144 thoughts on “Contact Barbara”

1. Hi Natascha
   I live in Wiesbaden
   I would love to build a support group here need help alsi to get mire cleat and to acton it
   contact me
   Alles Gute

2. Dear Barbara,

   thank you for all videos, books and words – I’ve seen and read all (well, nearly, I guess). Now, after few years of stormy weather an change by change and search I found out, what I need most: support by finding out what I love to do!

   Unfortunately there seems to be no success-team next to the place I live (30 km from Frankfurt/ Germany). I’ve found out that you will be in Frankfurt at February 2013 to coach and train other coaches. I guess your schedule and relaxing time will be tight, but please just let me ask: Would you have time and muse to have a coaching with me?

   Wish you all the best.

   Sincerely
   Natascha

3. I find comments under member profile and under hanging out, so where is it happening..support with others is key for me

4. Hello,
   I’d like to know if Barbara is still involved in one on one career counseling. I live in Massachusetts and have Skype available.
   I just started reading”I could do anything….” and realize this sounds just like me. I have had the hardest time trying to decide on a new career and have been totally unsuccessful. Anyways, I am looking forward to reading the entire book. Please let me know if she is available for career counseling. Thank you.

5. G’day Barbara
   I live in Australia and I am reading your book “Wishcraft” for the first time. I only heard of it a couple of weeks ago and I really wish I had known about it years ago. My life has been a nightmare and when you speak about the five year old genius within me it rang true. I hated playing with dolls and girlie things I was always sneaking into my brothers rooms to play with their toy cars and read their books because it was so much more exciting than what I was offered. I was also always pulling things apart to see how they worked. But more than my childhood genius was crushed at seven when my father started abusing me. When I was in school I announced that I wanted to be a veterinarian. The answer I got was that “We’re blue collar workers – blue collar workers don’t go to university”. I didn’t even know what that meant. I settled for being a nurse. Next February on Valentine’s day is my 60th birthday and I am training to run my first marathon. I am teaching myself to play guitar and I have started a handyman business. I have many more things I want to do that I never had the opportunity to do and I intend to do as many of them as I can. I now add to that list reading the rest of your books. Thankyou for writing them.

6. Hi Barbara,

   I just read your book “I Could Do Anything if Only I Knew What It Was” and you described me perfectly well with what you wrote about the “unhappy diver” in chapter 6. I was almost speechless when I first read that because it described me pretty well.

   Thanks for your great insights. I really appreciate you writing the book. It helps me change my perspective about commitments. It also helps me to be a little more patient with myself as I go through the frustations that come with learning anything new.

   I hope you keep writing new books..!

7. Hello Barbara,
   I have referred your book Wishcraft to so many people for more than 20 years. I’ve also bought extra copies to give to just the right person. I just had an opportunity to send Wishcraft and the If I Only Knew book to twin girls who are 40 years old who I lived with and took care of when I was 17 and they were not even 2 years old!!That was a gift! Several years ago, I wondered what had become of Barbara Sher who I had so often quoted only to find that you had written several books in the interim. I just got your Refuse to Choose and feel that I have Come Home. The validation that we don’t have do anything forever is one of the biggest freedoms I have experienced in my life. I have always said I should have been George Plimpton. Now I know why. One other very important idea I received is the idea that many of us are operating from a child’s perspective. I think you said 8 years old. That many of us were not prepared for life by our parents, teachers or society so that when we emerged into adulthood it was a bit of a Shock. I think I’ve been operating from that Shock state deep within, my entire life. So now as I go along, if I find myself in a resistant or fearful state, I remind myself, I don’t have to be locked into this forever or I’m not 8 years old. I am an adult woman, I’ve come this far, we can do it! ( I tell my little 8 year old within). I do have some resistance in finishing your book and reading about what kind of Scanner I am because with my non stop self reflection my entire life I probably already know a thousand times over and don’t really want to go there yet again. This time though, I know you will offer a different perspective. So, I will force myself to pick up your book and finish it, knowing there is loving support along the way. Your idea of Hanging Out is EXACTLY what I’ve needed. In ADHD circles we call the kind of support you offer “The body double”. Sometimes we just need another human being to be in the room with us to get us or keep us motivated. Probably the same concept as to why people need to go to 12 step meetings. Human connection. Full circle we come. Looking forward. Thank you. Love and Blessings to you, Sincerely, Adele.

8. In January 2003, after a terrible year following 9/11, I left New York and moved to Los Angeles.

   My life in NY was falling apart. Self employed, writing a screenplay, I had no friends or family left in the city and, with so much isolation, I was suffering with delusional fears. I desperately needed to have some support around me. So, I hired professional movers to put everything in storage in NY, and I went to L.A. to stay, temporarily, with a friend.

   I had expected to get a job and an apartment within a few months and have my belongings moved out from NY. But months turned into two years before I landed steady work and, in the meantime, I lived off my credit card.

   A year later, I did manage to move into a tiny, single-room apartment, furnished with a futon bed and some bare essentials. The rent was very low and the place was in a great neighborhood, so it was a step in the right direction. Again, I imagined I would only be in this matchbox space for a couple of months, until I could save up some money to have my things moved from NY into a nice, big, 1-bedroom apartment. But my credit card habit kept me in chains. This time, the months turned into seven years, and I’m still here.

   My landlord has never raised my rent, so financially, I’m in an unbeatable situation. I have a good job, but I am 65 and have very little savings. I have only recently grabbed the reins on my credit card. Now, I’m living very frugally to pay it off, but it will take six months before I’m out of debt and another six months to save enough money to put down all the deposits and have my things moved from NY. Realistically, I need about $6,000 to do this without going into debt again. And I’m absolutely grounded in my goal to be debt free.

   I tell myself that it’s unrealistic to get my things out of storage now, but after ten years, I am desperate to stop living this fragmented life, with so much of my energy 3,000 miles away.

   When I packed, I made sure I only kept things I love and that I want to have around me for the rest of my life. Among them is the first half of a manuscript I wrote 12 years ago for a motivational book.

   My unique idea and my proposal for the book were so strong, it was amazing how quickly I got a New York literary agent and a publisher who wanted to buy it. In the end, I didn’t feel the editor understood the concept well enough, and I turned down her offer. Now, with so many more options available for self publishing, I know I could finish the book and get it out there, either on my own or with the help of a West coast agent. But to do that, I must get those boxes out of storage!

   My WISH: Move my belongings from NY to L.A., so I have access to my manuscript and other personal treasures.

   Two OBSTACLES: (1) Find a way to move my things across country without going into more debt paying a professional mover or a rental truck. (I priced moving it myself, and that was much higher than the professional!) (2) Find a place in L.A. to store the bulk of my furniture, dishes, books, etc., for six to nine months, at little or no cost, while I stay in my very cheap apartment, pay off my credit card, save enough money to move into a real, grown-up apartment and be reunited with my belongings.

   I’m an extremely resourceful person, and this puzzle just doesn’t seem like it should be that tough, but I’ve crunched the numbers down to peanut butter, and I still can’t think of a creative way to do it.

   I’m grateful for any ideas.

   • Jumping out of my webmaster role into Success Teams Leader mode. You might move your stuff to somewhere a lot less expensive than NY or LA and grab the manuscript during the move. Just two hours outside NY city, I recently rented a 5’x5′ storage unit for $15 a month with two months of the first 13 free. It’s in Ottsville, PA, between Easton, PA, and Doylestown, PA. The place rents trucks at low daily rates, too. Even with the airfare and an overnight stay, you might save enough on storage to get you out of debt and ready for the cross-country move sooner, and you can take whatever fits in a suitcase home with you. Check airfares into nearby ABE. The last time I went to LAX, flying to PHL from ABE first knocked $300 off the fare and put me on the same cross-country flights. If you know there are things in storage you no longer need, you can even do a Craigslist garage sale en route to storage to help pay for the trip. Find someone in NJ willing to let you park the truck in their driveway from 8 to noon for the sale, then head to the storage unit and back to LA. When you’ve got an apartment in LA, mail the storage unit key to a cross-country mover for pickup and delivery to your new place.

     • Wow!

       I guess this is the serendipity that makes Barbara’s method so remarkable!

       My daughter and her family just moved from LA to a town 30 miles from Ottsville, PA! She doesn’t have room to store my things, but I could certainly hold a yard sale in their driveway. And if storage is that inexpensive around there, I could save $200 a month and have my things in a town that I visit several times a year, until I’m ready to move them to LA. And, yes, I do fly from LAX to PHL at bargain fares!

       Thank you for this great idea!
       Julia

       • Nice quite up there with the gal who got to dance with Patrick Swayze, but it’s a wonderful coincidence! It would be very cool to run into you at Uncle Bob’s in Ottsville on one of my trips back there, Julia. A toast to Barbara’s genius in inventing the Idea Party!

9. Hi Barbara – Happy Birthday! You light up so many people’s lives like a cake full of candles! Wish I could give you a big hug. Thinking about joining the club, but technology leaves me cold. Have a wonderful year and many to follow!

10. Lucky I’m on the East coast, so plenty of time to send greetings your way…

    Happy Birthday, Barbara!

    Wishing a great one to a great one!

    Since I’ve been to a couple of your live workshops and read a couple of your books awhile back and was in a Success Team a few years ago, what would you say is the main difference in this approach for me?

    • Well, all I can say is that it isn’t anything like any of those things you mention above, Bracha. 🙂 I suggest you just let go of expectations and let two or three weeks go by. Then I’ll ask *you!* 🙂

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