Meeting you the other day was the highlight of my week! I enjoyed learning more about you and your image consulting services. I can see that you are making a huge difference with people… not only on the outside, but also in the inside. I always like to say that what’s going on in your internal landscape escapes and shapes what goes on in your external landscape.
During our visit, I realized that I help people with the inside so that they project more confidence, you help people with the outside so they feel more confidence. I love that… because how you feel inside and out must be aligned no matter where you start.
I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I’m fascinated by human development and especially self-improvement in all facets of life – career, social, spiritual, etc. So, I have to tell you what occurred to me after our recent conversation. I was showing you the 13×4 personal effectiveness and goal achieving program that I’ve been using and teaching with Oxford Physicist Tom Cassidy. We discussed how Benjamin Franklin used a similar method for self-improvement in certain areas of his life over 280 years ago. He found it to be effective because he was focusing on only one thing at a time.
As you know, I’ve created my own year-long 13×4 with 13 focus areas that I’m concentrating on for one week at a time and will be cycling through them 4 times – you know, 13×4=52 weeks. Anyway, I remember showing you my 13×4 and talking with you about some of the areas I’m trying to improve in my life… including “De-clutter.”
Here’s what you made me realize – and it shows the brilliance of focusing on something fully for one week and then switching to something else the next week – even though “De-clutter” was my focus during week 2, it was in week 10 that I had the urge to clear out my closet. What’s important here is that week 10 was the week of “Gratitude.”
Wow! That earlier focus of de-clutter flowed over and influenced me while I spent the week focused on counting my blessings. And here’s how… One morning, I’m standing in my closet, realizing that more than half the clothes in there were “not me” any longer. These clothes, though in nice condition, no longer fit the image I wanted to project of myself, and they were just taking up valuable space. While I felt grateful for the abundance of nice clothes I owned, I realized that someone else would be grateful to have them since I wasn’t using them. So, I ended up de-cluttering my closet.
It wasn’t until I told you about my recent wardrobe cleanse that I truly realized how much my 13×4 was changing me. Oh, sure I’ve been having fun with it, especially in seeing some great synchronicities (like meeting you!). I’ve enjoyed learning new things by focusing on what I hadn’t focused on before. And I’ve also noticed that I’ve been able to get more done with less time, which is, in part, due to the week when I stopped for a moment two times each day to “Breathe.” Coming out of work mode, closing my eyes and simply breathing was like a computer system reboot. It got me to review my time priorities, reduce my stress and recharge so that I could get more accomplished.
All that was great, but this little thing with the week of gratitude and how it tied in with de-clutter is huge to me. I now see how much my 13×4 is changing my perspective, my character and my life in subtle, positive ways far exceeding what I had hoped for when I first started it… and without my having to try very hard.
Tom says that there’s a rocket science concept called “The Principle of Least Action” that explains why it’s so easy, and even though I know the science behind it, and even though I know Ben Franklin was a genius, it still amazes me.
Thank you for sparking even further insight for me about this program that I am so fortunate to get to teach to others. And thanks for spreading the word about the upcoming workshop about this that Tom and I are facilitating on April 21. I can’t wait to help people experience what I’ve been experiencing!
Warmly yours,
Angela Loëb
Author, Speaker, Career Consultant & Personal Vision Strategist
Upcoming Free Teleseminar “Zero-Pressure Goal Achieving” On 3/27/12: 13×4.com
"Benjamin Franklin" focus