A friend of mine just officially announced her retirement from teaching. She was, and still is, a great teacher and taught me an immense amount about photography. But she also inspired me in other ways.  She’s the ultimate free agent and solopreneuer. She followed her dream of creating art, never wavered from it, and is very successful on many levels.  She’s still going strong as she moves onto the next chapter of her life.

In “Free Agent Nation,” Daniel Pink writes that free agents “are free from the bonds of a large institution, and are agents of their own futures. They are the new archetypes of work in America.”  This describes my friend exactly. She fashioned her work life to suit her own needs and desires instead of accepting the values, structure and rules of a traditional job. She was a pioneer in the free agent field, probably weathering some heavy criticism early on in her career for striking out on her own.

Today things are a bit different. Many of us become solopreneurs and free agents after experiencing a stifling traditional job, or deciding we’ve had enough. It’s more common to meet people like my friend.

So as a solopreneur and free agent, what kind of life – work and personal – are you creating? Where are you getting your inspiration? Are you feeding your soul?  And the ultimate question – Are you happy?  If not, what will you choose to do about it?

Do you have a Plan B?  Not many people do. I find that surprising.

A large number of people that I have encountered are worried about the economy, and their jobs and income. And rightly so – it’s still a nerve racking – stress producing economy.

I don’t blame them for being worried, but what I wonder about is why don’t they have a Plan B.  By Plan B , I mean another potential  source of income that touches upon your passions and dreams. A back-up plan that you can turn to if the worse happens and your primary income shrinks.  Something that brings you joy, and an income.

So many people are waiting passively for the economy to change, and are not playing an active role in their career  and professional development. And as they wait, they worry, become anxious and stressed out.

Which one are you? Waiting and worrying or actively building your Plan B, and reaching towards your dreams?

There’s some great resources out there. Try  reading Free to Succeed by Barbara Reinhold, Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields or The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. All of these books will tap into your dreams and get you thinking about what’s next for you.

See Change Now Coaching can help you design and develop your Plan B as well.  Give me a call and let’s uncover your Plan B.

I’m amazed at the amount of energy people expend in complaining about something they don’t like.

Does this complaining make the task easier? Does complaining make it go away? What exactly does it accomplish?

What would happen if you channeled your energy into more positive thoughts and actions?on a constant basis?

What could you really accomplish – and how would you feel?

The possibilities are endless.  Try it – you might like it.

I just celebrated my birthday in December and another year has gone by. My sister sent me a birthday card that said ” A birthday is the start of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the ride.”

Wow – a 365 day journey! I never thought about a year in this way. I love to travel and have been a good number of places on this globe, and have many more to go – but a 365 day journey!  Now that’s one heck of a trip.

So what’s it going to look like – this 365 day journey? Some of it I can plan – like international and domestic traveling ; professional and business development; and increasing my business.  You get the idea.

But what about the things I can’t plan for?  Am I ready for those life changing events that ” reset my clock” ?  What about the possibilities?

Sure – life goes on around us, some of it good and not so good (and at one point in my life it felt like I had more than my fair share of not so good.)  How we choose to navigate this journey, this adventure,  is one measure of  our success.  They way we choose to think about all that we experience guides us in our success.

This year, more than others,  I’m excited about this journey, this adventure. I can feel the change in the air -  like a breeze that’s just softly beginning to arise.  Can you?

What about your 365 journey? Got any plans? Any dreams? Are you open to the exciting possibilities around you  or are you feeling stuck and just trying to make it through another year?

A couple of great resources to get you started on your journey are The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Zander and Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields. Both are great books.

See Change Now Coaching can help us well.  Give me a call and let’s discuss the possibility of  getting your Journey started.

It’s been snowing here in New England for the last 3 days or so. It’s the typical New England winter storm that’s just enough to make you want to stay in and curl up with a good book or movie.  And I ‘ve done just that – catching up on my reading, movie watching and of course napping while it snows outside.

But I’ve also had the opportunity to think about what the new year holds for me.   To ask myself ” How do I choose to experience my life this year? ”

“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” – William Jennings Bryan

We always have a choice in our lives – in everything that we do.  If you think you don’t, then you’ll fallen victim to life’s circumstances.  Choice is the freedom to see things as we desire,  feel what we want and live as we create our lives.

Make a conscious choice this year in how you live your life–to create the life you want, do the things you’ve always wanted.   Go ahead and  choose the life you want this year, you won’t regret it.

How often have you found  yourself worrying about the future or fretting about the past?  And has this worrying about the future changed anything except to ratchet up your anxiety level?

Now is all there ever is.

The only time we have control over is the present. It is in the present, and only the present, where we can be.  To live life to the fullest means to consciously express who we truly are in every present moment. We are human beings – not human doings.

How often have you stopped to see the beauty that surrounds your everyday? How often have you brought your true and authentic self to a conversation?

Make time to “be present” this holiday season.  I guarantee this will be the best gift you give yourself, and those around you.

I recently had the opportunity to conduct a workshop on change management and leadership for a team of about 10 people.  It was a an eye opening experience for me.  Let me explain.

“Life offers neither problems or challenges, only opportunities”  is one of the ways I approach change in my life.  It wasn’t always this way , but now I look at change, and how I handle it,  as a positive opportunity to learn and grow.

The team that I worked with would not, or could not see, that their success depended on how they handled their change. Instead this team kept shifting the responsibility of how they handled their change  to other people, systems and organizations.  Not one person wanted to accept responsibility for their actions, or reactions, towards the change that was happening.  It’s no wonder they are not reaching their goals.

The only constant in life is change. Think about it for a second.

How we choose to handle the change in our lives determines our success or failure.

Questioning your assumptions ,  challenging your limiting beliefs , and looking for other interpretations of the change  you are experiencing  are all ways you can successfully manage your change.

How are you managing your change?  How are you managing your life?

This past weekend I spent doing some yard chores here in New England, as well as spending Saturday afternoon, and evening, hiking and hanging with 4 friends I really hadn’t seen all summer.

It was so much fun – we were laughing, telling jokes, razzing each other as well as catching up on life’s successes and challenges.  As we settled down by a backyard fire pit and began catching up, one friend, who is a business owner,  shared she  had a difficult challenge with an employee,  another friend shared news of an illness in her extended family and  I shared how my business did over the summer.

But through it all — the ups and the downs — our energy was positive, upbeat and lively.  I was amazed with all we had going on, that we all still approached our lives with such positivity and  such commitment.  I was reminded of  a quote from my work in energy leadership: ” Life offers neither problems or challenges, only opportunities.”

It made me think about my week ahead and the attitude I was going to approach it with.

Positive, upbeat and lively. Abundant opportunities.  Easy-peasy as one friend would say.

What’s your attitude going to be for the week? How will you approach the opportunities that cross your path this week?

The Big 4 energy blocks keep you stuck and prevent you from achieving what you want in your life. I’ve written about limiting beliefs and assumptions, let’s take a look at #3 – Interpretations.

When you interpret something, you create an opinion about an event, situation or experience. In essence, you create an explanation and then look for evidence to support it’s validity. When you make an interpretation,   you don’t even see that other explanations exist.  In actually, though, an interpretation often represents only one viewpoint among many that are possible.

Your interpretations hold a strong energetic charge, which affects your emotions and actions. If you believe your viewpoint of a particular situation is the only explanation, you might not be aware of another point of view. You may end up wasting a lot of time and resources marching off in the wrong direction.  Because you don’t see that other possibilities exist, you remain stuck in your story, and feel like you have no control over the outcome.

As with assumptions, interpretations  are personal and somewhat difficult to let go of and challenge. Holding onto them may seem like the easy way out as facing them moves you into uncharted territory. However challenging your interpretations opens you to a world of possibilities, literally.

So this week before you jump to conclusions, and believe the first story that comes to your mind, I’d ask you to consider other possibilities that could lead you to new empowering choices and actions and ask yourself this question:

” What’s another way of looking at this?”

I recently went to visit some family in Virginia, and had some wonderful dinner conversation that lasted well into the evening.  My sister had invited some neighbors over for dinner so we could meet them. She and my brother-in-law spoke very highly of them, and their pet pig.

Pet pig? I had to meet these people.  I’ve never met anyone one with a pet pig you see.  Well, I learned a lot about how pigs make great pigs ( and no, I won’t be getting one any time soon), and I also met a wonderful retired couple with a zest for life.  This couple was enjoying and living life to the fullest – full of curiosity and questions.

At one point in our conversation,  Pat ( one of the neighbors) said she’d never move back north to the Albany NY area. I asked her why- and she said  ” Her hometown operated on the theory that the glass was half empty–and she was a half full type of gal.”   Wow – she got it – how your core thoughts and thinking guide your life,  and how this leads to being a great leader.

How often are we operating under the theory that the glass is half empty instead of half full?  And what happens when we do? I’ve been there, done that – my glass is now half full, with a million possibilities to fill it to overflowing.

What’s your thinking on this?  Half empty or half full? and how’s that working for you?