Hi there and Happy New Year
The pre-Christmas launch of ‘Palm trees and margaritas’, the book based on the first year of this monthly newsletter, was very exciting. I was delighted that the publisher, novelist Dr Euan Mitchell, agreed to do the official honours and to have been so supported by the people who attended the launch and even though I joked about it, some really did come from interstate.
Our publicity campaign and sales drive has barely started but lots of people got a copy of the book in their Christmas stocking and feedback has been wonderful. We’ll let you know when the books are in stores. Meanwhile, if you haven’t yet gotten your copy or a stockpile for gift-giving (a bargain at $20 including postage), you can order at the website by clicking here. Thanks for the support and I hope you enjoy it.
‘Palm trees and margaritas’ is about living big and making plans. For some, work/life balance. None of us knows how our life will unfold so as much as we are in control, empowered living means making sure there is time in our lives for palm trees and margaritas*, however we define them.
The plan for this newsletter is to give you five minutes of reflection time on the last Friday of each month. And so it is. How was your January? Did you make time for ‘palm trees and margaritas’?
I love to hear (and publish) your stories of how you are living your life. Please get in touch here and share yours.
And finally, if you are looking for a speaker for an event this year, click here to talk to me about a ‘Palm trees and margaritas’ presentation.
All the best for a Palm trees and margaritas-filled 2008.
Karen Morath
karen@mpowercct.com
www.palmtreesandmargaritas.com
January 2008
* Life can’t be all palm trees and margaritas, but there are worse game plans.
TIPS
1. Do unto others... Seriously, reciprocity is one of life’s great joys. I have always supported the projects, books, businesses or whatever of my friends and peers and am now benefiting from their support of my book on their websites and in their newsletters. Not why you do it of course, but it is nice when the merry-go-round comes around to you.
3. Subscribe to the Productivity Café I especially like their Friday at five idea each week.
To enjoy list
Here are some things readers and I have recommended for others ‘to enjoy’.
Jana Wendt’s collection of interviews ‘A Matter of Principle’
Visiting Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious building, in Cambodia (I took my kids in January to show them another slice of the world. Amazing.)
Freshly painted white walls. A reader insists it’s the cheapest and easiest way to renovate.
Please send your tips for things for others ‘to enjoy’ to me here.
STORIES
The surfer and the drummer
I attended a great pre-Christmas lunch and heard two wonderful stories about men finding time for the ‘palm trees and margaritas’ in their lives.
One, a husband and dad of two running his own business, loves to surf. He likes the actual getting out there amongst the waves, the time he spends in the car with his mate driving to and from the beach and the euphoric feeling afterwards of having done something physical and fun.
So what, a busy man surfs? What I love about his story is that to fit surfing into his life, every couple of weeks he picks up his friend at 4.30 in the morning and they head to the beach returning in time to be just a little late for work.
He started doing this a few years ago when he realised he needed something in his life that he ‘loved’ other than life at home and work. He needed some ‘palm trees and margaritas’ time.
The other man at the lunch is a husband and dad of three with a busy ‘suit and tie’ job and a rock star former life. In his youth he was a drummer in a band that went places. As the mother of an 11 year old drummer I know that drumming is within drummers and needs to be allowed to escape every so often.
For this man it is on Wednesday nights when he and his mates do their equivalent of ‘getting the band back together’. He was restless in his chair as he told me about drumming once a week and it was obvious that not only does he like the drumming, he likes the mateship, the looking forward to it each week and the looking back on how enjoyable last week’s session was.
He and his cronies meet in a warehouse somewhere and play their music. No one hears them. It’s not for the audience anymore, if it ever was.
For the surfer and the drummer, their ‘palm trees and margaritas’ moments are purely for them and that’s what makes them so wonderful.
REFLECTIONS
Every January I write and review my goals for the year and am starting to encourage my kids to do the same.
But this year I am doing it differently. I have always been driven to ‘do things’, to ‘achieve’. My goals look like ‘start PhD’, ‘complete book manuscript’, ‘save money for China trip’, ‘more “palm trees and margaritas” moments’.
There are also the usual – ‘manage household better’, ‘do more exercise’, yada, yada, yada.
Instead of focusing on ‘doing’, this year I’m focusing on ‘being’. This year I’m inspired to BE more like some of the great people I’m lucky enough to know.
I want to be more like Emma who is so giving that she called me just to tell me she was proud to give my new book as Christmas presents.
I want to be more like Sue who as a gesture of friendship cancelled an important commitment so she could be at a function that was important to me.
I want to be more like Sam who knows in her heart where she stands on matters of ethics and choices.
I want to be more like Lorelle who is smart and educated and knows the value of her contribution to the world.
I want to be more like Leah who is kind and patient and loyal.
I want to be more like Jann who is wise and listens well.
I want to be more like Naomi who is gutsy, original and funny.
To achieve any of these ‘wants’ would make for a very accomplished year.