Hello,
Here is your May issue of Take Charge Success Strategies

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Volume 6, Number 4 ay 2006
Publisher: GoalMinds, Inc.
http://www.goalminds.com
Copyright 2006 Jo Condrill All rights reserved.

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Happy Mother's Day!

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Welcome to our many new subscribers. Thank you for joining
us. Thanks to our continuing readers, too. You are receiving
this newsletter either because you signed up for it or
someone has forwarded it to you. To unsubscribe, see below.

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Women are never what they seem to be. There is the woman you
see and there is the woman who is hidden. Buy the gift for
the woman who is hidden.

--Erma Bombeck

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May is National Military Appreciation Month. We send our thanks to
all of our miitary men and women. Thank you for all you do to keep
our American way of life safe for us.
Http://www.nmam.org/

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You heard about our young hero, Eli, in a previous newsletter.
One of the newspaper articles is posted here:
http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1316870&secid=1#/
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IN THIS ISSUE

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1. I Remember Mama

2. How to Command Respect

3. The Story of My Life by Annette Bass

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1. I Remember Mama

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Mother’s Day is approaching. Have you thought about the gift
you will give your mother, the phone call you will make, or
the dinner you will prepare for her? My own Mother once said
that cooking is what she did. It was like her contribution
to the family and making life work. Now she is unable to
cook, she can no longer drive, and can barely think. She is
a victim of Alzheimer’s disease.

Time was when she was a loving authority figure. There was
no question in our home who were the parents and who were
the children and what roles were expected of each of us. It
never occurred to us to think of our Mother as a friend –
being a Mother was better than that. It was special. You
only have one mother. You can have many friends.

Mother didn’t always understand the ways of a teenager, but
she could be persuaded. I sometimes think that I began
leadership training at home – I learned how to be persuasive
and honest at the same time, how to think creatively, how to
be persistent without crossing the line. We always had to
prove our point. We sometimes thought their discipline was
too strict; curfew came too early, and our chores were
burdensome. Later in life we saw that there were valuable
life lessons in what they were teaching. We even passed them
along to our own children.

As I watch Mother in her waning years, I grow to appreciate
her more every day. I’ll never know all there is to know
about the trials and heartaches she suffered along the way.
I’ll always be sorry for the heartaches I caused her. Her
memory of recent times is gone; she remembers her mother and
father and a happy time living at home. She wants to go back
to that home.

Let your mother know that you are thinking of her on Mothers
Day and throughout the year. Sometimes only a word or a
phone call or a note will brighten her day like nothing else
can. If you are a mother, hug your children and tell them
stories of when you were growing up. It is like weaving your
own family tapestry for future generations. It is the
foundation of our great nation. Happy Mother’s Day, Mothers!

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One of the best ways to remember our mothers was suggested
by an organization I was associated with as a professional
speaker. The Asian Leaders Association is planting trees in
the Philippines to replace those destroyed prior to the
devastating mudslides. From July 9 to 19, 2006, they will
lead a tree planting project in the villages in Leyte,
Quezon City, Novaliches, Laguna and Marinduque Province in
the Philippines. And they will put the donor's name on each
tree. For less than $30 US, your Mother's name can be
memorialized as you help the planet. Go to
www.AsianLeaders.org to learn more and download an order
form. If your organization wants to be involved on a larger
scale, email Mailto:corporate@asianleaders.org

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2. How to Command Respect

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Tanks...battle groups...aircraft carriers...guided
missiles...special forces. This is the world I come from.
It's an environment of POWER called the Pentagon, an
environment where military personnel mingle with civilians
and where people work around the clock on a daily basis to
ensure that america's highest-level decision makers get good
information. It's a world where the pressure is always on
because the stakes are so high. One wrong move could cost
more than money; it could cost our lives and our national
freedom. We had a wake-up call on 9/11.

I worked in the Pentagon prior to 9/11 and still it was a
time of world crisis. Although I didn't wear a uniform, I
had enough impact that the Army gave me its highest civilian
medal, the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service.

During my years of service, I learned that power is NOT
about rank. Military insignia indicates rank. As a civilian,
I never wore insignia. I was afforded respect appropriate
for my position as Deputy Chief of the Logistics Plans and
Operations Division.

Power is not about uniform, although how a person dresses
does make a difference, either positively or negatively.
There is, to be sure, power of position as well as personal
power. I'm talking about personal power here. Power is about
WHO you are. It's about your beliefs and values, your
reliability, your ability to communicate--to speak and to
listen--effectively. When you communicate well you display
power and command respect because of your confidence, your
know-how, and your compassion, regardless of your rank,
regardless of your uniform, and regardless of your gender.

Being a powerful leader means you can lift others up with
what you say--something I tried to do daily at the Pentagon.
But I was NOT a cheerleader, as one interviewer in Texas
suggested some years later when I was on a book-signing tour.
Being a cheerleader implied I was a quota, a token female. It
meant that I was powerless.

Through my experiences working with military personnel and
civilians as we struggled to cover all the bases, whether it
was moving materiel for Operation Desert Storm or
marshalling up supplies and support in natural disasters
like Katrina, I've learned that real POWER is when people
feel honored to work with you. Power is when you command
loyalty without having to say anything about it. Power is
when people want to do what you want them to do.

One commander in the Seventh Corps had served in our office
as a major. In his exit interview he commended me on my
ability to listen. During Operation Desert Storm he was
moving his supply troops from Germany into Saudi Arabia and
he was lost in the fog of war. There was no plan for this
move; it had not been exercised. He needed systems that were
not in place. He called me for help. I mustered help for him
and heard no more. A few years later when we met in line at
a Change of Command ceremony, he swept me off my feet and
whirled me around and around. He was a colonel then, in uniform.
It reminded me of the old movies of the homecoming in New York
City after the Second World War.

Whether on the battlefields of war or the battlefields of
business, personal power is important. Be real. Know who you
are. Value loyalty to your country and your God. Speak your
truths and respect others. You have the power.

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Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when
your position falls, your ego goes with it.

--Gen. Colin Powell

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To our friends in Mexico: Panaroma Editorial, S.A. de C.V. in Mexico
City has translated Take Charge of Your Life: Dare to Pursue Your
Dreams into Spanish and distributes it in Mexico.

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Here is something I recently discovered, thanks to Kevin
Wilke. In fact, I emailed all my friends and family about it
so I couldn't keep it from you.

It's an honest to goodness meaty-meat no charge report
called:

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The Human 'D Cell' Report!

'How To Create *Instant* Results And Amplify Them In *ANY*
Area Of Your Life Doing Something A Six Year Old Girl Can
Do.'

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It's at: http://www.banabu.com/cmd.php?Clk=1405200

Look at everything you will get out of it (and it is a
quick, easy 10 minute read).

O How to create instant positive results within seconds.

O How to apply this simple yet powerful principle to every
area of your life.

O Real life examples so you see it in action from job
success, relationship success, health success, to business
success.

O A super-simple exercise to immediately apply it to your
life today.

Pick up your fr-ee copy of it today at

http://www.banabu.com/cmd.php?Clk=1405200

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3. The Story of My Life -- Annette Bass

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'It was a beautiful day', as Shirley would say - every day.
It had snowed this morning but the sun was out and the snow
on the ground had been absorbed by the earth. As my husband
and I stood in the receiving room today at Shirley's funeral
I looked around to see a very large, standing room only,
crowd of people whose lives had also been touched by
Shirley. We all watched the service via a monitor from this
separate room because the church had been filled exceeding
capacity.

Today I said good bye to a dear and amazing person. I
realize that most people can say that about someone they
know, but I believe I am very blessed to have known Shirley.
I had only known her for a short time, but she was the kind
of person who could inspire others to strive to do/be more,
almost immediately after meeting her. I met Shirley 5 years
ago. She was 59 then. She amazed me but it had nothing to do
with her age. I was a novice bicyclist who wanted to ride
for exercise and recreation. The summer my fiancé and I rode
with Shirley and her husband, I rode in my first bike tour.
She was hard to keep up with. That summer I rode 50 miles in
the tour. I was so proud of myself.

One thing she used to say was that life is too short to live
the same day twice. She was 'always looking to see what was
around the next curve', while she took advantage of
everything along the way. She had a passion for everything
she did. Shirley was an artist by trade, and was the artist
for the 1991 Mt. Everest Expedition, when she was 51 years
old. She was a member of Holy Rosary Chapel, and was also a
member of the Water Garden Society. She had owned a couple
of businesses and had been the Art Director for Allan Lewis
Souvenir Company in Denver. She inspired countless people
through her work with Weight Watchers. She enjoyed biking,
hiking and snow shoeing. She was very interested in the
Victorian Era and was a member of the Gold Camp Victorian
Society. She performed melodramas and educated people about
the history of that era. Her husband of 9 years was
interested in trains and she became the first female
president of Colorado Midland Chapter N.R.H.S. Shirley ran
annual marathons, until cancer over-took her at age 63. She
was the epitome of health, that is except for the tumor on
her brain that caused her stroke. But, even through the pain
of the last year of her life, she continued to inspire
others.

I listened in amazement as the priest spoke volumes in the
story of Shirley's life. As I stood there listening, I
realized she had touched all of these people in some
positive way.

Shirley was a person who definitely took charge of her life,
and inspired so many others to do the same. I know that I
will never be exactly like Shirley. I have different goals.
But I do believe that, like Shirley, by the time my life is
through, I will have the kind of story that hundreds of
people will tell on the day of my funeral, with happy
hearts.

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Don’t let your life just slip away. Live it to the fullest.
Take Charge of Your Life: Dare to Pursue Your Dreams. This
book saved my life when I was in an abusive marriage. It
gave me courage and concrete steps to take charge of my
life. Click here to learn more.
Http://www.goalminds.com/takecharge.html

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