I subscribe to Christine Kane‘s email newsletter, which offers a variety of business- and life-related advice. Christine, an Asheville, N.C.-based musician turned life coach, offers her content for free reuse, as long as its attributed, so here’s one I especially liked recently: The Sharp Edges of Expansion: Why Your Life Purpose Hurts Sometimes Somewhere along the way, we learn to…
I’m a big fan of setting goals but writing down what I want is not the same as achieving it. My friend, Sara, and I have agreed to hold each other accountable for moving forward on our high-flying aspirations, since creative types often excel at using our creativity to procrastinate in new and interesting ways. That’s why I loved this…
Lately I’ve read a number of articles that discuss the difference between happiness and life satisfaction. In my market research role, I often discussed with people the importance of words in survey questions — asking someone if they are satisfied with a product is different from asking if they’re happy with it, for example. I’m satisfied with my light bulbs…
I stumbled onto this satirical post recently on Cassie Behle’s blog. It says in part: Because the onset of case of the Mondays’ symptoms almost always appear like clockwork Sunday, some workers often confuse a stubborn hangover for the disease. Doctors nationwide have seen a rash of workers coming into the office and mistaking the two, and are urging workers…
When I recently returned from South by Southwest Interactive, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why the 20,000-person tech festival fires me up so much. Sure, there’s a lot going on — compelling speakers, rockin’ parties, huge crowds on the sidewalks. But for a woman who lives in New York, it’s not like I couldn’t access those things any…
When I started piano lessons last spring, my approaching 40th birthday was a big motivator. Something about a milestone birthday triggered my deadline response, and I thought I’d like to be able to play at least one song by my 40th. Turns out I can do a decent job at several songs, including Scarborough Fair and My Cherie Amour. Not…
I have always been a girl with a plan. I lived life like a chess game, thinking through how my current move will ripple through three moves ahead: Getting good grades in high school would help me get into college Doing internships during college would help me land a job after graduation Taking a job at a small newspaper would…
Earlier this week I wrote a post headlined “Feel the fear and do it anyway,” about not letting fear limit our decisions. I’ve been reflecting on major forks in the road in my life and how often I have self limited by taking the conservative path — what my husband, John, calls being a good girl. If a…
“Feel the fear and do it anyway” ~ Susan Jeffers I’m blessed to have some fabulous people in my life, including career coach Kim Ann Curtin. Kim met with me recently to help me strategize about where my career is headed and how to get there. As we talked about various possibilities, Kim asked what I was afraid of. My…
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back — concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.…
It’s easy to see why Four-Hour Workweek is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek bestseller – working four hours a week and having a comfortable lifestyle is just short of winning the lottery in terms of fantasy freedom. After I heard author Tim Ferriss speak at MediaBistro Circus, where he shared many of the ways he’d marketed…
A guest post by Christine Kane: Let’s say you had a baby. Congratulations! Your baby is the best human ever! You love your baby. You celebrate as it starts to crawl. You and your partner delight in this baby’s every new adventure. Then, one day, the baby stands up on her own. “Yaaaaay!” you cheer. You clap your hands. The…
“No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky.” ~ E.B. White I have loved that quote since I decided I simply had to live in New York. It feels like it’s simultaneously a challenge and a promise of great opportunity. So I loved stumbling onto this post on the blog “explore. dream.discover”…
My dear friend Lara Zielin is an incredible role model for creatives — she works all day, then comes home and cranks out her own personal writing AND maintains two blogs. Lara has sold two young adult novels and is working on a third. She’s learned a lot about writing and the publishing industry and is sharing that wisdom on…
I liked this blog post because it’s an example of someone who set a life goal — doing her first triathlon — and is using her blog for motivation and accountability. She’s reaching out to her community for support, too, including being able to sponsor her hands and feet. This was a big, big week. Not only did I hit…
There’s a remake out of the 1980s iconic movie Karate Kid. It’s hard to imagine anyone my age who doesn’t have a mental picture of Ralph Macchio doing karate moves he learned from Pat Morita in the original. As any Gen Xer can tell you, Mr. Miyagi’s teaching style is a little sneaky. Daniel wants to learn karate but instead…
Do you long to retire early and enjoy a life of leisure? Not so fast. A study from the national Health and Retirement Study followed about 12,000 retirees and found that those who worked part time or on a temporary basis were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, lung disease, heart disease, stroke, arthritis…
