It's true. Ego is good. It shocked me, shook my paradigm (self-effacing Taiwanese woman) and gave me back to myself in three little words. Enough said.

6. The 15 Leadership Proficiencies available at http://www.andreajlee.com/leadershipprofpdf.pdf

The creation and application of 15 Leadership proficiencies were source of several heated discussions between Thomas and myself in fall 2002. (Ask Susan Austin, she'll tell you. ) And so you'd be right if you guessed this item is source of some pain to me because of that. Then again, leadership is about that, isn't it? Passion, integrity, honor...the leadership at CoachVille was chock full of that. And it was a privilege for me to be around to try proficiencies on within CoachVille as Thomas was creating them. I fully expect these proficiencies to, given time, take an important place in collective work on leadership...they are just that significant.

Note: As of fall 2002, leadership proficiency #15 on above document was amended to read - Prioritizes and allocates for benefit of 98%.

7. Why we Do what we do, and don't do what we could do available at http://www.aperfectlife.com/new/whywedowhatwedopdf.pdf

Soo love this one. Although sometimes I wonder why Thomas bothered going past #1...it seems to hit nail on head for me, almost every time.

8. Personal Page from ThomasLeonard.com available at http://www.thomasleonard.com/personalpage.html

Excerpted:

People who have really helped, and influenced me profoundly:

Andrea Lee | GM, CoachVille/GSC Andrea cares about CoachVille/GSC as much as I do, which is a lot, and means a lot.

Shockingly, it took this tiny note on Thomas' site for me to realize that just by caring, I am enough. For who I am, this is big stuff.

9. Business Concepts #8: The Three Rivet Rule available at http://www.andreajlee.com/008.html

Sometimes I think Thomas came up with this rule because he liked birds, and disliked using phrase "kill two birds with one stone." But actually there's more to rule than just that and it's a universal one that pops up nearly daily for me, now that I'm aware enough to notice.

10. The Today's Coach issue on topic of "How to Strengthen your Reputation as a Coach from Wimpy to Edgy. Available at http://www.todayscoach.com/2002/0722/default.html.

Thomas really was a prolific writer. And as editor of Today's Coach ezine for two years, I received immeasurable benefits while reading his material in preparation for weekly issue. This piece on wimpy to edgy had a profound impact for me on many levels...(1) material itself and inspiration to develop an 'edge' in my coaching/consulting (2) clarity around why combined creative force of Susan Austin and Thomas was so very potent - Susan was an environment that cultivated edge, where all good stuff comes from...and (3) how writing just perfectly about life, and in this case, his dog Fringe, could so profoundly impact so many people. This issue brought most 'AHA' responses from readers of Today's Coach in two years. And I'm still learning from what he wrote and how he wrote it.

A powerful way of moving beyond being stuck is to do following three-part anger process:

1. Let yourself get really angry at someone in present (without that person being there - you do this alone). Yell and pound, letting yourself blame this person in detail for all your misery.

2. Who does this person remind you of from past - mother, father, grandparent, sibling? Let yourself yell and pound, letting out all your past anger and resentment.

3. Finally - and this is most important part - let angry child in you yell at adult in you for how you are not taking care of yourself, for how you are like people in present and past you yelled at, how you are creating your own misery by not standing up for yourself, not taking loving action for yourself, and so on. This brings you to personal responsibility and takes you out of seeing yourself as a victim of others’ choices or of past.

Once you understand how you are causing your own unhappiness by not taking care of yourself, then you need to open to learning about what is loving action toward yourself. By sincerely asking, "What is loving action? What is in my highest good?", answers will pop into your mind. Then, of course, you need to take loving action you are being guided to take. Without loving action in your own behalf, nothing will change.

Think of sad, depressed, resistant, or angry part of you as a little child who is needing love. If you wait for someone else to love that child, you may wait forever. It is only when we are infants and toddlers that others may attend to what we need. As adults, it is our job to take care of our own feelings and needs. If you think of yourself as parent of this child within - feeling part of you - it may make it easier to take responsibility for yourself.

Happiness, peace and joy are result of loving ourselves and others, rather than from being loved. When you really understand this and take action based on this truth, you will find your joy.