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This is a free monthly newsletter for results-oriented
professionals who want to achieve their greatest goals.
If you enjoy "Living the Dream", then share the good
energy! Please pass it on to your family and friends.
Inspire others as you're inspired and we will all grow
together.
| Welcome and News |
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Hello! At long last this month is the month: my novel, "All
I Need to Get By", is published and now in bookstores.
It's also favorably reviewed in this week's People
Magazine--something I'm excited about and extremely
grateful for! I hope you'll check out the review and read
my book. If your local store doesn't have it, ask them to
order it. They're usually happy to oblige.
This week I'm hitting the road for the first of many trips
in connection with my novel. I'm visiting the University of
Dayton March 25-27 to speak and sign books at the
Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop. Then I'll head up to my
hometown of Lorain, Ohio to address the student body at
my alma mater, Clearview High School, on March 30.
After that I begin the first of many book club visits
taking place across the country throughout April and
May. I'm still adding on dates (the latest are in Boise,
Idaho and Chattanooga, Tennessee) so if you're
interested in having me visit your book club, get out your
calendar and e-mail me! By the way, I'd like to welcome
as new subscribers the members of the Philadelphia
chapter of the National Association of Black
Accountants. I met with them on March 10 to speak
about leadership, management style and doing your
personal best. It was a great group, full of lively
discussion. I'm glad they invited me!
Thank you to everyone who have expressed interest in
my new coaching e-courses. If you haven't checked
them out yet, now would be a good time to do so: all the
people who have downloaded a sample lesson from either
the Grow & Go or Do It Now! course by April 3 will
receive a special discount offer via e-mail on April 5. It's
so simple to take advantage of this chance: just click on
the link below. Spring is a wonderful time to take on new
goals and learn more about your true potential. I hope
you'll take this opportunity to do just that.
Best wishes and be well. Sophfronia
Learn more about Sophfronia's Coaching e-courses »
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| Meet Bonnie St. John |
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One of the things I love most about my work is getting
to know the most extraordinary people. But what fun is it
if I don't get to share them with you? Every so often I
will feature in this space a special person whose work or
personal journey I believe may inspire you to reach for
your dream of true success.
Bonnie St. John is a motivational speaker, author and
coach whom I've known for a few months now. But it
didn't sink in for me how amazing she is until I heard a
radio story that the BBC recently broadcast featuring
Bonnie discussing what it's like to be disabled. She lost a
leg at the age of five, but through her strength,
imagination and determination Bonnie went on to become
an Olympic Silver Medalist in skiiing, a Rhodes Scholar, an
award-winning IBM Sales Rep and an official in President
Clinton's White House administration.
I'll let you learn more for yourself. Click on the link to
listen to Bonnie's interview. You'll also get to hear the
sound of Bonnie jumping rope. Astounding! If you still
want more, you can join Bonnie's Courageous Spirit Circle
of Friends and receive bite size notes of inspiration,
updates and special offers. You'll find the link under
Quick Links below. Enjoy!
Listen to Bonnie's BBC Interview »
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| Doing What's Easy Vs. Doing What's Right |
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This month's subscriber question comes from a young
woman, let's call her "Amy", who feels confronted daily
with ethical choices. "Say you go to a yoga class," she
writes, "and the registration area is chaotic and out of
control. Do you wait patiently for the studio to take your
$20 class fee or do you slip into class behind all the
chaotic mess without paying? Do I do the easy or the
right? My spine tingles now when I find myself in those
situations. I have to CHOOSE to do the right because
the wrong is so easy."
And tempting. There are so many opportunities to do the
easy thing. How many of us have found a wallet of cash,
been in a position to take credit for a project or idea not
entirely our own, ducked out of work early, told a white
lie to get out of something, slipped into a movie without
paying, didn't correct the cashier when she gave you too
much change, agreed with a supervisor you knew was in
the wrong? So many chances. When presented with
them again and again, what keeps you choosing the right
instead of the easy?
This question comes up in more subtle ways as well. A
client recently asked why so many people, herself
included, were disappointed or dissatisfied with their
work. Sometimes this is just another case of people
doing what's easy--staying in a steady job--versus
what's right for them--figuring out what they really want
to do and going after it.
So how do you find the courage and stamina to do the
right thing (in large ways and small) every single day?
Let your INTEGRITY be your guide. Your integrity is a
measure of how true you are to yourself. When you live
your truth you feel a sense of wholeness. When you
don't you feel pulled apart, like you're living in two or
three different worlds and none of them feels right.
That's why Amy's spine tingles when she's confronted
with choices--her integrity is getting a good tug!
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| Your Integrity, Your Choice |
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I challenge you this month to take note of how you feel
whenever your integrity might be compromised. Do you
feel queasy? Angry? Impatient? Paralyzed? I also want
for you to see where you are out of integrity in your life.
Is it a small area, such as being on time, or is it a big
one, such as not working at a job you enjoy or living in a
location you love. Then, whether the area is large or
small, take steps to resolve the issue. Remember, you
can always contact me for a complimentary coaching
session if you feel you're ready to take on these areas.
Whatever you do, here's how to know you're headed in
the right direction: the way you decide to act in any
given situation should make you feel good, not bad. If
you don't feel right, it probably isn't right.
Copyright 2004 Sophfronia Scott. All rights
reserved.
Ask a question and get it answered in the next issue! Contact Sophfronia »
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| Sophfronia's Novel Now Available! |
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"...a writer worth watching."
--People Magazine
"Scott will most assuredly be recognized for her superb
storytelling."
--Booklist Magazine
"The journey to the end is mesmerizing and the prose is
inviting. Ms. Scott has captured something
unspoken in her first novel. Both heart warming and
heart wrenching, All I Need To Get By is on a different
literary level." --Loose Leaves Book Review
"Lorain, Ohio, is familiar territory to readers of Toni
Morrison, but Sophfronia Scott makes it her own. "All I
Need to Get By" is a stunning debut, a story of family
and memory, and the stories we tell about both in order
to "get by." The novel is equal parts profundity, humor,
and grace, and its author promises to take a place
among the best writers of her generation." --Professor
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard University
Order "All I Need to Get By"
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