Crazy Busy?

“In this era, you must deliberately preserve and cultivate your most valuable connections to people, activities, and whatever else is most important to you. Anyone can cultivate these connections, drawing from them the strength and will a person needs to handle the best and worst of life, but only if you plan to do so and insist on adhering to your plan.” 

― Edward M. Hallowell 

The above is a quote from Dr. Hallowell's book that I highly recommend, CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap! Strategies for Coping in a World Gone ADD.

Read it now, in the fall, when things are really starting to ramp up at home, at work and at school. It will help you take inventory of what is most important to you- and get rid of the rest!

The Art of Subtraction

I've been doing lots of subtracting lately: from my house, my work, and from life in general. Though long overdue, it sure feels good to get rid of all this Stuff, for lack of a better word.

@ HOME

Salad spinner, anyone?

Or a gingerbread house mold,
perhaps?

My husband and I recently went crazy and made a clean sweep of our kitchen/laundry room/pantry area. In true purge form, we got rid of those things that were no longer useful and gave them away to someone who might be able to use them. After all, I'm sure someone out there needs a salad spinner and a gingerbread house cast iron mold that weighs 100 pounds!

Now you see them...

Now you don't!

What remains is much easier to organize and reconfigure into now-plentiful spaces. And I'm no longer searching for potentially expensive ways to hide the laundry room from view, because now it looks great! (At least as far as laundry rooms go.) With more space on our hands, we found places to put laundry baskets so they are tucked away, out of sight.

@ WORK

I'm cleaning house in my coaching practice as well. I've been getting rid of business ideas and goals that are no longer useful. Letting them go bye bye means that they have served their original purpose, which was to get my creative juices flowing when I felt stuck, but now it's time to discard those plans and replace them with better, more relevant intentions.

One of my newest goals is to host  more workshops. Ironically, this addition to my business has made subtracting easier. Presentations help me streamline my communication efforts, an important factor in both explaining and rendering my coaching services. For example, when I'm in the middle of a presentation I can tell from facial expressions and nods which points are resonating and which ones need to be translated and simplified. (Or gotten rid of completely, not unlike my salad spinner.) By their reactions, the participants help me determine how to narrow down my delivery to only the messages that are most beneficial.

@ ME.com

My mental Meadow 

In my personal life (which is to say, my work/life balance,) I've been chipping away at extraneous time sucks that keep me very busy but not moving forward.  I'm reconfiguring my days, particularly my mid-to-late afternoons. During that time I try to focus on what is most important to me at that point in the day, which is spending focused time with my kids. (Note that I did not say, "quality time." For me, that phrase mainly conjures up a carefree afternoon of blissfully running barefoot in a grassy meadow. And that ain't happnin'.)

So where does that precious work time go instead? My husband and I have agreed that, since I'm foregoing work during that afternoon period, I can instead have some focused, uninterrupted time after dinner while he does kid duty. That way I am doing what both my business and brain need on a daily basis: quiet time to progress.


So Where Does the "Art" of Subtraction Come In?

I find that subtracting the unnecessary stuff from my life isn't particularly simple or well defined; rather, its a delicate, ongoing dance. A painting in progress. I know that life can be fun when a lot is going on. I enjoy my life when it feels full and there's a richness and depth to my days. New ideas, new products, possibilities and a steady flow of work and clients energize me.

But then there's the tipping point. How easily my daily dance can begin to look more frenzied than focused and flowing. Stuff accumulates: there are more calls to make, emails to write, tasks to do. Laundry baskets overflow, to-do lists lengthen, toilets break down, ideal situations change and somedays it seems as if the additions outweigh the subtractions.

"Eternal Clock"

But then there's that powerful, artful tool we all have access to: awareness. Being mindful of when it's time to say "no thanks" to overextending ourselves, pausing to listen and reflect the present, or limiting electronic stimuli (take your pick!) allows for us to get centered again.  By getting in the habit of subtracting as we go, we create a satisfying and sustainable rhythm to our life, a steady, energizing beat, rather than a constantly spinning, frenzied and pointless whirlwind of activity.

Which gets me back to why I got rid of the gingerbread house maker in the first place: baking a gingerbread house from scratch does not, in any way, fit into the rhythm of my life. Even when it's at a leisurely waltz.

But who knows. Perhaps I'll have this unheard of amount of downtime just before December 25th and I'll say to myself, "For the love of All That is Good and Holy, why, oh why did I get rid of that 100 pound cast iron gingerbread mold?!!!"

Just so you know, it's really not a good
gingerbread house unless it's wired for lighting.

Hey, crazier things have happened....

Words to Live By: Soren Kierkegaard

“There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.”    

-  Søren Kierkegaard

How to Make a Difference in the World

Some great advice for those of us who don't want to sit back and watch the world stay the same.
-Katie
CHANGE YOUR WORLD

Words to Live By: Joseph Campbell

"We must let go of the life we have planned, 

so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."

                                            -Joseph Campbell

Bitten By THE BUG

Ladybird: William Warby

That would be The Presentation Bug.

I'm totally hooked on giving workshops, presentations, seminars, you name it. And I've got one coming up in less than 48 hours!

Your Hidden Potential:
Discover Talents You Never Knew You Had

I am finding that presenting career information is a thrilling experience for me; even better than acting, believe it or not. (In case you are new here, I was a professional actress and singer for over a dozen years.)

One might think that being an actor, in costume, on stage, in front of hundreds of people may sound much more exciting than being a career coach, in business attire, in front of less than 50.  But in actuality, it's not. It's just different. And the rewards are far greater than I'd ever imagined.

For example, at the end of a theatre performance my feedback came in the form of applause, often followed by a backstage visit when someone would pat me on the back and graciously tell me, "Great job out there!" Which, of course, I really appreciated.

However, I get this kind of feedback after my workshops:

"Thank you, Katie, for this insight. I knew I was capable of doing so much more than what I'm doing now. I just needed to figure out why and what I'm missing."

It's truly music to my ears. It makes me wonder, could it be that I just might be making a difference in someone's life?!  Because if that's the case, I can't get a better reward than that.



Okay, But... Thrilling??!!

Via Flickr

The personal rewards still don't account for the excitement factor.  Because how, you may ask, is presenting information about human potential and natural talent as exhilarating as say, an elaborate stage performance in front of a packed house? The answer is this:

It's all about the verbs.

As I describe in my workshop, a person's talent-in the form of verbs- is truly at the heart of every career. And when you think about the similar, transferrable talents going from the theatre world to the career coaching world, you realize that they're quite a few.  The venue is different, and the content is different, but the basic function is the same: I am sharing an experience with an audience. Only in workshops, the shared experience is even more of an interactive, two-way street.

Via Flickr

I like how the spotlight shines less on me and more on the participants. We exchange information, wherein I offer up a new language for why they like or don't like certain activities. They, in turn, share with me interesting and varied examples from their own lives. This real time exchange gives me an adrenaline rush similar to a great performance.


Plus, I really get a kick out of the fact that I'm offering information to people who can use this knowledge immediately, in their everyday lives.  I derive pleasure from giving people a really solid deliverable, such as steps to becoming more energized, more engaged with life, more appreciative of their own resources. Human potential, I've discovered, is something I'm even more passionate about than acting and the theatre.

Yes, I'll admit that being bitten by the acting bug when I was younger was pretty darn exciting, but I'll take The Presentation Bug bite any day.

Live in the Washington, D.C. area?  Free on Tuesday night?  SIGN UP HERE!!

Wearing Her Cone of Shame

"I was chasing a cat and wiped out.
Now have to wear this %$*^@# contraption."


I need to send a picture of Cloey to that dog shaming website. The question is, which naughty picture to choose? This one is a top contender. 

BE AN ENTREPRENEUR (hint: it's easier than ever!)

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130909022419-6200057-your-starring-role-as-entrepreneur-in-the-creation-economy

BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. BE IN THE MOMENT.

That's my mantra for the week.

But first, allow me to explain its inception:

I've started exercising every other day; sometimes I even do a couple days in a row. (I know: Woooooaaaaa Nellie!) And I must say that I've really found my groove.  It's what my body needs to do: to MOVE MOVE MOVE.

When I exercise regularly my mind works better too, particularly because I have what we in the career world refer to as a "high rate of idea flow."

(Or, what those in the regular world call, a "very busy and active mind.")

What's more, according to my personality type, I prefer iNtuition to Sensing, which means I'm always thinking of new possibilities, ways of doing things and "what if" scenarios. This is compared to Sensing, which is a preference that naturally lives more in the present, in the world of the here and now. Not surprisingly, many of my clients have the iNtuition personality preference as well.  After all, a person who has lots of career ideas and way too little time needs help narrowing down the possibilities.

As I tell my clients, the high idea flow + iNtuition combo can make for great problem solving and a wonderful entrepreneurial spirit; however, as you can imagine, it can have it's personal pitfalls as well. These cognitive tendencies can make the mind swirl with regrets about what the past could have been, worries about what the future could be like and fears of not living up to one's own grandiose expectations.

Which leads me back to my mantra and its creation.

The Hill

We have a really big hill near our house: the mother of all hills. And I have chosen to make this a part of my run, being a glutton for punishment, I suppose.

Not our hill, but it feels like it.

For a long time I ran down and walked up the hill, but recently I decided to BE BOLD and attempt to run up the hill as well.

("Attempt" being the operative word.)

At first I did what I always did and looked way ahead of me, to the top of the hill. But that quickly crushed me. I'd start walking almost immediately because I couldn't fathom all of what lay ahead.  Running all that way to the top was just too much to handle psychologically.

But then one morning I decided to try looking down at my feet as I ran. (Thankfully there's not a lot of pedestrian traffic on this sidewalk.) And I found I went farther. Eventually, however, when the incline got really steep, I started walking.

So the next time I tried looking at the ground and counting, thinking that if I could just count to 50 (slowly) I could stop at 50 and then walk, no matter where I was on the hill.

Well, by God, it worked! I made it all the way without walking. Yes, it was still hard and intense on the old gluteus maximus, but I'd made it! The counting paired with the looking down proved a winning combination.

As with all small victories, it made me feel unexpectedly BRAVE, like I could conquer anything! That same day I used my hill momentum and made a phone call to a potential client that I'd been putting off. Now I have a new speaking engagement. Who knew?

I've been using this simple method for tackling The Hill ever since. I stop thinking about where I'm going and instead think of where I am. Or maybe I'm not really "thinking" at all- I'm just BEING IN THE MOMENT. No complex thought process. No overwhelming emotions about the past or future. I switch off my idea-generating, regretful, future-envisioning turbo engine and count.

But I also absorb, which seems to satisfy my mind and hold my focus. I see the cracks in the sidewalk, listen to the sound of my feet, the songs of the birds and the rhythm of my breath. I notice the laces of my shoes and the curves of my legs and feel the surface of the pavement beneath my feet. I look from side to side and observe the texture of the grass.

In other words, I take a mental vacation from all of those mental gymnastics.

But no matter what your personal inclinations may be, this week I dare you to:

BE BOLD.

 Go for the hill, whatever your hill may be.

BE BRAVE.

 Branch out. Have the courage to try something you don't think you can do.

BE IN THE MOMENT.

No past, no present. Take some time to just focus on what you can do right now.

And before you know it, you'll have reached your destination.

"None of Us is One Thing"

Jeff Haden, Inc. Magazine Columnist/Speaker/Ghostwriter/Wedding Photographer, encourages us to acknowledge, rather than hide, the different roles we play in life... and work.

Enjoy!
-Katie

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130904104351-20017018-why-we-should-all-be-an-and

New Rules for Career Success

Rule #1: Figure out where you are headed!
Via Flickr

Dan Schawbel, Geny Y author of the newly released book, Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success, offers some sound advice about how to advance your career in today's environment.

Frequent LinkedIn contributor, Dave Kerpen, asked Mr. Schawbel to distill his concepts to into six key "actionable ways to grow" a career, which I'm sharing with you below.

I especially like his first point, which is to "become an entrepreneur at work"; however, I'm offering a prequel to Schawbel's key points:

Figure out what career path is right for you, 

because if you don't do that, 

how will you know what kind of career to grow in the first place?

Makes sense, no?

Read his rules here.