The Who's Down in Whoville Like Christmas A Lot... What?!

Time to read: 46 seconds

I know this is a Christmas show. Bear with me. I'm making a point.

It's hard to know what to say during this pandemic, the appropriate balance of acknowledging the pain and devastation and shining light in the darkness. Today takes you toward light with my favorite cartoon.

The Grinch is my #1 favorite show of all time. When I was in second grade, I painted the Grinch on the library wall at my school. I've watched the show every Christmas for 52 years (assuming I watched it as a baby which is doubtful given my organic-food-limited-TV-no-sugar-1970s parents).

Anyway, the whole point of the Grinch is that this dude called the Grinch steals all the trappings of Christmas from the happy little Who's. When they arise on Christmas morning, everything is gone - food, toys, trees, decorations. The Grinch expects that he has crushed their spirits and listens to hear their cries of anguish.

And what do the Who's do?

They sing.

They stand in a circle and sing. This story speaks to the power of the Who human spirit. The message: your spirt is stronger than the trappings of your life.

In this time when you have been stripped of all the features of your life - volunteer activities, social events, shopping, maybe work, school, even planning for the future, your spirit remains powerful. Your spirit is never for sale, and it can't be compromised.

So, today, I wish you confidence of spirit. You are stronger than the circumstances that surround you. Lean into that spirit to find what you need.

Then sing.

I hope this helps.

Christina

P.S. I wanted to make sure you see the free resources I've created to help you navigate these challenging times. Please pass them around to your people.

1. The Corporate Rebel Daily: We're in the 4th week of meeting every morning at 9:00 CT, M-F. A vibrant community shows up each day, and people report feeling uplifted, connected, and calm. You only have to join once, and then come whenever you can. Bathrobes and hoodies welcome. Sign up to get the Zoom link here.

2. Rebels at Home Challenge: This challenge is a series of eight 3-minute daily video exercises to uplift you and help you find your place in this global pandemic. And it will give you something new to talk about at your next Zoom happy hour. Sign up here.

3. The Unconventional Guide to Working from Home: This is a downloadable pdf of practical tips and big picture strategies to help you be efficient, focused and effective at home. Click to download the pdf here.

Find the Good People

Time to read: Less than one minute.

The stolen bike

Hello Corporate Rebels,

Sometimes bad things happen.

A project you love gets taken away. One of your work friends gets laid off. You lose all the data you spent the past 5 hours working on. It's discouraging when stuff like this happens.

Last week, my son's bike was stolen from our fenced yard. Thus ensued frustration, disappointment, and sadness that someone would do such a thing.

Then an amazing thing happened. I posted the above photo to a local Facebook page devoted to finding stolen bikes. Through this page, I discovered a whole team of folks who track stolen bikes, link them to bikes for sale online and uncover data to help the police catch the ring of thieves who ransacked our neighborhood (and many others) for bikes last weekend. Individuals have contacted me with tips. I have connected them to the investigating officer. These folks are doing incredible work simply because they have the skills, interest, and will.

It has been uplifting to meet the "Robin Hoods" as I have started calling them. They don't have to do this work and have no personal stake in my son's bike. Interacting with them reminds me to have faith in the goodness of human beings and our power to make a difference when we care and take action.

When you look around your workplace, where do you see the Robin Hoods? When things feel hard or discouraging, look for the folks who do what they do simply because they have the skills, they care, and they're willing to take action to change things. Then hang out with those folks a lot.

It makes the things that suck a whole lot better.

I hope this helps.

Christina

P.S. Do you have a friend or colleague who needs a little help to see the bright side today? Forward this newsletter to them. They can join us here.

P.P.S. My BFF, Anne Lippin and I are cooking up something fun to rev some momentum in the lazy month of August. Stay tuned!

3 Surprising Steps to Create Opportunity

Time to read: Less than 2 minutes

This created professional opportunity.

Many moons ago, I moved to a new city. Starting with grit and my husband's 10 friends, I started a networking campaign to find a job in Human Resources. I had no direct qualifications for an HR role, and a job search coach told me plainly that I had a snowball's chance in hell of getting a job in HR.

Six months later, I had two HR job offers in hand. (And I sent that job search coach a nice "thank you"/"I told you so" note.) The process of creating those opportunities was predictable and surprising. I was discouraged and elated during those 6 months.

Many of y'all have reached out recently in order to create opportunities for yourself. Using my story as a backdrop, here are the 3 surprising steps to create opportunity:

1. Get started: Don't subscribe to the false belief that you have to have all your ducks in a row and your story 100% straight in order to start. When I was looking for a job, I met with anyone and everyone. Each conversation gave me a chance to hone the story of what I wanted. The early conversations were awkward. By the time I finally met people with actual jobs, I was crystal clear. Consistent action set me up to be ready for #3.


2. Be patient: Creating opportunity takes time. Don't subscribe to the false belief that if you don't meet some artificial deadline, you're failing. Feeling like a failure is a sure-fire way to stall your efforts. There were times during my job hunt when I didn't want to go to parties. I was tired of feeling like the drag with nothing to talk about but job hunting. The truth is, six months is not a long time when you're creating something new. Keep your eye on the prize and take one step forward at a time.


3. Wait for serendipity: Don't subscribe to the false belief that your effort alone will create opportunity. Ultimately, the dream job that launched my career in Human Resources didn't come from strategically networking my way to the right person. My job came through a new neighbor when we bought our house. Over the proverbial fence, he told me he was a recruiter for an HR department and offered to take in my resume.

The recipe for creating opportunity is one part effort + three parts serendipity. When you put in the work, the stars eventually align for something magic and unexpected to happen. That you can believe.

With rebel love,

Christina

P.S. Know someone who wants to create opportunity for themselves? Forward this email to them. They can join us here.

P.P.S. I'm working on something exciting that will come out later this summer. It's been a while since I've offered anything to all of you and your friends. Stay tuned. The little elves are working on it.