Fearless, Fabulous Life

I love beautiful pictures of nature. Video has become so ubiquitous of late what with YouTube and the promos pushed via email and other Internet access, but this short The Nature of Success film combines stunning images with inspirational messages.

Think about how these ideas apply to your life, and the steps you could take today to move yourself forward with grace and strength and wisdom. The natural order of things.

Tags: natureof success, inspirational messages

It’s Monday and you want to jump out of your skin. By the time Friday rolls around, you tender murderous thoughts toward your colleagues or boss. The wear and strain of dragging yourself to your current workplace each day is akin to the dread of a dentist drill.

Aside from the ever-present need to earn sufficient money to support your commitments and lifestyle, often our professional identity and presence in the world is tied up in our definition of “work” as well as where and for whom we do it.
The bottom line can be assessed with two questions. Will the path you are on eventually lead to personal satisfaction and pride in your efforts? Are you good enough–or could you apply yourself more seriously and consistently to become good enough–to meet your definition of contribution and reward?

Tearing You Down Instead of Building You Up

Instead of growing professionally and finding opportunity in the projects and responsibilities presented to you, are you feeling like your skills are getting stale or that you may be falling behind technology and current business thinking?

Assess what is available to you and whether with a bit of effort you could make more of the time you invest in your job. Are there additional resources you could tap? Can you meet with your boss to consider a redefinition of your role and daily tasks? Does your employer have other positions you could move to laterally if not up the ladder?

You are responsible for how you feel. You also bear the weight of responsibility or your own behavior. Are you guilty of self-sabotaging chances for recognition, more challenging assignments, and even advancement? When we fail to deal with minor issues, they can blossom into bad habits, feeing sorry for ourselves, and sloppy work that only serves to undermine our ability to to feel good about our work and contribution.

Putting Off the Vision that Calls to You

Do you see yourself in a different environment, accomplishing something personally important and fulfilling? Is there a completely different way of “being” that requires changing several aspects of your life, not just those related to work?

Waiting to fulfill a personal mission or ambition can make us feel small and less powerful. It’s not so much a matter of striking while the iron is hot, but rather acting in our own best interest to achieve what will make our spirits sour. When we deprive ourselves of that experience, our internal fire to be uniquely exceptional gets snuffed out over time.

It’s critical that you separate your self-worth from the very different consideration of whether a particular job or even profession is worth your time and effort. Satisfaction in life is more complex than simply “right” work, but finding the work that sustains and fuels personal passions can be the road to self-actualization. Knowing your true talents and unique contribution, is a gift to yourself and everyone around you.

Doing “It” for Someone Else Instead of Yourself

Do you secretly resent that all of your hard work supports the reputation or image of another? Do you fantasize about how you could do the very same work — or a slightly upgraded version of it — to support yourself and your family, leaving the emotional overhead of “boss” out of the picture.

In this case, you may consider self-employment. There are numerous other considerations if you are tempted in this direction. Working for oneself is not a bed of roses; ultimately you become responsible for every failure and success from timely delivery of paper and coffee supplies to satisfied clients or customers.

However, with complete and proper preparation and a solid team of support, there is no reason anyone why anyone can’t create a satisfying and profitable business.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

If you are honest with yourself and you have considered the questions above, you may know immediately or at least feel deep down what you need to do.

You may discover or realize that it is actually you that needs a bit of alignment or total attitude readjustment. Take full advantage of professional development or enrichment opportunities, use career counseling… and actually use up all of your vacation days! Rather than stagnating in place, seek out information, challenge yourself to consider what else there is, and take very good care of yourself so that you’ll have the energy to either improve things where you are or prep the path to a new venue.

You may decide that a new job or self-employment is the path for you, though the timing may be a completely different matter. No matter how intense your current frustration, this is not the time for rash action. It sometimes feels like a great relief to abandon what drives us crazy, but the failure to prepare sufficiently for the change you dream about could have you on your knees begging for your old job back.

Enlisting the help of a coach can challenge you to navigate a course of self-discovery and determine your best options and next steps. Making any kind of change takes great effort and is stressful. You want to be at the top of your game, if or when you take the leap to something new.

Tags: coaching, big fish, coach craft, quitting time, personal mission, right work

This week marks the one-year anniversary of my leaving a corporate communications job where I’d spent more than six years building an internal team of talented professionals, creating standards and protocols, and managing the creation and production of all kinds of publications and products.

That time in my life was rewarding and I’ll never regret my investment of time to learn, grow, and master new skills. Sometimes it was hard and I didn’t know if I would succeed or not. Sometimes I felt like quitting, but I persevered and experienced great satisfaction in eventually making things work smoothly and producing things on schedule.

I also don’t regret my choice to leave when I did. I spent a significant amount of time soul searching during the months leading up to my departure, and I knew when the time had come to move on to the next “right” thing for me.

My life has changed so much in one year, and I am glad I had the courage to make changes, try new things, and jump back into “beginner’s mind.” By putting myself on the line again, I’ve set things in motion that will produce big results—and satisfaction—in the near future. More importantly, I trusted my instincts and acted on my vision of the quality of life I wanted. Now I’m turning my dreams into reality.

Tags: followyour bliss, self-employment

This quote from Gandhi is usually invoked to silence the complainer. You know, if you can’t put up, shut up.

Recently, I received the full quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” at the bottom of an email from my Wednesday night yoga instructor, Tracy. Each time we begin and end a class, we sit in silence and think about our relationship to the natural world and the other creatures in it. It’s a good centering activity for remembering our mutual interdependence and our responsibility for shepherding the good in life.

Having this intention during each class helps me to work on the different poses with more concentration and success. And, I leave most classes humbled by my struggle with the physical practice and also the notion that there is so much more I could do to improve life for myself and others.

But then I’m quickly back in my usual day to day, regularly noting all of the things that are amiss in the world—our dependence on oil, global warming, corrupt politicians, inequity in health care delivery—and not doing much of anything about it all. Except grouse and complain.

Noticing What Needs Attention

Most days, I take my dogs for a circular four mile walk near our home. We begin and end on dirt roads, but the middle of our walk is along a relatively quiet paved road that connects Hillsboro and Washington, NH. It is a residential area, abutting woods and for the most part very pleasant.

However, months ago, out on my own on a slightly rainy day when I left the dogs at home, I counted over sixty bottles and cans, assorted plastic containers, and other stray articles along the route. The counting was simply an exercise to pass the time and a curiosity to me that this tranquil area could be so heavily “trashed” when so lightly trafficked. Angry that others could be so insensitive and selfish, I promised myself that I would get back out there within the week to clean up what I had noticed. I did not.

With three leashed pups in tow on subsequent walks, I let myself off the hook for picking anything up. It would be nearly impossible to carry a big trash bag while busy tending my charges. Besides, I would pick up stray plastic six-pack holders, so that a bird wouldn’t get its neck caught. And I’d also snare pieces of broken glass in the road so another dog or walker wouldn’t get cut. I was doing something. But each day I took that walk, I felt a tug of guilt over my failure to follow through on cleaning up the wake of castaways now buried beneath taller grass.

Vindication by Taking Responsibility

There is much in the world that seems outside of our control. By myself, I can’t change a culture where so many drivers consider their personal automobile space more important than the natural world. Alone, I can’t end teenage drinking. Without everyone agreeing to use fewer disposable products, I can’t stop roadside deposits of refuse.

We often complain on a general level that “the world is going to pot,” but we know to make any more noise would call attention to the fact we haven’t done much toward fixing the things that need attention. That’s a sneaky, contributing source to apathy. How can we stop intense consumerism, blind disregard for the safety of others or make other accountable for their actions in any meaningful, if we fail to take responsibility for what we see?

I can shake my fist and scream, “Don’t be such a pig!” Because it’s not my trash, and I obviously care about the natural world. But where does that get me? Once I see what needs to be done, it’s up to me alone to follow up in any way that I can. If I take action, then I can claim positive contribution and be more at peace knowing that I did make a difference. And then I really can raise a hornet’s nest of complaint, and urge others to do as I have.

Moving from Complaint to Action

So much of what is out of whack is within our control, if we break what seems large and overwhelming down into smaller tasks or projects. Or simply take responsibility for doing our small part.

It took me twice as long to walk that four-mile loop, when I finally stopped to pick up all the trash I’d been noticing for months. My haul was substantial: 60 aluminum cans, 10 whole or broken bottles, 20+ assorted plastic and paper containers, and an ugly pile of other tangible evidence that I noticed and did something about it.

Picking up trash along the side of the road may not seem like much. But every day I take that walk, I enjoy my surroundings that much more knowing that I’ve chosen to be an active steward to keep it clean. If I find a new can or bottle in the days ahead, it will be only one I need to pick up to preserve what is beautiful and shared by all.

Where is Your Next Move?

We can choose to buy and consume differently. We can tutor those who need help. We can teach others what we know how to do. We can give our time and money to causes that respond to our sorrow or outrage, and our sense of what the right thing is to create change. Through our actions—both large and small, we can be the change we want to see in the world.

Each of us notices what needs attention as we move through our days. We really do know what we can do make a difference.

Complacency is easy. What will you do?

Tags: personalresponsibility, change agent, taking action, change agent, taking action

This oddly riveting documentary, “Rivers & Tides”, features the work?of Scottish sculptor Andy Wordsworthy. He works exclusively?outdoors in open fields, along rivers and creeks, at the shore,?and in the forest using all natural materials.

Claiming that “the work makes itself,” Goldsworthy manipulates?ice, driftwood, bracken, leaves, stone, dirt and snow to create?highly unusual and compelling works. He moves forward bit by bit?with his sculptures, almost without pause. Some of his work is?produced at the convergence of river and sea, so it is?inevitable that the rising tide will alter and ultimately?destroy his work within a short period of time.

“Rivers & Tides” won the Golden Gate Award Grand Prize – Best?Documentary at the 2003 San Francisco International Film?Festival. Watch a video clip on You-Tube.

Tags: sculpture, Andy Goldsworthy, natural materials