Human Being vs. Human Doing, Take 2

Tree in Boston Common, December 2011

I started this blog (almost two years ago now) because I wanted to get out my ideas on the intersection of where people feel their passion and souls live and what they do in their lives to create meaning and support themselves. I’ve seen too many of my clients who are just blindly going through their professional careers who then 5, 10, 20 or even more years into it discover that they are completely unfulfilled and feel like they have been wasting their lives. It’s my goal to get as many people as possible to consider what’s important to them first before taking these steps. They might take the same actions, but this time with confidence.

I’ve also been doing a kit of personal reflection and study in my life and tried to share my learnings with all of you. Probably the greatest insight that I’ve had is one that I’ve read and heard for years, but I finally “got it”. As is probably apparent from my posts and my professional position, I’m a great proponent of planning and working your plan. I’m always looking for ways to be in control of what’s needed to be done (just look at all the posts that I have with the tags GTD, actions, goals, and the like). That’s my natural way of being and I can easily teach this to others. I’ve had to be a student of the other side, namely allowing things to happen.

I’ve been so driven to get things done that I’ve been impatient to allow things to happen. I’ve come to realize in a visceral sense (and not just intellectually) that there are too many variables in the world that I have no control over, and I have to learn how to just “be” in order to effectively deal with life’s challenges. As the saying goes “Life happens while you’re making other plans”. If I’ve been working so hard to get everything right, I’m not able to deal with what’s in front of me effectively.

In reviewing some of the data that I’ve seen from this blog, the #1 search term that brings people to my site is “human being versus human doing”. My first post on this is subject is one of my most read posts. I think that people have a great longing wondering if what they do has meaning and if there are other ways of being. As you can probably tell, it’s my work to answer that question with a resounding “Yes!”.

The first step is to practice “being”. It sounds cliche, but you have to work at slowing your mind down and just be present to the current moment. Our fast paced culture does all it can to keep us from bring present. This is not something I can just give you; it takes practice. You will screw it up a lot at the beginning. Keep trying. There are lots of different ways (yoga, meditation, prayer, serving others, etc.). Find the way that works for you and keep trying to do it and stay present.

Once you get that down, it will be much easier to actually take the action steps you need to make your dreams happen. You’ll have a focused goal and won’t have a lot if other things crowding your mind to keep you from the action steps to get them done.

So, how are you being today?

How to Research Companies in a Job Search

While I’ve been in a more contemplative, meaning of the Universe type of space on this blog lately, I also have that productivity/get it done side to myself. Today, you’ll get a shot of that practical side of myself.

The reason I’m so focused on knowing yourself and what you want is that until you know and understand that, it’s hard to know where to put your efforts in the job search (and you’ll waste a lot of time). But once you are clear on your vision and goals, it’s time to start doing your research.

I’ve been very surprised that when I recommend that people do research, they really don’t know what to do. Consider this a little list of resources if you are going to develop a list of target companies for your job search.

1. Your Reference Librarian: Whether at a your local library or a major research university’s library, librarians are your friends. They aren’t about book and telling you to be quiet. Librarians are like fox hounds for information. Put them on the trail and they are off. Just tell them the type of information you need (e.g. “All the TV stations in the state of Connecticut” or “film festivals that specialize in documentaries”) and they have databases (more about them below) and print resources that can help you locate them quickly. They are a great resource that most people overlook.
2. Databases: As mentioned above, many libraries have access to large databases of information that will help you out. Most aren’t available to the general public, but libraries subscribe to these great services. Take advantage of them!
• LexisNexis: This is the largest of the databases that libraries usually have to offer. If its a company, it’s probably in here.
• Hoovers, D&B Million Dollar Database and Business & Company Resource Center: These are three other business databases that can be very helpful. You never know what might be in one place and not another!
• US Governments Security & Exchange Commission’s EDGAR Database: This is a US Government listing and available free on the Internet.
3. LinkedIn: Yes, LinkedIn is great for doing research! Find out what companies people in a LinkedIn group work for. Discover where that person used to work as its probably in the same field. Look at the people who are linked to someone in the field and where do they work. lots of possibilities!
4. Google: We all know Google, but there’s a good chance you’re not using it to its full extent. For example, if there’s a company you’re interested in, you can google the company name and the name of something else you have in common (e.g. The name of the school you went to) to find out if there is an alum who works there or if there’s a special program that both are working on. Put your detective hat on and look for clues!

So, are you searching for something or waiting for it to find you?

Your Passion This Week, Volume 6

For those of us in the Northeast, we are either wondering what all the fuss of Hurricane (or Tropical Storm) Irene was about, or we’re reeling from the devastation of rain and floods that it brought to Western New England and New York State. Wherever you are, I hope you’re safe, dry, and warm.

Here are some things that have gotten my attention lately:

• Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days: A great TED video about how to create new habits and stretch yourself.
• 5 Reasons Your Blog Should Have More Authors Than Just You: If you are promoting yourself on line, you have to show that others are interested in your topic to and have something to say. Also that you know other people in high places!
• Take Back Your Lunch!: I’m surprised about how many people never take a break from the office for lunch. I have to get out and do something different!
• Email Rampage! 8 Tips to Find the Bottom of Your Inbox: Feeling overwhelmed. Just try to get your email inbox to zero so that there’s nothing left haunting you. It difficult, but a good spiritual practice!
• How Many Hours a Day Should You Practice?: Musicians have to practice a lot, as it shows up so obviously for them. How much should we practice to be great?
• First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy: What might be the tipping point from a eccentric to a movement could be the believability of the First Follower.

So, what have you been reading that’s inspired your passion this week?

 

 

Lessons Learned from Hitting the Century Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post marks my 100th blog post. I started in December 2009, and wanted to get myself into the practice of writing (I’ve joked that I’m writing my book a blog post at a time). I’ve written about a lot of things, but the themes, as best as I’ve been able to keep to them, is the listening to one’s own authentic self and then seeing how that can be manifested in the world. As my professional area is career development, I’ve also shared my philosophies about how one can best identify what is mist precious and to state your best case about doing that for others. I’ve gotten a few comments here, and many more in person or other venues, that people have appreciated what I’ve had to say and it’s helped them in their professional journey.

After having written so much, I’ve learned some things about myself and the process, and how people have reacted to my words.  Some of my learnings are:

• You’d be surprised at what gets the most comments.  Topics that I thought were the most benign can sometimes get the most heated debate.
• There’s always something to write about.  Even if it’s what you had for lunch, if it makes you think about something bigger in life, it can be a blog post.
• You’d be surprised who is most interested in your writing.  Someone random will tell me that they follow my blog every post and have gotten a lot out of it, and I didn’t think they even knew about it!
• Writing a blog is fine, but you have to get people to read it.  There’s a lot of things to read, and the struggle is getting eyes on your words.
• Forcing yourself to write is a good practice, like doing many other things that you know are good for you but take effort.
• Writing about events in your life can be cathartic, in that it forces you to think through things and present them in a way that shows your reflected on things and how you want to be seen.
• Practice makes perfect.  Keep doing things and you’ll get better at them.

So, what have you learned from doing something 100 times?

Note: The Resonare Summer Talk Challenge is still on! Register now to get the chance at prizes!

 

 

Turning Off The Voice In Your Head: Reflections on GTD

I was fortunate enough this past Friday to participate in the Making It All Work seminar instructed by Mr. GTD himself, David Allen. As many of you who read this blog know, GTD (Getting Things Done)  is a productivity philosophy first explained in David Allen’s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity. The main goal of the process is to get ideas out of your head so that there’s room to think of more creative ideas and to live in the very zen-like state of “mind like water”.

I’ve been studying GTD for about two years and seeing how I can integrate it into my life. While I’ve read books, participated in online forums and study groups, this seminar was great in filling in the gaps and bringing things together for me.

Here are some of the tidbits that I picked up in this session, and I can say that they are applicable to just about every area of one’s life:

• The optimal state is being in control, relaxed, and focused.
• Concentration minus distractions = Power
• Getting something off your mind frees up a lot of energy, so figure out where to put ideas so that you’ll find them again. That’s why we put the trash next to the door so we’ll remember to take it out in the morning.
• What frazzled us most is when we don’t know what to do with something, put it down, and pick it up again not knowing what to do with it.
• People blow fuses because they don’t know where to start.
• “Trust in Allah but tie up your camel.”
• Fear = Fantasized Experience Appearing Real
• We have a stasis with what we are comfortable. The only way to change is to make ourselves uncomfortable where we are. Until then, we won’t move.

While there were lots of other things I got out of the seminar, that’s all I can process now. If you’re interested in learning more about freeing up your mind, here are some resources I’ve found helpful.

• David Allen Company
• GTD Starter Kit
• GTD Virtual Study Group (A great podcast by Tara Rodden Robinson.  You can also here the episode where I was a guest speaker talking about using  GTD in your Career Development.)
• 45 minute presentation by David Allen on GTD at Google
• All of my blog posts relating to GTD

So, what are you doing to stop the voices in your head?

Listen to Spirit-Work Connection Interviews with Ken

I’ve been lucky enough to be interviewed on three different shows over the past year where I can share my thoughts about career development and how it interacts with the other aspects of people lives, and I thought that many of you might not have heard these and would like to get a better sense of my approach. Take a listen to these and let me know if anything resonates with you!

1. In March 2010, I was the guest speaker on the Getting Things Done Virtual Study Group (GTD-VSG) Podcast where I talked about “Utilizing GTD in Career Development“.  It was a great time with some great questions from the audience. If you don’t know anything about GTD, it’s a productivity philosophy developed by David Allen and I highly recommend it to anyone who is feeling overwhelmed and wants to get control of your life (or at least feel less anxious about it.) Listen to it directly.
2. In December 2010, I was interviewed by Harry Faddis on “The Quest of Life” radio show out of WRPI-FM in Troy, NY, where I discussed “Connecting Your Spirit & Your Work“.  Harry asked me question about how people make decisions about where their careers are going and how you can make choices that serve you better.
3. In January 2011, I was again a guest on The Quest of Life, and here I discussed “I Could Do Anything I Wanted If I Only Knew What It Was“. A big part of my work is helping clients with career exploration and assessments, so this was to clarify what people can do to help them get more clarity on what it is that makes them happy and how they can increase their chances of working in areas that make them happy.

Note: The workshop that I mention in the last two interviews (Finding Your Calling: Making Connection Between Spirit and Work) has been rescheduled to March 18-20, 2011, so you still have a chance to register!

I have a great time doing these interviews and am considering doing a podcast/audio/video blog to answer questions that people would have.

So, what questions would you like to ask me?

 

Demonstrating Your Creativity in the World

In the past day, I’ve seen two very inventive videos of people who are doing the things they love and sharing them. The first is a video by Emerson College students where they are doing a lip psyching video to a compilation of Lady Gaga songs. It involves over 400 students and was basically a campus tour as the showed all the facilities but also demonstrated the skill sets that they were developing in their studies (namely performance, video production, editing, event coordination, etc.). I’ve worked with a number of students that I see in this video and it’s amazing to see what they’ve accomplished. It’s also starting to go viral around the world too.

The second one was a music video of musician performing jazzed-up Christmas carols, but only using different iPhone and iPod apps. They replicate hand bells, guitars, conga drums, and numerous other instruments.  The performance is great, and really shows off their technical skills.

This reminds me a lot of the video of the band Atomic Tom that performed and recorded a music video on the subway using just iPhones for both the performing and recording.

What do these all have in common?  These people are demonstrating to the works what they have to offer others professionally. You don’t have to wonder what they can do, as they are showing it off. You don’t have to go and ask these people of their value; it’s right in front of you.

What does this have you do with your career? Everything!

Most people I work with hide what they have to offer the world, or at least make it so difficult to find out this information that people never see it. It’s either so cryptically written in a resume or an interviewer needs to ask so many questions to find the answer that the news of your value never gets out to be seen.

If you’re going to be happy in what you do in your career, it needs to cone from the capabilities that you have that you love to do (and are skilled at!). Are you a good writer? Write things that people can actually see (instead of keeping it all locked away on your computer or journal. Really good at organizing? Organize something that people in the world will experience. And mist importantly, after you’ve done it, let other people know about it! Your reputation is built on your works, and other people will be able to say good things about you to others (like hiring managers) in the future.

So, what beautiful, creative things about yourself are you keeping from the world?

The Start of Summer: What Are You Starting?

Warmer weather has finally hit New England. I’ve got the shorts and short sleeve shirts out from storage, the windows are opened more than they are closed, and I’ll be buying plants for my balcony on Saturday at the gardening center. We’ve been waiting for this a long time.

Additionally, it’s the time of year when students end their studies and start taking action to all the plans they’ve been dreaming of over the winter. I too  am starting to take action for my summer plans. I’ve got a trip next month with my Dad to Newfoundland to see the place where my great-grandparents emigrated from. I’m also planning more workshops, teleworkshops, and some professional development tasks. I’ve recently been researching all the different social media platforms and how I can utilize them to engage you in my ideas and let other people know that this is where you come to if you want information about developing your creative career, bringing your whole self into a career (spiritually, emotionally, etc.) and also if you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender and you’re trying to work through there issues. Expect to see a bunch of new changes to the site by the end of the summer.

So, what are you creating this summer? How are you moving into action? Are you doing what you want?

Free Teleworkshop: Goal Setting for When You Don’t Know What You Want

I am starting a new series of teleworkshops, where people can call in to a group call and I’ll be discussing an aspect of career development that will hopefully get people clearer and moving onto actions.  The first one will be on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 9 p.m. EDT.  The workshop is free (except that you will need to handle the long distance charges to call into the conference line). This is the first in a monthly series, and I hope that many of you will be able to join me.

Free Teleworkshop: Goal Setting for When You Don’t Know What You Want
Everyone is always recommending that you set goals, but how can you do that when you are so lost that you don’t know where to start? This free (except for your long distance charges) teleworkshop will help us to start investigating steps that we can take to start seeing where you can start to get control when you feel like you have too many ideas spinning around you.

To register, send an email to ken@resonare.com with “Free Teleworkshop 4/14/10″ in the subject line, and you will receive the information on how to call in.

Screwing Up as a Spiritual Practice

As I progress in my never ending quest of self improvement, I am realizing how important it is to practice skills. It’s not only the development in getting better at a particular task but it’s also the discipline of keeping at doing something long enough to get better at it.

From my time as an athlete (in my past I was a decently competitive race walker and coach) I know that you have to work at things and keep a focus on something in order to get more proficient at it. That’s served me from playing the hammered dulcimer, competing in national level competitions in race walking, and also in my career development work.

One of the great values of this practice is screwing up. It’s usually from a time when I’ve done something I didn’t mean to (i.e. wrong) that I’ve learned from it and it’s dug itself into my mind that I should never do that again. Those horrors usually come back to me when I’m about to do the same dumb thing again and screams at me not to. I’ve been saved many times by that scream!  I’ve heard this referred to as an AFGE (Another F***ing Growth Experience).

I like to tell people that you have to make about 100 mistakes before you can do it right. Go put and talk to people about your dreams, hopes and desires. You’ll get it wrong the first few times, but you’ll get better at it.

Also, the more we practice, the more focused and centered we become. Rev. Kim Crawford Harvie at Arlington Street Church in Boston said that flossing is one of her spiritual practices. Washing dishes is the same for Thich Nhat Hahn. A spiritual practice is just another phrase for a habit. Some are good for you, and some are not. I’m trying to choose which habits will add spirit to my life and trying to cultivate them.

Through the GTD Virtual Study Group, I learned about Habitforge, a great website to support you in developing good habits. Here are mine:

• Flossing daily
• Going to bed before midnight
• Getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night
• Writing down all the food I eat each day nu4you
• Exercising each day
• Working on this blog

Studies show that it takes between 3 to 6 weeks for an action to become a habit.

What life giving habits are you practicing?