This book seemed to go much faster than Flow and I think that is mainly because of my own life’s transition and the transitional process I’m supporting my clients in understanding, building, relaxing, and learning – all while bumping along and defining a common purpose.

This final chapter brings to mind my client Julia (not her real name) and the internal battle she has to be an equal parent and spouse in her personal life. Julia is a high achiever with a leadership position within a corporate company. She is sharp, organized, and at the top of her game. She had three children who are beautiful, curious, healthy, and thriving. Julia’s husband is also a high achiever and doing well in his job. He’s evolved (as Julia describes him) – yet he is not pulling his weight as a parent (again, according to Julia).

From Julia’s perspective, her husband does not stay up as late as she does to get things done around the house. He doesn’t attend all their kids’ practices for extracurricular activities, but he does enjoy the glory of their performances during competitions. He doesn’t go to all the school meetings, but will brag about the kids’ academic progress. He does not set up the play dates but will take the kids and hang out with the other parents and discuss how much he likes being a father. He does not feel guilty about being at work and he does not feel bad about working late on certain evenings.

As Julia let loose and spilled all her disgruntled beans, I stopped her and asked, “Why are you keeping track and what do you plan to do with this collection of data?”

Her response, “I want him to know how much I’m giving up to be a great mother, attentive wife, and a key player at my job. He does not know how hard it is and how tired I am all the time. He’s enjoying this life we have created and I’m drowning in it.”

Oh! That did not sound good at all. In fact, I just sat there for a moment and didn’t say anything. Julia’s emotions were raw, she was over-stretched, she was angry, and she was pissed.

I thought back to the final chapter of The Art of Possibility – which prompted me to ask Julia,

“This competition you have with your husband, does it lay the foundation for you to be him vs. her team or a we team?”

Her response, “Oh f*ck! I AM in competition with my husband! But I don’t know how to stop!”

And then we worked from there helping Julia to deconstruct the fear, narrow vision, turf guarding, and unnecessary struggle from which she was operating.

We talked about her essential expectations for her life and dug through her “is this really happening to me now” story to reframe her perspective.

We listed steps she could employ to approach her husband with open arms to and reconnect with him to break down the competitive barriers she had set up.

Now, we worked on this for four sessions. It was difficult, there were a lot of curse words, tears were shed, and the work is not done.

I think the monitoring and checking-in on our mindsets, perspectives, and ways of conducting our daily business is a central theme to The Art of Possibility’s message.

It is up to us to dissolve barriers that rigidly define us.

We have to be conscious of words, feelings, thoughts, and ideas that do not lead to connecting to others.

If we are falling short in contributing, sharing, and growing in the process – we need to splash some cold water of possibility on our faces and recalibrate.

We need to weave the concept of seizing opportunities through easy and hard lessons into our daily mantra.

We must take a stance of openness in our daily living so we can be ready to sample the various pieces of life’s pie – while charging (or re-charging) our inventive powers – to keep us open to whole living.

After analyzing this book and discussing various concepts with the friends, clients, and the other coaches from On the Same Page, I feel relaxed in watching my “next steps” unfold. I’m not over-pushing or feeling confined in staying open. I know I have to be more trusting of how the universe will respond and that does not have me jammed up. My perspective has shifted in a way that helps me recognize when I’m using a skeptical lens – as opposed to a possibility lens. Yes, I could do that before, but now I’m even better at it.

As you start this week, I invite you to:

• Merge goal setting and possibility thinking so you can fire your control freak and take appropriate risks
• Rewrite or rework rules that do not support you in having courage to speak your truth
• Focus on success from a place of openness and not fear of failure
• Drop the labels
• Give yourself an A more often than not, even in the middle of a mistake, because learning is taking place all the time

images: embracingcreativity.com, thefastandthefabulous.com, justdoityall.com

I think I’m attracting a lot of clients in transition because I am still in transition.

I’ve been working with women who are:

• changing jobs

• getting back into the workforce

• leaving the workforce to start a family

• upcycling their lifestyle – because the “old way” ain’t cutting it

• breaking up with friends or a partner

For my transition – I am hitting the five month mark of living in California after living in Colorado for 10 years.

I love California. The weather is gorgeous. The population is extremely diverse. I go to the pool and hot tub about four days out of the week. I’ve been spending more time at various farmers’ markets. Going to the beach is such a treat and easily accessible. Life is really good.

Still, in all the transition, I’m expending a lot of energy being patient, learning, taking extra care of myself, being a conduit of information for my family, re-establishing “life roles”, serving my clients, and just figuring various things out.

I’m a little tired.

This is what I understand about what is going on:

• I do not have to have it all figured out right away – even though I have relocated before.

• Change is exhausting.

• There are going to be frustrating days and there is no reason to fight it.

• Each day is fun adventure – even when I’m like, “WTF!?”

• Working on my patience is never-ending – like my dedication to reading US Weekly.

This is what I care about:

• I’m paying attention to all of this – and not stuffing it into my “I’m not dealing with it” pocket.

• I’m staying mindful that stretching is a good thing.

• Making mistakes and growing from them can be painful but necessary.

• Fostering interpersonal connections that are energizing is what I need most.

• Keeping my daily thoughts out of the realm of confinement keeps me optimistic.

This is how I’m helping myself:

• Getting coached.

• Asking for help.

• Monitoring my self-talk language.

• Choosing to be in “possibility mode” – as opposed to “survival mode”.

• Saying no.

This is how I’m helping my clients:

• Doing the same “managing change” homework – I often to give to them.

• Untangling the barbed wire of  scarcity thinking.

• Identifying internal gifts – using them to serve myself – and then others.

• Creating a safe place to fall apart – without self-loathing.

• Reigniting a hearty appetite for my life.

 This is what is saving me:

• Serving others while taking care myself.

• Pushing the restart button as often as I need to.

• Being an active participant in my own life – so I can model this.

• Building my personal life raft based on courage and appropriate risk taking – as opposed to building it based on fear of failure.

• Understanding when something (e.g. task, relationship, project, joint venture, etc.) is no longer for me – and being OK with gracefully exiting and moving on.

If you are experiencing a transition – big or small – how are you caring, helping, and saving yourself?

How are you extending this to others?

Kanesha Baynard interviews Kayce S. Hughlett about possibility, creativity, a dream trip to Vienna, living your dreams, and how to stay open during everyday life.

Use this reflection worksheet to capture your thoughts and ideas as you listen to the interview.

#1  We can begin each new day by setting an intention that focuses on the internal qualities we would like to embody just for that day rather than on the outcome we want to see this year. We can take a moment to envision what it feels like to live that day from this place. Linda Wallace

#2  I think that people think NO is associated with ” I don’t like you” or ” I am a bad person if I say NO”… BUT NO is the most powerful and positive words in our language. No allows you to stand up for what you believe and to set healthy boundaries. The inability to use a sweet NO, is the cause of all of our stress and illness. Indrani Goradia

#3  Self-knowledge – it takes boldness to truly get to know yourself and always be truthful with yourself. Intentionality – it’s bold to resist life ruts and choose to live intentionally, making the most of each day. Positivity – you have to boldly reject negative self talk and decide to have a positive attitude, even when life is tough. Effort – you have to put bold effort into whatever you want to accomplish, whether a rock climb, a life change, or a relationship. Adventure – you have to have some bold adventures in life to spice it up and to create memories to enjoy. Challenge – you have to give yourself some bold challenges in life to stay “fresh” and alive. Sandy Wilder

#4 I think at the core of science is curiosity and exposure.  It isn’t about being the smartest person.  It is about being passionate and committed. Discovery is a slow process requiring the right amount of preparation and luck. Tahllee Baynard

#5  I have a chalk board in my sewing room that I constantly write FOCUS on! I also make endless lists trying to keep things straight and organized. It’s really a constant battle. Fallene Wells

#6 Stop waiting.  Stop worrying that you’ll fail.  Start sharing your gifts.  Bev Andes

#7  Taking the risk to start my own business was the hardest step and is my biggest success. I was fearful about stepping off a path that felt expected and took years to carve. It took me some time to wrestle those fears out of the equation and realize staying put would be more detrimental than taking a risk. I also realized I wouldn’t lose anything; I took it all with me. The sense of freedom and happiness that followed was instant and is immeasurable. I believe once you start allowing your intuition to guide decisions, a lot of the fears subside and success comes more naturally. Stephanie Blake

#8  The problem is that most people confuse being ‘excellent’ with being ‘perfect’. Excellence is absolutely attainable and can always be distilled and further ‘perfected’ as an experiential and living standard of practice in bold living (both personally and professionally). Perfection is a trap and a non-existent state of being, as much as this sounds like  a paradox.  Pedro F. Báez

#9  I had to readjust my thinking that I was not going to live close to my mother, father, sister and her family.  I had to accept that I was leaving my friends as well.  Really, everything was readjusted.  Every schema I had for how I was to live my life has altered. Know that it is going to be much more difficult than expected, so go understanding that you will have many, many roadblocks, but you will survive and you will eventually figure many things out.  Carrie Vanderbrook

#10  Another way to help people feel empowered is to help them develop their “emotional intelligence” which is their ability to perceive, evaluate, and control emotions.  This includes helping people to become more self-aware, regulate and label their emotions, increase self-motivation, develop empathy, and build strong relationship skills.  It is especially important to teach people how to recognize emotions in others and develop empathy and the ability to take on other person’s social perspective.  Kari Knutson

#11  Discovery is only natural on the path of Bold Living. You discover not only more about yourself and your abilities, but about the people and the world around you. To some, nothing is more frightening than the Unknown, which is what you will stare in the face often as you step outside of your comfort zone. Every step towards the unknown is necessary to continue a new journey.  Ronnie Jolla

#12  I never really felt that I wanted to stop training, some days were just harder getting motivated than others. On those days I gave myself permission to “just do it” and go through the motions. Training for several hours a day each week for 18 weeks made me realize every day doesn’t have to be full force, it’s just as effective to go through the motions and check that activity off the training  list.  My motto became “Just put one foot in front of the other“.  Heather Hogan

#13  I am inspired by culture and new environments. When I travel I am moved to make sketches. I feel an urge to capture what I see. It’s possible that sketching also serves as a kind of buffer or comfort zone for me when I’m in a foreign place. At the same time, sketching has also served for me as a kind of entry point with locals. Either way, the art that I make while traveling informs my professional work. Any drawing that I do teaches me something – the more practice I have in navigating a page with line, the more adept I am in the future.  Marcellus Hall

#14  I have to stay centered, focused, and clear.  It’s like creativity is already present in the universe and our job as artists is to tune in, get out of the way and get into the flow so that we can open ourselves up to receive the beauty that is always present for us.  Artel Great

#15  I think that adults gets so busy trying to “make things happen,” doing what they think is expected, and over extending themselves, that they forget that if they have more fun, they will have better relationships, make more money, and basically accomplish what they want faster, easier and smarter. Us humans, we are hilarious. We get so stuck in our minds. And, we believe things about fun that is just not true. Like, that play comes after work. Really? Why? And, that play and work are separate things. Work can be fun and can feel like play. Fun is not an optional “add on.” It is an energy that you can bring to all that you do.  Susan Hyatt

#16  A shift can happen while a person is with nature. Being outside tends to make us feel better. People used to be and live outside all the time. Now, many of us are living life that is mostly indoors-  in cubicles and inside of buildings and it takes an effort to get outside.  It has a huge payoff though.  Sarah Seidelmann

#17  We think we know what comfort looks like, but that often translates as stagnant. Discovering actual comfort is more aptly part of an ongoing journey of exploring our zone between being shut down (stagnant/numb) and living in perpetual anxiety. Comfort is about finding the sweet spot where our soul dances – the zone in between deadened and terrified. The illusion is that comfort holds steady when in reality it’s more like a moving target—what’s comfortable one day may turn out to be excruciating the  next and vice versa. It’s up to us to keep exploring what our zone looks and feels like.  Kayce Stevens Hughlett

#18  Most frequently is living life and making our choices by who we think we should be or who others expect us to be. Your true success always lies in you being yourself. Not the person you think you are or the person you think you should be but who you REALLY are. Second on my list is fear of the unknown. Sometimes we don’t know who we will be or how others close to us might react if we make a bold move and really play full out. Unconsciously, we may end up holding back not to leave behind the familiar life that we have.  Ronda Wada

#19  …your entire concept of yourself as a parent is challenged when you have to rely on your child to help you navigate a culture.  Haviland Staggers

#20  Take care of yourself!  Women often struggle with feeling guilty for indulging in self-care activities.  Drowning in caring for other people at the expense of one’s self is the quickest way to forget or lose touch with who you are.  Self-preservation is a necessary component of serving others. My father used to always tell me, “put yourself first, so you can put others before you,” and as I get older I understand that more and more.  Laura E. Knights

images: pinterest, religionquotes.info

Did you get all your cards and gifts sent so they arrive on time?

Moving on…

Last night I worked with Bright Coach Consulting Group to facilitate a Mom’s Nite Out Twitter chat. We discussed leaning into your style of motherhood.

Motherhood seems to be a hot topic all over television, radio, the blogosphere, in books, PTA meetings (etc.) – and staring many of us right in the face.

There are various camps on what it looks like to be a good, attached, natural, deliberate, working, full-time, and Sh*tty Mom. (BTW – I love that book and wish I had written it.)

I’m sure you could insert any other adjective or qualifier in front of the word mom that would inspire, uplift, divide, chastise, or tear down any woman who is navigating these choppy waters of motherhood and how it looks to outsiders – who have held this role or just have seen it done.

Our Twitter discussion was lively and really came down to four key points:

• Excellence over perfection

• Being a role model instead of a fixer

• Putting yourself – as a mom – on your “to do” list

• Setting up your motherhood entourage

The last point generated a lot of discussion because many moms (women in general) have a hard time asking for help.

What is that about?

Did we see our own moms struggle; therefore we think we have to keep that legacy of exhaustion going?

Are there not enough helpful people around us?

Are we afraid to let people see our real and often messy day-to-day?

Do we think we are weak if we need to ask for help?

Are we judging ourselves harshly for wanting to thrive instead of just survive?

We will not earn our busyness badge if we have additional support.

We see the mom next door handling her business without a breaking a sweat – and since it looks like she has no help – do we think we are less than because we want or need the help?

The list of questions and ponderings could go on and on – but here’s the deal: We all have a choice.

We can choose to build our motherhood entourage based on the idea that we are not enough – so we have to seek out help.

Or – we can build our motherhood entourage based on the facts that we want to enjoy ourselves as (and you decide the order) women, mothers, partners, friends, siblings, aunts, bold enthusiast, fitness fanatics – whatever.

The point is moms need to pause and figure out what WHO they need and want on their team so they can create the style of motherhood that keeps them happy, healthy, loving, and nurturing.

Tell me –

• Who is currently in your motherhood entourage?

• Who would you like to add and why?

• When will you ask for it?

As I mentioned earlier – Mother’s Day is this weekend – so there is no better time to ask for what you want and need – and fill the slots for your motherhood entourage.

image:  iamthebetterhalf.blogspot.com

When you hear or read that word, what comes up for you?

In preparation of writing this post, I asked some friends and all my clients to tell me the five words that come up when they hear the word passion.

Here are the top 5 words that came up the most after I asked 15 people (rank ordered):

Sex (usually preceded by hot, good, and wild)

Energy

Fun

Life

Weekend

Weekend?

I had to probe a bit more and here’s what was said:

• “I have to wait until the weekend to do anything that deals with passion because I have responsibilities.”

• “Day-to-day life leaves no room for passion.”

• “Follow your passion; yeah, that’s weekend or vacation hobby time.”

• “You get to an adult age – at least 30 – when you can no longer talk about passion or following your passion.”

• “Only Oprah can make a living through passion.”

• “I got to follow my passion when I when through my hippie stage – aka – undergrad!”

I understand what my friends and clients are expressing. We are busy. We have responsibilities. We are in control of ourselves and somewhat in control of others. We have to get stuff done. We need to pay our bills. We want to survive in this life, world, and economy.

How do we keep passion alive while hula hooping and juggling (all at the same time) through daily life?

I’ve felt like this. I’ve felt like I was getting all my passionate energy, for a creative project, squeeze out of me like a southern belle in a Gone With the Wind corset. I have felt silly and frivolous thinking I could turn a “passion project” into an impactful venture that would improve the world. I’ve felt like a foolish failure for jumping feet first into a joint venture that was oozing with fun, passion, and laughter – only to come out the other size full of muck – like Carol Anne in Poltergeist.

And you know what happened after that?

I got over myself and reinserted myself into the passion socket.

Even when I tried to squash my passionate energy for my life, family, career – and anything thing else that showed up on my passion radar – it bubbled over. The passion shook its knowing finger at me as if to say, “I don’t think so. Dust yourself off and hop right back on this mechanical bull. Passion is coming back for you – fast and furious – so buckle up!”

I think this is the message Rosamund and Benjamin Zander are highlighting in this chapter.

We feel like passion keeps evading us in some aspect of our lives. This can happen if we are shutting all the doors and windows and caulking all of passion’s pathways. The Zanders challenge us to question where we are holding back – and then to let that go.  We all have to stop trying to control everything and use that energy to notice, connect, and fuel ourselves with passionate energy.

We cannot show up half-heartedly and then expect to get a full experience. We have to stay open to new things outside our comfort zones. We have to shift our lens to a view that keeps our attention in the flow of passionate transformation. We have to give over to the energy and vibrancy of the world we live in. We have to make sure our minds are not turning off the power to be in the generative flow of giving way to passion.

This week, I challenge you to:

Pause and notice where a long-held passion is showing up and you keep shoving it to the back of your mental closet.

Ask yourself why you are ignoring these passion signs.

Set an intention to ask one person in your life to go on your passion journey with you. Reminder – the length of this passion journey can be an overnighter, long-weekend, or extended journey. The point is – get yourself a cheerleader and/or guide to help you see this through.

Schedule time, this week, to capture your thoughts. Write them, record them, draw them – or use any method to make sure you are collecting passion data.

Invest some time following through. This may mean blocking out time on your calendar, taking time off, rearranging responsibilities, or just getting out of your head. Whatever the case may be – your passion signs will keep showing up and nagging you – so answer the call by investing some time.

Omit any negative thoughts about going on your passion journey. Focus on the generative energy that is supporting you in taking this passion leap.

Normalize this process by reminding yourself passion leads the way to an abundance of possibilities showing up in your life. Acknowledge you are the only one blocking possibilities coming your way when you stifle passion.

Use this passion passport to help you along the way.

What passion project or journey have you put on hold? How will you give way to passion and move forward?

On the Same Page – posts and resources

image: lifesvinetruth.com

How appropriate it is that this holiday is aligned with this week’s discussion of chapter four in The Art of Possibility.

As I read through this chapter (I read it 3 times), I came away with four top messages:

• The drive to be successful often makes us the most fearful.
• An attitude of scarcity blocks us from adopting a viewpoint of abundance.
• Telling our story vs. the story we elect to tell can cause us to hear a busy signal of obstacles instead of hearing opportunities.
• The model of measurement, where we equate success with identity and possessions, is the path to mental defeat – not the open road to possibilities.

When I think about my own life (mostly my work life) and how I’ve stood in my way, the top stories I would tell myself is (1) I don’t have the time to do what I really want (2) I’ve already spent so much time going down such and such path – it’s too late to change course (3) Having my dream job and trying to make it a reality will not matter anyway and no one will care (4) How dare I want something else when I have a top position, great salary, benefits, and professional accolades behind my name?

Any of this sound familiar?

As I have grown, transformed, dropped the stories, taken breaks, gotten quiet, and openly listened, I learned that my story was wrapped in doing things the right and best way the first time because there would not be any more time to figure something else out.

I bought into the age target of when things should be achieved, mastered, and checked off.

I was too concerned with the clock and calendar of where successful endeavors had to show up and be recorded.

My monitoring system was spinning its wheel in the quicksand of mental failure – way before I could even pushed start.

I reflect now and think back on all of this as my time trapped in a bubble of mental limitations. The bubble was thin and transparent. I could see various possibilities around me as I was floating through my life – but I wasn’t ready to take my sharp tool of possibility to break free. And when I finally popped this bubble of mental limitations – everything did become mine.

I became more calm and clear in the work I wanted to do. I shed the unnecessary burden of trying to achieve success in a job, organization, and field that was not open to possibilities. I didn’t feel any pressure or urgency to help others understand my decisions to go a different route. Their approval or disapproval didn’t have a hold on the contributions I wanted to make.  Any opinions and unsolicited feedback was acknowledged – I was fine with it – and I felt fully in charge of myself.

I returned to my focus of supporting others, contributing to their goals, nurturing their dreams – and in turn – my own possibilities grew. I rewrote my life rules and I continue to tweak them as new possibilities show up.

Taking the bold step to stand directly in the light of possibility is initially scary because:

• we do not like to admit we’ve been holding ourselves back
• it’s painful to feel like you’ve “wasted” time in your life
• stepping into a new identity can make your head feel like it will spin right off your body

The authors suggest a simple and powerful exercise to get you started and moving toward these possibilities.

Need more help, check out this worksheet.

So tell me – how are you contributing to someone’s life right now?

How are you becoming transformed in the process?

What thoughts of scarcity do you find are falling away?

On the Same Page

Calendar for blogging book club

Activity 1

Activity 2

How can that be?

If you are thinking about your goals, vitality, or happy place – are you are also focusing on various ways to connect with yourself?

Many of my clients ask WHY this is so important – being connected with yourself.

My response is often this: in the hustle and bustle of what it means to be successful, thriving, and responsible (feel free to insert any of those “productivity words”) – many of us get lost.

We get lost in duty, busy-ness, making comparisons, and should dos.

We lose focus.

We stop focusing on what matters to us – individually.

We keep telling ourselves that we will focus on ourselves once XX is over.
We’ll have more time to get back to our dreams when XX passes.
We’ll slow down and get centered once we get over the XX.

Sound familiar?

If so, it is time to pause and align your values with your actions.

Select your top values that guide and lead you to make decisions about your life. I’m talking about values that are unshakable and speak to who you are in your best and worst moments.

• If you think back to the month of March – or even reflect on 2013 – were your values guiding you throughout your interactions and decision making?

• Did you feel you were in control of your choices?

• Did you feel you could immediately take care of anything that was not working for you?

If the answers you provided to the questions above have you feeling off-center, bewildered, or surprised – do not get down on yourself.

Set aside some time – THIS WEEK – to set some priorities.

Use the following prompts to guide you:

• Where am I now?

• Where do I want to go?  Or what do I want to be different?

• What do I have to work with?

• What do I believe is getting in my way?

• What have I learned along the way?

• What have I accomplished?

• What am I most proud of?

Next week – Set aside time to align (or re-align) your values with your actions.

It’s April and you’ve got 28 more days to focus on this priority – connecting with yourself.

image: georgewestonfoods.com.au

The formatting looks great. All the words are spelled correctly. Active verbs are being used. Professional accomplishments are being mentioned. The educational achievements look impressive – but the resume is still dry, dull, and B-O-R-I-N-G.

Creating a standout resume can be difficult work. Why? Because you have to think, condense, cheerlead, and promote yourself on a flat piece of paper (or electronic version). When someone is reviewing your resume, you may be thinking they can tell how enthusiastic, hardworking, dedicated, and competent you are in your job field – but the truth is – to get your resume to that level is tricky.

You do not want the resume to be too wordy. You definitely do not want it to read like a laundry list of job duties any random person off the street could complete. At the same time, you worry if you put all the fantastic, juicy, and spectacular things about yourself in your resume – you’ll sound too braggy.

Uhm…if you are not going to do some truthful bragging on your resume – why create one?

Here are some ways you can give your resume a quick tune-up without pulling your hair out.

30 second test

Take your current resume and have a friend or trusted colleague look at it. Give this person 30 seconds – yes, really time them. Then take the resume back and ask her what stood out. If she cannot tell you anything that makes you think “Oh yes, my resume knocked her socks off!”  – your resume needs a tune-up. If you don’t think 30 minutes is fair (and it is, by the way), give them 60 seconds – but no more.

Schedule time

You will probably need to look at your resume 2-to-4 times to give it a proper tune up. Set a timer for 40 minutes and only work on your resume for those 40 minutes. Make sure you will not be interrupted while you are using this 40 minute time period. 40 minutes may seem like a lot of time or not enough, but you do not want to go brain dead because you are trying too hard and long.

Performance reviews

If you have been in the workforce for a while, go back and find your old performance reviews. What did you supervisors write about you (I’m talking about the positive stuff)? Figure out a way to incorporate that information into your resume.

Results from inventories

If you are an inventories junky (like me) you have the results filed away somewhere in hard or soft copy form. Go get them and dust them off. Look at the information that is provided and pull some language from there that would speak to your strengths and competencies. Add this information to your resume. Now…be sure not to include EVERYTHING from the inventories – you need to be selective.

Inventories I like: Myers Briggs, Real Colors, Social Styles Interactions, Strength Finders, and Kolbe Conative Styles

Calendar

If you have been leading committees, volunteering, writing grants, giving presentations – and other “Yup, I’m super great in my field” activities – but you can’t remember what these activities were – check your calendar.

I’m the type of person who categorizes my appointments (categories and color coded). It’s easy for me to take a quick glance at what I’ve been up to based on the quarter, month, year, week, and day, etc. Why is this important? If you are way too heavy in volunteer work (as an example) and you want to participate in more networking activities – your categorized calendar will tell you this with a simple glance. Using your calendar to update your resume will force you to be better about updating your calendar, be more purposeful in how you use your time, and boost your interactions or activities that will support you in getting your next job or position.

When was the last time you gave your resume a tune-up?

What did you add or delete?

image: memegenerator.net