[Think As Inc.] September 2007 Newsletter http://ezezine.com Your life is a business. You have a: MISSION: the reasons you live your life; BRAND: the message you project to the world; PRODUCT LINE: the skills and qualities that are your unique assets; BOTTOM LINE: your financial picture; CLIENT BASE: professional, personal, and don’t forget, yourself. Your life is YOUR business, and you are its CEO. IN THIS ISSUE Something to Think About: PUT YOUR PRODUCT OUT THERE Something to Do: YOUR PERSONAL R&D Inspirational Quotes: BC FORBES News and Upcoming Events PUT YOUR PRODUCT OUT THERE Is there resistance to thinking very specifically about what you offer? Are you wary of checking your salary -- how much you might be valued in the open market? If you feel underpaid and undervalued, it might be more comfortable to blame your industry (no one values teachers) or your situation (I can’t leave my job because I have a family to support). It may be difficult to imagine different possibilities or to act on these ideas. However, not exploring your potential outside of your current job is like a business not exploring all of its product line. You are not just your job. Your job is only one representation of your product line. Your product line is all of your skills (professional and personal), your ideas, your experience. Some of these may not be utilized in the job you have currently. Your full product line is what you have to offer to the world. In this way, your product line is a reflection of yourself. Not recognizing your full range of products or not offering all that you have is not living up to your potential. It is not living fully. There is limited impact in building a better mouse trap if it only stays in your home. Get involved. Use all of your gifts. Put your product out there. "To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death." - Jean Anouilh, French playwright YOUR PERSONAL R&D You need to take care of your product line. Companies invest money and time into research, development, and innovation. So too should you invest in your personal R&D. Check out your company or local college for training. There might be classes on general business skills (e.g., time management, presentation skills) or job -specific skills (e.g., accounting topics, effective selling). In addition, everyone needs to develop the following: FLEXIBILITY is your ability to stretch in new ways from your comfort zone. Practice this skill by: taking a controversial topic and defending it on both sides; lunching with unfamiliar colleagues; sampling different cuisines; taking up a sport (if you’re artistic) or an art (if you’re athletic); reading a new genre. CREATIVITY is your ability to see possibilities outside of your comfort zone. Practice this skill by: taking a simple everyday object and thinking of new uses for it (e.g., how many ways can you use a paper clip?); taking a creative class (e.g., art, cooking, writing); reading biographies of inventors, artists and other creative people. RISK APPETITE is your willingness to do things outside of your comfort zone. Practice this skill by: doing one thing off of your “I also wanted to” list (go to Paris, scuba dive in Hawaii); learning a new skill; reading stories of people who have beat the odds or made major life transformations. Everyone can benefit from being able and willing to move outside of their comfort zone. Change is inevitable, and the quickening pace of change today means that we will frequently be out of our comfort zone. Preserving your product line also means knowing how to innovate. Flexibility, creativity and a healthy risk appetite allow for personal innovation. INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE Don’t forget until it is too late that the business of life is not business but living. - BC Forbes NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS I have just co-launched a coaching practice that specializes in career coaching for students and recent graduates. If you have friends still in university or just starting their career, point them to www.sixfigurestart.com. I am performing improv with Magnet Theatre in October: Fri, October 26, 7p, The Magnet Theatre, 29th St between 7-8 Aves http://www.magnettheatre.com/ If you wish to unsubscribe to this newsletter, please email cenizalevine@yahoo.com with the Subject: Unsubscribe TAI All information is copyright © Caroline Ceniza-Levine 2007 www.thinkasinc.com