Tim.  He was quite engaging and quite willing to help me reach his wife.  I learned that they had actually partnered together in this venture, with his being more the technical guy and her taking on the programming and the advertising generation for the network.  What a lovely man – so ready to engage with me and be helpful.  He suggested I email Susan with a request for an interview and he promised to pass along the information that we had talked.

He followed through and so did I – and true to form, Susan was ready and willing to interview with me.  What a delight she was.  I can’t wait to tell the world more in my book about her story.  As a parting gift when we spoke, she offered to introduce me to the guy who is hosting a podcast on coaching on her network, Robert Harrison. 

So I decided I might want to hear what Harrison’s podcast sounded like and what his focus is.  I decided to take my dog Grace for a walk today and listen to the podcast.  Which I did – actually, I just returned.

And boy, I wonder what I got myself into!  Harrison had as his guest a guy who was talking about the energy benefits of raw food – someone named David Wolfe.  I just started to check out one of David’s Web sites, Sun Food.  I was really taken on this show about hearing about the benefits of getting into raw foods – and I’m seriously considering dusting off my juicer and finding the green food that’s been in my closet for some time.  Now I have some real context around the benefits of this food that my chiropractor said some time ago that would be good for me.

I can’t believe that my curiosity about Byron Katie led me through all of these steps back to my own kitchen!  Who would have thought it!  And people wonder about me – they wonder about all the resources I seem to collect – it’s just that one thing leads to another.  Doesn’t it for everyone?

Positive Podcasts

I was just telling my friend Martha about my love affair with podcasts – actually, I’ve been telling everyone about this – sending clients my favorites to inspire them and more!

I connected the dots also – how with my strength (see Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham) of input being all about being a lover of collecting things – I’ve collected Web sites, books and now podcasts – anything to inspire everyone I know into positive action in their lives – living the life they want to live.

Martha encouraged me to turn my blog into a mini digest about what I’ve been listening to on podcasts lately.  What’s positive in podcast land.  Actually, she said if I didn’t do this she would – gosh – that got me going!  So dear reader – for the time being – please come visit here to learn about what I’ve been listening to lately – and be ready to be inspired! 

Ok, you know this is funny – I just reread my earlier entries on this blog – and both of them are about podcasts – disguised about something else – but about podcasts none the less.  What a hoot!

So Martha – thanks – I’ve been doing this all along and I haven’t realized it – this blog is all about the positive podcast –  move in a little closer so I can share with you!  Oh and I will also share books, articles – audios – whatever else can inspire you into action into your best life – but for now, it’s about podcasts.

My new favorite podcast is “Learn from my Life”  - you can visit these great new finds at learnfrommylife.com – if you visit their site, you’ll find these young guys are up to more than podcasting – that’s just the beginning – they’re about moving great ideas around the planet – creating community around that!

One of the joys of tuning into a podcast that has been going on for a while before you get there is that you can listen to what’s been going on with the podcast before you arrived – tons of programming.

The two most significant podcasts these guys have been doing lately are with Dan Pink and Daryn Kagan.  Truly two great examples of learning from someone’s life.

Dan Pink used to be chief speech writer for Al Gore when Gore was VP.  Pink had to reinvent himself and reinvent himself he did.  His first venture was to align himself with Fast Company magazine.  Then he wrote Free Agent Nation, A Whole New Mind and now The Adventures of Johnny Bunko:  The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need.  I’ve been a Pink fan for a long time, recommending his books to clients – especially A Whole New Mind.  But I found his appearance on the learnfrommylife podcast to be a great venue for him to shine in.  He literally told the audience his story – warts and all – and we can all certainly learn from that!

The other learnfrommylife podcast that really jazzed me was an interview with Daryn Kagan, former newscaster with CNN – she was with them for 12 years before they didn’t renew her contract.  She says while that was a bummer, it allowed her to really see what she wanted to do with her life.  And what she has become is a positive newscaster!  She’s created her own platform on her own Web site – darynkagan.com where she collects inspirational stories and invites participants to post stories she should explore.

She uses primitive equipment such as having her interviewees supply their own video feed – but it seems to be working for her – she solicits her own advertisers and she’s doing a great job of inspiring people through books, Webcasts and other means of broadcasting her interviews.

Do yourselves a favor – check out learnfrommylife podcast – and let me know what you think?  How has this podcast been helpful to you in getting on with what you want to do with your life?  How does it positively inspire YOU?

If You Want to Do Something – Do it!

I’ve been a contributor for years to a business publication in my area, Businessnorth.  My current article is all about people who wanted to do something – and just did it – myself included! 

Nike made such hay with their ad – Just Do it!   It’s true.  So often we spend so much time thinking about doing what we want to do that we never get around to doing it!

I have a process that I explore with my clients – dream, courage, action!  You’ll see these words all over my Web site, startingfreshcoaching.com.  Some people need help clarifying the dream or the direction they want to follow.  Many need help with the courage it takes to pursue that direction.  All of us need support for getting into action.

But the littlest actions can pay off.  I’m in the process of interviewing subjects for my new book, Scrappy Startups, How 15 Ordinary Women Turned their Unique Ideas into Profitable Business.  In my conversation with one of my subjects, I heard account after account of how when she stepped out and took some sort of action, even if it wasn’t the “right action,” time after time call it fate, the Universe or what, something was there to match her!  It was uncanny! 

Years ago, I wanted to have a radio show – so I marched over to the local public radio station and suggested to the director of the local station that I have a show to feature local projects and people in my area.  It didn’t hurt that he had heard me on radio many times as a continuous guest on my friend, Jean Feraca’s radio program.  (Today she hosts a show called Here on Earth  - Radio without Borders)- great show!) .  He agreed to give my idea a try.  This was in the early ’90’s.  My show ran several years – until I gave it up because I was traveling so much with my job.

I’ve wanted to get back into radio, but haven’t had the time or the inclination to go to a radio station to see what I could cook up.  But now with Podcasting, it’s much easier to become one’s own radio station.

 

So when a friend of mine started talking about creating a Podcast – we got into action.  We recorded segments about our favorite subject, books!  We chose the first book we wanted to talk about – Jack Canfield and Gay Hendrick’s book, You’ve Got to Read this Book:  55 People Tell the Story of the Book That Changed Their Life!  It’s really a great book – chock full of inspiring stories!

I posted our first Podcast segment on itunes – should be up there any day.  But if you’d like instant gratification, you could listen to our Podcast right here – here’s the link:

 Certified Bookaholics Podcast (If you want to listen to this, double click on the Certified Bookaholics Podcast link and open up a window where the podcast link is found.)

What’s something you’ve been thinking about – no longing about doing that you could get into action about?  I challenge you to take some steps towards it – can’t help it – I’m a coach – that’s what coaches do – get people into action!

That reminds me – I have a client who was single and thinking about going on a cruise.  I challenged her to book it.  Now she’s celebrating her second anniversary with the wonderful man she met on the cruise!

So for your own sake – take some action – TODAY!!!

Staying Inspired

What keeps us inspired to follow our dreams and stay on course for what we want in our lives?  For each of us, it’s something different.

 

For me, I’ve been getting a lot of satisfaction from listening to Podcasts lately.  Doing so satisfies my insatiable appetite for learning.  I wish I had more hours in the day for listening!  Really.  Truth is, I gave my husband an ipod last year for his birthday and he has been downloading everything he can find.  And he finds some amazing podcasts that I’ve been enjoying as well. 

 

For example, my new favorite is a Podcast by Kelly Howell, Theatre of the Mind.  Kelly offers some wonderful interviews with inspiring people.  I’ve been catching up on her earlier Podcasts and enjoying what I missed.  Today I listened with her interview with Richard Moss, author of The Mandala of Being.

 

Richard has created a process, using the ancient symbol of the mandala, a Sanskrit word for wholeness.  Most often, mandalas are shaped in circles.  Ross’s mandala is a wonderful means of staying in the present or the NOW.

 

For those of us who have followed Oprah’s Web broadcast with Eckhart Tolle, we are all looking for ways to stay present.

 

Moss has created a circle with the word NOW in the center of it.  Above the word, NOW he places the word FUTURE, below it, the word PAST.  To the left of NOW he places the word ME which symbolize judgments we make about ourselves and to the right, YOU which are for judgements about others.

 

He recommends we place these words in a circle on the floor as a reminder for staying in the NOW.  Whenever we think about (or more specifically, worry about) the future or the past or make judgments about ourselves and others, we are immediately taken out of the NOW.  This mandala is a simple and profound way of remembering what takes us away from NOW.  What a great tool!

 

When I collaborate with my clients to support them in realizing their goals, I see how often their concerns about these four other directions take them away from what they want.

 

What I learned from this Podcast inspires me to use in my own life and share with my clients to make their lives more effective.  I hope it inspires you as well!