Barbara Sher's Wishcraft

Wishcraft was written in 1979. I was a young mother from a blue-collar
family, with a 2-year-old son, and another one on the way. Up until
then, I had worked at various jobs, mostly in accounting, which I
hated with a passion.

Laid off from my part-time accounting job with an insurance company
(They could "tell" I wasn't happy there.), I was looking for a new
direction. I'm not sure now how I became aware of "Wishcraft", but I
bought it and it made me think differently about life and jobs.

It had never occurred to me that you could get a job without having
all of the formal credentials required. I liked that way of thinking!
There were so many things I wanted to do!

So I went to the Virginia Unemployment office, and began reading job
descriptions of things that I'd like to do, whether I was qualified to
do them or not.

I saw a part-time teaching job, working with CETA students (in this
case, high-school dropouts with kids) to teach them Data Entry.
I had once *done* data entry, so I figured I could teach it! (Dumb, I
know.) So I took the listing to the agent and asked them to call the
place and see if they would take "experience" in lieu of a teaching
degree. The guy looked at me funny, but made the call, and they said
"Sure - send her over."

And that's where my teaching / training career began. It's wandered
all over the place over the last 30 years, and 14 years ago I started
my own technical training company, and went on to teach overseas and
at several "real" colleges.

I believe in my heart that if I had not read "Wishcraft" I would have
ended up typing for someone for a living, and my kids would have had
far fewer opportunities in life.

Instead, my oldest came to work for me, as a trainer.  As a technical trainer, he's been able to travel to Europe and Australia. Nowadays, he's a senior Oracle database administrator, but he still loves to teach, so he often tutors friends in a make-shift classroom in his basement.

My youngest is now a web architect in San Francisco, as well as a
world-class athlete representing the USA in competitions in South
Africa and England.

So the path my life took changed, and resulted in my children's lives
changing -- and hopefully the future generations that will follow us
-- all because Barbara took a risk and wrote a book, based on some
workshops that weren't making any money.

Is it any wonder that I am in awe of her?

Every 30 years or so, she comes into my life -- and changes everything.

I'm posting this here as well as in the main blog. You'll see why.
In all my workshops -- the 12-hour ones that turned into Wishcraft, and the 3-hour ones I do for public TV and IBM and everybody else -- there's a point at which I demonstrate the Idea Party. Someone at the Memphis public TV station workshop reminded me last time of an amazing session we'd had at the previous workshop:

I asked for an impossible dream and a woman raised her hand to say she wished she could go on a cruise.

-What's your obstacle? I asked.

-I have 3. First, I have no money. Second,  my adult daughter is ill and staying at my place, and I'm looking out for her. And I'd rather not tell you the third obstacle.

At that moment a man in shorts ran quickly from the back of the room up the central aisle waving a piece of paper:

-I just won a cruise for one person by running for the heart association, just a few hours ago. I don't want to go on a cruise. Anyway, I'm married.

and he gave the certificate to the women. We were wowed. She was very moved. She said (she was standing so everyone could see her) That's so nice of you I don't know what to say, but I can't leave my daughter.

A woman on the aisle a few rows back raised her hand and said, I'm a public health nurse and I have to give 10 days pro bono every year. Would that help?

The woman was flabbergasted (so was everyone but me, because I'd seen it so many times before. But this one did turn out to be unusual.)

- I think you'd better tell us your third obstacle, I said.

She sighed and said, My daughter's being stalked by her ex-husband and can't be alone.

The room fell silent and then a man's voice came from the very last row:

- I'm a cop. What's his name?

And everyone started laughing and cheering.

She went on the cruise.

And that's an Idea Party.


 

I recall a day I spent on a San Diego beach many years ago, reading and doing the exercises in Wishcraft. At the time, I decided not to reinvent myself but rather to reinvent my job and how I did it, and that led to a rather amazing unanticipated trajectory.  I've since given or recommended the book to many people. Didn't realize it had been around for thirty years, but then, so have I!

I have been a fan of Wishcraft since 1983 when I found it in a bookstore as I was going through an awful time in my life. It helped me get back in touch with myself and what I really love to do.

Since that time I have become a teacher and have recommended the book to hundreds, if not thousands, of people, friends, and students. I especially encourage the students to read it so that they can get a good grasp of their interests before heading out into the world.

I carry extra copies of it with me to give to people who might want to read it. I just love it and where it takes people.

I have my coaching and training business because of Wishcraft.
This book was recommended to me in the late 90s, and I've been using and recommending to others ever since.

I thought the corporate track was the most viable track once you have a college degree. I also erroneously thought that working for someone else was the only way to have a stable career.

Wishcraft allowed me to explore my assumptions in a non-threatening way. It allowed me to dream without the negative label of 'head-in-the-clouds' dreamer.

I read Wishcraft when it first came out 30 years ago, when I was in my senior year of college at UC Berkeley. It had a profound effect on me and I have thought of and referred to the book many, many times.

What I found particularly powerful was Barbara's "visioning" exercises and how to break down the path to our visions into baby steps. No one had EVER told me I could make my life whatever I wanted until I read Barbara's book.

After working for a few years in hospitals, I started my own jewelry business when I was in my mid-twenties and have been a serial entrepreneur ever since. I've had several businesses and have reinvented myself many times.

A few years ago when I was going through a business transition I read Barbara's book on reinventing yourself in middle/older ages. I did all the exercises and took it quite seriously and have spent the last few years starting 2 more businesses that really express my "inner genius".

Barbara's books have had a MAJOR impact on my life.

Although the book has been around for 30 years, I only got a copy last year.  I had heard the book mentioned a couple of times, and when my life coach sent me a book card for Christmas which had to be redeemed on a Canadian website, I decided to order a copy.  Well, it was the best thing I could possibly have done!  At the time I was waiting for my agent to find a publisher for my book 'Their Cancer - Your Journey', and getting quite demoralised.  Well, not after reading Wishcraft!  Within weeks I was writing again and my book went into print (self-published) in October last year. 

What I recently realised was that I am good at the initial dreaming up ideas, I'm also good at following through a list or method - but I have always found it impossible to translate the one into the other.  This is something I think is lacking in all the current 'manifestation' books. 

But Barbara's book gave me a system for translating my dreams (sell a million copies of my book) into a simple list of things to do next.  As I'm now into the promotion, I am using the system all over again to help me get a handle on that.  

What I think sums up the strength of the system is the comment my husband made - 'I don't understand it,' he said, 'you're spending all this time planning, but you're getting so much more done!'  The point being that the time planning enables me to spend my doing time on activities that actually move me towards my goal. 

You won't be surprised to hear that hubby then borrowed my book for his own project planning!  We've even used it to help our son plan what is involved in getting his own exotic pet (first step, write a list of questions, next step visit the pet store).  

I am immensely grateful to Barbara for her book.  I have recommended it to many people, but my copy is too precious to ever lend out, so they will have to buy their own!  

Wishcraft changed the course of my life.  Many years ago, I was  
plodding along editing chemical engineering books, but I really wanted  
to work on Special Events.  I read Barbara's book  Wishcraft and as  
Barbara suggested, created a "side dish," volunteering at celebrity  
events.   It made me very happy, and I gained the courage to leave my  
"safe" job and look for a full time event job-- which I found within one  
year.

Hi.  I was featured in a Woman's Day magazine article about the most influential book in my life -- in which I said it was Barbara Sher's "Wishcraft."  I read it many years ago....I would say I read it about 20 years ago and did the 5-year plan and when I looked at the plan after 5 years, most of what I had wanted to do was done.

At the time I was a housewife raising two young sons.  I wanted to get my bachelor's degree and do some freelance writing and art work.  I did all that and went on to work at Columbia University's Teachers College where I obtained my master's degree in International Education Development (it is also where they photographed me for the Woman's Day article), and I am now working toward a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Studies (focused on media and culture).  For 11 years I was in PR, and served as Director of Communications at Teachers College.  Today I am Marketing Director for their continuing education and corporate learning programs.  I also began my own side business as the first female importer of Hungarian wine to the U.S., and I continue to build that business.  

I still credit Barbara Sher for the foundations of figuring out my dreams, envisioning my life as I want it to be and how to take the steps to achieve those goals.

Congratulations, Barbara, on the thirtieth anniversary edition of Wishcraft. The ideas in that book, and your ongoing support, changed my life and the lives of so many others

When Wishcraft was first published I had been working for nearly a dozen years as a caseworker in Child Protective Services.  Working with abused and neglected children is important and satisfying work, but it is also work that can sometimes lead to 'burn-out.' While holding down that full-time job, I was attending graduate school in an unrelated field, Art History.  That period was the single most difficult and stressful in my life.

During spring break (1979) I picked up a copy of Wishcraft, looking for some 'easy reading' while soaking up sun on the beach.  What I found, were three simple ideas that changed my life:

Most things don't require credentials

From Wishcraft I learned that—other than to perform brain surgery—most activities do not require any specific degree or qualification.  That basic concept was transformative. I could be an art historian by doing art history.  As soon as I returned from vacation, I started to write short articles, organize art exhibitions and become involved with grass-roots, artist-run organizations.  

When people asked me, “What do you do?”  I told them, “I am an art historian.” 

Eventually, I was able to quit my job as a caseworker, and support myself as an art historian, arts administrator, teacher and curator.

Finding the 'touchstone'

In Wishcraft there is a great exercise involving writing about an “Ideal Day”, and figuring out the 'touchstone' at the core of your dreams and desires.  This idea has become the basis for an important habit.  Whenever I really want something, I ask myself, “What is the 'touchstone', and how can I put some part of this dream into my present life?

Brainstorming and Barnraising

From reading Wishcraft, I discovered that I am really good at brainstorming.  Whenever there is some problem or need, I gather together the smartest people I know, and ask them to brainstorm with me.  This simple strategy almost always works, and it is certainly a lot of fun.  

By 1985, I was already working as an art historian, when I realized that there was another part of my dream still missing:  I wanted to live in Europe and to organize art exhibitions in my own space.  

That was an ambitious goal, and I had no idea where to start.  So I harnessed the power of telecommunications, and started several online Wishcraft groups on bulletin board systems.  (This was long before Barbara Sher's excellent Web-based board.)  I wrote to Barbara, and she graciously joined those early online experiments.

Planning a move abroad involved so many things: learning a language, finding a place to live, making a living, and building an international support network.  All of the team members in our online Wishcraft group were of great help.  Two friends really made the difference: SlimD [David T. Mills (1955-1991)] and Ray Gallon.

During the first summer that I spent in Rome, studying Italian, one of my online friends, Slim D, wrote me long letters, filled with ideas and encouragement.  Whenever it seemed too hard, he cheered me along. SlimD later became my life-partner, and together we moved to Rome. In Rome we did anything that would support the dream: we led tours in Italy and throughout  Europe, catalogued art collections and organized exhibitions.  (In a pinch, we also taught English, and solved people's computer problems.) 

Slim D died in Rome, and I still miss him.

Another really important person from our Wishcraft group was Ray Gallon.  Ray wanted to move to France.  Today, more than twenty years later, he and his family live in Barcelona.   Ray has a second home in France, where he continues to works as a sound artist, technical writer and telecommunications specialist.  Ray is talented in so many things; I am certain that he can accomplish just about anything.  His ongoing example continues to inspire me.

Family responsibilities eventually brought me back to the States, and I accepted a position as the Director of a university art gallery.  

More recently, because of health problems, I took an early retirement. Now, at a more measured pace, I have begun to design and fabricate jewelry.  Working with metal and gemstones, I discovered that I enjoy making art, not just writing about it.  This is a source of great satisfaction.  Although I am not quite ready as yet, I hope eventually to be able to earn some additional retirement income with my one-of-a-kind jewelry.

Thank you Barbara, for all that you have taught me during these last thirty years.  I wish you many more years of continued success with your writing, lecturing and group work.