You Don't Have to Learn the Hard Way: Making It in the Real World: A Guide for Graduates

Life lessons bound into a book. That's what You Don't Have to Learn the Hard Way: Making It in the Real World: A Guide for Graduates is all about. Sounds simple enough, but the trick is getting your graduate to read it! I suggest mom or dad read this book before handing it over to your high school or college graduate. Although this is something that needs to be in your child's hands, mom and dad or any other concerned elder could take the lessons in this book and slowly direct them to any child of any age.

Let's examine a topic directly from the book, "First Impressions." It immediately starts off with the "old saying" that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. It's very true and most adults will tell you that 95% of the time, you are not able to change what is impressed in the first few moments of meeting someone. So how does Parrish manage to reiterate the importance of this particular life lesson? Like countless other topics his book, he's got a red bolded statement right there in the margin area: A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. Wow - not only is it true, but pretty simple! Certainly he's got other great things to say, right? Yes, he does! Parrish's statement grabs the reader and invites further reading. On the next page is a numbered list of ways to make a positive impression and/or reassure someone else's impression they've made upon you. Again, it is pretty simple and easy!

Even though this book is geared towards those starting out in life, it is still applicable to those still living their life, no matter how far gone that seemingly "bright future" is. Rarely is it ever too late to learn something new and then apply it to your current situation or even life in general. Chapter 3 of You Don't Have to Learn the Hard Way: Making It in the Real World: A Guide for Graduates is all about making dreams come true. It's a lot easier to accomplish and realize your dreams when you are starting off fresh and new in life, just out of college, and ready to take the bull by the horns. Parrish gives you all the tools you need to get it done. But there are many of us who had to live life a little before we were able to realize those dreams, and for those of us who are mid-life and still have dreams, we can still use the lessons Parrish shares.

For example, Parrish reminds us that when we don't like the situation we are in, we should change it. Of course, the older you are, the harder it is to do… but it is possible! Parrish uses the bold red note in the margin to remind us that we can make our dreams come true as long as we are dedicated to it through and through. Our own thoughts, however negative or positive they may be, are what a reality becomes. It is really easy to forget these lessons between all the ins and outs of day to day life, and us "old folk" need to be reminded of this. However, for those starting out in life, it can be something that feeds their attitude towards their future and make the difference between personal and professional success or something less than desired.

Parrish tackles just about every topic under the sun that can help a young adult become successful in life, and if they read it, I do believe they will truly have the positive reinforcement they need to be successful where they dream of success. For parents and older adults needing encouragement to renew their spirit and outlook towards the world, they too will find the encouragement they need to look forward to life as opposed to just living it one day at a time.

Hopefully I can keep these great lessons fresh in my memory to share with my children and when the time is right, hand You Don't Have to Learn the Hard Way: Making It in the Real World: A Guide for Graduates over to them to read. Simply put, this is the kind of book we all need on the family bookshelf!

The Get Organized Answer Book

Dingy Desk? 50 lb. Purse? STILL Haven’t Done Your Taxes Cuz of All the Mess??
Clear Away the Clutter and Save $$ NOW!!

Spring has finally arrived and you can start fresh with new organizational skills that will pay off big time and last all year round. Jamie Novak, clutter-free queen and author of the newly released The Get Organized Answer Book: Practical Solutions for 275 Questions on Conquering Clutter, Sorting Stuff, and Finding More Time and Energy, can help you de-clutter your home and open yourself up to all the possibilities extra space and organization have to offer.

Jamie is a nationally recognized home inventory expert and professional organizer who says that about 80% of the clutter in every home or office is a result of disorganization, not lack of space. Her strategies, tips, and tools for success can help everyone conquer their messes, learn how to save money, and start living a much richer, more productive life today.

· Lack energy to organize? How to get motivated
· Is organizing pricey? How you can save BIG bucks and BIG room at the same time
· Fooled by all the freebies? How you can and should stop taking home free stuff
· Kids who love to clutter? How to get your children involved in the organizing process
· And much more!

Known as the “World’s Most Relatable Organizer,” Jamie Novak is the organizing expert for NBC’s iVillage and the author of two bestselling books, 1000 Best Quick and Easy Organizing Secrets and 1,000 Best Time Saving Strategies. Jamie and her organizing tips are frequently featured in national publications and programs that include Family Circle, Woman’s Day, American Baby, Parents, QVC, and HGTV's Mission Organization. For more info, including Jamie’s new video reel, visit http://jamienovak.com/MediaRoom.html

Back on the Career Track, A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work

Being a stay-at-home mom is no easy task. For me, it just kind of happened. I was frustrated in my job, tired of dealing with illnesses my son continually had because of being in a daycare, and most of all, I despised the idea of someone else seeing all of his firsts. After six months of my own personal mommy madness, I decided to be an at-home mom. In the beginning, it was really tough having only one income and even only one car, but my husband and I did what we could to make it work.
Being at home with my son has had its ups and downs. I've enjoyed it thoroughly, but really miss the social interaction I used to have while working. I feel accomplished as a mom, but as an individual I know I will soon need something more. Something being at home can't necessarily give and eventually, I do want to go back to work. However, one fear I have about going back out into the workforce is the fact that I've been out of the rat race for a few years now, and I am rusty. I used to get every job I interviewed for, but now my confidence is kaput. I've gone from working with talented professionals to a talented preschooler. From working on hundred-thousand dollar budgets for government jobs to cleaning dried play dough from the rug. All of these changes weave into my psyche, making it that much harder to even decide if I really do want to go back to work.
For all of the moms out there who can relate to these issues, and have even slightly pondered upon the question of whether or not to return to work after being an at-home mom, there are two great women who've done a lot of legwork to guide the stay-at-home mom back into the workforce. Back on the Career Track, A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work by Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin is the perfect read for those interested in the idea of returning to work. Whether it's now or years from now, issues involved in everything from making the decision to return to work, to the actual process of relaunching a successful career are covered from A to Z in this handy guide.
The introduction of the book says it all: "Our Journey from Playdough to Real Dough." It can't be put any simpler than that! When reading the introduction, I felt myself nodding and agreeing with the writers. We have a fulfilling job as a stay-at-home mom, but we itch to do something more. We miss the excitement and intellectual stimulus that comes with a career, regardless
of how we felt about our previous run on the career track, or how happy we are with our present situation. When we think about having to go back to work, it's almost physically painful to think about it. It's not just leaving our home and any of our children, but so much more. From regaining confidence in our ability to have a successful interview to actually finding a job we can enjoy. There are quite a few speed bumps on the road to success and Back on the Career Track provides the knowledge needed to plow through and get back to a successful career.
Cohen and Rabin worked with more than a hundred women who had worked in fields from law and medicine to customer service and teaching, and by doing so, they were able to come up with a workable strategy for "Relaunching Success." Part one of the book is designed as a seven step program to get back out in the workforce, and being happy about it. From learning confidence and accessing career options to getting out there and making a name for yourself under your own terms. It's a simple recipe for success especially for the career-bound mom.
Part two of the book continues with the idea of returning to work after being an at-home mom by focusing on what Cohen and Rabin have coined as the "Relaunch Movement and Beyond," covering the change we've seen in women who've gone back to their careers after staying home to raise children. Back on the Career Track then closes with the pondering upon the future and if "Relaunching Success" will become easier for women in generations to follow.
The simple fact of knowing that so many women before us have successfully returned to a career after being at home is in itself a great confidence builder. Whether I decide to do it next year or in the next five years, I know that what I've learned from Back on the Career Track will provide me with the information I need to be confident and successful in my future career pursuits.

On Becoming Fearless... In Love, Work and Life (Review)

All women have fears. Whether it is the fear of loss, fear of growing older, fear of being poor, fear of being alone or even the fear of being overweight, fears come in every shape, fashion and form. Learning to overcome fear and facing fearlessness isn't a task easily taken. However, with the guidance of a fearless woman, fearlessness is just over the horizon. Arianna Huffington's latest book On Becoming Fearless … In Love, Work and Life is the hand reaching into the darkness to pull us away from our fears and towards a brighter future.

Over the course of the book, we are introduced to many different women, their fears and their fearlessness, including scholars, celebrities and the mom next door. The reader is intimately drawn in to the inner thoughts of fear and fearlessness these women behold. We see that over the last century, many women have crossed the paths of greatness and left a legacy we all can admire and even replicate for ourselves. But there's also the truth that sometimes, even our own fearlessness can be tested.

In the chapter entitled "Fearless in Parenting," we see how mythical the "supermom" really is, and how becoming a fearless parent means more than being everything to everyone (because as a mom, isn't that what we do?). Becoming a fearless parent is about being the best we can be, "and forgive yourself when you are not." Arianna directs the reader into the realization that being a fearless mom is to throw away the notion of perfection and to "embrace uncertainty and imperfection." No doubt about it, these are things Arianna's own mom taught her and is why she is so enlightened on the subject. If one mom can teach this to her own daughter, then it certainly can be taught from one mom to another mom.

Arianna exposes her inner thoughts and shares her own fears of the past. Her undying adoration and respect for her mother plays an essential role in her life as much as it does in On Becoming Fearless. Undeniably, Arianna's mother possessed a fearlessness not easily found in today's world. It's the legacy of her mom and the goal to live up to that legacy that makes Arianna the fearless woman she writes about becoming. From standing up to German Soldiers before she ever became a mother, to making the most out of every day and not letting a bump in the road slow her down, her mother was the epitome of fearlessness in Arianna's eyes.

On Becoming Fearless addresses more than just being a fearless mother, but also being fearless about the body, fearless in love, fearless at work, fearless about money, aging, illness, God and death, about leadership and speaking out, fearless about changing the world and ultimately living the fearless life. Every aspect of being a woman in today's society is covered, and antidotes to these fears are prescribed. Are you in fear of a dead end? There are no dead ends, only "U-Turns." Are you afraid of what money you don't have or are governed by? Put it into perspective and "stop making it more important than it is." Do you fear that the dream you are living is going to come crashing to an end? Well, at least you are living that dream. The list goes on, and Arianna makes it as easy as 1, 2, 3. On Becoming Fearless is more than a suggestion; it is the woman's instruction manual for living a happier, more fulfilling life. A life we all deserve.

If you are in need of a pep-talk, encouragement, or simply need a catalyst to keep you moving in the right direction, On Becoming Fearless … In Love, Work and Life is the weekend reading best fit for you, your mom, your friends and co-workers. Every woman will benefit from the positive, uplifting affirmations delivered in this book, and the words and quotes of so many great and ambitious women of our and our mother's generation set the tone for the ultimate goal - because all women can become fearless.

On Becoming Fearless... In Love, Work and Life (Excerpt)

The following is an excerpt from On Becoming Fearless
by Arianna Huffington
Published by Little, Brown and Company; April 2007;$12.99US/$16.50CAN; 978-0-316-16682-9
Copyright © 2007 Arianna Huffington

On Becoming a Fearless Mother

Motherhood brings out reserves of courage we never knew we had. Huffington Post commenter Deborah Daniels Wood writes: "Being a mom is probably the one thing that will make most women fearless. We would gladly step in front of a speeding train, a bullet, a raging mad dog, whatever it was that was threatening our children."

That's how I got through Isabella's eating issues. What helped me at the time, and has always helped me in dealing with my fears, is that I have to be fearless for them, because there is nothing that strikes fear in a child's heart faster than a fearful parent. Knowing that you have to at least appear fearless for your children -- to convey the assurance that everything is going to be all right -- can have the effect of actually making you fearless.

Huffington Post reader Lia Hadley sent me an e-mail about a trip she took to London with her then nine-year-old daughter: "When we arrived at the airport, it was late in the evening, and we had to take a long train ride into the center of the city. As we were waiting for the train (with not another child in sight), my daughter began to cry because it was all so strange, there were so many people, and it was dark and way past her bedtime. Trying to show her that she didn't have to worry because, hey, she was with her mom and a world traveler to boot, we had a discussion, which at least calmed her to the point that she stopped crying. By the end of the journey (five days later), she had had such a good time that she said she wanted to move to London when she grew up."

Some time later, Lia asked her daughter what had changed the London adventure from being scary to being fun. "I think," she said, "it was because I realized that despite the fact that you got lost all the time, we always managed to get to where we wanted to go. You would ask all sorts of strangers for directions, and the people were so friendly and so helpful, and we had such interesting conversations, that I realized being lost can be a lot of fun."

When I look back at my own childhood, my mother looms large as a teacher of fearlessness. Some of the ways she taught fearlessness to my sister and me were more eccentric than others.

One night when my sister and I were in our teens, we were on our way to see Chekhov's Three Sisters. We walked out of the house, closing the door behind us. My mother immediately realized that she'd forgotten her purse inside -- the purse containing not only the tickets to the show and her money but the key to the house. Any normal person would probably have rearranged the night's priorities, canceling the theater and getting a locksmith to open the door.

Not my mother. She didn't blink an eye. She went to the superintendent's apartment, knocked on the door, and asked him for some cash. We all climbed into a taxi, and when we arrived at the theater, she went up to the box office and explained what had happened.

They had us wait until everyone had been seated, and then they gave us three empty seats. My sister, Agapi, and I kept asking how we were going to get back into the house, to which my mother would say, "Don't think about it, just enjoy the play [which we did, by the way], and it will all work out."

It so happened that our apartment in Athens was on the third floor, opposite the fire station. My mother had a plan. When we got home, she went over to the firehouse and, in her charming way, asked the firemen if they could please bring a ladder over to a window of our apartment. Which they did. In short order, the window was open and we were in the house. Of course, my mother then served them soup, and we all had a great time!

I remember that night whenever I'm faced with canceled flights, lost wallets, and plans gone awry. My mother was a master at not ever panicking and trusting life to always give her solutions. She preferred to live in the moment -- even if that moment was one in which she was not in possession of the keys to her apartment -- with the assurance that it would all work out. The ability to trust is an amazing quality, and it was deep in her DNA. That trust and lack of fear paid her back well, keeping her open and receptive to solutions.

For Diane von Furstenberg, the most powerful lessons in fearlessness also came from her mother. Diane took the fashion industry by storm in the seventies when she designed a little wrap dress that launched a billion-dollar business. Thirty years and many ventures later, she still credits her mother. "My mother," she told me, "always said that fear is not an option. When I was eight years old she put me on a train from Brussels to Paris on my own. I was very afraid, but I was also proud to arrive safely at my destination. My mother was a Holocaust survivor, and when she was freed from the concentration camp by the Russians in 1945, she weighed forty-nine pounds. It took me a very long time to realize the enormity of what she had been through and of my heritage -- and the way she had been able to turn such pain into something positive. I grew up with a legacy that life is a miracle and that I'm the daughter of a survivor, not a victim. So when I'm in pain or in fear, I look through it for the light and the fearlessness."

When there are dead ends there are also U-turns, and if we don't panic, bridges can appear -- we just need to trust that there is a way. And there is always a way. That knowledge is a gift of fearlessness we can model for our kids.

Not All Fears are Created Equal

If courage is the knowledge of what is not to be feared, there is nothing like becoming a mother to help us prioritize and recognize how trivial many of our fears are compared to what really matters.

Janet Grillo, a writer-producer living in Los Angeles whose son has autism, told me: "The biggest fear a mother has is that her child will become damaged. That the perfect wonder of her baby will be undone somehow. That she will turn her head just at the moment he slips. That the spill of scalding coffee, the outturned handle of a pot, the stray pill, will find her child. I don't know if the vaccines I insisted upon, as a responsible parent following responsible medical advice, caused him harm. Or if the antibiotics prescribed to fight off strep did him in. Or if the toxins in the air and water that pervade everything we eat and breathe crescendoed, after generations, to a breaking point. Or if it was none of this, but maybe my son's genetic destiny, a ticking clock that would strike when he turned two no matter what I did or did not do. Or perhaps my fear itself called it forth, as some sort of extraordinary response from an unkind God.

"What I do know is that when my alert, engaged, charming, and vivacious son turned two, he began, hour by hour, day by day, to drift away. As if by helium, he lifted away from us, from our family, from our world, and inward toward a remote and private place."

It was the hardest and most frightening thing Janet and her husband, film director David O. Russell, had ever faced. But, Janet told me, "Ultimately, faith and fear could not coexist. One had to eventually prevail out of this eternal pull. I simply did not have the luxury to feel fear. Fear had become, in the face of my child's immediate need, an indulgence. He was here and autism was engulfing him, and I could either reach beyond myself and into the fog that gripped him and pull him out or I could continue fearing that I would lose him. Fear had to fall by the wayside. And faith is what emerged in the tiny triumphs of his returned gaze."

Children clearly help us tap into this faith, the source of the life force that vaporizes fears. They help us see the world in a more trusting way and discover a love we did not know was possible.

Copyright © 2007 Arianna Huffington

Author Arianna Huffington has written eleven widely praised books, appeared on numerous television and radio shows, and founded the Huffington Post, an enormously successful online source of news and opinion. In 2006 she was chosen as one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World." She wrote this book for her two daughters, in the hope that they will lead fearless lives.

Used with permission from the publisher.

The Second Nine Months: One Woman Tells the REAL Truth About Becoming a Mom. Finally.

The excerpt below is from The Second Nine Months: One Woman Tells the REAL Truth About Becoming a Mom. Finally.
by Vicki Glembocki

Book Description from Amazon.com: In the spirit of Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions, a reality check for new moms. I want to walk out of Target and leave Blair there, wailing.... Nice people work at Target. Surely someone would take her home and care for her and buy her pretty things. So begins Vicki Glembocki's brutally honest yet hilarious memoir of her agonizing transition into motherhood. Why agonizing? Because no one told her how tough it would be. Finally, Glembocki lays out the truth about those first months with baby: the certainty that you're doing everything wrong; the desire to kill your husband, your mother, your dog; the struggle to balance who you were with whom you've become--a mother. Unlike any other book on motherhood, Glembocki breaks the New Mother Code of Silence, proving that "maternal bliss" is not innate, but learned. Funny and wise, she connects with new moms on a shockingly intimate level, letting them know that they are not alone.

Excerpt From The Second Nine Months: One Woman Tells the REAL Truth About Becoming a Mom. Finally.
by Vicki Glembocki

Two weeks later, I push the stroller down a street I've never been on before. This is the first walk the baby and I are taking together. There is probably a line in the baby book my mother gave me, the one that's still in its plastic box in one of the many piles on our dining room table, where I'm supposed to document this moment-First Walk In Stroller. Taking this walk is supposed to be relaxing. The Girlfriend's Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood said so-"Get out and get fresh air…it does wonders for your spirit." My spirit is supposed to be inhaling the warm, late-March air, feeling invigorated while I maternally point out the many things the baby is seeing for the first time. The buds on the maple trees. The trail from an airplane. The tabby cat sunning itself on the back stoop of the white house we just passed. But I am not. Because the baby is crying.

I push faster.

She keeps crying.

I hum The Alphabet Song.

She keeps crying.

I shift the angle of the canopy, in case the sun's shining in her eyes.

She keeps crying.

I reach down the back of her neck, under the cotton blanket she's swaddled in, under her lavender one-piece body suit with the yellow butterfly on it so I can finger the tag, in case there's a plastic, price-tag holder sticking out of it. Or an open safety pin. Or a pickax. There's nothing.

She keeps crying.

No matter what I do, she keeps crying.

What I should do is turn the stroller around. I should not be in public. I should go home. But I can't go home. Because, a block away, there is a Laundromat, and in that Laundromat are the quilt from our bed and the afghan from our couch, tumbling in an industrial dryer, a task that was on my "List of Things To Do Before The Baby Comes" because the quilt and afghan-too large for our washer and dryer-had fused with zillions of sharp, blonde, burrowing dog hairs, discarded by Levi, our 80-pound Lab, hairs that I was certain would break free, lodge in the baby's throat, and choke her. I need to finish this job. I have two hours between each nursing so there's time to finish this job. I feel along the sides of the baby's swaddle to make sure her fingers aren't bent the wrong way. I tuck the blanket under her feet, in case her feet are cold.

She keeps crying.

What am I doing wrong?

I pull out my cell phone and dial Thad's office line.

"I can't do this," I say, before he even says "hello."

"What happened?" he asks. I hear the wheels on his office chair roll across the floor and his door close. I tell him about the afghan and the Laundromat and the crying. About how I can't stop the crying.

"Is she hungry?"

"No."

"Is she wet?"

"No."

"Maybe you just tried to do too much, sweetie. Maybe you should just go home," he says in his new mellow tone, the one he's been using in the middle of the night for the past two weeks, every time I nudge him awake and declare that I'm certain the baby is dead.

"She's not dead," he always says, calm and patient, just like he was when I woke him up with the same worry roughly 13 seconds before.

"How do you know that?" I always ask.

"I know."

"How do you know?" And Thad flips the covers onto me, staggers over to the Pack 'n Play at the foot of our bed, and leans over so his cheek is next to Blair's tiny mouth, waiting until he feels a few bursts of warm air.

"She's not dead," he whispers, climbing back into bed. I always lie there for a few seconds. Then I get up and check myself, resting my hand lightly on Blair's chest, swaddled so tight I wonder if the receiving blanket is the only thing holding her fragile body together, until I feel it rise, up and down, up and down.

Now, though, in the light of day, his soothing "everything's okay" tenor makes me clamp my teeth together, as if he didn't just suggest I go home, but instead told me to do the very opposite, to suck it up, to finish the damn bedspreads and then make a meatloaf.

You can purchase The Second Nine Months: One Woman Tells the REAL Truth About Becoming a Mom. Finally. at Amazon.com!