Change

What am I going to do with my life?

May 13, 2016 0 Comments

No doubt there are lots of ways to tackle this question. If you are twenty you are probably asking it a lot. But you don’t have to know everything you are going to do. You just need something reasonable and purposeful to move towards. The joy, money, flow mix used by Chris Buillebeau may be useful to you as described in his new book, Born for This. Here’s an animated core message capturing Chris’ message.

And here’s the audio of a good interview of Chris with Brian Johnson.

I keep finding that you don’t have to be twenty to explore these issues again. I’ll never be twenty again but the intersection of “again” shows up for lots of reasons and if you pause there to thoughtfully explore and experiment, a new and fruitful enterprise may be just around the corner. I love the idea here that we all need to treat ourselves as “self-employed.” We each of the personal responsibility for developing our work (or some side-work) and keeping it meaningful. Its too easy to turn work or career into a life-sucking venture in greed. The benefit of this mix developed by Chris is that it acknowledges money in the mix but keeps joy — which relates to purpose large in our considerations.

Give it a try and connect with me to talk about it some more.

 

 

 

Career, Change

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In need of smarts? Keep reading books!

May 11, 2016 0 Comments

books

Getting smarter requires reading — reading books. Here’s why: blogs and online articles are quick reads but they don’t force you to do mind stretching work. The extended thought and working of the ins and outs of ideas requires more digging and exploration than most blog articles provide. Blog articles typically only scratch the surface of an idea. The creator of WordPress and a leader in the blogging realm, Matt Mullenweg, advocates for reading books. I like what he said to Michael Ellsberg, author of The Education of Millionaires:

“A common quality I see of people who are successful is that they are voracious readers. The book as a format is underrated in the digital age. I’m the first one to say blogs are fantastic, obviously. But they tend to be shorter form. Longer-form works stretch my mind more. When you write a book, it consumes you. What you get when you read that book, then, is someone’s entire life for several years or more, distilled into one work. That’s really powerful.

 

“I feel like these things have super-cycles, and I think we’re at the nadir of long-form writing. I think we might have just passed it, and it will rise again. The e-book revolution put an entire library into something as small as a paperback. For me, as I stopped reading books in favour of Internet content, I felt myself getting dumber. Several years ago, I thought, ‘Man, I don’t think I’m as smart as I used to be.’ I just felt a little duller. So I realized I had to start reading again. When I was starting [my company] Automatic, I realized, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing, so I need to read as much as possible.’ An e-book is ten dollars these days. Anyone can afford a book. Take some of the best books on entrepreneurship. Maybe Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker. Or The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki, which I was really inspired by when I was first starting out. What’s holding you back? Its your time and a few dollars. Or to go the library if you don’t have a few dollars. And you can have access to the world’s greatest wisdom on any topic.”

 

Michael Ellsberg, The Education of Millionaires: It’s not what you think and it’s not too late. 2011. p. 174

Change, Education, Leadership

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Confusion… before you are ready to learn.

May 25, 2015 0 Comments

Just before you are ready to expend the energy to learn, you may find that you are actually confused. This feeling of being out of balance, of not knowing exactly what to aim at, or where to start, is important to your growth.

You do have to name the “confusion.” Is the confusion sourced by pain over the past, a lack of clarity about personal vision, or is it the flood of recognition, “I just realized I have a lot to learn”?

Knowing that you don’t know something is a gift. Because once you identify what you don’t know and establish the conviction that you do want to learn it… you can develop a plan for growth.

 

The best leaders lean into their disequilibrium. Instead of panicking, these leaders know the fog will clear as they discover more about this new topic, new job, or new reality. They will figure out what they don’t know. When they know they don’t know something they develop a plan of learning. They will find some books, a course, and some people capable to coach, teach, and help. Sometimes they just dive in, get busy, and learn along the way.

Growth oriented people actually welcome the confusion of “not knowing.” They know its a prerequisite to the success they hope for on the horizon just beyond them.

Are  you retreating from your confusion or are you leaning into it?

Change, Leadership

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