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- In the Shadow of a Daunting Task
- Personal Branding: Lessons From the 2012 Grammys
- Working After Retirement
- What “The King’s Speech” Should Mean to You
| In the Shadow of a Daunting Task Posted: 04 Mar 2012 09:00 AM PST
One afternoon, I felt like I hit a wall. And I had. It was physical as well as mental. I actually felt the wall go up as I contemplated a list I had made of all that I wanted to accomplish in the coming weeks and months and tried to figure out where (and how) to start. The sensation started in my stomach and slowly rose up to my chest, kind of like heartburn. Then it sunk heavily like a boulder thrown into a pond, encasing my mind with muddy residue. My impulse was to escape. So I left my computer and took a short break, slumping into an overstuffed chair and allowing my eyes to close for a minute. As I sat there, I began to think about my state and see if I could identify its cause. The feeling was not unfamiliar. I had experienced it a few weeks prior after our dog tore into a bag of garbage containing remnants of the previous evening's dinner and spread it all over the yard – and again right after I opened the box containing a new wireless printer and sat staring with an aching head at instructions that may as well have been in a different language. (That printer stayed in the box for a very long time, by the way.) And then I realized that it wasn't the work ahead of me that was causing the angst as much as what I was believing about it. At bedtime, when my kids were young, they would get scared by shapes in their room that they couldn't make out. In the absence of information, they created their own stories about what they were seeing, which usually involved some kind of monster or other unwelcome guest. But once the lights came on and they realized the monsters were really a jacket thrown over the back of a chair or a teddy bear with a large hat, they settled back into their beds and slept peacefully. We do this all the time with the projects and tasks we regularly face – and sadly, also with our grandest dreams and visions. In the light of day, we see them glimmer with promise and possibility. But in the dark, our doubts and fears creep in and distort things. This is the point where the skeptics welcome the optimists to reality. But it isn't reality at all. It is an illusion that has been fashioned by a frightened mind. The stories we tell ourselves in the dark are those of peril and potential failure. In the absence of knowing exactly what it will take to accomplish the task, project or dream and whether we will be able to pull it off, we begin to let our doubt amplify the enormity what lies before us. The shadow of a task magnified becomes a feat that feels insurmountable. But flip on the lights and challenge the assumptions that make a creation feel heavy, and it becomes an assortment of smaller pieces that can be gradually assembled over time. As Lao Tzu once said, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. My heaviness often settles in when I endeavor to write something new, and I know that I have entered my dark room. In the absence of light, I am prone to question my ability and my nerve, compare myself to others, and amplify the work it will take to achieve it. The darkness has a way of casting shadows on everything else that needs to get done as well. But in the light, I realize all I need to do is write a paragraph – and then another – and then another. And each seemingly insurmountable task can be broken down into a simpler component that I can get through with even just a little effort. I can breathe through my fear and move into each experience, letting go of the outcome and enjoying the process itself. When I stop to think about it, cleaning up the garbage the dog scattered around the yard wasn't nearly so miserable as I thought it would be. And when I finally got around to it, setting up the printer wasn’t either. The other, higher aspirations can be approached in a lighter, simpler manner as well. With this in mind, I will keep on writing… one paragraph at a time. Photo Credit: matthileo  |
| Personal Branding: Lessons From the 2012 Grammys Posted: 04 Mar 2012 06:00 AM PST Check out these four take-away messages.  |
| Posted: 03 Mar 2012 04:30 PM PST Working after retirement doesn't even have to be a full-time job. You have the option of working whenever you want.  |
| What “The King’s Speech” Should Mean to You Posted: 03 Mar 2012 01:30 PM PST
Let me be clear before some of you with degrees starting yelling at your screens. There are times when actual legal attributes are necessary. You can't (nor is it legal) use the title of Dr. preceding your name unless you have the requisite degrees, and licenses. That also goes for a lawyer, or architect just to name a few. However most get caught up in "looking like" they are something they're not rather than demonstrating what they are or what they can do to solve a client’s problem. Joining some organization (or paying for most) for the sole intention of adding letters to your title so you may appear smart is just plain dumb in my book. This is nothing more than trying to cover some inferiority complex. In the movie there is a dramatic scene where there is a confrontation between the King, his therapist, and the Bishop who is questioning the competence of the therapist for lacking credentials he deems as important. This analogous scene plays out in more boardrooms than one can count. It's also where most who have been in the position of the therapist fold like a cheap suit. Why? Because they invest more time in how their business card appears, or how important their title sounds rather than demonstrating what they can actually do to help a client. In this scene anyone who truly wants to make a living by achieving results that improve the client’s position must take note that the therapist never wavers in expressing what he can do, and what he has done. As far as the so-called monikers, they are useless, and he is unwavering in his argument on why he can help and not how he has a title that makes him sound like he can. In the real world today, yesterday, and tomorrow only one thing has merit, Results! You must be ready to argue your value proposition to the client and that proposition must be something that is deliverable, or transferable. Not some pie in the sky no matter what happens you can spin as a job well done and collect a check. You should be ready to defend your dignity, reputation, and repute to any mudslinging or self-anointed elite no matter where you are, and more importantly no matter whom they are. It is irrelevant that someone holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics while you might have never graduated high school. If the subject is about selling and you're a skilled and competent salesperson with a track record then the smartest person in that room will be You! And you had better get rid of the inferiority complex that allows you to be intimidated if the Ph.D. crowd at some board meeting starts demeaning your lack of schooling. You need to argue your value and demonstrate your skills or decide that you're wasting your breath and politely end the meeting and leave. If you don't see yourself as a peer and an expert in your own field who is capable and competent to argue the good, the bad, and the ugly in your chosen vocation, then no amount of letters after your name will make a damn bit of difference. © 2012 Mark St.Cyr Photo Credit: davekellam  |
Do you ever get to a place where you’ve just feel so tired that you simply can't do another thing? For many, this seems to happen right after lunch or around three o’clock in the afternoon. I used to think it was just a biological phenomonenon – perhaps the effect of having to digest food, or needing to eat something. I've tried chocolate, but it never quite works as well as I'd like - and it just leaves me wanting more.
In the movie The King's Speech, the dynamics between the main characters (the King and his speech therapist) reflect an underlying state of contention in the real world that one side (because of title) is an embodiment of superiority while the other, who has demonstrated talents, is regarded as inferior because they lack some moniker of worthless alphabet soup following their name.| You are subscribed to email updates from Upmarket To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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