Archives for A Better Perspective
No Resolutions for New Year, Just the Gift of a Journey
Holiday gatherings reunited me with friends, family and colleagues. After hugs and “great to see you,” I used the common conversation starter, “So, what’s going on with you?” Answers included:
“Working hard, going nowhere.”
“Well, you know, my life is all about the kids.”
“Not much of anything.”
“Same ole’, same ole.”This is not how everyone responded. The theme [...]
Bring Back the 40-Hour Work Week? Can We Noodle on That?
In the third debate, the President’s history lesson -“we don’t use bayonets and horses”- prompted big buzz, smiles and controversy. But, although billed as a last resort, bayonets still do play a part in military arms, just not a significant one.
Another idea – a killer idea – also steeped in history moves toward a possible [...]
Where the Spirit Leads, Feet Follow: Walk, Baby, Walk
While extreme sports fuel many, the rest of us are not, nor do we aspire, to be in the club. For a lot of different reasons, we don’t want to go “peak bagging.” We’re not fit enough, strong enough or brave enough. Still we’d like to “live bold” and “dare to do more.”
The urge for [...]
When Love for Your Career is Dying
Often the best outcome of the sabbatical experience is returning to your job uplifted, energized and recommitted. At the core of this payoff is re-discovering true passion. For it is passion that fuels creativity and energy, propelling us forward with a sense of purpose and self-identity.
Admitting we have lost passion for our work isn’t easy. [...]
Experts Say We Already Have What It Takes. Oh What Rubbish.
Can you remember the last bad day you had? The one where the future seemed dimly lit and you felt frustrated not knowing what to tackle first? Well, today’s mine.
Bad mood and overwhelmed, I feel my life has a thousand loose ends and the dragon that will slay the fears of my future is at [...]
Owning the Life I’ve Built
Over a cup of coffee at Folly Beach, a wise friend told me what I needed to hear.
I’ve experienced several major changes in my life during the last six months, including putting a home I’ve owned for 13 years on the market and moving to another state. I told my friend that I feel as [...]
Want Answers and Solutions? First, Live the Questions.
“It got too much water but it’s gonna be all right, Miss Barbara,” says Roth, my landscaper, smiling while his shaven head glistens in the July sun. “Just be patient.”
Patient, my petunias. I’d throw one of those Bluestones he’s unloading in his direction if it weren’t so heavy.
One half of the new sod placed in my front [...]
Did I Create My Wee, Wonderful Life? Or Is My Fortune Cookie Fixed?
So far this week I counted my blessings twice and neither time lasted longer than it takes to scroll down my home’s digital thermostat so I can be cooler.
Sunday night’s bedside reading about the dire straits of Haitians 6-months post earthquake (The New York Times, cover story, July 11,2010) regurgitated Monday night by Katy Couric on [...]
Make Your Sabbatical Ode Worthy (You do Know What an Ode is, Don’t You?)
Maybe you never thought of writing an ode to your sabbatical experience. This kind of lyric poem often praises people, the arts, natural scenes, or abstract concepts (or most any common thing, as you will discover).
Having just read 25 odes – one a night for the last month – I propose that instead of telling your [...]
Living the Width of Your Life: How’ya Doing on That?
No matter that I’m in the midst of a frantic pace of checking off a long to-do list of work items before I start to pack. A precise collection of words can make me pause. This one did.
“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the [...]
How Successful, Creative People Overcome Mental Barriers
Talent Management magazine’s editor, Mike Prokopeak, wrote a compelling editorial in the May 2010 issue about how the difference between a baby’s brain and an adult’s brain and how, as we age, our thinking can become “stale” and we cease being able to see existing things in new ways.
He mentions Iconoclast, a book by an [...]
Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber?
This was the title of an article in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. Two experts answered the question. Clay Shirky says “Smarter”. Nicholas Carr argues “Dumber”.
I was struck by some of Carr’s thinking, especially this: “…a growing body of evidence suggests that the Net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is also turning us into [...]
The Young, Unfit and Delusional Might Not Live Long Enough for Their Career Break
Toward the end of dinner last evening, the three couples I was among discovered our ages spanned 36 years – from a 38-year-old to a 74-year-old. While our conversation had included what everyone did for a living and what one might do should their employer ever offer them a sabbatical (a dog sled adventure, ballroom [...]
A Committed Sabbatical Taker Discusses Self-Awareness and Authenticity
Taking a sabbatical is an ideal activity for a Life Entrepreneur. It gives you a chance to explore new parts of yourself, learn something different, engage in activities that will allow you to return to work renewed and re-energized. In looking back at my life, I can see that I have been a committed “short [...]
Solitude: It’s Often What’s Needed, But Are You Even Capable of It?
In 2006, then-struggling American indie folk singer-songwriter Justin Vernon left North Carolina with a broken heart and retreated to his father’s remote cabin in Northwestern Wisconsin. There, he recorded the songs that would become Bon Iver’s debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, playing all the instruments himself. In isolation, Vernon says, he was able [...]
No Matter Your Generation: Sober Up and Forget Retirement
How long will you live? Stop dithering and find out.
This calculator will change your life -http://calculator.livingto100.com/calculator or change the way you think about work and retirement.
No matter how old or busy you are, you’ll anticipate that number popping up at the end – the one that tells you (based on genetics, health, stress, etc.,) how [...]
Want Everlasting Change? Then Design a Sabbatical To Suit Your Need
We’re often asked about the staying power of sabbaticals. Can a sabbatical experience change a person? Yes. How long will the person be different? Forever and ever.
Not every sabbatical holds this status. If you lolly around and fritter away the time doing stuff that doesn’t mean very much to you, you’ll stay about the [...]
The Thrill of Getting Un-Stuck – I'm Feelin' It
One of the best post-sabbatical outcomes for me, personally and professionally, was a significant improvement (think C+ to A+) in my ability to make quick decisions. Although learning how to push a little boat through the water for six months never made my daughter and me great sailors, we changed in other ways. That [...]
Cookin' Up a Sabbatical in The Age of Disorder
In the brave new world we in which we will soon live, when this chaos is over, significant changes will prevail. Will life be more complex? Will we downsize life as easily as we choose (as predicted) less square footage in our new homes? Will we work less; sabbatical more? Or will we choose a [...]
Ferriss' 4-Hour Work Week Inspires Sabbatical Mindset
The 4-Hour Work Week inspires sabbatical mindset
Off-Ramp Going to No Where: An Idea for a Sabbatical Close to Home
Although life is a journey, mine has some structure and includes several strict routines. Music routine: Listening to Harry Chapin on rainy Saturdays, good loud bluegrass on Sunday mornings, followed by Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell in the afternoons – also with the volume up.
If you don’t know this music, hang on. Despite our differences [...]