Are you getting everything you can out of this life?
A self-less, feel-good blog about love, life, and work by career coach and existential adventurer, Cliff Flamer
Don’t judge me!
Sorry. Can’t help it.
We’re designed to judge each other; it’s for our safety and survival.
Our brains make rapid-fire decisions about what we see based on past experience, learned and lived. We tell ourselves (in a split second), we’re … Read more...
I’m not claiming to have all the secrets to raising kids right but if I were to give one piece of advice to parents it would be to build a karaoke stage in your house.
I’m not talking about just going out and buying a karaoke machine; I mean creating a permanent space … Read more...
I woke up slightly hungover, throat thrashed from singing Nirvana, Boys II Men, Extreme, and The Commodores. I still had my smiley face scarf in my hand, glitter eyeshadow spritzed across my pillow. Downstairs, empty bottles, crumbs on plates, “wounded soldiers” and w… Read more...
My first smile came from an unexpected source: the image of 5 Latino guys, covered in mud and rain, laughing hysterically outside my basement door.
Here’s the unfunny part. Our drainage system broke down, and we needed to install a sump pump and a whole new line of undergrou… Read more...
We dragged our 7-year-old to the Alameda Flea Market, kicking and screaming and clawing for her iPad as we pushed her out the door. Secretly, I thought about staying home too, mostly to work on an online course I’d been building for how to look for work.
Glad we didn’t… Read more...
Entitlement elbows Kindness right out of the room.
When someone is entitled (e.g. “This is mine for the taking”), they eliminate the possibility of being assisted.
People around them get the message and put their hands down. They may cheer for the entitled person, but t… Read more...
Checking email can feel like a race. Respond, respond, delete, archive, respond, flag as spam, delete, delete, delete. But it doesn’t have to be like this.
We should remember to invite things into our inbox that we want to see, things that bring absolutely no stress with the… Read more...
When people talk about manifesting reality, those around them may roll their eyes.
While I don’t believe we can alter the universe to our own benefit, I do believe we can change our perspective. Or, perhaps, sharpen it.
When we make a decision in our mind that reaches all the… Read more...
In college, I had a radio show with my friend.
Cliff & Jay, Jus’ Chillin’!
It was a great gig: We had the 2 am to 6 am shift, all the time in the world to comb through WMFO’s massive record collection, including one of the largest jazz portfolios in the Boston… Read more...
Every morning, blanketed in the black before sunrise, I walk into my office, and I’m faced with the same decision:
Do I start digging into my work pile and get a jump on my to-do’s,
OR
Do I stop and do something that seems both self-indulgent and impractical? In other wo… Read more...