GOYA!

My neighbor in New York City is a very large, unhealthy, junk food addict. She works from home, so she rarely leaves her small apartment.

We New Yorkers live in the most convenient city in the word –- a city where you can have anything delivered, and my neighbor most certainly has everything delivered.

She even had an exercise ball delivered, which popped soon after she sat on it. She was disappointed not because it popped, but because she had hired somebody to blow it up for her and wasted the money.

Recently she adopted a scrappy looking dog. Dogs need to be taken for walks on a regular basis. Amazingly, my neighbor is doing this chore herself, and I think she may be dropping some pounds.

I saw her on the street the other day and had the following conversation:

Sandra O'Day: Hey Neighbor! Cute dog. What's his name?

Big Neighbor: I named him Goya.

Sandra O’Day: Because you like Goya beans and food products?

(Silence)

Big Neighbor: No. It’s an acronym. Goya stands for Get Off Your Ass.

Sandra O’Day: I’m stealing that from you.

Big Neighbor: Take it and run with it, O’Day.

Do it folks! G.O.Y.A.!

Is That A Jet in the River ...

... or are you just happy to see me?

Thanks to pilot Chelsey B. Sullenberger III for safely "ditching" in the Hudson River and not landing in the O’Day offices. Photos taken by my assistant from the office balcony.




What a neighborhood!

Avalanche of Upheaval

Hello O’Dayers! Greetings from the O’Day offices here in New York City, and boy-howdy has it been busy! 2009 has taken off like a rock rolling down a very steep hill, and there’s no trying to stop it. At first I was overwhelmed by all the new and challenging demands. I was even a little bit frightened that I wouldn’t be in control of my schedule and environment! But then I realized that I was playing the “Control Game!”

Folks, let’s face it. We can improve ourselves, set goals and work toward them, but sometimes our circumstances change. Appliances break down, people show up to stay with you for weeks on end, friends burst into flames. But it doesn’t mean you can’t continue to improve yourself, it just means you have to do so in a completely different environment in which you thought you’d be working.

Trouble starts when you think the events around you are an excuse to stop your self-improvement.

Cookies are not the answer! Skipping a vigorous workout routine is not the answer! Crawling under you bed and crying in the dust-bunnies is not the answer!

Embrace the change! Ride the snowy crest of the avalanche of upheaval –- otherwise you’re going to suffocate in the wet snow of resistance.

So for all of you tumbling head first into 2009 I say, “Ride it out, and ride into the New You!”

Happy Two Thousand and Fine!

Here we are, O’Dayers! Rolling into another year! And boy, it looks like it will be a real adventure. Two thousand and eight went out with a whirlwind of scandal. Between money trouble on Wall Street, the economy crashing like a lead balloon in a hurricane and the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, we didn’t know which way to turn. Seems the minute we checked our backs for knives someone was pitching horseshoes at our faces.

I remember looking down at my investment statements for one second, saw my money was gone, and looked up to see bankers and CEOs lining up for a government handout. Is Washington a soup kitchen, now?! When did that happen?!

“Oh, boo hoo, boo hoo, nobody will buy the crappy cars I make! Wahhh – Wahhh.”

Let’s get a grip right now, people.

Yes, times are going to be tough. That means we have to keep our chins up and keep plugging, not roll over and whine and kick the air like spoiled fat children.

We made this bed together. So let’s TAKE ACTION right now. It’s time to roll out of our dirty bed, do the laundry and when the bed is made again let’s make it a point not to sleep with people who tell us we can spend three times what we earn. Let’s not hop into the sack with liars just because they act folksy. Let’s remember people’s names and take numbers. It's called responsibility, and it's time to invest in it.

Let's invest in MAKING our dreams come true. No more wishing on stars. Wishing on stars is for lazy animated crickets! Besides, stars are millions of light years away! Why put your dreams off for millions of light years?! Let’s put on our MAKE and TAKE some action!

You can do it, I can help you.

Happy New Year!

www.sandraoday.com
PowerofSandra@aol.com

Happy HolO'Days!

Happy Holidays O’Dayers!

From all the e-mails I’ve been getting from you I can tell it’s been an interesting season for all of us! There are so many parties and functions to attend, and each one is special in its own way.

I recently attended a Christmas party/reunion for those of us who were either incarcerated in or worked at the Lady Bird Johnson Correctional Facility for Criminal Women.

Let’s face it, if you’ve been in prison and you show up at a reunion you’re there for one of two reasons. You either want to share with folks how great you’re doing and celebrate the spirit of the season or you want to steal stuff from the coatroom.

At our gathering many of my “prison sisters” were a breath of fresh air, women who are now holding jobs, improving their lives, and contributing to society in a positive way. Evie-Marie even had her teeth fixed! (You go, girl!)

The folks who weren’t doing so hot were the former facility officers and prison guards.

Back when we were prisoners, our captors seemed to have their lives together. After all, they were working, they owned homes with above ground pools and they had barbecues on weekends. They seemed to be living life to its fullest because they were not living behind bars. Now I realize that just isn’t true.

Turns out the guards were busy thinking that everyone else’s life was better. They were waiting for life to come to them. And today they are in the exact same place -- waiting for life to come to them. Watching those guards drain cheap beer after cheap beer and listening to them complain about their extremely comfortable, ordinary lives I wanted to give them a one-way ticket to Zimbabwe.

People, we turn on the faucet and have fresh water. We flick a switch and lights turn on. While we all have our own sorrows, we’re really doing pretty well. Complaining about wanting new carpet or gaining five pounds just doesn’t make sense in the long run.

So as we hurtle into the New Year let’s take a moment to see how good we’ve got it. With discipline, hard work and a can-do attitude we will take ourselves further. But let's start that hard journey by being grateful for what we have right now.

E-mail me at PowerofSandra@aol.com

PS -- A special shout out to the folks who completed the Four Day Bailout at O'Day Camp. It was a heck of a long, cold weekend! Kudos to all of you!

Fix Yourself Four-Day Bailout!

Dear Sandra,

I work at Citibank. For now anyway. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be laid off any minute now. They are literally stacking empty boxes in the hallways for people to pack up all their stuff! What am I going to do? I’m so mad at all the fat cats who are responsible for this. What am I gonna do next?!

-- Vexed in the Citi

Excellent question, Vexed. What are you going to do? Seems everybody is jumping into the “New Great Depression Game.” Even the actors want to go on strike! Why let poverty be the domain of the Wall Street wealthy?

What does one do when stock values plummet, unemployment zooms and recession looms?

You change your life, that’s what you do.

It’s time to take a good, long look at ourselves and ask, “How did we get here at the bottom of this well?” Sure we can point fingers and blame -- but who elected those officials? Who threw their money at financial advisers and didn’t keep track of what was going on? Who bought big fat trucks and cars and houses that they couldn’t afford? That would be us.

It’s time to get out of the “Blame Game.” It’s time to start fixing things, and we need to start with ourselves.

For a limited time I’m offering a no-frills “Fix Yourself Four-Day Bailout!” at O’Day Camp. It’s time to strip your comfort level down to zero and see what you’re really made of. It won’t be fun and it won’t be pretty. But once you experience how lack of heat can turn into abundance of heart -- you’ll know that this lean time of economic recession does not mean a time of emotional depression.

With my guidance you will rise like a Phoenix -- while raking and burning leaves on my 18 acre compound in upstate New York. And that’s just the beginning.

Teamwork-building fire walks will test you beyond any previous “work and finance related” challenge you have ever faced. And my “cross the freezing river” exercise will raise your personal awareness to a level beyond your expectations.

Ever caught a wild duck with your bare hands and eaten it for lunch? You will. My O’Day Transformation Techniques employ grueling assignments that will take you beyond your limited expectations of yourself. I will guide you to transcend any challenge that currently stands between you and the fulfillment of your highest aspirations.

You're stronger than you think. And I’m tougher, more resourceful, and more tuned in to what you need than you are. I’ll be there with support, encouragement, and inspiration. This will be the first step in a journey that will continue for the rest of your life.

Together we’ll make these lean times leaner and meaner. And by leaner and meaner I mean more inspiring. Sign up at www.sandraoday.com.

Change

Well, at some point tonight we will have a new president. (Hopefully.) Being a felon, and still on parole, I am apparently not allowed to vote. This discovery made me understandably furious when I went to my polling place at 7 AM and was loudly rebuked by the facially scarred woman with the speech impediment who screamed for the benefit of the hundreds of people in line behind me, "You can'th vote. You're a cwiminawl!" (Former criminal, thank you Scar Face.)

But instead of throwing things at her, as I so deeply wished to do, I went out and took three extra anger management classes, a yoga class, ran five miles and told the kid at Starbucks that I had gone to vote (I did go) so I could get my free coffee. Decaf.

While I can't vote to make Change happen for our country, I did make Change happen for myself, in my personal life. I did not attack the disfigured volunteer and wreck her pathetic face further. Instead, I worked out my aggression in a healthy way. And I ordered a decaf instead of a regular coffee. For Sandra O'Day, that's a pretty good start at real Change.

So, I have to ask you, people -- now that all the hype of "Change, Change, Change" will be quieting down, will you continue to Change? Or will you go back to being uninformed lemmings who let the newscasters and your neighbors tell you what to think? Will you go back to gorging yourself on cheese-stuffed crusts while popping pills to lower your cholesterol? Will you go back to watching junk on TV and complaining that you're gaining weight because you spend too much time on your patootie?

Or will you really do it this time? People, you don't have to wait until the New Year to start over. Do it now. CHANGE.

E-mail me at PowerofSandra@aol.com and tell me what you want to work on. Together we’ll make a plan for you, a rigorous program of transformation. Let's put you on the true path to Powerful Positive Change. You can do it. I'll make you do it.

PowerofSandra@aol.com