Posts tagged ‘How to get your dream job’

August 9th, 2010

Overwhelmed’s Sinister Uglier Sister

In my last post, I talked about being overwhelmed. What I didn’t tell you is that overwhelmed has an older sister. An uglier, sinister one.

Underwhelmed.

The underwhelmed thrives on your fears. It makes you feel like everything is going hunky dory on the surface. Yet, every once in awhile, something sinister creeps up.

You wonder why your business is slowing down, for example. Or why you keep working and working, but you have nothing to show for it.

It’s underwhelmed. She’s working to destroy you, one boring, one uninteresting feat at a time. read more »

CategoryFacing Fears, Following your dreams | Comment2 Comments »

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June 24th, 2010

The Nostradamus Effect

What do you think of Nostradamus? Inspiring predictor? Prophet? A guy who caused a big hullabaloo about nothing? Maybe all of the above? Well, I’ve got another confession to make. I’m sort of a believer. Unless it’s just that the History channel’s got power’s of manipulation greater than Luke Skywalker and can make me believe just about anything. It could be. I never believed those signs saying, “The End of the World is Coming” before.

Whatever it is, it’s got me a little freaked. I keep thinking, “Okay I got 2 years! What can I do with 2 years!!” Well actually according to Nostradamus, we actually have until December 21, 2012 so we’ve got little more than that. Time until outer space attacks, we get consumed by volcanoes and tidal waves and some unknown disease gets us all. {Great and I thought the ending of the Oprah show was going to kill me!}

Actually the effect of being scared out of my mind by tonight’s show did wonders to my sense of motivation. Even if you’re not a believer and even if the world won’t end in a few years, we’re still on loan here. I hate to break it to you, but we just don’t know when we’re going to leave this good earth.

Here’s another thing. Maybe being on the threshold of time can work in our favor. Instead of looking at your life as a large, endless playing field, why not shorten the end date and get cracking on all the things you’ve ever wanted to do? Of course, I’m going to help you a little with that.

Here are a few resources to get you in gear. Let the countdown begin!

  1. If you’re not ready for change, do this: Write it down. You don’t have to do anything more than that. Just getting your dreams down on paper starts a weird-I-can’t-really-explain-it process that leads you to your goals. Want evidence? A little less than 10 years ago, I wrote in my journal 10 things I wanted to do before I died (kind of like a bucket list). I was shocked by what I read. I had totally forgotten what I wrote. Maybe my conscious mind forgot I wanted to travel to Europe and live on the mainland, but my subconscious took over and helped me to manifest it into reality.
  2. If you’re ready and willing, do this: Create a plan. As someone who is a lot more right-brain creative than left-brain logical, I have a difficult time with getting down to business. Sure coming up with blog ideas is like taking candy from a baby for me, but give me a puzzle and I’ll stare at it for days and never touch it. Yet, even us right-brainers know the importance of plan making. So I’ve been doing my own research on how to create a business plan. What I’ve come up with is 1) Mind Mapping: That’s something you can do with traditional pen and paper or online. I’ve used both mindmeister and Freemind. They’re both free. If you’re not familiar with mind mapping, basically it’s like clouds of ideas. You start with one then branch out with others. It’s kind of like a free write, free thought, anything goes way to problem solve. A former boss and mentor told me about it and I wished I used it sooner. 2) Google Docs: Create a daily/monthly/yearly task list of things you need to do to get to your goals and find the satisfaction of checking them off when they’re completed.

I just realized that a few of my goals have already came true. Remember when I wrote in this post that a voice in my dream told me, “find your niche. Then follow, find and develop friendships with those who are doing what you want to do and will help support you.” Well, recently I’ve gotten two emails inviting me to a book group and a healthy lifestyle group. Who knows? This may be the people I’ve been hoping for.

Now it’s your turn. What will you do now to meet your dreams halfway?

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CategoryFollowing your dreams, How to | CommentNo Comments »

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September 30th, 2009

How Disneyland's Autopia Ride is Like Your Life

Autopia ridephoto by www.ericcastro.biz

A few posts ago, I wrote an entry entitled, “Staying the Course.”  It was about staying motivated and determined at a gradual pace while mucking through the un-fun parts of following your dreams.  Today though I had a thought.

What if we’re not even trekking on that path?  What if we can’t stay the course because we haven’t even found the right one to start treading on?

Ever go to Disneyland? Well if you’ve been a loyal reader of my little blog, you know that Disneyland isn’t just the happiest place on earth it’s MY happiest place on earth.  That’s how I ended up finding an analogy about life and D.L.

Have you ever rode the autopia ride? You know the one that is close enough to being like a real car to make every little kid who can’t drive excited about driving what they think is “the real thing.”  It’s also the ride that makes young adults who know how to drive also stand in line because it’s totally not the same thing.

Well, I have memories about that ride.  When I was a child, I took the driver’s seat and my grandpa, bless his heart, had the courage to be my passenger.  I learned quickly that there was no real freedom involved since the car was on a track.  When I turned the steering wheel too much to the right or left, the car hit the track and pushed us back on course.  On top of the car jerking back and forth, I also had my grandpa scolding me to, “stay on course!”

Why am I telling you this story? Well this is what I think-if we believe that we haven’t found the right path to the right relationship, the right job, the right life, we’ve been mislead.  I think that like autopia, there is an invisible track keeping us on course.  We’re just oblivious to the subtle jerks that tell us we’re going the wrong way.  Maybe if we wait too long, the signs get bigger and louder, kind of like my grandpa’s voice when I’m getting too far off the track.

So what’s it to you?  Here’s a clue.  If you meet a new guy and he starts talking about his ex-girlfriend, that’s a jerk (pun intended).  Or if you’re offered a job and your stomach starts to turn when you think about it, that’s another jerk.  Every time you do something that causes a reaction, think carefully about it and ask yourself why it’s happening.  Your inner autopia may be directing you to a more authentic life-one that matches up with the true path towards your dreams.

CategoryFollowing your dreams | Comment2 Comments »

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June 18th, 2009

Kathy Griffin: My New Role Model?

Kathy GriffinI have a secret.  I kind of like Kathy Griffin.  Okay she may be as bold as her red hair, and vulgar as a man, but I think she is hilarious and as funny as the people she surrounds herself with.  

Take for example, that time she was “dating” Woz aka Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.  It made me interested in Apple and I work for them!  Or how about her hilarious parents and crew.  Her sweet mom always with a drink in her hand and her “how’d they get that job?” staff.  You can’t write that stuff or can you?  I can’t ever tell how much is staged and how much reality is in reality.  

But the bottomline for me is that no matter how zany and off-kilter she can be, my main motivators to watch Griffin on Bravo’s “My Life on the D-List,” are her stubborn, unyielding, never get her down attitude.  She may say crazy things and act like nothing bothers her, but when it comes to her passion (making the A-list) she wears her heart on her sleeve and I admire her for that.

It doesn’t matter if people don’t know who she is or her name, she actually makes a joke of it and then keeps going.  And no matter her goal, whether getting an Emmy (which she’s gotten 2 so far) or a Grammy nomination (she’s gotten one), she’s clear and persistent.  I’d say, “She’s got balls” in a big way.  

Her show may be called, “My Life on the D-List” but I think Griffin’s got a secret too, with the popularity of the show her desperate attempts to clench attention and success has gotten her quite a few awards and nominations as well as rubbing elbows with celebs.  One things for sure, you know who’s got the last laugh!

Photo courtesy of KathyGriffin.net.

CategoryInspirational Stories | CommentNo Comments »

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April 21st, 2009

Asking a Mentor, Part II

Another one of my inspirational role models is young couple John and Sherry of “This Young House.”  I was driven to their beautiful blog when I caught an episode of HGTV’s “Rate My Space” and got wind of their uber-talents in interior design.  Soon after, I was hooked!  And following my first successful attempt to email a mentor (see previous entry below), I was less afraid to take the plunge and try it again.  

Well, I couldn’t have been more thrilled with Sherry’s response!  She was kind, SO cool, and just like I’d imagined her to be-full of energy and passion for what she does-a true inspiration to me.  Read an excerpt of Sherry’s email below to find out what her secrets are for getting to where she is today.  I’ve broken it up into themes by what factors helped get them on their way.

1.  Luck & Gratitude.  “We have definitely had a series of lucky breaks to end up where we are today in the blog world, and for that we’re eternally thankful. We never solicited these mentions, people found us and liked what they saw- which is truly amazing and we still pinch ourselves when we think about it!”

2. Opportunity. “It might not have been the job that we always wanted, but once we started to grow and get such a great response it quickly became clear that it was what we loved doing, and we’d do anything we could to keep it going and help it grow even more!”

3. Talent & Hard Work. “I also think a lot of our success has to do with the fact that we’re actually writers (I used to be a copywriter and John’s still in advertising to this day) and we truly love to write (we ENJOY it and it’s never a chore) and we try very hard to come up with creative and unexpected approaches to decorating that won’t break the bank (which is really something that people can relate to these days). I’m not gonna lie- it’s the hardest job we’ve ever had. We work weekends and nights and we’re never really “off” because the internet is 24/7 and someone always has a question or places an order that we have to fill. Our to-do list is always eons long- and of course we still have to find time to write posts and complete house projects to keep people coming back! In short, it’s definitely a lot of work but it’s also rewarding and creative and challenging too. And we love a challenge!” 

4. Passion. “I have no idea what I would be doing if I didn’t have the blog to keep me busy. Probably still writing copy for advertising (which I also enjoyed, I even wrote some celebrity stuff for the Got Milk campaign when we were in NYC). But the blog brings a different sort of independent satisfaction. We do it all and we’re the boss and we decide everything that happens with it and that’s very satisfying and empowering. Plus I’m just crazy about design and decorating and online shopping and color and art so it’s a great combination of a ton of things that really float my boat!” 

5. Dream.  “I think our dream was to create a place that we’d love to drop in on (a site with tutorials and info and nice people who actually answer questions and emails), so we created the thing that we hadn’t found yet and people really seem to be happy that we did.” 

CategoryUncategorized | Comment1 Comment »

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