Earthquake

There is so much change happening in the world right now. It feels like a major earthquake has happened and now we are all looking around and figuring out how to rebuild. Even in terms of job loss, I can’t tell you how many people I have talked to recently that have lost their jobs or are in fear of losing their jobs. I equate it to an earthquake because when even the ground beneath you is shaking, you don’t know what you can count on. Everything feels so uncertain.

 

But I can’t help to believe that everything happens for a reason. That there are certain decisions that we don’t make ourselves and the universe makes them for us. For example, being unhappy in a job but staying in it anyway. Wanting to get out of a relationship but staying in it because it’s comfortable and easy. There are so many decisions that we avoid making due to fear of the unknown. And then one day, the universe forces us to make a change. And that’s what it feels like is happening now.  Our ground is shaking and foundations are falling. But when you take a step back and look at it from a different perspective, look at the possibilities for rebuilding. We now have a chance to recreate our realities to be anything we want them to be. It is a fresh start.

 

What is possible for you right now? What changes can you make? What will you do to make the most of it?

 

 

If you are going through a job change or are thinking about it, I have created a self-guided Career Change Workbook that you can download as a pdf. In this workbook you will find different exercises that help you to get clear on what type of work would be most fulfilling for you. People underestimate how much it affects your life when you are unhappy in your job, please take this opportunity to take the time to be really strategic in what work would make you happy.

 

The workbook includes exercises such as:

1.    Career Assessment Questions

2.    Ideal Job Exercise

3.    Strengths Finder

4.    SMART Goal Creation

5.    Resume Writing Tips

6.    Recommended Reading List

To download the Career Change Workbook for $15.95, click on the below link:

http://tinyurl.com/CareerChange

 

Feel free to contact me with any questions or to just bounce ideas off of me.

Career Change Workbook

A question that I am often asked is “How can I make a career change during such turbulent economic times?” While it is true that the state of the economy is extremely fragile, I also believe that the way out of this is to do work that we are passionate about. When we love what we do, we are more productive and have a true vested interest in the outcome of our work.

 

There are many out there who would say that to have job satisfaction right now is a luxury. They say that we should all be happy just to have a job. But what if going to work is draining you of your energy and only contributing to your stress and unhappiness? I believe there must be a better way to live. Who knows how long we will be in this economic slump? If you can find another job that you are happy in, isn’t that worth it?

 

In response to this, I have created a self-guided Career Change Workbook that you can download as a pdf. In this workbook you will find different exercises that help you to get clear on what type of work would be most fulfilling for you. It includes exercises such as:

 

 

1.    Career Assessment Questions

2.    Ideal Job Exercise

3.    Strengths Finder

4.    SMART Goal Creation

5.    Resume Writing Tips

6.    Recommended Reading List

 

 

 

For $15.95, you will be on your way to transitioning into a more fulfilling and successful career!

 

 

To download the Career Change Workbook, click on the below link:

http://tinyurl.com/CareerChange

 

Feel free to contact me with any questions or to just bounce ideas off of me.

 

Looking forward to hearing your success stories!

 

Looking Forward

As an alternative to the traditional New Year’s “resolutions,” I thought I’d pass on 5 questions to answer. Take some time to sit down and write down your answers to the below questions. Feel free to send them on to me as I love hearing what you are all up to!

1. If you could create a title for what your year will be like starting with “Year of…”, what would it be? (ex: “Year of Growing and Nourishing My Family”)

2. Rate your current level of satisfaction with each of the areas below on a scale of 1-10. Create one goal for each area.

Health
Career
Money/Finance
Significant Other/Romance
Friends
Family
Physical Environment
Fun & Recreation
Personal/Spiritual Growth
Self Image
Knowledge

3. What will you have accomplished or changed that would make you most proud at the end of 2009?

4. What two steps could you immediately take that would make the biggest difference in your life?

5. What one thing would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Reflective Questions for 2008

 

As we approach the end to another year, I thought it would be beneficial to send out some questions to reflect on the year we’ve had. Try to go somewhere quiet and write out the answers to the below questions:

 

1.    What are you most proud of in the last year?

2.    If there were a newspaper headline describing this past year for you, what would it say?

3.    What unfinished business do you want to resolve before the year end and when will you do it? (i.e. lingering relationships, apologies, goals yet to achieve)

4.    When were you most excited about life in this past year? What were you doing? Who were you with?

5.    Looking back, what would you have done differently in 2008?

6.    Who most inspired you and why?

7.    What new dream for yourself did you achieve?

8.    Where did you let fear hold you back from a goal you had?

9.    What was boring to you this year that you hope to change for next year?

10.  On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with each area of your life in the past year?

Health ___

Career___

Money/Finances___

Significant Other/Romance___

Friends___

Family___

Physical Environment___

Fun & Recreation___

Personal/Spiritual Growth___

Self Image___

Knowledge___

 

Next year will be a very exciting one for me as we are expecting a little boy in February! I am sure that the experience will stretch me in ways that I didn’t know were possible. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences and continuing to stretch all of you to achieve things that you didn’t know were possible.

 

Wishing you all a warm and wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year!

Freeze

 

“While we are postponing, life speeds by.”

-Seneca

 

Lately I have found myself very easily distracted. Whether it be taking the dog out for walks or talking on the phone with a friend for too long or reading everyone’s status updates on Facebook, I am distracted. There is also that little thing going on right now called the “financial meltdown” that is also quite distracting. Distracting me from what? It’s all distracting me from holding my focus, being clear on what I want to achieve and actually doing it. I have found that a lot of people right now, understandably so, are feeling not only distracted but discouraged with the state of the world. They are adopting what I call a “freeze” mentality. And what that means is not doing anything but sitting tight. People who are unhappy in their jobs are “freezing” because it isn’t the time to take risks. People who are thinking of making big changes in their life like buying a house or traveling for a year or starting a business, they are all “freezing” until they see how the world shakes out. We hear the word “freeze” all over; “Hiring freeze”, “Spending freeze” or some guys may even say “relationship freeze”.

 

Where does this “freezing” leave us? Frozen and pretty damn cold, I say.  So, how do we thaw ourselves out of this freeze while still staying responsible? How do we get movement back into our lives? And what are we moving towards? I have decided to take all of these questions and turn them into our first “Mastermind Series” event which I have listed below. I have been working on this for quite some time and am really excited to get all of your minds together to challenge each other to take things to the next level. We will be hosting it at the wine bar and restaurant Bin 38 where you can learn and grow all while sipping a glass of wine! The first ten people to sign up will get in for FREE so be sure to sign up early.

 

MASTERMIND SERIES

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

Survival of the Fittest – How to Thrive in Turmoil

While the economy is in a downward tailspin, it is easy to turn to fear for the future. In this series, we will discuss how to take control over your situation and take action not only to survive but to thrive. Out of this series you will:  

 

a)    Receive tools to remain flexible, nimble and powerful in uncertain times

b)    Change your perception to maximize your success

c)    Discover and leverage your strengths

d)    Receive a FREE half hour follow up coaching session

When: Monday October 20^th 7pm-8:30pm

Where: Bin 38 Wine Bar & Restaurant (http://www.bin38.com)

Investment: FREE for 1^st ten people to sign up, $25.00 after that

Ticket Link: (http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=168677)

 

Hope to see you all soon!

 

Uncertain Times

“I bend but do not break”

– Poet Jean de la Fontaine

 

I don’t know about you but this week feels like it has a black cloud over it. It all started when we had to put our 6 month old puppy in the hospital for pneumonia this weekend (she is now at home recovering well), then I watched the stock market hit major turbulence and on top of it all is the stress of not knowing which direction our country will take in less than 2 months. Things feel really “hard” right now in our country. As I have been digesting all of this, I have realized that I can either sit back and complain and hope that something changes or I can be proactive and do something to make a difference.

 

This is where I have come up with the decision to launch a “Mastermind Series” where I will be facilitating conversations with all of you and/or inspirational leaders in different industries. My passion for putting this together is that I believe that great things happen when we put minds together. I also believe in the importance of being really clear and focused on what we want. If you are floating around without knowing your final destination, then that is exactly where you will end up, nowhere in particular. In this series, we will hear the stories of how people got to where they are, find out what tools we need to be successful and bounce ideas off of each other to walk away feeling inspired by what is possible. I want the series to be intellectually stimulating, engaging and relevant.

 

 

MASTERMIND SERIES

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

 

FIRST EVENT

Survival of the Fittest – How to Thrive in Turmoil

While the economy is in a downward tailspin, it is easy to turn to fear for the future. In this series, we will discuss how to take control over your situation and take action not only to survive but to thrive. Out of this series you will:  

 

a)    Receive tools to remain flexible, nimble and powerful in uncertain times

b)    Change  your perception to maximize your success

c)    Discover and leverage your strengths

More details on the speaker and date of this event coming soon. If you or someone you know would be a great speaker in the future for this series (each event will have a different topic), please send me an email.

 

p.s. I am still accepting a limited number of new coaching clients this month. If you are interested in becoming a client and taking your life or your business to the next level, email me to discuss how we could work together.