Me Inc.

A new year has arrived - time for starting exercise plans, diets, and other self-help strategies to take us from where we left 2010 to a newer and better Me in 2011.

I actually enjoy this annual ritual of self-evaluation. Each year at this time I join billions of others across the globe in analyzing my life and looking for ways to improve it. In truth, it’s something I do several times a year. New Year’s, my birthday, the start of summer, the end of summer, or whenever I get my hands on a self-help book.

Yesterday Jeff and I were at Barnes and Noble. While Jeff perused the Fantasy section, I browsed through the books in the section labeled Self Improvement. It’s fun just reading the titles:

“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill

“Ten Days to Self-Esteem” by David D. Burns MD

“The Complete IDIOT’S Guide to Organizing Your Life” by Georgene Lockwood

“The Power of Inner Choice – 12 Weeks to Living a Life YOU Love” by Mary E. Allen, MCC

“Stress Management for Dummies” by Allen Elkin, PH. D.

“How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less” by Nicholas Boothman

“The Law of the Garbage Truck – How to Respond to People Who Dump on you and How to Stop Dumping on Others” by David J. Pollay.

Lately I’ve been wondering if I should write a self-help book of my own. I’d call it: “Me Inc. The Business of Self-Management – How to live your life like a successful small business.” By: Linette Jeffreys (my pen name)

I could do a chapter on finance. How do successful businesses handle cash flow? They make budgets, monitor spending, and if need be, make cuts. I’d encourage the reader to implement these same procedures in their own spending to bring about person financial success. “Be your own CFO and be a good one,” I’d tell my readers. “Follow these simple business practices and you’re sure to come out in the black.”

Another chapter could be about Materials Management. When’s the last time you took inventory of the stuff in your life? Try it. Write down all the materials your “company” has in stock. Are you lacking any necessary supplies? Have you got too much capital in items that are seldom used? Maybe it’s time to liquidate.

And another chapter could be about the Company Workers Manual. In any successful business each employee knows what his or her job description is and how to get that job done. What’s your job description as a mother, a student, a spouse, a friend? A clear definition of your roll in Me Inc. is a wonderful tool to self-fulfillment.

I’d definitely have a chapter on your company’s Mission Statement. All companies have them now-a-days. And I don’t see why people shouldn’t have them too. I understand not all my readers will feel comfortable writing one from scratch, so I’d probably put in a few sample Mission Statements and say something like, “Select one of these, or write your own.” Actually, that should probably be in the first chapter.

The last chapter would be about company perks, like Vacation Days and Holiday Bonuses. No job is worth having if you don’t get any company perks. And every good self-management plan rewards good behavior and lets its members cheat a little every now and then.

Yeah. I think I might be on to something here.

What do you think? Think I could make a New York best seller out of it? Go on a book tour? Maybe be a guest on the farewell season of Oprah or Late Night with David Letterman?

Or am l just dreaming. I don’t have any letters behind my name to show I know what I’m talking about. I haven’t even managed a successful small business! Still, nothing’s impossible. According to the best self improvement book ever written, “with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26.)

Happy New Year, everyone. May 2011 be the year you see the impossible become possible!