Happy Follow Friday!  Here is this Friday’s Brilliant Women to follow!

Jenny Garrett, @JenniferGarrett

Jenny Garrett is an executive coach, consultant, author and speaker.  She is passionate about challenging leaders to make a positive difference, motivating women to live their best life with pride, and inspiring authentic leadership.

Jenny’s video really gives you insight into Jenny and is beautifully done.

Read about Jenny’s new book, Rocking Your Role, here.

Jenny also publishes The Female Breadwinners Daily.

Be sure to follow Jenny on Twitter at @JenniferGarrett!

Who would you recommend for Brilliant Women to Follow?  Be sure to add suggestions in the comments.

Each week we will be publishing a list of Brilliant Women.  Here’s our first list!

Susan Mazza, @susanmazza

Susan blogs about leadership and is passionate about creating clarity, connection and collaboration.

Great Posts:

Are You a Muse for Magnificence

People Are Like Diamonds

The Purpose of Rules and Principles

Susan’s website: http://randomactsofleadership.com/

While you are there, download a copy of the Lead Change Revolution, Instigating a Global Movement for Character-Based Leadership!

Kate Nasser @katenasser

Kate turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. She delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on customer service, teamwork, and leading change.

Great posts:

Don’t Let Fear Be the Gum on Your Shoe

9 Communication Essentials for Leading Virtually

Leaders 10 Gritty Questions to Define Teamwork

Kate’s website: http://katenasser.com/

Remember when you were younger and danced by yourself, danced with your friends, danced with your boyfriend, danced with anybody?

Dancing. I’m talking about the joyous dancing that comes from turning on some music and letting it rip. I’m talking about the huffing and puffing, get a side ache and still keep dancing kind of dancing.

Somewhere along the line, we quit dancing. Oh, not all of us…some of us are still dancing. Either way, you know who you are.

Here’s my dirty little secret

I stopped dancing about six years ago.   All of my life I have danced.  With or without partners. In the bedroom or in the living room. In front of mirrors or

not in front of mirrors.  With wild abandon or by practicing a certain style of dance.

I need to start dancing again, do you?

Dancing Benefits

Here are just a few of the benefits of dancing.

1. Dancing, along with music, can take us to another time and place.  Use this to change your mood by selecting songs that represented a happier or more powerful time in your life. Example: I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.
2. You will feel joyous because dancing releases endorphins, the feel good chemical that’s produced by the body through exercise.
3. Reduce your stress. It’s been proven that exercise reduces stress.
4. Dancing can make exercise fun! Use dancing to stay or get fit.
5. Dancing is great for your bones! Weight-bearing exercise helps to prevent osteoporosis.
6. Dancing may prevent dementia.
7. It can help you feel sexier.
8. You will feel more confident and bolder.
9. It’s fun!

Dancing is Easy

1. You don’t have to know how to dance. Just move to the music.
2. You don’t need a partner to dance.
3. You need music to dance. From the speakers, the ear buds, or the music you hear in your head.
4. You can dance in the privacy of your own home.  Or even your bedroom.

Let’s Start!

1. Pick two songs that always make you want to dance when you hear them.  My two songs are I Got a Feeling, Black Eyed Peas and Dancing in the Street, Martha & The Vandellas.
2. Find a place.
3. Just do it!
4. If you find yourself resisting, check out 6 Easy Ways to Get Unstuck.

Dance Challenge

I am going to put on some great dancing music and dance for at least one song every day! Care to join me?  What songs will you dance to?  Please let me know in the comments, below!

Boogie Music

Songs to make you dance.  A song sampler from Rhino records that you can play from your computer.

100 Greatest Dance Songs of the 90s

Top 100 Dance Songs of All Time

Dance Craze of the 60s

Brilliant Nuggets

Women Who Dance is a fantastic ongoing photo project that explores and celebrates woman’s relationship with the body and self through dance.

Dance like nobody’s watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody’s listening; live like it’s heaven on earth. – Mark Twain

Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise, That I dance like I’ve got diamonds, At the meeting of my thighs? -Maya Angelou

I dance because I must. Because I choose to. Because it feeds my soul like nothing else. When I am dancing I feel alive. Completely alive in every dimension. Fully here. Thrilled.  -Rachel

Feeling stuck?

Being stuck can be such a frustrating experience! But there are tools and techniques to help you get unstuck that work!

Here are 6 easy and effective ways to get unstuck.

1. Create micro-movements.
   
   Take your goal and break it down into the smallest imaginable tasks parts. Bestselling author, Sark, calls these “micro-movements”. They are really tiny components of a task that can be done in five minutes or less. We can do just about anything for that period of time. Always make sure that you specify a date and time when you will complete the Micro-movement.

   Here’s an example:Goal: write a novel.
   Micro-movement: Create a Word document named “Novel” by Friday at 2:00 pm.

   Sark strung thousands of micro-movements together and published 11 books!

2. Use a timer.
   
   This can be used in conjunction with #1. Pick a task or micro-movement and set a timer for 15 minutes and just get started. You are only going to work on the task for 15 minutes. Often you will find that you will be on a roll at the end of 15 minutes and want to continue for another 15 minutes. Or another 15 minutes.This is a very effective method for me and I used it to write this blog post!
3. Use a tool.
   
   Get Unstuck and Get Going on the Stuff That Matters by Michael Bungay Stanier. This flip book is a great source for inspiration with over 150 stories, quotations, models of human dynamics and powerful questions!Sedona Method.  Learn to release being stuck using a simple 2 minute exercise. Check out this Sample Releasing Process.
4. Reframe your self-talk.Instead of telling yourself you have to, tell yourself that you are choosing to. When we are told we have to do something, we often rebel and resist. By changing your self-talk you will lower your resistance.
5. Talk to a friend.
   
   Sometimes talking it out is the best way to get unstuck. Choose an insightful friend who asks powerful questions to get at the root of why you are stuck.
6. Do something totally different.
   
   If you have been focusing on heavy thinking processes get up and away from your desk and take a walk. Or go work in your garden. Sometimes taking a break from what you are working on can free up your mind so that when you go back to the task you are fresh and ready to work on it again.

Call to Action

Pick one methods to get unstuck and let us know about your progress in the Comments, below.

Resources

Make Your Creative Dreams Real by Sark. This is a wonderful and gentle book that helps procrastinators, perfectionists, and busy people develop and plan and complete it. The micro-movement concept is discussed in Chapter 4.

Download Sark’s  Micro-movement Support Sheets.

Photography by reebs*

Ah, the contented, joyous feeling that you have when you spend quality time with a good woman friend! We laugh, we vent, we process, we encourage, we support, and we share our life’s stories.

Well it turns out that there is a biological reason for that feeling. Studies show that the bonding hormone, oxytocin, that is created when women and their babies look into each other’s eyes is the same hormone that is produced when women friends connect. It lowers our stress levels and contributes to our health.

We know that spending time with friends is good for the heart and soul. Our friendships need tending and nurturing in order to grow and flourish. But how can we easily do this when we are so busy? We simply need to make this a priority in our lives and we need to make this fun!

5 Terrific Ways to stay connected and spend time with the friends we love.

1. Plan and attend a fun event.
   Have a tea party (don’t forget the hats and boas!), see a play or movie,  attend a garden show – make sure there is time to talk and connect before or afterwards.
2. Learn together.
   Pick something that you are both interested in and take lessons together.  I took a six-week group weaving class with a dear friend of mine.  We met for dinner after work and then went to our class together.  It was great because we had a scheduled time to meet together, had time to talk and were able to share a fun class!
3. Exercise together.
   I can hear what you are thinking already…exercise? Look, I am not a person who enjoys exercise by myself but with a friend it can be a real treat. Until my friend moved away, we would meet at least two times a week to walk at a nearby lake. The time went fast, we talked the entire time and we felt fantastic afterwards and *sometimes* we walked the entire route twice!
4. Belong together.
   Join a club together.  Here are some ideas: book, bridge, card, dining, and photography.
5. Volunteer together.
   Find a community or organization that needs your help and volunteer together. Not only will you spend time with your friend, but you will feel better knowing that you helped others.

Call to action

Right now, before you do anything else, phone or email a friend and schedule some time to get together using one of the above ways to connect.

Do you have other terrific ways to spend time with friends? I’d love to read them. Please share them in the comment section, below.

Resources

Our Innate Need For Friendship
UCLA Study On Friendship Among Women
Friendships: Enrich Your life and Improve Your Health

Brilliant Women Quotes

“Stay” is a charming word in a friend’s vocabulary. Louisa May Alcott

It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. Marlene Dietrich.

Ah, the all girl backup group! Typically, they are the singers that backup and support the lead singer in a singing group. In this version, however, they are your backup group and act as a powerful source for support and advice.

Several years ago, Milne Kintner, my amazing life coach, introduced me to her concept of the all girl backup group. The all group backup group is a group of 3 – 4 women that you admire that will act as your life advisory group. When times get tough or you have a thorny decision to make, use the counsel of your all girl backup group. Ask each one what they would advise you to do and then decide whether to use their advice. Think of them as your go to resource!

Yes, You Could Have Your Own Girl Backup Group!

Here’s how to form your group:

1. Brainstorm a list of potential group members. You can choose famous women – alive or dead, women you know, or fictional women such as CJ Cregg, Press Secretary/Chief-of-Staff from the West Wing.
2. Audition them. Try each one out to see if they fit by asking each one a question and seeing if their answer resonates with you.
3. Pick the finalists. reduce the list to your top three or four singers.
4. Hang out with them. Put up pictures of the backup group near your desk or somewhere where you will be reminded of the group and the powerful resource you have for answering questions and solving problems.

Meet My All Girl Backup Group

1. Tina Turner. Tina represents strength during difficult times.  Gutsy and raw.  And don’t forget about her amazing comeback after dumping Ike! I ask Tina for advice when I want to be bold or need to have a comeback – what would Tina do?
2. Gloria Steinem. One of the pioneers of the Women’s Movement and an activist and a change agent. I ask Gloria for advice when I want to take a unpopular stance – what would Gloria do?
3. Jane Fonda. When you think of Jane Fonda you may think aerobics, Movie Star, and/or Ted Turner. When I think of Jane Fonda I think of her as an activist who used her celebrity to stand up for what she believed during the Viet Nam war. I ask Jane for advice when I want to stand up – what would Jane do?

So, who are the singers in your all girl backup group? Please share with us in the comments, below.

Sally Hogshead captivates us again with her new book, Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation.

From why your brand should do a shot of Jägermeister to why Hitler was able to gain the trust of millions of people, Sally uses engaging stories and facts to pull us into the world of fascination.

Sally commissioned a study for this book, the Kelton Fascination Study, to determine what people thought fascination was worth. The findings show that most people will pay more money if you can help them fascinate.

Women will spend more to be fascinating then they spend on food and clothes combined.

She argues that the decisions that you make are governed more by the triggers to fascination rather than by personal choice.

Fascinate: 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation

1. Lust: Why we are seduced by anticipation
2. Mystique: Why we are intrigued by unanswered question
3. Alarm: Why we take action at the threat of negative consequences
4. Prestige: Why we fixate on symbols of rank and respect
5. Power: why we focus on things and people that control us
6. Vice: why we are tempted by “Forbidden Fruit”
7. Trust: why we are loyal to reliable options

How Reading Fascinate Can Benefit You

Learn how you and your company can activate triggers to build fascination around your brand, blog and products. This will benefit both you personally and your business.

Sally and this book, in one word, fascinate.

Resources

F Score Brand Personality Test Take this free online questionnaire and learn about your “F” triggers.

Meet Your Fascination Triggers Slide presentation.

Why Your Brand Should Do a Shot of Jägermeister is an interesting look at why people drink Jägermeister (most people don’t like the taste) and the trigger that makes the sales of this product grow by 40% per year.

Radical Careering, 100 Truths to Jumpstart Your Job, Your Career, and Your Life by Sally Hogshead – Free eBook download!

15 Historical Events That Fascinate Us

Nothing will give you more power than having choices.

Consider this: how many times have you been confronted with a problem and only can think of only one or two choices to solve it? How many times have you been presented with an opportunity but can only think of several ways to take advantage of it? Without choices, we can feel powerless and stuck.

I certainly have felt powerless and stuck. But what I found is that if I can generate potential choices, I can quickly get unstuck, feel more powerful and make better decisions. Life is grand.

Generate More Potential Choices Using Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a creative thinking technique designed to generate a large

number of potential solutions to a problem. During the idea generating phase, it is key to suspend judgment to generate creative options. Although brainstorming is often used by groups, it can be used by individuals as well. Brainstorming is my go-to tool for generating options.

5 Steps to Effective Brainstorming

1. Identify the question or issue. You can put it in question form (“How can I make $500 more per month?”) or statement form (“$500 more per month”).
2. Set a time limit.  Maybe 15 minutes (it’s useful to use a timer), and develop as many solutions as fast as possible without censoring any of them. This will silence your inner critic and allow you to be as creative as possible.
3. Combine like ideas.
4. Analyze and evaluate. You can do this by pre-establishing criteria such as cost, easy to implement, time to complete. etc. Evaluate each idea according to the criteria and eliminate those ideas that do not meet the criteria.
5. Select the best choice.

Brainstorming Rules

1. All ideas are acceptable.
2. Try to generate as many ideas as possible.
3. Do not evaluate any ideas until step number four, Analyze and Evaluate.

Brainstorming Tools

Here are some tools that you can use to Brainstorm.

1. Mind maps. I use mind the mapping software, MindManager, to quickly brainstorm potential solutions.
2. Post-it notes. Write down each idea and the problem on a post-it note.  When the time is up group the ideas around the problem on the wall or a piece of poster board. Do you see patterns and similarities? Rearrange each post-it note as needed.
3. Freewriting. Write down ideas as they come to you and you just keep writing even if have to write down “I can’t think of anything to write”. Use pen and paper or document processing software such as Word.
4. Bulleted lists. Each idea is a bullet. Make sure to leave several lines empty under each bullet for any sub-bullets. Use pen and paper or document processing software such as Word.

Try brainstorming the next time you are stumped for choices. You will feel more powerful. Never underestimate the Power of Choice.

Resources

Mind Mapping Software

FreeMind
Xmind
Vue
MindManager I use it and it’s excellent. It integrates with MS Office. Approximately $349.

Books

Rapid Problem Solving with Post-It Notes by David Straker
Tinkertoys by Michael Michalko

Brilliant Woman Quote

It’s choice – not chance – that determines your destiny. Jean Nidetch