Small Change is a free ezine from Shannon Bradford to help you get more done, feel less stressed, and enjoy more success.

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IN THIS ISSUE
On My Mind:  Singing for a Change

Thinkology® Tools:  Find a Theme Song

Shared Assets:  Kara Keating, brain cancer survivor, in Real Simple

Recommended Investments: The 2002 Holiday Gift Book Guide

ON MY MIND

Singing for a Change

In a recent episode of “The Practice,” a man was suing his neighbor because she disturbed him by singing the same song every morning. In court, the singer explained why she sang this song (at full volume) each morning. Prior to her morning ritual, she said, she was depressed and could hardly get out of bed and to work. But once she started singing “One Moment in Time” each morning, it changed her outlook, and helped her start the day with energy and optimism.

The singer had unwittingly learned to use repetition to condition herself to feel happy and energetic. Learn how you can use the principle of repetition to change your state, in Thinkology Tools, below.

THINKOLOGY® TOOLS

Find a Theme Song

You can use conditioning to feel happy, motivated, energetic, or confident whenever you want. One way to use the power of conditioning is to pick a song that will be your conditioning stimulus. Make sure the song has a melody you can sing or hum, and words that have a special meaning for you.

Once you’ve chosen your Theme Song, sing the song at least three times a day, and while you’re singing, think good thoughts. After six weeks (or less) of practicing this conditioning, you’ll be able to trigger those powerful feelings just by singing or humming your Theme Song.

You probably already have several songs that give you a lift. But if you’re looking for suggestions, here are songs that other people use for their Theme Songs:

Gloria Savannah-Carmelo: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” sung by Eva Cassidy

Kenn Christopher: “Come Monday” by Jimmy Buffett

Melanie Wegner: “Sanctuary” by Eliza Gilkyson

Audrey Phillips: “Thank You” by Dido

Sherri Sullivan: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin

Matt Arata: “Danger Zone” (Theme from Top Gun) by Kenny Loggins

(These friends were kind enough to volunteer their own theme songs to use as examples in Brain Power. Unfortunately, my editor was stuck in a belief that “experts” shouldn’t be human, so I was unable to include any references to friends or family in my book. So, here they are, instead. Thanks, friends.)

SHARED ASSETS (Great Quotes)

Kara Keating, brain cancer survivor, in “Second Chance”

Real Simple

“You have to start with yourself before you can connect with others. If you’re not connected, you’re not really living – you’re just an observer to a play. I want to be in the play.”

Back again by popular demand: the holiday gift book guide. You can’t go wrong by giving one of these books. Some are new this year and some are “new classics.”

Business Books

Brain Power: Maximize Communication and Cognition for Your Business Success

By Shannon Bradford

Why? You need to ask?

Quote: “The reality of this new, brain-based environment is that no one can afford to squander brainpower.”

Discover Your Genius: How to Think Like History’s Ten Most Revolutionary Minds

By Michael Gelb

Why? The guru of how to think differently brings us an ingenious blend of insightful biography, relevant examples and useful exercises.

Quote: “Darwin reminds me that an open mind is a point of departure for understanding the world and for the process of personal evolution, a process that requires me to question my assumptions, preconceptions, and prejudices on a daily basis.”

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't

By Jim Collins

Why? You could read this book twenty times and still not harvest the wealth of insights. I salute the greatness of Collins.

Quote: "The flywheel image captures the overall feel of what it was like inside the companies as they went from good to great. No matter how dramatic the end result, the good-to-great transformation never happened in one fell swoop. There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no wrenching revolution. Good to great comes about by a cumulative process--step by step, action by action, decision by decision, turn by turn of the flywheel--that adds up to sustained and spectacular results."

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

By Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

Why? You will find a fascinating, contrarian viewpoint: the perspective that it is not strategy that is the test of a company. Instead, it is the focus on people and details -- which creates a culture of execution -- that makes a great company.

Quote: “Many business leaders spend vast amounts of time learning and promulgating the latest managerial techniques. But their failure to understand and practice execution negates the value of almost all they learn and preach. Such leaders are building houses without foundations."

Customers Rule! Why the E-Commerce Honeymoon is Over

& Where Winning Businesses Go From Here

By Roger Blackwell & Kristina Stephan

Why? True insights and practical advice about the contradictory and confusing question of how businesses can survive and thrive during the evolution of this new economy. The chapter on "Blending Strategies for Competing in the Real World" is worth the price of the book.

Quote: "The battles of the future are not likely to be between traditional brick-and-mortar retailers and online e-tailers. Nor are they likely to be between off- and online wholesalers and manufacturers. Most of those contests have already been won. The battle will be fought supply chain against supply chain, fortified with consumer-savvy facilitating organizations and multichannel retail, distribution, and marketing activities.”

Jack: Straight from the Gut

By Jack Welch

Why? The journey from “Neutron Jack” to “Jack, the Leader.” Okay, he’s not perfect, but he seems pretty honest about his mistakes and shortcomings in the book. And he was one of the most successful business leaders of our time.

Quote: "Getting every employee's mind into the game is a huge part of what the CEO job is all about. Taking everyone's best ideas and transferring them to others is the secret. There's nothing more important.”

Stop Whining--and Start Winning: Recharging People, Reigniting Passion and Pumping Up Profits

By Frank Pacetta with Roger Gittines

Why? Stop Whining--and Start Winning is all about the people thing. You could think of this book as a handbook on real-life leadership.

Quote: "We've got to get beyond the notion that equates high productivity with slave-driving and downsizing.”

Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work By John Putzier

Why? Get Weird! is a collection of great ideas (most that can be easily implemented) to make your organization more people-friendly and more productive.

Quote: “Let’s turn the traditional policy concept upside down. Instead of creating policies that restrict and police behavior, how about some policies that set people free and empower them, or anti-policies?

If you take that idea and apply it to your organization, you could create a Customer’s Bill of Rights, or an Employee’s Bill or Rights.”

Career/Life Books

The Way of Transition: Embracing Life's Most Difficult Moments

By William Bridges

Why? Bridges shares more insight about the psychological and emotional process of transition. He also shares many of his personal stories about moving through transition, including changing careers, and losing his wife to cancer.

Although we often talk about the difficulty of change, he believes it is not so much the change that it is hard for us to handle; it is the transition that we find difficult.

Quote: "It's a paradox: To achieve continuity, we have to be willing to change. Change is, in fact, the only way to protect whatever exists, for without continuous readjustment the present cannot continue.”

Whistle While You Work: Heeding Your Life’s Calling

By Richard Leider and David Shapiro

Why? Leider and Shapiro show us how to recognize a life calling, and then how to incorporate it into our jobs and our lives.

Quote:  “It’s not what you do that matters, it’s how you do it.”

The Invitation

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Why? The Invitation was a contagious success, shared via e-mail, until it was published in hard copy, because it resonates.

Quote: “It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away."

The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom Book

By Don Miguel Ruiz

Why? It’s something for us all to aim for.

Quote: “We need a great deal of courage to challenge our own beliefs. Because even if we know we didn’t choose all these beliefs, it is also true that we agreed to all of them. The agreement is so strong that even if we understand the concept of it not being true, we feel the blame, the guilt, and the shame that occur if we go against these rules.”

Living Juicy: Daily Morsels for Your Creative Soul

By SARK

Why? We need reminders about joy, fun, and that it’s okay not to be perfect.

Quote: “Often, our best beginnings are trapped in our heads, and don’t even make it to the outside air. We need to find the courage to let our beginnings travel freely.”

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

By Dr. Seuss

Why? This is my favorite fun book to show someone I believe in them and their dreams, and it makes a terrific graduation or “new life” book.

Quote: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”