by Sherri Elliott-Yeary

I am proud to announce Sherri’s new book titled – You Can Have It All, Just Not All At Once! endorsed by Ms. Ebby Halliday and Mr. Clint Haggard. You Can Have It All features personal stories from thirty-five women and one man who powerfully share their struggles and triumphs as they strive to have it all.

This book is for women everywhere who are striving to have it all. Inside, you’ll find the personal stories of lessons learned by the top women executives and entrepreneurs across the country. These women have shared stories from their hearts about how they climbed the corporate ladder and balanced family obligations while also overcoming challenging obstacles. We share the intimate secrets of our successes and setbacks on the road to building and living life to the fullest.

All of these extraordinary women share one thing in common – we believe that having it all isn’t about competing with others. It’s about choosing the life you want, the life that works for you as a woman, so you can live your life to the fullest.
May each story of hope in these pages captivate you and challenge you to learn how to have it all every day!

Book Launch Party Details:

You Can Have It All, Just Not All At Once!

July 16th, 2012

5:30pm to 8:30pm

Location: Imprimis Staffing

4835 LBJ Freeway, Ste. 1000

Dallas, TX 75244

RSVP by July 9th at manager@planosmiles.com.

View Invite

All proceeds from each book sold at the event will benefit Komen Race  for the Cure.

Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell was published in the late 1800’s. Coming from a Baptist minister, Russell Conwell’s Acres of Diamonds may be the most famous bit of speechmaking in the history of the American lecture platform.

Conwell had a unique method of lecturing.  He would arrive in the town in which he was to lecture, as early as possible; he would visit the postmaster, the school principal, the ministers, the factory workers at their benches, and ring a few doorbells to talk with the local housewives.  That was done that he might find out something about the town – its history, its people (“what opportunities they had, and what they had failed to do”), and then he would get up on the rostrum and point to the acres of diamonds in their own back yards.

He gave 1,600 lectures and created the Temple University from the money raised.

The sermon was from a story he was told by an Arab leading the camel Conwell was ridding.  Seems there was a rich man who had been told of wealthier men making their fortunes in the Diamond mines.  He immediately sold his farm – left his family and friends to go in search of greater gain.  Years later he returned a broke and broken man only to find that the man who had purchased his farm had discovered diamonds in the back yard.

The point being – that we need to pay attention to those friends and family closest to us.  Look for the silver lining in all you have.

In 1963, Edward Lorenz presented a hypothesis to the New York Academy of Science.  His theory, stated simply, was that:  A butterfly could flap its wings and set molecules of air in motion, which would move other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air – eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet.  Lorenz and his ideas were literally laughed out of the conference.  So imagine the scientific community’s shock and surprise when, more than thirty years after the possibility was introduced, physics professors working from colleges and universities worldwide came to the conclusion that the butterfly effect was authentic, accurate, and viable.

Soon after, it was accorded the status of a “law.” Now known as the Law of Sensitive Dependence Upon Initial Conditions, this principle has proven to be a force encompassing more than mere butterfly wings, but the first movement of any form of matter – including people.

The Butterfly Effect is a small little book with a huge message.  This author’s quote pretty much tells the story… “Every single thing you do matters.  You have been created as one of a kind.  You have been created in order to make a difference.  You have within you the power to change the world.”

One example of this reflects a story about Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the charge of his ragged group of 80 men – without any ammunition – who captured over four hundred soldiers of the enemy.  Historians tell us, had the rebels won at Gettysburg, the South would have won the war … and the war itself would have been over by the end of the summer.  If so, chances are that today we would exist as two countries, the Union and the Confederacy.  North America would be divided into nine to thirteen countries. Which means – when Hitler swept across Europe in the 1940s, had Chamberlain not charged on that afternoon so long ago, there would not have existed a United States of America to stand in the breach; or to fight and win two wars on two fronts at the same time.  The United States of America exists as it does today because of a single man; One thirty-four year old schoolteacher and one move he made more than a century ago.

The point being – everything we do matters!

Your audience speaks. Listen to them.   Audiences want their presenters to be enthusiastic, interesting, use humor, stories, and to be knowledgeable.

Captivate them with …

STEAK:  information, content, message, organization

SIZZLE: stories, humor, anecdotes, audience participation

STYLE: gestures, voice, how a person moves, how the voice sounds, personality

Add sizzle every six minutes

Know and connect with your audience…

Step into their shoes

Get in sync with them

Reach into their souls

Learn how to tame the trouble makers. If you have a heckler making too many negative comments, ask the audience how they feel about it those comments.

Jazz up the three main points first and then add to your open and closing remarks.

Avoid having a monotone voice, reading, the “and-uh” syndrome, speaking too long, and not making eye contact.

Use smiles, pauses, dress a notch up, appear confident. GRABM: grab the audience’s attention. Connect with them by explaining what’s in it for them.

Drink room temperature water, use deep breathing, practice positive visualization, rehearse, practice, and anticipate questions.

Say to yourself, “I’m looking forward to this presentation and I plan to make it enjoyable for the audience.”

Note from Petey…  HAVE FUN WITH IT AND HAVE FUN WITH YOUR AUDIENCE!

The eight bare essentials of the book should be tempting enough to want to read it in total:

1) Sagging with gravity: the need for support systems

2) Elective surgery: taking the organ out of the organizations (problems caused by change … and their solutions)

3) Exposing yourself: being au natural from all angles (conveying your truths in a way people can hear you)

4) Big BUTS:  positive attitudes and creative minds. (encouraging creativity and innovation)

5) Birthmarks:  using uniqueness to your advantage

6) From ear to ear:  communicating accurately

7) Natural instincts: using your intuition

8) That’s the spirit:  spirituality in the workplace

One of my favorite points of the book deals with who owns the problem; and what to say and do once that is established.  Another poignant chapter deals with the BUTS we cling to.

Well no buts about it, The Naked Manager is fun, enlightening, knowledgeable, easy to read and packed full of common sense basics that work.

The book was published by Oakhill Press and can be purchased on Amazon.

The object of war is peace, and the art of war is peace without fighting.  Sun Tzu says, “The reason the enlightened ruler and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they strike is foreknowledge.” The basic thesis of The Art of War is to try to overcome the enemy by wisdom, not force alone. Foreknowledge, in essence, means to know the situation of the enemy and of yourself before the way starts, just as Sun Tzu wrote in the chapter entitled “Offensive Strategy”; know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated.  When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.  If ignorant both of the enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle.

Sun Tzu’s Art of War was written by Sun Tzu, the most famous military scientist and one of the ablest commanders in ancient China.  The exact dates of his birth and death are not known, but he lived around 500 B.C.; therefore, he was a contemporary of Confucius.  According to Shi Ji; The Biography of Wu Zixu, Sun Tzu and his book of thirteen chapters on the art of way were recommended by General Qu Zixu to He Lu, the sovereign of the kingdom of Wu.  Recognizing that Sun Tzu was very good at military affairs, He Lu appointed Sun Tzu a general in the kingdom.

The Art of War, written approximately 2,400 to 2,500 years ago, is the earliest and most complete book on the strategy of war available in China.  Current books related to Sun Tzu are somewhat different from what appears on the bamboo slips, the original Sun Tzu’s Art of War, that were excavated from the Yingue Mountains.

Sun Tzu’s work of universal rules on guiding and commanding wars include;

1. It is a profound exposition of factors leading to victory and to defeat, and stresses the importance of calculations (the final military decisions before a way).
2. It stresses the relationship between war and such factors as politics, economics, diplomacy, astronomy and geography.  A commander is required to judge the hour, size up the situation and anticipate the enemy’s decisions before launching or directing a way.  He should never act rashly.
3. It emphasizes defeating one’s enemy by strategic considerations, not by force.
4. It expresses the belief that “to subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence” in a way.  That is to say, we should use comprehensive means – including political, diplomatic, and technical resources instead of purely military means – to subdue the enemy.
5. It maintains that in a war one should adroitly guide military action and bring one’s initiative into full play so as to lure the enemy onto the road to defeat.
6. It stresses that a commander must try his best to “bring the enemy to the battlefield and not to be brought there by him (the enemy)” whether in a strategic or tactical sense.  The commander should, in any case, contend for the initiative, without which one is likely to be defeated or even annihilated.
7. It also stresses the importance of employing troops flexibly, according to the position and conditions of your enemy and yourself, and of topography.
8. It attaches great importance to “knowing your enemy and yourself” if you want to win a way.  In present-day language, it means one must be realistic and practical and be certain about all situations before making the final decision to fight.  Subjective assumption and rash action surely lead to defeat.
9. It advocated that employing troops must be unpredictable to the enemy and catch him by surprise.  It stresses that when you attack, you must use overwhelming superiority, like a fierce tiger jumping upon a sheep, and when you want to end a battle, end it as suddenly as a flash of lightning.

Every known military has studied its content over the decades; movie after movie refers to Sun Tzu (start listening for it); the principles apply to modern business as well of military.  Modern business leaders have given credit to the tactics and goals to shape their companies and have thereby shaped the world.

This book in its original form has been and continues to be my favorite resource for strategic planning and is admittedly hard to read.  The best of the translations in my opinion would be Sun Tzu’s Art of War – General Tao Hanzhang – translated by Yuan Shibing.

“The leaders who work most effective, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they’ve trained themselves not to say it. They think “We” and they think “team”. They understand their job is to be to make sure the team functions. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.” — Peter Drucker

John Murphy wrote Pulling Together with that principal in mind. Read the follow excerpt:
At the center of every high performance team is a common purpose -a mission that rises above and beyond each of the individual team members. To be successful, the team’s interests and needs come first. This requires “we-opic”vision (“What’s in it for we?”), a challenging step up from the common “me-optic” mindset.

It means sharing unique strengths and differences to move the team forward. Effective teams understand the importance of establishing cooperative systems, structures, incentives and rewards.

To embrace the team-first rule, make sure your team purpose and priorities are clear. What is your overall mission? What is your game plan? What is expected of each team member? How can each member contribute most effectively? Then stop and ask yourself, are you putting the team first?

So, how’s that New Year’s resolution to diet working for you?    Hopefully you didn’t tell a bunch of people you were starting another diet for the zillionth time. I did knowing how badly I fell off the wagon before, so I decided to read this book. Picked it up several times, put it down, didn’t particularly like it and suddenly found myself referring back to some of the ideas found hidden in the chapters. For instance, actually looking at the food for a period of time before eating it and wondering why I was eating when I wasn’t actually hungry!

The cover starts off with, “No matter how sophisticated or wealthy or broke or enlightened you are, how you eat tells all.” OUCH! I am a sugarholic at heart.

If you suffer with your relationship with food – you eat too much or too little, think about what you will eat constantly or try not to think about it at all – you can be free.  Just look down at your plate.  The answers are there.  Don’t run.  Look.  Because when we welcome what we most want to avoid, we contact the part of ourselves that is fresh and alive.  We touch the life we truly want and evoke divinity itself.

Geneen begins with her most basic concept: the way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive.  Your relationship with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation and, yes, even God.  But it doesn’t stop there because it goes beyond both the food and feelings and takes you into the realm of spirit and soul to the bright center of your own life.

So, there you have it. I think it applies to MEN as well.  Interesting concept and who knows?   Personally, I’ll give it a try!

Dr. Maxell tells us that your dream has power. It can inspire you. It can empower you.But will it reward you? In this guidebook to reaching your dreams, he shows you howto do the things needed to make your dream come true. Most people fail to realize theirpotential because their dream remains hypothetical. Putting your dream to the testtakes your dream from ethereal to achievable. Maxwell shows you how to crystallizeyour vision and galvanize your commitment by instructing you how to answer “yes” toten simple questions such as;
• Is my dream really my dream?
• Am I depending on factors in my control to achieve my dream?
• Do I have a strategy to reach my dream?
• Am I willing to pay the price for my dream?

So…I took the test and discovered that I’m LIVING the dream!!!!

And I agree with the Author when he says, “Achieving a dream is about more than justwhat you accomplish. It’s about who you become in the process!”

It’s all about how much leverage we can get on such an ephemeral phenomenon as quick-set intimacy!  The brothers Ori (a business consultant) and Rom (a psychologist) don’t dissipate all the magic for who would want to read their analysis if they did? They dig up considerable research and talk about a variety of clickmasters such as a hostage negotiator, a casting director, and a flight attendant to identify factors that catalyze such alchemy.  And they make a convincing case that clicking does more than put you on a fast track to love or success; when you click you become yourself, only better. – Per Matthew Hutsons’ overview of their book.

There are 5 catalysts for connection;

1. Vulnerability – Opening up to others by sharing personal information, admitting to an embarrassment, or even just expressing an opinion or emotional reaction immediately deepens the interaction.  Eye contact and casual touching also help.
2. Proximity – People tend to befriend and collaborate with others they sit next to, live near, or work alongside.  Mere facial familiarity enhances judgments of a stranger’s personality.  So go out there and mix it up face-to-face.
3. Resonance – Get out of your head and into the “zone.”  You can reach a state of flow with another person where boundaries fade away by being present and offering undivided attention, listening actively and responding to unspoken needs.
4. Similarity We tend to like people who are like us, so find common ground early.  Similarities can be as trivial as a shared name or birthday or interest in a sports team.  Whatever your background, you immediately become an in-group of two.
5. Shared Community – Creating a well-defined frame through, say, a corporate retreat, can amplify the other click accelerants by offering a safe space.  Shared adversity also strengthens bonds and can forge permanent partnerships.

Petey’s Comment – It’s a quick read & useful information!