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August 2008 Newsletter: Re-drawing the map
This
Confidence newsletter is sent each month to subscribers of
www.yourmostconfidentself.com from Kate Burton and Brinley Platts,
the authors of "Building
Confidence for Dummies" and creators of the Your Most Confident Self
website.
Just now I’m writing a new book. ‘Writing’ is the polite description to cover the scribbling, tweaking, cutting and pasting of notes and ideas that is shaping up. Like a patchwork quilt, this new work is building from scraps of random work on planes and trains, in cafes, by the beach and then back home on the dining room table. I had a colour-coded map of the book and thought it was all was coming together.
Then it got really messy.
I shared my map with Alison, a publishing consultant, whose sharp observation pointed to three books emerging from one plan. She suggested I’d made it too far too complicated. “Oops, what now?” I wondered.
The good news: I had oodles of ideas to fill yet more pages – and books. The bad news: I had to go back to the drawing board and re-draw the main map.
This book reached a stage of chaos. Papers everywhere. Diagrams and chapters all carved up. Text in the wrong place. I engaged Sally to help. She’s patiently typing all the ramblings and is moving them systematically to the best place in new chapters. Together we are re-drawing the map which means destroying some work that has gone before.
Every creative project goes through a stage of letting go of something you’ve built in order to provide space for something else that’s new, different and clearer to emerge. Hold the thought that ‘confusion is a natural step in the pathway to understanding’ and you get through this stage and come out the other side.
This month I’ve also had the wonderful experience of walking in Crete with a couple of friends where the maps of the old paths no longer reflect the landscape and the bus timetables changed. We got a bit lost scrambling through olive groves and along the rocky coastline yet always got home safely after our adventures. The views and flowers were stunning. Often we took a gamble, headed off in one direction hoping for the best and the way only became clear as we made a commitment to just ‘go for it’ and see what happened.
Just now you may need to re-draw a map in some part of your life. You thought you knew where you were going, things have changed and you now have a different view. That’s OK, once you accept that breaking up what you have created and getting rid of it, is a natural process on the journey. So is trusting that things turn out fine in the end.
Being willing to stop and re-draw the map entails three skills:
This month get curious on your travels about any maps that no longer work for you. And be willing to get help to draw some new ones. When you’re planning a new route, bring in all the expertise you can afford to support you.
Have fun, travel well and send us a postcard. We like to hear from you!
Best wishes
Kate and Brinley
Kate’s new "Neuro-Linguistic Programming Workbook for Dummies" by Romilla Ready and Kate Burton ISBN 9780 470 51973 8 is now out on Amazon and in good bookstores. It’s the sequel to "Neuro-Linguistic Programming for Dummies" by Romilla Ready and Kate Burton ISBN 0764570285
The best selling "Building Self-Confidence for Dummies" by Kate Burton and Brinley Platts ISBN 0470016698 is also on Amazon or contact us for signed copies.
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