Dear Melissa,

Family news! Check out the article here about great grandfather, Frank Lloyd Wright. They got in touch with all family in design and architecture related fields. Always fun to see my name in print especially with a publication as illustrious as the Chicago Tribune.

Check me out on YouTube! I did a series of quick tip videos to Celebrate the Home, love to get your comments.

Growing Pains! We are working on a redesign of the newsletter, so you can expect a slightly different look and feel in future issues. The same great content even better, and with the regular Take Action Affiliates. I only refer you to resources I use regularly and have had success with, and these are valued business building tools for every business owner.

Live Well and Prosper By Design,

MG

"Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
but modes in which we think."
~ Albert Einstein
Theoretical Physicist

Time Mastery in a Minute

Since we think about time, we need to manage our thoughts! Now this is a huge topic and I could devote a book to it, but I'm instead going to offer just a trio of quick tips:

•  Know Your Most Productive Time – Design your day to take advantage of your personally best productive time. If you are great in the morning, block that time for complex and creative tasks requiring focus. I make 6am-10am my peak creative time. If you come to life in the afternoon block your schedule to correspond. Don't waste those hours on useless email, phone call catch up and meetings that won't truly benefit from your ultimate concentration. What can you do today to take advantage of your peak productive times?

•  Know Your Best Social Time - Design your day to maximize your social and business interaction skills. Everyone has different times of day they enjoy being social, a few enjoy it all the time. I know that I'm not great at being social or interacting in business until after 10am and that I fade as the day wears on so I schedule client meetings and calls between 10 and 2pm typically. What can you do to ensure that you schedule business interactions during your best social hours?

•  Block Time for You – Design your day to honor yourself not just take care of everyone else. My home work out is on my calendar just like any other commitment, this one is with myself. I've found that I can do this with a lunch break (instead of skipping it and being famished at 3pm!), and even with essential time to catch up on industry reading. What can you schedule to honor yourself, your interests, and support your career?

Yes, there are exceptions to every schedule and there will be times that you'll have to suck it up and just get the energy and the focus regardless of the hour. But how much more effective can you be if you honor your personal bests by design?

If vs. When

Often I catch myself and more often others talking about "if" something occurs as if they are waiting and not in control of it. There is very little we aren't truly in control of, though few of us are willing to accept that responsibility. Make a conscious effort to change your language replacing "if" with "when" as truly it is just a matter of taking the appropriate action to get where you intend to go.

It could be a project or client you are going after, "when" supplies the necessary intent and action. Or a desire to lose ten pounds; it is all up to you. It could be the vacation getaway you want or the soul mate you long to find. Big dreams require significant action, skip the "if," lose your hesitation. Abandon your doubt; it is the betrayer of your dreams. Applying a "when" to any dream makes it possible and will spur you to create actionable steps to make it reality.

If in doubt, check out the mind bending movie What the Bleep Do We Know. It never really got the attention it deserved, eclipsed by The Secret. The reality is that all that we want most, all that we desire and deserve is right here for us. Our abundance is not in question; it is not "if" but instead it is about aligning ourselves with it and "when" we do that, our reality will match our dreams.

Dan Janal’s PR Leads

PR Lead's is a great way to get you quoted in a limitless variety of publications across the country. I get leads twice a day in a selection of three topics I specialize in. I can choose to answer them or not and usually find at least 1-3 of 15 or so that are good fits. I've often spoken with as many as three journalists in any given week. The topics range from business and finance to technology, relationships to home décor, sales and marketing to trade shows. There is truly something, usually several somethings, for everyone. Dan Janal includes a free subscription to his PR Leads tips which I've found valuable, in addition he provides his own affiliate links to additional services.

In this day and age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get noticed. PR Leads is one effective way to do so.

Movie Moments

"Eastern Promises"   
- Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl

"The Brave One"   
- Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Nicky Katt, Naveen Andrews

"Vantage Point"   
- William Hurt, Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver

"No Country for Old Men"   
- Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson

"Dan in Real Life"   
- Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, John Mahoney