HappyWorkOnline has been a great experiment for me as a way of communicating about my coaching practice. While I continue to work as a coach, I'm finding that managing this blog has taken a back burner and is redundant. So I'm not going to continue to update it. I will be continuing my coaching work and other creative pursuits which you can keep track of on my main website http://franklintaggart.com. I'll also occasionally be contributing to my other work related websites, http://LoveDrivenWork.com and http://theanticoach.net.

If any of you have read this work, I do appreciate it. And if I can ever be of help to you in discovering and creating the work you'll want to get up in the morning for, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

All my best,

Franklin Taggart

30 plus years ago I was a C minus student in high school. I needed a 1.8 GPA to graduate and I begged a teacher for a C to get a 1.9. No pride. I was smart, but lazy and college at that time didn't interest me...until about three weeks before the start of my freshman year. When I saw all of my friends leaving and was finally faced with the reality of having to do something, I kind of defaulted into college because I had no idea there were any other options.

I applied and was accepted into the local junior college in the town where we lived, and even was given a full tuition scholarship by the music department. Music being the primary natural talent passed on to me from my mother. For the next three years I was mostly involved in touring with nine different musical groups on college recruiting tours. I got to see a lot of the Mountain West, even venturing as far away as Portland, Oregon. I had a remarkable social life, but managed to drop out of nearly every  academic class I ever enrolled in.

As my time there wound up I had a load of great memories but no practical education to speak of, and I was faced with another big decision...where would I continue my education? At the time there were only 5 schools in the country that offered the degree I was interested in. Again, by default I chose to go to the school where I knew a few people and got a scholarship in music. This time my mother actually had to take out some loans, and I had a few of my own, so it wasn't just going to be fun and games and travel like my first three years.

I enrolled in pretty much any class that interested me and only chose my major the year before graduating by figuring out which major I had the most credits in and could finally graduate. I still had no real idea what I wanted to do with my life. Even then it was becoming difficult for an average musician to make ends meet, so I had no clue what career track I might ever take. I graduated after a total of six years with a degree in Music Industry.

As I look back on college I have to say that the classes and their content were at the bottom of the list as far as importance goes. I seriously remember only about three things that I learned the entire time. The most important thing that I learned there was how to learn, or maybe more accurately how I learn. I found that if I had a chance to learn in a discussion oriented setting rather than in a lecture or heavy reading format, that I was able to perform much better on tests. It helped me to understand that in all of those years of middle and high school that I wasn't really stupid. I was only not a good fit for most teachers who did all the talking or directed us to read a lot.

The second most important thing about college to me was the social aspect. In high school I was kind of nebulous. I would bounce from clique to clique, not really fitting squarely into any of them. In college it was such a great thing to constantly be around other people who were studying and passionate about the same things as I was.

The one thing I didn't get from college was any certainty about what I wanted to do with my life. Consequently, I'm still not sure what a I want to do, but I've done many things and have learned how to do some of them well, so I have some great options. All I'm saying is that college didn't really help me to clarify that, or to really choose a life's direction.

The other thing I'm going to say might surprise you. I've never been asked in any job interview, and there have been many, what my GPA was in high school or college. In fact, in most interviews, my major has never been asked about. Most of the interview questions I've had have been about experience and other training I've gotten along the way.

The motivation for writing this has been watching some of my friends, students and clients start the process of finding a college. The sweating, suffering and financial wrangling are creating such a quandary that I just want to tell them, 'for all but a few, it's not going to matter that much about where you go or how you do there.' In fact  I would heartily say to about ninety percent of them that a community college to start with would be the best possible idea. It's less expensive and you can transfer your credit almost anywhere.

On the back end of your college experience, you'll probably look back and wonder about a lot of it. I suspect if you're like me, you might wonder if it was all that necessary in the first place. If you're an entrepreneurial sort, you might actually want to just jump into the fire of starting your own business and reserve the college option for later. Also if you're a creative sort, I would hesitate to tell you to major in your chosen passion. Maybe minor in it, but get your degree in business or accounting so that when you graduate, you have the real world skills you'll need to thrive as an artist.

Here are a list of suggestions about college that I'll encourage you to consider:

• Limit your debt -- Don't saddle yourself with an immediate commitment to deal with after you leave school. Choose a school that is within an affordable range. There is an entire industry centered on loaning people money for school. They want you to borrow money, so they can make money. I know people who are still paying their school loans over 20 years after graduation. That's money they could have used to buy houses, cars and other important stuff, that's being spent on something you could have much more cheaply.
• Get an associates degree in basic classes first -- There's so much pressure on choosing a major that most students end up choosing something that they end up leaving after their sophomore year. They usually end up having to go to school longer than four years, or in some cases they don't finish at all. An associates degree is often all you need to get certain jobs, so go ahead and get that taken care of first. Then you can spend your final two years on the thing that you find you're most interested in.
• Take advantage of any available opportunity to travel or study abroad -- You will  never have the same chance to see the world again. Most schools offer study abroad programs. Many church related school offer missions programs that will allow you to see far corners of the world. Of all of my friends, the ones who seem to have the most positive memories of college are those who took that opportunity to travel.
• Graduate -- Get the degree. That's the only thing that really matters. Even if it's in macrame, just get the paper. Your world of opportunities increases dramatically because you've finished your schooling.

Best of luck to you. Have fun...after all, it is college. Spring Break should definitely be spent with friends. The sun is great, but I always preferred skiing. Feel free to add your comments below.   

In days gone by, up to about last week, a brand served as a public image of a corporation. In large part it was a constructed corporate personality that companies used to create an illusion of unique identity with which the world could associate and relate. Designers and branding specialists have been paid major bucks to create just the right logo, letterhead, uniform, store layout, ads, reports and swag in every variety to present a pretty face to the world and hopefully attract customers and their dollars to the party. It created an illusion of relationship that inspired action, loyalty and commitment. All the components of an interpersonal relationship with only one real person involved. Social media has changed all of that.

For the first time ever, people in companies and organizations can have ongoing, real time relationships with their end users. The new brand isn't based as much on image as much as it is defined by the real relationships themselves. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and the rest have made it essential for companies to engage with their customers more personally, every day in authentic and meaningful ways. While the image based branding remains important, your organization must add to it's brand an exceptional presence in the social media world.

With new social platforms that are peeking through the cracks, like Google+, location based apps, and group oriented marketing programs like living social, the importance of staying connected with your customer more directly and personally is becoming even more crucial. The traditional barriers between the board room and the living room are no longer there. Your brand is the very relationship you have with the people you serve. No more hiding behind icons allowed. Come out and play.

I've had a number of clients who already know what they want to do. It's been apparent for some time, in some cases decades, but they habitually find excuses for not following those impulses. They talk themselves out of actualizing those dreams and yet their passion, gifts and vision are all pointing them in that direction.

There are a variety of strategies that keep a person from doing what they know is theirs to do. One that I've used repeatedly is the 'imposter' strategy. I don't have the diploma, certificate, qualifications, license...whatever necessary requirement to be good at what I already do. Therefore, I shouldn't be offering those kinds of services. I can see the importance of medical school if I wanted to be a doctor or if I was in any field that required that much perseverance and discipline to be competent. But I am also saying that in most cases if you have real life experience and an inherent giftedness for some kind of service, a certificate won't make you any more competent. Offer what you have to who you deeply want to serve.

Think about the strategies that you use to talk yourself out of what you really want to do. Send a comment and let me know what you come up with.

I have to constantly remind myself that if I have too much time on my hands, it's time to reach out and touch someone. I have the lifelong habit of waiting for the phone to ring and waiting for the mail to arrive and waiting for the other person to make the effort to contact me. This habit has insured that I have plenty of alone time to be creative, which matters a lot. The however that follows is that this habit also lends itself to prolonged periods of isolation in which my creativity actually starts to suffer. This isolation whirls an energy sucking vacuum called depression into action that leaves me drained and disengaged.

Pick up the phone, write an e-mail, dust off the stationery, send a carrier pigeon...hell, do whatever, as long as the end result is the establishment of a real life connection with another person. There is truly no other resource as important in this world as the relationships we have. Those are the avenues through which we give and get everything we need. Crucial. So...call me. And if I haven't called you, please remind me to practice what I preach.

One of the questions I pose to clients is pretty simple, but surprisingly many find it difficult to answer. Some of those reply that they're happiest at the end of the day, which I totally understand. Many also say that they are happiest when they complete a project, while others say they feel happiest when they are fully engaged.

For me there are a few work situations that are predictably happy. I feel the most joy in my work when I'm creative, when I'm inspired, when I've delivered something meaningful that meets a real need, and especially when I'm learning something new. I live for creativity. I've realized in the past few years that the times when creativity isn't a central part of the work I'm doing, that I have a hard time motivating myself to do it. This isn't limited to just artistic expression either. I get happy when I've discovered a new way to stack dishes so that they don't fall out of the drainer. I can bring creativity to any task.

Inspiration can come any time from anywhere, but I find that there are certain activities that prime the pump to be inspired. For me those activities include playing music, meditation, playing with my son and especially reading. Most of my reading is done online these days, and I often will find that an article I run across in my Google Reader account will trigger an inspired moment for me. It seems that the times that I'm uninspired all have to do with me not taking very good care of myself. If I'm too isolated, or if I'm exhausted, or if I have been too focused for too long without a break, inspiration is hard to find. It's really hard to find inspiration if I'm in the middle of a stressful time with the added emotional burdens of worry, anxiety, fear and anger. Mediation helps to relieve that to a point where I can be open to inspiration.

When I know for sure that my worked has genuinely helped someone, I am deeply satisfied by the experience. This is true in every area of my work, whether coaching, teaching, writing and performing...even making a cool t-shirt that someone I'll never know will wear because they like it. All of those give me a sense that what I'm doing really matters and that is meaningful to me. The times when i have been the most depressed have been in times when I felt that my work had reached a dead and and was no longer positively helping someone.

The last factor for happiness in my work is the process of learning something new. The digital age has made so much possible for anyone with a computer and the willingness to learn how to use it. The internet offers more learning opportunities than you will be able to exhaust in a hundred lifetimes. And people are so willing to share their expertise, that I haven't had a single day in years where I wasn't learning how to do something new. For me that is where a lot of excitement about my work comes from(as well as a healthy pool of frustration when the process is slow).

Those are my happiness generating work activities. They do make everything I do much more pleasurable and meaningful. What are the aspect of your work that bring you any happiness, joy, or satisfaction? Please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks!

In thinking about many of the people I work with and friends that I know who are in nontraditional careers, it's hard to find many who are actually making their entire living from one activity. Most of us are working in a few areas simultaneously to make enough to get by, in some cases even thrive. Filling out a tax return can be a rollercoaster ride between a handful of schedule Cs, one for each pursuit. All that said, I think it's important to let a person who is making the transition into one of these careers know that they will likely need to create more than one stream of income in their new direction.

This is a lovely offer. Take advantage of it. The kindle software is free. The kindle version of the book may be pre-ordered for free for a limited time.

http://www.amazon.com/Do-the-Work-ebook/dp/B004PGO25O

April 20 will be a very good day.

If you perceive a lack of any kind, widen your circle. Lack doesn't mean that what you want doesn't exist. It means that you're disconnected from it. Widen your circle to include all that you are looking for. It's really only secondarily important to clearly know what you want. The thing of utmost importance is the network of connection that will allow that desire to be met. 

What does that mean when it comes to work? If you are completely idle in this world, it is only by your own choice. Even if you've been laid off, fired, terminated or whatever. If you're not working, it's because you don't want to be working. No one owes you anything, and you can wait for a very long time for opportunity to knock. But there are a number of things you can do to widen your circle to include the very opportunities you're looking for. Here are just a few possibilities.

Go back to school. Add to your already burgeoning skill set. Learn a new trade. Get a degree, or another degree, or a certification, or a continuing ed. credit, or just sign up for a macrame workshop. Many things will be accomplished by this action. First, you're improving your product. You are adding value to you...the only thing you really have to offer. Second, you're meeting influential people. College professors know people in their fields. they taught many of them. In the world of six degrees of separation, college professors are often one level away from anyone you ,might want to meet. Third, you'll be meeting other people who are interested in the same things you are. Some of them may already be working in the filed that you want to work in. And finally, there is an adage that often holds true. It's easier to find work when you are working. Wait a minute, what does that have to do with going to school? Potential employers look more favorably on a potential employee who's in school, than one who is doing nothing. Awful truth, but still truth. 

Second possibility. Volunteer your time and energy to causes that mean something to you. If you can't find work that pays, find work to give away. Volunteering is an exceptional way to both widen your circle of people and your circle of opportunities. Just like in going back to school, volunteering is a way to meet people who know the right people. Several of the jobs I've had were initially gotten through connections I made in volunteer situations. Volunteering was a perfect way to develop my experience, meet the right people and show them the kind of work that I do and the kind of person that I am.

Third possibility. Ask people you know to introduce you to people they know. Then ask them to introduce you to people that they know. If you already know what kind of opportunity you want, all that's left to do is to find the right person at the right time. The traditional way of seeking a job is disheartening and so poorly designed that it's a wonder anyone actually finds work that way. Go ahead and read the same ads as everyone else. Add your exceptionally beautiful letterhead with your neatly organized qualifications to the growing pile of other beautiful letterhead and go home and pretty much wait for a phone call or a form letter. This is a silly way to think that you'll ever get what you want. The job you'll get in this way will probably be a job you won't mind losing later on. If you know what you want to do, find the people who are doing it through the people that you mutually know. You will be surprised at who people know. I have had guitar students here in the DC area that had a regular audience with the President of the US. If I really wanted to meet him, I could have. Easily. Just because we knew the same people. Get on the phone and meet up with everyone you know. And be sure to ask them to introduce you to anyone they know who can connect you with what you want.

Fourth. Get social. If you're staying at home and avoiding human contact is supposed to help you get what you want, it hasn't been working. Do something that involves other people. Go to a meeting. Give a talk somewhere. Join a gym, a church, a club. Get yourself into social situations. The more people you know, the more opportunity you will have. Period.

Last. You can always employ yourself. Anything that can be done can be done for money. Anything. Hang your shingle. There are a number of ways to advertise that don't cost much more that a few minutes time. And there are online businesses that don't cost anything to set up that you can make as successful as you want.

If you're unemployed you have more options than you may have considered. It may be tricky to find the kind of job you think you should have, but that doesn't mean you can't be fully employed every day. The resources and opportunities you need can be had if you find ways to widen your circle to include them.

I know this is a very generalized question that has a lot of possible responses, but I think it's important to ask. One side of the political tide seems to be constantly vomiting the idea that if corporations have more money, they'll create more jobs. I'm saying that that's not necessarily the case for most corporations. Think about it. If the objective for your business is to make money, then you'll want to consistently make more money than you spend. The goal isn't to spend more money. It's to make more money. With that in mind I'm willing to bet that one way these businesses will attempt to do this is by attempting to get more out of their already taxed workforce. Now I know the adage that to make money you have to spend money, but if greed is the primary driver, you won't care so much if the working class has jobs or if the infrastructure falls apart. Those are problems for someone else to take care of.

I'm not necessarily suggesting that government spending is the answer here. I think it is part of the answer but not the whole thing. All I know is that a healthy middle class needs to have a steady stream of resources flowing into it to function. If it ceases to function we've got some incredible problems to face that may be insurmountable. I yearn for a time when corporate interests are not viewed and treated and carried out as adversarial to the interests of the public. When are we going to realize and accept that we need the best ideas and actions from all sides if we want to return to prosperity. In addition, somebody somewhere is going to have to start spending if we are to have any real recovery.

I would love it if profit were secondary to the greater good of all people, but as long as it's not, the resources will only continue to flow in and up, rather than out and down. This isn't a black and white issue. There are a lot of grays to work out. But I emphasize that it's time to really work instead of fight. Neither side is really fighting FOR anything any more. They only exist now to fight AGAINST each other.

Americans, you will pay both sides in this deal. What the government won't take, the corporation will. There needs to be a balance struck here including the government and the private sector. If they continue to be adversaries we all suffer. If government continues to operate at the whim of the corporation we will all suffer. If the government begins to strong arm in order to retain control, we have yet another quagmire. There are very few voices now that have your best interest at heart. We need to be raising our voices above the din and speak to all sides to become not only compassionate, but efficient.

I'm not particularly happy about how Barack Obama has made many of his decisions, but I have to say that those who will dismiss him as anything less than a very caring, dedicated and intelligent leader are only making the problem worse. They are puppets for institutions that could give a rat's ass about them. I do think that he knows deeply that we need the best ideas from all sides in order to be triumphant. So far all he's gotten is passive aggression from one side and no support from the other. The thing we need to understand is that we could have the greatest leader the world has ever known and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference if we didn't allow ourselves to be led.

I know that this rant is out of character for a blog about happy work. Sometimes things just need to be said, even if they don't necessarily feel good. I'm ready for happiness again.

What impact do you want to make on your world?

What opportunities are created by your desired impact?

How will your work generate enough resources to support itself and continue?

How does your work need to flow in order to be done effectively and efficiently?

How much do you care about the work itself and the people you serve with it?

What specific steps need to be taken to make your desired impact a reality?

I recently opened an online store on the CafePress website (http://cafepress.com/happyworkstuff). It started on a whim. I'd visited the site just to see about making myself a t-shirt. When everything was said and done, I'd released my inner design freak into the world and hung my shingle. The whole thing has inspired a whirl of creativity and the anticipation of some very cool possibilities, not the least of which is making some extra money.

For those of you who aren't aware of what CafePress is and does here's a primer. Did you ever hear or say something and immediately say “that oughta be on a t-shirt”, or bumper sticker, or poster, or tile coaster, or thermos, etcetera, etcetera. Well CafePress makes that immediately possible. You upload an original design image (or create one on their online product designer), and they apply your design to all the above gifts, goods, novelties, and more. They then offer you the option to make your design available through a CafePress hosted shop. They have a few different kinds of shop to choose from, including a couple that are free to use. If you want to get a bit more serious about it they offer a premium shop that costs $6.95 a month. In short, you make a commission on any item that you sell. The minimum you'll be paid is 10% of the sale, and you can make your mark up anything you'd like. They also have an online marketplace where premium shop owners items are featured.

So you have a shop and people can now order your design on everything from bumper stickers to beer steins. CafePress handles all the rest. They take the orders, receive payment, print the products, do all the shipping and handling, and provide customer support. In the end, you do all the creative work, they handle everything else and you get a check. Pretty cool!

About 10 days after I set up my shop I received my first order. A woman in Florida ordered my Coffee Junkie mug set. I made $4.00. I was so pleased. It was then that I realized something for the first time in my life. When someone purchases something from you, whether it be a product, service or some other kind of valuable, in a way you are now connected with them. You have a relationship, albeit long distance, clandestine and mysterious. You are connected in the exchange.

This realization has affected the way that I think about marketing. For the longest time in my business pursuits my primary focus has been on marketing, creating, promoting, nurturing and benefiting from all of my different brands (I say that as if I actually had a bunch. Insert giggle here). But now I realize that my focus hasn't been on the prize. It's the relationship I want, not just the courtship. Sure the courtship is fun, exciting, sometimes scary and always interesting, but what I'm really after is a commitment. When someone buys something of yours, that's exactly what they've done. Through your transaction with them they allow your influence to ripple into their lives. And that's a very cool proposition.

It's amazing to me that someone bought something that came from my mind, and they'll be able to have and use it for years to come. What a privilege. My Coffee Junkie mugs are in Florida. My Miles Davis tile coaster is in England, and other items are in a diverse list of places. In the words of ZZ Top, I'm bad...I'm nationwide :)

The last stop on this train of thought today is a question: What does your customer or client (or potential employer) need to feel in order to commit to the relationship? I'm interested to try some new things from this perspective. This might be a new take on the current craze around the Law of Attraction which says that like attracts like. I'm thinking that attraction attracts attraction. No, I'm not trying to sound redundant. Think about it. In most romantic relationships, the strongest attractions are between people who make each other feel attractive. So the focus of my marketing efforts will now shift. It's no longer about the excitement of courtship so much. It's about making my customers and clients feel attractive, and going for the commitment.

So come by my store and have a look around. You might find something that likes you. HappyWorkStuff.com :)

 

Sometimes it's mind boggling to think that just two generations before me, horses were still used to transport people and their goods from one place to another. My grandfather started his work life as a team driver in Western Wyoming after serving as a muleskinner in the army around the time of WWI. His team pulled a wagon from Idaho, over the Teton Pass into Wyoming, down to the mining, ranching and railroad towns that dotted the borders of those two states and Utah. His circuit would take several days of driving just to go a few hundred miles. He carried a tent along, and a fishing rod and rifle so that he could shelter, feed and protect himself as he needed. And he did this year round, including winters, in some of the coldest and roughest parts of the US.

As dirt and gravel roads were slowly replaced by paved highways, and railroads expanded in all directions, his services as a team driver reached their end. Where one opportunity ended, others were to be found by the innovation and change that was constantly taking place. Miners were needed in greater number to keep newer, coal fired power plants running. The railroads were hiring workers left and right for all manner of labor, from track layers to engineers. And manufacturing was exploding around the country. Gramps didn't have to look long or far for some way to make a living. Even during the Great Depression, there were trains to grease and coal to dig, albeit for less money.

Since he died, in 1969, the exponential rate of technological innovation has been staggering. The plentiful jobs that came with the developments of his time are largely gone now, just like team driving became obsolete for his generation. His rudimentary education wouldn't qualify him for much of anything in today's world, and the kinds of jobs that he would have been looking for would most likely be outsourced to places without labor laws, or done by people who could evade the radar of the INS. And behemoth corporations are largely a thing of the past. Even big leaguers like Microsoft and Google have weak knees.

Now we're looking ahead a couple or three technological generations which now pass in a matter of months. Planned obsolescence is figured into every wave of new ways of doing things. There are few, if any educational institutions that are equipped to prepare people to work with these tools, and specialties fall by the wayside with every new innovation. The kids who are graduating from high school this year never had to use an external modem to connect their computers. Every vehicle on the road is dependent on hyperintricate computer systems just to function, and next year's models are featuring a host of voice activated tasks that your car is “smart” enough to understand and carry out.

The point that seems to poking out at me now is that opportunities to work with this new technology are plentiful. I think we need to remember a few things when we consider how we need to approach work in the world to come. There will always be work for people who look ahead to see what's coming. In order to see these opportunities and be ready for them, you will have to educate yourself. There is no school that can prepare you. Get your hands on the machinery and learn how to use it. Learn how to teach others to use it. If you can anticipate what's after the iPad and tablet computers, you will be working for years to come. Connect with the innovators and dive in. Lastly, remember that we will always be looking for new ways to do things. As these new ways emerge you will move from job to job, just like my Gramps did, but you'll be doing it a whole lot more often.

According to the 2009 Deloitte Shift Index, 82% of people who are firm employed aren't passionate about their work.

The Study Hacks blog recently published an article suggesting that searching for your life's work may be making you miserable.

And author Tony Schwartz recently wrote in the Harvard Business Review that happiness is overrated.

What I'd like to say in response to these conversations is that passion is important in work that is intrinsically rewarding, but it isn't the only quality that matters. It may be difficult to know if work will be a passionate experience before it's even begun. My reason in saying so is that passion is usually a response to something else. It's not a pre-existing state that drives everything else. In my work, I see passion as an indicator that the activity that I'm engaged in is one that matters to me. My passion is most often my response to something meaningful or important.

I've seen many times in my coaching practice that people are looking for more passionate work experiences. That's usually why they enlist my help in the first place. What I've found in almost every instance is that their passion is fueled by some other aspect of their work, and it very often reflects their core values, or a specific vision, process or goal that they want to pursue. I recently worked with a client whose deeply held value was that the location where he was to be working was more important to him than the work itself. He was passionate about seeing the world and investigating new places. His work was a means to that end.

Often passion in work is linked to serving a specific group of people that you care for deeply. I know a large number of teachers, counselors and coaches for whom the love for their work comes directly from their love of the people they serve. One client of mine, an occupational therapist, finds that the work she loves most is connected to serving people with a specific kind of disability. She doesn't know why these people mean so much to her, but she's aware that her service to them is more rewarding to her than her service to others.

And we're all aware of people who work at an activity that they love. Pick a vocation...any vocation...and you can find people who are doing that particular job because the work itself is a labor of love. What is often surprising is that people don't discover that they are passionate about something until after they've been at it for a while. Mastery is a quality that often influences our level of love for a task. I also believe that there is a unique genius in every human being that is a self energizing, passionate quality within them that reveals itself in service to others.

So I would say to you that passion does matter, but it is only a part of the picture and not the whole thing. Our relationship to our work most likely is more complex than just a passionate experience. Try to find work that matters, activities that you you enjoy deeply and people who you love to serve and the passion will take care of itself.

For a career consultation, please contact happyworkonline@gmail.com.

Since the internet has become my primary source of media content, buying magazines happens a lot less frequently. You know...magazines? The kind made of paper...with glossy pictures and intriguing articles. That kind of magazine.

Seemingly simple question...What would you rather be doing? But just
watch what happens after you ask it. If you're anything like me, which
some of you are, it might go like this...What would I rather be doing?
PAUSE, thought, judgement, thought, judgement, thought, judgement,
thought, response. All in the matter of a second or two. I'd like to
draw your attention to a couple of things. First is the PAUSE after
the question. It's very brief, but extremely important to see. There
is a split second where there is no thought. Silence. From that
silence comes the first thought. This is the home of the creative
impulse. Silence...first thought. Our ingrained tendency to
immediately judge and edit our thinking robs us of this impulse a good
deal of the time. I'm going to suggest that this is very probably a
reason that so many "great ideas" fail. They're not from the first,
creative impulse. They're only presented after the usual routine
series of judgments and edits has been completed. They're probably
pretty safe, pretty predictable and pretty lifeless.

With some discipline and certain techniques like awareness meditation,
you can learn how to lengthen the PAUSE time between query and
response. This allows deeper creativity to come forward which breathes
life into your ideas, tasks and projects. Also, learn how to pay
attention to the first thought, the one that happens before your inner
judge or editor kicks in. This is probably the "money" thought, the
one that is most closely associated with your desire and will.

The state of mind that you experience in that PAUSE time is similar to
the state of mind you experience in the space between waking and
sleeping. The space where the subconscious comes out to play. Scads of
research has been undertaken to prove the link between the
subconscious mind and creativity. I think some of the best evidence
for this is Thomas Edison's preference to cat nap instead of resting
for longer, restorative periods. He'd sleep sitting in a chair, with a
few steel ball bearings in his hand, held over a metal bowl. When he'd
enter the stage between waking and sleeping, the balls would drop into
the bowl and he'd reawaken. By doing this, he accessed the deepest 
possible creative capabilities that he had. He would then bring this
to the idea table and proceed to change the world in some way.

In closing tonight, don't worry about what you'd rather be doing. Pay
attention to the PAUSE and the first thought that follows. Experiment
for yourself and see if the ideas that emerge from this practice are
some of your best.

Over the years I've tried from time to time to make lists of goals. I've followed the advice of nearly every person who's ever written about success and thought about specific, measurable outcomes that I wanted to pursue and achieve. I've kept them on cards on my desk, on lists on my computer, in boxes, drawers and pockets, and for the life of me I have found the whole notion pretty useless. In fact, I might even suggest that the worst thing I could do for myself is actually make something a goal. Making something a goal has usually ended up with that something becoming a failure or at least a forgotten possibility. New Years resolutions last until January 2^nd, birthday wishes last as long as the candles are lit, and lists of goals eventually become reminders of things that I never accomplished. So the question remains...how the hell will I ever get anything done?

I've discovered a few things about myself that have led me to use some other tools besides goal lists. First realization...I'm not really motivated by goals. The end of something isn't all that interesting to me, but the process of reaching that end fascinates, inspires and motivates me. In fact, I'm usually not too excited about finishing anything because it means that the part that I enjoy is reaching an end. Again, maybe not so useful when it's important to know where you're going.

Second realization...lists or goals to a process oriented person are like a foreign language. They don't make sense and they have no emotional appeal. They're pretty static and fixed. A process oriented person uses a different style to communicate. A process oriented person speaks in myths, metaphors and stories. Those are the modalities of communication that move us, precisely because they are about meaning.

With these things in mind, I'll offer a suggestion to anyone who finds that lists of goals don't help much...write a story instead. At the beginning of your day, write a story about how the day will unfold. Write about the people you'll see, the work that you'll do, the time that you'll spend alone and the time that you'll spend with others. Write about the quality of each exchange. Write about things that inspire and move you, things that reflect your passion and purpose. At the end of each day, write about what did happen, the people and conversations that meant something to you and helped you in some way. Write about what you accomplished and allow yourself a few minutes to celebrate that you actually got something done. The main thing is to just write it all down.

In addition to the daily story, write an ongoing meta-story that both keeps a record of the past and gives you a sense of where your whims might take you. Write in as clear detail as you can. Let yourself see and feel the things you want to experience and envision how your processes will unfold. My experience is that this kind of writing for the process oriented person serves a similar function as lists of goals do for those who are goal driven. It helps us to focus on what really matters and gives our lives some sense of meaning and direction, but it's in a language and style that we understand and resonate with. To us the big picture needs to be seen before the details can make sense. We're not drawn by the details. We're drawn by the meaning and the story.

Let me know if this is helpful to you. Leave a comment or write me at happyworkonline@gmail.com.

Read an article(with corresponding radio story) on NPR.com regarding being over 50 and unemployed which, for better or worse, inspired some thinking...

First a realization. Age matters...for some people. In fact, it matters to a lot of people. Particularly employers whose bottom line is to make greater profits. In their situation it costs them more to hire older workers because they often require higher salaries than younger, more inexperienced workers. It also costs them more to insure people over 50 because insurance companies have their tables to work from that say that as a person ages they are going to cost more to keep healthy. So, the short answer here is that there are some odds stacked against you in the workforce if you're over 50(I'd even lower this age to 45). There are too many able bodied, less experienced younger folks that are looking for the same jobs, who will command less salary and require lower costs to insure.

Another realization...when an employer has to make cuts, mid level management is usually the first to go. Cuts happen because as profit margins are narrowing, quick and dirty changes need to take place in order to stay profitable. The quickest way to cut costs is to eliminate higher salaried and benefited positions from the payroll. So this has led to an increasing number of mid level, mid career workers standing in a growing unemployment line.

I'm not going to offer any blame, political finger pointing or encouragement for the government to intervene. God knows, that's probably how the whole thing got started, but blaming isn't my gig. What I am going to offer is some insight and hopefully an ounce of possibility to older workers. I think we're at a crossroads in the way we work. The latest economic situation is a bit different from some of the other “recessions” we've had in the past, in that while politicians and banks are announcing that the recession is over, our unemployment rates are still sky high. People aren't returning to work at record levels. My opinion is that we're not seeing a recurring theme here, but a different new reality, a paradigm shift in the way that work is gained, carried out and sustained. Our institutions are crumbling because they are no longer effective.

Our models of employment, and the policies and structures that support them, have largely been relics of the industrial age. When we were primarily about mass manufacturing, the workforce depended on large numbers of people to make more stuff. This large number of people had to be managed by a large number of people in order to stay functional. Hierarchies were necessary to get the job done. The basic model of a pyramid shape with executives at the top, managers in the middle and labor at the bottom has been the model that influences the way we think about work in the first world for a couple hundred years and change. This model implies that most people work for someone else who in turn pays them and takes care of their basic needs. That is still the way that a lot of folks think it's supposed to be. Unfortunately(or not), that's not the way it is any more.

The new model for work that we're seeing emerge has a few basic requirements of it's workers. First, you're going to have to be self managed. You're not going to be able to passively depend on an employer to hire, pay and take care of you. You're going to have to take more responsibility for your work and how you're compensated for it. While employers aren't hiring as many full timers any more for obvious reasons, they are hiring specialized contractors for short term, as needed projects and they are willing to pay experts and specialists for their services. Opportunities exist for people who offer these specializations. A self managed worker is going to be one who doesn't require any supervision, is highly skilled and is responsible for conducting their own business with regard to wages and benefits. There is a surge in self employment.

Another requirement of the new worker is that they are adequately prepared to deal with new technology and the pace at which it changes and influences the way that work is done. You will no longer be able to depend on even a college level class in computing on your resume because colleges are operating with technology that is already 2-3 generations behind what's current at best. Taking a course in word processing at a community college isn't going to make much of a difference in securing work. Today's worker must be fluent in not only basic computing skills but using social networks, apps and mobile technology to their advantage. Steven Berlin is right when he updates Pasteur's quote to say that, “chance favors the connected mind”. This new requirement creates a lot of opportunity as well. People who can train others in the use of emerging technology have an extraordinary market now and in the coming years. My first suggestion to older workers is to go ahead and bite the bullet and buy the newest, latest and greatest gadgetry and learn how to use it. Then teach other, older workers how to use it. Instant market. In any case, the new way of working requires you to be connected technologically and adept at keeping up with technological advances.

The third requirement of the new model of working is the need for extremely high collaborative skills. New work organizations are characteristically smaller, flatter, more flexible and designed for the shorter term. Instead of monolithic corporate structures, vast physical plants, and huge labor pools, the new organization is structured around project centered teams with highly specialized members. It's not designed for the long haul. It lasts as long as it's central project lasts. Then it's over. Collaborative skills include the ability to work through conflict quickly and constructively, a high degree of specialized knowledge in a relevant field, and access to networks of other specialists, along with the abilities of communication and presentation. In addition to specialization, workers are also going to have to be able to simultaneously see both the bigger picture and the relationship of all its details. Both linear and global perception matter in getting the job done. The other reality that the shift to collaboration brings to the table is the need in these kinds of organizations for generalists. Though the collaborations themselves require high levels of specialization to succeed, they also require far and wide seeing generalists to lead them. Again, opportunities exist for people who do bring years of experience and the corresponding wisdom into the arena. Leadership still matters, but the managers from your father's generation wouldn't be able to do the job.

There are other requirements that I won't go into here for the sake of brevity and because my attention span has reached it's end. What I'd like to offer to workers of any age is this truth: As long as you're alive and you know the gifts that you possess, there is a community waiting to be served by them. By you. You may be required to think and behave differently in order to get by, but the needs haven't gone anywhere. As long as you can serve, serve. Don't wait for an employer to put you to work. Find someone who needs your services and serve them. Directly. If you see a need that's not being addressed, it's an opportunity. Create your own work. Your gifts...your genius, experience and wisdom, are necessary and valuable. If no one else will employ you, employ yourself.