Now What?® Coaching

from Laura Berman Fortgang

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Signs, Seeds, & Rewards

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Here Debra Kavalos-Delaney, the owner of MemorableEntertaining.com,  reflects on her journey from a 32-year corporate career to starting a business.  Debra acknowledges that it took her a long time to “listen” to the signs pointing toward a major career change but that eventually she had a “greater fear of the consequences” of not following her dream.  Now looking back at her childhood, Debra can see the seeds that produced her passion for entertaining.  Regarding the challenges of being a business owner, Debra counts the process of learning as one of the biggest rewards in itself.

“Corporate Exec to Entertaining Guru.”

You Have Options

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by Ginny Kravitz, Deputy Editor

More Than You Think

“Being wealthy is not about having money. It’s about having options.” That’s what Chris Rock told Oprah Winfrey in a recent interview. Commenting on his foray into live theatre, Chris framed it as part of his overall desire to try new things. “I should take complete advantage of the buffet that life is.” Speaking passionately he explained why it’s important to try new things, because then at least you will know: “You don’t like it because you tried it, not because you dismissed it.”

You might be thinking: Oh sure, Chris can say that because he has money. Maybe being rich does give him more options, yet how often does the average person dismiss ideas without fully considering them? Are we really low on options or just afraid of pursuing the option we want most? Could it be that we’re wealthier than we realize?

Can You See Them?

You typically have more options than you can see at first glance. There are several reasons for this; check to see if any of them are clouding your view of the future or even your current situation:

You think the option is not realistic. — If this is the case, before dismissing it out of hand ask yourself what about that particular option is appealing to you. There may be information in your answer that yields yet another alternative which is feasible or that expands your thinking about what is possible.

You don’t want to make the wrong choice, be embarrassed, or fail. — What’s required here is to place a greater value on “having tried” than on “failing”. Look for role models who embody this philosophy and give yourself permission to be more adventurous than you’ve been in the past. Briefly visit “the worst thing that could happen” and see if you’d be willing to handle it. That’s what worked for Julia, a client who suffered from excessive worry about making the wrong choice. Julia realized that changing her mind down the road would only be judged a failure if she —and only she— interpreted it that way.

You are afraid that what you want will require too much sacrifice. — It’s perfectly legitimate to decide that you do not want to pay the price associated with a certain option. Just be clear on two things first: 1) What might you be sacrificing already? 2) What would make the anticipated sacrifice worth it to you? Also keep in mind that sometimes choices appear to be mutually exclusive and yet are not in actuality; there may be a way to bridge your ideas without having to make an all or nothing decision. (More on this here)

There are too many options and they feel overwhelming. — This can be a good problem and one you can manage by first framing it that way. Then consider a few at a time vs. all the options at once. Write down your thoughts, note your feelings, and enlist someone to help you in sorting through your ideas. Which option piques your curiosity the most? Explore that one first.

What Are You Eyeing On The Buffet?

These questions often populate desk plaques and calendars and deserve consideration despite their familiarity: What would you attempt if you knew you wouldn’t fail? What would you try if money and time were not an issue?

This Week’s Call to Action:

  • Is there something on “the buffet of life” that you’d like to try, perhaps just for fun? Go do it.
  • If you’re having a hard time seeing any options regarding a current situation you want to change or problem you need to solve, get someone to help you generate ideas.
  • If there is a deeper or specific option that keeps calling you, find the courage and make a plan.

You are wealthier than you know. You have options.

BORROW FROM THE PAST TO CATAPULT YOUR FUTURE

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by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

For at least two years, I have been seeing a pattern in career transition clients that has confirmed a theory that I have relied on for a long time. It seemed that every time a client was really at a standstill in the progress of their career or even their job search, the key to reclaiming momentum and positive results was to pick up a piece of their past passions and add it to the current mix.  Reinventing by including a forgotten piece of a person, seemed to unlock the doors to luck and results.

Recently, I could even add myself to the list of anecdotal evidence.

This year started with a slow drag.  A long time employee had to leave suddenly and one of my children had to spend time in the hospital (all is fine).  It was not the momentum I had anticipated.  Once I finally surrendered to the inevitable pace, I had some time to think and I recognized that I wanted to have a lot more fun with my work.  A series of ah-ha’s finally coalesced to one big volcanic flash of understanding.  I needed to bring a huge piece of my past that had been put aside happily for seventeen years into the present.

You see, at the top of the year I had also treated myself to performing in my first musical in almost twenty years. It was more fun than should have been legal, and although I never consciously thought I missed performing because speaking fills that need for me, I realized I had left way too much of that part of me behind.

The ah-ha then was that I needed to include this in my plans moving forward. I did that by creating three new keynote speeches that included theatre within them instead of my normal, expert-based talks which always included humor but I did not ‘act’ in them.  Within days, I wrote a blog post based on one of them.  In less than 24 hours, I was asked to speak the following week on the topic and two more bookings of the other new keynotes followed.  In a month’s time, two former speaking clients came to me to book me for events, one of them choosing one of these new topics.  The speed and momentum at which this all occurred was monumental.

The doors flying open and the ‘yes’s’ that have ensued are too numerous to list here, but suffice it to say, it has been a welcome infusion of energy, satisfaction and money. Certainly, I also interpret it as a sign to keep moving forward with this new direction.

This is what I know to be true for many of our Now What? clients.  Reinvention today is not about pulling a new idea of the sky, but rather, about folding a forgotten piece into a new form that matches who you are today.  You must identify what that is and engage it now.  Let us know if we can help.