A Fabulous Client Story With A Lesson For YOU

Time to read: One little minute or less

A photo I like: Not worrying if the photo fits this newsletter = EASY

A client arrived at her coaching call this week bursting with excitement. She had been stuck on a BIG THING for years and in our last call I asked her, "what if there was an easy path through?"

The BIG THING was too big to tackle right away so she decided to practice making things easy on smaller things. Here's what she did and what happened when she asked herself, "what would make this easy?"

• She was stressed about saving money and did the easiest thing and opened a checking account. She adopted "save first." The whole process took two minutes, and she now feels powerful around her finances.
• She's a great cook and for a few weeks just didn't feel like cooking. Instead of the usual guilt and hand-wringing around why, she simply pulled up her 5 easiest recipes and ate them for 4 weeks. This freed her to put energy and time toward an exciting personal goal.

AND....as a result of building an easy muscle, she had a giant ah-ha around the BIG THING and is ready to find the easy way to that, too.

Her story was so inspiring, I asked for permission to share it with you.

Then reach out and tell me all about it. I always love to hear from you.

So, ask yourself about any situation that feels stressful or stuck in your life, "what would make this easy?"

Then reach out and tell me all about it. I always love to hear from you.

The Downside of Everything

Time to read: short and sweet 38 seconds

Bookkeeping time!

Tomorrow is tax day. For those of you who work for organizations, we entrepreneurs have get to pay "quarterly estimated taxes" 4 times a year since our earnings are variable.

I'm tired. I coached all day. I parented all day. I walked dogs and did laundry. I still have to get dinner on the table. And….bookkeeping and taxes are part of being a legitimate business so despite how I feel, I'll sit down now and get 'er done. I can imagine a thousand more fun things to do.

Can you relate?

This is the sh%$ sandwich that comes with owning my own business. It's easy to fantasize about how great "that job" will be; or how much better your life would be if you had a different career (I hear things like "a non profit would be more meaningful…." and "if only I had the benefits in a big company…."); or how much freedom you'd have if you went out on your own.

It's all about choices. I have freedom. I love what I do. The impact of coaching is meaningful to me. Being my own accounting and IT departments aren't my favorite.

When you look around your world, have you made choices that align with what you want? Are you getting results that align with your sense of purpose and meaning?

In the words of a graduate:

"When I came to Clarity U, I was depleted. If you are not getting what you want, I highly recommend Clarity U. I am now moving forward with renewed confidence and a zest for life." - HR Director and Bicycle Enthusiast

Intrigued? Let's talk. We start in early October so the opportunity is ticking. Grab your spot here.

Can't wait to connect!

Is It Time To Assess Your Life And Career?

Time to read: 10 seconds

In the past couple of weeks, I've heard a common story: You have lost motivation, are missing meaning, and feel like you get up each day, go through the motions at work and then drop in bed exhausted each night. You long for more fun. You long to enjoy work.

You wonder if you need to change jobs, change industries, start a business, or take a break.

You tell me you worry that making a change would simply be out of the frying pan, into the fire. Meaning, a big change won't fix it, and you're right. When you change the scenery, all you've done is, well, change the scenery. For things to be different, you have to shift your relationship to work so your career is filled with ease and elegance rather than harder work and burnout.

I haven't offered any services for many months. My coaching schedule has been bursting at the seams. It's summer, and I can feel that a lot of you are ready to evaluate where you've been, where you are going, and to formulate a plan to breathe new life into your career.

So, I have opened a few spaces for Work and Life Strategic Planning Sessions this summer. If you are curious to find out more about this stand-alone process, please hit reply to this email, and we'll find a time to chat.

The process involves an inventory of everything in your life and career by answering a series of questions and short assessments. Then we talk live about all the things and start to create a plan of action. Finally, I send you a written report that details what's working and what's not and a list of actionable recommendations to help you put work and life back on your terms.

If you want to know more, let's chat. Shoot me and email, and we'll find a time for a short chat.

Do you know someone who could use an evaluation of their life and career? Share this newsletter with them or have them email me! Anyone can sign up here.

What You Have In Common with 28-year-old Millionaires

I spent this past weekend at a wedding filled with 28-year-old Silicon Valley genius millionaires whose Teslas were plugged into the charging stations in the parking lot of a beautiful local museum.

(My 12-year-old son learned to pick locks, order drinks at an open bar, and dream that one day he would drive a McClaren because by the time he’s old enough to drive, Tesla’s will be so yesterday. Yes…well…that parenting note aside, let me get back to our regularly scheduled program….)

At the soldering station at the reception, I had a chance to talk to many of these incredibly talented cyber security experts. Let's just say they speak cyber security and live in a world with its own language and culture. They swim in water with words we mere mortals don't understand.

Which brings me around to you. You might think that in the face of all this genius and wealth, one could feel pretty small and ordinary by comparison. And, it struck me that you swim in your own genius, a genius that is hard for you to see because it's like telling a fish that they swim in water.

One man asked me what I do. I told him I’m an executive coach to which he replied, “what’s that?” I explained, “in the way that you get programming and cyber security, I get humans.” He understood immediately and commented that the folks in his company could really use some of that.

What I want you to see is the unique contribution you make. You bring a special gift to society, your community and/or your family every day. Own it, speak it, and learn to recognize the language you use, the things you do, and the water you swim in that is extraordinary to others and hard for you to see because you're the fish in the water.

In the face of Russian hacking and the Equifax scandal, I am grateful there are young hackers and jailbreakers (look at me, using the lingo!) putting their talents to use to protect our data, privacy, and national security.

I am also grateful that you are out there looking after finances or children or the regulations that make medical devices safe or healthcare or the law….I could go on and on.

Here’s an exercise to ground you clearly in your gift: Spend 5 minutes journaling about what wouldn’t happen or what would be left undone or unprotected if you stopped doing what you do every day. Who wouldn’t be served? What risks wouldn’t be mitigated? Whose needs would be sacrificed? Then use that data to stand solidly in your contribution.

What you do may not earn you a Tesla. What I do is certainly not going to earn me a Tesla. And, I’ve said this many times. Your contribution matters. You matter. You are a gift.

I am grateful for you.

With rebel love,

Christina