goal sisters

What Are the Latest Happenings, Sister?!
6th edition

A Book Touring We Will Go!

We are frantically trying to get ready for our Magical Mini Midwest Book Tour as this newsletter goes to press...Michelle is washing her laundry, making sure she's contacted everyone she knows in Bloomington, and printing out oodles of book labels before she boards an airplane for the mainland in less than 10 hours! Ann is calling every person she ever did PR work with in the Central Illinois area and scheduling interviews with radio hosts and newspaper folks. She's also tying up loose ends at home, and starting to pack up her car with her book signing decorations, music for the road, and boxes of Goal Sisters books!

Please check out our site's new "Book Tour" page for more information on the various stops we'll be making. We'll also be updating our Travelogue on a daily basis, letting you know about our adventures on the road.

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New Goal Sister Group Takes Off!!

On May 17th, 6 women came together with Ann as part of the newest Goal Sister group to begin goal setting for a summer of accomplishment. New members committed to achieving the following goals by their next meeting:

~ Reach out to two friends via email
~ Call to schedule delivery of a home item
~ Finish planting all flowers
~ Return to an exercise routine after getting off course due to a business trip
~ Clean out a room at home
~ Join fitness program & attend 3x this week
~ Go camping & have 'alone' time with husband

When the next week rolled around, the 7 members (another member joined the group!) admitted that knowing they were going to be asked about their goal progress spurred them on to accomplishment. The Sisters updated each other on progress made on their declared goals from the first meeting, and requested and shared support for their successes!

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How About You?

The Goal Sister group members are designing great summers by working on goals in 8 different life categories. Now you can, too! Consider the following areas of your life:

~ Your Spiritual Self – How can you be more in touch with your spiritual self?

~ Your Friends and Family - What can you do over the summer to strengthen these relationships?

~ Your Play Time - What can you do every week to bring more fun into your life?

~ Your Money Tree - What do you want your finances to look like at the end of the summer?

~ Your Job/Career - What steps can you take to realize your career dreams?

~ Your Physical Health - How can you make exercise fun?

~ Your Home - How can you change your home environment so you feel more relaxed?

Are you willing to share your summer goals with us? Email us your goals and we will hold you gently accountable in achieving your success by checking in with you via email on July 15th, August 15th, and September 15th. Go ahead - take the leap!

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Share Your Experiences, Sisters!

We want to hear more about your Goal Sister experiences! Have you found a Goal Sister yet? If so, how is it going? We’ve learned of several Goal Sister activities starting up across North America: JJ from Missouri is meeting regularly with two friends, Lani from Hawaii has identified friends from different times in her life and is in the process of telling them about "Goal Sisters," and Sheila from Alberta, Canada (take a look at her entry on the Do Tell page of our site) is a member of a women's group that is reading the book and doing the exercises together. Let us know about your efforts, Sisters!

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The Magazine Waves Are Cresting!

Q: What does Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Glenn Close, Faith Hill, and "Goal Sisters" have in common?

A: We're all featured in the July 2004 Ladies Home Journal!

Thanks to our New World Library Marketing Maven, Monique Muhlenkamp, "Goal Sisters" landed a spot on the magazine's Inner Life page. So, dash to your nearest newsstand and check out Betsy Stephens' piece entitled “The Secret to Success.” Betsy interviewed Michelle, who describes the role of accountability in the "Goal Sisters" process! We’re told that 1.4 million readers will see this piece - that’s some wave!!

Q: What’s another magazine that will soon feature "Goal Sisters"?

A: The August 2004 Fitness Magazine! The book is featured in the Balance section. We’ll let you know when Ann’s spots the magazine on the newsstands.

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Oh, Those Radio Waves!

We have had a blast being interviewed on the radio about "Goal Sisters"! We are very grateful to all the radio hosts who have had a chance to read parts of the book, who asked interesting questions, and who got us to view the process in a different way. We’re putting together a giant list of our thank yous for this awesome group of people, and hope to have that finished by our next newsletter!

As we end this newsletter, we are filled with much gratitude and anticipation about our own in-person reunion, and look forward to revisiting our old haunts in Bloomington and St. Louis, and seeing friends and family members along our Magical Mini Midwest Book Tour. We are also eager to spread the word about the Goal Sister process to more women and to meet new Sisters!! Until then…

Onward and upward,
Ann and Michelle

Copyright © 2004 by Ann Leach and Michelle Beaulieu Pillen, Ph.D. All rights reserved. No part of this Web site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise.