HabitForce! Non-Profits 11-29-05 January 13, 2006
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For Immediate Release:
HabitForce! For Non-Profits and Public Sector Institutions
Harness the Power to Transform Yourself, Your Organization, Your Community, Your Country, and Your World
Matthew Cossolotto author of HabitForce!, offers training programs specifically designed to increase the effectiveness of foundations, charities, associations, community organizations, and public sector institutions
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY – NOVEMBER 29, 2005 – Matthew Cossolotto, author of HabitForce!, today announced that he will begin marketing a new series of organizational effectiveness training programs called “HabitForce! for Non-Profits and Public Sector Institutions.” These programs are specifically designed for the leaders, staff and volunteers of foundations, charities, associations, community organizations and public sector institutions.
“I’m offering HabitForce! for non-profits and the public sector,” Cossolotto said, “because that’s where my heart is. I’m very interested in working with public-spirited organizations with my programs designed to increase their transformative impact on their organizations, their communities, the country, and the world at large. In addition to public sector institutions at all levels, I’m thinking specifically of foundations, international non-governmental organizations, and various non-profits that support environmental protection, international cooperation, educational exchange programs, human rights, poverty and disease alleviation, refugee assistance, and voting system and other pro-democracy reforms both in the United States and abroad. I believe we all have a responsibility to improve the state of our communities and the world, and I want to do my share in this larger effort.”
Cossolotto added: “The fact is, organizations only perform as well as their people. But too many individuals fall short of their potential, which means the organization itself often falls short of its potential too. My programs explore the main causes behind this “performance gap” and offer practical steps and strategies to turn things around and ‘close the gap.’ These programs give participants the information and the skills they need to break through the barriers that hold them back. The key to transformation at all levels is to Recognize, Reject and Replace negative habits with positive, constructive, perhaps even earth-saving patterns of behavior.”
The half-day “HabitForce! for Non-Profits and the Public Sector” programs are based on Cossolotto’s book – HabitForce! How to Kick the Habits of F.A.I.L.U.R.E. and Adopt the Habits of S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
Commenting on Cossolotto’s book, former Congressman and 1980 independent presidential candidate, John Anderson, wrote:
“I heartily recommend HabitForce!to anyone and everyone. If you’ve ever had a goal you failed to reach or if you vaguely suspect that you have not lived up to your potential, this book is for you. Matthew Cossolotto, who humorously calls himself ‘America’s F.A.I.L.U.R.E. Coach,’ has created an easily remembered structure, based on the acronyms of F.A.I.L.U.R.E. and S.U.C.C.E.S.S., that will help all of us identify and replace the habits of failure with their corresponding habits of success. If you want to succeed, don’t fail to read this book!”
Anderson now serves as president of The Center for Voting and Democracy (http://www.fairvote.org).
“The bottom-line message,” Cossolotto said, “is that everyone can make a conscious choice to replace negative habits with their positive counterparts. It takes a habit to replace a habit.”
Throughout his career, Cossolotto has been involved with public service and non-profit organizations of various kinds. While working for Congressman Leon E. Panetta, Cossolotto handled international affairs, national service and education issues, including staff work related to the President’s Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies. As an aide to House Speaker Jim Wright, Cossolotto also worked on legislative initiatives related to educational exchange and international visitor programs. He was the founding president and board chair of the Center for Voting and Democracy (www.fairvote.org) from 1991-1996. A former Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa and study abroad participant in Sweden, Cossolotto served on NAFSA’s 2003 Strategic Task Force on Education Abroad. He currently serves as president of the Shakespeare Oxford Society (www.shakespeare-oxford.com).
Signed copies of HabitForce! are available online by visiting www.habitforcethebook.com. For more information or to schedule a workshop or presentation for your organization, please call 914-245-9721 or email habitforce@ovations.com.
About Ovations International and Matthew CossolottoMatthew Cossolotto is the author of HabitForce! How to Kick the Habits of F.A.I.L.U.R.E. and Adopt the Habits of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. His multifaceted communications career includes eight years as a congressional aide followed by senior-level speechwriting and executive communications positions at MCI, GTE and Pepsi-Cola International. In 1996, Mr. Cossolotto formed Ovations International (“Home of the Standing O®”), providing a wide range of clients with speechwriting, speech coaching and public relations services. He speaks to audiences about Podium Power, The Joy of Speaking and HabitForce! Visit www.ovations.com for more information.
HabitForce! Press Release 1-6-06 January 13, 2006
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HabitForce! Author, Matthew Cossolotto, UrgesPeople to Harness the “Power of Promises” and the “Ebenezer Effect” to Achieve Their Goals
Recent spate of media interviews continues with scheduled appearances on XM Radio, KLLI Radio, CNN Radio, and KDKA Radio Pittsburgh YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY – JANUARY 06, 2006 – Matthew Cossolotto, author of HabitForce! How to Kick the Habits of F.A.I.L.U.R.E. and Adopt the Habits of S.U.C.C.E.S.S., today urged people to harness the “Power of Promises” and the “Ebenezer Effect” to achieve their goals in 2006. He says people shouldn’t bother making New Year’s Resolutions. Instead, he says we should try making a few New Year’s “Promises.”
The author’s advice comes amidst a flurry of radio and TV interviews in recent weeks. Cossolotto is scheduled to appear live on XM Radio (Channel 169) on January 6th; KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh on January 8th; and on KLLI Radio in Dallas on January 12th. On January 10th, he’ll tape a segment on CNN Radio.
These upcoming interviews follow recent radio and TV appearances across the country on, among other outlets, News 12 Westchester; WACK (New York); LA Network (Louisiana); WOON (Rhode Island); KORN (South Dakota); WPDR (Wisconsin); KGNO (Kansas); KBUL (Montana); KABF (Arkansas); WFNT (Michigan); WDLB (Wisconsin); WEGP (Maine); KATE (Minnesota); KBUR (Iowa);WLBE (Florida); and WYAM-TV (Alabama).
Explaining the “Power of Promises,” Cossolotto said: “Year-after-year, lots of people have trouble sticking to their New Year’s resolutions, despite the best of intentions,” said Cossolotto. “People start the year saying they want to lose weight, get in shape, learn a new language, start a business, stop smoking, or even write the great American novel. But the level of commitment to these goals often fades just a few weeks into the New Year. Why is that?”
Cossolotto continued: “I think it has to do with the word ‘resolution’ itself. It’s a wishy-washy concept, and this gives people enough wiggle-room to ignore New Year’s resolutions with a clear conscience. So I urge people to only make a few New Year’s ‘Promises’ for 2006. A promise signals a much stronger commitment. Your integrity is on the line with a promise. This year, try harnessing what I call the ‘Power of Promises’ to achieve your goals.”
In recent articles and interviews, Cossolotto has been urging those who want to jumpstart and sustain positive change in their lives to learn from Ebenezer Scrooge as a role model. He offers the following unusual recommendation: Write your own eulogy.
Cossolotto continued: “I recommend that you sit down and take stock of your life. It helps to project yourself into the future and imagine what people are likely to say about you after you’re gone. Think of your written eulogy as a ‘mission statement’ for what you want to accomplish, what kind of person you aspire to be, and how you want to be remembered. It establishes what’s most important to you and sets your life’s course in the right direction …before it’s too late!”
“For all of the negative qualities associated with his name,” Cossolotto said, “Scrooge is actually a great role model for positive personal transformation. I call this the ‘Ebenezer Effect’ because Scrooge changes overnight after he confronts the effects of his lifetime of negative habits and attitudes. When the ghost of Christmas-Yet-To-Come transports Scrooge to a scene just after his own funeral, he endures the painful truth of what people really thought of him. Then he has a shocking rendezvous with his own mortality when he sees his name on his own tombstone. It’s an alarming but valuable wake-up-call for miserly curmudgeon.”
Cossolotto continued: “Scrooge exclaims to the Spirit: ‘I am not the man I was. I will not be that wretched creature any longer.’ And he is indeed transformed. He awakens the next morning, Christmas Day, a changed man. That’s the power of the ‘Ebenezer Effect.’”
Cossolotto’s book, HabitForce!, is built around two familiar seven-letter words – “failure” and “success” – which Cossolotto has turned into two acronyms: F.A.I.L.U.R.E. and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. For example, the first F.A.I.L.U.R.E. habit starts with the letter “F” for Finger Pointing. This is all about making excuses, playing the blame game.
One of the S.U.C.C.E.S.S. habits described in HabitForce! relates to harnessing the “Power of Promises and the “Ebenezer Effect.” Cossolotto calls it ‘Set Your Course’ – the second-to-last ‘S’ in the S.U.C.C.E.S.S. acronym.
“Making a promise and writing your eulogy sets your course in a very specific, binding direction,” Cossolotto explained.
Cossolotto, who humorously calls himself “The F.A.I.L.U.R.E. Coach™”, coaches individuals and organizations on ways to kick the F.A.I.L.U.R.E. habits that hold them back. He has developed a series of targeted Harness Your HabitForce! workshops and presentations for schools, community groups, and business and professional organizations. For more information, to set up an interview with Matthew Cossolotto, or to schedule a HabitForce! presentation or workshop for your company or organization, please call 914-245-9721, email habitforce@ovations.com, or visit www.habitforcethebook.com.
