Change 101.com Thinking for a Change Newsletter by Chris Clarke-Epstein, CSP SPEAKING!

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Welcome to the Thinking for a Change archive. All entries are listed in chronological order with the most recent entry first.

May 26
I love music. In the shower and car, I am often convinced that I missed my calling and should have gone into performing rather than speaking. (Okay, not for long or too seriously, but I can dream!) So it’s not strange that the AP article profiling Quincy Jones caught my attention. Here’s the end of the story.

The legendary musician and producer attributed his success to maintaining an open mind. “I never turn my curiosity off.” Jones said.

That’s what 77-year-old Jones said. How many years, of the years you’ve lived, have you had your curiosity turned on? I hope you can answer all of them. An attitude of curiosity works wonders when you’re dealing with change – not to mention music.

May 19
Our backyard is heavily wooded – home to a small herd of deer, too many squirrels and chipmunks to count, lots of beautiful birds, and last night for a first appearance at least one raccoon. This spring I’ve been watching the animals disappear from view as the leaves dress the winter-barren branches. Imagine my delight to get an email from John Seidel, a partner at Kurt Salmon Associates, quoting Jim Roth.

“If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.”

We’re not trees, but we often behave like them. Rooted in place. Behavior dictated by a cycle beyond our control. Growth and survival dependent on weather patterns. Once we’re willing to let go of the parts of change we can’t control, we can focus on what we do control and can influence and take action.

May 12
My friend and colleague from Dallas, Tim Durkin, CSP, sent me a perfect pad of sticky notes.

May 5
Many of you know that I am a light-hearted person who takes change, not to mention these change messages, seriously. Mostly when I write these, I’m endeavoring to turn deep thoughts into a brief, easily digested read. Today I decided to go for the giggle. No lesson, just a suggestion to grin broadly after you read the following and figure out who it reminds you of.

“Some people have so much trouble with change that every morning they have trouble changing their underwear.”

April 28
Running the risk of falling into the same trap as the Wizard of Oz, I’d like to take this edition to pull back the curtain and reveal the Thinking for a Change creative process. It’s actually pretty simple – 4 steps.

So, to start a new eLetter tradition, enjoy this, the 1st Annual Do-It-Yourself edition of Thinking for a Change. To be nice, I’ve done Step One. The other 3 are up to you.

April 21
Are you, like I am, a baby boomer? Don’t look now, but we’re getting older fast. (If you’re not a boomer, don’t get complacent. You’re aging, too!) Thinking of the speed at which birthdays are arriving probably made a comment by Ruth Gordon jump off the newspaper page at me.

“There’s a decision we all make: You can choose to get old, or choose to get older. Old is a destination, older is a process.”

What about you? No matter your current age, you’re either getting old or older. What’s your choice?

April 14
Lauren Graham, best known for playing the mother on Gilmore Girls, was profiled by More magazine. She described a lovely ritual she has at the end of each day. Before bed, Lauren asks herself the following questions because as she sees it...

April 7
One of my favorite management gurus has been and continues to be, Tom Peters. I love his passion (ever see him speak in person?), philosophies (MBWA), and common sense approach to leadership. He has a new book out, The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence. Here’s a taste.

March 30
Friends of mine, Jason and Kim Kotecki, who speak on the important topic of Fighting Adultitis, asked for memories of April Fool’s Day pranks. I could hardly type fast enough to put this particular story down in an email. It occurred that you might enjoy my childhood memory, and I'm hoping it will remind you of one of yours.

The love of traditional events, like April Fool’s jokes, endures because of the need we humans have for a few certainties in the midst of change. Thursday’s April Fool’s Day – give it your best shot!

March 24
I’m not certain if I’ve written about my love for science fiction in these emails. Well I do – love it and read it. So it’s not surprising that I focused on the Sunday Chicago Tribune article profiling Kim Stanley Robinson, a prolific science fiction author. He is interviewed about his approach for the world’s future – utopia or disaster? His response was enlightening.

“So I always make the point that you can’t say, 'Is it too late?' That is the terrible question, because either answer promotes inaction. If it’s too late, you don’t need to act; if it’s not too late, you don’t need to act.”

Change can offer people a similar dodge. If you think a change is coming too late, why bother acting. If you think a change is premature, why bother acting now. That’s why I love reading science fiction – it challenges you to think – even about change.

March 17
I hope the weather has been as nice where you are as it has been here in Northern Wisconsin the last week. The sun has re-entered our lives, the temperature has risen into the almost-no-jacket range, and the promise of spring can be believed. Now, before I get carried away, there’s a high probability that we’ll get some plunging temperatures and another snow storm before it’s really spring. That being said, today the sun was shining and it was in the mid sixties. Reminded me of a Benjamin Franklin quote.

Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen, keep in the sunlight.

Ben was smart. He provided a model that works for weather in Northern Wisconsin, for most change initiatives, and for life in general. If it’s a sunny day when you read this, or even if it isn’t, go for a walk and see what sunlight, real or imagined, does for your attitude.

March 10
For the last four days, I’ve been in Colorado Springs, CO, with two of my friends and colleagues, Marilynn Semonick, CSP, and Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP, where we presented a program together for the ASAE Great Ideas! Conference. It’s been a terrific conference featuring keynotes by Guy Kawasaki and Daniel Pink. Sunday night we snuck back to our room to watch the Oscars. What fun to see Barbra Streisand present the first Directing Oscar to a woman, Kathryn Bigelow. Since Lenora is an expert in diversity and inclusion, we were both interested in Jodie Foster’s interview, written before the Oscar’s were distributed.

Maybe now that’s changed a little for women in films. Lenora asked me to ask you: are their people in your organization that don’t get opportunities because they don’t look like the people handing out the opportunities? Or maybe a better questions is: does your organization actively seek to bring in talented people who are different than the folks already inside? You might find a behavior worth changing.

March 3
Will it impress you to know that I know who will.i.am is and that I have some of his music on my iPod? During an interview on CBS Sunday Morning he said,

“When inspiration calls you, pick up the phone and give it directions to your house.”

Seems to me that inspiration is often embedded in change. If that’s true – want to argue? - then when change appears we ought to be racing to catch it and eager to participate in it. Certainly a different view from the more often seen, "run away as fast as you can." Makes me think there could be a new use for MapQuest.

February 25
I had the good fortune to visit the boyhood home of Winston Churchill on a magical trip to England that I took with my mother and my friend, Stel. That glimpse into his early years coupled with the PBS series, Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill, about his American born mother, peaked a long-term interest in his life, work, and writing. Recently I heard one of his sayings quoted in an All Things Considered story. During a difficult time, Churchill said,

February 17
If you’re a woman (or an enlightened man, for that matter) pick up a copy of More magazine. It bills itself as a women's magazine that Celebrates What’s Next. In the February 2010 issue they profiled Mariska Hargitay, star of "Law and Order, Special Victims Unit." In the opening of the article, she is quoted,

Got me wondering how many people don’t have what they wanted – career, family, life, health, friends – not because they weren’t lucky, but because they quit. More than would admit it, I bet. Working on a change is hard and quitting is often easy. You can fill in the rest of the lesson from this one.

February 10
All right, I confess. I have a basket of magazines in my bathroom – some of which are old – very old. In an attempt to clean it out, I found myself paging through a September, 2008 Reader’s Digest. I lingered reading an article about the re-building of New Orleans after Katrina. (By the way, how about those Saints!) Part of the article profiled Cherice Harrison-Nelson, a self-proclaimed Culture Keeper, who shared her passion for keeping the traditions of the African American community alive for children of the city. She said of her commitment,

My accidental connection with Clarice got me to thinking about the importance of a call to participate. Think of where you volunteer. My guess is you donate your time and talent for a cause that has deep meaning for you. I know I do and it HAS changed my life. How about you? If there isn’t something in your life that has called you to participate, maybe you aren’t listening hard enough.

February 4
Now that we’ve closed up one year and are in the second month of the next (can you believe it?), the subject of resolutions has undoubtedly come up and left you feeling guilty. I’m all in favor of resolutions – the name we use for goals during the end and beginnings of years. I’m also painfully aware of the fact that by now, only one full month into the new year, most of the resolutions made have already been abandoned. My friend and National Speakers Association colleague, Mike Rayburn said,

January 27
There’s a current Subaru commercial running that’s about a couple on a trip – driving, you guessed it, a Subaru. They’ve made several stops and the man realizes that he’s lost his sunglasses. After exchanging knowing looks, they execute a U-turn and start the process of retracing their steps. Several stops produce no glasses. In what seems to be 45 second commercial eternity, they arrive back at the park. As the guy runs back to the car empty handed, he flips up the hood on his sweatshirt and the glasses fall out. The voice-over says,

January 20
I grew up in Chicago and one of my weekly pleasures is to read the Chicago Tribune on Sunday. Recently there was an article that profiled a photographer, Barbara Crane. She was described as one who uses the camera in many different ways and doesn’t limit herself to any one idea or direction. When asked about her work, Crane said,

“I’m chasing perfection. It remains elusive, but the chase is ever exciting.”

January 13
End of the year newspaper articles often ask influential people to reflect on their philosophies. 2009 was no exception. Listen to Joseph Neubauer, CEO of Aramark as he commented in USA Today on his over 25 year tenure of leadership.

January 6
Happy 2010! I trust your holidays were filled with all the things you hold dear. Just in case you didn’t visit a Starbucks over the end of the year and missed the message on their seasonal cups, here it is:

December 16
Have you enjoyed the TV series Monk as much as I have? After watching the series finale last Friday, I remembered one of my favorite lines delivered so masterfully by Tony Shalhoub.

December 9
Have you enjoyed the TV series Monk as much as I have? After watching the series finale last Friday, I remembered one of my favorite lines delivered so masterfully by Tony Shalhoub.

December 2
Seems like I’ve spent most of the day today trying to coordinate all the holiday/family events for the remainder of the month of December. Between school programs, office parties, and family traditions, it occurred to me that in the midst of all the holiday cheer there lurks the potential for difficult human interactions. We all know people who approach the holiday season with dread instead of eager anticipation. If you find yourself nodding in agreement, allow me to offer CHANGE as a solution.

It’s early enough to review your plans for the balance of the year, so consider Tim McGraw’s comment during a recent interview,

November 18
My friend and inclusion expert, Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP, and I were talking about the power of our minds to influence change. She shared a significant quote from Henry David Thoreau.

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."

What a great reminder. Change, whether personal or professional, needs to be approached with both action and thought. I have to do something different AND I have to think something different. I think that changing your thinking might be more challenging than changing your actions. What do you think?

November 11
Every once in a while Miriam forwards me the Daily Buddhist Wisdom email she receives. Recently it contained the following from Bhante Henepola Gunaratana.

“When you see a truck bearing down on you, by all means jump out of the way. But spend some time in meditation, too. Learning to deal with discomfort is the only way you’ll be ready to handle the truck you didn’t see.”

Action and meditation – a powerful combination for facing change.

October 28
Last night I attended a-little-kids-only version of my every other week book club. As I observed them figuring out how to play nicely together while the adults sat around the dining room table and talked and talked and talked, I recalled reader Georgia Finnerty’s email after a recent Thinking for a Change edition.

“As one mom/teacher I know puts it: ‘You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.’”

How much energy do we waste throwing fits when a change is presented that we’re not happy about? How much better it would be if instead of getting stuck on things we can’t control, we focused on things we can control and those we can influence. Wouldn’t you know that a mom/teacher combination would have such great insights!

October 22
Many of the changes that we all deal with have to happen in our minds first. A recent CNN.com article offered a suggestion to make that fact work for us. Need to think better?

“Studies show that moments of insight often arrive when you’re not aware that you’re thinking of the problem, such as during a warm shower or a long stroll. This is because insights are typically generated by a rush of high-frequency gamma-band neural activity in the brain’s right hemisphere, and a mind is better able to tune in to that hemisphere when it is stress-free.”

So, facing a change? Long walk or long shower? Your choice.

October 15
My husband, Frank, came home from a sales trip to Minneapolis and dropped a section from the Star Tribune on my desk. Pointing to the column by Harvey Mackay, a colleague of mine in the National Speakers Association I read with interest as Harvey recounted the story of a mother’s question to Albert Einstein. “How,” she asked, "can you raise a genius?” “Read the child fairy tales,” Einstein responded. Applying the concept to slightly older individuals, Mackay further suggests,

October 8
Okay, I have a Facebook page, I’m LinkedIn, and I know how to Twitter. I also don’t, in my heart, know why people spend hours using their time and attention on them. My inclination is still to pick up the phone and hear a friend’s voice, hold a picture printed on paper in my hands to look at it closely, and to study the handwriting on a well-chosen card. Maybe those deeply embedded impulses just make me old. Then I ran across Dennis Miller’s thought.

“Human beings are human beings. They say what they say, don’t they? They used to say it across the fence while they were hanging wash. Now they just say it on the internet.”

I’m always fascinated to find the thing that doesn’t change inside the things that are changing. Here’s the one I found this time: relationships – no matter how, it’s still and always will be about relationships.

September 30
A recent trip to Chicago’s famous Museum of Science and Industry not only opened my mind, but provided several interesting quotes to ponder. Here’s one by John Cearde.

September 23
Looking for a card to send a coaching client, I rummaged through my seemingly endless supply of blank-inside greeting cards. I paused when I found the one with a quote from Sebastine Chamfort.

I really believe this statement to be true and got to thinking that given the world we’re living there are many - maybe even you - who don’t encounter much to laugh about. So, here’s my no-cost, little-time solution. Get yourself to a store that sells cards and read away. You don’t have to need a card, buy a card, or send a card. You just have to read a bunch of them and if you pick a good store – laugh out loud. It will be a good day!

“We don't accomplish anything in this world alone... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something." -Sandra Day O'Connor.

I believe that with all my heart and need your help to prove it. As many of you know, my eldest grandson, Quinn (now 9), was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was 22 months old. It is my dream that a cure for this difficult disease that affects millions of children and adults will be found - soon. The work done by JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) is getting closer to making that happen. But research takes money. If I could do it by myself, I world, but this is a tapestry that needs other weavers.

Our family, as Team Q, joins other committed people annually, for the Walk for a Cure. This year we walk on October 3th. We invite you to either join us in person or via a donation. Click here to go directly to the JDRF site where you can register or pledge your support. (If the hyperlink doesn't work, cut and paste this into your browser: http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=walk.home). Once at the Walk Central Page, search for Team Q or Chris Clarke-Epstein. Then choose to donate or register to walk.

Every week over 6,000 people around the world read these messages about change and many of you have supported us in the past. This year, especially, times are tough for many and spending-your-money decisions are difficult, but think of how you'll feel when they announce a breakthrough for Type One Diabetes and you'll know it was because you cared AND acted.

Please know you have my eternal gratitude for reading and commenting on these messages over the years. Your participation on this particular tapestry means we can change the lives of so many!

September 9
What do you do? Who do you do it with? Do you consider what you do your craft? As a writer and speaker, I do. But I also thought that I was practicing a craft when I sold health insurance, waited on tables, and ironed clothes for my next door neighbor. I believe thinking of your work as a craft and a profession no matter what you do, makes you a more fulfilled person on a daily basis. Evidentially author/educator Parker J. Palmer does too.

September 2
Ever wonder why so much of the nightly news and current movies releases stem from negative subjects? I have. A recent interview with Scott Rudin, an executive producer of Julie & Julia, contained this insight.

I was thinking about the conversations I overhear as I eavesdrop my way through life. What about your focus on a daily basis? Do you let yourself get captivated by the conflict or are you willing to work a bit harder and find the happy? It’s there. I promise.

August 26
Have you ever been in a situation where, in the moment that someone told you something, you realized that you could never be the same because of what you now know? Or, maybe it’s just me. Evidently Robert Hellenga feels the same way.

“Change represents the end of your old self. You can look back, but you can’t go back.”

Think of the person you used to be and compare that person to who you are now. What changes have you experienced? Who are you today? What do you want to be tomorrow? What are you planning to do to get there? Sorry for all the questions, but I’m confident you can find the answers.

August 17
Ask either of my children to finish the following sentence, Life is… and they’ll say without missing a beat, …not fair.

Part of my parenting philosophy was to help my children create realistic expectations. That little sentence was used over the years during lengthy discussions to redefine both lows and highs as experiences to learn from. I was reminded of its place in our family lexicon by this quote from Sylvia Boorstein.

August 12
The quote started with "When the world seems to be falling apart..." and that caught my attention. How could it not given current circumstances? It got even better when I realized it was a Joseph Campbell quote.

"When the world seems to be falling apart, hang on to your own ideals and find kindred spirits. That's a rule of life."

So, I'm wondering, how clear are your ideals these days? Have you formed a tight bond with kindred spirits? If your answer to either of these is anything but a resounding YES - get to work! It's a rule of life.

August 5
These days there is one thing everyone is changing – their change – the dollars and cents type of change that is. How we think about our money, getting and spending it, is under review. When I think about money I always end up talking to my friend, Max Jaffe, a wonderful speaker as well as a creative-thinking CPA. During one of our conversations, Max said:

“The only use for money is to spend it. The caveat is that we spend it wisely and be good stewards of our money. Try a new perspective: think about the time it takes for those dollars to roll into your pocket; time is what one is actually sacrificing to make a purchase.”

Max has this idea that money is more about time than currency. His new iPhone application, myCost, helps you make buying decisions from that unique perspective. (So does anyone else think it’s as cool as I do that I know someone who has created an iPhone app?) If the current economic situation is affecting your family’s reality try looking at money from Max’s perspective. It just might make you a better money-decider. I know its helped me change some habits.

July 29
I'm so excited. The new Meryl Streep movie, Julie & Julia, opens next weekend. I will be in line to see it on opening day. I recently re-read Julia Child's book, My Life in France, and it was like a trip abroad. Following her journey to become a master chef was inspirational, especially the stories about her failures. Listen to this:

"Of course, I made many boo-boos. At first this broke my heart, but then I came to understand that learning how to fix one's mistakes, or live with them, was an important part of becoming a cook."

One could say that learning how to fix one's mistakes, or live with them, is an important part of becoming adept with change. Certainly challenges your perspective on mistakes, doesn't it? Yet another delicious thing I've learned from Julia Child - that plus how to make a killer English Trifle.

July 23
I’ve literally just returned from the 2009 National Speakers Association Annual Convention. (Which, of course, explains why this edition of Thinking for a Change is a day late.) At each year’s convention, I look for a word that stands out, gets repeated, and tickles my fancy. This year’s word was (you do the drum roll):

Not as in, Will you marry me?, but as in, Are you encouraging people to participate? It was used with people meaning audience members, employees, customers, children, co-workers, team members, and the person standing next to you in the check-out line. In times like these, we as a society cannot afford to have anyone sitting on the sidelines just observing. Leaders need to monitor everyone’s involvement, coach everyone into participating, and encourage everyone’s efforts. No matter what your job title, we need you to insist on everyone’s best thinking, best planning, and best actions. So, just what do you need to change in order for everyone in your world to be fully engaged? I’m counting on you.

July 15
Greetings from Phoenix, Arizona. It was about 50 degrees when I boarded the plane this morning (in Wisconsin) and it's currently 103 degrees. Talk about change! Warning: this edition is slightly longer than usual. At 103 degrees, I wasn't eager to write fast, wrap it up, and leave the hotel room.

On the plane I was reading Desolate Angel by Chaz McGee, a slightly better than average mystery with a clever twist. The main character, Detective Kevin Fahey, is dead. Yeah, I know, weird but interesting. As the story unfolds, he's following the very living Detective Maggie Gunn who's working to solve one of his old cases that it appears he bungled. Seems Kevin spent more time perfecting his drinking skills than he did working on his detecting skills. In the story he walks into one of his old watering holes and reflects:

I used to feel so at home when I pushed through the front door...I had thought of the bar as a cocoon that protected me from the disappointments waiting outside its doors. Now it seemed like little more than a waiting room for death, a place of false hope and seductive inertia. A place where life leaked away and people squandered the time they had left. A place to give up, then deaden yourself against the knowledge that you had given up.

Now I realize this isn't my usual uplifting quote and reflection, but bear with me. As I flew over the Rocky Mountains, I realized lots of people use change like Kevin used the bar. The staus quo has become a cocoon that protects rather than challenges. A place where giving up is acceptable. Kevin learns that the bar - far from a place of protection - was a place of failure. I haven't finished the book yet, but I'm eager to find out what other insights he gains as he looks back at his life and changes. What about you? Is there a place that, while comfortable, is actually limiting your chances? If there is, get out! Kevin does. Pretty good insight for a $6.99 paperback.

July 8
Stanley Drucker is retiring as 1st Chair Clarinet player in the New York Philharmonic after 60 years - yes you read that right - he's been playing for 60 years! I heard him quoted on NPR's All Things Considered.

The next time you think your performance has been less than great, check it out. Which was missing? Joy or passion? Remember, he did it for 60 years! Expert advice in my book.

July 1
A Business 2.0 study from a while ago found "the difference between success and failure among small companies operating in a depressed region of the US came down to either accepting resource constraints and giving up, or seeing possibilities others didn't."

Since all the regions of the US seem to qualify as depressed these days - small or big businesses, individuals or teams - maybe we all need to change our attitudes about possibilities and do some serious looking.

P.S. Today marks the launch of a new project for Miriam (my daughter, editor, and writing partner) and me. Open Your Notebook is a bi-weekly eLetter that will give writers something to think about and most importantly, something to write about. It is our hope that subscribers will be inspired to find a new notebook and make a date to write every time Open Your Notebook arrives in their mailbox. Since many of you have taken one of Chris’ Writing Classes, we thought you’d like to know about this new opportunity to continue to polish your writing skills. Click here to send Miriam an email and get yourself on the list (including your first and last name in the body of the email is appreciated).

June 24
Conflict. Just the word makes you queasy, right? If you're in the midst of change there's going to be conflict. Either out in the open (actually that's the best) or underground (just waiting to explode). Conflict is one of the reasons change is difficult. How about a new perspective from Stewart Levine.

"Learning to treat conflict as ordinary and expected is the goal. When you learn that, you can focus your resources on creative solutions."

Like any skill, it's going to take a while to get to conflict and ordinary in the same thought bubble. But it is worth working on it!

June 17
I love thinking about the power of stories. From my granddaughter Josie's opening "One upon a time" to grandson Elroy's, "Let's do an imagine" they remind me that making a story helps find order in our world whether we're little or grown-up. Catching up on some shows stored on my DVR while ironing brought me to this line in an episode of Castle.

Maybe the next change you face needs a story to give it perspective. It's there, you just have to find it. Let me know if I can help.

June 10
Are you a leader? Do you have a vision? Does everyone know your vision? Are you obviously passionate about seeing that vision happen? Jack Welch says you need to answer yes to all four questions in order to really BE a leader.

"Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion."

June 3
Preparing for a session with the board of Mid State Technical College last week, I came across this quote from Sara Little Turnbull.

I remember when I realized that I wasn't frightened of heights - it was (and is) the edges that I feared. How about you? Maybe your reaction to a change is fueled by a realization that you're being taken to an edge. Could it be that a yoga class would make us all better at changing? I'll let you know.

Great change philosophy. Instead of focusing on what you can't do or don't have, spend your energies figuring out what you can do and do it. Teddy would say, "Bully!"

May 13
In this Sunday's Parade magazine there was an article by Alix Kates Schulman entitled "Finding Joy in Frugality." I enjoyed reading it and appreciated all the article offered for the reader to think about. Toward the end, Alix wrote:

May 6
Sunday night, May 3rd, was Pete Seeger's 90th birthday. As a 60s folk singer myself (The Corydon Trio - we were big on the Luther League circuit in Chicago) I read the article in Monday's USA Today about the concert in Madison Square Garden with great enthusiasm and nostalgia for the list of performed songs. During a sing-along version of "Amazing Grace," Seeger was reported to have turned to the audience and said,

April 30
One of my friends from NSA (National Speakers Association), Jana Stanfield, CSP, quoted an unknown author in a recent edition of her newsletter as saying:

April 22
My mom, June, and I share a love of the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries by Dorothy Gillman. She's been re-reading them lately and shared this line from one.

April 15
Youssou N'Dour, hailed as the African Artist of the Century (check out his music on iTunes), appeared on the back of my Starbuck's cup recently.

April 7
People often experience change as something that's going to add to their burden and miss the fact that some change allows you to eliminate activities. It will never remove something from your plate unless you speak up. You might want to quote Michael Porter's thoughts about strategy.

April 1
Bob Minzesheimer, a USA Today reporter, interviewed Michael J. Fox about his just released book, Always Looking Up: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. He asked Fox for five specific things that make him optimistic. Read the third reason Fox gave.

March 25
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly. - Anonymous

Many of you know or will remember that I have periodically updated you on my Weight Watchers Journey with my daughter, Miriam. (Who is, by the way, the editor and sender of these messages.) I wanted you to know that last Saturday at weigh-in, Miriam achieved the 100 pounds lost mark!

Pause for cheers.

As I've watched her reach this remarkable goal, I have observed determination, discipline, and delight - all critical components of a successful change effort. She believed in her ability to succeed even when the going was tough, when she got off track, she went right back to doing what she knew she had to do, and she freely and joyously celebrated little victories. Don't tell Miriam that you can't change.

Please join me in giving Miriam a 100-pound congratulation!

March 18
Van Morrison (who made my granddaughter Josie's theme song Brown Eyed Girl famous) was recently interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning. During the course of the interview the VERY introverted Morrison said this about the creative process:

March 11
Monday's USA Today Money section had an interview with Laurie Schmald Moncrieff, the third-generation owner of Schmald Tool & Die near Flint, Michigan. She was quoted as saying:

March 4
During Obama's Inauguration Ceremony, Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill, and Gabriela Montero played John Williams' new arrangement entitled Air and Simple Gifts (you can see it on YouTube.com if you missed the ceremony. Trust me, it's worth it.) Simple Gifts has always been one of my favorite songs, so this morning I listened to the version (with Yo Yo Ma and Allison Krauss) that I have on my iPod. Like it happens so often, this time I registered some of the words in a new, deeper way. At the very end, Allison sings,

February 19
Anyone who thinks change is easy hasn't encountered a significant change recently. Difficult change requires multiple skills practiced almost simultaneously. Reminds me of a Maya Angelou quote that I found in one of her cards.

February 11
This week we celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Our grade school history might not have told us his whole story. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a longtime Harvard professor taught me on a recent edition of CBS Sunday Morning.

February 4
I tear things out of the paper all the time. When I'm on the road I can tear as I go; at home I'm supposed to wait until Frank has finished with the paper. Some are articles I want to share with others. Some have thoughts and quotes I want for these messages. Once torn, I stick them in the yellow marble notebook I take with me and then at some point I sit down and go though them all. Like I just did. I found a wonderful essay by Lori Borgman about people who love books too much that I plan to copy and share with my book club. Under the essay, there is a headline.

January 28

Po Bronson, author of very interesting reading, has a unique view of success. I thought you might like to ponder it.

January 21
At this beginning of a new year for Thinking for a Change and the day after the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, you can imagine my delight in hearing these words in Obama's Inaugural Address:

2008
December 18
When I sit down to write the last Thinking for a Change of the year, I feel the need to find something profound to share. Thank goodness for Starbuck's cups. Here's Anne Morriss' insightful observation.

"The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life."

December 11
Do you use spell check? Stupid question, of course you do. You type along, miss-spelling a word here and there, safe in the knowledge you can spell check your document before it goes on its way. The system highlights your questionable words, offers a suggestion, you choose the right spelling and hit CHANGE, and it does it. Oh, if life was like that! I really don't have a quote or a deeper meaning - I just thought it was worth sharing.

December 4
(I decided to ask Miriam to send this edition this week rather than closer to the holidays. After you read it, you'll know why.)

Seems funny to be writing about change during this season of tradition, but here I go. As I pondered this seeming contradiction, it occurred to me that traditions probably started as a change to an even older tradition. (If that's confusing, just sit with it for a few minutes and I think it will become clear.) Rather than share a quote this week, I'm going to issue a holiday challenge. Before you, and your family, go rushing into the end of 2008, take a minute, gather the clan, and ask yourselves:

"Given the current economic circumstances in general and our situation in specific, what could we do differently this year to make our holiday celebration even more meaningful?"

The dialogue that gets you to your family's answer to this question might just be your biggest gift of the 2008 holiday season.

November 26
Former New Yorker editor, Tina Brown said during a recent CBS Sunday morning interview,

Great reminder in these uncertain times. Now, more than ever, we all need to be at our game table day in and day out. Challenge yourself, and if you lead others - your team, to understand and act on this philosophy.

No matter what table you sit at tomorrow - we send Thanksgiving greetings to you and yours!

November 20
I would have been interested in the recent elections even if everyone hadn't been claiming change as a major part of their platforms. (I'm one of those who believes that if you ever want to complain about the goings on in Washington DC or the state capital of your choice, you have to participate in the voting.) My favorite part of all the change talk was contained in President-Elect Barack Obama's acceptance speech. He said:

"This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were."

Every leader should listen and think about this quotation carefully. Change isn't the decision to do something different, it is DOING something different. I hope our new President will remember and act on his own words.

November 12
Isn't it funny how words can invoke a feeling - either positive or negative? Fireplace, blanket, and comfortable are all cozy words. I'm always amused when someone finds a way to put a spin on a word - you expect one meaning and get another. When well done, that twist of words always makes you think. Martin Sheen did that for me during a recent CNN interview.

Music to the ears of a change person like me. How does that quote strike you? Does it make you uncomfortable? More importantly, does it make you think?

November 3
Okay, there's no acceptable excuse. Go Vote! We get the governments we deserve when we all participate! (Can you tell I feel strongly about this?) I guess it's because I'll be glued to the television Tuesday night watching the results come in that I remembered a Robert Kennedy quote.

October 29
When I was little my mother used to get booklets in the mail from Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. I would read them because he always started with a story that I enjoyed very much, never realizing that I was learning a lesson. Remembering that experience enhanced my enjoyment when I found this quote from Dr. Peale.

"I'd rather attempt something great and fail than attempt nothing and succeed."

The next time you find yourself resisting change, you might want to remember Dr. Peale's words. I know I will.

October 22
Carolyne Wallace, a Thinking for a Change reader, sent me an edition of Today's Turning Point a daily message list she receives. Dr. David Jeremiah quotes Edward Kennedy speaking at his brother's funeral.

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation."

Perfect reminder for me to take the opportunity to thank each of you who generously donated to the JDRF Walk for the Cure earlier this month. Team Q reached its $10,000.00 goal because of people like you. Individually we can't hope to make a dent in the dollars needed for Diabetes Research, but together a cure is possible. This is a change I hope for every day and I'm thrilled to have you on my team!

October 9

Discouraged? John Wooden said:

"Don't let what you can't do get in the way of what you can do."

Simple sentence; powerful message. We all need to be reminded to focus our attention in the right place and this one does it for me. I hope it works for you, too.

October 2
Death is a difficult change. This week, Paul Newman and my cousin, Scott Taylor, died. Newman will live on in the amazing characters he portrayed on film; Scott in the hearts of his friends and family. People die - it's a fact, but they can live forever based the actions they choose to take in their lives. In The Verdict, Paul Newman played Frank Galvin who said,

"If we are to have faith in justice, we need to believe in ourselves and ACT with justice."

If you want what you believe in to last, you need to ACT within it on a daily basis. Rest in peace to both of these men who touched my life.

P.S. In addition to re-watching The Sting this weekend, our family will be gathering in Stevens Point on Sunday for the 4th Annual Walk for the Cure, raising money for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). Read a story about our family and see Quinn in action here.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart to all of you who chose to ACT and donated to Team Q's fundraising efforts after Monday's Special Edition of Thinking for a Change. If you can help us find a cure with a contribution, no matter how small, click here. Together we can make a difference for the millions who have Type 1 Diabetes and Quinn!

September 29
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has." said Margaret Mead. I believe that with all my heart and need your help to prove it. As many of you know, my eldest grandson, Quinn, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was 22 months old. It is my dream that a cure for this difficult disease that affects millions of children and adults will be found - soon. The work done by JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) is getting closer to making that happen. But research takes money.

Every week over 8,000 people around the world read these messages about change. Think of the impact we could make if each of you pledged just $5.00. I know times are tough and there are so many places you could spend your money, but think of how you'll feel when they announce a breakthrough and you'll know it was because you cared AND acted.

Our family, as Team Q, joins other committed people in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, for the Walk for a Cure on October 5th. This Sunday morning we'll be walking and hereby invite you to either join us in person or via a donation. Click here to go directly to the JDRF site where you can register or pledge your support. (If the hyperlink doesn't work, cut and paste this into your browser: http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=walk.home). Once at the Walk Central Page, search for Team Q or Chris Clarke-Epstein. Then choose to donate or register to walk.

You have my eternal gratitude. We can change this part of the world!

September 24
Why is change important? Whitney Young speculated that:

"The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self."

In order to fulfill this call to nobility, you have to be willing to see yourself as you actually are and then change. Easier said than done, but better done than talked about!

September 17
At last week's Weight Watchers meeting, our leader, Ruth, quoted Marianne Williamson during her closing:

"Playing small doesn't serve the universe."

I love that thought. Change is often tough so we back off and do little things. Playing small doesn't serve you either. What would happen if you dared to be bold? Is this the week that you're willing to up the change-ante in your life?

P.S. A Weight Watcher's Update. I've lost 44.6 lbs and Miriam has hit the 90 lb mark! Way to go Miriam, and thanks to all of you who have asked to be kept up on our progress. Your encouraging emails mean a lot to both of us.

September 10
I meet a woman at a recent program who shared with me that her husband of thirty-eight years had just announced that he was moving out and wanted a divorce. Some change just arrives and smacks you. After we talked, I remembered George Chakiris comment.

"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible."

I wish I had remembered it while we were talking; I think it would have been meaningful for her. If you find yourself in the middle of a bad time, I bet it will be significant for you. And to the individual who inspired me to remember this important concept - this one's especially for you!

September 3
I spend a lot of time thinking about the power of the Comfort Zone in the lives of people and organizations. The seductive power of the Comfort Zone is one of the biggest barriers to Change. No wonder I fell in love with the greeting card that proclaimed:

Worn patterns, like Comfort Zones, need to be changed and people need to be supported as they live through the shock. Then they need encouragement to finally see and welcome the benefits of their new reality. Feel like you're flying apart? You're not alone. You're just working to expand your Comfort Zone.

August 28
For those of you who have wondered why these messages have been sporadic the last few weeks…well, computer problems, interesting travel schedules, playing-hooky-on-a-summer-day behavior sort of sums it up. Sebastine Chamfort said,

"The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed."

I'm sure you're pleased to know that we don't waste any days around here. Promise me that you won't either!

August 13
I grabbed an old notebook as I packed for the annual National Speakers Association Convention in New York City. Tucked inside, I found a piece of paper with this Tom (he-continues-to-be-a thinker-I-admire) Peter's quote.

"The only job security you have is to be more talented tomorrow than you are today."

As we all face change driven by economic uncertainty this is a good philosophy to ponder and embrace. If you are a leader, your people would be well served to hear this message from you along with personalized feedback on ways they can improve their skill set. What would happen if you made self-improvement your next change project?

P.S. If you saw the Sex in the City movie and left the theater feeling slightly depressed as I did, (I will leave figuring out why I might have been depressed up to you) make a date to see Momma Mia! I left the movie theater, got in my convertible, turned on the oldies station full blast, and drove home singing all the way. I'll see it again in the theater, have already downloaded the soundtrack, and will buy the DVD the day it's released. Not for the plot, not for the deeper meaning that it reveals, but simply because it made me feel joyous. There's far too little of that going around these days!

July 16
I get a newsletter from the Prouty Project and they always include a guess-the-source-of-this-quote contest. In the most recent issue they reported that Jeanne Kassim knew that Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots said,

"There are a lot of guys who say they want to work harder and be the best, but they never pay the price."

(I'm certain he meant to include women in his comments. You know that I do!) Change is like that too. There are many people who want to change, but most of them don't want to actually do something different! How about becoming one of those people who want things in their life to change and are doing things differently. You can do it; I know you can!

July 9
Dick Clark is quoted on the back of Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.'s new book, My Stroke of Insight, saying about the story,

"None of us needs sympathy; what we need is a helping hand and understanding."

Boy, is that right. Think of the last major change you experienced. There we those who gave you a shoulder to cry on and those who gave you a gentle kick in the pants or a well timed suggestion. Who was of more value? It's easy to fall into a pattern of looking for or giving sympathy when we should be giving recognition - this is tough, I know you/we can do it - and assistance - why don't we try a restaurant that has healthy choices. I'm going to watch my behavior to myself as well as others, what about you?

P.S. Thanks to all of you who sent messages of encouragement to Miriam and I. We continue to work on our healthy habits (catch the restaurant reference? <G>), count points, and go to meetings. We've both set our lifetime goals and will keep you posted. We think Weight Watchers is a wonderful helping hand. Miriam says, "While the encouragement of friends and family is long-term sustenance, the delight of strangers and casual acquaintances to our success provides me with an adrenaline rush that makes the hard days easier. Thanks!"

July 1
Okay, I promised to tell you how Miriam and I have worked to change our stories and by doing so, our lives.

Last October, Miriam quietly announced that she was going to join a Weight Watchers at Work program. I could, she said, go with her. Are you nuts, I thought. By January, 2008 she had lost over 50 lbs. I no longer thought she or Weight Watchers was nuts. I joined her group, learned some new healthful habits, listened to amazing stories of effort, persistence, and success and started working the Weight Watchers system.

Here we are, 6 months later, and Miriam is 80 plus pounds lighter and I'm 30 plus pounds lighter than my former self. We've changed our story and have new results! Stayed tuned, we're not done yet. This is change we will cheerfully continue.

June 25
For the second week in a row, I need to thank a Thinking for a Change reader for inspiration. From Northwestern Mutual, Jo Maze shared a quote from a Crucial Conversations class she attended.

What a perfect assignment for a few, quiet summer moments. (Maybe if you're lucky you can do it while on vacation - sitting on a lake shore or next to a resort pool.) How could you change your story? Next week I'll tell you how my daughter, Miriam, and I have done just that!

June 18
Clarence Miller from Cuna Mutual sent me a quote for Leaders. Gerard Seijts from the University of Western Ontario said,

Now, you might not be in charge of changing a company's culture, but the same sentiment applies to changing with your team or working to change yourself. Be honest, what is it that you are reluctant to change but know in your heart is going to be an issue if you don't?

June 11
In Northern Wisconsin, this was the year that Mother Nature decided to keep us hanging. Would summer ever arrive? Finally the weather has taken a turn for thoughts of outdoor activity to be more than wishful thinking! People who like sailing will appreciate Bob Herbert's comment.

Maybe you're feeling like you're sailing against the wind in your personal or professional life. Think of Bob's hope for tomorrow - winds shift!

June 4
Did you know that Chris has been writing these messages for 7 years?
Did you know that past issues are available just by visiting this link?
Here is a classic issue from November 2001 - to find other great issues or inspire yourself for change, drop in at Chris' archive anytime.

May 28
Ever lose sight of what's important? A Starbuck's cup quote got me to thinking about how easy it is for that to happen. Film and television producer, Bernie Brillstein said:

Make time today to take stock. What's the real love in your life? What do you hold to be true? What creates stability? Now give thanks for each of these treasures.

(Editor's note: Don't worry, you didn't miss last week's issue. We had some technical difficulties that prevented me from sending Change. All seems to be back to normal and I apologize for last week!)

May 14
I have long been a fan of Joseph Campbell's work. Earlier today I ran across one of the wonderful quotes he is famous for.

I remembered the quote - generally, but was taken aback by the words get rid of. I didn't recall the force of Campbell's conviction that change should be an action taken rather than a reaction to outside events. Have you been thinking about change this way? What could you get rid of? And then what could you find waiting?

May 8
It probably won't surprise those of you who have been reading these messages for awhile - I love spending time in card shops. Recently I found one with this on the cover:

What would you pack if you set out to change a few things? Let me know. I may send the card to the best answer.

May 1
Every once and a while I encounter a quote that doesn't need much commentary. This one from H. Jackson Browne falls into that category.

April 24
Speaking to a group of Petroleum Marketers today, I got to thinking about change as a function of perspective. That reminded me of a passage from Nora Ephron's book, I Feel Bad About My Neck. (Great book.) Nora writes...

Change your perspective and change your feelings about change. Next time you're unhappy about a change, try looking at it from a different angle. Who knows, it may feel completely different.

April 16
Last week jazz, this week classical. The legendary pianist and conductor, Daniel Barenboim said

What about your relationship with your work? Does it challenge you to learn? If not, what could you do to rekindle the learning spirit in your life?

April 10
During an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, jazz musician Herbie Hancock said that his connection with Buddhism was important because "It's refreshing." His comment got me thinking that we all need something refreshing in our lives. Spring, music, good friends, good wine, good food, good fiction, well written prose... My list is endless. My concern is for the days when I don't pay attention to the fact that there are things during my day that ARE refreshing. Think I'll work to change that. I believe that Herbie, and the Buddha, would approve.

April 2
My friend and Master Facilitator, Kristin Arnold, CSP, sent me this thought-provoking Wayne Dyer quote.

What could you look at differently? If you looked differently, would you be better off? Worth a try, don't you think?

March 26
Roger Bannister, the famous runner, has always intrigued me. He had to overcome an embedded mindset - humans can't run a mile in under four minutes - in order to change the sport of track. Listen to one of the reasons he was successful.

Every change has some element or time of pain in it. It is the ability to work through the painful piece that always allows you to get to the next step. It may not be the equivalent of a four minute mile, but I bet there's some change in your future that will test your resolve. Remember, Bannister did what everyone thought was impossible - you could too!

March 19
Lots of people have advice about how to change. William James has a good, short take on the subject.

My favorite part, as you might guess, is Do it flamboyantly! (I added the exclamation point - I couldn't help myself. It felt flamboyant in a keyboard kind of way.) Sometimes I think we're so frightened of doing change wrong that we forget that you're ALWAYS going to do things wrong during change. There's no way not to make mistakes when you're trying new things. So, at least do them with flair!

March 13
Most organizations these days talk about wanting their people to work in teams. Many organizations don't clearly understand what it takes to build a team - in training, time, and resources. The great basketball player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, has the expertise to comment.

Allow me to paraphrase into a change perspective. One person can be a crucial ingredient to a change, but one person can't make a change. The next time you're faced with a change, think of the team you could assemble and go for it!

March 5
Hey, how are things going for you? In Northern Wisconsin we're in the worst part of winter. Isn't this ever going to be over?! Sometimes it's hard to keep your spirits up when there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The playwright, Henrik Ibsen, wants us to remember that.

That will be much easier when the mountains of snow in our driveway start to shrink, but in the meantime, I'll do my best - if you will, too.

February 28
Ever been in a meeting or with a group of co-workers or friends when the conversation turned negative about an upcoming change? You may not have been thrilled about the change yourself, but you didn't hate it either. As you listened to the unhappiness of the others, you decided to keep your more positive opinions to yourself. No big deal, right? Martin Luther King, Jr. might disagree with your lack of action.

Deciding to support complaints with the agreement of silence is, as my mother would say, naughty.

February 20
I'm reading a charming book discovered after hearing an author interview on NPR. Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish, tells her story - growing up on an Iowa farm during the depression. In a section describing her grandmother, she says,

It was the words happy pragmatism that stopped me as I was reading. Seems like that's a perfect attitude to have during change! (Discovering that helping hand wouldn't hurt either.) Let's make Millie's grandmother proud by taking her advice.

February 6
J. A. Jance has published at least 35 books; I've read them all. (If you like mysteries, you'll like her books. Start with the J. P. Beaumont series first - in order.) While reading her latest, Hand of Evil, I found the following paragraph.

This is the key to proactive change. Figure out what needs to be done, screw up your courage, and get to work. You'll be amazed how much energy you'll get out of this process!

January 31
This week marks the passing of Margaret Truman Daniel, daughter of a President, mother of 4 boys, singer, and writer of books. She lived a long and interesting life and leaves a legacy through both her children and her writing. Although she lived a privileged life, she never forgot her early life in Missouri and the values she learned there. It isn't surprising that she said this about the value of hard work and persevering.

Sometimes we think (fantasize is really a better word) that once we set out on a path of change, everything will fall into place and be easy. What Margaret reminds us of is the imperative to do the work necessary to accomplish what needs to be done. There will be a time during a change when you'll need to say, "I am willing to keep on working!"

January 24
As a person who didn't plan the end of the year very well - deductibles, you know - I've spent considerable time this week working on some not critical, but important, health issues. Every time I visit, my health care clinic provides me with a sheet of helpful information about my latest issue, with both my name and age printed boldly across the top of the page. These reminders of my age AND my latest evidence of physical deterioration made for a melancholy week. Until, that is, I received an email from my friend Rick Jakle with the following reminder:

P.S. Many thanks to all of you who responded to my inquiry about changing Change. (I was tickled that everyone got the irony of asking about changing the notes about change. Nice to see that we're starting 2008 with a working sense of humor!) The overwhelming consensus was to keep it as is. Weekly, short, and to the point. Thanks especially to Greg O'Hearn who suggested the slight formatting change you see in this issue. Greg thought this would make it more user friendly, especially if printed out. We agree. Keep the feedback coming, any time. We love it!

January 16
How has the new year started for you? CNN announced that the stock market has gotten off to its worst beginning-of-the-year start ever! Depressing. An emotion that reminded me of Colin Rose's comments. "You are not stuck with your feelings. You can choose to change them." Or just turn CNN off for a while. <G>

P.S. Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Keep them coming. In case you missed it, last week I asked you, "Should I change anything?" If you have any ideas about changing Change, let me know. Send me an email with your ideas at Chris@Change101.com. I'll be tickled to hear from you!

January 9
Thinking for a Change reader, Marti Cargile sent me a link to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article describing the swearing-in ceremony of Milwaukee's new Chief of Police, Edward Flynn. Listen to a part of his remarks. "In my experience, being in favor of change is a little like being in favor of gravity. Change will come, whether or not you favor it. ...Although law enforcement's challenges change, our fundamental responsibilities do not." There's a lot of change truth in that statement. Thinking of gravity as a metaphor for change is a wonderful perspective, isn't it? I can't wait to see what Chief Flynn accomplishes with this attitude about change. I'll keep you posted.

P.S. Hey, it's a new year! I've been doing these messages just about every week for 7 years. (Hard to believe, isn't it?) Pretty much the same format - quote or situation I've run across and what it made me think about. It occurred to me that it was time for me to ask you, "Should I change anything?" If you have any ideas about changing Change, let me know. Send me an email (Chris@Change101. com) with your ideas. I'll be tickled to hear from you!

Dec 19
If you haven't all ready, pretty soon you'll be hearing about New Year's Resolutions. I'm not a big fan of this annual hysteria unless the resolutions it generates are very specific AND have significant personal motivation behind them. (Can you tell I'm working on one for myself?) If you consider Marilyn Ferguson's idea, "Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside," as you decide on a resolution for 2008, I think you'll be on the right track. I'll keep you posted on how mine works out.

All the best for your Holidays and a joyous start for 2008! See you in a few weeks.

Dec 13
My grandson, Elroy, has taken to spending much of his day exploring worlds that don't exist and fighting monsters that he is confident he can conquer (with the aid of whatever is at hand). Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, said "True change takes place in the imagination." Perhaps that is how we can best bring change forth - by imagining our outcome, and then striding confidently towards it.

Dec 5
Boy, I love my iPod. I hook it up to a set of portable speakers and fill the hotel bathroom with music as I get ready. This morning I heard Cher singing a song from her latest album, Bittersweet. The song, "Greatest Song I Ever Heard," contains the line, "If you want to win you've got to play the game." It occurred to me that this was a great motivator for change. If there's a change and you're sitting on the sidelines...you're not going to win. Guaranteed!

Nov 29
Driving home from the airport yesterday, listening to Chapter a Day on Wisconsin's NPR station I heard this line from Anthony Doerr's book, Four Seasons in Rome. "You find your way through a place by getting lost." What a perfect description of life during change. Maybe a predictor of success could be your ability to tolerate being lost for a while.

P.S. I hope your Thanksgiving was as joy-filled as ours. I want you to know that when I thought of all the things I'm grateful for, all 6000 of you were at the top of my list!

Nov 14
Lately I've been talking about the need for Leaders to be optimists. Then I found this message from Carl Sandburg, the great American poet. "I am an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way." Sometimes that's the only way you can deal with change. Take a step in a direction knowing you can course correct as you move along - with enthusiasm, that is!

Nov 7
Years ago I signed up for a text message service that sends a quote to my iPhone every evening. (Clever, how I slipped that iPhone reference in, isn't it?) Most of the quotes I delete but every once and a while there's one that's worth keeping and passing on. "Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well," said the Buddha. A case for Thinking for a Change if I've ever heard one.

Oct 31
Many people think negatively about change because of fear. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of the you name it. Listen to Helen Keller. "Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure." She might have been blind, but she certainly had insights! Don't let fear hold you back.

Oct 24
A few Changes ago I quoted Susan Taylor on suffering. A Change reader wrote to caution me about being glib about people’s suffering. Whenever I need to think about the connections between suffering, attitudes, and the human condition, I go to Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning. He never fails to spark my thinking and certainly did so again. “When we are no longer able to change a situation…we are challenged to change ourselves.” (Please know that I always appreciate comments from you!)

Oct 17
I was talking to my friend, speaker, and author Max Jaffe about the right way to put toilet paper on a roll. Now, usually, Max and I are in synch but horror of horrors he admitted that he put his toilet paper roll on with the paper feeding off the bottom – this is just wrong! I explained that if and when I encountered a roll like that at his house, I’d be compelled to correct it. “Of course, Chris,” he said. “That’s because you’re all about change.”

Oct 10
I've always been a fan of Julia Child. Her Mastering the Art of French Cooking has been on my kitchen bookshelf for years. I was intrigued to learn that her husband, Paul, was her early mentor and coach. He suggested a philosophy of life. "Use all your senses, all the time. …Take pains with the work; do it carefully. Relish the details. Enjoy your hunger. And remember why you're there." That's worth a discussion over a fine glass of French wine. Red or white?

Oct 4
Wednesday, I spoke at the Women's Success Forum in Denver, Colorado. Along with 2,000 other women (and about two dozen men) I heard Susan L. Taylor, former editor-in-chief of Essence magazine say, "Suffering is living in that painful place and not doing anything about it." You can't imagine how quickly I wrote that down so I could share it with you. Talk about a case for change! My wish is that you're not suffering needlessly because, you know, you could change.

P.S. Thanks from the bottom my heart for all of you who donated to our Walk for the Cure this Saturday for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). So far readers of Thinking for a Change have donated $ 1,305.00. Our family asks for donations and walks every year so we can change this painful place for my grandson Quinn and the millions of others who deal with the daily reality of finger pokes to determine blood sugar levels, severely monitored diets, and shots or pumps to deliver the insulin their bodies can't produce. It's not too late to make a donation. Help us make this particular change real before Quinn goes to high school…Simply click on this link (www.walk.jdrf.org) and at the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) website search for First Name: Chris and Team Name: Team Q. Then, click on Chris Clarke-Epstein to make your donation.

As many of you know, my oldest grandson, Quinn, was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes when he was 22 months old. That means, in everyday terms, that he has to keep track of everything he eats, test his blood sugars 4 to 5 times a day, and rather than the five insulin shots a day he used to get - thanks to medical advances - he now gets his insulin after each meal from the computerized pump attached to his stomach and which he wears in a pouch around his waist. More advances could mean a cure and then he would be like any kid who eats when he's hungry, sneaks a bag of chips once and awhile, and gets to lick the frosting bowl when his Ahma frosts a cake.

It can happen, it will happen, if we can raise enough money for the exciting research that's going on right now. Our family is Walking for the Cure Saturday October 6th in Stevens Point, WI and we need your help. A donation to Team Q will help us ensure the search for a cure continues and succeeds. Simply click on this link (www.walk.jdrf.org) and at the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) website search for First Name: Chris and Team Name: Team Q. Then, click on Chris Clarke-Epstein to make your donation.

Over, 5,000 people read my messages each week. Just think what could happen if half of you decided to pledge $10.00 for this worthwhile cause! Please help our family, along with all the other families of children with Juvenile Diabetes, to find a cure.

Thank you - from Chris, who is grateful from the bottom of her heart that you're willing to change.

Sept 26
Mark Twain said that those who don't read have no advantage over those who can't read. Alvin Toffler brought the thought into the present with his words of wisdom. "The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." How about you? What do you need to learn? Unlearn? And relearn?

Sept 12
At the end of an Annie's Mailbox column, I found this quote from President Woodrow Wilson. "I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow." Next time you're working on a challenging change, consider the brain power you could borrow and go get it. Remember, it's an order from a Commander-in-Chief.

Sept 5
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that my daughter, Miriam (who manages the Thinking for a Change process), is a scrapbooker. Sometimes she lets me tag along when she goes on a scrapbooking adventure. During a recent trip to a store in Rhinelander, I found a stamp with the following quote. "Change is to give up what we are, to become what we could be." You can bet I bought the stamp, put it in a prominent place on my desk, and intend to use it often!

Aug 29
It's easy to convince ourselves that change is more of an issue for us now, in the 21st Century. However, every once and a while we get reminded that change always has, and always will be, a part of life. Sometime before he died in 1832, the German playwright and poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, said, "We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden." True then, true now!

Aug 22
My friend Kathy Dempsey sent me this quote about Albert Einstein. "Einstein was the first person who said it: everything has changed now, except our way of thinking. And we've got to find ways to change our way of thinking." Who am I to argue with Einstein? What have you done lately to change your way of thinking about your job, your family and friends, or your life? Maybe this weekend would be a good time to start a thinking-changing routine.

Aug 15
Facing some tough stuff? What if you really believed in the Bumper Sticker by Anonymous. "Permission to be afraid is denied." Then what would you do?

Aug 2
If you're just about ready to embark on a change, remember what Martin Luther King, Jr. said. "Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase." Sometimes we forget that most change has a significant element of faith in it.

July 25
Came across a Japanese Proverb: "Be not afraid to go slowly; be only afraid of standing still." That encourages me to remember baby steps count when it comes to change. I hope it encourages you, too.

July 18
Not all changes work out perfectly. That's when you need a perspective neatly expressed by Corrie Ten Boom. "When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer." The next time you're in the dark, stop for a minute and think about who's on the train with you that you trust. Maybe it's time for you to connect with them.

July 11
My husband, Frank, is a great reader. One of the things that makes our marriage work is the fact that we both climb into bed, book in hand, and with our own bedside lights so the first one too tired to read can sleep while the other can finish their chapter. Frank likes to read westerns and I believe he's read all that Louis L'Amour has written. Imagine my delight when I found this quote from the prolific Mr. L'Amour. "You can't learn anything from the experience you're not having." Why not make the balance of this year one of new experiences. Think of all you could learn!

June 27
If you like to laugh and enjoy the Southeastern part of the United States, then you'll LOVE Roy Blount Jr's new book, Long Time Leaving. (I plan on getting it on CD to hear it in the author's voice and with that terrific Georgia accent.) Wishing for the South of his youth, Blount writes, "I just wish the South would let me decide what it should change and what it shouldn't." How many of us would love to tell our bosses, our organizations, and our families what they should change and what they shouldn't? How many of them would like to tell us? In the cold light of day, we know it doesn't work that way...but it is nice to think of it as possible.

June 20
Interviewed about his newest album, Memory Almost Full, Paul McCartney said, "Look back at the past, but don't live in it and don't expect it to happen again. It's very much a changing world, and you have to leave room for new stuff." This sentence packs both meaning and hope for a person or a group facing change. If you don't get the meaning part - think boy/girl relationships in high school. If you get the meaning but not the hope - remember carbon paper. If you're still not sure, buy/download the album and listen to "The End of the End."

June 13
The last edition of CBS Sunday Morning had a story about the cafes of Paris. It seems that they are disappearing. The profiled cafe owner who is struggling to stay in business said, "Everything around us is changing so we have to hold on to this tradition." I've only had the opportunity for one afternoon in which to enjoy a glass of wine and people watching from a movie-set perfect cafe in Paris, but I've certainly dreamed of returning to do it again. Sometimes change isn't the answer; I hope he does hold on!

May 30
A client asked me to craft a presentation on Leadership entitled "This Is Where the Leadership Really Begins" based on a line from his favorite John Wayne film, The Cowboys. I watched the movie twice looking for insights for my program. The line with significance for me was Wil Anderson's (Wayne's character) comment to the boys he lead on the cattle drive. "Every man wants his children to be better than he is...you are." Specific, encouraging praise is a good leader's stock-in-trade. When was the last time you delivered that kind of praise to a child, a peer, or someone who calls you their leader? What are you waiting for? Change!

I especially look forward to Wednesday mornings. My husband, Frank, comes home from his walk with the day's edition of the USA Today. I immediately grab the Life section because Craig Wilson's column, The Final Word, is in it. I read it first with great pleasure. Today was no exception. He closed his column by writing, "Which is what this upcoming [Memorial Day] weekend is all about: remembering those who don't happen to be here anymore but most certainly are not gone." Wilson believes we keep people important to us alive by remembering them and their actions. I believe that, too. So in the midst of picnics, family, and food this weekend - find a quiet minute, remember someone of significance, and share their story. Both the recalling and the retelling will do you good.

May 17
Walking through the Minneapolis Airport, I noticed a restaurant sign for the first time. "All work and no play kinda misses the point." As we approach the summer season, I'd like to remind you to schedule some play. Next week, when I'm back in Minneapolis, I'll take a picture of it, post it on my blog so you can print it and hang it in an obvious place, just in case you need a visual reminder.

May 10
Wednesday I attended the 15th Annual Wausau YWCA Women of Vision Award lunch. The novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard spoke - telling of her early efforts as a novelist after the unexpected death of her young husband. When life creates that kind of a hole in you she said, "it doesn't give you permission to live a small or timid life." Those are inspiring words from someone who has the right to say them. They remind us all that if we've been small or timid in our lives, it's time to CHANGE!

May 2
My middle grandchild, Elroy, (No, it's not an old family name - yes, he was named after the little boy on the Jetsons!) is in love with Thomas the Tank Engine. We pay attention to all things train-ish. He loves the movie, The Polar Express. I like the part where the Conductor says, "The thing about trains...it doesn't matter where they're going. What matters is deciding to get on." Change is like that. There will be many times in your life when a change comes along that you're not certain about. It makes sense to evaluate your ability to affect the change. If you can't, maybe you should listen to the Conductor and decide how much running you want to do in order to finally jump on.

April 25
ast week I pre-ordered two copies of the 7th Harry Potter book due out this July. (In case you wondered, one is for me and one for my daughter - the person who makes sure you get this message every week, Miriam.) Our local bookstore, Jankes, will open at 11:00 pm the night they are released and start selling the books at midnight. I can't wait! In the 2nd book of the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Albus Dumbledore said, "It is not our abilities that tell us what we truly are...it is our choices." He is so wise. If we all thought about our choices - big and small - for the next week, I bet we'd all be making some changes.

April 18
Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of the day when the grandson of a slave, son of a sharecropper, Jackie Robinson, played baseball wearing a Brooklyn Dodger's uniform. Some thought it would end the game, some thought it was about time, and some remained indifferent to the whole thing. Everyone agreed it was a change. Here we are - 6 decades later. When a change is introduced, some will think it is the worst thing imaginable, some will think it's terrific, and some will try to believe it's nothing they need to think about. We each get the opportunity to choose which reaction is ours. Jackie, himself, challenges us with this. "Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life." A challenge that is as meaningful today as it was when first issued years ago.

April 11
Vanessa Redgrave was asked to share her feelings about reviews the week before she was scheduled to open the Broadway version of Joan Didion's award-winning book, The Year of Magical Thinking. "You can't," she said, "be striving to please - you must be striving to get to the heart of the matter." What are you striving toward these days? Are you focused on the heart of things?

April 4
Are you hooked on NPR like I am? I'm always thrilled when I'm in the car during All Things Considered. Right before the March Madness Final Four weekend, they interviewed legendary basketball coach, John Wooden. When asked about his game behavior, he explained that he mostly sat in a chair. He said to his team, "Don't look over at me - I prepared you during the week to do your job." What a great statement from a leader who's done his job right. Could you say the same thing?

March 28
Those of us who live in snow country get excited at the approach of spring. (I suppose those who live in milder climes do, too.) Ling Po suggests that, "He who neglects to drink of the spring of experience is likely to die of thirst in the desert of ignorance." This is a perfect time to change something. Winter is over! Take a walk. Send your winter clothes to the cleaners. Wear a bright color. Put a bunch of daffodils on your desk, or better yet, someone else's desk. Don't find yourself thirsty this summer!

March 21
My mother, June Blomberg (who would be unhappy if I revealed her age here), is a big fan of Alexandra Stoddard and shared this quote. "What we do today, right now, will have an accumulated effect on all of our tomorrows." I agree 100%. The best part is, once you accept this basic concept, when you change what you do today you will change what happens tomorrow. Cool!

March 14
A recent USA Today article about the relationships being built between Iraqi brigades and U.S. Advisors revealed that our soldiers are being urged to read a 1917 article written by T.E. Lawrence. (You'd probably recognize him as Lawrence of Arabia.) In this article Lawrence said, "Do not try to do too much with your own hands, better the Arabs do it tolerably than you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not win it for them." It occurred to me that this is a good model for all leaders. When we try to fix things for those who follow us, we block our follower's ability to learn and grow. This is a time that the leader's often have to change first!

March 7
A reader, Barbara Murray from the Financial Training Department at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote me recently about her long tenure in her job - 21 years. In her musings about being in a job she loves for an extended period she said, "your emails are a constant reminder that while you might not physically change your job - your mental outlook needs to remain on the move!" Quite frankly, I've always believed that opening your mind to change was the real point of all this change talk. Thanks, Barbara for seeing it through the same lens that I do.

February 28
Have you read books by Seth Godin? I find his view of the world fascinating and I've never been disappointed by any of his books. He was quoted in an article I read recently. "To succeed today, you have to do more than just be a little better at what you did yesterday. Why should we expect that the world will change in our favor?" Why, indeed?

February 22
My friend, Max Jaffe, called me from Houston and said, "Chris, it's Thursday and I haven't gotten my change message!" "Hey," I said back. "Just thought I'd toss a little change your way." My guess is you wouldn't buy that any more than Max did. I was bad and didn't get my message to Miriam in time for her to send it out to you, so I'll try to make up by sharing a really good one.

We don't get too many unsubscribe messages to this eLetter. People seem to enjoy its content and especially its brevity. But a few weeks ago we got a please-remove-from-this-list email. The email went like this. "Thank you...she no longer works for us...because she couldn't change..." I wonder how many people miss the connection between the ability to change and survival. Please don't let it be you!

February 14
Cards, flowers, candy - all Valentine's Day staples. Jackie Robinson reminds us that "A life isn't significant except for its impact on others." What if, to celebrate this year's day of love and connection, you worked on significance rather than surface. I bet you could write a more meaningful verse than Hallmark.

January 31
One of you sent me a note recounting an experience during a session on change. A participant signaled the speaker with a raised hand in order to ask a question. The presenter responded with, "Can you hold that question until later?" Okay, just think about it for a minute...

P.S. If you are part of an organization who has managed a big cultural change well and would be willing to talk to a client of mine about best practices, please email me back with your contact information. We'll both be grateful.

January 24
Keith Sawyer was explaining creativity when he said, "There are a lot more people who have the capacity than take the action of change. Maybe genius has an element of change in it." Any sentence that has the words change and genius in it catches my attention! How would you measure your capacity for change? My guess is that your capacity far exceeds your action. What if more change propelled you to genius status?

January 17
It must have been this time of the year when Anthony J. D'Angelo said, "The greatest gift you can give yourself is a little bit of your own attention." After a holiday season where you've been focusing on the needs, wants, and demands of others, why not spend sometime on what YOU need to make this year you're best ever!

January 10
Frank and I watched Garrison Keillor's Great Performances special on PBS. It was a lovely way to spend New Year's Eve. (Of course, the bottle of Champagne didn't hurt either.) In a round about way it reminded me of Keillor's thoughts about funerals. "People say such nice things at funerals that it makes me sad to realize I'm going to miss mine by just a few days." Wouldn't it be lovely if we all resolved to say the nice things before the funeral so no one would miss them?

January 3
Going through the mail which had accumulated on my desk, I found a flyer announcing the closing of a knitting store in Eau Claire, WI called Threade Bear. The owner started her message with a quote from a friend of hers. "Sometimes to attain a dream, you have to give up another." Seems an appropriate thought to ponder this first week in January. If you have a change you're working on, have you decided what you're willing to give up in order to make space for your new possibility? It might be an action, a belief, or an attitude. Say goodbye so that you can say hello.

December 20
Last night I sat in the driveway to hear the end of an interview on NPR's All Things Considered. Corey Booker, the mayor of Newark, NJ was reflecting on the advice he received from a voter, Miss Jones, who told him, "If you're one of those people who sees light and hope, then you can make change." I'm glad I braved the dark and cold of a Northern Wisconsin December night because that statement will live in my heart for all of 2007. I'm suggesting you might want to remember it also. 2007 - a year of light, hope, and change. Works for me!

December 13
I use my flying time wisely; I read. Last month, NWA World Traveler magazine had an interview with the legendary actress Ellen Burstyn who said, "I think the gift of life is just a miracle, and I don't see any reason not to be grateful for it." As we race into the holiday season, I believe that's a sentence worth remembering. May 2006 end in a spirit of gratitude for you and those you love.

December 6
After last week's debacle over my five-years late reporting of George Harrison's death, I am reminded of that wonderful quote, "Failure isn't falling down, it's refusing to get up." So, when my embarrassment allowed me to consider not sending a message this week, I figured this was a change message I needed to get myself! So, when Miriam sends it out Wednesday night I'll be printing this one out and hanging it next to my desk!

P.S. Thanks to all of you who, in good humor, wrote to highlight my error and laugh at our correction last week. It's great to have friends like all of you.

P.P.S. Special thanks to the subscriber who caught the inside joke of the I Blew It card sales line on the correction email!

November 29 Part One
George Harrison died today at 58; only 2 Beatles left. Some changes aren't easy to look at positively. This is one of them. As I heard the news, all I could think of was Harrison's song, "All Things Must Pass." Evidently that phrase even applies to cultural icons. I'm going to listen to some Beatles music tonight. Let It Be...

November 29 Part Two
When you listen to All Things Considered while making dinner for two of your grandchildren, you just might hear what you believe to be breaking news rather than a replay of a five-year old broadcast. You might then compose a heart-felt message, send it to your editor who is touched by your eloquence, and who then promptly sends your misinformation to 5,000 of your most understanding readers. Then you'd sit back, slightly proud of your night's work. Until, that is, one of your more informed readers sends said editor an email wondering just what you were thinking. Thanks to S.J. Christensen for the opportunity to craft and send out Change Part Two for November 29, 2006, the 5th Anniversary of George Harrison's death. Ah, the dangers of multi-tasking.

November 15
Recently my daughter, Miriam, accused me of going overboard about Starbucks. I've tried to explain that my Grande Breve Latte isn't essential for my happiness, but it's the Starbuck's experience that keeps me coming back. Now there's even another element that draws me across town or into the next terminal seeking the familiar green mermaid sign - the stories on the cups. The Way I See It #154 was by Goapele, a musician on Starbuck XM radio. "Big things start small. Rather than getting overwhelmed with the thought of changing the world, there are small steps we can all take in our own lives and communities that can have real impact. Music is just one way of making change. What will you choose?" Hum a tune while you decide on your next, important, small step.

November 8
In an interview in USA Today, Johnny Depp (Don't you love his Jack Sparrow?) said, "If you don't sort of tread in the arena of fear, you won't move forward somehow." Words to remember when you are faced with change that makes the pit of your stomach quiver. There is a connection between conquering fear, doing something new, and forward movement. Or maybe you need to reflect on the flip side - there is a connection between being frozen by fear, doing the same old thing, and stagnation. From either perspective, there's a lesson in there.

November 1,
Last weekend was a wonderful mix of family, friends, and food. After our long Sunday Brunch, I was reminded of a quote I collected from a menu at Houlihans, "A meal is a whole lot more than food on a fork." There's been much media attention lately on the importance of children having meals as a family. To hear them tell it, if you all sit down at the table together and eat, grades will go up, behaviors will improve, and peace will reign in the family home. Don't think me cynical, but I'm afraid that the emphasis comes off on the food and forks rather than what happens when people sit at a table together - conversation and connectedness. Maybe there's a meal-time change in your future?

October 25
Never in my life did I think I'd be quoting Jerry Springer, especially to 5,000 plus people, but here I go. In a USA Today article about his run on Dancing With the Stars, Springer said, "Life is the only real dance. And you don't always get to choose your tune." My guess is that you could figure out why those sentences caught my attention without much of a comment from me, but I can't resist at least a few words. The next time life gives you a song you'd rather not dance to, sing one you do like - loudly - and dance to that one!

October 18
I've been lucky and have gotten a sneak peek of a just published book, Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results edited by Lori L. Silverman. Many of you know about my love of stories, so I'm always thrilled to find a new place to learn about their impact, especially when there's a whole chapter devoted to CHANGE! Reading it, I found this to share with you. Leslie J. Berkes, Ph.D., director of Organizational Effectiveness said, "The meeting had to yield positive stories - every time you fail during a change effort you make the future possibility for change less likely." Made me wonder about the stories we choose to tell about our changes. What are the positive change stories you do, or could, tell?

P.S. Check the book out at amazon.com. They're offering some cool bonuses this week.

October 11
One of the things I like about Wednesdays is that the Life Section of USAToday carries Craig Wilson's The Final Word column. Last week's was about his brush with what he thought might be a heart attack and the subsequent trip to the hospital. While there he reflected on a comment by Anna Quindlen who said, "True success is getting up in the morning and realizing you have a very good life." Not a bad to thing to think about even without a trip to the hospital.

October 4
My desk is a mess! It's been a mess for a long time. I talk about it being a mess a lot. I resolve to get it organized every Monday. And every Friday. Recently I read Ben Buckley's thought, "The only way things change is when you start to do something." I hate knowing that!

We're only three days away from the JDRF Walk for the Cure in Stevens Point, WI and thanks to your generosity, we've collected $835.00. But there's still time if you want to help. Here's the way you can donate to fund the work that we're certain will find the cure for Type 1 diabetes.

September 27
A dear friend, wonderful speaker, hospital Chairman of the Board, and terrific grandfather, Rick Jakle, sent me a quote from the end of an email he received from a financier. "Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future... Faith is having the courage to dance to it today." It came at the time our family is preparing for our annual participation in the JDRF Walk for the Cure. Since our oldest grandson, Quinn, has juvenile diabetes our music of the future is a cure and we dance to that music faithfully everyday.

Because I believe with my whole heart that a cure is possible , my family and I will be joining others in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Saturday, October 7th for the 2nd Annual Central Wisconsin JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Walk to Cure Diabetes. We believe we can help raise enough money to fund the research to find the cure for juvenile diabetes and enable my grandboy, Quinn, to live his life free of finger pokes for blood sugar tests, lots of doctor appointments, and his I-only-take-it-off-for-football-and-soccer insulin pump. If you're in the neighborhood - join us!

A Once a Year Request: A very rare request for a donation ahead...feel free to ignore!

September 20
At this summer's annual convention of the National Speakers Association, I went to a session on blogging. Oh, learning is a dangerous thing. Just about every time you learn something new, you have to change - a behavior, a thought process, or an action. I had to change my blog host.

So, after finally feeling pretty comfortable with the process at my first blogging host, I spent several days learning a new system. Check out the newest version at MoreChange.Typepad.com. I hope you'll link over there, see what I've written, and subscribe. I'm publicly promising to discipline myself to post more often and to keep learning about blogging. Any suggestions or tips from you will be eagerly read.

September 6
I was reading a New Yorker article by James Surowiecki - but don't ask me what it was about, I only tore out and kept the part that contained this line, "...but real meaning emerges only over the long term." This line caught my attention because we often forget this truth when we're dealing with change. It would be so much easier if the results of change were always immediate. Decide to eat less, wake up tomorrow 10 pounds lighter. Who wouldn't be able to stick to a diet if that happened? But real change emerges only over the long term. I'm certain the rest of Surowiecki's article was significant, but this line is enough for me to think about for the rest of the week.

August 30
Talk about change. Pluto isn't a planet any more! No big deal, except, of course, that sentence we all learned, "My very educated mother just sent us nine pizzas" doesn't work anymore and we spent so much time remembering it so we could be smart in front of our kids and grandchildren as we rattled off the names of the planets. That's the problem with change - one change forces us to start another. Fortunately, this time The Associated Press decided to put adults out of their misery quickly. Out of their six suggestions, I picked this one: My Very Extravagant Mother Just Sent Us Nachos. Not too much new to absorb so when Quinn does planets this year in First Grade, I should be okay.

P.S. As long time readers of this eletter know, I don't do this often or lightly, but there's a book I'd like you to check out. My friend, Sam Horn's newest book will be released on Sept. 5th. POP!: Stand Out in Any Crowd is being heralded as the next Tipping Point-like book - one that will change a reader's thinking forever. I've read it, worked with Sam's ideas, and they're terrific, practical, and fun. Check Sam and her book out at www.SamHornPOP.com and if it looks like it could help you and your business/organization, order your copy at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your favorite local bookstore. I guarantee you'll be glad you did!

August 23
At a recent program, there was a panel discussion before my presentation. In a burst of honesty, one of the panel members said, "I don't know if I have an ultimately positive attitude, but I do have an open mind." First, I applaud her willingness to admit that her attitude might need some work - don't we all have days when that's true! But mostly, I want to thank her for helping me see that working toward an open mind trumps trying to fix a bad attitude just about all the time. Next time you're faced with a change, before you check your attitude, look to see if your mind is open to the new possibilities.

August 17
I bet there was something new you told yourself you were going to do this summer and here it is almost first-day-of-school and you haven't. Don't think you'll have to put it off till next summer because there's not enough time to get good at it now. Murray Cohen reminds us, "The ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic by experts." Why not try something without the expertise you were going to develop so you wouldn't appear foolish or silly. Be an amateur at something between now and Labor Day, I dare you!

August 9
One of Miriam's favorite speakers, Rita Emmett, has a monthly eletter called THE ANTICRASTINATION TIP SHEET (to subscribe send a blank email to: tips-join@lists.ritaemmett.com with the word "subscribe" in the subject line or visit www.RitaEmmett.com to see some sample issues).

The August edition starts with Anna Quindlen's words of wisdom, "I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." How could I disagree since both of my children have houses full of books. So many people fool themselves into thinking that they don't have time to read. Like so much in life, time allocation is choice. How about buying a book for the child in you and reading this weekend?

August 2
Talking to my mother as I drove south yesterday I was reminded of a comment by my favorite Episcopal priest, Robert Winter. Fr. Winter said, "Love is a verb, not a noun." Love isn't about saying, although there's nothing wrong with nice words - lovingly delivered, love is about doing. I bet all of us have a person in our lives who would benefit from our doing.

P.S. If you read to the end of last's weeks message you found the note from Miriam, my daughter, who manages the process behind these messages, explaining that she wrote it because I was at the National Speakers Association Annual Conference. Talk about love as doing! Thanks, Miriam. (You're welcome! -M)

July 26
I don't know in what context Abraham Lincoln said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax," but I imagine it was because he was faced with a tremendous task to be accomplished under deadline. And he understood that time spent in preparation is not time wasted, it's time spent towards accomplishing your goal. Lincoln was pretty good at seeing the big picture, and I, for one, trust his opinion.

July 19
As a recent audience taught me, no matter how people feel about the Dixie Chicks politically, they're mostly willing to agree that these women can write good music. On their current album, Taking the Long Way, there is a song called, I Hope. One of the lines struck a chord with me. "I may not have all the answers, but I hope." I feel exactly the same way. I refuse to let anyone or anything take away my hope for the future. I am a grandmother, you know.

July 12
Summer conjures up memories of childhood - long afternoons with nothing but time, swimming and sunburn, and lemonade stands that generate money for the ice cream truck. According to Abraham Sutzkever, "If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older." So, here's an idea. Take an hour this week and do something that is absolutely summer as a child for you. You'll be better for it!

July 5
Yesterday's edition of the advice column Annie's Mailbox contained this quote from Albert Einstein, "Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom." No matter how confining your work might seem, we all have much more personal freedom to be creative than we realize. Open your eyes to the possibilities!

June 28
I was reading Watercooler Wisdom by Keith Barley and Karen Leland and in the chapters about change found something to share with you. "Smart people know the secret to a successful stretch is finding a deeply personal motivating factor." This summer might be a perfect time for you to pick one thing that you've been meaning to change for a long time, dig deep for a reason to do it, and stretch. You might just surprise yourself at how limber you can get.

June 21
Imagine my surprise when, while walking down an aisle in Barnes and Noble, I saw a line of notepads festooned with change comments on their covers. The one that caught my eye enough to carry it to the checkout counter said, "Life without change is boring." Think about it. At what moment in your life would you choose to freeze frame and say, "I don't want anything different for the rest of my life!"? Sure, for a short time we all have times that approach I-like-it-just-the-way-it-is perfection, but forever? Life without change would be boring! As Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann used to say, "And that's the truth!" (You add the raspberries.)

P.S. Speaking of Lily Tomlin...If you're a Prairie Home Companion fan, don't miss the currently running movie, A Prairie Home Companion. Frank and I had date night last Friday, saw it, and now are eagerly awaiting the DVD so we can watch it again and catch the lines we missed while laughing!

June 14
Watching an old episode of The Golden Girls I heard Dorothy say to Rose, "If you take a chance in life sometimes good things happen and sometimes bad things happen. If you don't take a chance nothing happens." If you're not willing to change, there is no possibility of improvement! The Girls shared a lot of wisdom in their kitchen sharing a cheesecake.

June 7
A day like today in Northern Wisconsin is perfect for a motorcycle ride. (If, that is, you wanted to go for a motorcycle ride.) And if you're going to ride a motorcycle in Wisconsin, it ought to be a Harley. I've never actually had the urge, although my son Paul did take me for a ride once on his - long story, short ride. My friend Marilynn Mobley (check out her wonderful blog www.remainrelevant.blogspot.com) sent me a quote from the Harley CEO and for the first time I understood the change from car to cycle. "What we sell," he said,"is the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress in black leather and ride through small towns and have people be afraid of him."

May 31
A Thinking for a Change reader, Suzanne Keely from the American Society for Quality, sent me this line from Wayne Dyer's recent book, The Power of Intention. "Change the way you look at things and things you look at change." Pay attention to Dyer's theory this week and you'll see just how true it is. Thanks Suzanne!

May 24
Making plans for the summer? You might want to factor in the musings of Elbert Hubbard. "No man needs a vacation as much as the one who just had one." Grin if you like, but he is right!

May 17
So, do you envision me walking around with little pieces of paper in my pockets with quotes scribbled on them? Close! Sometimes I find the quotes but can't remember where they came from. This is one of those. In an unknown venue I heard Zbigniew Brzezinski say, "Uncertainty is not a reason for inaction." Something to think about when a change is started.

May 10
In his book, The Learning Paradox, Jim Harris said, "We significantly underestimate the amount of time and effort required to change." Rather than finding that depressing I find it hopeful. A realistic concept of difficultly avoids discouragement and supports sustained effort. Maybe this quote needs to be posted somewhere in your workplace.

May 3
Doing some research for a program recently I ran across this quote from Rob Reich, a college professor. "Change must come from within even when spurred on from the outside." If more organizations figured that out, I'd be out of business. Change is always emotional and ultimately personal. No wonder people find it tough to change and change initiatives fail.

April 26
I have admired Kenny Roger's work for many years. He has re-invented himself time after time, thus ensuring his constant success in the highly fickle music industry. During an interview on CBS Sunday Morning he said, "I think it's emotionally very dangerous to not have something else you're passionate about." People who master change search for and nurture their passions. What are you going to do this summer to develop a new passion?

April 19
Miriam, who makes these messages appear in your inbox each week, called me with the following quote by Wendy Smedley in Simple Scrapbooks magazine.

"According to the gurus at Home Depot, the majority of home improvement projects are abandoned when they're 90 percent complete. By this time, homeowners frequently are fed up with their projects and anxious to move on. That unfinished 10 percent, however, typically comprises the finishing touches that make the project took polished and professional."

Is this behavior you recognize in your self? Are you leaving some 10% finishing work undone that makes people view you as less polished and professional than you really are? Are you willing to challenge yourself to change?

April 12
In Robert Penn Warren's All the Kings Men, Warren wrote, "If you don't go back and accept your past, you can't go forward." I believe that applies to change as well as life. Change that moves you forward can't happen unless you understand what shaped you in the past.

April 5
Thinking for a Change reader Lianne Van Wyhe sent me this quote from Sarah Ban Breathnach. "Lasting change does not happen overnight. Lasting change happens in infinitesimal increments: a day, an hour, a minute, a heartbeat at a time." In a society that increasingly expects instant everything, this is a quote worth remembering! Thanks from us all, Lianne!

March 29
"Why is it that the simplest plans are sometimes the hardest to do?" wrote Laurell K. Hamilton in one of her off-beat mysteries. All of my unfinished to-do lists reinforce her insight. Action is always the hard part of the change equation.

March 22
This quotation might be worth thinking about if you need to move a group into change. Margaret J. Wheatley said, "Real change begins with the simple act of people talking about what they care about." A smart first step could be a time and place for the group to gather and begin a dialogue about what would be important outcomes for their change initiative. You might be surprised how people will take ownership and how excitement could build!

March 16
I love watching the CBS Sunday Morning news show. This last Sunday it contained an interview with Steve Winwood about his 40 year musical career. At the very end of the interview, the reporter asked about Winwood's obsession with music. Winwood replied, "I suppose the thing that very first started to drive me when I was 13 or 12 or 9 (was) a love of music, and I enjoy playing it. I'm discovering more about music all the time." The reporter observed, "It almost sounds like he couldn't stop if he wanted to." "I don't think so," Winwood responded.

What about what you do for a living? Is it your obsession? Was it your obsession at one time? What will you be saying about your work after 40 years? If you don't have a Steve Winwood connection to your work, could it be time for a change? Just asking!

March 8
Jessica Andreae, CPA, ARM, at Sentry Insurance reminded me that children - including her 6 year old daughter - and the young at heart, all over the world are celebrating Dr. Seuss' Birthday. I bet you didn't know he was an expert on change! Here's the excerpt she shared from Green Eggs & Ham.

        "Try it." - "No."
        "Try it." - "No."
        "Try it this way, how about that way, what about this way?" - "No. No. No."
        And so it goes. On and on
        "OK, fine. To shut you up, I will try it. Hey! I like it! Thanks so much!"

March 1
Next time you go into a Starbucks and order, read your cup before you throw it away. Each cup has a The Way I See It essay. Last week I got cup #76 and thought of you. Anne Morriss, a Starbucks' customer in New York City wrote, "The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as a rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as a barrier to your life." How could a real commitment make a difference in one of your changes?

February 22
Maybe you've been working really hard on a change and NO ONE'S NOTICED! Mark Twain has an idea perfect for this situation. "When you cannot get a compliment in any other way, pay yourself one." So, duck into the bathroom - face yourself in the mirror - and give yourself a big pat on the back. (If I were there with you, I'd give you the pat myself!)

February 15
I was reading an essay by Ellen Goodman and perked up when I read, "The most powerful catalyst for change, sociologists will tell you, is when people learn what they already know." What do you already know about a change you need to initiate? Since you know it, why not get to work on it?

February 8
Okay, let's be honest. There's a change somewhere in your life - maybe work, maybe home - and you're thinking if you just hold on maybe it will go away. It's not that you're not participating, you're just not participating at 100% You really should consider what Hsun Tzu said. "The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere." There is a time when you simply have to pick a road!

February 1
This week we mourn the passing of Coretta Scott, who's life as a talented music student certainly changed when she met, loved, and married Martin Luther King, Jr. In a CNN interview, the Reverend Al Sharpton quoted Mrs. King as saying, "One of the things you must do is change yourself if you want to lead others through change." An important thought to ponder as we remember a legend of significant change in the United States.

January 25
Be honest - if there's a change you've been resisting, ask yourself how much time you have spent learning the reasons behind it. Or, did you hear about the change, decide you didn't like it, and put up the wall? Andre Gide suggest that, "Understanding is the beginning of approving." Maybe more understanding could turn your resistance into support.

January 18
I am part of a Mastermind group; we call ourselves The Seven Sisters. One of the sisters, and noted writer, Sam Horn (keep her newest book POP! in mind - I'll let you know the release date because you'll want to buy it) reminded me of Gail Sheehy's wisdom. "Changes are not only possible and predictable, but to deny them is to be an accomplice to one's own unnecessary vegetation." Sometimes because we focus on how hard it is to change, we forget that it is not changing that is dangerous both personally and professionally. Look around, make sure there isn't a change you're denying!

P.S. Thanks to all of you who sent me a Lightbulb joke or pointed me to a website...who knew there are a million of them! I've been giggling all week.

January 11
Rosabeth Moss Kanter said, "To stay ahead, you must have your next idea waiting in the wings." I couldn't agree more. A new idea sparks energy, excitement, and even more creativity. Our next idea at Chris Clarke-Epstein SPEAKING! is Change101.com. We're putting together new programs, a new website, and line of ancillary products all focused on the impact of change on our personal and professional lives. We'll keep you posted as this change unfolds.

Right now you can help us get started. Our icon is going to be a lightbulb and we're looking to collect lightbulb jokes. You know,
Q: How many psychiatrists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: One, but the lightbulb has to want to change.

Want to be part of this change? Send your favorite lightbulb joke to me and I'll be eternally grateful!

January 4
Here we go again - asking each other about New Year's Resolutions. 9 times out of 10 the response has to do with less food or more exercise. Don't get me wrong, either of them make fine resolutions. I'm just not certain they're anything but a knee-jerk response to a canned question. Erica Jong had a thought when she said, "And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more." Maybe this is the year to resolve BIG!

December 28
Bonnie Prudden offered a thought that seems to me to be perfect for end-of-the-year pondering. "You can't turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again." Exactly! Every January 1st we get a clean slate, another opportunity for doing things differently. Don't pass up this chance to do your future differently than your past.

May 2006 be filled with changes you initiate, dreams you realize, and people you love.

December 21
No matter what holiday you observe, this is the time of the year that just about everyone has a reason to celebrate. Hamilton Wright Mabi said, "Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." I'm not a person who looks for conspiracy theories, but this one works for me. How about joining me in plotting ways to be cheerful, saying thanks, and spreading joy from now till the end of the year. Just don't tell anyone you're doing it. Let them try to figure out what's going on. Who knows, we could start something!

Happiest of Holidays from me and the people I love to you and the people you love.

Check out Chris' 2005 success with her Grandkids: http://www.chrisclarke-epstein.com/images/photos/swedes.jpg. She actually got all three of them to wear the Swedish Horse pajamas she found and then got them to sit together long enough for this picture!

December 14
Okay, it's the season of more commercials and catalogs than you could imagine and it's easy to get cynical and Scrooge-like. Please resist, especially around children. If you're unhappy with the way your children (or the children you love and influence) are acting during this holiday season, reflect on what Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis said, "If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much." What are you doing to expose the children in your life the real meaning of the season you celebrate? Maybe this would be a good time to review your holiday plans and add some unexpected activities for yourself with those kids you love that will emphasize the real lessons you'd like them to learn before this year ends.

December 7
Ann Young from Sentry sent me a line from the Bon Jovi song, Have a Nice Day. "Don't ask the past to last; it's about to change." I think I'll take a trip to the iTunes store. A line like that needs to be in my iPod. Thanks, Ann.

November 30
The month of December seems to remind many of us of all the things we were going to change in the year that is now almost gone. Martin Luther King, Jr. has some great advice, "You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." Even in the 12th month of the year there is time to take some first steps. I know it's tempting to wait until January - resist!

November 23
Can you believe it's Thanksgiving already! Before you pop the turkey and the green bean casserole in the oven, you might want to think of a comment in a column by Mary Schmich. "Life is mostly habit. So now's the time to figure out which habits you want to cultivate to carry you through the rest of it." If you're brave, it could be a great conversation starter when the family's all gathered.

November 16
Do you ever watch Clean Sweep? It is a show on TLC where couples are assisted by a decorator, carpenter, and professional organizer to get their very, very messy houses in order. In a recent episode, the organizer quoted Joseph Campbell, "We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." I believe Campbell is reminding us that if you want to grow, you're going to have to change. It's a package deal.

November 11
A former client used to introduce me as "a consultant who had a real job." Back in my corporate days I remember how adverse most organizations were (and are) to boat-rocking behavior. The problem is that without a little rocking of the boat, nothing changes. G.K. Chesterton said, "I believe in getting in hot water, it keeps you clean." I like that perspective. I think its helpful during times of change.

November 2
Every culture has proverbs, words to think about and live by. Here's a Chinese proverb that is a favorite of mine. "The person who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." If there's a mountain that is casting a shadow in your life, look for a small stone you could carry to a new position. See, when you initiate it, change just sounds like a good idea.

October 26
This week we heard of the death of Rosa Parks whose 1955 refusal to give up a seat in the front of a city bus to a white man changed the United States forever. For years the story was told that she refused to move because she was tired. She, however, refuted that motivation, saying she refused because she was tired of having to move to the back of the bus! Over the years she continued to charm those she meet with her quiet, serene humility. A few months ago I reminded you of a famous Margaret Mead quote, "A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Rosa Parks made me remember this quote in a vivid way. Never underestimate the power you have to make change!

October 19
Are you a leader? It has been my observation that leaders don't realize how deeply they influence others in their organization and that often they need to change their attitudes. Dwight Eisenhower, when he was a General in the US Army, said, "Optimism and pessimism are infectious and they spread more rapidly from the head downward than in any other direction." Now that I think about it, it applies to individuals as well as leaders. Does your optimism level need a change?

October 12
Okay, here's another side of change. You jumped on the bandwagon, embraced the change with grace and flair and then...a better change came along! Rats!

I love technology and couldn't wait to get an iPod, but I did. Waited through the first ones with battery problems and limited memory. Waited till the photo ones were released so I could carry music AND the grandkid's pictures. I've been happy with my purchase for what, all of 6 months? Today Apple announced the release of their NEW iPod which will carry videos (video as in TV shows and movies). If you miss LOST tonight, tomorrow you'll be able to download the episode from the iTunes music store. I want to change and it will only cost me another $299.00.

That's the thing about change - it doesn't end. It just continues. Sometimes it's unexpected and hard. Sometimes it's planned and easy. Sometimes it's fast and fun. Sometimes it's fast and heart breaking. You can pick any of the previous descriptors and mix and match them to accurately describe a change you've been through. Add envy and expensive and I'll apply it to my change feelings about iPods today.

October 5
If you've ever needed a rationale for change, listen to Peter Drucker. "There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." What's an efficiently done but no longer needed thing you've been doing? Got enough courage to follow Drucker's advice and change?

September 28
I find quotes for this eletter everywhere, including books about knitting! Look what I found in At Knit's End. "Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent," says Marilyn Von Savant. Change is like that too. The fact that a change doesn't work right off the bat isn't proof that it is a bad change. If you give up, you'll never know if it was good or not.

September 22
I know this eletter is about change, but it occurs to me that where there is change there is also a perception of conflict. Doug Floyd reminds us, "You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note." Good reminder. When we fear conflict we may be cheating ourselves out of the potential for beautiful music.

September 14
How are you feeling these days? What about right now? Walt Whitman urged us to be happy. "Happiness...not in another place, but this place, not for another hour, but his hour." Try it - happy for the next hour. Who knows, it might just change something!

September 7
This is a hard week to write about change. We have certainly seen change in its most difficult manifestation. I didn't really want to write this week's issue and had almost decided to give myself a week off, when I read the following comments in yesterday's USA Today. Mary Salassi, 66 of Metairie, LA told a reporter, "I'm not going to worry about it. You can't go back and look at what happened. You have to go forward...My life's upside down, but I will come back." Faced with change we can't even imagine, Mary is willing to look ahead and come back. Can we do any less?

Some of you may know that I have a close personal relationship with the City of New Orleans going back over 30 years. I wrote my first book while temporarily living in the French Quarter. For a little more about that, please read Dads and Magic, an excerpt from Simple Encounters, http://www.chrisclarke-epstein.com/pdf/dad_magic.pdf

August 31
Before she died of ovarian cancer, Gilda Radner said, "Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment, and making the most of it without knowing what's going to happen." She learned this lesson the hard way. Why don't we learn it from her?

August 23
Don't you love hanging out in the greeting card section of a store? You might predict that I like to giggle at the funny lines and read the quotes for possibilities for this eletter. So imagine my delight in finding a whole line of cards with quotes from Maya Angelou. "If you don't like something - change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." I like a woman who is straight to the point!

August 17
Ran across a Swedish Proverb the other day and since I'm of Swedish descent it caught my attention. "Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow." It occurred to me that more people practice the latter half of the proverb than the first. Why not make it a goal to change that? For the next week share joy - on purpose - as often as possible! See if it changes anything for others or for you!

August 10
In a recent Sunday column, Anna Quindlen explored the conversations around appointments to the Supreme Court. In the middle of her thought-provoking, even-handed essay, she wrote about those who have been appointed to the Court in the past, "Frequently they grow and change, in part, because that is what significant people do throughout their lives..." I aspire to be a significant person, how about you?

August 3
Being the one who instigates, or expresses excitement about a big change is often tough when others don't view the change in the same way. Mary Wollstonecraft said, "Those who are bold enough to advance before the age they live in must learn to brave censure." Boy, bold and brave in the same sentence. This change stuff takes courage.

July 27
Have you read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince yet? What's taking you so long? Near the end, Dumbledore is talking to Harry about fear and it made me think of the part of change that causes fear. "There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from the darkness...It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more." Allow me to paraphrase, "It is the unknown we fear when we look upon change, nothing more." Everyone needs a Dumbledore once and a while.

July 21
Seen the movie, Six Days, Seven Nights? It's a great light, romantic comedy. I re-watched it last week and was struck by a line from Harrison Ford's character, Quinn. He said, in response to a question about coming to this breathtakingly beautiful vacation spot looking for something, "It's an island, babe. If you didn't bring it here, you won't find it here." Seems like it applies to so much else - life, work, relationships, change. If you don't bring it along with you - you won't find it. Worth thinking about today, don't you think?

July 13
Putting a program together last week, I remembered a Margaret Mead quote. "A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." What needs to be changed in your world and who will be thoughtful with you?

July 6
Today, when I was supposed to be working on the stack of stuff on my desk, I was instead reading Sara Paretsky's new V.I. Warshawski mystery, Fire Sale. Set in Chicago, my birthplace, her books are terrific. I love her characters, her social commentary, and her well-plotted stories. At the end of this one, V.I.'s friend and doctor, Lotty shares something she learned from her Jewish grandfather. "I did learn from my zeyde that you must live in hope, the hope that your work can make a difference in the world. Yours does, Victoria." Allow me to tell you that in the midst of change, you too must live in hope, especially the hope that your work makes a difference in the world - because it does.

Speaking of hope, nothing feels more like hope than a baby and this week we added a new baby to our family. Please help us welcome Josephine to the world. Coming next week, a link to pictures of Josie with her proud older brother, Quinn.

June 30
Going on a vacation this summer? Pay attention to Ray Goodman's comment, "Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination." Maybe you could print it out and paste it on your dashboard or on your plane ticket jacket. It could make all the difference in the memories you keep from the summer of 2005!

June 23
Last week I wrote about the butterfly that my mom and I found in the parking lot. For some reason it has lingered in my mind - actually I want to know what happened to it. It looked so fragile paused in the middle of a country store parking lot with trucks pulling in and out. I bet it didn't last long. Charles Darwin probably wouldn't agree with my pessimistic view. He said, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptive to change." What are your survival chances these days?

June 16
Today my mother and I had lunch out in the country. As we walked to the car we noticed a butterfly sunning itself on the gravel in the parking lot. It reminded me of the anonymous quote I've had in my notebook for a while, "If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies." Maybe the next time you feel cranky about a change you could look for the butterfly that I'm certain lurks just out of sight.

June 8
As we rush into the summer season and the family gatherings it almost always heralds, you might want think about this observation from Ingrid Bergman. "Happiness is good health and bad memory." Maybe forgetting some things would allow you to change your attitude and have a happy gathering. Just an idea.

June 1
Did you have a great Memorial Day weekend? Sometimes people think, because I am such a champion of change, I must not be into traditions. If you had seen me attack the brats and potato salad this weekend you would have let that opinion go quickly. I'm with John Foster Dulles who said, "A capacity to change is indispensable. Equally indispensable is the capacity to hold fast to what is good." In my opinion, wisdom is knowing which is the right action.

May 25
We gathered as a family for dinner at the newly opened Change's Garden and wouldn't you know that I got the fortune cookie that read, "Change is happening in your life, so go with the flow." Grandboy Quinn said, "That's a good one, Ahma." This change stuff follows me everywhere!

To all of you who made a contribution to the JDRF walk, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You can still contribute at www.jdrf.org. Look for a walker in Wisconsin by searching under the last name of Clarke. I'll report our totals in two weeks, 'cause we're still getting donations, but I can report that we all made it for the whole 3 miles. WOW!

May 16
I have joined the millions of other iPod owners. I'm still working on loading it with my favorite music - I'll keep you posted on functionality. The cool factor alone is worth the price! Makes me want to remind you of an Apple ad from a while back. "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

Because I believe this with my whole heart, my family and I will be joining 3000 others in Neenah, Wisconsin, this Saturday for the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Walk to Cure Diabetes. We believe we can help raise enough money to fund the research to find the cure for juvenile diabetes and enable my grandboy, Quinn, to live his life free of blood sugar tests, doctor appointments, and his new blue-so-it-must-be-Spiderman insulin pump. If you're in the neighborhood - join us!

May 11
In Anne Lamott's wonderful new book, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, she says, "I know that with writing, you start where you are, and you flail around for a while, and if you keep doing it, every day you get closer to something good." True of writing and true of most behavior change. The challenge is to keep going when you're in the flailing stage, remembering that you're making progress toward something good!

May 4
At a recent conference I heard Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton say, "The status quo is more dangerous than a leap into the unknown." If you work for an organization that's not up to its eyeballs in change - watch out! If you're not pushing yourself to incorporate change into both the big and small things in your life - watch out! Admit it - if you had to pick, jumping would be better than being stuck.

April 27
Why is it that you find a quality TV show, get hooked on it, and then the network threatens to not renew it for the next season? Joan of Arcadia is like that for me. (Sounds like the Change Guru is grumbling about change with those sentences!) In a recent episode, a priest said to Joan's mother. "Confession only works if it's accompanied by change." Raised as a Lutheran, his kind of confession is a mystery to me, but his statement rings true. There's not much sense in saying, "I'm sorry," unless you intend to behave differently.

April 20
Watching CNN's coverage of the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma bombing, I heard one of the survivors say, "Nothing we do can change the past, but everything we do can change the future." What a wonderful affirmation learned at a tremendous price. I hope reading it means as much to you as hearing it did for me.

April 13
H. Jackson Brown said, "Never underestimate your power to change yourself; never overestimate your power to change others." Am I the only person who believes that most people have this concept backwards? Organizations seem to fall into believing the opposite, too. Figuring out what someone else should change is so very easy. Rationalizing my behavior because of my upbringing, station in life, mediocre opportunities, (add your own favorite excuse here), is easy, too. I'm going to post Brown's opinion in a prominent place and remind myself of its wisdom often.

April 7
My kids grew up with a mother who danced behind the grocery cart as we walked the aisles of Sentry Foods. (Of course, I grew up with a mother whose best friends called themselves The Dancing Grandmothers. This kind of behavior does run from generation to generation.) So it's no wonder that I enjoy this quote from Agnes DeMille, "The truest expression of a people is in its dance and music." Think about that while you load your iPOD or as you recall the last time you danced just for the joy of it.

March 30
Watching TV, a line of music in a Nissan commercial caught my attention. "Stay as you are and you won't make a difference." Since most of us want our lives to count for something, seems like we're going to have to change in order to make an impact.

March 23
Marilynn Mobley, VP Client Advocacy, SecureWorks, Inc., and my friend, said in a recent email exchange, "I concluded that if I exert any energy building something to fall back on, I'll reduce the amount of energy I have to build something to leap forward to." (I only wish you knew Marilynn so you could hear this said in her distinctive Southern accent!) Marilynn is one smart woman. You can't go backward and forward at the same time. Isn't it interesting that we fall back and leap forward? Thanks, Marilynn, for giving us something good to ponder before our next leaps.

March 16
How are things going? Well? Poorly? Doesn't matter much according to Roger Babson. "Keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final." Comforting, isn't it?

March 10
I'm certain many of you have seen the famous FISH video. There is a line in it that I think of often. (Actually I wish every one would think of it daily.) It's in the part of the video that deals with Choosing Your Attitude and goes like this. "Being happy. It's a simple choice." Most people miss this point and believe that happiness happens because of an external event. The truth is that all attitudes, like happiness, are a choice. What are you choosing today?

March 2
Are you a creative person? If you think you're not creative because you can't carry a tune or draw a straight line without a ruler, you've misunderstood creativity. Here's another way to think of it. "Creativity is the capacity to initiate change," said Michael Kirton, Ph.D, Try the question again. Are you a creative person?

February 23
Those of you who have attended one of my writing classes will remember me saying, "Talking about writing isn't writing." In the last four days I've learned to add another line, "Reading about writing isn't writing." I've got a lot of writing to avoid so I've read three books about writing during those four days. But - and it's a big but - the book I was reading 10 minutes ago had this line, "Sometimes you need to unlearn what you know because what you know is keeping you from discovery and creativity." It's from The Lie That Tells a Truth by John Dufresne. See, there was a purpose for all that reading. You needed to hear this interesting approach to change. Rather than learning in order to change, maybe you need to unlearn in order to change. Think about it for a while. I bet it grows on you.

February 16
I've been working on a handout for a program and decided to put this quote in it. Jack Welch said, "When the pace of change externally is greater than the pace of change internally, then you're in danger of looking at the beginning of the end." It occurred to me that you might want to think about the pace of change in your department. Maybe, however fast it seems, it might not be fast enough. Just a thought.

February 9
Sam Horn reminded me of an old Peanuts cartoon with this dialogue between Charlie Brown and Lucy. Charlie Brown, "I wonder if anyone ever really changes?" Lucy, "I changed a lot this year." Charlie Brown, "I meant for the better." Good reminder that change isn't automatically good, real best friends are those that tell the truth, and laughter should be mandatory every day!

February 2
This weekend I will be in Burbank for the NSA (National Speakers Association) Winter Workshop. My mastermind group, The Seven Sisters, will meet for 2 days after the workshop. At our last meeting one of my sisters, Valerie Cade Lee said, "Will you still get it when others don't get you?" This is an important question when you are the agent of a change. At the beginning, your enthusiasm can carry you through the groans of others, but as time goes by it can become tougher to sustain your efforts. Unless, of course, you can, as Valerie asks, remember why you're doing what you're doing. See why I like to hang around with the Sisters.

January 26
Someone sent me an email with a quote from Chuck Martin. (If it was you, thanks - it's a good quote!) "It's time to look in the rear-view mirror - not just to see whether others are coming up behind you, but to look at how far you have come." Don't let January - the month of changing - end without giving yourself credit for the changes you've already accomplished. If no one else is proud of you, I am.

January 19
Last weekend I attended the funeral of a dear friend, Nancy McKinley. She found out she had pancreatic cancer and died within three weeks. Nancy died too young and too fast. I couldn't help but think of a favorite Norman Cousins' observation. "The worst thing isn't death - it is what dies inside of you while you're still living." Her services were a true celebration of a life very well lived. Nancy McKinley never let anything die inside of her and will remain an inspiration to me - and I hope to you also.

January 12
This past week I had the opportunity to study with Christopher Vogler, author of The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, in Cancun. (Tough sounding learning experience, right?) He said, "When you're scared of change, it is helpful to have a mentor to assist you through the change." What a wonderful suggestion. Who could be your change mentor? Are you brave enough to ask for help?

January 5
Note: A little longer than usual - back to normal next week. Interesting news at the end.

Last year I made a resolution and kept it all year. My behavior change was to actually use my Palm Pilot rather than just carrying it around. As well as I can remember, this is the first resolution I've actually kept for an entire year. As the end of 2004 approached, I've been thinking about why this resolution worked; why this time I actually changed my behavior.

What I've realized, upon reflection, is that there has been enormous satisfaction in the discipline of doing. Every time I went to write down a date and time for a meeting or a phone call and I stopped myself from reaching for a scrap of paper and grabbed my Palm instead, I felt good that I was carrying through on my commitment. It seems that the combination of commitment and follow-through over time is rewarding when it comes to personal behavior change. Now, that might be a blinding flash of the obvious to you, and I'll admit that I've always know it intellectually, but this was the year I learned it in my gut. Change has always had much more to do with gut than brain.

So, I'm going to do it again. Here are my two resolutions. I'm going to eat smaller bites of food and finish one thing before I start another. Not earth shattering, but important. I want another 12 months of continuing to feel the satisfaction from the discipline of doing. How about you? Going to join me in a personal or professional behavior change? We can keep each other honest for the next 12 months and all feel good about our ability to take action for a change.

P.S. I'm going to keep the Palm Pilot up, too. See, it's become a habit, but that's another message.

Participants in Chris' programs often ask her for suggestions on books to read. It doesn't take a ton of bricks to fall on her head before she figures out that there's an idea in there. "Why not start a monthly book club," she asks herself. "Good idea," she replies. (Don't ask, there are lots of these internal conversations in Chris' head.) And so, ta-da, Reading for a Change was born! visit http://www.ChrisClarke-Epstein.com/participants/read.htm

Each month there will be two reading selections: one non-fiction/business title and one - people do not learn by non-fiction alone - fiction title. When the books are first posted, there will be a short commentary at the website about why you might want tot read them and at the end of the month there will be a few discussion questions posted.

If you read a book and want to send Chris a comment, please do. We'll post your comments in the Reading for a Change section of Chris' website. If you want to start a Workplace Reading Group, check out the article linked at the bottom of the Reading Club page. If you have a suggestion for a book, please send it to Chris, along with your reasons for suggesting it.

December 29
Six of us were sitting around the table at a Strategic Planning session. Another participant dropped his copy of Peter Senge's newest book, "Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future" on the table. We all reached for it - it is an especially attractive book and it has Senge's name on the cover - and took turns browsing. I found the following quote. "Not all visions are equal - (some are) good ideas that unleash no energy for change. Others transform the world." How about spending 2005 looking for a vision that will give you the energy to transform your world.

December 22
Thinking about and planning for the holiday season can, and often does, take you to remembering holidays past. A good time to recall Will Rogers' reflection, "Never let yesterday use up too much of tomorrow." Don't let past holiday disappointments color this year's activities. On the other hand, feel free to let past year's pleasures flood this year's festivities with joyful anticipation!

December 15
This time of year, more people show up at your doorstep. Depending on the natural state of your house this is either a stressful or a happy happening. If I share with you my favorite quote to mutter as I walk to answer an unexpended doorbell, you'll probably be able to deduce the natural state of my living space. It's from A.A. Milne (author of the Winnie the Pooh books). "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."

December 8
My friend and fellow facilitator, Marilynn Semonick, CSP, gave me a wonderful quote when we were together recently. "Technology," she said quoting a speaker she had heard recently, "moves at the speed of thought. People move at the speed of people." You're grinning, right? Sometimes profound truths comes in short sentences and these are two of them!

December 1
My friend and fellow speaker, Mike McKinley, CSP, CPAE, sends a gift every year at Thanksgiving. His card this year included the following line, "Thankful that we have choices, appreciative we can change the choices we make." End of the year means reviewing the choices we've made during the past year. Don't forget you can still change any of those old decisions!

November 17
Co-director of the documentary film, The Corporation, Jennifer Abbott, said "It has remained my intention to make the familiar appear strange, to shift perspectives, to ask more questions than answer." Makes me curious about her movie. A good way to keep yourself creative on an ordinary day...no answers, just questions. Different perspectives. Make the familiar strange. Try it for a day or two and let me know what happens.

November 10
Do you have a cache of greeting cards that you can pull out and use at a moment's notice? I couldn't function without mine. Last week, while looking for an appropriate thank you card, I found one with this message on the front. The most powerful beginning is choice. After putting it back in the basket to continue my quest, I realized the line was echoing in my head. Maybe it will linger in your mind also. This might be a perfect time for a powerful beginning in your life. Make another choice!

November 4
Okay, I admit it - I watch Survivor. No apology, no embarrassment, just fact. On a recent episode, one of the players, Rory got a message from his wife. She reminded him that, "Keep in mind that though you may not be able to change the situation, you still have control over how you will respond." Rory's wife is one smart woman!

October 27
No matter what else you do this coming week, please vote. It would be a wonderful change if we, as a nation, broke all records for voter turnout! An unknown person said, "In times of stress and strain, people will vote." I hope we prove unknown right!

October 20
As we face the time change, I can never figure out whether I'm getting more or less sleep. As long as I'm thinking of sleep, reflecting on dreams follows. That leads me to T. E. Lawrence who said, "All people dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous people for they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible." When do you do your dreaming? Can you dare to be dangerous? Maybe today would be a great day to dream about some outrageous possibilities.

October 13
Cleaning my office surfaced an old Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Imagine seeing the two of them sledding down a hill and Calvin says to Hobbes, "Change is invigorating! If you don't accept new challenges, you become complacent and lazy! Your life atrophies! New experiences lead to new questions and new solutions! Change forces us to experiment and adapt! That's how we learn and grow!" In the spirit of full disclosure, they end up crashed in a pile of snow at the end of the strip. Change is like that too!

October 6
Given all the political excitement around the Vice Presidential debate last night, it seems only fair to hear from a former Vice President, Hubert Humphrey. "The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." Maybe if we all took a deep breath and changed the way we listen to each other we could have some rational political discussions before we vote next month. No matter what party or candidate you support, this would be a change in behavior, wouldn't it?

September 30
Looking around my office, I'm tempted to share A.A. Milne's quote, "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." But in order to tie that to change, I'd have to talk about cleaning things up! <G> Instead, let's ponder the wisdom of Peter Drucker. "There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." It's easy to continue doing things that no longer serve a purpose, but which simply exist as part of a long held pattern. Do any of your activities fit that description? If so, change them!

September 23
One of my favorite mystery writers is Peter Bowen. He writes a fairly unknown mystery series set in Montana with a main character - Gabriel Du Pre, a member of the Metis Nation - who drinks a lot, plays the fiddle incredibly, and solves crimes interestingly with an amazing cast of characters. It takes a while to get the rhythm of the dialogue. The Metis (who Bowen describes as "...a great people, a wonderful people, and not many Americans know anything about them") have an interesting cadence to their speech. This line from his most recent book, The Tumbler, jumped out at me. "Kid, old fart I know told me once that in life what you lose on the roller coaster, you make up for on the merry-go-round." I really like that image of what happens during change.

If you're going to read the books, read them in order. The characters build as the series progresses. The first one is Coyote Wind.

P.S. For all of you who took last week's message as a scientific challenge (pointing out, for example, that if you could see it, there were in fact changes going on in the test tubes), thanks for the trip back to my high school science classes. You are right. Something always happens. Sometimes it's just hard to discern it!

September 15
Many of you may know that I do work with and have written about the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. I receive a publication called The Type Reporter and I was looking at some old issues recently and came across this story.

September 8
On Friday, August 27th, my husband Frank handed me the Sports section of USA Today and said, "I thought you'd want to see this." The cover story of the day was, "10 things to absolutely, positively, change right now." For the next issues of the paper they discussed parts of different sports rules and behaviors they felt needed to be different. Interesting reading. (To see the list go to: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ten-things-to-change-index.htm - the countdown continues.) They included several change quotes in a side bar that I thought you'd enjoy, and hey, its not often I get to use the sports section as a great reference!

September 1
Did the summer rush by for you? My mother is a great fan of Will Rogers. One of the brilliant, witty things he said is, "Half of life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through trying to save." This weekend make sure you do something you promised yourself, your family, or the universe you would do this summer! As Quinn - my 4 year old grandson - would say, "and I'm not kidding."

August 25
Have you watched the USA Network's original show Monk? I think Tony Shalhoub is terrific. (If you haven't seen my favorite of his movies, Big Night, put it on your DVDs-to-rent list ASAP.) In last Friday's season finale there was a touching scene between Monk and his therapist, where Monk said, "I'm afraid of change and I'm afraid of not changing." Seemed like this simple sentence framed a common problem. Depending on which fear is stronger for you, I bet I can predict your next move. I bet you can, too. Sometimes TV isn't a vast wasteland.

August 19
Note: This issue's a little longer than usual. Don't worry, we'll be back to short next week.

I really try to practice what I preach. And what I preach about mostly is change. (You knew that, right?) We've been doing this Change message for nearly four years now. Miriam figured out how to create and run a system - that from your point of view I'm certain looks pretty seamless. Doesn't work that way from our point of view. Her computer thinks our lists are too long, our server thinks we're sending SPAM, your server thinks our server is sending SPAM - you get the picture. Along came our favorite tech guy, Rick, who said, "I can make this simpler for you." He sent us samples, we said they were too fancy - all that html changes the feel. He sent Miriam the specs for list management, too impersonal we said. He sent us a different format, too hard to migrate the list we said. Catching a pattern?

Rick really knows his business, not to mention us. He persisted and he and Miriam figured out how to overcome all our objections to the change. Last week Miriam got the list all ready to export to Rick and this is the first message being sent with the new system. (That's why you didn't hear from us last week, and why we're a day late this week. Did you miss us?) Change, even when it helps you in the long run, is tough in the short run. And you can quote me on that!

So, as long as we're changing we thought we'd throw in a new name for these weekly messages. Drum roll please. You are now reading the very first Thinking for a Change from Chris Clarke-Epstein.

Like all change, one person's change causes change for someone else. If you use a filter to file these message, you're going to have to change your filter settings. It's the change ripple effect. I change so you have to, too. But then I really do try to practice what I preach!

August 4
For 7 days in July I was in Phoenix, AZ for the Annual Convention of the National Speakers Association. (Okay, I can hear the jokes, lots of hot air in a place so hot, no one would notice.) During his outstanding keynote address, Joe Calloway, CSP, CPAE said, "When change hits, you can perceive it any way you want." Sometimes it's hard to remember that even if the change itself is forced, we still get to pick our reactions to the change. If someone you know has been having an attitude problem lately, you might want to share Joe's perspective. Of course if you're the one with the attitude problem...

July 28
Who loves you without the possibility of change? Even me, the change guru as one of you labeled me recently, knows that there are some things that shouldn't change and unconditional love is one of those things. Margaret Mead said, "Having someone wonder where you are when you don't come home at night is a very old human need."

July 21
The doctor and poet, William Carlos Williams, wrote "In summer, the song sings itself." When was the last time you went outside - to a summer place - and listened? Take this as an assignment. See what music you can hear.

July 14
Wake up cheerful most days? Any days? Listen to Sarah Orne Jewett, "Tain't worthwhile to wear a day all out before it comes." Not I realize tain't isn't a word you run across often these days, but the message is relevant. Think of your self talk on your way into work. Are you wearing out your day before it begins? Shame on you! Change that behavior right now. You can - I know it and you know it!

July 7
How were your fireworks? 4th of July is such a great holiday. (Did you know that you can have your ashes packed into a fireworks display and go off in a final blaze of light and sound? I've given my kids instructions that that's how I want to have my end celebrated, but I digress.) In the spirit of Independence Day, listen to Tony Randall, "There's only one thing worse than a man with strong likes and dislikes and that's a man who has strong likes and dislikes without the courage to voice them." I'm sure he meant women, too.

June 30
Last night's episode of The Division on Lifetime had a wedding and the wedding had a toast. So, just in case any of you need a brief toast for a wedding this summer (or any event that calls for a toast) consider this a public service announcement. My friends. Here's to change. Here's to the things that stay the same. Here's to the future.

Simple sentences. Simple words. Thoughtful combination. Keep it handy. You can impress people in a minute.

June 23
Talking to my friend and speaking colleague Rebecca Morgan this morning, she quoted herself. (We speakers actually do things like that! Scary, isn't it?) "You must let go of the comfortable current trapeze and leap into the air, even when you don't see the next trapeze on the horizon. Looking back, you'll notice the old trapeze is burning."

I thought it was a perfect reminder that all status quo has an element of risk. Often we get caught in the frightening emotion of a possible change and miss the fact that what we're letting go of wasn't perfect. Thanks Rebecca!

June 16
Tuesday's USA Today had several articles about the new Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg movie, The Terminal, which opens on Friday. (Frank and I intend to see it this weekend.) In a side-bar article about his process, Spielberg said, "A movie often turns around and looks at you and says, 'Here is what I am, and that's maybe not how you see me, but that's who I've become.' And maybe you've got to be open enough to go with that."

Re-read Spielberg's sentence out loud. I mean it - out loud, and substitute something in place of the words a movie.Try a life, a job, or a person. This line of Spielberg's reminded me of the necessity of recognizing when something external to me changes. I have to decide how I will let that influence my actions. I hope the movie is as meaningful as the quote.

June 9
Diane Swonk, director of economics and senior vice president of Bank One Corp., was profiled in Monday's Chicago Tribune Business section. When asked if she had any advice for people looking for her kind of job, she answered, "Pursue your passion...if you're just working for money it's easy to burn out." Reminded me of one of my favorite sayings, "If you want to claim burn out, you must have been on fire at one time." What about you? Do you have passion for what you do? Did you at one time? What do you need to do to get the fire going again? This is an area of change where you can either instigate it yourself or wait until someone else does it for you. Ouch!

P.S. Lately you've all been generous with your comments. Thank you very much. I love hearing from you. If you have a few minutes...here's a challenge. I'm working on a new book that will explore some of the cliches we all learned as children that may interfere with our success today. For example: Wipe that smile off your face. What's actually wrong with being happy? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. What about feedback? I'd love to hear the ones that occur to you. And I'll keep you posted on the book project.

June 2
This weekend I read a wonderful book, Writing About Your Life. (You don't have to be a writer to learn from it. I highly recommend it for everyone who cares about stories, reading, and the wonder of words.) In it, the author, William Zinsser, quotes Maya Lin, the designer of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, after asking her how the idea of the memorial occurred to her. "For several months, she told him, no ideas came at all. 'The discipline is to not jump too fast.'"

In the midst of change it's scary when the ideas don't come fast enough and it's hard not to jump so everyone will think you know what you're doing. Maybe you, your team, or your organization could benefit from understanding Maya Lin's discipline.

May 26
My friend Kathy Dempsey and I were in Chicago waiting to cross the street. Kathy was searching the pole for the button to push so we'd get the walk signal. A woman who was watching Kathy's behavior announced, "It's okay lady, it will change by itself." Quite frankly, life doesn't usually work that way. You can't depend on things changing by themselves and, if you do, you will always be at the mercy of other people's ideas of change. Why not continue to search for the button and be proactive about the change that will get you to the side of the street you want to be on?

P.S. Kathy and I missed the light change because we stood on the corner arguing over which of us would get to use this story in our email newsletters. As you can tell, I won. :) You might want to check out her 60 Seconds of Shedding with Lenny the Lizard at www.KeepShedding.com.

December 22
Recently I watched a reunion special for one of my favorite shows ever! - "Designing Women." It was full of clips from the cast's favorite episodes. One such episode recounted the birth of Charlene's baby, Olivia, while a 100 year old African American was dying. In the final scene the wonderful actress Beah Richards said, "I remember what my papa used to say. 'We ain't what we should be, we ain't what we're gonna be, but at least we ain't what we was.'"

December 17
One of the great philosophers of our time, Winnie the Pooh, said, "A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference." If you've been in a mall lately, maybe you'd like a T-shirt with this emblazoned on it.

December 10
Last Friday, I was able to sit in the audience to hear one of my favorite NSA speakers, Mike McKinley, CSP, CPAE*. During his presentation he said, "I like goosebumps!" (The exclamation point is mine - but it was in his voice.) I do, too! So should you! Especially at this time of year. No matter what, if any, holiday you celebrate - you should experience some goosebumps - from music, lights twinkling on a dark drive home, or a fresh snow fall. If you look for them, trust me, they'll come - the goosebumps that is!

December 3
WARNING: Breaking my own 4-line rule this week, but because it's a poem, it's well worth the scroll!

Here's to the crazy ones.
        The misfits.
        The rebels.
        The troublemakers.

The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Remember this ad? This poem would be a great start for a meeting where you wanted a creative outcome.

November 25
There is no holiday in the US with more shared traditions than Thanksgiving. There is turkey on most tables, football on most TVs, and groans on most lips from over-eating. Maybe the Irish can offer something to our tradition in their proverb, "Laughter is brightest where food is best." May you and your family have an abundance of good food and good laughter this week.

November 19
Many of you know that I'm fascinated by questions. I found this quote by the actress Ruby Dee in a recent Chicago Tribune. "The greatest gift is not being afraid to question." What if you made it a goal for the next two days to ask as many questions as you could? What might you learn? What would people think? Could this be easier than you first thought? Are you grinning?

November 12
All of us have the opportunity to help other people learn - often on a daily basis. William Butler Yeats had an interesting perspective on education. He said, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." The next time you face another person across a teachable moment, stop and ask yourself, "Am I getting ready to fill a bucket or light a match?" I'd go for the match every time!

November 5
I don't know about you, but I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ALMOST THE HOLIDAY SEASON AGAIN! Our family is in the midst of planning what gatherings we're having - where and when. This weekend I read Twyla Tharp's new book, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life. (I loved it and recommend it highly.) In it she said, "There's a lot to be said for tradition, but there's a lot to be said for examining it, too." This would be the perfect time to examine your family's holiday traditions. Re-affirm and re-excite yourself about the traditions you want to keep and revise those that it's time to change. Come January 1st, you'll be glad you did.

October 29
Thirty-six years ago today I was working very hard to give birth to my son, Paul. (I realize you're all amazed that I had a baby at age six <g>.) In mid-February my daughter, Miriam, will have her first baby. It's making me think of cycles. With all our focus on change, we might miss seeing that some things aren't actually a change, but in fact are simply a turn of a life or business cycle. Business is down, we work to generate more business; business goes up, we ignore business generating activities; business is down... Think of some of the changes you're dealing with. Might they be part of a cycle instead of a distinct change? What might that mean for you and your behavior?

Aug 13
When I (actually when Miriam) send out these messages each week, we look forward to the messages you often send back. Quite a while ago, Marti Cargile, an HR Training Specialist for the City of Milwaukee, sent me a great quote from William Saroyan. "In the time of your life, live...so that in the wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and the sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it all." Thanks Marti for a great quote with a meaningful message.

Aug 6
Okay, maybe the guys won't get this one, but the women will. Put on a bathing suit and gone out in public yet this summer? Listen to Ethel Barrett (who, I'm sure, said this to herself as she stood in front of a full-length mirror, in a bathing suit, on a really hot summer day). "We would worry less about what others think of us, if we realized how seldom they do."

July 31
Summer often affords families the opportunity to spend more time with each other. Bruce Barton said, "If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm." How are you gifting your family or the people around you with enthusiasm? If you're not - how about working on this as a next month's behavior change? (By the way - if you do - do it with enthusiasm!)

July 24
Had your summer vacation yet? How about re-visiting the place you grew up? Nelson Mandela said, "There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered." This summer make a date with yourself to spend an afternoon on a park bench - listing, pondering, and celebrating all the ways you've grown and changed in your life.

July17
Sometimes I'm afraid that these messages might convey the thought that I believe all change is easily understood through the lines of a short weekly email. I hope not, because the words of A. France really express my underlying belief about change. "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must give up one life to enter another."

July 10
Many of you know that I have a passionate interest in questions. Awhile ago I found this quote from Naguib Mahfouz, "You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." (I'm sure he meant to include women as well.) How about you? When it comes to the current changes in your organization, do people think you're clever or wise?

July 2
I've always wished that people would say that I reminded them of Katharine Hepburn. She once said of herself, "I'm a madly irritating person...anything definite is irritating - and stimulating." Change is exactly like that - irritating and stimulating at the same time. With Miss Hepburn gone, I guess it's up to us to take up the slack.

June 25
Are you sick of change? It's okay if you are - as long as you understand the words of Guiseppe Tomasidi Lampedusa, "If we want everything to remain as it is, it will be necessary for everything to change." Need I say more?

June 18
Many of you have probably seen the wonderful training video FISH. There's a line in it I love. "The moment you try to imitate us, you're stuck." Apply that to change - when you or your organization tries to change by imitating someone else you're going to get stuck. Great change demands that we apply lessons learned AND take risks in new directions. Things will happen, but you won't be stuck!

June 11
Pia Nilsson, former head coach of the Swedish National Golf Teams and Annika Sorenstam's coach, reported that Annika told her something shortly before the now famous Colonial Golf Classic. "Pia, isn't the worst thing that can happen that I can learn something?" What a great question to ask when faced with any change! Think of a change you've dealt with recently. What did you learn? If you can't think of anything right away - think again. I'm sure there was some learning in there somewhere.

June 4
Ever wish you'd invented one of those how-did-we-ever-live-without-it products? Like Post-it Notes, scented magic markers, or duct tape? Carl Zwanzig said, "Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side and it holds the universe together." Seems to me duct tape is like change, too. There is a light side and a dark side to all changes and without change, the universe would certainly fall apart. (Believe me, the longer you think about this - the more profound it becomes. <G>)

May 28
In the US, Memorial Day weekend (which was this last Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) marks the unofficial beginning of summer. Ever get a song in your head that you can't turn off? Well, since Saturday afternoon I've been mentally singing, "Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer." Acted lazy on Monday by sitting outside most of the day reading a very long novel, and felt some guilt for not being productive. Until, that is, I remembered a Chinese proverb that said, "Be not afraid of growing slowly - just be afraid of standing still." I wasn't lazy - just growing slowly and maybe summer is the perfect time for that behavior. What slow growing are you going to do this summer?

May 21
How about thinking about change as fun? Impossible, you say! My buddy, Scott Friedman, said, "When people laugh together, you touch them on a gut level where they are open to change." I agree. As you think and plan your next change, either professionally or personally, why not make sure that you have built laughter and fun into your change initiative.

May 14
This is the 100th time I've written one of these messages about change. Seems amazing that one topic - change - can sustain a weekly dialogue for so long, but it does. In order to move into the future with excitement, change is not only helpful, it's mandatory. Dr. Richard Deems said, "It is our basic instinct to make change work." I would add that most of us have been socialized to do the opposite - to resist change. Why not work this week to make your first reaction to any change positive. See if you can bring your basic instinct to change alive!

May 7
Last week I was sitting in an audience in Santa Fe, New Mexico, listening to Erik Wahl. He quoted Jack Welch who said, "When the rate of change outside your company exceeds the rate of change inside your company - the end is near." That made me sit up and think! Here's your assignment for today: Instead of feeling anxious because of all the changes you face, think about how anxious you should be feeling because of the changes you're not making!

April 30
Oftentimes spring is when we look at our physical selves and consciously make changes in order to view our bodies in a more favorable light. But what about what our brains are saying to us every day? Listen to the way Madeleine Costigan re-framed her perspective. "I have a lot of excitement in my life. I used to call it tension, but I feel much better now that I call it excitement." When's the last time you re-framed what you tell yourself?

April 23
Today we could really believe that spring will actually come to Central Wisconsin. Are you like me? Spring always makes me want to try something new. Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us why we have learning urges. "Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." What are you going to learn and grow from this spring?

April 16
Our work is such a big part of life and we meet so many people who seem to be unhappy doing their job. I realize that even thinking about changing a job or profession is frightening, but it seems to me even more frightening to face life - day after day - doing work that doesn't bring you joy. I guess Julia Child agrees with me. "A passionate interest in what you do is the secret of enjoying life - whether it is helping old people or children, or making cheese, or growing earthworms." When's the last time you thought about the connection between your passion and your work?

April 9
It's easy to fool yourself into believing that you can avoid change. Albert Erisman put that idea to rest when he said, "Inertia and resistance to change decides things." Look around you. What decisions or changes have been made without your input because you made the choice to not participate?

April 2
Is the world different than you'd like it to be? How about your community? Everything in good shape there? Things in good order at work? It's easy to live your life waiting for others to fix things. Gandhi suggests another way to look at it. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Think the world should be more peaceful? You be peaceful. Want more culture in your community? You do art. Not getting enough helpful feedback at work? Start giving feedback. In my book, Gandhi is a pretty credible source of advice.

March 26
On a recent CBS Sunday Morning show, the 70-year-old 1st violinist of the Baghdad Symphony Orchestra said, "Music is everything that war isn't." Why not join me, once a day, in listening to music and thinking of all those - soldiers and civilians alike - who would love to hear some music.

March 19
My grandson, Quinn, and I went to the bookstore recently and bought a new book, "Frank, the Monster Who Wanted to Dance." Picking a book with an almost-three-year-old is a commitment because when they like a book you hear, "Read it again!" over and over. This is a good book. The story is funny, the pictures perfectly drawn, and the rhyme scheme clever. There is a bonus half way through - a line I love. "He danced like his shoe size instead of his age." How about you? When was the last time you danced - or lived - that way?

March 12
The next time you find yourself whining over all the change you have to deal with and longing for the good old days when the pace was slower, remember that Heraclitus, who lived from approximately 535 BC to 475 BC, said, "There is nothing permanent except change."

March 5
Last week Mr. Rogers died and I cried. If you've been a child, had a child, or watched PBS since the 60s you knew Mr. Rogers. I remember one day, being bored, sitting in a motel room flipping channels, and pausing because of Mr. Rogers' voice. It was his voice that caught my attention after so many years - that voice I heard talking to my children as they grew up. A voice I could trust to say the things that I wanted Paul and Miriam to hear because it carried important messages. I watched the whole half hour that day and felt better because I had.

Ellen Goodman wrote about Mr. Rogers on Sunday. In her column she told of Fred Rogers' relationship with this grandfather. Listen to what his grandfather told him when they were together. "You made this a special day, just because you were here and you are you. I like you just the way you are." Sound familiar? One grandfather's legacy for his grandson became a legacy for millions.

None of us has an audience of millions. All of us have an audience of one, or two, or ten. What would happen if you picked five people in your life and paraphrased Mr. Rogers' grandfather to them when you were together. Every time. Without fail. "My day was better because you were a part of it," to a coworker. "You are special to me and the world," to your significant other. To a child in your neighborhood, "I'm so glad you life on my block - it makes me grin to see you." Every time. Without fail.

This weekly message is about change because change is necessary for life and growth. There are, however, some things that once begun, shouldn't change. Messages like those of Mr. Rogers are one of the things that once started, shouldn't change. Mr. Rogers will live on in the 900 episodes of his Neighborhood that will play and play and play. I'll look for them when I'm in a lonely motel room and on a tough day in the office, but I feel the need to do more - to create a living neighborhood that I carry with me and show to others. I'm going to join Mr. Rogers' grandfather, Mr. Rogers, and all the others who believe that one person speaking from the heart can make a difference. I hope you'll join us. Every time. Without fail.

February 26
Lately, I've been doing work with clients about branding and came across this quote from Watts Wacker. "A brand is a promise, and in the end, you have to keep your promises." Is there a behavior you need to change so that your actions support your brand?

February 19
Sunday I left for Washington DC. Mother Nature had different plans. Thanks to the Blizzard of 2003 (as the NY media named it), I spent 2 days in a hotel room overlooking Times Square in New York City. Watching one of the busiest streets in the US empty reminded me that everything and anything is subject to change. What a great lesson in remembering that control is an illusion. On my flight home - 48 hours later than expected - it occurred to me that paying attention is a better choice than pretending to be in charge.

February 12
This is a grey time of year in the midwest - makes you feel old. My friend Rita Emmett sent me an anonymous quote, "We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." I'm going to block out some time for play this week - how about you?

February 5
One twelfth of 2003 is now gone. Feels like a blink of an eye, doesn't it? How has the year been for you so far? Grandma Moses reminds us that "Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be." What do you want 2003 to be? What are you doing to make it what you want? Don't let another month slip by.

January 29
Encountered any conflict lately? Rip Torn said he got some good advice from Gary Shandling. "Don't get mad, get funny." Practicing that behavior, said Rip, changed his life. Might be worth some consideration this year - before your next conflict that is.

January 22
My husband, Frank, loves jazz. I have to admit it's not my favorite form of music, but I'm fascinated by jazz musicians. The amount of teamwork necessary to play good jazz is amazing! Ella Fitzgerald said, "Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong." I don't think teams go wrong when they work together with respect and creativity either!

January 15
Just in case finishing the unfinished is one of your New Year's Resolutions, you might interested in what Lady Stella Reading had to say. "The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to leave undone." I'm trying to keep this in mind as I work on that stack of stuff on my desk!

January 2
A new year looms ahead like an empty piece of paper. Who knows what will happen next? Some people find that frightening; others exhilarating. Listen to Gilda Radner, "Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."

December 18
The countdown has begun - frantic activity seems inevitable - the holiday season is in full swing! STOP!

Take a deep breath and exhale. Think of how wonderful it would be if our best present this year could be peace. Why not start this gift giving early - practice giving peace to each person you interact with from now to the end of the year...Watch out, it may become a habit!

No matter what holiday you may be celebrating, please accept this wish for joy, health, and peace!

December 11
Okay, the end of the year is approaching way too fast and before you know it there will be front page articles about New Year resolutions. Listen to Jim Melton, "I like goal setting, but I like goal achieving better." So, instead of thinking about the goals you want to set for 2003, focus on the goals you're going to achieve in the next 12 months.

December 4
How happy are you? It's all up to you, you know! Gandhi understood. He said, "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." How happy are you going to be today - or - how happy could you be if you did a little changing?

November 27
This is the week that we in the Unites States celebrate Thanksgiving. Before the turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin pie, challenge yourself to stop, go to a quiet place, and quote Sister Wendy, art historian, out loud. "Underneath everything is going to be joy."

November 21
I got to watch the FISH video again a few weeks ago and was struck by the line "any job can be boring if you make it boring." You might want to quote it the next time you hear someone (or <gasp> yourself) use the B-word.

November 13
Don't you just love Anonymous? This quote, attributed to none other than Anonymous, must have started out as a cartoon caption. "A life? Cool! Where can I download one of those."
Go ahead - laugh out loud!

On a recent "Inside the Actor's Studio," Harrison Ford said, "There is a discipline in believing." (Warning: You may have to read the following sentences several times before they make sense...I had too and I wrote it!)

Values in an organization exist because of a collective belief system. Belief in an organization is expressed by actions. Actions are determined by value-based decision making. Decisions about change initiatives that are not matched against an organization's values are undisciplined and doomed.
(A picture would have been easier.)

November 1
One of my favorite writers on change is William Bridges. He wrote, "People have to understand that the point of change is to preserve that which does not change." That simple statement gets right to the heart of change when done by people and organizations who have a strong sense of values. (See next week's message for part two about Values and Change.)

October 23
A lot of these messages have looked at our individual responses to- and challenges from- change. It's good to stop and remember that most of the time we're not going through a change alone. H.E. Luccick said, "No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it." Maybe it would be helpful to think of your next change as a fine piece of classical music and before you start playing it by yourself, check out who's tuned up and ready to start making music with you.

October 17
Do you ever have the feeling that this change stuff is just being done to death? Come on...let's pause for a little while, can't we? Lew Plate reminds us, "Whatever made you successful in the past, won't make you successful in the future." So, here's my attempt to balance these two seemingly contradictory thoughts. Resting is good and necessary - but resting on your laurels will get you into trouble.

October 9
According to David Brandon, CEO of Domino's Pizza, "Change is not a criticism of the past. It simply means that the future is going to be different." I couldn't agree more! So many people won't even consider a change because they fear that the mere mention of change reflects badly on past practices. How short-sighted and foolish. Bad ideas are abolished, good ideas are enhanced - changed even!

October 2
A few years ago I received a plastic travel mug as a gift from amazon.com. When I used it a few days ago, one of the quotes on it jumped out at me. Albert Einstein said, "If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." It's fall, time for many of us to start new projects. I'm hoping we all have one change in the works that, at this point, seems - well - absurd.

Sept 25
When was the last time you received a compliment? When was the last time you gave one? I agree with Mark Twain. "I can live two months on a good compliment." Words of encouragement are critical during times of change. If you're not getting your fair share, why not give some? You may be surprised how well the law of reciprocity will work!

Sept 18
When David Letterman returned to the air after the events of September 11, 2001, he said, "Pretending to be courageous is just as good as the real thing." However you find courage - do it. Change demands courage from us all.

Sept 11
On this day I remember the lines delivered by Martin Sheen as President Bartlet on The West Wing, "You'll do fine - people have phenomenal capacity."

Sept 4
Recently I've been seeing articles, and even a book, about re-framing -- looking at the same thing, situation, and/or issue with new eyes. Duke Ellington said, "A problem is a chance for you to do your best." What problem could you re-frame into an opportunity to shine?

August 28
Okay - I watch lots of TV and thanks to cable I can see some of my favorite shows again and again! A recent rerun of LA Law offered this sage line, "If you're unhappy with your life and are unwilling to change it, that's your fault." Ouch! Although I don't recommend spending time on blame, maybe it's helpful, once and a while, to assess where we might need to admit that we are our own stumbling block.

August 21
Concerned about how fast things are changing? Listen to Jack Welch. "When the pace of change externally is greater than the pace of change internally, then you're in danger of looking at the beginning of the end." Maybe a better question is, are things changing fast enough?

August 14
I came across Chip Bell's formula for good customer service yesterday. "Life is complex; make service simple. Life is harried; make service calm. Life can be shallow; make service have resonance and depth. Life can be painful; make service joyful. Life is too fast; help me keep up. Life can be lonely; make service a valued connection." How are you doing?

August 7
The Chicago Tribune Magazine this Sunday profiled Paul Harvey. Listen to what he said, "One of my biggest challenges is to keep my intellectual arteries sufficiently pliable to adapt to and accept inevitable change." And now you know the rest of the story.

July 31
Most of us live in a place where a walk over the lunch hour is possible. So, how about a walk today? The exercise will do you (me, too!) good, but I'm assigning the walk for a different purpose. "To do things differently, we must learn to see things differently," said John Seely Brown. Take your walk and see the world around you differently. Walk until you see 5 new things. Pay yourself on the back - change will be easier when you get back to your desk.

July 24
Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, said, "If you think that you are too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room." Makes you understand that even small changes can make a big difference. By the way, if you don't understand the mosquito reference, come to Northern Wisconsin for a visit - you'll get it fast!

July 10
This week I'm off to the annual meeting of the National Speakers Association (NSA). This is the time of year, every year, that I become fully focused as a student. What happens during your year to focus you as a student? Working on your expertise is critical to the success of organizations as well as that of individuals. Now would be the perfect time to figure out what you need to learn, how you're going to learn it, and when you're going to start.

July 3
How do you feel about conflict? Many of us spend a lot of energy trying to avoid conflict both personally and professionally. Erik van Slyke said, "Conflict is present in all our important relationships." I believe he's right, so instead of trying to avoid conflict - we ought to work at getting better at dealing with it creatively.

June 26
Recently I was lucky enough to hear Christopher Reeve speak. Tucked inside his moving presentation was this, "When things are bad you really have to laugh." I wasn't certain you needed to hear this today, but I thought you might want to keep it for a day when you do.

June 19
Summer's here and we've all mentally celebrated the last day of school. Bad thing to celebrate for someone working these days. If you (or your organization) stops learning - you've started dying! John Holt said, "we learn to do something by doing it. There is no other way." What are you going to do this Summer so that you'll be smarter when Fall rolls around?

June 12
I'm one of those people who watches TV and feels comfortable admitting it. (If you want to compare favorites, let me know.) The other day I was watching a Cosby Show re-run. Bill, in the role of Hilton Lucas, a man forced into early retirement from the airline industry, said, "There is nothing good or bad until you think it so." Interesting statement when applied to change - worth thinking about today.
See, there is value when you turn on the TV.

June 5
In a speech the other day, I quoted Mary Pickford. The blank stares from the audience led me to understand that even though I'M NOT OLD ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY KNOW WHO SHE WAS, I did hear stories from my parents that many people in today's audiences didn't. So, I decided that I'll only quote her here - where I can't see your faces. "You may have a fresh start any moment you choose." Wise woman. What fresh start could you choose?

May 29
One year ago I started sending these emails. Talk about change! In the past 12 months we've gone through 4 seasons, a loss of innocence, 365 sunrises, more reasons to cry and more reasons to laugh than can be counted, failures of institutions, and triumphs of the human spirit. In short, we've experienced life.
Learning the lesson that change is a basic requirement for life isn't easy. In fact, many of us need our entire life to figure this simple truth out. Maybe this year has helped us understand change-as-a-part-of-life once and for all. Now we can focus on becoming a change master.

May 15
Every week this email reminds us all of the importance of change in our lives. But listen to Ellen Glasglow. "All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward." Stop and take stock of the changes around you. Make sure you focus your energy on the changes that are growth focused.

May 8
Change is all about doing something. Consider this Anonymous quote. "If nothing touches the bamboo tree, it does not make a sound." Maybe we should all look around to see if their is a piece of bamboo that could make a lovely sound if only someone - maybe even you - would touch it.

May 1
Every once in a while I have the Bette Davis Eyes song run through my head. It always reminds me of her quote, "Life becomes a bore only if you lose your appetite for the future." How do you view the future? These days it's easy to be pessimistic. Don't fall into that trap, you don't want to be bored!

April 24
"In order to burnout, a person needs to have been on fire at one time," said Ayala Pines. Ouch! How many of us claim burnout when we were never actually on fire? Maybe the change you need to explore is how to bring more fire into your work and life. Nurtured correctly, fires can burn for a long time without going out!

April 17
I've been thinking and writing about questions a lot recently and discovered this quote by Ursula LeGuin. She said, "The only questions that really matter are the ones you ask yourself." Asking questions of others is one kind of challenge, asking questions of yourself is a bigger challenge. What question do you need to ask yourself?

April 10
Let's not fool ourselves- change isn't easy. Seneca said, "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult." Some change requires a little daring and some change requires lots of daring. Either way - make certain you don't confuse daring and difficulty.

April 2
April always signals spring for me - and spring requires kite flying if you're really going to celebrate it right. Lauren Bacall said, "Imagination is the highest kite we can fly." How about letting your imagination fly this week?

March 27
If you're lucky, this spring will find you near a creek running full with snow and ice melt off. I love that sound. It reminds me of the words of Heraclitus, "Everything flows, nothing stays still." How often in our lives do we wish that things would stay still? What a foolish and impossible thing to wish for.

March 20
These weekly messages extoll the virtues of change but let's not forget that old German proverb, "To change and change for the better are two different things." Take a look at the changes you're considering through the lens of this bit of wisdom.

March 13
Did you know that the average sale is made on the 7th contact and the average sales person quits after the 5th contact? "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all," remarked Herbert Meyer. Don't live your life 2 contacts short of success!

March 6
Is life a little too much lately? Irene Peter said, "Today if you're not confused, you are not thinking clearly." Comforting, isn't it?

February 27
Where I live in Northern Wisconsin this is the tough part of winter. It feels as though we'll never see green grass, feel a warm breeze or walk outside without hats, gloves, and boots again. These are the days I remember Eleanor Roosevelt's advice, "Do one thing you think you cannot do." When you do that, it's easier to believe in spring.

February 20
We all know that a journey starts with a single step, but sometimes that first step is really hard. Listen to Diana Rankin, "Instead of thinking about where you are, think about where you want to be." What if you just skipped the first step and just started with the second step?

February 13
Ever announce that you're going on a diet and notice that your significant other brings home ice cream the next day? Paul Hawkins said, "Everything is connected...no one thing can change by itself." Remember any time you change, the people around you are affected. Don't be surprised when they react.

February 6
Paging through one of the millions of catalogs I get I found the perfect tee shirt. It said, "Change is good. You go first." I'm thinking of placing a bulk order - do you want me to add you to the list?

January 29
One of my favorite writers, Annie Dillard, said "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." Stop what you're doing for a moment and review the last 24 hours. If they were your last 24 hours on this earth would you be happy about what they contained? Think you might need to change a few things?

January 23
"The world will not change unless we do," observed Jim Wallis. Sometimes there's not much more that needs to be said.

January15
The first month of a new year can be pretty grim as you grit your teeth to keep your resolutions, deal with less than perfect weather, or try not to beat yourself up for good intentions lost. Lets keep things in perspective. Lynn Povich reminds us that, "Change is often rejuvenating, invigorating, fun...and necessary." Having fun?

January 8
Change takes courage. The writer Raymond Lindquist said, "Courage is the power to let go of the familiar." Maybe change, by its very nature, is courage. I've been thinking about that - maybe you should, too.

January 2
The New Year and change are almost synonymous. Someone once said, "Change is easy. It happens in an instant. Sustaining change is what's hard." I wish I could remember who said that so I could give them credit for a very smart observation. Maybe it will remind you, like it does me, that what I need to focus on isn't the things I need to change - I already know those things. What I need to focus on is how to sustain the changes I want to start during this New Year.

December 19
Don't let the countdown to the holidays get you frazzled! Bernice Fitz-Gibbon said, "Creativity often consists of merely turning up what is already there." So, stop - take a deep breath - and look around. I'd guess that you'll find something you thought you needed to do and you really don't, something you almost forgot to do and have now remembered, and something you hadn't thought of at all. Have a very creative holiday season!

December 11
It's almost impossible to live through the second half of the month of December without being affected by end-of-the-year stress. Dolly Parton reminds us, "If you want the rainbow-you gotta put up with the rain. " So if you're feeling a bit drenched these days, open your umbrella and keep your eyes out for the rainbow.

December 4
One of the most difficult challenges anyone ever faces is finding the courage to ask for help. Donna and Lynn Brooks said, "Successful people realize the importance of a mentor or an advocate." Who in your life can help you? And who can you help?

November 27
Shirley MacLaine once said, "I realized that if what we called 'human nature' could change, then absolutely anything is possible." We know that human nature can change, we have done it ourselves as we've grown older. So why, then, do we insist that we can't accomplish our dreams?

November 20
Does your life feel like a long series of meetings? How about the meetings you hold with yourself? Kathy Kendall suggests, "Tell the negative committee that meets in your head to sit down and shut up." None of us want to be known as a negative thinker in our workplace, so don't be one in your own life!

November 13
Who are you spending your time with? Elizabeth Willitt said, "the key is to keep company with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best." Spending time with others who share your excitement, enthusiasm, and joy for life increases your excitement, enthusiasm, and joy for life. (You can complete the opposite cause and effect yourself!) I guess our moms were right...choosing the right people to hang around with really matters.

November 6
Do you see yourself as a creative person? Research tells us that the creative people of the world see themselves as creative. Gail Sheehy said "Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties." Since all of us have had to let go of some of our certainties recently, it's a perfect time to think creatively!

October 30
Have you encountered the concept of re-framing? Simply put it is the idea that you can take an issue, think about it in a different way, and actually change the issue. Sort of the glass half empty or half full idea. Here's a famous Helen Keller re-frame, "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." Is there a nothing in your life you could re-frame into a daring adventure this week?

October 22
How much is fear influencing your life these days? Will the terrorists strike again, will someone you care about die unexpectedly, will accidents and disease strike people who don't seem to deserve it? Yes. We cannot, no matter what we'd like to believe, control these things. Do you wake up energized in the morning and go to bed fulfilled at night? You can control this, not easily and only by creating a new business as usual!
Want a copy of a longer article on Business As Usual? With permission to reprint, please email Chris at Changing@ChrisClarke-Epstein.com.

October 16
When was the last time you had a crazy idea? When's the last time you acted on a crazy idea? Dan Zadra urges us to "Trust your crazy ideas." A good piece of advice. Why not take it this week and work on a crazy idea?

October 9
Wonder why things happen? Jean Shimoda Bolen observed that "synchronicity holds the promise that if we change within, the patterns in our outer life will change also." Whether you're working on an inner or outer change you will see and feel the effect on the other. Stop and notice the truth of this balancing effect.

October 2
Finding it hard to focus? Difficult events, changes in a plan, external influences can all become barriers to changes in progress. A barrier can quickly become something to fear. Jackie Green said, "You don't have to be afraid of change. You don't have to worry about what's been taken away. Just look to see what's added." We all know what's been taken away. This would be a perfect time to find a quiet place and explore things that might have been added in your life. Then celebrate and act on those possibilities!

September 25
This is difficult time for all of us. Listen to Ella Fitzgerald, "Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do." This is a perfect time to re-connect to a change in your life. We may never get back to our old version of business as usual; now is the time to define your new business as usual.

September 18
Last Tuesday, everything changed. Did you find yourself needing to connect with family and friends? During times of traumatic change, connections give us courage, strength, and hope. Keep connected. Stay strong.

September 5
When you try something new, or change an established thing in your life, what is it that you really risk? Ilka Chase said, "The only people who never fail are those who never try." So, by never failing, you actually do fail!

August 28
How often has fear stopped your change progress? Fear is an exceptionally powerful emotion. Eleanor Roosevelt challenged, "Do one thing every day that scares you." One day it may be admitting fear, the next, taking a step forward. But in the end, the change will happen.

August 21
Are you just plain tired of change? In a book I read a long time ago, a student was quoted as saying, "change is inevitable, growth is optional. "When I get discouraged about the amount of change in my life, I remember I don't have any choice about change but I can benefit from the potential of growth.

August 14
Has road construction foiled your travel plans this summer? I guess Mary Kay Ash understood summer driving because she said, "When you come to a road block, take a detour." If you're working on a change and hit a barrier - don't give up. Create a detour and you may be surprised what you discover on the way.

August 7
Who do you hang around with? Oprah Winfrey advises that you "surround yourself with people who are going to lift you higher." This would be a great time to do an inventory of the people you chose to spend time with. If you're serious about positive change in your life you need nutritious people to support you.

July 31
Have you noticed that some change is just plain scary? I've often been comforted by Erica Jong's words. "I have accepted fear as a part of my life -- specifically the fear of change, the fear of the unknown; and I have gone ahead despite the pounding in my heart." You might want to post this quote -- I did!

July 24
Did you know that learning makes change easier? Thomas Barlow claims, "In the space age the most important space is between your ears." Minds excited by learning new things are eager to do new things. If you have trouble changing, focus on learning - you'll be amazed how your view of change will, well, change.

July 17
Have you started a change only to experience it fizzled out? You're not alone. "It's the start that stops most people," observed Phil Rognier. If you have a pattern of starting changes with little success in sustaining change - you're not alone. Why not find a buddy to partner with for support of your next change. Together you could do it.

July 10
How do you see yourself? Listen to David McNally, "our willingness to create a new dream or vision for ourselves is a statement of belief in our own potential." The vision you have of yourself either supports or limits your ability to change. Dreaming gives you possibilities.

July 6
Do song lyrics ever haunt you? Kris Kristopherson's latest CD contained a song with this line. "I guess I'll die explaining how the things that they complain about are the things they could be changing." How often we complain about things that with work and effort we could change. As a change master you can sing along with Kristopherson.

June 26
Has change hit you full in the face lately? I heard a speaker say, "If you are comfortable with what you're doing - where you do it - and how you do it...then you're going to be uncomfortable!" Lots of people are experiencing change forced on them. Why not take initiative - what change do you need to make - right now?

June 19
Have you run into any problems with your change plan? Shirley Abbot said, "No plan emerges unscathed from its collision with reality." Expecting to change without planning for the tough or the unexpected is allowing yourself to be defeated before you begin. Think flexibility as you plan and as you continue to work on your change.

June 12
Have you gotten far enough into your change to feel confused? Will Rogers observed, "Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects." Embarking on a path of change means you'll need to learn some new things. Learning is the best cure for ignorance not to mention confusion.

June 5
Have you noticed that some of the people around you don't support your positive change? Wanda Carter said, "Ignore those who try to discourage you...Don't give up and don't give in." Others may not understand your need for change, but you know why it's important. And that's what counts!

May 29
Have you started a positive change lately? "All of us can take steps, no matter how small and insignificant at the start - in the direction we want to go," said Marsha Sinetar. Remember watching a toddler taking their first steps? The excitement generated in those steps will be yours as you start down a new path.

Change101
Chris Clarke-Epstein, CSP
PO Box 37 | Wausau, WI 54402-0037
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