Threshold Consulting: It's Your Life, Own It!

Own Your Life

June 2008 Newsletter

Dear Subscribers,

Welcome to the “Happy Summer” edition of Own Your Life!

Well, we’ve just passed the Memorial Day weekend, a time that marks the unofficial start of summer. Traditionally, it’s been the time when I pause for a few minutes and think, “wow, summer’s just around the corner.” Yes, I’m pausing again this year, but my thinking is just a bit more emphatic. It’s this: “OMG, where has all the time gone??!!!”

It really does seem like only yesterday that I was writing my last newsletter and celebrating the New York Giants’ Super Bowl win. It certainly seems as if time has simply zipped by -- and what a great time it’s been!  The past few months have been filled with great work, new opportunities for learning, fun activities, and new networking and friendship connections. As the old saying goes, “time flies when you’re having fun!”

What about you? Do you feel time is flying by? And are you having fun?

I sure hope so! Still, I’ll bet that on some level, you’re ready to greet summer as a slower and more relaxed time. A chance to escape the “usual grind.” Perhaps with more outdoor activities, like going to the beach, having cookouts, taking a vacation, or simply snoozing in a hammock.

Whatever summer may bring your way, it can also be a time of reflection and renewal. It’s a wonderful time to pause and reflect on the quality of your life, and figure out how to enhance it. Since your happiness is in your own hands, it’s important to figure out what you’re doing for yourself, what you do for others – and how that makes you happy. So, a great place to start is by taking stock of how you’re doing on practices that can enhance your happiness. Consider each of the following:

1. Count your blessings. Keep a private journal or communicate with others through visits or correspondence. When people in career transition take time to consider what is good in their lives, they often get an added lift in their efforts to find new work.

2. Practice acts of kindness.  Do something unexpected for someone else -- whether it’s letting someone go ahead of you at a supermarket check out, sending an unexpected card or gift to a friend, or telling a Starbucks barista what a great latte she made. Try it, and you’re likely to end up being rewarded with broad smiles – some that will live forever as treasured memories.

Own Your Life

February 2008 Newsletter

Dear Subscribers,

Welcome to the "Super Bowl Sunday" edition of Own Your Life!

Today is the Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League. It’s the day when two NFL teams attained one of their top goals for the season: prevailing through the playoffs for the opportunity to compete in the biggest game of the season. Of course, each team has it’s aim set on walking away with the Vince Lombardi Trophy – but at least they earned the chance to compete.

Although sports metaphors have tended to be overused, the Super Bowl is a great backdrop for considering goals and achievement, especially career-related ones.  So, it’s a great time to consider what you want to achieve in your career. Being reasonably close to the beginning of a new year, the first question is what are your career goals for the year? As long as you’re considering your career, you might consider where you see yourself in three to five years. Consider how this year’s goals relate to the long term. For example, the road to the Super Bowl (the ultimate goal) is achieved one game at a time. So, every game throughout the regular season and the playoffs relates to the overall goal. 

Own Your Life Newsletter

September 2007 

Dear Subscribers,

Welcome to the fall edition of my Own Your Life Newsletter!

Labor Day has traditionally signaled the end of summer and the beginning of fall. For most of us, the Holiday also signals the end of vacation and the beginning of school or work. It is a time when we notice that the balance of our lives is again beginning to tip in another direction.

In thinking about this time of year, I’m often reminded of The Three Boxes of Life, the life/work planning classic by Richard Nelson Bolles. In this book, Bolles notes that people often take the view that the course of life is defined by three boxes, with a learning box associated with youth, a working box associated with adulthood, and a play box associated with old age.  Life/work planning, he argued, was about creating a plan for balancing all three elements so that learning, work, and play would be integrated into all stages of one’s life. Significantly, Bolles also pointed out that reaching effectiveness in each of these boxes required finding meaning or mission. Essentially, then, he identified a process for not only finding balance in life but also finding satisfaction.

Things have changed since publication of The Three Boxes of Life, in 1978. Today, we tend to see our lives as integrated wholes, and are well aware of the importance of things like life-long learning, down time for play, and rewarding work. Increasingly, though, we find our laptops or PDAs keep us tethered to work as never before. So, in a very real sense, things have remained the same. Most people continue to strive to balance work against life – with the dream of keeping work within bounds, allowing more time for life! So prevalent is this perspective that countless articles by psychologists, life coaches, and other experts continue to provide advice on time management and stress reduction as strategies for achieving balance.

I wonder, though, if there might not be a better approach. As I see it, the secret to overall balance and well being could be in finding balance in each of six areas of living; specifically: career, family, relationships, self-care, leisure, and spirituality. And the key to finding balance in each area of living is focusing on what you value most and what gives your life meaning. In so doing, you are more apt to live the dreams that you might have thought would need to be reserved for retirement. Achieving this balance, however, is not a matter of luck, but takes some planning. Still, putting effort into living a full and meaningful life, today, is the best preparation for aging successfully and enhancing your readiness for life transitions such as retirement.

Ultimately, finding meaning and owning a truly satisfying life rests on having clarity about who you are, what you stand for, and the value you bring to others. In the world of career management, having this insight is the basis for a personal brand and can lead to career distinction. Yet, having clarity about your personal brand goes well beyond career, and is relevant at any age. It is the key to unlocking your unique value and bring your passion to all you do; it is the fundamental permission to be yourself.  Applied not only to your career but to other areas of your life, a personal brand can empower you to create a satisfying blended life in a world that is increasingly “always on.”

So, perhaps this Labor Day it’s time to consider ways to uncover meaning and integrate learning, work, and play into every part of our lives, no matter what the season.

Own Your Life Newsletter

May 2007

Dear Subscribers,

Welcome to the spring edition of my Own Your Life Newsletter!

My friend Erica, an event-planner, is launching a “celebrate life” series of mailings to her clients and prospects. She plans to include, in each mailing, a list of little-known holidays. For example, did you know that May 3 is Lumpy Rug Day? In doing some of my own research, I found that the month of May, not counting month- or week-long observances, offers 55 holidays to celebrate or observe. A lot to keep track of!

Actually, Erica got my attention with “celebrate life.” In writing blog posts about owning your life, I am frequently reminded that every day can be a celebration. Still, if you need some reasons, other than little known holidays, here are some things you might consider:

Celebrate your individuality. You are uniquely you and bring specific talents and distinctive traits to all you do. You’re probably aware of many of your assets, but you may not be aware of other attributes you own.

If you want to truly celebrate your individuality, take time for some self discovery; reflect on your values, passions, vision, and purpose. You should also make sure to get feedback from others; people who know you well can help you discover distinctive attributes that make up your personal brand.

If you want to learn more, see my posts: Discovering Your Hidden Assets, and Uniquely You.

Celebrate your positive outlook. For all of us, life continually challenges our perspective; we get plenty of opportunities to look at the glass and see how empty or full it is. And at mid-life, the metaphor of the half-full glass can become a more deeply personal one. How it affects us, of course, is up to each of us.

Since the quality of your life is a reflection of your perspective, your choices, and your activities, you have more control of the quality of your experience than you might think. You can’t rely on luck, so you should take some time to plan. You need to work at choosing joy over crisis. You need to work at achieving balance.

If you want to learn more, see: Feeling Lucky?, Having a Mid-life…Life!, Finding Balance in Your Work Life.

Celebrate your quality of life. If you are at mid-life, you have probably thought more than once about retirement. Like a lot of people, you may have even bought into the idea that the real rewards of life come in retirement. Yet, several writers on retirement and researchers on aging make a compelling case for improving the quality of your life today.

In fact, you may be denying yourself a vibrant future if you ignore building a solid foundation of interesting and productive activities, fail to engage in sound health and wellness practices, and miss opportunities to build meaningful relationships with a wide variety of people.

Want to learn more? Check out: Just what, exactly, is “retirement readiness,” and why should you care about it?, Living Your “Retirement” Dreams ... Now, Lifestyle Factors and Thrive with a Little Help from Your Friends.

With good reasons to celebrate, you may feel like dancing. Go ahead! In fact, it’s May Day; so, get out and find a Maypole and have a great time. Or celebrate in a way that fits you better. After all, it’s your life, own it!

Want to get my blog posts delivered to your e-mail box as soon as they are published? Then put your e-mail address in the box below the orange RSS symbol and click “Get email updates.” -- it’s that easy.

Best,

Walter

Own Your Life Newsletter

February 2007

Dear Subscribers,

Welcome to the first issue of my Own Your Life Newsletter, a quarterly round up of select posts and information that is relevant to owning your life during mid-life transition and beyond. Thank you for signing up. Happy reading! 

So, what is the experience of owning your life? At the most basic level, owning your life is feeling responsible for yourself and in control of your destiny. Yet, it is also the sense of pride, or even liberation, you feel when you have worked through a process of transition, solved a problem, or overcome obstacles to achieve something that matters to you. Focusing on you may seem selfish. It is not. In fact, owning your life is about being the best you can be for yourself so you can be the best you can be for others.

Owning your life is not a one time event, or a static state of being. Rather, I mostly think of it as an ongoing process of assessing, choosing, and achieving goals that matter to you. Consider your goals for a moment. Now, if you feel you could use a little help in setting and achieving goals, you may want to check out my two recent posts on goal setting: Setting Goals that Matter, and Some Perspectives on Goal Setting.

Ideally, you will want to own a life of achievement. In so doing, I believe you bring about things that are important to you, but also make a difference for others. While important at any age, considering how you can make a difference is especially relevant if you are at mid-life and beginning to think about the significance of your life, or about your legacy. For perspective on achievement, check out my thoughts on What makes for an achievement? And if you feel you could use a little inspiration see my suggestion in Inspiration from the Academy of Achievement.

Speaking of goals and achievement, it’s a good time for a reality check on those New Year’s resolutions. How are you doing?

According to one study, 36% percent of people who made New Year’s Resolutions have abandoned them by February. The good news, of course, is that 64% of folks who made resolutions are keeping them – and by June, most of those folks will still be working at making the change they vowed to make. I hope that includes you.

Of course, it’s your choice. 

I believe that this New Year is a great time to focus on choices that make you happy, healthy, and wealthy. What choices? Take a look at my post on Ten Choices for a Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy New Year.

I wish you well in making 2007 a banner year. Own your choices, own your achievements, own your life!

Best,

Walter

P.S., Want to get my blog posts delivered to your e-mail box as soon as they are published? Then put your e-mail address in the box below the orange RSS symbol and click “Get email updates” -- it’s that easy.