Join us on Wednesday, September 9, for lunch at the Grand Concourse in Station Square, Pittsburgh. This promises to be a great event and is open to all. Learn the secrets to stress reduction.

Though we all have a general idea what stress means, and how it can affect our lives, we really don't understand the deeper toll it can take on our physical and emotional selves, our personal lives, and our businesses.

In this presentation, Diana Fletcher will share new tactics and strategies to reduce everyday stress in our lives. She will suggest some out-of-the-box ideas that may surprise people and will offer some unexpected and fun ways to bring more calm and serenity into our worlds.

Participants will leave this presentation with new knowledge about stress and the effects it can have on the body and mind. You will:

In addition to coaching and speaking, members of the Pittsburgh Coaches Association conduct workshops and seminars and for several years have also conducted teleclasses on a regular basis. These teleclasses are now held monthly, and are an opportunity for Pittsburgh coaches to share some of their coaching knowledge and experience with participants, as well as their passion for helping others to move forward and reach new levels.

Teleclass topics range from sales and marketing to creating space, leadership, and finding your dreams, and can help people to make important changes and take steps to reach their potential.

This month we are featuring Tom Volkar's teleclass: Reconnecting the Link Between Authenticity & Abundance - Getting Ready for the Business That's Right For You. Tom's very first coaching client 1998 was feeling uninspired and unfulfilled in her career. Tom guided her in finding her right livelihood and that's been the main focus of his coaching ever since.

This summer Tom has stepped it up, a lot! He believes that the key to finding and enjoying ones true calling is to reconnect the link between authenticity and abundance. Once we all felt the presence of our original uniqueness and we were not afraid to express it. But years of fearful conditioning have eroded our true essence.

Perhaps you've tried to do what you love to do but not enough money has followed. Or you make lots of money but starve your soul. Or you might know your big dream but you're afraid to make the leap. Or you want to be independent, fulfilled and prosperous but have yet to discover what to go for or how to bring it about.

If any of the above describes you then you must reconnect the link between your original authenticity and prosperity. You came here with the capacity to earn abundantly in the areas of your most natural fulfillment. But years of toxic conditioning have severed your link to all things good. In this class (really more of an inspirational experience) Tom will facilitate the essential clearing work so you may boldly reclaim your authentic connection.

Read more about reconnecting this essential link at Tom's blog, DelightfulWork.com. Find out more about Tom's coaching at his coaching website, CoreU.com.

Have you contracted with someone to author or ghostwrite your book who can't articulate your nuances? Have you worked with people who produce draft after draft of a print or online feature that misses your message points? And have you collaborated with individuals who fail to meet deadlines again and again?

And do you have nervous fits when you need to deliver a presentation? Would you rather run and hide? Don't know how to achieve your best presentation voice? Don't know how to move while you present? Don't know what visuals would best accompany your delivery?

If you've answered "yes" to any or all of these questions, take heart. You've arrived at the right resource at the right time.

Questions like these point to a basic frustration - the inability to get to done. Getting to done is the ability to articulate what you want and need to convey to your publics. To bring writing and presentation projects to a fitting conclusion with expression that keeps your readers and listeners engaged. Without hassle and delay. But with plenty of energy.

Hank Walshak, an author, journalist, editor, writing and presentation coach has been writing for and coaching corporate executives and helping them get to done for more than 20 years. You name it, he writes it. From books, website copy, blogs, print and online features, and annual reports to white papers, video scripts, and sales letters, as well as coaching executives to bring out their best deliveries to their audiences.

Together, Hank will help get you to done.

Hank can be reached at: Walshak Communications, Inc. (412) 831-3023 or hankwalshak@verizon.net.

Life Coaching as a Valuable Tool for Nonprofit Professionals, Public Leaders, Social Entrepreneurs, and Other Idealists: Part 1

What are the characteristics of idealists, and why can life coaching be particularly valuable to us and to the important causes we support?

Idealists frequently entertain ideas about how our lives and the world around us might be different. Our thinking extends beyond current reality, as we spend significant time considering the "big picture" complexities of how everything fits together in the world. Because of this, we see many problems and possibilities that others often miss.

In fact, we may spend so much time thinking about the issues of the world that we ignore ourselves-and the future. Because living authentically is also important to us, this can decrease our personal sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, and it can decrease the energy we have to create what we care about the most.

Idealists gravitate toward causes including environmental sustainability, health and medicine, animal rights, social justice, ethical leadership, labor rights, and world peace. We may take on very formal roles such as nonprofit executive director, political leader, advocate, educator, counselor, physician, or entrepreneur of a socially and ecologically responsible business. We may occasionally volunteer or engage in civic action. Or, we may possess great concern about the issues of the world but feel too overwhelmed to act.

Coaching, whose power has long been recognized by successful corporations, is of particular benefit to idealists for many reasons. First, because we like to imagine a better world, idealists must often challenge the status quo. Humans innately resist change, so we may feel pressured to compromise our purpose and values to be accepted and viewed as practical. Coaching motivates us to explore and clarify key components of our foundation or authentic self, i.e., the core of who we are. This may include our life purpose, what things we value most, and our strengths and virtues.

Life coaches cannot single-handedly create a world where nations are at peace, all people enjoy equal rights, humans respect other living beings, and all leaders behave ethically. However, if high-potential, socially and ecologically conscious people seek what life coaching has to offer, then a vision for a healthy and sustainable world is within our collective reach.

© Copyright 2008 Dave Wheitner

We invite experienced coaches, as well as those new to the profession, to join the Pittsburgh Coaches Association (PCA). This is an exciting time to be a member! We are a 501(c)6 professional organization, and an International Coach Federation (ICF) chapter.

Additional benefits for member coaches include networking opportunities with other professional coaches, a profile on PCA's 'Find a Coach' website directory, discounts for monthly luncheon meetings featuring interesting and relevant speakers, a forum to offer teleclasses on coaching-related topics of your choice, and special events to raise the profile of coaching within the community. There are many more benefits; please don't hesitate to become a part of one of Pittsburgh's best professional associations.

You can now register to become a member online at www.pittsburghcoaches.org. Join today. Membership now being prorated - you can join PCA for only $65 for the rest of the year.

We would love to hear from you! Just hit Reply to this newsletter with your ideas and feedback. Suggestions are very welcome, don't hesitate.

Not a Coach? Now you can join PCA as an Associate! We invite all professionals in the Pittsburgh area to join us. Are you interested in meeting coaches, supporting coaches but are not a coach? Join us now as an Associate Member of the Pittsburgh Coaches Association. Membership is prorated at 50% for the balance of the calendar year.