A Career, A Job, A Business … Confining or Expanding

As a multi-talented individual how are you experiencing you career, job, business?  Does it feel that you are confined or are you able to expand into all your talent areas?  Limiting or making a choice is not a requirement for “success”.  Let’s explore options and what can work for you.

As a multi-talent, you have many interests, many things you enjoy, many things you are good at – so the questions comes up, what works for me?  When you are looking at a career, a job, or a business there are several approaches you can take.

Look at your many talents and interests and find the common thread.  The common thread can be connected to a feeling or a value.  Thus there does not have to be a “logical” connection.  It is also like connecting the dots in a dot to dot picture.  Each individual dot does not let you see the pattern of the picture.  However, as you connect the dots the big picture comes into focus.

To not be confined you can use A talent as your income stream and have a variety of avocational interests you explore – different days of the week, one a month, or one every 2-3 years – whatever works for you.

You can also delve into a certain area for a certain period of time and then make a change and plan for just that.  This can be a totally different area that you immerse yourself in or stepping stones that are connected.

You can look at a company, an environment or a situation and ask, how can I contribute to the betterment or expansion?  You can also ask what other talents can I use in different ways to expand my opportunities or involvement of where I am.  This can translate to being a linch pin as described by Seth Godin, a person who leads from within.

Looking beyond job titles is important.  Looking at the skill sets and talents you enjoy using so that you can combine interests.  You can do what you do well and do it in an environment that elicits other interests you have.  Such as an accountant in the Forest Service – combining being good with numbers and the love of the outdoors.  Open yourself to a broader perspective to create the opportunity for a stimulating enjoyable environment for you to contribute.

What can you create – opportunities, environments, businesses, products, services, art by combining your many talents and meet your needs and those of others.   Think about.  Comment below and join the Teleclass on March 14th!!  (Details for the teleclass are in the newsletter).

A Slip, A Lapse, A Collapse

I ran across the post by Capt. Chadwick Ackison, a clinical psychologist and chief of the Rsiliency Element, on SMART goals (here) .  He talked about setting goals and also about getting sidetracked – experiencing slips, lapses, and collapses.  These are the realities of moving forward on dreams and goals.

 

Capt. Ackison describes – a slip as a slight deviation from the plan or a mistake that is not consistent with the end goal.  A lapse is a series of slips, and a collapse… well… that is back on the couch.  As Capt. Ackison says, if we quickly identify the slips we avoid both lapses and collapses and not derail our goals.

 

To correct slips (and yes even lapses and collapses) it is important to know the why of our goal.  The why is the intrinsic motivation.  The why is what value and benefit reaching/completing the goal has for us.  Are the benefits greater than the concerns?  The concerns can be time, money, energy, fears (yes, being scared to take the next step in the unknown), or even a simple as disrupting our current routing.  The benefits – the value to move forward – are our reasons for doing it  (not anyone else’s’ reasons).

 

Even with strong motivation staying on track can be a challenge.  Fear and survival kick in.  It is tough to do the uncomfortable or the unknown because that may not be “safe”.  Our self-protection is initiated and dissuades us from taking the next step because we are unsure what the result may be.  It is scary and the “what ifs” raise their ugly faces.  As in the SMART goal system you need to be specific.  In addition, breaking the goal down into steps a backwards flow plan.  Asking what has to be done right before the goal is achieved and before that – who, what, when, where – needs to be done to the tiniest step that you can do today.  A little step is easy to see as being doable.  Fear is out-smarted and you can take a step.  Forward movement creates an energizing effect that perpetuates movement.  Hooray!

 

Another challenge that can interrupt our movement and dissipate our commitment is feeling all alone in our pursuit.  We are humans and connections make a difference.  Having a buddy or a support team provides encouragement and accountability.  Someone to take the journey with us provides the opportunity to – be understood as we struggle;  be held accountable; have a celebration for progress; brainstorm ides for obstacles; and for you to do the same.

 

Yet, a side trip may have its advantages also.  First recognize you are off the most direct path.  Then look at the factors surrounding the change in route.  Is it fear, hesitation, lack of energy; or is it curiosity, new interest, an augmentation to the goal, a more fined tuned niche, an unexpected connection, or a leap in the goals direction?  If it is one of the latter, integrate it into your plan and run with it or define it further seeing where it takes you.  Parallel paths are acceptable.  Refining the goal and pathway is part of the journey.

 

Remember slipping, lapsing, and collapsing are not an end all.  Heighten your awareness and your strategies, and keep stepping.  What goals are you working on?  Who is your support?  What is your plan?  What is your next step today?

Perfection – Achievement – Excellence

Do you get things done? Do you express your potential?  Do you get in your own way?  Do you respect your abilities?

We have dreams, ideas and many interests.  We have things we want to try, to do, to explore.  We have things we want to accomplish, create, share, and build.  It is easy to see all these things, identify what could be, and imagine possibilities.  Yet, it many times is very difficult to actually make it happen.

Our standards and expectations can be an asset or a barrier to our attempting, accomplishing, or completing anything.  Standards and expectations can motivate us to do our best or stop us in our tracks because it won’t be perfect.

Perfection is an ideal that does not exist in nature or in anything we attempt.  To maneuver around the focus on perfection decide what is the bottom line you can accept.  What will meet the minimum requirements.  Now compare the minimum requirements with your picture of perfection.  What is excellent – somewhere between the bottom line and perfection; that which is achievable, meets the need, solves the problem, creates the desired result.

Another factor that enters into achievement is the fear of the unknown, an internal resistance.  We have difficulty planning or taking the next step.  Mother nature for survival purposes has given us an internal warning system to keep us safe.  Going into the unknown, taking that next step can be scary.  We will want to retreat to stay safe.  Knowing this we can identify the next smallest step possible to move toward our goal.  By making it small it can feel safe because we have a pretty good idea what  the outcome will be.  Tiny steps, one at a time, keeps us moving.

In addition to fear, we need to value the outcome to go through the challenge of change.  The creation needs to coincide with what is important to us in life.  The benefits we gain from taking the steps, making the change, has to be greater then our concerns or the benefits of staying the same.   We need to want the outcome, experience the adventure with our heart and soul.  That’s that little critter called intrinsic motivation.

Yet another facet of being human is trying to do it all ourselves.  We can feel discouraged, hopeless, or frustrated.  We see the goal.  We are not making progress sufficiently or quickly enough.  We become overwhelmed.  We play the what if game with ourselves.  Something as simple as having a buddy that we can check in with makes a huge difference.  The mastermind group process, the team process, the buddy system show that much can be accomplished when not going it alone.  Connect with someone and commit to support each other in the steps to achieving excellence!

For more information and connecting with others join us at the teleclass on February 15th.  Sign up for the newsletter to get the details.  Have some questions or ideas share them in the comments below.

Flower Essences, a tool for moderating emotional extremes and sensitivities

Understanding your emotional roller coaster helps decide if you will scream or throw your hands up in delight.  Flower Essences focus on the specificity of the emotion, calm the level of the experience, and allow moderation and facilitation of the emotion to be directed by our intention versus only a response.  It takes us outside of ourselves to know the experience and not eliminate the experience.

 

Flower Essences are potentized herbal extracts that directly address emotional aspects of wellness.  They act as powerful catalysts in the journey of self-awareness and health of body and soul.  They help us traverse our inner journey.

 

We experience a variety of emotions with different intensity daily.  Sometimes our sensitivity interferes with our ability to see the larger picture.  We spin in circles and are overwhelmed, not able to move through the experience and take the next steps.  Other times out of survival we wall off the emotions and sensitivities to such a degree that we do not feel.  We want to release the block or intensity, experience the emotion as it happens and move on to the next experience and feeling.

 

Flower Essences allow us to flow with the emotional experience no matter what the emotion is and let us live life with full expression.  They are a tool to help us clarify what we are experiencing and facilitate the flow without the dam.  Emotions are powerful like water and can be constructive or destructive.  Both “positive” and “negative” emotions are building blocks.  Through the observers role we can increase our awareness of our emotional experiences.  Using Flower Essences as a tool we can manage the ebb and rise of the emotions.  The intent is not to have the emotions, but to flow with the experience and to know ourselves.

 

Flower Essences through the Flower Essence Society utilize the 38 identified by Dr. Edward Bach and 103 additionally identified in North American flowers.  If you are experiencing anger you have 9-11 remedies to choose from.  This requires clarifying the composition of the anger.  The process of clarification itself provides greater awareness and support for coping.   Emotional experiences are continuous, there source, intensity, and make-up change and thus the effective essence changes.  This is an internal journey which enhances the external interaction with life.  As long as we are alive we will always face challenges, and will always have the need to learn and evolve in the school of life.  Flower Essences are a tool to bring balance and management to the extremes and enhance our daily interactions.

 

What questions do you have?  What experience have you had with Flower Essences?  Ask and share in the comment session.  Join us at the free teleclass on Jan 18th, 2012.  Sign up for the newsletter and get the details.

A Rose is a Rose or Not?

We label the rose so that we can talk about it with others.  And yet when we say rose are we thinking the same thing?

There are red roses, yellow roses, white roses, and variations the full spectrum of the rainbow.  There are long stem roses and tea roses.  There are hybrid roses and wild roses.  Each rose has its own uniqueness just like the snowflake.  And each kind of rose has a specific kind of thorn.

Being multi-talented, we each have our unique gifts and with various hues.  With those gifts come characteristics that can be prickly and are specific to who we are.  The beauty and the pain come together as one.  The beauty creates the awe, admiration, and reverence.  The prickly thorns need to be respected, understood and managed.

Know the characteristics we can develop options and enhance the beauty.  Sometimes we need to handle ourselves with kid gloves.  Other times we need to cut out the old growth for the new growth.  We need to cultivate the colors, the size, and the form; and know that the thorns are part of what makes it a rose.

The cultivation is difficult if we do not understand the make-up of the rose and how all the parts function.  We also need to understand the importance of the soil for nurturing, the trellises for support, the lady bug for collaboration, and the sprays for protection.  We need to recognize a rose is part of a community – the bush, the vine.  The rose can be hearty and yet delicate.   They have cycles with peaks of performance.  The rose will adjust to the terrain and the sunlight.

This all happens with each of us as a multi-talented individual understands themselves.  As we help others to understand.  As we overcome the challenges.  As we use our abilities to clarify and communicate about being gifted.  We can be stunning in our expression as we develop our individual variety.  We realize our place in the community as we connect and contribute.  We are the whole rose in all its glory and prickliness.

 

What are your experiences as the rose with thorns?  Share in the comments.

Labels, Labeling – value or hindrance?????

Label – a short word or phrase descriptive of a person, group, intellectual movement, etc.;  a word or phrase indicating that what follows belongs in a particular category or classification.

 

Labels facilitate greater precision in communication.  They allow us to assume a body of knowledge relative to the identified label.  We can then exchange ideas, present solutions, develop studies relative to that which is labeled.  Labels are a tool.  Just because there is a hammer or a computer, that does not define all the uses or that all solutions are addressed by these tools.  Labels are a way of grouping information, facts, and perceptions together to further explore possibilities – not to define an end.

 

When we apply labels to individuals, this can become an issue of inclusion or exclusion with assumptions based on the related body of knowledge.  The complexity of human beings and the full spectrum of potential, raw material and experiences are ignored.  Labels can facilitate understanding and a base for developing solutions to meet needs.  The body of knowledge a label represents can initiate idea generation for development.  Looking at the limitations of the labels is just as important for addressing an individual’s needs.  It is important to take into consideration the multitude of “labels” that can be applied for that individual to paint a picture that has sufficient depth to be a spring board for development, success, achievement, and meeting needs.

 

Do not get hung up on labels.  Use labels as a tool for communication and solution determination.   Different tools may be needed for different scenarios for the same person.  So yes, look at different appropriate “labels” to add the different bodies of knowledge to provide the foundation for well thought approaches for the defined goal.

 

Labels can increase understanding.  Greater understanding allows planning for development.   The experience of who you are and how to have your needs met comes from integrating the knowledge base that comes with a label.  However, you are not the label.  The label is not the answer.

What are your thoughts?  Make a comment below!  Let’s converse. 

What Hat am I Wearing? Roles of a Multi-Talented Individual & Life Strategy

A recent presentation:

Let me briefly introduce myself.  I have multiple degrees and work with all ages of people in various settings to achieve their potential.  My current focus is assisting high ability people express their talents proudly.

Tonight we are exploring what hats we wear, the influence of our intelligences, and how to integrate our roles with our desired life’s direction.  We will complete the analysis and strategy using De Bono’s six thinking hats.  We have about 45 minutes to immerse ourselves in this little exercise.  Ready, set, go.

We all have multiple intelligences – some are more pronounced than others.   As my cloak shows a collage of colors and designs, we also are an integration of various intelligences.  Our first step this evening is to review Howard Gardner’s intelligence types.  It is page one in your hand outs.  He outlines now 10 different intelligences he sees that are capable of being symbolized; has its own developmental history; functions in a specific areas of the brain; and has its own culturally valued end-state (high accomplishments).  Quickly look at the 10 identified intelligences on mark your top three strongest intelligences with a capital S.  Now identify the three least prevalent one’s for you with a capital M.  We do this to understand how we primarily perceive and interact with the world.  So have you marked your strongest three and your three least prevalent of Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial-Visual, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist, Spiritual/Existential and Moral.

Let’s move on to the roles we play or the hats we wear, page 2 of your handouts.  A challenge we have is weaving together the many roles we have to fulfill: mother, employee, daughter, sister, supervisor, owner, coach, athlete, musician, community member, neighbor, etc.  Sometimes all these hats can cause us to have role strain.  When we have too many hats we have role overload.  Our hats can also clash with one another.  For example, you want to attend your daughter’s softball game, but your boss needs you to work that evening.  Your role as a parent is conflicting with your role as an employee.  On the handout are some suggested roles, put a check mark by those that apply; cross off those that do not apply to you; add others that you wear in your life.  Next list in the second column some of the activities involved in that role.  Go down the third column and identify the percentage of time each role occupies currently in your life.  Who would like to give an example of their various roles and time spent in each?  Now answer the question – do you feel you have too many hats, too few, or just the right number?  With that thought in mind go back down column three and identify your preferred time allotment for each role you play or would like to play.

First we identified our strong and weak intelligences, now here on page two list the intelligence that are key to each role.  You have pinpointed your preferred time allotment for each role.  Are you utilizing your intelligences to their greatest advantage?  Do you need to further develop an intelligence?

The last column is about change – time allotment, activities for each role, delegating or eliminating activities, developing or adding roles, or……. with the intension of fine tuning your roles relative to your desired life direction.  We are not going to do an exercise to define our desired life direction.  We are going to analyze our roles, time spent, and use of intelligences using De Bono’s thinking hats to clarify what if any change is desired.

Page 3 in your handouts describes the perspective each hat has for the analysis.   Let’s start by putting on the White Hat.  We are neutral and objective as we look at our roles and the activities and time we spend in each.  Just the facts – is this logical with what you need to accomplish?  Make notes of your thoughts.   An example of White Hat perspective – I am a parent.  I have two children.  I am responsible to provide and care for the children and that involves……

Now let’s put on the Red Hat.  What do we love and hate to do?  What feels good or bad to us?  Look at your different roles and make notes on your emotional response to each.   An example of the Red Hat: Cleaning house is something I do not like at all.  I am frustrated trying to manage the house and the job.  I am delighted when I watch the kids.  I love making people laugh.

Time to put on the Black Hat.  This is serious business.  We need to be cautious and careful.  What is the problem with that change?  An example of Black Hat:  The children need my regular attention.  My schedule has to accommodate that need.  I have to have some quiet time and yet it is important for me to be involved in the community.

Smile, feel the sunshine as we put on the Yellow Hat.  What are all the positives about each role and the blend of roles you play?  How can you be all things to all people?  An example of Yellow Hat:  You have a great time management system and the supports in place to facilitate each role.  You know what your priorities are and balance the different hats you wear.

Burst into ideas galore with the Green Hat.   You create options easily.  New ideas on fulfilling your roles are abundant.  Green Hat example:  If you shift this role, let go of that role, share this activity with someone else, provide this option here – the many roles will work and work well.  If you increase the development or use of this intelligence the integration will fine tune.

Deliberate application of the Blue Hat:  Calm, cool and collected.  We can organize the different roles and gain control of our lives.  An example of Blue Hat:  A chart with time and obligations.  Start the day with identifying the three most important things to accomplish from all the roles and honoring our values.

Let us return to the White Hat.  What are your intelligences?  How are they utilized in the roles you play?  What changes do you need to make regarding the time spent in each role?  Having looked at your life roles from the different perspectives of the six thinking hats, what strategies can you develop to better fulfill your roles in the direction you desire for your life and have FUN?

Thank you for your time and your attention – What hat are you wearing?

Join the Teleclass on Dec 17th register here

Mandalas and Self Discovery

Pictures are our first language.  Mandalas are a spiritual pictorial language through the ages and across cultures.  Through Mandalas the invisible becomes visible.  Jung relates this to connecting with Self and expressing our own unique pattern, and to fulfill our urge to live out our potential and experience wholeness.

Mandalas are a tool of healing and expression.  Mandalas are a way to go inside and bring forth your own personal fountain.

Multi-talents can connect their many talents with a visual understanding.  Mandalas are also a way to focus the varied directions and the intensity of life.  Mandalas provide a means to experience and express the emotional roller coaster with wholeness.  They create an opportunity to integrate what feels like a million fragments.  Mandalas bring hope and vision.

There are many ways to create Mandalas – for example:  colored sand like the Tibetan Monks; colored dirt and rocks as by Native Americans; the various labyrinths; colored pencils or paints on white paper; and the white and colored pencils on black.  The latter is the medium I have use for a number of years.  This is the method developed by Judith Cornell and described as drawing in the light.

The process involves taking a black piece of paper.  Draw a circle with a white pencil.  Sit quietly with the paper and pencil.  Quiet your mind.  Write down your question, intention, experience of the moment you want to clarify.  Sit quietly and focus on your intention.  Visualize the picture or the central light in your mind’s eye.  Pick up the white pencil and draw what you see, what you feel.  Add shades of intense white and shades of intensity on the black paper.  Sit quietly, hands on the picture, and in your mind’s eye see the drawing with the colors or the rainbow or not.  Again transfer your visualization from you mind to the paper.  Express your visual experience.

The Cornell method is something I have used for years.  I have used it as a form of journaling.  I have a visual, as well as, a writing view of aspects of my journey through the years.  I have drawn small mandalas as Christmas gifts.  Like the one at the top of the page.  I have had the privilege of sharing the method in workshops for others to experience the expressive and healing modality.

Join in the teleclass on November 12th.  Register today here.  We will look at the history of mandalas, complete a meditative exercise, and provide the opportunity to draw – an expression of intensity with focus.  Have a question or an experience – share in the comments!

 

 

 

The Glass 1/2 Full – Relieve that Stress

A  young lady confidently walked around the room while leading and  explaining stress management to an audience; with a raised glass  of water, and everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate  question, ‘half empty or half full?’….. she fooled them all…  “How heavy is this glass of water?”, she inquired with a smile.

Answers  called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She  replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how  long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a  problem.  If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my  right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an  ambulance. In each case it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

She continued, “and  that’s the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all  the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.”

“As  with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and  rest before holding it again.  When we’re refreshed, we can  carry on with the burden – holding stress longer and better each  time practiced.

So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night…. pick them up tomorrow.

Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, put them down for a moment. Relax,  pick them up later after you’ve rested. Life is short. Enjoy it  and the now ‘supposed’ stress that you’ve conquered!”

1  * Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue!

2 *  Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to  eat them.

3 *  Always read stuff that makes you feel good..

4 *  Drive carefully… It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker..

5 * If  you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague

6 * If  you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was  probably worth it..

7 * It  may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a  warning to others.

8 *  Never buy a car you can’t push.

9 *  Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then  you won’t have a leg to stand on.

10 *  Nobody cares if you can’t dance well.
Just get up and dance..

11 *  Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late..

12 *  The second mouse gets the cheese.

13 *  When everything’s coming your way,
you’re in the wrong lane.

14 *  Birthdays are good for you. The more
you have, the longer you live.

15 *  You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the  world to one person.

16 *  Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

17 *  We could learn a lot from crayons.
Some are sharp, some are  pretty and
some are dull. Some have weird
names and all  are different colors,
but they all have to live in the same  box.

18 *  A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a  detour..

19 *  Have an awesome day and know that
someone thought about you today.

20 *  It was me, your friend!

*Save the earth — It’s the only planet with chocolate!*

So Many Interests, How Do I Choose a Career?

When you have many interests and many talents, it can lead to the delight of sampling a variety or even everything.  It can also make it difficult to choose a single career, become focused as guidance counselors recommend.  However there are a couple of dynamics that can be in play: 1) You enjoy the new experience and variety.  You are thoroughly involved in the new idea or area of study and once it is transformed or understood you are ready to move on.  2) You want to dive into an option and become thoroughly immersed, but you think you will be stuck and what if it is the wrong one.   As Barbara Sher in several of her books indicates, you can do either once you recognize what your make-up is; realize your choice is respectful; and you address what is holding you back head on.

 

Multiple interests can indicate you are a Scanner (Barbara Sher) or a Renaissance Soul (Margaret Lobenstine).  Recognize exploring a variety of careers is respectable.  You can approach this by finding the common thread that runs through the various interests and pursue the common thread.  Now that may mean something like an inventor – creating solutions to problems in various fields, obtaining the patents (yes so you are financial rewarded for your abilities) and passing the production and implementation on to others (or find a company that does R&D in a variety of areas).  Or you can set yourself on a schedule of exploring something new every 1-3 years (as an example).  You can also choose an occupation that give you some satisfaction and then explore your interests with something new every month.  Keep in mind there is the choice between employment and self-employment that provides different opportunities for discovery.  In self-employment you many set up a variety of income streams to address many of your different interests.  So make the choice to pursue a myriad of options.

 

Now, your preference is to get into a subject, a specialty and delve deeply.  You want to learn, know, and be able to do everything possible in the specific field.  However, you do not want to choose or know how to choose.  If you think for a few minutes and are honest with yourself you know what area really catches and holds your attention, but you are fearful it will be the wrong one and once you make a commitment you are stuck.  To really know a specialty you need to go beyond the first pieces of knowledge which you quickly absorb.  You need to apply yourself diligently and persist to learn the material in depth.  This may be uncomfortable and frustrating, because everything has come easy and you have not learned how to learn or apply yourself.  Look at how you learned to walk – even if you did so early – it took trial and error, persistence, and an open mind to integrate the experience.  Give yourself small steps to grasp a new piece of difficult information or concept, then the next small step and you will be processing and learning.  Make a commitment and the effort, knowing you can explore interests avocationally or once you have mastered the subject you can make a career change.

 

Making a career choice is open to how you perceive “career”.  Income stream to meet your needs can be defined differently also.  Figure out what is most important to you; what is the process/concept that fits you best; then how to accomplish your goal or the means to the end.  Having too many interests is an aspect of who you are, not a detriment.  Have fun, enjoy, express yourself, and experience a life of careers.

 

What are your many interests?  What are the many careers you have experienced or want to?