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:
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:
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?
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!
Last night I went to an incredibly inspiring event benefitting the Women’s Media Center http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ with the guest of honor being Jane Fonda. I was surrounded by women who were intelligent, successful, in touch, feminine and powerful. This week I will use nuggets of wisdom that I gained from that event in my blog so stay tuned.
At the dinner I sat next to a woman who is only one of two women CEOs of law firms in the United States. While I have no desire to climb to the upper eschelons of corporate management, I had so much admiration for this woman who was clearly brilliant and more importantly very in tune with what gave her meaning in life. One of her pieces of advice to me was around balance in your life. She said that she believes that it is a misnomer that in order to have balance in your life, you should spend more time at home and less time at work. Instead she said, you should discover what activities drain your energy, both at work and at home. And take those activities and delegate them out. Once you have discovered the activities that sustain and lift your energy, it is then when you feel true balance in your life. I loved that.
What activities drain your energy? Which ones can you delegate this week?
“Wow” is the first thing that I could say after watching Obama’s speech last night. And the reason that I say that is because it was one of the first times that I actually believed in the true authentic passion of a politician. This was the first time that I felt that a presidential candidate really was the leader of the people. And what I love about his story is that he is an example of going against what everyone expected of him. He didn’t follow what people thought he “should” do. For example after graduating Harvard it would have been easy for him to go work at a fancy high paying law firm job but instead he followed what his gut told him and went to fight for the people of Chicago. There is a lot there to be admired.
It was also the first time that I believed that change was possible in our government. Sure there were a lot of promises and I can only imagine how difficult they are to accomplish. But I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite movies, Dave. Where Kevin Kline plays a character that acts as the president when the real president has had a stroke. And he is just a regular guy. And Kevin Kline brought in his accountant friend to go through the federal budget “line by line”. And the way that they looked at the budget with fresh, non-”government” eyes was refreshing and made huge changes. That’s what I envision Obama doing in office. Going against the grain. Coming in with a fresh set of eyes. Not having decade old friendships in Washington that influence his decisions. It truly does feel like a time of change is ahead of us.
What did you think? Would love to see your thoughts/comments!
I am often asked for a list of books that I recommend for new clients so I thought I would share that with you now. While I find that I could read 24 hours a day and still never read all of the ones that I would like to, there are some that I have read and think you will find very helpful/inspiring:
Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck – Written by a Oprah’s life coach, gives great exercises in how to find your true self
A New Earth – Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle – Talks about the power of the ego over our lives and how to control it
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle – Explains how anxiety only comes from thinking about the past or future and how in the present, there is no anxiety
The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris – Great “how to” work less / earn more book with specific advice
Do You by Russell Simmons – Highlights the importance of listening to your intuition in business
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - Beautiful allegory about following your dreams
I Don’t Know What I Want to Do But I Know Its Not This by Julie Jansen -Great exercises to help you hone in on what career path you should take)
Quantum Wellness by Kathy Freston – Overall wellness book – stress, diet, exercise, meditation, etc
Books I haven’t read but are next on my list:
One Person/Multiple Careers; A New Model for Work/Life Success by Marci Alboher – How some of us were not meant to do just one thing
Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher – Similar to above but how some of us (me!) do a little of everything and how to maximize that in your life)
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris – Just started this, fiction novel about office life – humor of movie “Office Space”
If you have others that you think that I or others would enjoy, please post a comment!
