PHOTO BY: Blimpy

This is brilliance which I forgot about until I hit the button in my reader.

Thanks Google Reader for always saving the good stuff for when I remember. Thanks Havi for being. You’ll find her stuff on personal ads here.

What’s a personal ad for your stuff you may ask?

You do a bit of asking here’s what I want, here’s how I want it to come to me and here’s what I commit to do to make it happen. The gravy part is checking in with yourself to see what you might be learning about how you deal with your stuff.

I’m struggling with my job situation.

I graduated a year ago with my MBA and certainly thought the job fairies where going to be begging me to come work for them. That’s not happening and I’m more than a little disappointed. However, I can’t let it keep me down, so I’m working on stuff. Here’s my personal ad to have a fulfilling and meaningful work-life, right now.

Here’s what I want: I want to love my 40+ hours a week I spend at work. I want to be powerfully moving toward my tangible goals. I want to positively impact the people with whom I contact.

Here’s how I want to receive it: I want it to flow with multiple purpose. I don’t want to work on one thing in isolation. I want my stuff to be layered and thick with meaning. I’d love it if working with Bob and Betty over there gave me something tangible over here. I’m not sure how it looks, but that’s okay.

Here’s what I’d rather not have: A list of shoulds and shame telling me that I should have different work or different goals. I don’t want other people’s renderings of what my work-life should be.

My commitment: My goals will be to take care of me and my family first, but also to provide growth and development to other people in my community.

What I’m noticing: It’s harder than I expected to lift the vale of shame I placed around me, I value stuff harshly and need to be more forgiving. My work is important and I can do it exceptionally well if I take responsibility for being accountable to it and the people I impact.

So what about you? What might you need to create a personal ad around? Got some stuff holding you back? Need some clarity? Are you a SWF searching for same? I shouldn’t type that, because you can’t find it here. But you know what I mean. If you were to do the exercise, what might you ask for?

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Sabatical

green drink

PHOTO BY: Rick

So apparenlty I took a sabatical. A break as it were, from doing what it is that I should be doing.

But I’m moving stuff from my get to it list to my do it now list. Getting back in the saddle of writing and connecting with folks is on that list and here I am.

Hi, I’ve missed you.

Breaks are fun. Sometimes they are necessary or we may lose our minds. Getting back to business if fun too. There’s the excitement of doing something that fetches results. That’s the sweety ooey goodness of why we get up in the morning. If it’s sending the kids off to school with a full belly, merging a company with another, or creating new math to better understand the universe; results are the unifying thing.

So here’s to taking a break, raise a green drink, it is Saint Patty’s Day after. And then raise another for finding motivation on the other side of the lull.

 

The Best Flat Tire-EVER

PHOTO BY: david.nikonvscaonnon

I had a flat tire yesterday.

(That is not my car in the picture, I only had one.) But it was super flat, off the rim, I called AAA. They are great service providers. The first question I was asked, wasn’t my account number, but if I was in a safe location.

Go AAA. I knew immediately you cared about me.

My car was in my driveway. I thought I was going to be able to get from the grocery store to the gas station, but I didn’t make it that far and I live between the two. I was also fearful that AAA wasn’t going to service my car at my house. Thinking it’s only usable while out on the road. Come to find out they’ll fix your flat anywhere.

Yeah again.

Within ten minutes, could be less, I wasn’t timing them, I got an automated call saying in 5 -10 minutes someone would be at my location, be at the vehicle with your account card and ID. In less than 5 minutes Ethan showed up.

I was happy. I mean I was happy with AAA already but that was just the beginning. This fresh scrubbed kid waved hi as he pulls up and apologized as he told I’d need to use my spare. My curious 8 year old came out to the car and started chatting with Ethan, and he told her, “Naw, it’s not hard. I change tires all day.” Mind you it’s about 30 degrees outside and he’s laying on the ground, hoping up and going back to his truck, he’s moving with a mission.

Zoe went back to the house and I felt the need to chat with him.

You know, it’s not like I was watching performance art, but I was watching and it felt like it should be a little interactive. So I asked if it’s the beginning or the end of his shift. It was 4-ish in the afternoon. He told me he was napping when he got the call, he’s a contractor. He went on to say it’s the best job he’s ever had. He said he never guessed that after going to school for 5 years he’d be changing tires for a living, but he loves it.

Ethan commented it can’t go under said the effect of people always happy to see him when he shows up, that was followed with a huge grin.

I commented he is kind of like a super hero without the cape and tights, because I’m a smart alack, and what does one say to the profound tire changing dude?

He nodded, smiled broader and said, “yeah, the positive karma I get to add the world is pretty awesome.”

With that he hopped in his well equipped red truck and drove away.

So it left me inspired and thinking how can I be someone’s super hero? Is what I do adding positive karma to the world? How about you? Do you make a difference? Do you LOVE what you do? Would you jump up from a cozy nap to do your thing because you know it helps a person?

 

 

 

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