A slash is someone who has more than one career and usually at the same time, and who perhaps has made a second career out of a hobby or passion.

A slash can transition you from one stage in life to another or it can accompany your other career through most of your life.

We have had a ton of change

Some is easier than other kinds of change

When you are leaving home – for good

This blog repeats posting, especially in light of the Afghanistan (and possibly other upcoming) refugee situation.

I was in the USA and had had the opportunity of flying on a very special flight to Chicago.

Lessons learned

I can learn from this man; we all can.

He had already been able to overcome what seems insurmountable barriers, make important, if still very hard, decisions, and continue on his way to a new solution, a new place.

He had few illusions to the difficulties he would face ahead, but he believed that there was opportunity ahead and only death and destruction behind. He knew that his future was and still is in his hands and he had taken the responsibility seriously.

I have just had a holiday. It’s been great, but at least for me, returning to the job can sometimes be difficult. Returning to work can be emotionally - and even physically difficult, especially if you have really had a mental break from your every-day schedule, as I have had. It can feel like you are a deep-sea diver coming to the surface again, facing a foreign world from where you have recently been. Resurfacing and getting back in the saddle, to mix some metaphors, are tough.

Start on a Wednesday, or even Thursday- or do a “fun” thing first

I restarted last Thursday.

Make your first work-week lighter by only working a few days, or perhaps schedule something “fun” first, such as a training day, or a team building day where you have no choice but to ignore your email list. This time I only focused on the deadlines

Networking can get you referrals.

Your best referrals will mostly come from people you know and I basically work from referrals. (former clients and present onew, remember to refer me, please)

To find more people who will refer you, will have to grow your network.

A web presence is nice, but, that’s where your referrals go to “check you out” after your name has come up. A website is not usually used by clients and customers to” find” you. They get referred, instead.

Thus, you need these ten tips for good networking practice.

Healed people Heal people

So, what are you going to do? Join the grumpies and the people who yell, troll, and/or write nasty emails and even publicly “expose” people?

Are you going to be people who say, “I am going to hide in my hole till the mess is over”? It’s never over.

Or

Are we going to help people by looking for the best in others and to accept our personal responsibility for our hurtful ways, asking forgiveness and then moving on to better ways?

We can only change ourselves and our attitudes.

How is happiness attained?

1. In a job well-done (and if at all possible, within the time and financial constraints)

2. In (finally) reaching a goal

But also in:

· Healthy activity for mind, body and soul (and all the underlying goals to be reached)

· Good (safe, fun, reliable) relationships where I can be myself and share myself

· Doing good to others, especially “strangers” (no kidding!)

· Being grateful for the past, savoring the present and looking to the future with hope

· Being happy about your job and what that job contributes to “the greater good”

Ury’s 6-Step Model:

1. Put yourself in your own shoes

2. Develop your inner BATNA

3. Reframe your picture of the situation

4. Stay in the Zone

5. Respect them, even if…

6. Give and Receive

How are you getting ready for the fall?

Are your emails paired down and ready for responses? Do you code/color-code them for “triage” and potential clients?

What about your to-do list(s)? Do you keep your old lists to make sure you haven’t out something under the pile of papers for too long?

What is your calendar like?

this gives us all a chance to think of how to make our working environment more positive, in general. Maybe I can be a friend so someone (unfortunately my work “best friend” recently retired, and now I would like to find someone, which isn’t always easy, as it is chemistry, etc.)- so, I wish you a god time reflecting and moving forward at work.

Finally, maybe you are still under lockdown or afraid that it will happen again at any time, if this is the case, what on the list can best help you deal with that uncertainty. Learning to deal with the uncertainty in life is the best we can do at this time.

How can we go into the fall with a calm and resolute heart to move forward positively?

First, decide not to decide (too much).

For sure, we need to keep moving.

Also, keep on planning.

Downsizing at the beginning of the fall/school year is a god thing (I will be doing this later, but for us here in the Argovian countryside, school began this morning).

Sometimes it’s time to downsize and also to look in new directions in our life. Maybe it’s time to make a list or two to remember what’s really important.

Transition(s) and Change(s)

Make for Loss

Which has to be grieved

There’s been a lot going on for most of us since March 2020. We’ve experienced extreme loss and change; we have hopefully grieved each of these losses well so that we can move on.

Change equals loss

Our values are important and following them is one of the keys to success (and even happiness).

When our actions (and words) come into alignment with our core values, life is generally good, and we feel content, confident and satisfied. But when our behaviors don’t match up with our values, we soon begin to experience a sense of uneasiness and discomfort in our soul (mind and emotions). We are not living out of authenticity. We are not full of integrity. We need to know our whys, as Simon Sinek says so well.

Making a deliberate and conscious attempt to identify which of our core values are of greatest importance to us, is crucial if we are to keep your anxiety levels low and our sense of self-awareness high.

In conflict and stressful situations…

When you say, write or do something you want to take back, what can you do?

Be humble

Admit your fault

Apologize sincerely

Start again anew

All this is good, but it may not change long-instilled negative patters.

When you want learn to change your negative responses, what can you do? You can STOP and be SOBER.

Gen Z

Zoomer

Post Millennial—

· Ambitious, Digital Natives, Content-oriented

· Like comfort and flexibility

· Curious and open

· Socially and politically aware and active (but not in traditional ways)

· Start-ups and side hustles are the name of the game (and financial independence is the goal)

· Want their freedom

Does this fit your picture of the Zoomers you know?

What makes good communication? It’s complicated to communicate, but it’s do-able.

Good communication is askill and art to be learnedthrough practice, knowledge and sometimes, through coaching.

I am reading a book called, “Useful Delusions”, which talks about how our mind plays tricks on ourselves to help us be more resilient. One of the research-based sections is on optimism and how optimists live longer. Sorry for those of you who don’t use your rose colored glasses very much. Dust them off and try to remember the positives in life and be grateful for them. Here some ideas: Be grateful, stand like Wonder Woman and smile more often.

We all have fears, and fear is normal. We are made to have fear so we run away from imminent danger.

But sometimes our fear goes “sideways” and comes out in the “wrong place.

Sometimes we are afraid of the wrong things.

Sometimes fear overwhelms and gets us in a stuck place.

Avoid awfulizing, us vs. them, and scarcity mindset thinking when making decisions to be successful.

Are you trying to make a decision about something and just can’t get past some of the “ish” factors? Or are you talking yourself into something that maybe you (or your trusted network) might not feel so right about- maybe you are wanting to just get that first deal? ALSO: Loss aversion can derail our plans, our business, our life. It makes us focus too much on the short-term and not the long-term. We tend to give up on things that we see as loss to us especially when we apply great meaning to that thing, whatever it might be. We need to remember to always think long-term.