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
We’d be a whole lot better off if members of the in-group reached out to those in the out-group.
This goes for all situations:
From the head cheerleader texting the smelly kid to the boss working the line to cops saying they’re sorry.
What if… Read more...
I grew up on Hip Hop, studied Yo! MTV Rap videos with my brother to learn how to move, bought the albums, mouthed the lyrics on the bus.
The lyrics. Yikes.
I was singing “Poison” by Bel Biv DeVoe the other day – a seemingly benign recitation… And then I got … Read more...
I’m done with stories of oppression — Twelve Years of a Slave, The Piano, The Handmaid’s Tale…
I need no more evidence of our ugliness. I know it’s there. It’s so there.
And I don’t need what comes after that either: vengeful violence of a … Read more...
When we challenge someone’s core beliefs — their religion, their politics (which are often one and the same) — we threaten their worldview.
Our comments cut the line to their anchor.
And, somehow, we expect them to thank us for this.
No one wants to drift into the … Read more...
Humans are strange. Our way of dealing with stress is to summon more of it.
When we’re caught in a tough situation or we get a cold or our luck is different than usual, we tend to say something like:
“This kind of stuff doesn’t happen to me…”
“I&#… Read more...
It’s okay that you’re tired at the end of the day.
You’ve worked hard. It takes a lot. Mentally. Physically.
You’re human!
Up and down is our way forward.
Just because you’re tired, doesn’t mean you have to rethink your life.
Instead, when you recog… Read more...
The problem with Self Help is that it presupposes there is something wrong with the way you are now.
But fully embracing your current state, whatever that may be, can prevent meaningful growth and change.
Take the simple example of lying on the couch. When you resent yourself for l… Read more...
My friend, Paul, complimented me the other day. It was hot. I had my shirt off.
“Cliff, your body is looking GOOD!”
He said it just like that, too: big emphasis on the “good” part.
And it definitely sunk in because, after that, I started eating salads again a… Read more...
You may not realize this:
When I fight, I’m fighting for you.
When I shout Black Lives Matter, it’s not because I think Black Lives are more important than White ones. It’s because I believe most of the problems in this country, problems that negatively impact you… Read more...
My daughter is picking her high school – 2 good options – and she’s tormented by it.
We all are.
I’ve made a career out of helping people make decisions. I know the exercises, I have the tactics, the methods, the rubrics.
That doesn’t make the actual de… Read more...