Even solid relationships ebb and flow, but you can be the north star that influences their quality and value. Though you can't control others, your own choices and actions will lead people in your professional and personal life to outcomes for mutual benefit. Empower Yourself First shows you how to summon your own strengths to do that. The first of two handbooks on relationships which enrich the Choose Courage series, this one also offers brief, yet practical and inspiring processes for continuing growth. It focuses on you, where the choices start, where new experiences and shifts in habits will create enjoyment and progress. Expect manageable motivators in small, adaptable steps, as well as quotes, photos, and humor. They will help you expand your repertoire while honoring who you truly are. You'll find these fresh, encouraging approaches to essential ways to empower yourself: -Effective Listening -Making Expectations Work For You -Appreciating Your Interpersonal Capacities -Using Charm and Care to Improve Relationships
About the Author: Ruth Schimel may not seem a neatly-defined expert to some people. Her focus is encouraging clients and readers to realize their true capacities for their own and others' benefit. To honor their complexity, she integrates a range of ideas, subjects and information. They include the social sciences, sciences, and arts. Since 1983, Ruth has consulted with over 1,000 career and life management clients of all ages and backgrounds. Building beyond conventional approaches, she provides digestible, engaging materials, inspiration, and tailored guidance to promote self-sufficiency and progress. Dr. Schimel's Web site is located at ruthschimel.com. Ruth also speaks and writes, trains and facilitates groups. In 1998, she developed with her mother and now manages The Schimel Lode, a nontraditional foundation to promote collaboration and innovation for the public good in the Washington, D.C. area. The Web site for The Schimel Lode is located at TheSchimelLode.net.; Previously, Ruth was a management consultant and taught a variety of human resource and related subjects at Georgetown, American, George Washington, and Marymount Universities. In a prior incarnation at the Department of State, she was a diplomat in Ecuador, Guatemala, and India. In those posts, she did work such as managing human resources, analyzing research and intelligence, and heading the consular section in Calcutta. She continues to speak Spanish. Ruth's degrees are: -Ph.D. in public management, workforce development, and gerontology, George Washington University (GWU): Dissertation topic: Becoming Courageous: A Search for Process -M.A. in behavioral science, government, and personnel, GWU -B.S. in industrial and labor relations, Cornell University