Drop: Problems – they will squash you.
Keep: Challenges – you will rise to meet them.
Drop: Excuses – they will drag you down.
Keep: Reasons – they will energize you.
Drop: Sacrifices – they will make your decisions seem painful.
Keep: Trade-ups – it’s what you gain when you choose long-term benefits over instant gratification.
Need to drop anything else? How about self-sabotage?
Unthinkable force is generated when your work is in line with your life`s purpose.
It`s the difference between driving with snow chains during a storm, or leaving them in your garage.
Have you noticed how there are certain emotions that you continue to expereince during your day-to-day at work? Like for example, every time you hear the phone ring first thing in the morning as you`re settling in to your work station, you feel dread. Each time an email bounces, you feel frustrated. And each time a paper crams in the printer, you feel your face heat up in anger.
Like Pavlov`s dogs, whenever `this` happens, you feel `this` emotion.
Day in and day out, you feel the same emotions, as if they were being fed to you on a conveyor belt. Days, months, years – and a life time goes by – while you experience the same emotional routine, the same song & dance.
Surely there`s a way to end the (emotional) ground-hog day. Surely.
So how do you break the cycle? As I found out, it`s a matter of digging deep into your little voice. Doing so may not be easy, but it is possible.
First, some back ground. What you experience, or how you behave and react to a situation is directly related to what you think about the situation. Trouble is, our brains produce thoughts at a speed that makes it hard for us to single them out and examine them. In other words, our brain does not produce a thought at snail pace – then gives us time to analyze it before it hits us with the next one. Rather our active brains, tend to be hyperactive. It`s the speed at which thoughts are produced that makes it hard for us to single out a single thought. Even so, it is possible to do.
Next time you feel angry, in the midst of your tantrum, with your face feeling hot, try to tune into to your little voice. Ask yourself: “What am I thinking right now?” Dig deeper. Ask yourself: “What exactly am I thinking about this situation?” Go even deeper. Ask yourself: “What is at the core of this situation? What really is bothering me?”
It was taking time to tune into my thoughts (face feeling hot and all) that I discovered the cause of an anger routine that has been repeating itself for years in my life. Now I know that whenever something small goes wrong at work – like a paper jams inside the printer or an email bounces – I feel frustrated because deep down inside (yes, you gotta go deep), I dread solving the problem. Aha!
In the case of a paper jam, deep down inside I dread walking to the printer (which in my last job was all of 20 paces away, and took 3 seconds), opening it up (5 seconds), and removing the paper from the tray (20 seconds, tops). After doing the math, I realized that quite often I was spending much longer feeling angry than what it took me to solve the problem! Ironic, wouldn’t you say?
It was going through this process that I finally understood that anger, frustration, dread and anxiety do not solve a thing. Not a single thing. Rather, these negative emotions take up real-estate in my brain, and suck energy and time away from me. All resources I could use towards solving the situation that made me angry, frustrated, anxious in the first place.
What can you do right now to change your emotional song & dance? How deep are you willing to go?
(This post is part of a pact I made. Click here for the full story.)
To fully experience Denise, open another window to play the breath song while you read this post.
Powered by dedication and discipline, Denise is well-acquainted with competing and winning. Yet, as she has recently discovered, achieving and receiving recognition is not what fulfils her.
In her words: “With all the prizes and so that I’ve won as a (classical) pianist and tennis player I can’t say that I have ever really gained anything. Glory and acknowledgement, yes, but (when) the glory and acknowledgement disappear after a while…all that is left is me, ‘Denise’.”
Denise’s child-hood appears to have been a series of well-orchestrated moves, mainly by her family. At the age of eight she started playing the classical piano and at eleven she was enrolled at a performing arts school close to Munich, Germany to receive formal training. During the nine years that followed, she played in several concerts, belonged to an orchestra, played solos, and won several competitions. She also took up song writing and made records.
Although music took the centre-stage during her child-hood, sports were also a major part of her life. She played tennis competitively at the interstate level and taught spinning at local gyms. In her words: “…sport always accompanied me during this time to keep my head clear!” And in line with her high achieving nature, for many years she remained ranked as the number one player within her team.
Practice and dedication were at the core of her achievements in both music and sports. She had days and weeks before concerts when she practiced eights hours a day. Tennis training took up to four hours a day.
As an accomplished musician, a career in music seemed like a natural progression for her after high school. Without giving it much thought, she enrolled at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna to pursue a combined degree in music and sound engineering.
Until that point, Denise excelled at reading from someone else’s music sheet.
She began to compose her own life when, two and a half years into her university degree, Denise felt strongly that a career in music was not for her and neither was playing tennis.
As she wrote to me: “…the expectation from outside influences…(gave me) a wrong picture of myself and who I thought I had to be and who I thought would be acknowledged by family or society. Of course I loved playing tennis and the piano but sometimes I thought I had to achieve something with it or had to be the best. So after a while it became a ‘forcing it’ rather than ‘enjoying it’.”
She reached a point where physically she couldn’t hit a tennis ball. ”I think the inner frustration built up so much that it took away every spark of enjoyment. The same happened with playing the piano or studying sound engineering. I always knew I loved sports or music but I guess I just felt that I wasn’t doing it for the right reason. So this inner conflict became so big, that my body told me very clearly to stop.”
Knowing that she had to stop did not make changing her path an easy decision to make.
“…I thought if I would stop this path I would lose everything that I had built up and that I would have nothing in my hands. At this point in time I sadly believed that (my) status in society is more important than being true to (myself).”
Yet her need to stop following someone else’s script was so powerful that she feels that being in a car accident around this same time was not a coincidence. ”…A big car accident…forced me to look differently at my life and how to live it. I was definitely looking for an exit and on a deeper level the universe provided me with one…”
Note to self: How far are you willing to go until you stop to listen to yourself?
Because she had been focused on music and sports most of her life, she had little idea of what else to do. She decided to travel to Australia to take time-out. From what she wrote to me, more than a break, she was looking to distance herself as much as possible from the pressure. Not surprisingly, to this day, she has not played the piano or returned to Germany. Only on a few occasions has she hit a tennis ball.
Instead of travelling around, like most back-packers do when they come to the Land of Oz, she enrolled in a personal training course. And that stroke a chord for Denise. As she wrote to me: “I discovered an even deeper love for training and being fit,…I also felt strongly that I had a gift for helping and motivating people to achieve their goals…it felt so right to me to train people and motivate them. I was in my element. And this time nothing felt forced. It just gave me great joy to help others achieve their goals! Later on I also learned Remedial Massage to help even more people on a different level…
I can say that doing Personal Training, Instructing and Massage feels like my calling and I love doing it!”
Composing her own life is how Denise found her career Nirvana.
Note to self: To play to the beat of your own drum, listen to your heart. Who’s sheet are you reading from?
Denise now lives in Sydney, where she’s building a career in the sporting industry. She works as a spinning instructor and a personal trainer at the largest chain of gyms in the country. She also has her own business as a massage therapist. And recently launched a line of sports’ clothing under the label TranscendenceTM . She feels her clothing business is an extension of everything that she has been doing for the last 4 years.
Taking one of her spinning classes is a unique experience. (It is also a form of self-inflicted pain) With her extensive knowledge about the body’s breathing rhythm and music’s tempo, she does a fantastic job at synchronizing the body’s rhythm with the music. And because she also knows how far the body can go, she can’t resist the temptation to push everyone to their limit…and beyond.
Note to self: Reinvent yourself. To create the best version of YOU, focus on your strengths and what you enjoy.
Denise tells me that she did not plan for any of these changes – they just happened. And that’s certainly not an easy thing to admit for a person who was raised on structure and predictability.
“The thought of quitting everything and doing something new was in my head for a while but I had no idea what to do and how to do it. Until one day I saw an advertisement in a newspaper saying ‘Work experience in Down Under’. It felt straight away like my call and I didn’t even think twice. I knew I had to go and at least give everything that I had been doing a rest. First I saw this one year in Oz more
as time-out and a break. I could still decide after that year if I would continue a sport or music career or not. So the trip to Australia was the first step. From then everything else started changing…So coming to Australia has been one of the best decisions of my life. Everything started flowing from here…”
It’s clear that once Denise let go, things started to fall into place.
Note to self: See taking the first step as a leap onto your path of success – not as a jump off a cliff, into an unknown abyss.
So what has Denise’s journey taught her? (I thought you’d never ask)
“Music and sport has always worked for me! I always put in hard work, a lot of patience and discipline.”
Note to self: Anything worth achieving takes hard work and effort. That’s why if you’re passionate about what you do, you’re more likely to endure the challenges.
“I always also chose the right teachers and trainers. I was very dedicated and loved it.”
Note to self: Seek for teachers and mentors who are worthy of imitation. Their ways, good and bad, will rub-off on you.
“(Another) major lesson I’ve learned is that competitions are pretty useless…There will always be someone out there who is better than me and someone who is worse than me. So what point does it make to compete? To me competitions are ego-driven and take away all the niceness and fascination of an art like sport or music. It becomes usually all about achieving and winning rather then enjoying…”
Note to self: The race is long – and in the end, it’s only with you. Besides, what’s a trophy worth without enjoyment? (Look inside the window of a pawn-shop if you need some evidence)
She moves on to say: “If I could do it all over again I would do probably exactly the same just with a different, freer attitude. The only thing that didn’t work for me was the attitude I had, which was based on wrong beliefs about myself and life. It didn’t work for me that I thought I had to achieve something with it and that I had to have a status in society. If I would have enjoyed sport and music more just for what it is I’m sure I would have got even better results with it than what I got, because I wouldn’t have limited myself too much with wrong beliefs.”
“I can…say…that I love training like an athlete. But I wouldn’t choose the competitions again…In terms of music I also would have allowed myself to be much freer. I would have started to do more improvisation on the piano as a child rather than getting too stuck on the notes in classical piano. That would have led to more freedom in playing and performing music.”
Note to self: It’s in our nature to be free. (Have you been to a zoo lately?) Tamper with that system and you’re bound to find trouble. Be free. Start by letting go of all your self-imposed limitations. Drop them like a red-hot piece of coal.
Denise is determined to continue to enjoy her path. Even now that she has taken a new sport – kickboxing – which she’s quite good at, she made a pact with herself to not enter any competitions. “Until today I have loved it…I wouldn’t let my competitive ego take the fun out of it…I just enjoy learning it, doing it and getting fitter and fitter from it!”
Note to self: It’s possible that right now you’re on the right path. The reason you may not feel that way is because something is truncating the flow of things. Is it your beliefs? Whose expectations are you living up to? Once you remove from your path the ‘interruptions’, you will experience bliss.
“But I don’t regret anything. Everything happened the way it should!…I had to learn the lessons that I had to learn. Otherwise I wouldn’t have the awareness that I have today…I don’t think I should have started my path as Personal Trainer or Remedial Massage Therapist sooner because I wouldn’t have learned all the lessons on the way and wouldn’t have gained the knowledge about my life that I have today! So I wouldn’t be the person, the trainer or the therapist that I am today. And I wouldn’t want to give that up for anything!”
Note to self: EVERYTHING (and I mean EVERYTHING) happens for a reason. Trust the process. Be relentless about looking for the lessons and applying them.
“…it’s never too late for anything. I’m now on a level in sport and fitness than I’ve never been before and it feels like there is no end in improving myself! That’s a great experience! Also in music I feel that I’m slowly but strongly getting back into it…surely not with classical piano, but with DJ-ing and compositions in electronic music, which I can wonderfully combine with teaching spin classes!”*
Note to self: What have you been putting off because you think you’re too old to start working on?
And lastly Denise writes: “…being true to myself instead of pleasing others I became a happier person!…So all in all being true to my self has worked! Trying to impress, or TRYING to be someone (else), hasn’t.”
Make a mental note of that!
(Or the birth of brand YOU)
To celebrate this milestone in my writing career, I decided to write this post to remind you that as an employee you’re a stand-alone entity with business needs of your own. That said, this is not to perpetuate the ‘free agent’ conversation – mostly because plenty has already been written about that. This is to empower you to answer a question that will resonate throughout your entire working life – “Why do I need a personal brand?”
So why do you need a personal brand?
Here’s the deal. As an employee you may be a vital part of the organization you work with. And you may count on that organization for your lively-hood – (a.k.a. paycheck). Even so, you’re not an extension of that business. That simply means that just as that organization has business needs of its own which btw you help cater for, you also have business needs that require attention – a personal brand being among the main ones.
I’ve raised more than a few eye-brows each time that I’ve advocated that employees work for themselves with employers, not for them. I stand behind this even if that involves changing jobs at a pace that appears to benefit employees more than their current employer. To continue to defend my position, I’d like to remind you that working with an organization goes beyond being independent. It’s about interdependency. And a basic requirement for achieving interdependency is for both parties to be independent in principle from one another. Only then will true collaboration arise – between two independent parties that decide to collaborate. Although it’s possible for parties with varying degrees of dependency to co-exist for some time, the relationship is doomed from the start. If you’ve ever seen what a leech does to its host, you’ll agree that a parasitic relationship does not benefit either party. The leech remains a leech – with no other option than to find another host to leech off from – and the host is eventually sucked dry – slowly but surely. To learn from real-life collaboration, think orhcids. These breath-taking flowers grow from the branches of trees without taking away nutrients from its host. That’s because orchids are epiphytes, not parasytes. They have their own mechanism of survival, independent from its host. As such they’re able to add to the host – not take away from it.
Realizing that as an employee you have your own brand (and identity) – separate from the current organization you work with – and developing that brand to support your own goals, are two key steps in cutting the umbilical cord from your current employer. Failing to do so will keep you in a state of dependency, unable to reach your fullest potential as an employee. You loose and so does your employer – remember the leech-host drama.
As you think through that, here are a few key pointers:
1. A personal brand is for YOU. It will inspire you, empower you, focus you, drive you and help you achieve fulfillment in your work-life. It will also prevent you from being dragged by others.
2. A powerful personal brand is authentic. Yes, your uniqueness is your strength. The world of work is light years away from your school playground where other kids would make fun of you for not fitting in. Not following the herd in the world of work is an asset. Look closely at yourself. When amongst your colleagues, take time to notice what makes you stand out (yes, like a sore thumb). How can you further develop your distinguishing traits? How can you cash in on them?
3. A sustainable personal brand emerges from a place of honesty within you. The closer to your truth your personal brand is, the longer you’ll be able to stand behind it. Being honest (with yourself) marks the difference between building a sail boat with a long keel* and one with a short one. The one with the short one will be toppled even by small waves. The one with the longer one will be well-grounded and will be able to withstand many rough waters.
Think about this next time that you’re contemplating a change in your career. What steps will you take today to cut the cord?
*For my land-locked friends, a keel is a long, slim plank that juts out from the bottom of the sail boat. It’s the structure that keeps the boat from tipping over.
In the past month a few of my readers have asked me to help them start a blog. By no means am I writing this post to avoid having coffee with you or speaking on the phone with you about this. I’d love to do those things.
I’m writing this mainly to organize my thoughts on the subject so that I can be of more help to anyone (and everyone) who wants to start a blog.
First up, I’d like to set the record straight. By nature, I’m not drawn to technology. To you that means a few things. First, this post is not a ‘how to’ start a blog. There are plenty of tutorials out there that will help you do that. I find that YouTube is a great resource since there are hundreds (if not thousands) of video tutorials. From how to start a wordpress blog, to how to embed video into a blog, you dream it, YouTube has it. Another outstanding resource – one I personally rely on – is Rohit Bhargava’s blog. (Make sure you check out his presentation on 25 blog styles.)
Second, if I was able to set up a blog and manage it regularly, you can too. Guaranteed!
So what is this about?
Instead I’d like to share with you the strategies and philosophies that guide my blog. That you won’t find on You Tube (or Rohits’ blog).
1. Be clear on your vision. Before you open any of the links above, ask yourself: “Why do I want to start a blog?” It could be because you want to draw in more business, or you want to take a shot at being a web celeb, or because you want to start a community. Whatever your blog’s reason for being is, be honest and be clear from the start. It is that purpose that will drive and guide everything else.
In my case, since day one of my blog project, I knew that my vision was:
To inspire and empower people around the world to create, follow and succeed on their path – and consequently become better citizens of planet Earth.
If that sounds familiar, it is because that’s the same exact vision that guides me as a writer.
That means that every time that I start a post, I ask myself: “Is this in line with my vision?” If it is, I continue writing. If it isn’t, I ask: “How can I make this more in line with my vision?”
2. about those comments…Frankly, I’ve never been too hung up or neurotic about the number of comments on my blog. That’s for two main reasons. To begin with I know that even if people are not leaving comments, that they’re reading my blog. They tell me so when I meet them on the street, when we catch up via email or facebook, or elsewhere.
And most important, for me, blogging is not a popularity contest. It’s about contributing to my readers’ lives. And that cannot be measured in number of comments.
A similar belief guides me when I write comments on other blogs. While I know that some people are counting on comments – and very methodically tracking traffic – I rather not comment anything if I don’t have anything meaningful to add. Some times that’s because what I’m thinking has already been said. And I’m okay with that. When I don’t leave a comment, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t get something out of a post. I believe that everything that I read impacts my life. Acknowledging that is my way of thanking those who have written the post. I don’t see much point in saying something, anything, to simply add to the bean count.
If you take away one thing from this post let it be this: conversations, whether on or off line, need to be honest, transparent and meaningful – otherwise they’re noise pollution.
3. Are you adding value? In line with having a guiding vision, this is one of the questions that I ask myself before publishing anything – a post, a comment, a tweet. If I can’t honestly say that what I’m about to say will contribute anything of meaning, then it does not get published – no matter how long I spent working on it. (so what’s considered an acceptable time to spend on a 140 character tweet, anyway??)
4. Act as if the whole world will see it. I’m not saying this to make you paranoid, but rather to make you more mindful. Personally every time I’m about to publish anything online – a comment on a blog or on someone’s funwall, or a tweet – I ask myself: ”Will I be okay seeing this on the front page of a newspaper?” Doing that quick check helps me sleep much better at night.
5. Be transparent. That does not mean: expose yourself. Instead it means be honest, and mostly with yourself. For example, if you honestly feel that sharing something about yourself will mean crossing personal boundaries, then don’t publish it.
Be clear on this: it’s possible to be popular in the blogoshpere by being yourself – even if you feel that’s too bland or not exciting enough. In other words, to express your uniqueness, you need not be an exhibitionist. Sure exhibitionism is one of the ways to draw attention. Even so being authentic and respecting your own personal boundaries is also a great way to have followers. Great leaders achieve that all the time. They are driven by a clear purpose, not a me-too strategy. And that’s worthy of imitation – and following
6. Be patient. The Web is a fast-moving world, yet it’s not instantaneous. If you consistently produce good content, eventually the world will find you. The key is to be consistent and to stay true to yourself. And be patient.
7. Bloggers are living, breathing (and very cool) things. As a matter of fact, they’re social beings even if they spend 99% of their time behind a computer screen. Read about their biggest face-to-face meet-up: SWSX
8. Expect to be empowered. I’ve jumped off a plane with a parachute, I’ve jumped off ramps with my bike and skateboard, and I’ve moved across the globe for love. Yet none of these experiences compare to how I felt when my first post went live. (Yes, as I write this I’m feeling the adrenaline rushing through my body) Blogging is empowering. It changes your perspective on life – from passive observant, to active participant.
What are you waiting for to start your own blog?
Photo – Thank you flickr!
(This post is part of a pact I made. Click here for the full story.)
Meet Monika.
Since the moment I sat down to speak with her about her career path, I was overcome by a sense that our mass-produced, fast-moving world does not deserve people like her.
Monika is a classically trained master gold and silver smith.
To you and me that means that half her life – since the age of fifteen – she has been perfecting the craft of fine jewellery-making mostly by being an apprentice of Germany’s top jewellers.
Possibly Monika will be inclined to correct me on this because ever since she can remember, fine jewellery-making has been a part of her life, much before she was fifteen years old. Her father is a master gold and silver smith who works out of a studio in their family home in a town outside of Cologne in Germany. When Monika was ‘old enough’, between 8 and 10, her dad started to pay her to do the menial jobs that he was not too keen on doing like welding and braiding pieces of gold. As she told me: ”I must have been quite good since I was making good money…” Sitting on her dad’s lap, working at the bench, marked the beginning of Monika’s love affair with very, very small details.
Creating one-of-a-kind pieces that put smiles on people’s faces is where Monika finds her career Nirvana.
In her words: “When I’m working at my bench I feel content, it gives me inner peace, it feels like home. I’m calm and I get back energy.”
Note to self: Tune in to your feelings. Trust them. Feelings don’t lie. They don’t know how. Good things feel right, bad things feel not quite right.
Listening to Monika describe how she works on a piece of fine jewellery, is as soothing as watching a prima ballerina float on stage, as intense as following an elite athlete compete at an Olympic event and as nerve-wrecking as seeing a neurosurgeon perform brain surgery through a microscope. It’s quite clear that when she’s working at the bench, she’s in the here and now. For her every movement counts. In her words: “My gut guides me through the process…every detail matters and there is endless learning.” So much so, that she feels that she could spend her entire life in jewellery school because there is so much to learn. She should know since her 72 year-old father often tells her that he’s constantly learning new things about the craft.
When I set out to share Monika’s story with you, I was secretly hoping to learn from her ability to feel contentment on a single path. I naively thought that Monika was so obsessed with small details that she found happiness in very minor things. After speaking with her for a few hours, I found a person who’s driven to find meaning in her work. And even though she feels a strong pull towards the craft, she questions whether this is her own path or if it’s one that she inherited.
Note to self: Questions are important. Honest answers are vital.
For the more Machiavellian types, her questioning would seem impractical. After all, what matters most is arriving at a destination, not the path taken. However, Monika has always been one to follow the beat of her own drum. Among the conservative community where she grew up she is considered a pioneer and known as one who walks out of step with the crowd. As she explained to me, by nature, she has an inner need to create and follow her own path. It is not enough for her to experience bliss while sitting at the bench, making fine jewellery. It is not enough to be considered one of the best in her craft. To be able to continue to dedicate her life to it, she needs to know that her passion for the craft came from within herself. That it is not something she’s drawn to because it is all she has done or because it’s a family tradition.
In search for answers, at the age of 25, after she graduated as a master jeweller, she moved from Cologne, Germany to Sydney, Australia. As soon as she told me this, I quickly scanned the globe but struggled to find a connection between those two points. She said that the language played a big role in her decision (she’s fluent in English). She also has a ‘thing’ for opals. More important, she wanted to go as far away from her home-town as she possibly could. As soon as she told me this last part, she started to laugh – at herself. Shortly after moving to the other side of the world, she realized that while she left her home-town oceans away, she had not been able to get away from herself!
Note to self: When you change your outside circumstances, you are not changing yourself – which could possibly be what most needs changing.
After five years of living in Australia, Monika has found more than what she came looking for. Her initial plan was to work in different things to find out if anything else came close to jewellery-making. If it did, well she would know that she was meant work in something else. If it didn’t, she’d know that her life’s path was to take over her parents’ shop back home.
Among the most memorable experiences, she worked at a cattle ranch. And after nine weeks of doing different things like painting, renovating and wood-working, even though these were all forms of craftsmanship, she felt it was not the same. In her own words: “That was an interesting and unique experience, but exhausting!…At times I’d ask: ‘What am I doing here?’” She also worked at an ice-cream store and at several other businesses in the hospitality industry. Yet nothing came close to making her feel what she does while working at the bench. And nothing paid as well as jewellery-making, even if she’d take a job mass-producing jewellery.
It was during her travels up the New South Wales coast that she came upon a town called Byron Bay (a.k.a. Byron). For those of you who have been there, you’ll know what a special place it is. With its surfer culture and artist community, few places emanate such good vibes. In Byron Monika met a community of jewellers who like her have an interest in Numerology. Inspired by what she describes as a chance meeting, shortly after she completed a course in Numerology and began to explore ways to integrate its principles with fine jewellery-making. That was when she realized that even though she did not find her craft on her own – it is a God-given gift that she can make her own.
After a few more non-jewellery related jobs, Monika accepted a job at one of Sydney’s finest jewellery shops. And for the past two years she has been learning about Australian stones (opals and blue sapphires) and creating pieces based on her knowledge of Numerology and other New Age principles. She must have struck a chord because in 2008 Monika was the recipient of Australia’s most prestigious jewellery design award, the Jewellers Association of Australia Design Award, with her Ying and Yang bracelet.
Note to self: What is that one thing that you enjoy doing and you tend to be great at? The combination of enjoyment and skill are the foundation of your strengths.
Little by little, Monika is weaving a two-strand career. By doing so she has been able to preserve a family tradition – one she’s passionate and quite skilled at – and quench her thirst for meaning.
Note to self: Be open to finding this and that answers. Go beyond this or that.
Yet something tells me that Monika’s search for answers is far from over.
Through Numerology, she gave me a peek into her soul. She explained that the number 8 captures her soul’s purpose. It stands for several traits, among them independence, fairness and assertiveness. According to Numerology people like her are quite rare, often described as higher beings. Even so, I found Monika to be quite humble and very grounded.
Based on her birth-date, she explained that she tends to be very head driven. That means that at times her mind does not allow her to listen to her heart. And that has been one of the sources of her inner conflict. As she told me: ”When I’ve listened to my heart, everything falls into place.” The trouble is her head is usually making too much noise for her to listen to what her heart wants. During the few moments that she has listened to her heart, she feels jewellery-making is what she’s meant to be doing. As she told me: “I feel drawn to it. It flows. It feels easy.”
When I asked Monika what she has learned along her journey, she said:
“Mostly to listen to my gut…my tummy guides me.”
Note to self: Trust your intuition.
In the past few days I’ve spoken to several people – all from different walks of life. One is a professional mom in her early thirties, the other is a gym instructor in her mid twenties, the other is a restauranteur in her early fifties. In spite of their differences I’ve noticed that they all share one thing in common – which I wish it wouldn’t be so.
They all told me about projects that they hope that some day they’ll execute. Some day one will open her own business, some day the other one will buy an investment property, and some day the other one will write a children’s book.
When I asked them what they had done today to get closer to their goal, they were not able to give me a clear answer. Their lack of clarity is what inspired this post.
As far as I know, today is that ‘some day’ of that other day when you said that some day you’d do that one thing you’ve been wanting to do. So are you doing today what you said that other day that you’d do ‘some day’? And what can you do today to get closer to that goal that you’re putting off for some day?
Photo credit: Thanks Photo-master Greg
Take it from a self-proclaimed strategic job-hopper; career enlightenment is about achieving your goals in a sustainable way. That said, personal branding is at the core of an enlightened career.
Rest assured that today’s tough economic climate calls for an even greater focus on personal branding. During a time when businesses are looking for ways to cut costs, and when a large majority have recurred to laying-off staff, a strong personal brand is what will allow you – as an employee – to tip the scale in your favor. Make no mistake, a strong personal brand has the power to make employers look beyond cost and instead focus on quality.
By minding the following brand attributes, it’s possible for the ‘average Joe employee’ to reach career enlightenment.
An enlightened careerist is:
Genuine – A 100% commitment to being true to yourself will provide a solid foundation to your career. It will drive major aspects of your career such as your networking efforts, and your career goals and decisions. It is what will say to the world that your uniqueness is your strength.
Trustworthy – In the world of work, trust is a powerful currency. Being known as someone who delivers on their promises opens doors – even for someone who does not have all the skills or experience for a role. On the other hand, no amount of skills or experience will erase a tainted reputation. Building trust with employers, colleagues and clients takes time. On the other hand, breaking that hard-earned trust often takes very little. (who said the world was meant to be fair)
Solution-focused – Particularly during challenging times, it’s vital to not waste time on unproductive activities. Asking ‘what can I do?’ rather than finding out what happened is what delivers results. This requires implementing a zero whining policy and dropping the blame game.
Goal-oriented – Knowing what really matters to you will place you in the seat of power of your career. Not knowing leaves you exposed to being dragged by those who have goals of their own. Focusing on your goals is far from being inflexible. Rather, when you know where you want to go, it’s more likely that you’ll remain nimble and do what it takes to achieve your goals – even if that means changing courses and redefining your career.
Self-aware – Ignorance might be bliss – but little by little will lead you to miss out on opportunities for growth. On the other hand, knowledge gives you the option to improve those areas which aren’t quite right. As much as asking the right questions is key for staying in touch with yourself, answering honestly is as important.
Risk-favorable – Taking risks is a trampoline to bigger and better opportunities. Benefiting from risk is more a matter of reframing outcomes than of achieving the expected ones.
While you seek for career enlightenment, keep in mind that true enlightenment is at the intersection of knowledge and action.
What one thing will you do right now to get closer to your goals?
Photo credit: The Sun Herald
(This post is part of a pact I made. Click here for the full story.)
Move over, Jana has arrived.
In a 5 feet 5 inches frame, and just over twenty years, this woman has already managed to pack what would take most several lifetimes to accomplish.
For starters, Jana is more than half way through completing a self-funded medical degree (sans financial aid). Already she has co-authored a research paper with one of the world’s top neurosurgeons (Dr. Charles Teo). She’s the VP of an executive board of a medical student organization. And she tutors other medical students.
She’s also one of the world’s youngest Bikram Yoga teachers. And has taught yoga across Australia and around the world.
On the side, Jana plays and writes music and is currently working on a record and training for a marathon.
In her words, her career Nirvana is: ”becoming a surgeon as well as working to change our global healthcare systems. I want to see medical care become more about education and prevention than drugs and treatment. This is where yoga comes in…”
Jana embodies a hybrid existence. If you ever meet her, you’d agree that she comes across as ambitious and determined, yet at the same time she’s free-spirited and peaceful. And if you look close enough, you’ll soon realize that inside her a left and a right brain co-exist in harmony. Like most left-brained doctors, Jana’s rational and factual. Whenever I’ve practiced yoga with her, she has explained, with clinical details, the medical benefits of every pose, and has been very quick to point out when someone’s pose is out of alignment. Yet, unlike a doctor, she’ll admit that some things have happened in her life by pure chance – without any scientific explanation. Like Bikram Yoga.
She wrote to me: “I met Bikram Choudhury, (the founder of Bikram Yoga) …It was a chance meeting. He looked at me from across the dinner table, called me over and said: ‘You’ll become a yoga teacher. I know more about your life than you do and I can see your life’s path…’”
“A week later I deferred my (medical) degree, found people to take over my apartment…sat my final exams for the session, got my vaccinations and medical health all checked, and left for (Los Angeles) with $1000 in my bank (account) to study to become the youngest Bikram Yoga Teacher to date at that time.”
She goes on to say: “It wasn’t a choice. It was a path. Yogis say that everything has a ‘dharma’. (The) wind’s dharma is to blow, fire’s dharma is to burn and humans’ dharma is “love, truth and sacrifice”. When you’re living your dharma they say all falls into place and so I think at that time and ever since, things just falling into place means that I’m on the right track, living my dharma, so to speak.”
Note to self: In a new world, unrules are the new rules of success.
More than a schedule, a day in the life of Jana sounds like a rap song where the rapper is left breathless:
“I wake at 5 most days, meditate, teach yoga, do a yoga class, go to clinic which is where I’m a student doctor, leave and teach another yoga class, then go home to study medical and yoga topics and sleep at 12am, get up and do it all again.”
She ends her line of thinking with: “There is a lot to do! I don’t watch television and I don’t think I could tell you the last time I felt like I was ‘wasting time’… Life is efficient…”
Note to self: There is no such thing as an unimportant day.
And how does she manage to lead such an efficient life?
As driven as Jana is, she lives by one mantra – and one mantra alone:
“I know the relative importance of all parts of life and know my health, mental and physical, is number one.”
As a true yogi, she wrote to me: “No matter what path you’re on – for me becoming a doctor – if you don’t have your own health, you have nothing. Like Bikram says: ‘The most important thing in your life is you – not what you do or what or what you know or what you study or who you love – because without you, there is no your life.’ So having a complimentary practice like yoga, exercise, meditation, should be something you make time for everyday… we should praise, maintain and appreciate our health.”
And sounding like a doctor who has just finished writing a prescription, she explains: “I have so much information about how yoga and meditation lower blood pressure and benefit every system of the body. Since I started (practicing) yoga I have barely had a cold, I sleep less and feel better, I crave better foods and I feel incredible. I want everyone to have this accessible to them before they reach for medications and…fast food. It would save our healthcare system billions if people learned how to balance their lives and their health… not to mention the life years it would save.”
From what she wrote to me, it’s clear that she practices what she preaches:
“Every day that I got home from study, I would think: ‘I’m learning about health, but I have no time or outlet to be truly healthy myself. What am I doing? Even though I am learning. I’m getting fatter and unhealthier and more tired everyday.’ Then I found Bikram Yoga. It gave me the health and energy to study health at university. It was the perfect counterpart that kept me sane in an intellectual world where it is easy to go mad. There were so many times before I found yoga that my medical exams would push me nearly to the edge of a nervous breakdown; often tears and really catastrophic thinking patterns. But now I breeze through with the knowledge of how to be efficient and how to be calm and equanimous.”
Note to self: More than anything else, respect your health. You’ll last longer.
In spite of her achievements, Jana is far from perfect.
As she admitted in an email: “I stumbled over a few things on the way to being accepted into medical school. I missed the date of application for medical school when I was in my final year of high school because I had moved out of home, had a turbulent time and was not given guidance on the matter!”
This mishap landed her in a medical science degree for two years before she could transfer to the Bachelor’s of Medicine program.
Note to self: So what if at first you don’t get what you want? If you try hard enough, some day you’ll get it. How badly you want something will determine how hard you work towards it.
True to her self-awareness, she leaves us all with:
“I would say that this multidisciplinary approach has meant I can relate to a lot of people and that I feel very satisfied but I also often feel overworked and like I am never giving enough to each part of my life individually! The solution…the balance…I’m still working on that.”
