It's clear the race is on in Shanghai. We're willing participants, but are we mindful players and directors of our own lives? Fortunately, there are resources to help you ask those tough questions and to support you while you seek the answers.

1. Hire a Life Coach

"The people who I tend to work with are fairly aware. They tend to be successful people already," says Beth Ronsick, a Shanghai life coach certified by the International Coach Federation. "They just know there's tremendous value to have someone there to be a sounding board and a partner."

Ronsick also comes from a successful background. A Missouri School of Journalism graduate, she built an enviable career as an editor at top New York ad agencies until later shifting to the creative support department. Later, she worked for Asia Pacific where she managed the training and people development departments in 20-plus offices around Asia. This success didn't guarantee her happiness, however. She took a sabbatical from the corporate world, hired a coach and discovered her life's purpose was to help other people, but not "in the Peace Corps kind of way." Today Ronsick assists others in moving through their lives' various transitions.

"Coaching tends to have a high success rate because you are the only source of your resolutions," Ronsick says. "You already contain the wisdom, creativity and resources to come up with your own solutions and strategies in your life. My job as a coach is to bring structure, unconditional support, a healthy measure of accountability and questions."

Ronsick starts by asking the client what they want to accomplish and what they value. Then they get to work. "It's really work in a way that therapy is not. Therapy seems more indulgent," says Annette Tryde, a commercial director who lives in the Washington, D.C. area and who has worked with Ronsick for more than a year. "With this process, you have homework, and you're getting something you want out of every session, and you're leading the way. I don't feel like a victim. I feel very full of possibility."

Another client of Ronsick's, Mary Rezek, a principal consultant at Saatory in Shanghai, relates: "It's not like ice cream. It's not all the time happy."

Change isn't easy, which is why so many people live on auto-pilot, say both Tryde and Rezek. "Everyone has routine in their lives, and it serves them," Rezek says. "But it doesn't allow for the emergence of new things."

Fresh possibilities and insights instead emerge through the reflection instigated by the tough questions posed by coaches like Ronsick and Mia van der Heijden -- another soon-to-be approved ICF coach planning to set up shop in Shanghai. "Coaching is a new way of helping people," van der Heijden says. "It is not about giving advice; it is about the way of being there for and with a client through a period of change."

Tryde and Rezek testify to the positive results they've achieved in their work with Ronsick, but they're also adamant that their successes largely depend on their own courage and committment. It's a revolutionary idea, and Ronsick puts it best:

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if people did things that were really in alignment with their values? It would change the face of society."

2. Hit the Books

Maybe you're looking for answers, but you'd prefer to start independently. Here's a brief rundown of some favorite life guides, which can be found at any of the foreign booksellers in our listings. ?"The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey lists seven principles that, if adopted, are purported to help a person achieve interdependent effectiveness through a guiding character ethic. 15 million copies, 38 languages.

"Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson uses a parable of four characters to describe change in work and life and how to cope. In China, more than 1.6 million copies have been sold, and more than a dozen spin-offs of the book have been written, including "Chinese People Eat Cheese? Who Took My Meat Bun?"

"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu may be a less peaceable lens through which to see the world, but if it's withstood the centuries, there must be some wisdom within. English copies are available in a slim paperback. Countless millions have read this book.

"The Amazing Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale takes a simple enough approach to life. He was a progenitor of the idea that attitude is everything in this life. 20 million copies, 41 languages.

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie appeals to people to change their lives by better communicating and by better seeking to please people in the name of duty and as a route to success. 16 million copies.

How to Select a Life Coach

1. Experience

What credentials do they have? What background? What personal life experience?

1. Philosophy

How does the coach define coaching? What's the process they use? What are their expectations?

1. Chemistry

How do you feel with them? Are you relaxed? Do you feel inspired? Do you trust them?

Contact Ronsick at bethronsick@yahoo.com or 6467-2635. See listings for bookstores.