What a week!  Is it really Friday already?  Friday afternoon to boot!

My book review on Do Less, Achieve More by Chin-Ning Chu was published on Joyful, Jubilant Learning on Wednesday, as part of the March Love Affair with Books… I’d love to know what you think, and whether this review would encourage you to read the book (or not:)

At the time of my writing this, there are eight book reviews published as part of the Love Affair… all very thoughtful, insightful and inspirational. I was immediately inspired by Benjamin Bach’s review of Love is a Killer App to grab the book which had been collecting dust on my bookshelf and start reading.

A couple of other books have joined my list of future reading… the list grows longer and longer by the day (and my dear husband despairs of ever actually seeing the bookshelves again. He’s promised me a library in our ex-dining room later this year, once we sell the dining suite – anyone interested???)

Of course, there are many more reviews to come – from some wonderful people about some wonderful books, so please stay tuned!  For a book addict who is always searching for great reads, this surely is bliss… you can check out the whole line-up here.

Thanks for the tag, Tony (I think?).  Since I’m ‘IT’ – I am to share with my readers five things you may not know about me.  Hmmm… what don’t you know about me?

• My first job was playing the piano for a dance club – lots of little girls running around in leotards – I was 16.
• I am a pianist, and when I was 20 I quit my job, moved home and practiced 4 to 6 hours a day to get my ‘letters’ (ATCL – Associate of the Trinity College of London).  These days I still love to play, but the technique isn’t anywhere near as good as it used to be, and my 13 year old daughter now monopolises the piano!
• I also have a Bachelor of Business – Accountancy degree – which took me 7 years part-time to complete (I was studying and working and practising the piano all at the same time).  I haven’t worked as an accountant since I was 19 (one of us in the family is enough!)
• When I was a teenager, I played in the Canberra Youth Orchestra (clarinet) and the Canberra Big Band (saxophone, then keyboards). I was given the award of Stirling’s Sexiest Saxophonist in my last year of high school (I was their ONLY Saxophonist:)
• I have always wanted to spend a Christmas in a castle (preferably magical) in Scotland with my family.  Just one Christmas with cold and snow, hot food and warm beverages, roaring fires and woolly jumpers. 

My eight year old plays tiggy (their version of tag) at lunch time in the school play ground… this version is definitely more interesting and much less sweaty this time of year!

Tag – you’re it – to Chris Owen, Maryanne Mazurek, Susan and Janice, Joy and EM Sky.

I remember receiving a wake up call in my corporate work – a ‘yeah, you’re doing a great job of what you are doing, but is what you are doing the best direction and use of your time?’ type wake up call.

A little background first.  I was a member of the senior management team with responsibility for customer service and all that entailed.  My staff were very capable, and proactive – we were continually improving processes and outcomes.  Everyone was happy.

That continual improvement, however, was always incremental.  It was never a huge leap.  I hadnt questioned some of the fundamental assumptions and paradigms of our customer satisfaction process for a long while (and probably become somewhat jaded as well).

My wake up call came in the form of a newly appointed Director of Customer Service from our overseas parent company.  And because we were doing such a good job of customer service here in Australia he made the journey out to visit and spent a day with me and my team. 

I was a bit chuffed at that. 

He came armed with a series of very intelligent, well thought out questions.  Most of which I could answer.  But then came the ones that gave me the real wake up call.  Do you measure such and such?  Um, no, I dont think so.  Why are these two issues on your critical components list?  What proportion of the business does this cover?  And so on… and on… 

This guy had been with the organisation 2 years, I had been there 18 years… and so while my knowledge of the business was second to none, I had become immune to some of the systemic issues and in a rut as far as big leap improvement was concerned.  Yes, we were improving.  Yes, we did have a positive effect on the bottom line.  Yes, we did rescue clients who were ready to walk – every single week.  Yes, we did provide them with useful, meaningful analysis of customer satisfaction.  Yes, the boss and stakeholders were more than happy with what we accomplished.

I realised that whilst I have been doing a good to great job of what I was doing, I wasnt doing a brilliant job of questioning the underlying paradigms of our business.  It took someone fresh and new to the company to help me do that.

Some takeaways from this experience:

• What have you been taking for granted?
• When was the last time you turned the snowglobe upside down and took a different look at your job or your business?
• In the absence of someone new coming in, how else could you change the perspective?  Become a client for a day?  Walk through your business pretending you dont know anything about the business and ask every question that pops into your mind (a dictaphone would be a great asset for this), then try and find out the answers
• Every now and again, stop and ask the stupid questions (like – why do we do this?) – you may just be very surprised by the answers
• What are your underlying paradigms and assumptions about the work you do?

Rosa Say – that prolific blogger and amazing woman – recently held her 2nd Annual Love Affair with Books over at Talking Story.  This list contains more than 20 posts by members of the Talking Story Community that review special, worthwhile books.  I have definitely added a couple of these to my reading list, after reading what these special people had to say about them.  Thanks for putting this list together, Rosa – I know how much effort must have gone into it!

From now on, personal recommendation (preferably including a personal ‘take’ on the book) from people I trust is going to be my selection method of choice for book purchases, rather than ‘bestseller’, Amazon recommendation, shelf placement at Dymocks, the freebies that come with it (never been a high attraction for me anyway) or any other method of selection (except possibly the occasional ‘gut feel’ buy).  Of course, all bets are off when it comes to borrowing books from the library!

My time is extremely valuable to me – I love to read, but I need to monitor what I read to make sure it is worthy of my spending some of those precious moments. I aim to pay it forward by sharing my reading with others.

You probably already pick your books like this – dont you?

So today, for a treat – I threw a few questions at Marjorie, and she kindly agreed to let me interview her here.

We love your business Slim Ink – can you tell us a bit about how the idea came about?

I have always loved to read. [As a child I felt Enid Blyton could write no wrong!!] I read too Knowledge is Power and what knowledge can you NOT get out of a relevant book – fiction and non-fiction and sometimes when you least expect it – the light bulbs can sometimes just keep going off! Even in these days of the internet there’s still nothing like getting comfortable knowing you have an hour and a good book! OR getting into bed tired at night yet reaching for that book whose characters/story have been dancing in the back of your mind enticing your return! OR on holiday OR on the bus/train OR when you just want to chill with the proverbial glass of white!

I knew there had to be others who felt the way I did i.e. we loved to read with a passion but it was too expensive and inconvenient to buy and keep each book and the public library just wouldn’t do…… What if we could have a never ending convenient supply of books to read at a reasonable price? Talk about light bulbs!! About 12 or so years ago I experienced a lady in Malaysia who set up a little shop renting out books and I thought what a great idea! Left click to 2004 and I thought, in the words of my 19 year old, Coolio – I will set up my ‘rent a book shop’ on the internet with the latest release and bestselling titles!!

What in your background gave you the confidence to set up Slim Ink?

Belief in myself (which on some days still has room for growth I might add!) and the power of the passion for the written word. From about the age of 16 or so I stopped reading much (ok I discovered boys – to my detriment it appears!), did the whole marriage-had 2 two kids-got divorced thing and in the following and obligatory, it seems, self help stage of my life discovered I wasn’t so bad after all, in fact I LOVED me!

Your business is very professionally set up.  Can you tell us where that professionalism comes from?

My 2 daughters (21 and 19 going on 40!) remind me constantly my standards are very high. I had been not ’just a housewife’ but a housewife for many years and I cannot imagine many housewives not finding the ‘professionalism’ in themselves if they want to be good mothers, wives and just plain good-at-what-they-do women. After all we have the hardest job in the world – thank you Oprah! I have always endeavored to be the best I can be in that regard – failing miserably at times as I am human. However it is so ingrained in me that I keep trying….I define professionalism as treating others how I would want to be treated in that circumstance and doing it conscientiously and delivering on the businesses’ promises.

If a woman came to you that was wanting to start up her own business, what would be the one major thing you’d want her to know?

If a woman came to me and said she wanted to start up her own business I would want to know what has possessed her to decide such a thing! Simply because it has to be a passion inside propelling her and I would be interested to know what that passion was.

I have taken a risk with my business and I am truly aware it might not succeed just as it might. In life we take risks everyday in many ways and degrees so I would say a woman who wanted to start her own business should make herself aware of the risks AND be prepared to accept their eventuality – especially when there are no safety nets – and ultimately be able to feel that, success or no success it was worth the ride! (I’m talking major self growth!)

I’m guessing here that you love books.  Can you share with us your favourite book of all time?

This is a difficult question for me – I believe that events happen at different times in your life for a reason and can lead you to spiritual growth. Books are kinda like that! We are drawn to certain books in different times of our lives and there has to be a reason for that attraction. I cannot name just one particular book but because of a certain few years in my life, let me say the self help category on my website should really read Marjorie’s Niche!

I must say those books helped me by reinforcing my belief system and thus belief in myself. Somehow a bad marriage/relationship, divorce (and teenagers!) among other things can erode and/or blotch that even in the most exceptional of women.

What are you reading at the moment?

The good news is that I am on a long sabbatical from the self help section!!  Then again, I am only showing my age (yet again!) when I say that my interest at the moment lies in autobiographies. It occurred to me one day not that long ago that life is too short to be reading fiction all the time. Real stories about real people (shades of Sarah Ferguson here!) seemed to be the way to go.  Plus at some point, you have to stop reading the self help and put it into practice!

So to answer your question the book I am reading at the moment is an autobiography – “The Woman I Am” by Helen Reddy – which is interesting but as I have only just begun it, I would really prefer to mention the book I read before it which is fiction and that is “We Need to Talk about Kevin” by Lionel Shriver and featured in our recent newsletter. It can get a little tedious at times but it’s worth it. I never knew some of the vocabulary existed! She has the precise word to convey what she means (something you might find lacking in this interview!) and the way it flows makes it an extra beautiful read to me.

If I could wave my magic wand and grant you three wishes, what would you wish for today?

At the risk of sounding like a Ms World contestant – World peace. I think that plays on my mind most as I look at babies, think of my children and grandchildren to come, and look to the future – beyond my time here on earth. I can’t help but wish fervently for a more peaceful and safer world for them.

No 2 would be a wish for a continued healthy life and a peaceful end to it (!) while serving with purpose. 

And my No 3 wish would be to be successful at being the best role model I can be for my children as I do believe children learn best by example. (God help them!)

We’ve all been talking and thinking about Christmas preparations lately – do you shop for Christmas, and how?

I have always loved Christmas and when my kids were younger (so was I!) I would decorate the house inside and out and I loved our 7 ft high tree – but not so much in January when I had to pack it all up! I still do the decorations and that but on a much smaller scale including a much smaller tree in a much smaller house….

As much as I love giving presents I do believe Christmas continues to become way too commercialised and the true spirit of giving at Christmas is actually diminishing. I currently do a fair bit of my shopping over the internet as circling the car park at the shopping centres is NOT my idea of fun! I tend to think long and hard about the appropriate present for the recipient and if I can find it online, I buy it online. (Shameful plug – Slim Ink has 10% off ALL Gift Memberships for Christmas!)

Care to share how you will be celebrating Christmas this year?

My family and I have always spent Christmas Eve together complete with a roast turkey dinner – yes even with the heat of summer – and bon bons, Chrissie cake and lots of bubbly fuelled good cheer accompanied by Christmas carols! I do not have a pool at present but in the past, that’s where we pretty much spent most of the Christmas Period.

After opening the presents, Christmas day now is mostly spent vegging out – something usually never encouraged – in front of the tv/dvd player. For me, it’s mainly about recovering from all the preparation of arriving at Christmas Day! We have always had pets and still do so we never ever go away at Christmas.

Finally, how do you create space and care for yourself?

I try to meditate daily even if only for 5 minutes and I find the more you do it the less time it takes to find your peace zone and rejuvenate yourself. I love lighting my favourite fragrant candles (dusk is my favourite shop!) and the serenity inhaling its perfume evokes in me,  relaxing in spa baths, my favourite fresh flowers, soothing and passionate music – think Buble, Il Divo, Andre Bochelli….all embellished with a glass of white wine of course!  Life doesn’t get any better than when you find time to love, honour and find the peace within yourself…..

                               * * * * * * * * * * * *
Now, what is NOT to like about this special woman?  She really sounds like a woman after my own heart – starting with those Enid Blyton books I devoured as a child, to candles (I dont let myself go INTO Dusk!!), to Il Divo, Andrea Bochelli, Michael Buble (love her taste in music!), to the glass of wine … the list goes on and on!

To those of my readers living in Australia, I totally recommend Slim Ink and couldnt think of a better (and easier) Christmas present than a gift certificate for months worth of reading!

Marjorie, we wish you much success in your wonderful new venture and thank you so much for joining us and being such a wonderful sport letting us throw questions at you.  You hit home runs every question!

Here in Brisbane we are in the middle of a drought.  Our dams and water supply have dropped below 35% capacity this week for the first time in forever… and new sprinkler bans will be in place as of next week.  Whilst we have had restrictions before, we have never had total bans.  (Even though I know those in the southern states of Australia have been experiencing these for a long time now).  So rain is always extremely welcome here.

Around 3:30 the thunder started.

I sat out on my back veranda as the rain came.  It poured down, and I just sat quietly and enjoyed the show.  It only lasted about 20 minutes, but a lot of water fell in that time.  I just pray that some of it reaches the dams that supply water to Brisbane. 

Isn’t it funny how something we used to take for granted, or even curse – rain – can now be seen as such a blessing and something to really be enjoyed?  I do not remember the last time we had a week of rain – these days we would all be cavorting with joy to have an endless week of wet days…

Reminds me to give thanks and be grateful for all the things I normally take for granted.  And to take the time to enjoy them whenever I can.

I was saying it was wonderful to have the house to myself again now the children have gone back to school… not that I dont enjoy having my children around, it’s just that I didnt take any time off when they were on holidays, and therefore had to fit their activities, taxiing and feed me feed me demands into my already busy days.  (Not to mention refereeing duties… I recon after interceding in disputes, and the ‘he said, she said’ dramas that happen in this house, that I am fully qualified to referee any sport on the planet!!!:)

I breathed a huge big sigh when they were all out of the house Monday morning.  Listen to that silence!!!  Ahhhh.  I even get to play MY music!  Woo hoo.  I felt a bit like a kid on the last day of school for the year.

And then my friend C talked about her challenges with having her mother (who is progressively regressing) live with her whilst they struggle with placing her into assisted care.  There was a sweet offer from a family member to come sit with mother so that C could ‘go out’.  Only, C explained, that wasnt really what she wanted at all.  She wanted to be in her own home, with her husband, ALONE!  She wants her house back.

Our mentor challenged us both – asking the question – what is it you are really after?  Is it time or is it space?

And for me, the clearing space queen after all, the answer was a definitive – SPACE!

C realised, also, that it wasnt Time with hubby she needed so much as Space with hubby.  The time was there already – albeit with Mother in the background – but space, aloneness, is another thing altogether.

And this brings up lots of things for me.  We only have so much time.  24 hours in each and every day, our whole lives through.

Sometimes, however, we need freedom from responsibility, from care, from the daily grind.  This freedom gives us the space to BE.  For looking after an elderly mother, or a gaggle of kids and their assorted friends, and the constant demands of either group (or the constant demands of a boss, or clients, or patients, or whatever the demands on you may be) can be very draining on us.

And we really do need to recharge our batteries.  We need space.  See my post a couple of months ago on Doing nothing isnt lazy.

This isnt selfish in the traditional sense of the word.  But it is totally necessary to maintain our sense of self.  Our identity apart from all these responsibilities.  And I for one have to admit to being greedy in my pursuit of space.

For if I get that space, I am a much nicer person to be around!

What about you?  Is it space you need more of?  Is it space that is in short supply in your life, or is it really all about time?

Are you prepared to do anything to get it? 

Have you tried all the affirmations and visualisations and positive thinking stuff?

But you’re still stuck in that ‘wanting’ stage – not actually ‘getting’??

Hmm – seems to be a common problem.

We want to lose weight.  Have a great relationship.  Find our soul mate.  Get out of debt.  Get a job.  Get a better job. Start a business.  Grow a business.  Get fit and healthy.  Or just keep the most fragile of those balls we are juggling up in the air.

So why not try Acting As If you have already got what you want?  For example, let’s say you want to get back into the workforce.  You are sending out resumes, checking the internet job boards, approaching companies, polishing your resume and interview skills, right?  All great actions to take to get to your goal.  But what about acting as if you are already in the workforce?

This could include setting your alarm and getting up each morning at the time you would when you have a job.  Packing your lunch the day before.  Maybe even getting dressed and made up.  Hopping in your car, and possibly even commuting to where you would like to work.  Shopping for work clothes to suit the type of position you are aiming for.  Hanging out at lunchtime at places where you may hang out when you get the job of your dreams.  Checking out and organising child care and car pool arrangements so they are in place when you get the job.  Acting As If you already have that job.

Two big benefits here – besides attracting what it is you want to you, you are also in preparation, so that when it happens the transition is very smooth, because you have already been acting as if it were so.  This is particularly beneficial if the change you are after will affect the way your household (especially any children and spouse) operates.

For me, I am acting as if I already have a very high level of fitness and strength.  That going to my strength training sessions is something I always do (and it is becoming so much easier to get myself there and to feel GREAT as I put a tick against another week).  That getting up in the morning and putting on my workout gear and joggers is a natural part of what I do, as a precursor to going for a walk or whatever activity I have planned for the morning.  And you know what?  Although I know in my heart I am no where near my goals yet – every day I am taking small incremental steps thanks mostly to my acting as if.  And I am a lot fitter and stronger now than I was three months ago, let me tell you!  (and the positive reinforcement from my family has been absolutely vital, also! Teenboy and I compare weights now – "what did you bench press today, Mum?"  Hmmm, a whole new world of bonding and common interest – who knew???)

How could you act as if you already have the change you wish to see in your life?

What if we dreamed of what can be, instead of worrying about what may never be?

What if, each morning as we wake, we counted our blessings and not our sorrows?

What if, upon waking, we tuned our minds to the fantastic opportunities awaiting us, and believed, really believed, that Today was going to be a Great Day?