My own concept of career is like a wardrobe, where you “try on” different outfits throughout your lifetime, and continue to check mirror to see if it still fits and matches your current style and taste. In modern world of work, you will need to find work that is “suited” to you. Think of your life’s work as your wardrobe. It is ever-changing as you move through life, changing as your styles and interests change. Throughout process, you will be tailoring yourself to fit different roles, and to meet changing work styles and expectations.

Thus, today, way in which we go about planning and strategizing our work life is constantly changing. We are taking a more proactive---therefore more exciting and challenging approach--- to managing which way our career takes us. People are daring to walk their unique paths, and ignoring traditional routes. In fact, tomorrow’s jobs are relatively unknown to us at this time, as there will be new titles and new career fields that will develop. If a modern career is like a wardrobe, you will wear many kinds of outfits throughout a lifetime, sometimes mixing and matching ensembles, but always checking to see that it still reflects your current style and remains a good fit. It has been said that clothes make man—what you are displaying to world through your choice of clothing is how you express yourself. Similarly, how you express yourself and what you value is reflected in work you choose to perform. As Mark Twain said, “There is no security in life, only opportunity.” Given today’s changing times, we cannot hold onto one idea for very long---there is so much good work that must be done to help us evolve to our fullest potential. We are multi-talented, multi-faceted beings with many gifts to share. We cannot lock ourselves into any one job or job path. We must walk our path, but remain flexible and open to new experiences. We also need to learn our lessons along way. Each job, no matter how small, is meaningful and is part of our career plan in that we are always building onto our careers. Today’s work will prepare us for tomorrow’s opportunities.

Getting things completed—one of my mentors used to say, “The pregnancy is wonderful, if only baby didn’t have to be born.”

Nancy continued, “While doing this, I have supervised remodeling of house, got H&M off on cruise, fixed dinner for my roommate and visited with her, and done many coaching sessions.

“I give my friends and clients impression that I am serene and unruffled (or so they say) but you wouldn’t BELIEVE what I accomplish in a day. I recommend good mental and physical health habits and elimination of toxic people and television.”

MY WORK IS MAJESTIC

The most amazing thing about this experience with Nancy was her passion. She emailed me at one point: “A website is a majestic thing and deserves full attention of someone who knows how important it is to get your message across.”

One of things she’s best at is ‘getting’ who you are and putting it into web site. I think this is because of focus. She’s into other person and project, not self-concerns.

BLAMING & SHAMING

In this team project, there were changes in direction, call them snafus. The name I’d chosen was being use so logo had to be changed. “Great!” Nancy emailed. “How about this?” The photos she originally chose turned out to be too expensive. “How about these?” she replied, sending 3 new ones.

I’ve worked on many teams, and biggest time-waster and energy-drag is those disgruntled sighs, rolling of eyes, throwing hands up in air, labeling things as “mistakes” and assigning fault. Comments such as Why didn’t you tell me beforehand… There was a miscommunication…You said you wanted … If you’d said that in first place … Subtle or blatant, they accomplish nothing and exhaust us.

Change it, fix, it, keep it flowing, was our motto. We didn’t waste time analyzing, blaming, naming, shaming.

Are you overwhelmed? Many of my coaching clients and friends are. You can take some tips from Nancy, on how to declutter, and here’s one from me—when you surround yourself with people like this, life sure goes a lot easier! Declutter your project team!

My website? I wish we could still be working on it. How often do you say that when you’ve finished working on a project with someone? How often can you say “It was a pleasure working with you” and mean it?