Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Living

In 2010, I Asked Dan Pink a Question...

Two years ago, I sat down with Dan Pink, author of several NYT best sellers, including A Whole New Mind, for a light meal consisting of cheese, crackers, fruit and other appetizers. We had 20 minutes before people would start showing up for our event, in which I would be interviewing Dan about career management.  He had just released his book, Drive, in which he laid out how we can do our best work, and why most businesses weren't oriented to get the best from their employees.

I had interviewed Dan several times before, so I was more excited than nervous. He always has interesting ideas on relevant topics and is one to watch for the next trend affecting work and lives. So I asked him this question:

"How is social media changing the way we manage careers?"

He paused and said, "That's a great question. Let's talk more about that when the event starts."  I could tell he didn't have a clear cut answer. 

Unfortunately, we never got to this question during the event.  (That's a testament to how many great questions we had from the audience that evening.)

Two years later, social media has become even more pervasive.  And little did I know that I would find the answer to my question, in the work that I've been doing since 2010.

I was fortunate to find a collaborator in this work, Walter Akana, a social media insider and personal brand strategist.

Walter and I will be holding a live Q+A session on Tues, May 1, on the topic of social media and networking, in the context of moving your career forward.  I hope you'll be able to join.

This session on May 1 is part of the Break Out of Your Bubble program. When you purchase the program, you'll get lots more, including two recorded webinars:

• Networking Naturally for the Busy Professional
• How Can I Make Social Media Work for Me? (aka Create Your Social Media Strategy)

To register, go to www.breakoutofyourbubble.com and use discount code, SOCIAL, to get $50 off the price. This discount code expires on Monday, April 30 at midnight ET. 

P.S. Richard W. Smith, our speaker for the first webinar in the Break Out of Your Bubble program had our audience thinking deeply about the antidote to burning out.  Click here to read my aha's from the webinar, "I'm Burning Out. Now, What?"

Why It All Starts With You

It's so simple but something that is easy to forget.  Our energy, or lack of it, determines the life we live. When we are down three quarts (which reminds me of what happened to my car last month), not much else works, does it? Photo by paulinaclemente

A friend recently emailed me that she had signed up for my newest program, Break Out of Your Bubble, and was looking forward to the first webinar, "I'm Burning Out. Now, What?"

She confessed that she was burned out and a career change felt overwhelming, especially given that she didn't know what direction to move in.

To which I replied:

"Reversing the "burned out" feeling is the first step. The work to find out which direction to go takes energy and if you don't have it, you're caught in a Catch-22. Just focusing on "filling up the well" again is enough for now." Photo by jurvetson.

In our fast-paced world, we are constantly looking at the next thing, without regard to whether we've got the fuel to get there. It's like setting out on a cross-country road trip without credit or debit card or cash and nothing in the car except a change of clothes and half a tank of gas. 

You can't get there from here.

So if you have half a tank (or less) and you want to get somewhere in your career, join me for the upcoming program, Break Out of Your Bubble, starting on April 24.  I designed this set of live and recorded webinars especially for people like my friend--working in a demanding full-time job, wanting to do something with her career, but feeling overwhelmed at the thought of what's needed. Start the journey by filling up the tank.  Photo by Mulad

P.S. Use the discount code, GAYE, to get $30 off the price.  This code expires on April 23 at midnight ET.  Click here for more details and to sign up.

PPS. One of the things you'll learn in the first webinar on April 24 is that if you are truly burned out, you wouldn't even be signing up for a webinar.  That's good news.  Hitting bottom deprives you of the energy to read a blog post or to consider a solution that doesn't involve complete and total rest. That's where I was last summer. Believe me, you don't want to get there.  The even better news is that for many people burning out, there are small steps you can take now to reverse the downward trend.

A Time to Bloom

Spring is my favorite season.  It's a time of re-birth in nature. Every year in late February, I smile when I see the dull green of daffodil shoots poking up above the mulch.  By March the yellow bouquets are gracing my front yard, followed by bright red tulips, that are wider than they are tall, and purple hyacinth with its stems of heady bell-shaped flowers.

 

 

And now, in April, the tender yellow green leaves of trees mix with the subtle fragrance of flowering trees. Standing beneath the canopy of pink and white blossoms, my mind goes to Sweet Sixteen birthday parties and weddings with sophisticated brides.  Spring is intoxicating and transformative.

To an alien from another planet, spring is a downright miracle.

But even more miraculous this year was an orchid in an upstairs bathroom, that had last bloomed in 2009.  This year, it started blooming in March and is still going strong. 

I think to myself, "Why now? And what was it doing for three long years, before it got up the courage to bloom again?"

Plants are a wonderful metaphor for people.  We need time out, a dormant winter to fill up the reserves, a period when everything is brown and gray and still.

When it is our time to bloom, we live in full Technicolor and breath something new in the air that wasn't there before. Perhaps it's a new understanding around a piece of work or a creative idea that burst onto the scene of your mind and just won't let go.  Or maybe it's a collaboration that has waited long enough to develop and is now ripe for harvesting. In any case, your time is now. You can feel it.

No matter how long you've waited, whether it's a season or like my orchid, several years, it's a matter of letting life take its natural course, surrendering to the flow of the moment.  A friend told me that she sees people in their fifties either wither or blossom. She predicts that I'll blossom in my fifties. I think she's right. I can feel it.

Today, my sister and I took not just one, but two walks marveling at the re-birth of our surrounding landscape, stopping to take in the smells of blossoms that will be gone soon.  My sister remarked that spring is also her favorite time of the year. Then she said something that stuck in my mind. 

"It's too bad that spring doesn't last very long." 

Ahh, how true! And how appropriate that it doesn't last very long, that it is only our memory of spring that keeps us company for the rest of the year.  Because when I am slowing down after a busy growing season, and taking in the sound of leaves underfoot, I know that winter will come...and go.  While the world is deep in the silent snowdrifts of an icicle-decorated evening, I remember what it is like when the tips of daffodil leaves peek through the warming soil.

I remember what re-birth smells like, feels like, and looks like.  It provides me with hope for all seasons.

What does spring mean to you?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.