Earlier this year, my husband, Jess, and I spent a Friday evening in Andy Broder’s culinary studio, AndyFood. We learned how to make homemade pasta from start to finish and had great fun forming tortellini, while also observing fellow students fulfilling their pasta assignments. So inspired were we that we went out and bought a pasta machine and are now practicing our newly acquired pasta-making skills. Read more
After a 22-year career with the company, Rose became part of a downsizing. Though her severance package was fairly generous, she was very anxious about finding a job, as she was a single mother with the pressures of a high mortgage in California. After two months, Rose was offered a position with the same company in a different department. Though she was overqualified and the salary was less than what she had been earning previously, she accepted the offer. Her family’s and friends’ nervousness about her situation reverberated through the phone lines with a loud and clear message: YOU BETTER TAKE IT. Rose took their advice but inside her spirits sunk with the unmistakable feeling of taking “multiple steps backwards”. Read more
In the last issue, Don’t Postpone Joy, I asked you to email me with your answer to this question: What will you do to enjoy now? Today, in lieu of the usual article, I thought you’d like to see some of the responses I received: Read more
I’d see Elizabeth, one of my childhood friends, during the summer at our family beach club located in New Rochelle, NY, on the Long Island Sound. We were opposites. She was a competitive swimmer while my idea of swimming was hopping around the pool with one foot touching the bottom. We had tons of fun together splashing around, telling stories, and inventing games. Read more
Our work together was abruptly interrupted by the earthquake that struck her country on January 12. Knowing someone who lives in Haiti made the news headlines all the more real. I was relieved and grateful the day I received her email letting me know she was okay. After taking a few months to regroup, Vanessa was ready to resume coaching. On our first call, she explained that her neighborhood in Port-au-Prince had been spared, her home was intact, and the office where she works was still operational. Read more
Ever start a new endeavor where, right from the onset, you weren’t sure whether you would be successful? I observe this fairly often during the coaching process. The words might not actually be spoken but I’ll feel them. Someone will be a few weeks into a coaching program and I can hear the doubtful thoughts enter the room with a thud. What if this doesn’t work for me? Can I do it? Sure it works for other people, but will it work for me? Read more
I’m thirteen years old and sitting at the kitchen table with my friend, Luisa. Opened textbooks and library books surround us. It’s dark outside and dinner time is fast approaching on a winter weekday afternoon. The smell of baked potatoes in the oven permeates, as my mother begins to prepare tonight’s meal. She hears our intermittent groans and senses our trepidation at the size of the project. Read more
After the last issue, Tackling A Tough Job?, several of you emailed me to say that the “I am willing” approach is helping you see your challenges in a better light. Today, I offer you a few more thoughts on approaching “big jobs” including a reminder to use music as part of your motivational routine. Read more
“Sometimes success is due less to ability than to zeal.
The winner is he who gives himself to his work body and soul.”
—Charles Buxton
Early this year I posed this question to you: What is it time for? Whatever your answer, I invited you to accept the challenge and embrace the work before you. I’ve been thinking more about that phrase I used — embrace the work — and what it really means. By now it’s likely that the difficult parts of the work you set out to accomplish this year have become known. How do you handle it when you’re tackling a tough job? Read more
Paula, a seasoned executive who puts her all into her job, recently hired me to help carve out her next career move. She’s sensing something new on the horizon but is pretty worn out from the constant surge of adrenaline that spikes over the course of her 13-hour-plus workdays. Even before her next career direction emerges, one top priority is abundantly clear: taking better care of her health. Paula would like to return to her yoga practice, but she is concerned about how she’ll find the time and has had difficulties with being able to settle down. Read more