Practices That Change The World #5

Time to read: 46 seconds

I promise this is not staged

A client named Leslie retired on December 30, 2022 and is moving to her dream city to start her new life. We've worked together in Clarity U for 2.5 years so I've had the honor of witnessing her transformation from fear (Will I have enough money? Who am I without my career?) to joy. (I'm moving to Santa Fe! I have a new house!)

On a group call today, she offered her writing and inspired today's pracitice to change the world.

Embrace change

The fact is, everything changes. When you welcome change, life becomes easier. I hope you are as inspired as I am by Leslie's beautiful words:

What falls away as I age to reveal the beauty in the now.

• Striving becomes being
• Planning becomes allowing
• Impatience becomes contentment
• Hurrying becomes peaceM
• Achieving becomes loving what is
• Wanting becomes accepting
• Yearning becomes insight into what is important

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hello, World!

I Lost My Email. Guess What Happened?

Time to read: 15 seconds. Still time to join Rebooting U: 2 seconds

I got a new computer (battery died on old one, blah, blah, blah) and in the transfer of data, my email went insane (that's the technical term) and deleted archived emails.

How many? Don't know.

From whom? Have no idea.

At first I freaked out. I save all those emails for a reason - to reply to people later, as reminders to do something, or to remember something funny or important. I begged my husband tech support team to find and restore what was lost.

Then I realized...

Those emails don't matter.

It's been a few days, and the world still turns. No one has been offended. I have no idea what those emails were about. If they were important, people will email again or I'll remember what I said I'd do. In short: Nothing happened. Losing those emails was a complete non-event.

From this non-event, here are two lessons for you:

1. You think things matter that actually don't. The pandemic taught us that lesson in spades.
2. You can trust yourself to keep track of what's important. The pandemic taught us that lesson, too.

So, consider one thing you think is important that actually isn't. Remove it. It was liberating to have only 5 emails in my inbox for a few hours.

I hope this helps.

Awkward transition...

The second class for Rebooting U is tomorrow at 11:00 CT. You can still join us. Sign up and I'll send you the recording of the first class about Recover: Your Brain on Stress. You can get more information and sign up here.

If you're in the US, have a great holiday weekend.

Take This Quiz to Help You Get Back On Track

Time to take the quiz: 15 seconds. Time to read: 1.5 minutes. Time to refine your life: forever

Hey Corporate Rebels!

Before you read further, please take this quiz. Answer yes/no. Consider how you spend most of your time.

Do you feel well used at the end of the day? (This question considers a sense of purpose.)

Do you spend your day on things that are important to you? (This question highlights values and priorities.)

Do you spend your time with people who matter to you? (This question points to balance and connection.)

Do you enjoy yourself? (This question considers energy.)

Hold on to your answers for a second.

In the past few weeks, I have talked with professionals across industries and age-groups, from young scientists to seasoned real estate mavens to recent college graduates. In a word, people are restless. The past year stripped away most things (dating, sports, travel) and left many people with work, laundry, homeschooling, and if you were lucky, roommates you like.

When life was reduced to work and Netflix, many people starting asking, is this enough? When you just spent a year staring your mortality in the face, is this how you want to spend the next 10-20-50 years?

Most of you are probably not planning to quit your job and head out on the open road (although I have talked to quite a few in all age groups who are doing some version of that).

Some well timed and considered refinements will bring your work and life back into alignment with what you want.

Now back to the quiz.

If you answered yes to all four questions, awesome. You have crafted work and life on your terms.

If you answered no to any of the questions or if the questions made you wonder, consider what it would take to bring your work and life back on your terms. What can you refine? What can you ask for? What do you want to change?

Here are some ideas to start your thinking:

• fire up an old hobby
• ask to go part-time
• ask for summer hours (Fridays off?)
• teach a class
• be home for bedtime every night
• rest
• quit your job and head out on the open road

My partner, Anne and I are doing a free 4-session live event in May, June and July to help you recover from the past year and get your work and life realigned with where you are now. The Corporate Rebel Rebooting U: Recover, Refresh, Re-emerge starts May 21. You can get more information and sign up here.

Please join us!

Love to you!

What's the Secret to Big Change?

Time to read: Less than a minute and a half.

We are freezing our arses off. This cruise ship is looking pretty good right now.

Hello Rebels!

Last week, I was working with a corporate team on some... shall we call them... dynamics. They are committed to working differently and brought me in to facilitate a process to help them communicate better and create a happier workplace. The question becomes, how do you get from point A to point B when you are trying to make a change?

Many times, you try to change cold turkey. Think New Year's Resolution. Think Big Change. Think get what you want right now, this minute. Think jump straight from point A to point B. That sounds like this:

"Now I'm going to the gym every day."

"Our workplace will be happier starting today."

"I am going to change my attitude about that colleague I don't like."

The sad truth is, how many of those Big Changes stick over time, and how often do you find yourself a year later in the same situation (or worse)?

Here's what I told the team last week. Big Change happens because you commit to making a thousand Small Changes every single day. Here's a list to get you started:

• Greet your colleagues cheerfully when you arrive in the morning rather than running for your email.
• Eat lunch with the colleague who bugs you and commit to learning one new thing about them.
• Express appreciation openly and consciously three times a day.
• If you need to vent, take it outside the office.
• Give your colleagues the benefit of the doubt and instead of getting annoyed, get curious about what is happening for them.

To the cruise ship photo above: If you turn a huge ship one degree, it will end up in a completely different country. That is the power of small changes. When added up over the course of a year, you will have created the Big Change you wanted.

Every little thing you do matters.

With rebel love,

Christina

P.S. Every little thing you do really does matter. What will you choose right now?

P.P.S. If you have friends who would like to join our merry band of rebels, they can sign up to get this newsletter right here.

Do You Get In Your Own Way?

Over my 7 years of coaching, I've heard time and again from people who see that the #1 thing that holds them back from getting what they want is themselves. Their thinking, fears, and unconscious reactions are the things that stop them from taking that next step or breaking out of an old and tired pattern.

Do any of these stories sound familiar to you?

• You are unhappy in your current job or perhaps your current profession, and are willing to "tough it out" for fear that you'll never find the same security someplace else.
• You're a talented professional who keeps seeking a new job in the hopes that things will finally be different only to get there and find it's the same. (Or my favorite version of this: Keep overworking in the hope that you will finally "get there" only to find that the line to success keeps moving, and there's always more to do.)
• You want to take that next step in your career and stories of past failures or fear stop you from taking action.

In all my years of working with clients, I've seen that making an emotional shift is what creates lasting change. Change comes from releasing the anger, frustration or sadness and learning to use those emotions to unlock the mysteries to long-standing habits that do not serve you. We all have these habits, and we let them hold us back.

You have them. I have them.

I've been exploring my ingrained habits and beliefs since the fall. I have been enrolled in an advanced coaching training to develop my toolbox to include strategies to help you break free of unhelpful patterns of thought, feeling and behavior. Wouldn't you love to put work and life on your terms and to feel like the driver of your life?

You can!

You can get started with a live webinar at noon CT on Friday, February 2nd.

Carol Ross, a dear friend of mine, and a popular guest in many Corporate Rebel events, is presenting Live Your Great Story in 2018!

In this free 60-minute webinar, you will learn:

1. The three stories (Victim, Overcoming, and Great) that you live--and how these stories can either lift you up or take you down.
2. A tool for understanding which story you--and others--are living, at any moment. This tool will help you put work and life on your terms by letting you choose the experience you want to have.
3. The breadcrumbs to find your way back to what you want, no matter what your current circumstances.

This webinar is free and open to everyone. All you have to do is register right here.

The Live Your Great Story in 2018 webinar will start you on the path to create what you want.

I'll see you there!

Christina

Are You Tired of Change? Do These 5 Things.

If you're anything like me when you were in college, you thought that at some point, your life would stabilize and you'd ride out the rest of your adulthood in peace. If only that were true.

It only takes minutes into your adulthood to realize that change is the name of the game. Here is a short list of examples:

• A new manager

• Aging parents

• Two words: corporate restructuring

• Choosing a partner

• Kids going to college

• Moving

• Changing jobs

• Being promoted

That list alone is enough to make you stop breathing, take to your bed, and ask to be awakened when things get back to "normal."

I received this quote a few weeks ago, and it stopped me in my tracks:

“If you don’t like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less.” — General Shinseki

Well…. yes... I had to admit that it's true. If you look back over various times in your life, change was a prominent feature (even in college). And if you didn't embrace change, what were you going to do? Continue to live in a dorm and eat ramen noodles out of a hot pot? Not an attractive option.

So, if change is the only stability, what do you do to stay sane and prevent overwhelm? Here are five things you can do to maintain your peace of mind in the face of constant change:

1. Expect change. In every situation. If you don't resist change and aren't surprised by it, you will be able to handle it more gracefully.

2. Stay present. Just because change is inevitable doesn't mean you have to worry about it. Just stay where you are and focus on right now.

3. When everyone is healthy and things are good at work, be grateful and enjoy yourself!

4. Plan for change. Embrace the changes in your industry and learn the skills to keep up with those changes. Go to conferences. Read articles by opinion leaders. Never let the words, "that's the way we've always done it" fall from your lips. By doing these things, you'll stay relevant.

5. Change your attitude about change. Start to see change as a grand adventure rather than as a scary future. Start to see it as the path to learning rather than a roadblock to your progress. You have to manage change anyway. You may as well make it fun and useful.

If you do these 5 things, you'll stay relevant and current. You'll have opportunities when things change. You'll be ready to weather change more smoothly. And you'll feel a whole lot better when change inevitably happens.

I hope this helps!

With rebel love,

Christina

P.S. The Corporate Rebel Unplugged Video Podcast starts on November 30. I can't wait! My first guest is a corporate VP who I fondly call the Eternal YES! She will show you how being yourself and living according to your priorities will lead to professional success! You are going to love her. As a Corporate Rebel Insider, you will receive these videos as part of your regular newsletter subscription.

P.P.S. Will you do me a favor? Please share The Corporate Rebel Unplugged Video Podcast with your colleagues and friends. They can become part of the inside crowd who hears about the interviews first (like you). Simply forward this email, and they can become an insider here.