Your key job to manage your Alexander practice is effectively engineering your state. Such a boy's way of saying it! I'll put it another way - to make your business work, you need to be feeling OK with your Self, to be happy all the time.

Who achieves that?

Not me, that's for sure. It's a daily work. I was powerfully reminded this morning of how important this is.

There's a story that I have never been able to confirm through search, and my memory is fuzzy on the facts, but it comes from a credible source, so I will repeat it because I love it so much.

In the past, there were many books that were unknown, but still sold way more copies over time than a New York Times Best Seller. These were books sold by long sales copy to a precisely selected market through a direct mail campaign. This is long before the advent of Amazon.

As usual in our secret Facebook ATSuccess group - a wide variety of topics came up for inquiry. Here is a sampling of some of my comments and answers posted to the group. Some group members prefer just to read my summaries, and not participate in the group. I think each of us needs to find a way to make mentoring work, but I am adamant that being in a mentoring group like this will accelerate, deepen and satisfy your desire to create a healthy Alexander Technique teaching practise.

This month I have started a workshop on how to use Facebook to gather students. You can join my online workshop anytime, but start now so you get full benefit of sharing with the teachers and students in the hidden group in Facebook. As I usually do, below are some of the messages I communicated to group members within FaceBook over Xmas and New Year. More personally directed comments are locked away for members only to respect their privacy. Some deep stuff is happening in there. Why not jump in today?

As 2013 closes off, there are lots of retrospectives being written.

Are you writing yours?

Why bother looking back when all you want to do is go forward? The past is the past, right? Wrong. The past is right here being you right now. Everything that happened is you right now. I think that all that matters now is what you do next, but you need to know what is and isn’t working for you…

Are you going to repeat 2013 or do something different?

It’s worth considering, this question.

What Happened To Me In 2013

Coming to the end of the year, and I am planning the special series of blogs for January. I will be exploring with teachers and students in my group how to use Facebook to connect to the students you love working with. Are you a teacher focused on building your practise? Then I have managed to gather together an eclectic group of teachers who are united by their passion to make this career work, and help each other doing it. There is no other Alexander Technique group of teachers and students like this in the world.

Where I live in Australia, we have three mail boxes out front. It’s at the bottom of a steep driveway, so someone needs to walk the letters up to the house. One mailbox is disused, and lies neglected on it’s side. One is usually empty - that’s mine, because I check it regularly - and the one is full of letters.

Full of actual letters: bills, a Xmas card, notices of many different kinds. Maybe there’s some junk mail there too, but not the kind of junk I would risk just throwing in the bin. However, my tenants downstairs never check their mailbox.

I've been meditating on the nature of failure lately, as I have had my good share.

What causes failure?

Personally, I've learnt that it is my stubborn-mindedness and courageous defiance in the face of overwhelming facts. Ironically, these two same qualities are drivers of my success. I push my Self to a brink, then either fly or fall.

Most people don't want to live like this, but since my own brush with death at an early age, I've lived recklessly and wildly, carrying a deep-hearted death wish glossed over by verve.

And here's me thinking it was a quieter week! I see from all my posts - which are always in response to requests and exploration in our Facebook group - that this has been a busy week exploring concepts and ideas to get more students, and grow your business. Membership is open any time, just go to this link to sign up.

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Except when you don't feel jolly, what do you do about that?

The single, biggest obstacle facing you as an entrepreneur is your emotional condition. Energy doesn't arise out of a mind that is defeated - without hope, there's little action. We have CEOs and CFOs and CMOs but who is the CHO, your Chief Happiness Officer?

That would be you.

Except it comes without a title, salary or any training. You are expected to know how to find the energy and gusto to get everything done, while inspiring those around you to join in.

How do you manage that?