From Career Despair to Wild Success

Time to read: 1.25 minutes

Katie's portrait of my essential worker

Photographer, Katie Howie, watched the bottom drop out of her portrait business during the stay-at-home order. As she watched her life's work disappear overnight, she sank into depression and worry. She told me, "I was worried out of my mind for everyone and everything. I cried daily... Things felt bleak."

Katie is a former neighbor and our family's beloved photographer. In March, she texted me to ask if I knew any essential workers. She had started a project called, "By a Thread: Pandemic Portraits" to document essential workers at their homes. Turns out, I did know an essential worker. My 15-year-old son works as a cashier in a grocery store.

Katie said she didn't want to do what other portrait photographers were doing so she waited. She said, "For about a month, I waited for inspiration. And then, it was like lightning. My inspiration came so fast it was crazy."

Since she started By a Thread, Katie has done 60 profiles and unexpectedly and amazingly, her project is featured in Minnesota Monthly's July/August issue. (See the article here.) She's considering public shows and a book. The project (and Katie's career) has taken on a life of its own.

I asked for Katie's permission to share this story with you, because it's a story of how despair led to creativity. How waiting and listening led to inspiration, and how a career took off without a plan.

I heard from some of you that you're having a hard time connecting to the meaning of what you do. Katie is the perfect example of how finding your purpose works.

She sat with her despair. She allowed her personal pain and worry to move her and inspire her to act. She started something with no idea where it would lead. She leaned into her unique gifts and talents. She took the next step and the next and now By a Thread has a huge impact.

The world of work is challenging right now. And, the creative possibilities are endless.

What might become true for you with a little waiting, listening and leaning into your unique gifts and talents?

With love,

Christina

P.S. Would it be fun to find some inspiration of your own this summer? The Rebels at Home Challenge is 8 days of short (3 minutes) video challenges designed to inspire and uplift you so you can relieve stress and create new opportunities in this strange and challenging situation. Sign up here to receive Day 1.

What Do You Need Right Now?

Time to read: 40 seconds

My clients are all over the map these days. On coaching calls there have been tears, anger, hope, and joy. Folks are being furloughed, staying afloat at work, settling into a new vision of summer, worrying about job searching, and finding new opportunities. The experience is not the same across industries and locations.

My newsletter has come out every week for four years. I typically know exactly what I want to write each week, and lately, I find it hard to know what to say. Being at a loss for words is not my MO (ask my husband).

So, I'm doing what I recommend clients do when they feel muddled. Get curious.

Will you share what your world is like right now?

• What are you thinking about?
• What are your current struggles?
• Are you working too much? Not enough?
• What are the unique challenges you're facing in these times?
• What would be helpful?

I always love to hear from you, especially now. Your situation is unique and I'd love to hear what's going on out there.

Email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com Let the emails rip!

With love,

Christina

Thinking About Integrity

Time to read: 25 seconds.

In the past few months and especially the past few weeks, I've consumed more news than I have at any other time in my life. As you all are consuming a lot of media these days, too, I'm committed to keeping my newsletter even shorter and more relevant than ever so you can focus on all the other important voices out there.

As I listen to the news, one question I've thought a lot about is integrity - both personal and corporate. How are individuals, organizations, and our government responding to everything that's happening? What do their responses say about them? And what do they teach us about the foundations of integrity and how to maintain and sustain your own personal integrity? How does courage fit in? And vulnerability? And risk?

Companies have responded to George Floyd's murder and the subsequent call for justice and change. Some have knocked it out the park (Ben and Jerry's) and some have been, well, strange (give this lively, funny and poignant radio broadcast - It's Been a Minute - a listen).

Then ask yourself, what does integrity look like for you in all this?

That's what I've got on this June day.

With rebel love,

Christina

P.S. If you want to feel encouraged that change is possible, listen to The New York Times Daily podcast about the landmark Supreme Court ruling.

Feel Guilty About Your Joy?

Time to read: 45 seconds.

We're at my father-in-law's funeral. My father-in-law was a gentle, impactful community and business leader who died of Alzheimers a few weeks ago. Yesterday was the moving, Covid-designed funeral.

We're sad.

And we're having a great time in Austin. BBQ never tasted so good and evening drives full of new smells and new sites are refreshing my family's soul. We didn't realize until we landed at the airport how much we needed rest and a change of scenery and perspective.

Complexity

That's the name of the game.

Ease does not come from erasing discomfort through simple explanations and avoiding pain. Ease comes from (cliche warning) leaning in, knowing that you are resilient and can handle whatever you hear or whatever happens. Ease comes from increasing your ability to embrace complexity - that joy and grief, fun and rage, can all exist together.

If you have the opportunity to visit the site of George Floyd's murder, I recommend you go. It's a moving experience - t-shirt booths, food tents serving free hotdogs and pasta salad (the bacon broccoli one was some of the best pasta salad I've ever eaten... I digress), people singing, make-shift food banks, all mixed together with a beautiful mural and altars of flowers, kid's drawings, and reverence and grief for the tragedy that took place there.

The experience is complex: optimistic, sad, hopeful, joyful, generous, and forward thinking. The experience paints a picture of the world fueled by love, community, and complexity as opposed to violence and domination.

This quote came across my radar screen today and is the perfect addition to thinking about joy and complexity. In the midst of doing intense work in non-violence and reconciliation, Emma Jordan-Simpson, Executive Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, talks about how she takes care of herself.

"One of the things I do to take care of myself is that I protect joy. Not having good times is not an excuse not to be human, not to live and move and engage. Joy helps us do that. For me, joy is seeing the effort that people make to take care of one another. Joy is having incredibly fulfilling relationships with family, with friends, with neighbors. Joy is finding something to laugh about at the most ridiculous times. Joy is in our music. No one can take joy from us."

As you find your place in this pandemic and your role in racial justice, you have permission to have your joy. It's part of embracing increased complexity.

With love,

Christina

P.S. If you want to better understand the issues surrounding police reforms, this New York Times Daily podcast is worth the 25 minutes.

A Very Short List of Resources to Help You In These Times

Time to read: 10 seconds. Following the links: Life-changing.

We're going super short today. I don't know about you…I'm tired and listening and processing and feeling.

I read and listen to a lot of podcasts. My friends and family count on me to recommend only the most impactful. So, here is a very short list of my best recommendations for this moment in time.

If you are overwhelmed by where to start in the conversation about structural racism, pay attention to this man. Read his book. Read his articles. I've linked to his most recent article in The Atlantic. Then head out to Facebook and other places on social media. Many black people and people of color are generously offering their insight and wisdom.

If you want to process at the deepest levels, what it means to be human, listen to this podcast.

And even better, Brene Brown (the podcaster) will be interviewing Ibram X Kendi (the author) in an upcoming episode. Two great people who go great together. It's a win-win.

Finally, if you are wondering how to help, consider giving to any of these organizations. There are lots of good people doing good work out there.

I hope this helps.

Christina

Decision Fatigue Is a Real Thing. What To Do About It.

Time to read: 45 seconds

Now that strict stay-at-home orders are lifted, the number of decisions you have to make each day has grown exponentially. We were all (mostly) playing by the same rules in March and April which made things easier or at least, clear.

Making decisions taxes your brain leaving you drained and exhausted.

Every.Little.Thing.Feels.Like.A.Slog.

• Do you let your child see friends in person when you're confident they won't social distance?
• Is it ok to hang out with friends in your backyard? What if they have to use the bathroom?
• Should you travel? Should you fly? Drive?
• Can you see your parents again?
• Is it safe to go to the grocery store? Use a public restroom?
• What will you do all summer now that every plan is cancelled?

I've had days where I tell my husband not to ask me another question. Even a simple one. I just don't have the capacity to make one more decision. Even deciding what's for dinner can feel like too much.

You can do a couple of simple things to help your brain and preserve your energy for the most important decisions.

1. Create habits. Take a look at the decisions you're making and see what you can turn into a habit. Can you eat the same dinners on a rotation? Can you work out at the same time every day? Steve Jobs wore only a black turtleneck to preserve his brain energy for the decisions that mattered. Worked out pretty well for him.
2. Pick your spheres of influence. You can't decide if people wear masks in public or if they go to crowded bars. So, let all those things go and only focus on the decisions that are in your sphere of influence - your family, job, home, and community.
3. Sleep. Let your brain rest and integrate. Know when it's time to stop. You'll have more decision making power the next day.

I hope this helps! I always love to hear from you so reach out anytime.

Christina

Feeling Lost? This Is Why....

Time to read: 2 minutes

You are living in liminal space.

Liminal what?!

Liminal space happens between two things. You know that blue light time in the evening when it's not day and it's not night? That's liminal space. Liminal space is an anthropological concept originally used to describe important cultural rituals that move people from one identity to another (single to married, child to adult, alive to dead). You are in in-between time right now. Not in your old world and not in your new one.

When you're in liminal space, you feel ungrounded, rudderless, even a little lost. Does this feel familiar?

Keep reading for examples, why this matters and what to do about it.

Examples:

• You take a new job and give notice. Those weird three weeks when you are no longer fully in your old job and are not yet in your new job? That's liminal space.
• When a wedding starts, the couple enters as single people and are catapulted into liminal space until they are declared married at the end of the ceremony.
• A pandemic sweeps the globe upending life as you know it, leaving you uncertain about the future and the structures you rely on for security.

Like I said in the first line, every day is liminal space right now. You are between the identity and the life you had in January and whatever is coming next. You don't know when this will end or how. It's unnerving.

It's also powerful. All bets are off and the possibility for creativity is endless.

So, what do you do about liminal space?

1. Name it. Check! You just did that by reading this newsletter. Naming it takes the pressure off.
2. Keep going. Churchill said, "If you're going through hell, keep going." There is no magic formula. The only way out is through. You keep walking up that aisle. You keep wrapping up the old job. You keep walking the dog and making dinner. Keep going until you land, new and ready to go on the other side.
3. Find your protectors. In cultural rituals, people are shepherded through liminal space by friends and elders. Think bridesmaids and mentors. You are not meant to go through this alone. In today's world, everyone is in liminal space so you have to find your protectors and be the protector for others. And yourself.

I'd be honored to be one of your protectors as my clients are protectors for me. Thriving in Uncertain Times is the perfect place to keep going together.

We start on May 28 at 10:00 CT. This program is designed to be easy on the budget and easy on your time. You get 20% off your registration through Memorial Day. If you can't make the calls live, no worries. They will be recorded so you can put on your headphones and listen while you walk your dog.

A six-week coaching experience for Corporate Rebels

REGISTER HERE

20% off if you sign up by Memorial Day.

I look forward to spending more time with you!

Christina