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 like to take notes in a blank sketchbook. I’ve always hated lines and boxes, and writing by hand is more fluid… (see what I did there?).
My notes are thought fragments, shorthand, just enough to remind me what I was thinking.
And in this process, I’ve developed… Read more...
My dad suggested I get my car detailed. Trust me, he said, it’ll be like new.
He was right.
I swear it drives like new. My wife thinks so too.
That’s some strange psychology.
If I wash my keyboard, will it click faster? If I make my bed, will I sleep better?
Appearance can … Read more...
Being a career coach in Silicon Valley, I hear a lot of stories of failure from entrepreneurs.
Indeed, anyone who has taken a shot at a startup has a ‘failure story’ to tell.
As a resume writer, I’ve figured out the way to tell ‘failure story’ honestly… 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...
When I’m excited about something, I make machine-gun noises with my mouth. If I’m really stoked, I’ll cup my hands to my mouth to make the noise louder, and then move my head from side to side in a sweeping motion as if I’m spraying the room with machine-g… Read more...
We all can pay homage to work.
Work is most often where we find the flow. Doesn’t matter if you’re stuffing envelopes or running a department. When it hits, you don’t want to be anywhere else. And hopefully, there are some people around to share that good feeling… Read more...
Our echo chambers are only getting louder.
I appreciate recommendation engines and suggested posts as much as anyone but they only feed me more of the same. The machines, they claim to know me, to have me pegged by what I do and say online or in a store or to a speaker sitting on … Read more...
In business, creativity, and relationships, our vision doesn’t often line up with reality.
Sometimes we fear that reality will fall short of our vision, which keeps us living in our ideals and not in reality. This is a lonely place to cling to – good in our mind but no… Read more...
“I’m sorry.”
This is something you’ll never hear on a debate stage or in a board room. We’ve cast it out as a sign of weakness when, indeed, it’s the opposite.
People who apologize are showing they are courageous and intelligent because they̵… Read more...
To give you an idea as to how much I think about helping people find their way…
As I was reading a self-help book written in the nineties, I found myself putting aside my own growth to counsel the previous owner of the book who had carefully underlined significant passages a… Read more...