Even for the ones with the jobs so many others wish they had- the actors, the entrepreneurs, the authors, the working artists, the travel journalists, the spiritual guides, the 4-hour-work-week day traders, the tropical-island scuba instructors, the yogis, the CEOs, the coaches, … Read more...
Stay or Go?
Staying in the same job for several years can almost be like falling into a depression.
It swallows you up and that’s all you see. It’s not so much whether the job is good or bad; it’s just that you can easily lose the ability to compare your surroundings to thos… Read more...
Beautiful Trance
I used to think CREATIVITY was about creating stuff. That’s what it looks like on the outside, but if you really look at a person who’s creating, you can see it’s more about chasing a feeling.
Artists – the most committed creators among us – are const… Read more...
Indentation
The space bar on my keyboard has a noticeable indentation right where my thumb hits it. It’s so smooth and streamlined that, when I first noticed it, I thought it must have come like that. What a perfect resting place for a thumb!
But time and erosion are more diligent than … Read more...
Summoning the Genie
People come to me because, as they put it, they’re not good at selling themselves. I hear this from everyone: salespeople, marketers, actors, speech writers, strategic communication professionals, PR agents. For the majority of us – even those where selling is a centr… Read more...
Specialists & Generalists
Most employers want specialists.
Because of this, most people want to be specialists and yet, after years of interviews with professionals, I can tell you that most people are generalists (even the people that are seeking to hire specialists!).
The most specialized specialist out t… Read more...
The Path of the Passionate
The most interesting clients I work with have such tangled, meandering work histories, they’re often misinterpreted as lost, noncommittal, or passion-less, when, indeed, it’s just the opposite.
It’s these folks who are so committed to their passions, to their ind… Read more...
Running Patterns
Repetition is the origin of habit. So, in some ways, our jobs – inevitably repetitious to some degree – are formulas for the habits we see in our lives. The patterns we run at work migrate into our personal pursuits. The metaphors we use, the way we approach relations… Read more...
For the Good of the Play
If you ask a movie or TV producer for advice, they’ll tell you something like this: “Things will inevitably go wrong. Be ready to deal with that.”
With so many moving parts out of your control, you’re bound to find yourself in an unexpected, perhaps unwante… Read more...