Are you getting everything you can out of this life?
An insightful, feel-good blog about work, life, and the elusive balance between the two, by career counselor, award-winning resume writer, and existential adventurer, Cliff Flamer
I’m in an industry of charlatans.
We don’t sell toasters. We sell intangibles: happiness, peacefulness, confidence. Or at least that’s what our customers are looking to buy.
This means we’re let into peoples’ minds, allowed to look around and see what&… Read more...
Getting let go from work is like getting hit by a bus.
And like getting hit by a bus, people who get fired, laid off, or asked to leave often experience PTSD (post-traumatic-stress-syndrome). I see it more often than you might think.
The symptoms show up in one’s work history… Read more...
Sometimes I wonder how I can possibly be well-equipped enough to guide people in finding meaning in their lives and careers when I can’t even remember which one of my laundry baskets is socks&underwear and which one is pants&shirts. I still can’t remember whic… Read more...
Every morning, before the sun rises and after my meditation, I ask myself an important question:
What one thing do I want to have accomplished by the end of today?
It’s a question I ask my future self, who is always looking to feel accomplished and who can be quite a grouch c… Read more...
A cool thing happened at work.
At the last minute, a coaching client wanted to donate her coaching call to a friend who had just discovered a job that was perfect for her. We hastily transferred the session and all of a sudden I was talking with another person.
Within 30 minutes, w… Read more...
In the epic novel by J.R. R. Tolkien, hobbits GIVE other hobbits presents on their birthdays.
Strange little creatures, but the logic is there: If one person GIVES to many, one day every year, then everyone receives gifts many times per year.
There’s a lesson to unwrap here.
W… Read more...
Something that’s always bugged me: name prefixes.
Why is it that doctors and politicians and judges are allowed to change their prefixes but no one else is?
I know these folks work hard — extremely hard — but so do CEOs and sanitation workers. I know that becoming… Read more...
Things I hear from clients all the time:
“I should have been a ___________.”
“I wish I didn’t stay at this job so long.”
“If only I had known.”
“It’s too late now.”
—
Regret is like a bitter root in your tea.
Its purpose … Read more...
When writing fiction, I’ve always taken real people in my life and had them do amazing things, things maybe they’re not capable of but wish they were. I make them into heroes. I place them in impossible situations and give them a way out.
I’ve realized I do the … Read more...
During COVID, most high schoolers took the opportunity to remain anonymous in class. That is, they opted to turn off their camera and become a black square for the year. Picture 32 black squares on a screen. Everyone did this.
But not my daughter. She kept her camera on, made face… Read more...