The Freedom of Audacity

Flag
Jasper Johns

I hope you had a great Memorial Day Weekend. 

I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend in NYC with my daughter, and we had a marvelous time, of course.

One of our stops was to the Museum of Modern Art (a.k.a. MoMA), where we saw magnificent paintings, including Jasper John's Flag painting shown above. Very appropriate for Memorial Day Weekend, no?

What I find most gratifying about going to a museum and seeing a work of art in person are the brush strokes. It humanizes the painting for me, making it relatable and personally inspiring.

detail of the mixed media
nature of Flag

So much of what we read about art has to do with it's monetary value. For instance, it was much easier to discover on the internet that Flag was recently auctioned off at a cool $36 million than to determine the creative underpinnings of Jasper Johns and his patriotic work. However, when I go to a museum full of Picasso's and Monet's and Matisse's I forget about the money and the fame of the painters. Instead, I am overwhelmed by their creative audacity.

Modern artists had the willingness to create their own artistic language and develop mediums and styles that went against what their contemporaries deemed worthy. What's more, these are people that took a gamble on spending their lives pursuing endeavors that most people found impractical at best and a complete waste of time at worst: painting, philosophizing, growing their artistic interpretation of space, figures, color and light, fusing together politics, psychology, language and popular culture. They reimagined what art was and could be.

While money was painfully elusive to some and generously bestowed on others, they all shared the very real risk of expressing themselves as individuals. Take Jasper Johns, who grew up in a small rural community in Georgia, who has said the following about being an artist,

"In the place where I was a child, there were no artists and there was no art, so I really didn't know what that meant. I think I thought it meant that I would be in a situation different than the one that I was in."

Needless to say, my daughter and I were very inspired by our visit. The MoMA's exhibits made us think, "What could we accomplish if we chose to break down the most common barriers to entry? What if we could drum up some of that courage?"

Imagine the possibilities!

smARTteacher
elementary students
reinterpret Johns' Flag painting

Most importantly, we determined that, in light of such an important American holiday, we needed to appreciate those human beings who gave their lives and made inspiration and creative freedom ours for the taking. 

What a truly priceless gift.

Create Yourself

If you look just above this sentence, you'll see my banner head, GROW, with the smaller script below it reading, "Create Yourself."

When I came up with this tag line many years ago, I didn't think twice about it. I felt it was a perfectly reasonable, catchy little phrase that aptly described my career philosophy: I believe in creating your own career path using your amazing and unique combination of talents vs. trying to squeeze into a one-size-fits-all career mold.

(Think Chief Software Developer at Creative Design Solutions, Inc. vs. The Butcher, The Baker, or The Illustrious Candlestick Maker.)

But as I've spoken with people regarding this "create yourself" concept over the years, I've met a lot of raised eyebrows. As in, "What the $^%# are you asking me to do?!" I quickly learned that the idea was not as intuitive and accessible as I'd expected it to be.

And yet, this concept of creating oneself isn't some new-fangled buzz phrase in modern career thought. Rather, it's inspired from a source that is as far from new-fangled as you can get:

George Bernard Shaw. 

Born 1856. Dublin, Ireland.

I'd always been fascinated by Shaw's expansive and dynamic career journey in which he played multiple roles during his lifetime of 94 years. These included: playwright, essayist, novelist, orator, politician, social activist, music and literary critic and co-founder of the London School of Economics. He also won a Nobel Prize in Literature and an Academy Award for the screen adaptation of one of his plays.

Not too shabby!

And so, as you can imagine, it was with great delight that I stumbled upon this gem of a quote from Shaw:

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

As shown by the life he led and the career choices he made, Mr. Shaw obviously didn't wait for a career to jump out at him. Instead, he engaged his talents and particular fascinations in a way that would carve out his own unique and wildly successful career journey.

But somehow, across the Atlantic and over a century later, most of us are still conditioned from childhood to believe that, if we want to succeed, we have to follow a narrow, much trodden career path. If it's been done, we think we stay safe by going the same, well-lit route. (Never mind that well-lit routes are more fleeting than ever!) We are too scared at the daunting prospect of the unknown, of the initial confusion that must exist in order to create our own way that we back away from creating ourselves.

Leveraging our unique strengths? We can't risk that!

But how about the risk of losing our sense of self when we constantly focus on everyone else's career trajectories? For example, we slave over getting perfect grades in brand name high schools in order to gain entry into brand name universities and then even cooler companies. But what then? What happens when we discover that the prize was nothing even close to what we really were looking for? What happens when we personally and professionally flounder because we're now so far removed from what we're really good at?

I suppose that's why, whenever I see someone who dares to create his or her own path in life I take notice. These people always seem to be some of the most fulfilled people I meet. They know their strengths and use them to create solutions for others. They don't focus so much on finding the path they are supposed to take; rather, they actively create a layered, rich life that allows them to engage their multiple talents and fascinations in many different ways. They openly recognize, appreciate and leverage their unique combination of abilities and interests in ways that only they can. They stick with what they value and, if what they value is useful to others, people come to recognize and even pay handsomely for that value.

And so, despite the occasional raised eyebrows and skepticism, I'm going to stick with my "create yourself" battle cry. It's what I value, how I approach my life and, most of all, it's a philosophy that's proven effective time and again with clients. However, unlike Mr. Shaw, I'm not so patient when it comes to ideas catching on.  In fact, I'm not-so-secretly hoping for the idea of "create yourself" to go all viral on me. You know, like a social meme or something like that.

Drumming fingers on desk

Aaaaany day now....

Creating Extreme Makeovers: At Home or at Work?

House Beautiful

Many years ago, when I went to see a career coach myself to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, I grappled with two different worlds to pursue professionally. I deliberated between beautifying homes or helping people navigate the career world. Two totally different pursuits, no? 

Option One: The Home Makeover Route

I'll admit there's nothing that gets me more jazzed than good, innovative design, especially in the intimate setting of one's home. I considered going into interior design to be a part of that amazing process of helping others create an environment that energizes and nurtures them. 

I've always loved combing through shelter magazines and interior design books for ideas. I get giddy over colors, patterns and textures, and lose track of time when I start rearranging things in my home. And from the time I was a little kid, I've always loved to draw and create beautiful things, including my future home. In fact, when my sister and I were little, riding in the back seat of our old station wagon to see Grandma and Grandpa, we used to while away the hours by thumbing through the Sears Catalog, picking out items for our future home and putting them in notebooks.

Ah, the days before Pinterest...

Option Two: The Work Makeover Route 

On the other hand, helping people solve problems has always energized me. Enabling people to discover and reach their potential has always felt meaningful and satisfying. Most importantly, I've always had a knack for that kind of thing; people sought out my advice way before I called myself a career coach. 



And talk about a fascinating subject area! I could read and write about people's career journeys, life choices, behavior and psychology 'til the cows came home. 

So which was I supposed to choose? Designing or coaching?

Option Three: Both!

Thankfully my career coach- who eventually became my wonderful mentor- put an end to my dilemma and suggested that I didn't have to really choose. I could, in fact, bring the function of design into career coaching. He suggested that even if I took the coaching route, I would actually still be designing, just not in the artistic medium of velvet-upholstered chairs or sparkly light fixtures. 

(You can tell where my tastes fall on the decorating spectrum, can't you?)

He explained the many ways design is an integral part of career coaching. Coaches help people design their ideal careers, their goals and their visions. Coaches shine light on various bits and pieces of someone's life- pieces such as talents, passions and interests- and help the client create ways to integrate those disparate entities into something streamlined and, well, beautiful.


As soon as I chose to go the career coaching path I realized he was right. I discovered that even though I wasn't going to be an interior designer, I could still ensure that innovation, creativity and beauty were infused into my working life. Every day I'm increasingly convinced that pieces of the career puzzle are exquisite in their richness and complexity, even though they are more conceptual than physical.

Picture, for instance, the vibrancy of a talent that has been uncovered, engaged and honed. Consider the splendor of pursuing fascinations and passions, layering depths into our lives in a way few other things can. Remember how challenging work makes you feel alive and invigorated, especially in a physical environment that makes you feel at home with your talents. 

So what happens when all of these pieces- the talents, the interests, passions and environments- are designed to come together in unison? They infuse a brilliant spectrum of colors and textures into life. And you possess a living, breathing (and ever-evolving) work of art.

Naturally, I will always maintain a pure, aesthetic love of interior design, and I try to give it due time on a regular basis. I fully embrace my role as an interior design enthusiast vs. professional, and yes, you might call me an amateur. While this label might strike some as a bit pejorative and diminutive, I prefer to think of the word amateur as the French originally designed it to mean: "for the love of something." According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Amateur originates from the Latin, "amator" ("lover") and is derived from amare ("to love.") 

And, as a great woman once said,

"Even if one dost not make home design one's livelihood, 

one always has Pinterest."*

Designer's Guild

Indulge In Your Own "What If" Life Makeover



Ask yourself:

What if you were to take the time to create something innovative in your professional life? 

What if you were to add value to your work that might surprise (and delight) those that witnessed it? 

What if you were to incorporate some of your long-held interests into your personal life? 

What do you miss doing that could come back to you, that could enrich your life, filling it with new layers and meaning?


*Okay, that woman was me. I said that statement in a flash of insight.

What Now?

“What now is not just a panic-stricken question tossed out into a dark unknown. 

What now can also be our joy. It is a declaration of possibility, of promise, of chance. It acknowledges that our future is open, that we may well do more than anyone expected of us, that at every point in our development we are still striving to grow. 

There’s a time in our lives when we all crave the answers. It seems terrifying not to know what’s coming next. 

But there is a time, a better time, when we see our lives as a series of choices, and What now represents our excitement and our future, the very vitality of life. It’s up to you to choose a life that will keep expanding. It takes discipline to remain curious; it takes work to be open to the world- but oh my friends, what noble and glorious work it is.”

-Ann Patchett

What now?

Fame, Fortune and Dreaming Big

By the time I hit the ripe old age of 16, my ambitions had taken on a life of their own.  Every dream career I concocted was infinitely possible and grandly desirable, especially when the career field was fraught with stiff competition and low success rates among those who chose to pursue it. 

Queen of the Long Shots was I. 

"I'm gonna live forever..."

Defying 
Gravity

And what was to stop me from dreaming big? I had the larger-than-life 80's hairdo going on, why not have the dreams to go with it?

As I got older, however, the lack of specificity in all those dreams became increasingly apparent. My 16 year-young, chock-full-o'-hairspray self had somehow failed to address the specifics of how and even why I wanted to live out those dreams. (There must be some study out there linking heavy hairspray use to poor long-term planning, but I haven't come across it yet.)

Once in a while I ponder that journey from 16 to my, uh, age now, and consider how those youthful, nebulous dreams didn't really fade, but rather evolved into a higher level of sophistication. For example, I recall that in my early days money and fame were always an integral part of my dreams of success. Of course, I never outwardly admitted that belief because I considered myself a good, conscientious person, and a good, conscientious person shouldn't care about things like that, right? But I'll admit today that those less-than-noble ambitions were infinitely present, always lurking in the back of my mind like gauntlets I'd thrown down to hold myself accountable.

Now that I'm able to look back and reflect- and hindsight is 20/20, of course- it's easy for me to see how money and fame were the most accessible ambitions to shoot for, especially since I didn't have any specific goals up my sleeve at the time.

Ah, Mr. Robin Leach.
I hope that vest didn't cost you
 a fortune.

Of course, the constant reminders in society extolling the importance of celebrity and wealth made them easy targets. 'Twas the 80's, and everyone (that I was paying attention to, anyway) seemed to value fortune-building over character-building.

But ultimately I recognized that my career ambitions came down to my own choosing. I could listen to how society-at-large defined success. And I could choose to set standards so high that I could never live up to those ever-elusive dreams.

Madonna: before 
her blonde ambition
took over

On the other hand, I could choose to make my dreams clearer and more thoughtful and personal. I could choose to dig deeper and uncover what truly motivated me, beyond material rewards and far-reaching recognition. I could broaden my concept of success while also breaking down goals into easier-to-attain steps.

Once I was able to look beyond these familiar trappings I discovered how much richer dreams can be when they come from an authentic place, born out everything I believe in and need to do. Like expressing my talent for the love of it, making a positive impact in people's lives, and striving for solid financial health versus enormous wealth.

My notion of fame thankfully has evolved as well, maturing from an insatiable appetite for widespread recognition to a yearning for broader social impact. I find that I'm now driven by a need to mobilize my expertise and knowledge to tackle career conventions that are in desperate need of repair. But I'm also equally invigorated when I've helped one person create a successful new game plan for their life or enabled them to use their talents in a brand new way. These individual partnerships have rewarded me in ways I'd never imagined.

But then again, are we ever able to accurately imagine what will drive us in the future? Maybe not. Or maybe, just maybe, if we can come to terms with who we are, what we believe in, and what we're good at, we might catch a glimpse at what our future holds.

Blazing Your Own Trail

While I was a graduate student here in Washington, DC at the beginning of the new millennium, I drove daily along the battered end of North Capitol Street, where you could see the beautiful dome of The Capitol Building straight ahead, in the distance, just as you passed by the bullet proof glass protecting the Kentucky Fried Chicken Drive-Thru. 

Then, after turning off North Capitol Street onto D Street, I'd approach a crazy intersection that seemed to go in about 10 directions. That intersection was surrounded by abandoned buildings and scrappy little patches of grass (I absolutely wouldn’t call them lawns) where no one seemed to inhabit, save for the rose sellers or beggars who’d try to get you to roll down your window and give them hope in the form of loose change.

Now, like much of the revitalized District, the area is built up with steel corporate high rises replete with gleaming mirrored windows, luxury apartments and über hip fitness centers. But at the time of my trek to and from school, this confluence of roads couldn't be described as anything more than an urban eyesore. 

So it was no surprise that the one thing that stood out among this barren urban crossroads was a brightly painted message along the side of one crumbling, abandoned building:

“Do Not Follow Where the Path May Lead.  

Go Instead Where there is No Path and 

Leave a Trail.”

Now, you have to remember that this time period predated the proliferation of motivational quotes on Tumblr, Facebook and Pinterest, so I wasn't yet desensitized to the power of a pithy quotation. Instead, it truly intrigued me, and, more often than not, haunted me.

The anonymous graffiti artist didn't include the author of those words, but I soon discovered through research that it could be attributed to American poet and writer Muriel Strode (b. 1875.) I drove by that quote almost every day for three years, and each time I'd wonder what kind of trail I wanted to leave, and, more specifically, how I would leave it. Would it involve acting? Directing? Writing? Teaching? Or something else entirely?

It took me a few more years before I understood what kind of trail I wanted to leave, which, as you know, ended up falling mainly in the "something else entirely" category. And to this day that trail is always evolving and expanding, keeping things interesting. I'm constantly asking myself questions such as, How do I take my coaching practice to the next level? Make it more nuanced? How do I best deliver my service in a novel way? Who needs my career services the most? Will I need to carve out my niche market more intricately?

Even with these ongoing uncertainties, I can't describe how good it feels to have cracked the code, so to speak. It's wonderful knowing that my sweet spot lies in coaching; that I use some of my most valuable talents- that happen to be non-performing ones- to make a difference in others' lives. And, in that coming full-circle kind of way, I like the fact that my "trail" involves helping others blaze their own.

(Here's where I'm going to boldly imagine that Strode would've been pleased!)

I won't lie and say it's been easy; far from it. It has taken due diligence and a hefty sense of self to figure out what kind of path to create. And, undoubtedly, I couldn't have done it alone. Reaching out to others made a turn-of-the 20th century writer's words come to life for me. I realized that in order to create my own unique, individual path I needed the power of collaboration. While that may sound ironic, it actually makes sense given the communal nature of the creative process. And what is the process of designing our own career paths if not a creative one?

Ultimately, yes, it is our own creative hand that paints our life's legacy; however, we can always use the wisdom and support of others to inspire our creations. Seeking guidance is different than following footsteps; we're allowing the paths and knowledge of others to inform our choices, to navigate our way through obstacles, to help us design our own exciting, personalized paths.

Interestingly, the following is Strode's prequel to the above quote, which allows us to see the author's journey in arriving at her conviction to "leave a trail."

"I longed to build as you had builded, but I knew that your joy lay in the conception of your own design. 

I longed to follow where your feet had trod, but I had watched your exhilaration as you felled a new way.

I longed to do that thing you did and be that thing you are, but I knew life's complement was yours because you were yourself."

My Little Book of Prayer

Muriel Strode, 1904

I am eternally grateful for Strode's words so generously painted on an otherwise useless building. Her proclamation held me accountable to discover my own voice. And, because of that difficult search, it also led me to seek help in finding it.

So now I'll hand these thought provoking words over to you, with the hope that you'll feel embolden enough to blaze your own trail.

But hopefully they'll also beg the question:

Who will provide you with the tools to create that trail?

Notes:

*Strode's original quote was, "I do not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path and leave a trail" 

**Many have mistakenly credited this quote to Ralph Waldo Emerson.  

Racing Against Time?

Here in the frozen tundra, also known as Washington, D.C., it's been nice to have some indoor diversions. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi have dutifully entertained our family over the past couple of weeks, especially when frigid temperatures and multiple snow days have made it difficult to find something to do besides go sledding, make snowmen and lament yet another day off of school.

(That would be my husband and I lamenting, not my children.)

One theme at the center of the Olympic games is time. Athletes are either racing against it or making the most of the precious competition period they've been allotted. It's this high-stakes, temporal element, along with unbelievable athleticism, that provides us onlookers with a thrilling experience.

But time is tricky when it comes to discovering your career. Fast answers aren't always the best answers. Yes, of course, you have to pay the bills, so deciding on a job can certainly be a time sensitive task. But, more often than not, people are actually too hasty in their career choices, in all stages of life.

Ambitious young high school students don't want to hesitate in their response to an adult's question of "So, Young Lady/Man, what are your career plans?" Therefore many come up with whatever career sounds the most exciting and admirable.

(I myself could've won multiple awards for the doozies I drummed up.)

Then there are the older kids, students attending expensive colleges, (wait- isn't that a bit redundant?) who race to declare a major lest they appear to be wasting their parents money. However, according to the abysmal stats on graduation rates, length of time in school and limited use of selected majors post-graduation, it appears that those declared majors might as well have been chosen during a rousing drinking game of Quarters.

Grown-ups continue the trend of hasty choices as well, making career decisions reflecting their own social pressures: the proverbial rat race. Many adults fall prey to keeping up with their colleagues, racing to the next level, even if they don't know why they want to get there in the first place.

You know the old saying, "I don't know where I'm goin' but I'm sure making good time?"  I consider that the official motto for the rat race. And when asked the question, "So, how's your job going?" few people dare to be honest and say, "Well, it's okay, but I feel as if I need to explore other options more in line with my abilities."

Even those embarking on retirement feel pressure to have a response to "So, what are you going to do with all of that time on your hands?" I'd wager that, at their retirement party, 10 out of 10 employees prefer to say, "Play golf" as opposed to "I'm going to work with a coach to do some interest and talent exploration."

Talk about a party buzz killer!

In other words, it's marvelously expeditious- if not expected- to make a career or life decision just so you can say you've made a decision. 

But it takes courage to take the time to wonder, especially out loud, what you need to do to satisfy your talents.

The solution, obviously, is not to slap a giant yellow "UNDECLARED" post-it note on your head, clap your hands and call it a life. Instead, it means having the guts to ask for help in creating a purposeful, thoughtful exploration of what you want- or need- to do with your time, abilities and interests.

Because unlike the Olympics, there is no race to the finish line. Acknowledge this by allowing yourself some guided reflection time. Take advantage of opportunities to assess your abilities, gather unbiased information from those who share your interests and ask yourself some pointed, educated questions.

And if your wondering about the payoff...

It's worth its weight in gold.


photo credits: via Creative Commons, wikimedia
speed skaters
pixabay 
frat party via Flickr
golf course
post-it note
gold medal

Socks

First of all, please allow me to begin with a caveat. The following is what you might call a "First World problem;" a ridiculously inconsequential, minuscule dilemma that pales in comparison to the infinite global quandaries out there.

And now that we've cleared that up...

I shall recount my brief interlude with laundry yesterday.

As I made my way through a heaping basket of clean clothes, I found myself swearing incoherently, muttering something to the effect of "Oh, these stupid *$%^# socks!"

I really don't like it when, as I'm reaching the bottom of the laundry basket, I come to the socks. There are never, and I repeat, NEVER, 100% perfect matches. Anywhere between 75-80% is a good day. And that's so annoying, because it a) begs the question, "Where in God's creation could they possibly have gone?!!" and b) means I'll have to put the stragglers in The Heap, a pathetic basket near our bedroom door filled with unmatched socks. These guys gather dust while their partners are out there having fun, heaven knows where.

(Because if I knew, by God, they would be matched up in someone's sock drawer.)

And I hate throwing the stragglers away, because there's always that shred of hope that someday their little sock buddy might return.

(But let's be brutally honest here. They NEVER do.)

The Heap: what a sorry lot these guys are.

However, as much as I hate pairing up socks- or, rather, not pairing them up- I know it's part of the job of being a parent. As is making sure certain individuals eat nutritious food they don't want to eat and complete homework they don't want to complete; both of which are equally trying duties some days. But, you know, so goes the job of parenthood. Par for the course, as they say.

Likewise, there are always dreaded tasks that every career professional faces, no matter how perfect his or her career fit.  Just replace "#@$#^ socks!" with "#@$#% spreadsheets" or whatever your pet grievance happens to be, and you get the picture. However, the difference between a dreaded task that sucks the life out of you and the dreaded task that is a mere hurdle is this: knowing it's worth it.

I wouldn't give up being a parent for anything, no matter how flagrantly the children- or socks- are misbehaving. Nor do I have plans to abandon working for myself, especially in the field of helping people find their ideal career.  I enjoy what I do and know that, overall, it's a really great fit for me, to the point that I wouldn't let certain undesirable tasks determine my entire career fate.

Conversely, if you know you're on a floundering career path, even the slightest annoyances can send you into a tailspin of dread and frustration.  That's because you don't know if those dreaded duties are ever going to end, and if they're not, you'll wonder if you'll end up miserable forever.

Paying Your Dues or Just Paying Your Rent? 

There's a huge difference between paying the hard dues necessary to get you to a desired destination and doing grunt work for no other reason than to kill time until you figure out what you really want.

(And when will that be if you don't seek help?)

Knowing where you want to be going makes a difficult job (or boss, or co-worker) bearable, especially if you know that it's a temporary stepping stone to your desired destination. It's the ultimate deal breaker as far as sustainability is concerned, giving you the necessary endurance to realize your ultimate potential.

So the question isn't whether you have to perform tasks you dislike. Because the answer is an obvious, "yes;" everyone has those tasks they'd give up in a heartbeat. Rather, the question to ask yourself is this: Do you know where you really want to go? If so, are the drudgeries worth it? Whether your days involve extreme boredom or job duties incongruent with your talents, are they par for the course or a chronic waste of your time and talents?

If the answer is, "It's definitely worth it!" (or even "I have every reason to believe so,") then I urge you to stick with it. We've all read stories about people who were so close to giving up their dream paths just before making incredible career strides. In fact, I've known people who were at their wits end, ready to throw in the towel, just before winning a title role in a Broadway show.

On the other side, if you don't know which direction to pursue or you seriously doubt the path you're on will end up in a place of fulfillment, I urge you to seek assistance. Hire a career coach, get clarity, and begin the process of rediscovering what you enjoy doing- and need to be doing. You'll be very happy you did.

And so will your socks.  All $%#$@ seven of them.

Making a Difference: Is LinkedIn Making It Easier?

I was excited to see LinkedIn's newest venture into the volunteer world, connecting non-profits with interested volunteers. Using a crisp, clean interface, their latest development is aptly called LinkedIn Volunteer Marketplace.

But why, might you ask, am I touting a volunteer-matching service when I am a career- not volunteer- coach? 

Because volunteering applies to just about everyone.

Donating one's time to a favorite cause offers so many rewards, beyond the good feelings that serving others brings. Here are three great reasons to go pro bono:

1. Volunteering allows you to test out a career to see if it's something that might be worth vying for professionally. 

While volunteering certainly requires commitment, it doesn't necessarily take as much time as would a paid position, and allows a person to sample "days in the life of" said career without jumping in full-time. And you can see if you have the necessary aptitudes to make a difference in that particular way.

Bonus: Like to save money? 

Maybe that graduate degree in Social Work you've been considering isn't what you need after all. Or the $5K, 100 hour certification turns out to be far less important than a certain kind of experience. Both insights exemplify the kinds of information to be gleaned through volunteering.

2. Volunteering gives you a chance to meet people who care about the same cause you do. 

Finally, you get to talk to someone who understands your passion for childhood nutrition! The environment! The tragic plight of the common backyard mosquito dying needlessly from monstrous bug zappers!

(Hey, I don't judge a person's passions.)

You'll gain access to insider information, such as what kinds of people seem to thrive in that particular environment. You may also uncover how positions are filled within that slice of the non-profit world.  

Bonus: New to a community and want to meet someone who you connect with? 

Maybe as a friend... or perhaps you have romantic ambitions? 

Volunteering is a wonderful opportunity to increase time with like-minded individuals who share that particular passion of yours. 

"Follow your passion and find passion!"  

Hmmm... maybe I'm on to something here....

3. For the working professional, volunteering broadens your life experience.

And it allows you to keep growing, learning and innovating. In fact, countless studies have shown the positive effects of letting your mind take occasional breaks from problem solving at work. Creative breakthroughs tend to occur when, after continuously chipping away at a problem, an employee shifts gears to focus on something other than work.

Likewise, volunteering in say, a soup kitchen, can help get you "out of your head" and into using your hands. Then you can go back refreshed, with a new perspective on your problems. 

Bonus: Crave variety? 

Just as a significant other can only satisfy so many needs and fill so many roles in your life, so it goes with one's career as well. 

Even those who find an exciting, sustainable and intellectually fulfilling career path will always have other causes that they care about and towards which they want (and need) to contribute. 

And in giving ones talents outside paid work, a person can fulfill other roles that they enjoy playing in life. It takes the pressure off of feeling as if your paid work needs to be your end all, raison d'etre.

Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder of Linkedin, describes the benefits of the LinkedIn Volunteer Marketplace to working professionals this way:

"... while busy professionals who love their current gigs may not necessarily be looking for a new position, these are often the very people who are most actively engaged in “meaningful searches” – a volunteer opportunity that will enhance their life in ways beyond what their primary vocation provides."

Read more on Hoffman's introduction to volunteering via LinkedIn here.

Go on, check it out!.

Create Yourself: Tom Waits

“My kids are starting to notice I'm a little different from the other dads. 

'Why don't you have a regular job like everyone else?' they asked me the other day. 

I told them this story: 

In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, 'Look at me...I'm tall, and I'm straight, and I'm handsome. Look at you...you're all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you.' And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, 'Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest.' So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, 

growing stronger and stranger every day.” 

― Tom Waits, American singer-songwriter, composer and actor

Taken from Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits by Barney Hoskyns

Say, Say, Say...

Make someone's day.

Inc. Magazine's Jeff Haden has some great words to say to others.

Enjoy!
-Katie

HELP! What if I Want to Do It All?

This is the question I get from so many people, but especially from students, who feel that focusing on one single path in life just isn't going to satisfy their hunger for a variety of interests.

But I always have an answer ready for them, which is: If I can settle on a career path I love, so can they.

I've always had so many interests that fascinate me with so little time to pursue them, and I still sometimes wonder why days couldn't be at least three hours longer. So how did I decide on a career path that could satisfy this hunger? Especially one that had a lot to sink my teeth into?

Here are the top five reasons why my career path (which, as you know, involves helping others build theirs) works for my varied interests:

1. Career coaching has loads of variety inherently built in.  My days and weeks vary quite a bit, dividing my time between writing and reading and coaching and speaking. Plus I get to work with fascinating people of all different ages, backgrounds, locations, interests... and career fields, of course. Believe it or not, I feel as if I'm satisfying the explorer in me by living vicariously through my clients.

2. It requires me to solve a variety of complex problems that are similar in nature but never the same. This gets to the heart of what my brain needs to feel stimulated: I need lots of problems to solve that involve people. And I'm good at it too, which is probably why I like it! Success makes everyone feel energized.

3. I decided that the best way for me to be able to experience multiple interests in life was to have my own service-oriented business.  This means that when I want to gradually shift my focus I can, without feeling as if I'm totally losing ground. If I had a manufacturing business, for example, my freedom would be a bit more restricted, as changes would mean wasting inventory.

Another entrepreneurial bonus? Having my own business allows me to quench my thirst for novelty, such that I can invent new ways to do things- and incorporate more interests- like writing, travel, research, photography, art, and whatever else piques my interest. Of course, I don't incorporate everything all the time, because I don't need to.  It's all about prioritizing my interests, rather than trying to do too much and creating a piece-meal, random mess of crisscrossing paths. Which leads me to the next point...

4. Finding an essence is key. I got to the essence of what I enjoyed most about my top interests. Once I looked at all of my seemingly disparate fascinations, I realized most of them centered around psychology, human behavior and personal stories.  Career choices, aptitudes and journeys inhabit the bulk of my work, so it's a perfect match for me. It's like penning a symphony titled, "Variations On a Theme."

5. Wants aren't needs. I realized that there are certain things I like to do and certain things I need to do. In fact, this discernment is key in prioritizing your interests. For example, I like to paint, but one painting project once or twice a year will pretty much do the trick. And singing is another passion of mine, which I really enjoy doing. Performing about once a week plus light rehearsing seems to be a good frequency; however, I found that doing it everyday, on a professional level, proved to be a bit much.

So as far as the needs are concerned: I need to read- a lot.  And reading human interest stories and career journeys (mostly found in biographies) is just something that I do for fun, whether I'm paid to read them or not.  I'm truly drawn to this type of information gathering. My other needs: to write, share ideas and to help people on a personal level. If I don't accomplish these things very regularly it's difficult for me to feel like I'm making a difference.

So you might be wondering, are there other career fields out there-entrepreneurial or not- that have variety built in?

The answer is a resounding "Yes!"

But...

All career paths require the person with multiple interests to think and plan creatively. Beyond finding-or creating- a single dynamic career path, satisfying a variety of interests entails carving out special time to do important activities that really don't need to be done every day, all day, on a professional level, but that still need a place in your life.

And that's okay, because your ideal career, no matter how varied, will never satisfy everything on your ever-evolving list of interests. But it can, if crafted with careful consideration, satisfy the fascinations you want to grow and develop the most.

Photo credit: Creative commons via Flickr

Reject a Job Offer?! Maybe.

From salary.com: A very informative article to help you stay objective in deciding whether or not to take that job offer.

-Katie

Consider This

Test Drive Your Career

Flickr

I'm always advising my clients to test drive their potential new career before jumping in with both feet.  In this Forbes article, Liz Elfman does a nice job of articulating how to do just that.
Enjoy!

-Katie

"Ways to Test Drive a New Career"

Wrong Career?

Wikimedia

Love this post from Betsy Mikel!

http://blog.brazencareerist.com/2013/08/07/what-to-do-when-you-realize-you-chose-the-wrong-career/

Peter Buffett On Success

A New Definition

"In my view, success should be defined with reference to the substance of a person’s achievement. What is someone actually accomplishing? Is she helping others? Is he living up to his own unique potential? Is there passion and originality in her approach to life and work? Is there fundamental value in what he’s trying to achieve?

I believe that true success comes from within. It is a function of who we are and what we do. It emerges from the mysterious chemistry of our abilities and passion and hard work and commitment. True success is something we earn privately and whose value we determine for ourselves. The outside world can reward us with money, but it cannot anoint us with this deeper and more personal kind of success. The success we define for ourselves is the treasure that cannot be tarnished or taken away."

-Peter Buffett 

composer,

musician, philanthropist and  

author of Life is What You Make It

For Mr. Buffett's full article click here.

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

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.

Part III: "What to Do With MY Dreams" by Joseph Coram

I wanted to be a writer or a musician most of my life. My dream had a great deal of glory involved in it most of the time. I wanted to be a famous author who revolutionized the world of the written word; I wanted to be a famous musician who brought together the extremes of creativity and accessibility—I wanted to make music that the most artistic minds would respect and that the most unsophisticated sensibilities would really enjoy, whether or not they recognized how brilliant or creative it was. So what am I to do with those things?

That was the unspoken question with which I approached Katie, and in my time working with her, we came up with two solid answers—or, rather, two much better questions—and a lot of good ideas about how to bring them into reality. Briefly, when you have a dream: (1) find out what’s at its core; and (2) figure out what else you want. Dreams like mine are always both too much and too little to be of immediate use.

You have to really know yourself to know what you really dream for, and you have to know something about how the world works to see where a life following those dreams will land you, and that takes help from outside, from community, from ‘counselors’ in the broadest sense of the term.

What am I to do with those dreams?

Take the first one. What am I really after? I want to write, sure. That’s something I can do whether or not I make a living doing it. I want to change things with my writing. That’s doable, too. Revolutionizing anything may or may not happen—and, importantly, I have not given up that fantasy, and if you ask me on most days whether or not I think it’s going to happen, you will likely hear some form of a “yes”—but I can, with some effort, reasonably expect to change people, or at least encourage them to rethink some things, with my writing. Making an impact is a legitimate goal.

So then, what else do I want? When I say I want to write, what else am I after? Katie posed this question early, and with a series of pretty incisive conversations and diagnostics, we got somewhere with it. Well, I want to make my own schedule and have my own priorities; I want to be creatively engaged with things that interest me; I want people to respond to me and give me feedback, so I know how I’m doing and whether or not what I’m communicating makes sense. 

Those are clues. 

On a more nuts-and-bolts level, I want to spend at least some of every day writing and at least some of every day doing something tangible that helps people. I am naturally what they call a “maestro,” as opposed to what they call a “tribal” personality—I’d rather be an expert in something who gets called in for particular occasions than someone who’d prefer to work in a pack. 

Those are all clues, too. 

When Katie had me look through a deck of cards with a different photograph on each one—some with people, some of nature, some of old woodsheds, crowds, monuments, all sorts of things—and she asked me to pick out the ones that most grabbed my attention, we were both surprised and intrigued when the six I picked out all had pictures of people on them, most of them with people interacting. We had both had me pegged as more of a ‘thinker’ than a ‘feeler,’ but all the pictures I picked screamed that there was a ‘feeler’ in there to be acknowledged. Surprising, interesting, revealing—another clue. I also realized I want time to pursue music, too, even if writing is more important. While music may not be an actual part of my career—though music reviewing may be—I know it’s important, and I want a career that accommodates that.

You always know more than you think. And it takes someone who knows people and who knows the real world to bring that out and show you where you fit. That’s where Katie was indispensable.

I didn’t come away from career coaching knowing the next chapter of my story verbatim. I didn’t even come away knowing when this limbo period would be over and I’d actually feel like a grown-up, living in a coherent narrative again. But I did come away knowing with much greater clarity and realism that writing is in my future, as I’ve long hoped it would be, that people are in my future, as I was surprised to find I so badly wanted them to be, and that there is a place for me in the real world—namely, a small college somewhere where I can teach, write, engage with people, and have time to pursue my other interests. I now know some steps to take to find it. 

I don’t think progress is as simple or as automatic as I did when I was young, but I am pretty sure, now, that it didn’t end when I graduated, and it may have some more surprises in store for me in the future.