Enjoy Every Step of the Uphill Climb
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Nicole Joy Leibman of Little Purple Cow
“There’s only going to be one first, one opening” I hear my mother say as she finishes preparing dinner. It had been about a year since I was let go from my job as an attorney, and decided to pursue my dream of starting my own business. I was at my parent’s house having my weekly existential crises – It’s so hard and lonely working for myself. Why isn’t anything happening yet? How long is it going to take to get this off the ground? Will my business even succeed? Will I be able to fund my business and my personal life?
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Reposition Your New Career
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Art Decker of New York self storage
“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” This occurred to me during a recent move, but I was skeptical. I was moving from Chicago, where all my friends and family lived, where all my work contacts were located, to San Francisco. San Francisco is a beautiful city, but I did not know anyone and my cost of living was about to skyrocket.
All my thoughts were consumed with discouraging statistics: Groceries in San Francisco are 14 percent more than in Chicago, health care was going to cost me 8 percent more, and my housing was slated to increase roughly 108 percent. Not only was I going to have to adjust to a new city and find new friends, but I was confronting the reality of a significant downsize. I was not thrilled and even the lemonade in San Francisco seemed expensive!
Though I wasn’t in the mood for making lemonade out of my lemons, it seemed more refreshing than sipping lemon juice at a pity party. Here’s what I did to embrace my new adventure.
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What Do My Arch Nemesis, Listening and Chili have in Common?
So I’ve been putting off these small projects that I know will help my business. I keep finding something better to do. I’ll send off an email or check my Google RSS reader or come up with a plan for some new product or grab myself a snack.
The good news is that I realize it’s not my fault. How could it be? 
It must be my arch nemesis, the evil Dr. Oatzel. I believe he has been putting drugs in my tea, making me groggy and unable to focus.
Okay, I’m giving too much credit to Dr. Oatzel. I can’t let my arch nemesis run rampant all over my life. So yes, I’ve finally accepted the fact that my arch nemesis wants me to fail, but some of my issues are my fault. He is trying to wreck my confidence so I never gain the power to not need him. I’m letting him wreck my confidence.
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How to be Fearless and Fear Less
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Susan Chambers of SAGE Editing and Research Services.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unjustified, unreasoning terror which paralyzes needed effort…” (Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1st Inaugural Address, 1933)
Did you know that 12% of Canadians (source: Canadian Mental Health Association) and 18% of American adults ages 18 and older are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in a given year (source: National Institute of Mental Health) When you convert the abstract numbers to real people, these findings translate as a distressingly large number of individuals suffering the often debilitating impacts of fear and anxiety; health concerns, a sense of being overwhelmed and helpless, an inability to take action or make changes, and a reduced quality of life. My guess is that it was in fact the side effects of overpowering fear, the “…nameless, unjustified, unreasoning terror which paralyzes needed effort…” rather than the emotion of fear itself that concerned Roosevelt, back in 1933.
According to an article in Psychology Today by Gordon Livingston (2009), a psychiatrist, the inaction that stems from excessive, irrational fears or fear-based thinking often shows up as a decision to live life from a “safe” position and not take risks, even if that means forsaking opportunities that might provide greater joy and expansiveness to one’s life. But what are these fears—or perhaps more accurately, anxieties—that keep so many of us immobilized to some degree or another? How are they triggered? And how do we overcome our fears or at least control them so they don’t take over and imprison our spirits and minds, leaving us depressed and further discouraged (a loss of heart)? Let’s start with human nature and the nature of fear.
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Why You Must Learn to Accelerate Emotional Space
Have you ever been so caught up in your anger that you can’t let it go?
Your anger, if unmanaged, ages you faster, slows the healing process, and gives you trouble developing friendships.
Most of us have some anger issues, especially when we are around people that annoy us. I have a friend who can’t stand a client that he works for. He tells me about his annoying voice and all his stupid requests. When he retells his stories we laugh about his client’s personality.
It made me think about how my friend uses our conversations to create emotional space. Emotional and physical space are really all about perception.
Back in 1910, people thought New York was so very far from Paris. It takes 5 days to travel by boat in 2010. In 1910 it must have taken over a week. Now it’s a little over seven hour plane ride. That’s 1/24th of the time.
I used to think that the day was so long when I had to work side by side with an annoying co-worker; now an annoying person can actually be fun. You will learn a few techniques that will help you accelerate your emotional space, teaching you how to improve friendships and your happiness.
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7 Skills You Need to Develop a Career that You Love
Do you wish that you had the ability to find a career that uses your superpowers? What can you do to make your dream career a reality?
Creating a career that you love doesn’t magically happen. It takes work. I refuse to blow smoke up your butt and tell you how easy it is, because then you’ll curse my name all around the internet.
I would rather focus on helping you build a career based on your core needs. This takes time.
You have to know what truly makes you happy, so you can create the career that fits your needs as well as the market.
Too many people will say that if you just follow your dream then the money will flow into your life. This can be partially true. What most people fail to recognize is the importance of aligning your needs with other people’s needs.
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Work Happiness Has Four Legs
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Chrissy Scivicque of Eat Your Career.
About a month ago, I was out walking my dog (a 15-pound golden yorkie-poodle mix named Mollie) and, from a neighbor’s house a large, black pit bull came bounding out at us. Without any hesitation, the dog attacked. All I could hear were the cries coming from Mollie as she tried frantically to get away. Thankfully, her collar was just loose enough that, in that moment of pure terror, she was able to squeeze her head out and run. That beast of a dog chased her a few streets and then gave up. After running back home, I found Mollie, God love her, waiting for me on our front porch—a little torn up, a lot scared, but 100% alive.
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One Sentence Work Journal
You must find a way to do what excites you. That means understanding what makes you feel engaged, upset and happy.
Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project gave me the idea of keeping a one sentence journal. I think this habit will help you understand more about who you are and what you need to be happy within your business.
I usually write two sentences instead of just one because I like to write about what happened in my day and how I felt about it. I focus on the most emotionally powerful event. This helps me stay focused and not let the journal get too jumbled.
Download the One Sentence Work Journal PDF
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Retrain Your Brain
You may be happy some of the time, but you just can’t stop daydreaming about the good ol’ days. When you first started your business you were excited and happy to wake up each day. Now your business is owning you. You’re afraid to make any changes because of the consequences.
Many of us get stuck in this cycle. We are afraid to create systems that will make us happier.
If so then what is stopping you?
Download the Retrain Your Brain PDF
Internal Demons
I used to be very afraid. I was afraid that people might hate what I created. I was afraid that my family and friends would laugh at me.
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Finding Your Own Path to Fulfillment
Peter Buffett wrote a solid book about finding your path to fulfillment – Life is What You Make It. (This is an affiliate Amazon link.) It breaks down the story how he refused to follow his father’s path into investing. He was never interested.
The book is well written, but it doesn’t slap you in the face like I hoped it would. I was hoping for a wakeup call that would help guide readers toward a new perspective.
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