And I listened.  It was during a recent joint meeting between our local Association of Realtors and Women's Council of Realtors, and this person was the guest speaker.  Now mind you, I'm not trying to sound blasé, but I have been blessed to have listened to some excellent motivational speakers, ranging from Presidents of the United States to Paul Harvey to Zig Zigler.  But this person made me sit up straight. 

She discussed Personal Branding as her topic, but so many things that she said can apply to other places in our lives, as well.  I am paraphrasing here, but a couple of the thoughts that hit home are as follows: 

1 - Define what is important.  Okay, sounds easy, but how?  So I sat down and made my own personal mission statement - never to be seen by anyone else, perhaps, but I know it's there.  This will help me define what is important to me.  Personally, professionally, spiritually. 

2 - Write goals statements.  This helps make the things in #1 more solid and real.  I'm still working on this part, but I can see the point, now that I've bee working on it for more than a week.

3 - Crises will happen, so you might as well schedule time for them.  People who know me well wonder why I always give myself "leeway" - extra time to get somewhere for an appointment than I really need- extra time for the actual appointment than what might actually happen - extra time to put the proposal together after the appointment than what it might actually take.  It's because I learned years ago that things pop up that you don't expect - traffic that makes you run later - clients with more questions than you anticipated - or interruptions that make the 24-hour-turnaround-time commitment you gave for the recommendation more than what you need in the long run, but a lot less stress than if you had just said "by 9 AM tomorrow morning".  Giving myself that leeway allows a crisis to pop up, allows me to handle it, and still meet my commitments with less stress than had I not factored those unexpecteds into the picture. 

This is just a sampling, and I'm still working on all of them, along with many other thoughts from her presentation.  Although I am not sure why this particular speaker and her topic made me sit up straight, but I am glad that it did.  I started off 2008 with a great year in real estate, but recent hurdles have been more of a struggle.  I am glad to say that I am headed into the final quarter of the year with a renewed spirit and energy.  Thanks to the woman who said "Ignite the Power Within You!"

                                                     For further information on this excellent person:

Lethia Owens

"Teaching People How to Think, Work & Live Powerfully"

Lethia Owens International, Inc.

Lethia@LethiaOwens.com

www.LethiaOwens.com

636.244.5041

My thanks to Lethia for helping me ignite my power.