Create Your Vision

I envision...

A world without fear of individual prowess.  Where group think takes a backseat to collaborative efforts.

A society that cares more about growing individual talent versus manufacturing standardized goals for all.

A growing confidence in our own nation-wide abilities, rather than vying for someone else's resources.

A community that has the courage to stand up to the disillusionment of "Impossible" and make something real and necessary.

A time when teenagers can truly cultivate their own identities and not care about fitting in with the cliques, the brainiacs, the fashionistas, the artistes, the music geeks, the preps, the hipsters, the class clowns, or the jocks.  Those teenagers, realizing they cannot be reduced to a label, become the next innovators.

A generation that grows up without fear of living up to someone elses standards-monetarily or otherwise.  Those children, as they grow into adulthood, will have the creative fuel to invoke new paradigms for age-old problems.

A better means to teach young people what they need to know instead of what they "should know," as dictated by a few.  But this requires...

A progressive, palpable urge to uncover treasures within our children, their fascinations, and how they can share these treasures with others.
 
A life in which I convince others to dive deeper into their own oceans, discover and appreciate their hidden abilities, and use those discoveries to create themselves.

These are mine.  Now what are yours?

A Tribute Fit For A King

Here's to the man who said, "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Wired Magazine's Steven Levy Says It Best

Enriquez Iglesias-induced Impairment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/evarinaldiphotography/

I temporarily forgot that I was over 40 with children when I said "yes" to my friend's invitation to go to an Enriquez Iglesias concert.  Didn't get home 'til almost 1:00 am last night.

Wait- that was... technically this morning.  Whatever.

http://www.desiretoinspire.net/

Very tired today.  Children up quite early.

Had a lot of fun, but again,

Very tired today.

Now, because of my fatigue, I've been experiencing a phenomenon which I discuss in my presentations:  Inferior Function awareness.  Just to clarify here and now, these are not functions that relate in any way to bodily functions. (It's not that kind of blog.)  Rather, these "functions" pertain to Personality Type, wherein "inferior function" is a term used in Type Development discourse.

We all have dominant functions and inferior functions, no matter what our personality type.  My dominant function, as determined by my ENFP preference, is a perceiving function called extraverted Intuition.  In other words, I tend to ask questions of others first before making judgments. Extraverted Intuition is a great dominant function to have as a career coach, because I ask really good questions of my clients.

I prefer seeking information from my environment rather than constantly making internal decisions on that information.  It's a conceptual, imaginative and open-ended dominant function, and I do it naturally, easily and without thinking. Kind of like writing with my right hand.

Now using my inferior function?  It's like using my left hand:  not quite as adept.  I can use it for basic things like picking up something or clapping, but forget trying to write my name with it.  Unless, of course, I want my handwriting to look like a kindergartner's.  

Flickr-o5com

My inferior function is introverted Sensing, which involves retrieving information from the archives of my brain.  Numbers, dates, general data recall, details, minute planning, blah blah blah.  Introverted Sensing is all about the internal perception of the here and now, the concrete details, and practical data.  I'd mention more but it's wearing me out just writing about these bad boys.

I mention my less-than-stellar adeptness with details in How We Got to the Moon.  And you can bet those pesky details are the first thing to go when I get tired or have a headache or get overly stressed.

The big concept part of my brain is fine; it's operating just dandily, almost automatically because it's used so much and works quite adeptly.  But my inferior, introverted Sensing function? Well, it might as well be where Enriquez and his band probably were this morning: in bed nursing a headache from too much La Vida Loca.  (Or perhaps that's just my fantasy of the kid-less showbiz crowd.)

So today it took a lot of extra energy to concentrate on paperwork, processing data, and doing calculations in my head.  Thankfully, being in the highly conceptual field of a career coaching that I am, those activities are kept to a minimum.  But struggling with these activities makes me appreciate my choice of paths.  My typical day really focuses on my dominant function and what I do best:  gathering information from people and outside sources and creating solutions with these concepts.

I've been in jobs where my inferior function was used every day all day (administrative work) and it was immensely draining.  Why?  The inferior function just doesn't work as well as the dominant function, and so it takes more energy to use.  Of course, we all use our inferior function all the time, but preferably in moderation.  And when someone says that their job drains them or that they come home "at the end of their rope," it's most likely due to the fact that they're probably using way too much of an inferior function.

That being said, I'm going to bed.  And you can ponder over your inferior and dominant functions while I sleep.

Oh, and Buenos Noches, Senior Iglesias.

Create Your Space: A Room of My Own

Design Sponge

Here's my dilemma: I am trying to convert our dining room into my office since we only use it a few times a year and I really need a new home office space.  However, I'm feeling torn.  Function, form, fun...  frolicking fairies... these things are all running through my head right now.

(Okay, I'll admit, the fairies were added purely for over-the-top alliteration.)

In addition to coaching I love to create visuals.  I design pages for workshops, make collages that illustrate ways to create unique paths, and put together fun, colorful take-home exercises. Therefore the idea of an art studio appeals to me.  On the other hand, I also need a place for people to come and talk about themselves and their personal discoveries without a bunch of art supplies hangin' around, cluttering up their minds and mine.  (And don't EVEN talk to me about just putting my art supplies away when I'm through with them.  What a creative buzz kill!)

From The Guardian, via English Muse
Some cool stuff goin' on, but I might just lose a client in here.

So I'm asking myself, do I want this room to be part art studio/ part office? And is that really feasible?

via Simply Grove.
Very Girly.  But I do like it.

And then I think, so maybe "office" is the wrong word, and so is "studio." Perhaps I just want to have a place for everything, and "office" sounds so clean and organized yet boring and "studio" sounds really fun and creative but chaotic.

via Simply Grove
Love this one!!!

I suppose what I really want is to create a space that, like the note above says, makes me "feel like the best version of myself." Because when I talk with clients, whether over the phone or in person, I want be in an energized and centered place mentally.

Bottom line:
I need to think of designing my space like creating a career:
why use titles? Labels?

Why not just look at what I want my space to include and incorporate as many of those elements as possible?  I probably don't even need a design board this time!

Well, perhaps just a little one... . (Is there a 12 step program for design board addicts?)


*******
Thanks for listening and wish me luck.

My Website- like my home...

(Okay, not my home, but quite fetching, no?)

I have been working with a design team this past spring and summer.  We're working on a new web design, logo, brochure, and everything-in-between.

Oh, and did I mention the design team is in high school?

Well, actually, now they've graduated, but still.  Eighteen year-olds rock.

But back to the beginning of the process:  my team needed direction.

Being of the Perceiving persuasion, as the last letter of my ENFP personality type preference, I don't really give direction by nature.  I ask lots of good questions instead of giving orders.  And that's great for what I do.  In the case of clients, I first ask them what specifics are important to them, and then, using these clues, help guide them in a direction.  But I never tell them what direction to take.  This method works like a charm in the career coaching field.

Furthermore, in the case of my own projects, I ask others what they think and then direct myself using their input and my own inner compass.  Again, works well for the most part.  But giving directions, making lots of decisions... I was tremendously rusty.

And then I realized it really was quite simple:  I needed to figure out what I really wanted.  I just needed a nudge.  Kind of like when I had to decide how to decorate my home, I sought inspiration.  You'll recall my home design boards when I was doing my home makeover;  this time I made website design boards.

via geograph
Also not my home.  Makeover, anyone?

In creating my website design boards I surfed the web for hours.  I found websites that were stark white, minimalistic, and modern.  I found hipster designs that I loved, but many of them ultimately screamed, "I'm so cool I think you should have to pay to look at my words, you low-life."

(Or perhaps that was just me feeling intimidated?!)

(Nah... they really were quite snooty.)

Anyway, I combed through the endless corporate blather, the sentimental and trite, and, of course, the in-your-face, obscenity-laden rebels reporting how The Man or The Woman or Whatever Breathing Creature is Trying to Screw Them Over.

In other words, nothing fit me.  Nothing looked like what I wanted.  But then I eventually realized that was okay because that's what creating an original website is all about.  It's not about fitting into something out there;  rather, designing my website was about creating something totally fresh, from in here.  (You can now picture me lovingly pointing to my heart.)

(And now imagine a sappy and sentimental Hallmark-esque commercial.)

(And now you may retch.)

Although, generally speaking, I was drawn to the modern, the cool, the hip, the fun, and the fairly irreverent, I realized that I needed something more vibrant and meaningful.  I love color, the outdoors, the summertime, bright, living energy.  I needed- and continue to need-  all of these things.  Because it's not just about what I want, it's what I need for sustainability... when I go to write, to create, to invent.

Thankfully, I had a design team chock full of creative people who listened to what I needed.  They produced great ideas, combinations, designs, and photographs.  And I'm so very happy with our collaborative creation.  We're still working out some kinks, but it's coming along quite nicely, don't you think?

What you're looking for? It's just around the corner, right in front of your nose.

Perhaps you're just not stopping to listen and really look in front of you.  Stop searching and it may even come up and bite you on the nose!

(Which is actually a good thing, by the way...)

Here's what I mean.

Ah, Sanibel,  you sweet little island...

It was the last day of my Sanibel Island vacation, and I'd found bupkiss on my shelling expedition thus far.  Sanibel is known for its extraordinary shells, and I'd brought home many beautiful bounties in past years.  


But not this time, unfortunately, despite days of combing the sandy beaches.
I felt despondent, not just 
because I'd soon be going home empty-handed, but I'd also be leaving the beach, one of my most cherished spots, where I have always found solace and hope and peace and possibilities.

I decided to plop down on the sand and relax.  "Enjoy the moment, I told myself, "just relax and stop searching... for everything and nothing."  And, lo and behold, as I was sitting on the sand, listening to the waves, noticing how picturesque my sandy bare toes looked against the ocean's blue green tint, I saw them:  tiny, intricate shells- fully formed miniature versions of seemingly every shell I'd ever discovered on Sanibel Island.

I savored the terrifically gratifying moment that I'd created myself.  I'd looked around the corner!

************************************

Often times when people discover their ideal "sweet spot" of a career path, they'll admit that they'd been considering at least some version of that path but pushed away the possibility.  I remember when I was in my twenties, looking at a career book, thinking, "I wonder if I could do what these people (the authors) do.  I mean, I actually like careers as a subject.  All of the choices are really fascinating.  Maybe that's why I explore so many of them...."

Then I instinctively turned the book over to the back cover.  Yup, just as I'd suspected, the writers had PhD's.  So much for that, I immediately determined.  Didn't have the money or the desire to enroll in Psychology classes for the next decade.  But what I didn't consider is exactly what I ask clients to consider:  how can you use the subject that fascinates you as a tool?  A means to an end?  For instance instead of thinking, "I'd have to get a PhD to write a book," I needed to consider the possibility that a)you don't have to write a book to be a career consultant and b)there are other, very successful books about careers that are not written by PhD's .

Obviously, being a career coach was a possibility, and when, nearly a decade later, I really explored that possibility I found out that I had a fantastic set of aptitudes and skills that were perfect for coaching others on how to thrive in their careers and lives.

So next time you are searching for something, try this on for size:  stop panicking, lamenting and naysaying.  Rather, take a deep breath, close your eyes, and ask yourself, "Could my answer be just around the corner, right in front of my nose?"

Then open your eyes and see with a newfound optimism for discovery.

We're Under Construction!

Via Flickr by David Blaine

Don't mind the mess.  We're getting a face lift over here at Grow.  And thankfully there are no plastic surgeons involved... 'cause I hear they're quite invasive.

I am excited to be working with an amazing young design team.  They are quite a creative bunch and are doing a great job.  You'll meet them soon!

Can't wait for you to see the finished product, so stay tuned...