It's Your Move Dealing Yourself the Best Cards in Life and Work

Life is like a card game... and you have the power to deal yourself the winning hand! InIt's Your Move,image and self-improvement specialists Cyndi Maxey and Jill Bremer use the analogy of life as a card game to introduce you to powerful strategies for improving both your business and personal life... no matter what cards you are dealt.As in any good game, life offers you multiple options for achieving greatness: listening, learning, attitude, style, balance, flexibility and many more. Maxey and Bremer deliver simple, proven techniques for taking control of your life--presented in the form of a card game. You will follow sample players as they discover their "perfect hands," while learning how to maximize your own strengths and play the game of life with wisdom, courage, strategy, timing and teamwork. Learn the rules of today's game of life--and when to break them. Empower yourself to master dozens of simple techniques to maximize effectiveness and achieve your dreams--without elaborate plans or expensive programs. The authors offer guidance to help you track your progress with practical, easy worksheets.

CYNDI MAXEY is a speaker and seminar leader with 22 years' experience helping people become stellar communicators. She has owned and operated Maxey Creative Inc. since 1989, and is a National Speakers Association Certified Speaking Professional. She co-authored "The Communication Coach" and "Training from the Heart."

 

JILL BREMER founded Bremer Communications, an image consultancy that helps individuals and organizations improve their professional presence. She has earned the designation Certified Image Professional from the Association of Image Consultants International. She edits Image Insights, a leading image eZine.

PrefaceIt's your move. Are you ready? Of course you are! There's nothing more stimulatingthan change, and this book is about making positive changes in yourlife and work. Too many people think about what they could do someday.You're ready to do something today. You're ready to make a winning move,and we're here to help you make many of them in lots of different ways. You'llget to know yourself better as you meet others in this book who are like you.You'll also learn from those unlike you. Keep their point of view in perspectiveas you move along in the game. You will be energized and up to date withthe latest information on successful work and life strategies.You'll tap into what we've learned throughout our twenty-plus-year careersas speakers, seminar leaders, consultants, and coaches, working with thousandsof people whose goal is self-improvement. You'll share in the lessonsabout how to play the game successfully that our clients have learned. You'llfollow the footsteps of the people we've interviewed specifically for this bookand learn from their moves as they share their honest insights, mistakes, andwins. We'll help you find the life and work success you're looking for withpractical, experience-based moves that have already been proven to win. We'reglad you're ready!Who are we and why did we write this book? First, we are longtime friendsand colleagues who share a common love for people, communication, creativework, and learning. Years ago, we met in a commercial acting class inChicago, later worked together as singing "wenches" in a medieval themerestaurant, and along the way established busy seminar and consulting businessesin the image and communication fields. We've learned a lot as professionals,and we've developed a network of savvy folks who have graciouslycontributed to this book. With all of this help, along with years of work andlife experience, we joined forces to write this book on how you can make theright moves. About CyndiCyndi's creative, outgoing husband, Rob, and two active teenage children,Ryan and Phelan, provide both balance and chaos in her life. Writing aboutthe courage to make moves strongly echoes her personal belief system; shehas always respected and admired those people who take initiative. She haschanged careers in life, balanced two careers simultaneously, and managed asuccessful home-based business for fourteen years. She's also had many opportunitiesto reevaluate moves and challenges in her personal life, havingbounced back from a fire that destroyed all of her belongings, from being fired,and from stress as a high school overachiever.Professionally, Cyndi has a master's degree in communication studies from NorthwesternUniversity and a bachelor's degree in theatre education from Illinois StateUniversity. She is a speaker and seminar leader who helps people become stellarcommunicators. For the past twenty-two years, she has presented workshopsacross the United States and Canada. Cyndi holds the National Speakers Association'sCertified Speaking Professional designation, the group's highest earneddesignation. She has owned and operated Maxey Creative Inc. since 1989. Herarticles have appeared in many professional journals and magazines, and she isco-author of two books, The Communication Coach (Coloring Outside the Lines,1998) and Training from the Heart: Developing Your Natural Abilities to Inspire theLearner and Drive Performance on the Job (ASTD Books, 2000). She has heldleadership positions in the Chicago Chapter of the American Society for Trainingand Development, Chicago Chapter of the National Association of WomenBusiness Owners, and National Speakers Association-Illinois. About JillA resident of Oak Park, Illinois, Jill is married to Neil, an art museum directorand professional singer and mother to Evan, an emerging teenager and futuremovie director. Jill has made numerous major moves in her career. In herprevious life