It’s easy to get down and depressed when it seems like so many things aren’t happening the way you want them to. I meet with men and women who are working hard to find the next right thing for them and they come in stooped and frustrated. But they do perk up and become inspired once we scratch the surface and find the quiet possibilities that lie, often, just below the surface.

This shift we’re experiencing is creating a lot of second thoughts about career paths chosen and how they’ve been managed. Fact is that things just happen…We forget that the view from the ‘top’ is lonely because not everyone makes it there. But we’re coming from a time when it seemed that the top was accessible to so many. Now we’re all being pushed to think and act differently. I’m reading (or listening on my ipod, actually) The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. You’ve probably read it already, too, but if not…do. If you’ve been holding out on learning about changes in commerce, now’s the time to get up to speed. And if you have a long- standing but quiet dream of starting your own business now is the time to get started on making this happen. Be honest with yourself about what you really want and enlist someone to encourage you to go for what you envision. There’s room for everyone out there to make their mark…but let’s face it, many corporate work places have figured out that they can get by with fewer people on their payroll. Of course this will ultimately backfire because so many people are burning out. A major backlash will be coming — employees who have had it will walk when the economy shifts again. I talk to those people too ;-0

So get fired up, get out and learn. Get active. Let yourself be inspired by a dream you held long ago and then remember that feeling uncomfortable (this will happen after you decide to take action) is a great sign that you’re in learning mode. And everyone needs to be updating themselves and their notions of how work and commerce work now. What’s your next move?

While visiting friends in Colorado over the holidays I had the great good fortune to meet and spend time with a woman who told me she didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up. She is 86 and an artist who brought a train car onto her property and transformed it into her home. Bright and warm, her sense of color and design fill the space. She has brought striking color and imagination to the lives of so many, and continues to develop ideas and create art. She is curious about the internet, i phones, and cameras. She asks pertinent questions, and keeps important quotes nearby throughout her cozy home.
And she’s on alert for learning more about what she wants to do when she grows up. This artist embodies the curiosity and playfulness that empowers her to keep trying new things in her work, and life. Surrounded by nature and people who pay attention to their spirit and the spirit around them, she stays keenly attuned to her environment.
I left Colorado reminded that quiet, and the awareness that has the opportunity to bloom in quiet, empowers us to connect to inspiration and curiosity. Now back in Los Angeles I am acutely aware of how much discipline it takes to tune in and pay attention to the quiet. This is the quiet that sparks new interests and makes the statement ‘I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up’ something fun, instead of scary.

What’s the best graduation gift? Money? A watch? A car? A trip to another country? All good! But I’m giving something some might think is rather dry. I’ve decided to give the gift of education…I’ve been reading about the difficult time new grads, and those who haven’t even graduated yet, are having finding jobs this summer and I want to do something to help. I’m offering our Interviewing Excellence program on June 10th for free to those people out there who are under 23. I may even do that with our Navigating Career Change panel on July 10th, too. There’s just so much you don’t really know about work when you’re just getting started.
I know I didn’t know much about how to handle an interview when I was 21, or 23 (and sometimes when I was older, too, although I did get really good at it). My life would have been completely different if I’d gone for the job at the brand new little shop on Columbus Avenue – The Silver Palate. Had I handled the introduction and the interview with confidence and ease that little shop, with it’s two illustrious owner/chef/authors, might have launched me into a whole world of work that I would have loved! But I didn’t know the first thing about doing an interview, let alone a job search. That opportunity swept past me faster than a falling souffle! And that shop and its owners went on to make culinary history (writes the woman who just (happily) made 8 doz. cookies today).
So my gift is extended because I remember all of the things I didn’t know. And I’d love for someone, someday, to write me a letter and say that because of my gift of this program they got the job that launched many years of satisfying work. Now that would be a real gift for me