Archive for May, 2012
How to Become a Director of WOW!
High Point University, in North Carolina, USA, employs a Director of WOW.
A Director of what? Wow, that person must have an unusual job, right, with a title like that?
Correct. They’re responsible for creating WOW experiences for students, and for getting rid of un-WOWs.
I LOVE that! And so should you, because you can become a Director of WOW in your own life.
So, what sorts of experiences does a Director of WOW organise at High Point? Among a gazillion other WOW experiences, students fortunate enough to be enrolled at this university can receive wake-up calls from the campus concierge, and on their birthday, they receive a card and Starbucks giftcard from the university’s president, along with a meal specially prepared by the campus’ chef.
The Director of WOW goes all out to ensure that students (the university’s clients) feel exceptionally well cared for, with students coming away from these encounters saying, ‘WOW!’.
A toner-supply company here in Australia, called The Cartridge Family, also goes out of its way to make its customers feel very special. For example, they give free jelly-frog sweets with every order, and send birthday gifts to the person who places the order.
Do you think that makes people go, ‘WOW!’? You betcha! Do you think that High Point and The Cartridge Family attract many satisfied repeat clients who tell everyone they know about the amazing experiences they’ve had? DEFINITELY!
So, if this WOW concept really works when running a university or traditional business, how can it apply to YOUR life? And why would you bother using it?
Well, the good old universal law of attraction states that ‘like vibrations attract life vibrations’. So, if you deliberately create high-vibration (WOW) experiences, you’ll attract more of the same. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
To apply this in your life, how could you go about creating ‘WOW’ experiences for yourself, your family, your friends? What difference would that make in their lives, and in yours?
Think hard about someone you know, someone you love. Is there something you could do for them (that you don’t usually do) that they would love, and that would really stand out? What would make them say, ‘WOW!’?
It doesn’t have to be expensive. Focus more on the experience, and making the other person/people feel special, and making the experience delightfully different.
What about…
- sending a friend a beautiful card that expresses what their friendship means to you, recounting some treasured (and funny) memories?
- making Monday nights into ‘dinner surprise’ night, with family members’ favourite recipes being created for dinner?
- taking family or friends to secret destinations that you know they’ll love? (A friend of mine told me that when she was a child, her mum sometimes used to take her and her brother out of school at lunchtime, and take them to the beach for a swim and a picnic!)
- taking your love on a weekend away to another city, staying in a beautiful five-star hotel?
- trying a new high-adrenaline sport?
- in summer, creating a picnic experience using your best china and glassware, eating and drinking lush, exotic treats?
- popping a ‘You Are Loved’ card into a stranger’s letterbox or in the mail to your mother? (To download a free template for these cards, head here.)
- making a sumptuous posy of flowers from your garden and dropping them over to a neighbour?
- organising a surprise party for someone, just to appreciate who they are? (Complete with slide show of favourite photos, guests recounting fun stories and why they appreciate the person in question?)
Really, creating a WOW experience is just about being thoughtful, creative and courageous. And what a way to create a rich life! Put thought and effort into creating high-vibration experiences, and, I tell ya, it’ll come back to you 10-fold. It’s so rewarding.
I’d love to hear what you’d do to become a Director of WOW in your life. What WOW experience could you create for yourself or for someone else? Leave a comment below and let us know!
Simple Pleasures Are Often the Best!
I was recently looking for a particular book, when I instead stumbled across a book I’d purchased as a wee gift for myself just after Christmas, from the delightful Mary Ryan bookstore in Toowoomba.
This book, called A Book of Simple Pleasures
The words are beautiful, but it’s the photography that makes me swoon.
Rich, luminous photos of glass bowls of flowers, close-ups of cosy soft furnishings, and panoramas of beautiful settings in nature. Many of the photos focus on the details of domestic pleasures, and invite us to relaaax and sink into sensory pleasure.
Have a look around your home. Is it set up, in a way that’s personal and true to you, to make you feel good?
Is there beauty in your midst?
Do you actively make time to connect with yourself and with others, to create rich experiences?
If you haven’t already read this book, I’d highly recommend it. It’s full of pithy quotes, ideas for easy entertaining or for lifting your mood, and personal anecdotes from contributors.
The ethos of this beautiful book is summed up by one of its contributor’s quotes (Amelia Barr):
It is always the simple that produces the marvellous.
So pare back, and focus on what matters to you and what brings you joy!
Gratitude Friday – 25 May 2012
What a fantastic week. And I can’t believe how it’s flown by!
Here’s a sample of just five things for which I’m grateful this week.
- Being with my grandmother to celebrate her 82nd birthday, and spending time with her and with extended family members at her birthday lunch.
- Having a cuppa at a cosy, warm cafe with a friend, chatting animatedly and enjoying the morning sunshine from our window table.
- Using our jolly, vibrant new ironing-board cover – it’s covered with pictures of big, bold, bright-red cherries!
- My dear friend sending hand-knitted cowls in a package for my girls. They love them!
- Being able to book tickets to the upcoming Melbourne I Can Do It! Hay House conference, because our friends were able to change their plans and visit us on another weekend. (Thanks Jason & Tess!)
I’d love for you to share your gratefuls with us. Leave a comment, if you feel called to do so!
Are You in Business?
Then, aside from being one clever cookie (because owning your own business is one of the best ways to take control of your financial destiny – and it’s one of the best personal growth tools out there!), you’re also in luck. Although we all know there’s no such thing as luck!
One of my long-distance mentors, the fabulous Fabienne Fredrickson of Client Attraction (that’s Fabienne in the photo above), is offering her services for FREE this coming Thursday, on a three-hour livestream. You can ask her any question you like!
I just had to let you know about this, because I’ve experienced the exceptional quality of Fabienne’s work – she really knows her stuff, and you’ll learn heaps from her answers to everybody’s questions. When you register for the call, you get to submit your question, and Fabienne will answer as many as she can in the three hours.
So, if you’re a business owner (congratulations again!), you will LOVE this livestream and will reap so many rewards from attending. See you there?
Gratitude Friday – 18 May 2012
Hello, my lovelies!
Yes, this should really be called Gratitude MONDAY – we went away on the weekend and I didn’t make time to create my Gratitude Friday list before we left! But I AM grateful that I’ve remembered now!
And, as usual, I have so much for which to be grateful (as do you). Here’s my list for last week:
- Experiencing a very special Mother’s Day, being showered with love and presents by my excited daughters (who loved all the subterfuge of creating surprises for me), and having an ENTIRE day in bed to rejuvenate.
- Getting to chat by phone with all of the (Australian-based) mothers in my life – my mum, my gran, and my mother-in-law. I know we all feel so honoured to have a special day just for mums.
- Seeing part one of a fascinating documentary about the Queen of England and her rather extraordinary life.
- Attending an inspirational businesswomen’s luncheon – chatting with some amazing women and hearing the story of dynamic Antonette Golikidis, who started organic baby skincare range Little Innocents a few years ago and now stocks her products in over 800 stores in Australia, as well as overseas.
- Helping a client to reach an exciting breakthrough. I feel so fortunate to be able to help people with the coaching work that I do! (If you’d love a breakthrough of your own, email me at joanne@richradiantreal.com and we’ll organise a time for a complimentary Discovery Session!)
Right, I’m off for a very busy week. You, too? Have a great week, and I’ll see you soon. Oh, feel free to let us know your ‘gratitudes’ for last week, or even just for today!
Can You Do It?
Of course you can!
Very recently, I discovered that the Hay House team will be coming ‘down under’ again to spread love and light.
They’ll be coming to Australia for the ‘I Can Do It’ conference, two days jam-packed with inspiration, education, enlightenment and fun.
I didn’t go to last year’s event because I had a prior commitment, so I would love to go this year, but I have already booked that weekend for time with friends – I’m waiting to hear back on whether our friends can reschedule, and if they can, I’ll be there!
After being inspired by Louise Hay over the years, including loving her book You Can Heal Your Life, I’d love to meet her in person:
Louise Hay
Co-presenting will be life coach extraordinaire Cheryl Richardson – I love her book The Art of Extreme Self-Care (see my review of it here), and I’d love to see her energy sparkle ‘live’!
Cheryl Richardson
An another of my favourite people will be presenting: financial expert Suze Orman. I own several of Suse’s books – she’s a straight-talking dynamo!
Suze Orman
There are actually seven presenters over a weekend, and the conference will be held in Sydney and Melbourne. If you live in Australia and would love a shot of inspiration, learning from women and men who are here to lead, educate and transform, then make your way to one of these conferences.
I’m sure it will be no problem for my friends to reschedule, but if they can’t, then I will make a note in my diary for NEXT year! Let me know if you’re going, OK?
Gratitude Friday – 11 May 2012
Hello! Another week of life on Planet Earth, and so much for which to be grateful. Here’s my list of top five ‘gratefuls’ for this week:
- Spending time at Lavandula Swiss Italian Farm Autumn Harvest Festival with my family (the above is a photo of some late-blooming flowers in front of one of the original farm buildings – gorgeous!). The girls loved playing the old-fashioned game of boules, and we loved strolling around the farm, admiring the autumnal foliage and soaking in the atmosphere.
- Putting together and sending our Mother’s Day gifts to grandparents. So much fun!
- Helping on the Mother’s Day stall at my girls’ school, and having a laugh with the other mums who were helping.
- Receiving a lovely chunk of money!
- Watching an ABC TV documentary about Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. So interesting to see how Mark’s passions for psychology and information technology merged and led to him creating the world’s largest social networking site. I also loved his passion and how focused he is with his energy, and the laid-back vibe of his workplace (a lot like the vibe of Lonely Planet when I worked there many moons ago – there’s no need for any workplace to be stuffy and buttoned up!).
Let me know what’s happened in your week – what are you grateful for? Mwuh!
Letters to Mothers
That special day is coming up very soon.
The day in which we honour mothers around the world! (I’m looking forward to my special breakfast in bed, and lots of cuddles and handmade-with-love gifts and cards.)
If you’re a mum (or mom), or you have a mum, or you know a mum, you’ll want to check out a very, very special book called Mother Letters: Sharing the Mess and Glory.
It’s a compilation of letters from mothers, to other mothers.
I’m one of the contributors, so if you’re curious to see what I’ve written, you’ll need to grab yourself a copy! It’s an ebook, so you can instantly download it and start reading… and laughing, and crying.
And the story behind the book is also beautiful – check out ’Our Story’ over at the information page.
This book truly is a work of art, as is motherhood. Just look at this beautiful trailer:
So, if you know someone who would love this ebook, why not gift it as a gift this Mother’s Day? I know I will be. You can also download a gift card to add to a copy of a confirmation email. (And for a limited time, this amazing book is only US$6.99!)
Gratitude Friday – 4 May 2012
Friday, Friday, Friday, we definitely love you.
What am I grateful for this week? Read on!
- Having a scrumptious, relaxed lunch with friends at their South Melbourne apartment, complete with a stroll across to Albert Park Lake, all on a gorgeous sunny day.
- Jimmy, my wonder-tech, laying out my ezine in record time (I was running a bit late). Thanks, J-Man! (BTW, if you’re not already a subscriber, all you need to to receive my full-colour, monthly Your Abundant Life ezine is to sign up in the boxes on the top right of this page. One of my subscribers says it’s one of the only ezines she reads, because it’s so interesting and inspirational!)
- My girls returning home safely from a school excursion.
- Having lovely, toasty-warm heating!
- Being the owner of a huge Excalibur dehydrator, so that I could try out Shakaya Leone’s ‘Kickin’ Back Kale Chips’ recipe, from her Nude Food ebook. (Oh, I’m also grateful to have received an updated version of the ebook, with a bonus recipe for ‘Fairy Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake’.)
I now have a weekend stretching out ahead, full of lovely connection time with my family. How about you? Share your ‘gratitudes’ with us below, if you feel drawn to do so!
Where Do I Start?
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, or are a subscriber to my ezine, it’s quite likely that you’re an advancing person. That is, you’re always moving towards ‘more life’ in everything you do.
You want to live the richest, fullest, happiest, most deeply satisfying life you can imagine.
You have beautiful, life-expanding dreams for yourself, and you want those dreams to come true.
But it’s also possible that you’re feeling SO overwhelmed by everything that you want to do. In fact, you’re not even sure where to start… so you don’t. (Start, that is.)
So, would you like a little coaching advice about where to start?
Well, my first piece of advice is to listen to your intuition. Give yourself a good half-hour to clear your mind, and then sit and think, and FEEL. Consider your preferences and then listen to what your ‘gut’ tells you. Having a pencil and large notepad with you is a very good idea.
But if you’re overworked, stressed, tired and foggy headed (or feel as though you’re going around the bend from ‘overthinking’), it could be that even doing the above seems too difficult.
In which case, I’d recommend carving out some PROPER time in your diary – like a whole day, at the least – to devote fully to getting crystal clear on what you want, to brainstorm ideas, to prioritise, and to create an action plan.
You can do this yourself, but doing it with the help of a trusted friend or a coach can give you much-needed perspective and encouragement. I’ll soon be making myself available for VIP Days, where I’ll help you get clear on what it is that you really want, start eliminating limiting beliefs, and create a very do-able, exciting action plan to start bringing those dreams of yours into the real world.
(To be one of the first to know about these amazing VIP Days, head here and leave your details. And, listen – I know goal-setting can be a big turn-off for some people because the process can feel forced and very ‘masculine’, but in our day together it’s all about YOU and what YOU want out of life, not what society or your peers or family say you should want. You’ll have time to think, and breeeaaathe, and dream, and create a plan that’s perfect for you…)
Then, you can start going through a conscious creation process, starting with visualisation – if you’d love help with this, check out the beautiful Your House of Abundance process.
However, if you’re feeling too exhausted (and perhaps even sick) to contemplate lofty or even not-so-lofty dreams, then I advise that your first focus be your health.
Fabulous health is at the core of a great life. It underpins everything. And we often don’t realise how valuable our health is until we become unwell or injured.
So if that’s you – make your health an absolute priority. You’ll then be able to think clearly, and will have the energy to take action on your other dreams.
By the way, sometimes people get ‘put off’ the idea of becoming healthier, because they think it takes a lot of money to do so. If you’re switching from eating cheap processed food to buying organic fruits and veggies, and supplements, then, yes, it can cost a bit more than you’re now paying for food. And if you join a gym then there are fees, and personal health coaching can be a substantial investment.
But if money is tight for you right now, and you know getting healthy is a top priority so that you can start heading for your dreams, you can make free or low-cost health changes now.
These include:
- going for walks (even if just around your back garden, or briskly around your house);
- planting a few organic vegetable seeds;
- purchasing (and using!) a book such as Raw Foods on a Budget;
- generally cutting back on unhealthy foods (even if they’re cheap); and
- asking an ‘advancing’ friend to be your ‘accountability buddy’ when it comes to simple health goals you set for yourself.
Once your health starts to improve, you’ll have more energy to create the money you want, which means you can then invest more in organics and superfoods, personal trainers or coaches, if that feels right for you.
So you now have some guidance as to ‘where to start’. But you know deep in your soul what’s needed. I just hope my advice has helped clear some of the fog, and has helped put you on the road towards creating and living a life you truly, truly love.
Joanne's coaching was exactly what I needed to help me focus my precious time and money on finding work and making money! What I like most about Joanne’s coaching is that it's gentle, supportive and empathetic, rather than pushy and 'ra-ra-ra'”
...if there’s something that you’ve been putting off doing, because it’s so big and overwhelming, then by coaching with Joanne you'll definitely find a way to do it, to finally reach your goal.”
Radiant