Now What?® Coaching

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  • Miracles, Mortals, and Mosquitoes

    by Ginny Kravitz, Deputy Editor

    Right-click here to download pictures. To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.<br />photo of star-filled skyI felt inspired after seeing Daniel Day-Lewis’ intimate portrayal of Lincoln. The central message I took away was also in another movie directed by Steven Spielberg, Schindler’s List. Both of these illustrate the difference one person can make. Each man answered life’s call in the affirmative, and when he did, the results were nothing short of miraculous.

    What is your take on miracles? This was how Albert Einstein saw it:“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”

    full article here…

  • The Ninth Candle: Servant to the Light

    by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

    (Originally Posted at Huffington Post)

    Hannukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa all have a focus on lights or candles this time of year. The lights symbolize different things in each tradition, and in Judaism in particular, the Hannukah lights represent the eight days that the oil burned in the temple when there was only enough oil for one night. That is the miracle of Hannukah. The Jews had just won a battle that destroyed their temple and there was only one night’s worth of oil to burn. The eight candles on a Menorah represent the eight-day miracle. So that begs the question:

    “Why are there nine candles in a Menorah?”

    Ah, yes. The ninth candle. That candle is called the Shamash, which in Hebrew means “attendant” or “servant.” The Shamash is the servant to the other lights. The menorah can only be lit by the Shamash. It is not OK to light the other lights with any other candle other than the ninth one. As the attendant to the light, the Shamash is responsible for lighting all the others.

    Each of us is a light. We have the choice as to whether we live from that lit-up place or ignore our light. During the holiday season, most people feel their light more acutely. It’s a time of giving, sharing, remembering those less fortunate and wishing strangers on the street a good holiday. What I suggest this year is that not only are we all “lights” but we are also Shamashim. We are both light and the servant to the light because in every moment we have the choice to light other lights as we go about our day. Hold that image for a moment.

    If you were the attendant of other lights, is there anything you would change? If you were to hold other humans in your mind eye as a light to keep lit, would you change how you address them or think of them?

    I am the servant to the light in my children, my spouse, my family, my clients, by neighbors and I’ve chosen it as my work. Do I succeed all the time? Oh, God, no! But I am reminded as we light the menorah every night of the power we have to celebrate the light — the light in every single being. The light in you.

    Happy Hannukah to those who celebrate and enjoy the festivities of the season.

  • Seeking Meaningful Work

    What do dating and looking for meaningful work have in common?  Quite a bit, as it turns out.

    “Finding the Job of Your Life.”

    For more on this topic, here’s another resource:  The Little Book On Meaning.

     

  • Today’s Quote: Vision Combined with Venture

    “Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.”  Vaclav Havel

  • AM I Crazy?

    by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

    You think you’re nuts because you are considering leaving your job or making a big change. Your friends say you’re  crazy because you are walking away from a sure thing.  Your spouse is not talking to you because you are threatening the status quo and you’re now convinced that even the neighbors think you’re a little off.  Everyone knows you’ve lost it.

    Isn’t that GREAT?!

    Someone whose mind has gone to the fringes has a tentative grasp on ‘reality’. When it comes to today’s employment prospects, that’s exactly where you want to be! Why on earth would you want to buy in to the ‘reality’ of how terrible things are?  Doing so means staying still and going stale at a time when you have to be more creative than ever to solve the problems you face.   Does that mean jumping off a cliff because you have no concept that reality can crush you when you land?  No.  But it does mean moving out of the paralysis of fear or the comfort created out of the illusion of safety.

    If you’re crazy, you don’t see the limits that everyone else sees.  If you’re crazy, you live by your own rules and see the world a bit differently than everyone else.  Harmless crazy* people can also be quite joyful and powerful, unstoppable in their worldview and intrinsically unique.  Free of convention, you are able to write your own ticket.

    Isn’t that GREAT?!

    When clients tell me they think they’re nuts or that everyone is telling them they are, I get confirmation that they are on the right track. Whatever it is they are thinking of doing or have hinted at with others, when met with “you’re crazy”, has now confirmed the die has been cast.  We are in essence, daring to go where most won’t or even where we doubted we could.  That’s scary.  Not crazy.

    A new Now What?® client declared that their work experience probably only qualified them to work in retail at a barely-better-than-minimum wage rate.  However, she could see using her eye for fashion, décor and design in a much bigger way.  She had a few ideas as to where to do that as well. 

    “Am I nuts?”, she asked.

    “Yes”, I said. “If you believe the limits of your resume. No, if you believe in yourself.”

    That’s the key.  You can’t stop at what conventional wisdom dictates.  You stop (and maybe only to rethink) when you can’t find an open door. However, in my experience, once someone let’s the ‘crazy’ truth out and starts taking action towards it, opportunities do arise.  There is tremendous power in saying YES to yourself and NO to the limits everyone else interprets to be REALITY.

    There is a way around what most people call reality.   Clearly, you are not going to become a veterinarian when the closest you’ve come to an animal is the zoo or run a corporation without experience, but when you put an obstacle of ‘reality’ in front of you and leave it untested, you are not getting the full picture. 

    The rule is that if you have so many steps ahead of the goal that you want to give up, you MUST find ways to shorten the distance. 

    There may be retraining ahead. There may be education and experience but there is also a starting point.  Somewhere you can step into the game, gain momentum and start scoring points towards your ultimate goal.

    For example, someone recently told me they would not pursue something that they loved because there was seven years of schooling and no guarantee of a job at the end.  Within mere weeks of networking, taking a few risks and volunteering to help out, his worldview shifted from “it’s impossible” to “ let me piece together my own training and learn as I go”.  It remains to be seen if he can walk away from his job, but when you start saying “NO” to the status quo and “YES” to yourself, accelerated results often happen.

    Are you crazy to attempt it?  Absolutely! 

    Isn’t that GREAT?!

    * It is not my intent to diminish or disrespect  those suffering from mental illness

  • Today’s Quote: Take New Action

    “Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” Anthony Robbins