Step Out. Step Up.
Aspiring, newly minted and experienced entrepreneurs rejoice! This week I happily devoured a second smart and engaging book to help us lead the life we want.
In my last post, I ditched Tony Robbins for Chris Guillebeau. (That was so easy!) Gurgling about the inspirational messages in Guillebeau’s book, “The ART of Non-Conformity: Set Your, Own Rules, Live the Life You Want and Change [...]
AARP would do well to pay Chris Guillebeau big bucks to be a spokesperson for their 50-something crowd. Chris won’t be eligible to join AARP for about 20 years, but so what? His writing is sharp, his message has guts, and his passion is contagious.
Chris Guillebeau has strong opinions about life, work and travel. [...]
Drama intersperses regular life unexpectedly. I’ve had my share of drama moments.
Like the time I (who walked the straight, narrow and confining path of “good girl”) entered the home of my parents while they were away camping to find my younger brother rolling joints at the kitchen table.
What are YOU doing?!!!!
What does it look like?
Get that out of here! [...]
A raft of new research suggests spending money on an experience will make you happier than those new shoes or a Borsalino Super Fino Montecristi Men’s Fedora ($950).
“We’re moving from a conspicuous consumption – which is ‘buy without regard’ – to a ‘calculated consumption,’” says Marshal Cohen, an analyst at the NPD Group, a retailing [...]
I’m disappointed. I expected the reviews on the new movie, Eat, Pray, Love, to be better. They’re not so hot.
“… be warned that you are diving into a movie with the spiritual and emotional depth of a birdbath.” – St. Louis Suburban Journal.
“A bloated monster of a movie. … gargantuan running time.” – Cinema [...]
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 [...]
“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 [...]
Dead wrong? I’m overstating it a bit. At least half of us in mid-life are happy. In fact, we’re happier than we’ve ever been.
The other half of Boomers? Suicidal and making good on it.
That’s a brutal reality for the largest and richest generation in history.
The results of the latest Centers for Disease Controle and Prevention study [...]
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 [...]
Presented as “deep thoughts” for 2010 graduates who are poised to make decisions and take action about their lives, this conversation between CBS Sunday Morning contributor Ben Stein and his shrink is astounding and crystal clear. No matter what date is on your diploma, read it. It could change the direction of your life.
Ben Stein’s segment (CBS [...]
Johnny Paycheck’s 1977 hit went platinum. Don’t know what tune you’re humming, but the research tells us that Paycheck’s song is on the lips of many:
Better not try to stand in my way,
As I’m walking out the door.
Take this job and shove it.
I ain’t working here no more.
In February, the number of employees voluntarily quitting surpassed the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 29th anniversary. It makes us both laugh wildly to think we’ve been together this long. We could never have imagined it.
While the Atlanta rental properties we bought together, the time-share we agonized over, and my moving into his bachelor house after we married proved to be terrible choices, choosing [...]
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 [...]
Julia Roberts grew up in Smyrna, Georgia. Since I was part of the school system that raised her (I was a middle school counselor for 10 years), I can say that she never knew a moneyed lifestyle. There was no affluent side of Smyrna at that time (and I don’t think there is now.)
Watching [...]
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 [...]
This past weekend, my mother moved her 95-year-old father from Ohio to Pensacola, Florida, and into an assisted living facility a couple of miles up the road from her house. She had two siblings helping her, but this was still a time-consuming, logistical ordeal. Have you ever prepared an almost-centurion to get through TSA? Have [...]
When a healthy friend keeled over last month and died of a massive coronary, many in my community took pause – even her personal trainer. Not many of us do a better job of taking care of our health than Ann did.
The minister structured his eulogy around five adjectives. One of those has stayed with [...]
Ben Stiller hit the talk shows last week promoting his new film, Greenberg, using a clip that made me pause – as the advertisers obviously intended.
Playing a single, 40ish man at the crossroads of his life, Stiller responds to his friend’s lunchtime quip, “Life is wasted on the young,” with a more contemporary version than the originator [...]
Time.
Many things necessary for the faithful practice of ministry are in short supply. Nothing, however, is in shorter supply than time. Time for prayer, time for family, time for study, time for self.
These opening lines taken from the Sabbatical Grant application for Pastoral Leaders aren’t sentiments of “time shortage” felt only by the ministry. [...]
Let’s confirm what we already know. Most people, at some point, would like to take time out from work. Of course, there are real and serious questions to consider:
Is a sabbatical a smart career move?
Can a sabbatical make me more committed to my career? To my company?
Will I be transformed by the experience? [...]
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 [...]
Dan Clements is the author of Escape 101: Sabbaticals Made Simple. He and his wife have taken several sabbaticals – the most recent was a 5-month career break to rural Paraguay, South America with their five-year old daughter. Dan was kind enough to share the following insights on taking sabbaticals with children. I sure love [...]