Announcing the "Stress Management from Mind Tools" site!

Newsletter 8 - 27th May 2004 This is the newsletter for www.mindtools.com. You have received this newsletter because you have subscribed to our double opt-in newsletter. If you are not already a member and you would like to subscribe, please visit http://mindtools.com/subscribe.htm. Unsubscribe information is shown at the foot of this page. This newsletter is published by James Manktelow and Kellie Fowler of Mind Tools Ltd. To contact us, please email Newsletter@mindtools.com .

This newsletter keeps you up-to-date on what’s new at Mind Tools and lets you know about useful new career skills on the Mind Tools website.

In this edition, we are excited to share with you more news about the latest career development tools at Mind Tools, including the launch of our new stress site, stress.mindtools.com. More about this later.

Also in this edition we review Nightingale Conant’s “The Psychology of Winning,” which is undoubtedly one of the strongest, most comprehensive motivational audio programs on the market today. This review highlights “The Psychology of Winning’s” no-nonsense approach to making you a “winner in life” and further demonstrates why the Nightingale Conant products continue to make a profound difference in the lives of those who apply the detailed techniques. We also offer a helpful article, “From Striving to Thriving,” written by Certified Life Coach Helaine Iris.

Finally, as a newsletter subscriber, you’re already aware of our commitment to providing you with tools and information that propel your career to new heights. In doing this, we continually solicit input from you.

Now, we are taking this a step further with a survey we hope you will take just a minute to fill out. It gives you, as a newsletter subscriber, the unique opportunity to have an active voice in the going-ons and developments at Mind Tools. With this in mind, we encourage your participation and look forward to reviewing your survey comments. As an added benefit, we're offering prizes of US$100 of Amazon.com vouchers for three randomly-selected people who complete the survey openly and honestly.

Please click here to take the survey.

Similarly, we want to hear from you and hope you will continue to let us know if there are specific tools, services or information that may be of interest to you. We also want to know if you have comments, questions or suggestions for the Mind Tools team and our array of products. With this in mind, please feel free to contact us at Suggestions@mindtools.com.

In the meantime, enjoy using the Mind Tools and stress.mindtools.com sites, and enjoy the articles below!

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New on Mind Tools:

Stress Management from Mind Tools- Beat Stress, Starting Now!

We are proud to announce the launch of our new stress management web site, stress.mindtools.com! This new site develops the articles in our stress management section much, much further, giving you web-based access to more than 100 essential articles that help you live a happier life.

The skills explained on stress.mindtools.com help you tackle the fundamental sources of stress in your life as well as dealing with the symptoms. Skills are organized into the 12 essential skill areas below:

• Understanding Stress & Stress Management
• Identify and Target Sources of Stress
• Cope with the Stress of Work Overload
• Survive the Stress of Problem Jobs
• Work Harmoniously With Powerful People
• Overcome Co-Worker and Team Stress
• Manage Environmental Stress
• Manage Performance Stress
• Reducing Stress With Rational Thinking
• Building Defenses Against Stress
• Avoiding Burnout
• Useful Relaxation Techniques

If you want to approach it in this way, the site is structured to guide you through articles one-by-one, giving you complete and comprehensive knowledge of stress management. Just click here to start reading!

This new site is just one of the latest developments from the Mind Tools team to help you learn how to cope with pressure, win back control over your workload and improve even your most stressful situations.

Pair the information on this site with the Stress Management techniques on the already existing Mind Tools site and you’re sure to see a difference in your professional and your personal lives. You will quickly notice positive changes that come along with recognizing and managing the stressors in your life.

We hope that this site will make a real difference to your working life and to the lives of your associates and co-workers - please help us by letting them know about it!

Next, my favorite audio program:

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Tools Reviewed:

The Psychology of Winning

A Nightingale Conant product (www.nightingale.com)

Reviewed by Kellie Fowler

After listening to Nightingale Conant’s “The Psychology of Winning,” by Denis Waitley, it’s easy to see why the theories contained in this audio program are considered among the best. Waitley’s theories on human potential and his understanding of motivation, leadership and discipline shine through in every one of the six cassette tapes contained in the comprehensive program.

As seems to be consistent among the Nightingale Conant products, this program lives up to its reputation for creating a winning attitude and truly winning results! As one of the most acclaimed and popular audio programs, my expectations were high for “The Psychology of Winning.” Even so, my expectations were exceeded with top-notch information and steps that I have easily implemented into my life in my quest to be a true winner.

In fact, in “The Psychology of Winning,” Waitley details the “Ten Steps to Winning,” which are already used by Olympic athletes and top executives alike.

By applying positive self-expectancy, as Waitley recommends, it is easy to boost your own “winning average,” almost instantly. Much more than it’s hard-to-believe hype, “The Psychology of Winning” is real meat and potatoes, leaving the listener feeling full, yet wanting more.

The audio program is divided into two sets, Attitude Qualities and Action Qualities, each containing three two-sided audiotapes. In the first part of the program, Attitude Qualities, Waitley successfully defines and explains the importance of positive self-expectancy (my personal favorite), positive self-image, positive self-control, positive self-esteem and positive self-awareness. Clearly surpassing other similar programs, each of these tapes gives no-nonsense attitude advice, further supported by information on making the attitude changes necessary to becoming a winner.

In the second part of the program, Action Qualities, Waitley discusses positive self-motivation, positive self-direction, positive self-discipline, positive self-dimension, and positive self-projection, leaving no rock unturned.

As with all Nightingale Conant programs I have reviewed, “The Psychology of Winning” is as successful as the users ability to adopt the techniques and changes. Honestly, I find this not to be a difficult task, focusing on long-term commitment to the program and making changes each and every day, all with the goal of being a winner.

Repeated listening is essential to the program’s success, but because the information is easy-to-understand and apply, I find listening to the tapes a rather easy task, with the results making the time I invest more than worthwhile. I look forward to listening to the tapes and have made scheduling time to do so a priority. For it doesn’t take long to review a single tape and since each tape is clearly labeled with the information it covers, I simply choose a tape I feel I will benefit most from and put it in.

In short, this program is a MUST for anyone looking to improve their attitude and their performance – working to become a winner in every way!

For more information on “The Psychology of Winning” or the other Nightingale products, click here for the CD version, and here for the tape version.

Note from James: When I first listened to the Psychology of Winning 10 years ago, it transformed my life. Whilst in a few areas ideas have moved on since PoW was recorded, this does not in any way diminish the importance of its message. I know it's a cliché to say this, but if you buy nothing else online this year, buy PoW.

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From Striving to Thriving
by Helaine Iris

“The difference between what we do, and what we are capable of doing, would solve most of the world’s problems.” -- Mahatma Gandhi

A few months ago I wrote an article about a client of mine who’s been struggling to grow her business to the next level. She’s an extremely talented and creative professional with a potential gold mine of a business.

She’s been determined to uncover and embrace her limiting beliefs eagerly accepting coaching to challenge herself to the next level professionally and personally. She put new structures in place to build a strong foundation from which to grow her enterprise.

She’s been striving to achieve her goals, yet she feels exhausted. Last week, when she “hit the wall” and was about ready to throw in the towel I asked her, “What if you stop striving and started thriving? How might you feel different?”

There was dead silence on the other end of the phone. After some time she replied with a burst of relieved laughter, “Now THAT would truly be empowering.”
She then went on to declare how this coming year of her life would be about thriving instead of surviving and striving.

This gratifying interaction got me thinking about the distinction between striving and thriving and how they are and feel different from each other. Webster’s Dictionary defines strive as: (1) To make great effort; try very hard; and (2) To be in conflict; struggle; contend; fight. Consider this is versus the definition of thrive, which is: (1) To prosper or flourish; be successful; and (2) To grow vigorously or luxuriantly.

Making a mental shift can be the first step in how you experience your life. Distinguishing what you don’t want will create a contrast that allows what you to want to rise to the fore. Once you’re clear about what you want, you can then prepare and devise the structures to support you and begin implementing the shift.

Are you striving or are you thriving? How would your life be different if you could make this profound mental shift? Here’s the process my client used to make the shift in her life, why not give it a try?

1. She called for a “time out”. She put her life on pause for a moment and reflected. She became aware that despite the apparent forward movement in her life, there was still something out of balance. She was tired of feeling stressed. She acknowledged what she was feeling and began to verbalize it.
2. She let herself imagine what it might be like to be thriving in her life instead of struggling. She detailed the various areas of her life and painted a clear picture of what her life would be like next year at this time.
3. Then she reassessed her projects: what she did want to take forward with her, and what did she need to let go of in order to prioritize her time according to her values and purpose?
4. Next, she looked at the tasks she thought she “had” to do to succeed versus what she “wanted” to do. Much to her surprise, she found they were the same tasks; with this reframe, she realized she liked the tasks, as they were an essential part of her professional expression.
5. Finally, she resumed her activities and strategies, but this time with a very different outlook. She now approached her same life and tasks with a renewed sense of excitement and focus.

Today, she’s thriving. Her energy has increased and her stress level has decreased. Now, she has a bigger problem, business is rolling in. It’s a pretty great problem to have.

It’s YOUR life…imagine the possibilities!

©Helaine Iris, 2004.

Helaine is a certified Life Coach, writer and teacher. She works with individuals and self-employed professionals who want to thrive in their business while crafting a life that's in absolute alignment with their highest ideals, deepest values and gracefully masters the complexities of modern living. For a solution focused complimentary session, visit her website at http://www.pathofpurpose.com or call her 603-357-8546 or email her at helaine@pathofpurpose.com.

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Final note from James…

This is a busy time at Mind Tools as we continue to develop a range of new career skills for you, with major forthcoming sections on personal effectiveness, leadership and career development skills. We'll tell you more about these as we roll them out in future issues of this newsletter.

Right now, though, we're starting to plan beyond this - hence the survey. If you have not done so already, please let us know what you think, so that we can develop the Mind Tools site in 2005 to give you exactly what you want.

Next issue we look at some important decision-making techniques. Until then, best wishes, and have a great month!

James

James Manktelow

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