Ah, February! The month of celebrating love, cupid’s bows and chocolate kisses. (oops, forgot I have given up sugar.)
I believe we should expand our Valentine’s Day beyond the Hallmark version of romantic love to include love of ourselves, our families, friends and our communities. If there was ever an important time to be part of a larger community it is now. In these uncertain times, we need to band together, share resources and help each other move forward. So this Valentine’s, let’s celebrate with the creation of a resource community!
Create a Resource Community
My resource community has women who can be counted on to have the best, most up to date information in the career, health, beauty, personal growth, financial, relationship and travel/entertainment categories to name just a few. You name it and I have a friend who has “the goods!”
I find it particularly useful to keep my list in my computer and PDA by category of “expert.” When I need to contact someone, I have the contact information right at hand.
How to Set Up your Team
One idea, I came up with, is to set up a resource team. There are several ways to set up your team:
- Get a group of women together and ask them to bring names, contact information of their favorite resources and a snack to share to a resource party.
- Put together a resource ‘phone tree, the names and ‘phone numbers of your “go to” resource people and call the person or persons likely to have the information you seek.
- Design an email list of people who can give you contacts and either send out an email to all or several when you are on the hunt for a new job, gym, or medical treatment etc.
Need a car?
Just yesterday I used my resource team with great results. I am in need of a car. I have been sharing a car with my husband for over 5 years and it is time! It has been 16 years since I bought a car-can you imagine? I went to my resource team ‘phone tree list and called Linda. Linda is great at sharing really cost effective practical resources. I came away with the name and number of a local used car broker who located extremely reasonable cars for Linda's son and one of her friends. Voila!
Need migrane info?
It is just as important to share as to receive resources. In conversation with Linda, we also discussed her need for really effective acute migraine medication. As I have had migraines since I was 14, I am a veritable treasure chest of migraine medication experience so I gladly shared the information.
Want to stop procrastinating?
How many of us procrastinate? I know that do. I came across an interesting writing tool. I got the resource from a client who sent me to a great writing resource, Daphne Gray-Grant, who wrote about her discovery of “Write or Die” in a column.
“Write or Die” is an on-line, no-cost tool that is designed to keep you writing or there will be consequences! I logged on and set the program at “normal” and began to write this article. As I wrote about my impending car purchase, my imagination began to wax poetically about my “new” used car, the color, the style etc. I, took my hands off the keys and my screen started flashing pink and then red and, had I procrastinated any longer, an evil song would have played for me. In the “kamikaze” setting, had I stopped writing long enough, my work would have started to un-write itself. Yikes! Hey, if aversive therapy is what it takes, I am all for it!
So, this Valentine’s spread some love around: set up a resource team and share the resources. In the spirit of community sharing, I give you Dr Wicked’s “Write or Die”, the no-cost on-line resource to keep you writing at www.drwicked.com.
