This article was printed in The Christian Science Monitor, November 17, 2008.
by Marilyn Gardner

Nicole Haase would like to work harder than she does. But as a receptionist and payroll administrator for a manufacturing firm in Milwaukee, she finds limited opportunities to take on more duties.

“Work is slow, and we’re a small company, so it’s not always easy to find other things to do,” Ms. Haase says. To fill empty moments, she e-mails friends and works on freelance writing assignments. “The Internet is my friend – anything to make the time pass,” she says, adding that the strain of having too little to do creates its own kind of burnout.

Now there’s a name for this kind of underemployment: boreout. In a new book, “Boreout! Overcoming Workplace Demotivation,” authors Philippe Rothlin and Peter Werder call it a pervasive problem. Studies show that one-third of workers in the United States do not have enough to do. Underchallenged employees spend more than two hours a day on personal matters. Employers waste over $5,000 a year per worker on boreout.

The authors, business consultants in Europe, explain that boreout, the opposite of burnout, consists of three elements: being “understretched,” uncommitted, and bored in the workplace.

Many underutilized employees ask for more work after starting a new job, says Mr. Werder, of Zurich. “But after one year, although they hate boreout, they stop asking, because no one takes it seriously.” Aware that they cannot simply sit at their desks and stare into space, many workers devise strategies to look busy. That often involves technology. “Mobile phones, the Internet, and e-mail make it much easier to pretend to work, to hide that you do not have enough work,” Werder says.

For Haase, the road to boreout began after she graduated from college with degrees in journalism and Spanish. Saddled with student loans and needing a paycheck, she took her current job two years ago. “When I was hired, they saw my skill set and said they would use it,” she says. “But I’m in my receptionist bubble, and they’re not necessarily willing to let me try to do anything more.”

Megan Rothman, a marketing copywriter near Charlotte, N.C., describes herself as underchallenged. “One reason I took this position was because I was told we would all wear many hats because we are a small, private company,” she says. But after she was hired, that never happened.

“I have asked to take on additional responsibilities or projects that may be outside the typical range of my job description, but my boss doesn’t seem to be willing to accommodate me,” Ms. Rothman says. “I have lots of skills besides writing, but none of them are being taken advantage of.”

She divides her idle time equally between productive tasks, such as reading marketing blogs or doing writing exercises, and nonwork activities, such as Gmail and MySpace.

As unemployment rates soar, Haase, Rothman, and others who feel underworked are quick to express appreciation for having a job and a paycheck. At the same time, workplace specialists emphasize the importance of remaining committed and connected to their employer.

“These days, with the economy, it behooves people to notice their boredom and think about what they can add to their job,” says Daisy Swan, a career strategist in Los Angeles.

She observes that boredom often produces feelings of resignation. “People think, ‘There’s nothing I can do.’ Maybe there is something you can do. If your company pays for continuing education, sometimes getting involved in a class outside can show your supervisor what else you’re willing to take on in your work.”

Werder advises employees struggling with boreout to ask, Is this really what I want to do? “Some people are in the wrong job, though not the wrong company,” he says. A worker can also ask: Do my bosses know about my ability? Do they know I don’t have enough to do? Do I communicate what I want to do?

Sometimes businesses simply have too many employees for the work available. Ms. Swan offers another reason for underemployment. “A lot of people take shadow positions to what they’d really like,” she says. “They love to play music, but they work for a music distributor.” The task is to see if they can increase the music in another area of their life.

Other times, she adds, “Maybe the boredom is a real message that you need to make a change.”

Doug Newberry of Cincinnati started working for his current employer, a heating and air conditioning contractor, nearly 25 years ago. “The job is easy, so I am not challenged,” he says.

Over the years he has developed outside interests as a volunteer with nonprofit organizations. Now he would like to work for a nonprofit.

“I started my own company that does fundraising and event management for nonprofits, but that has not taken off because of my lack of after-work time to commit to it,” Mr. Newberry says. “I’m constantly thinking of new jobs or new events that will hit big so I can quit my unchallenging job. I end up surfing networking sites while at work, hoping to find a lead on something.”

Haase thinks about her dream job, too. “It would be wonderful if someone would hire me as a sportswriter,” she says. “But the older I get, the less likely it is that I can start out at $18,000 a year in Podunk, Idaho. The job market isn’t the easiest to break into. I’ve been looking, but money is always the biggest concern, so I have to stick with what’s steady though boring, so I can pay my bills.”

For those eager for greater challenges, Steve Bohler, director of the Oxford Program for Career Change in Cooperstown, N.Y., suggests a first step. “Daydream,” he says. “Mentally get yourself out of your job. It’s a good chance to envision what your best possible solutions are.”

For employers concerned about boredom on the job, J.B. Bryant, a business consultant in Orrville, Ohio, offers this reminder: “People don’t want to be bored. Given the opportunity, they’ll be productive to their fullest ability.”

This article comes from Encore.com. For more inspiring stories of career transformation check out their great website!

Arlene Carter’s ‘My Encore Moment” Story
FROM HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR TO NONPROFIT FUNDRAISER
Seattle, Washington

After being laid from her real estate job, Arlene Carter rebounded and found truly satisfying work as a fundraiser for a senior community.

When I was laid off from my job as HR Director/Office Manager for a real estate management/construction company, I was fortunate to be given a severance package that allowed me time to slow down and really think about what I wanted to do.

I took long walks thinking about my last few jobs, ranging from being self-employed to working for a PR team that had a great idea for a dot.com business and just as quickly blew up when the bubble burst, to being in a very competitive work environment at a real estate management/construction business.

As I was in my mid-50s, I knew that one of my goals was to find a job that would take me through to retirement. I was also ready to do something more meaningful and to put a priority on a less stressful work environment. I hadn’t really considered looking for a job in fundraising, even though I had done a lot of volunteer work raising money for various organizations.

A friend who knew of my previous volunteer work with nonprofits asked me to come to interview for a job opening in the foundation of a large senior community very close to my home. I went somewhat reluctantly because I wasn’t finished with enjoying my summer off, but during the interview process, I fell in love with the facility and the fabulous work they were doing for and with older adults. I also saw the benefits of working right in my neighborhood (less than a one-mile commute) and felt that this work environment (supportive, spiritual, empowering) was something that I was looking for.

For the past five years, I’ve been working at Providence Mount St. Vincent Foundation in Seattle, Wash. What I felt about this work environment in the interview process continues to be a huge inspiration to me. The staff are here to provide a home in every sense of the word to the 400 older adults who live here. The mission, core values, morals and ethics all align with mine in a way that makes it deeply satisfying to do this work. And being allowed to work in the home of these residents is an honor and a privilege.

The friend who asked me to come in for an interview is now my boss and we enjoy a great working relationship, a wonderful friendship and enormous gratitude for our jobs and the work we do.

Effortless Networking
(Another great installment from our guest blogger KSS)

I have never felt that I am a well-connected person. Networking was never a comfortable notion as it seemed intimidating and felt insincere. After moving to Los Angeles nearly five years ago, all of this began to slowly change and unfold in its own authentic way. It seems that this huge city is more like a small town and I feel that I am separated from strangers by much less than six degrees. Now, as my social network expands, it also contracts and I find that new friends know old friends and it is indeed a small world after all.

Making the transition from working professional to graduate program applicant is aided by this recently acquired social network, one I could never have expected. My interests lie in obtaining a doctorate so that I may teach, research, and work at a university. When I began exploring this avenue at the start of 2008, I did not know that I nearly knew two professors, both within a field of interest to me. One turned out to be a close friend’s fiancée who lived out of town, diligently working to complete the last couple months of his studies. The other turned out to be a comrade of one of my best friends and she was an established professor at a university with tons of wisdom to share. Wow, lucky me!

Even more luckily, Daisy did some networking for me and introduced me to a very helpful client of hers who teaches at a local university. All said and done, I have many lovely, seasoned people to seek out when I need advice on graduate school. They have graciously introduced me to their former faculty advisors, reviewed my application materials and fielded my many probing questions. I feel truly blessed.

So far, I am learning a great deal from these new friends, much more than any of my recently purchased graduate school advice books. Having a real, live person share their advice and insight with you is truly invaluable. For one thing, it turns out that I am applying to a graduate program that happens to be the very same one my friend’s now-husband just graduated from! Hearing personal accounts of what the program is like, who the players are and everything that happens after graduation is monumentally helpful. My other new friend went to an Ivy League school and studied overseas which widens my perspective further.

It can be daunting to network when you need help making a life change However, if you network among current friends and acquaintances, any feelings of awkwardness dissipate. You may suddenly realize that you almost knew the person anyway and feel comfortable knowing there is a friend or associate between your acquaintance. If you are comfortable striking out on your own and approaching perfect strangers as potential contacts, more power to you. For the more reserved, like myself, talk to everyone you know about your career change and a new friend is bound to turn up.

An informative article from the Wall Street Journal

Where the Jobs Are For Wall Street Pros
By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

As the latest crisis on Wall Street unfolds, recruiters say their phones are ringing off the hook with anxious finance professionals on the line.

The sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. and the bankruptcy-court filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. have prompted workers from those firms to launch immediate job searches. Recruiters say newly displaced finance professionals should consider other types of employers or fields, and consider opportunities at smaller banks — which are ramping up hiring right now.

Case in point: On Monday, the number of ads at WallStJobs.com for positions at small and middle-market firms shot up by more than 25%, says Robert Graber, chief executive officer of the New York-based job site. Most of the ads were from small and midsize investment banks and hedge funds that are “taking advantage of the turmoil to attract candidates who would normally only move to large institutions,” Mr. Graber says. “They almost seem poised to acquire the newly available talent that’s out there.”

So far this year, the financial sector has announced the largest number of job cuts, roughly 103,000 positions, followed by the auto industry, reports Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a global outplacement consultancy. These losses mainly reflect downsizings at top-tier investment banks. In contrast, many small and middle-market banks, as well as employers specializing in other parts of the financial-services industry, say they are expanding and are eager to capitalize on the sudden outpouring of job hunters.

Among those employers is Gerstein, Fisher & Associates Inc., an independent advisory firm in lower Manhattan with plans to nearly double its 25-person work force over the next 12 months. “This is the biggest opportunity we’ve ever had,” says Gregg S. Fisher, president and chief investment officer, of the flood of high-level, quality candidates who might consider a small firm. He is looking for people who have strong skills in business development, relationship management, analysis, research, trading and operations. “We’ve been really untouched by all the stuff we’re hearing about,” he says.

There is a potential downside to moving to a smaller firm. “Typically, initial cash compensation will be lower at smaller firms; however, there is often a greater opportunity to negotiate equity,” says Deborah Markus, executive director at Gerson Group, an executive-search firm. There may be more of a salary setback for more junior employees, particularly if they change functions in the new role.

Mr. Fisher concedes he can’t pay quite as much as a big investment bank; but over time, people he has hired away earn the same or more than they did at their previous big-bank jobs. He also says working for a small company has other rewards — like the opportunity to interact directly with clients and, at least at his firm, greater long-term job security.

Another small firm looking to scoop up displaced talent from Lehman or Merrill is Kaufman Brothers, a 60-person investment bank in midtown Manhattan. “We’re excited about the opportunity to meet dynamic professionals who are looking for a calm port in the storm at a growing [company],” says Robert Kaufman, president and director of research. This week, the company increased the number of job ads it placed on job sites such as efinancialcareers.com and theladders.com.

Some companies see opportunity in a downturn — which could mean a new path for displaced bankers. Johnson Capital, an Irvine, Calif., investment bank two months ago created a distress-services division in its Denver office, to aid financial institutions with troubled commercial real-estate loans. “We’re looking for people that can create value and take advantage of distress,” says Guy Johnson, president of the 125-employee firm, which plans to expand up to 20% in the next 12 months.

There are other options for ousted finance professionals that can be an easy skills transition, says Roy Cohen, an executive coach in New York. Jobs in these areas aren’t expanding like wildfire, he says, but they are more plentiful and show more growth than in the beleaguered investment-banking sector:

– Financial communications: Consulting and investor-relations firms employ professionals who can assist clients in preparing and publicizing their financial news. If you’re an experienced financial analyst, you are likely adept at determining what information is appropriate to divulge, since you’ve been on the receiving end of that news, he says.

– Wealth management: For traders, Mr. Cohen suggests looking for opportunities on the buy-side at hedge funds, insurers and investment-management firms. The analytical and quantitative skills traders bring to the table, along with their inherent knowledge of capital markets, poise them for success in evaluating securities on behalf of institutions and private investors, he says.

– Risk management: “Risk management has a lot to do with identifying potential problems and that’s what traders are always doing instinctively,” says Mr. Cohen. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the number of risk-management-related financial jobs will increase 13% by 2016.

“People are going to have to be creative and take a broad approach to their search,” says Russ Gerson, chief executive officer of Gerson Group.

Laid-off finance experts and those anticipating pink slips should be diligent, even if they’ve already heard from a recruiter, advises Alex Alcott, partner and head of the U.S. investment banking practice at search firm Heidrick & Struggles in New York. “There’s going to be a flood of people on the Street, so if you can secure something sooner than later, you’re going be a lot better off,” he says.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at [email protected]

“Few will have the greatness to bend history
itself; but each of us can work to change a small
portion of events, and in the total of all those acts
will be written the history of this generation.”
— Robert F. Kennedy: was the United States Attorney General

Here is the latest installment from our guest blogger, KSS.

From what I’ve gathered thus far, the preparation for graduate school is likely to mimic the struggles and setbacks of the actual grad school experience. For one thing, gathering together necessary application information is no small feat. This challenge is magnified if you have any time lapse at all between your undergraduate education and pending graduate education. Having completed my bachelor’s degree six years ago, I frequently find that my alma mater needs “extra” time to look up seemingly simple inquiries that were no trouble during my enrollment period. Apparently, I’m now so dated that not only does my degree-granting department not remember me (they don’t remember the vice-president of their honor society?), but they are also challenged to find any record of me. The obstacle of time presents an additional element of frustration when you are dealing with rigid, pending deadlines for your dream graduate program.

So, one must really learn to combine forced patience with a clever, resourceful attitude. The more you can do for yourself, the better off you’ll be. Also, being very clear and communicative are going to call more attention to your plea for help when dealing with departments and schools that have phased you out, no matter how exemplary you were during your stay. Even when I was risking irritating the very people whose help I needed badly, I’d put out an extra phone call just to check in and see how that information search was progressing.

Saving records from former school days is another essential piece of the grad school puzzle. Many programs request an academic writing sample, something not easily generated if one has been graduated for some time. The lucky few retain their school assignments – both the graded, hard copies and some saved electronic version. I thought I was part of the lucky few until I visited Kinko’s with my floppy discs in hand, certain that my prior coursework was a few clicks away. Turns out, it’s much farther away than a few clicks. Very unfortunately, the discs I saved for years harbored no academic coursework of any kind. Hmm, that’s a bit of an unpleasant surprise.

I am still in the throes of dealing with this latest setback and brainstorming ways to track down this crucial aspect of my graduate school application package. Thus far, I’ve awkwardly contacted an ex-boyfriend in hopes he might have some academic relic of mine since we parted ways. My mother, also a pack-rat, is dissecting her home in search of some paper I might’ve mailed her showcasing my “A”. My garage, home and old, inoperable laptop have all been thoroughly investigated. Desperate times indeed call for desperate measures. I’m steps away from paying to have my dead laptop’s hard drive extracted and pillaged.

So, things are still unfolding and there’s plenty more time for further obstacles along the way. Nonetheless, my chin is up, my attitude is solid and I am quite determined that I will triumph in the end. I think this is all useful practice for graduate school where – heaven forbid – similar disappointments can occur. Campus legends speak of dissertation stalemates with professors, deteriorating funds or changes of direction mid-program. Letting go of desires for perfection and ease are smart and best acquired before you get to one of the biggest character tests life has to offer – graduate school.

Article

An investment banker friend was recently complaining about the havoc and uncertainty at her workplace in these crazy times. I tried to express sympathy. But I found that I just didn’t care. Actually, even worse: I felt like rolling my eyes. And this is a person I like.

Recently, I’ve found myself not only NOT empathizing with my fellow twentysomethings in the beleaguered financial services industry, but experiencing undeniable pleasure at their increasingly tenuous circumstances.

You see, for those of us recent grads working in New York, a pay-related pecking order was established immediately after graduation. Those who chose the I-banking route nailed down six-figure salaries—moaning about their hours—while others—teachers, journalists, and the like—were barely squeaking by, often keeping similarly punishing schedules.
Worshipping Gordon Gekko

Furthermore, the attitude of many of those bankers became increasingly tinged by an appreciation of a certain “models and bottles” lifestyle, which included liberal expense accounts and first-class travel. They unabashedly worshipped at the altar of Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko, while, of course, conveniently ignoring the last 10 minutes of the movie when greed brings down Gekko and his protégé.

As I watched my father, whose astute financial mind helped him build a thriving small-cap business, dutifully price-check every ticket and fly coach on AirTran, I became increasingly disillusioned with the high-roller attitude and lifestyle. I didn’t see how the financial engineers were adding value, and why any 22-year-old who could navigate a spreadsheet was deserving of big bucks and juicy perks. To their credit, they themselves would sometimes question what, if anything, they were actually creating.

Now, it looks like there is something in what the Carl Fox character said in Wall Street. (Carl Fox, played by Martin Sheen, was the airline mechanic father of the ambitious and unscrupulous Bud Fox, Charlie Sheen’s character.) “Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life,” he said.
Plenty of Schadenfreude

Of course, this schadenfreude, a German word that’s being used more and more often as the market seesaws, is all relative. In this topsy-turvy world, my sister, in her second year at Northwestern’s Kellogg business school, still finds her biotech background in demand (she says that high tech and biotech are the only areas where hiring is up), while her finance-focused, aspiring I-banker classmates are scrambling and decamping to consulting concentrations en masse (BusinessWeek.com, 1/7/08) in the hopes of landing a job.

Meanwhile, over at the Harvard Crimson, columnist Alexandra Petri ponders a future where economics majors may be in a similar boat as English majors like herself. She can’t help feeling a little smug. “So now, when our more pragmatically minded friends are starting to worry about their prospects, we feel a little complacent,” she writes. “We never expected to make six figures out of college. We were never in it for the money.”

Granted, the market crash has taken the meager savings of some folks who wouldn’t know a CDO from a CD-R. But for us twentysomething singletons without kids and a mortgage, well, we didn’t have that much to lose.
Sitting Pretty in Cash

In my case, I even benefited from my glimpse into banker hubris: Some months ago, watching the overly exuberant marketplace and the increasingly arcane instruments I heard finance-type friends bragging about, I decided this upswing wasn’t sustainable (or rational). I liquidated my own small holdings at the height of the market.

Sure, it wasn’t a huge windfall by any means, but I hope it will at least keep me afloat for the time being. And to those now-suffering investment bankers: Thanks for the (unintentional) tip. The two-dollar beers are on me.

From Business Week Online, October 17, 2008

Success more often finds those with assets such as experience, cash and contacts.

A new wave of baby boomer entrepreneurs likely to be unleashed by the current economic turmoil will be an important force in eventually pushing the economy onto safer ground, some experts say.

A late-September poll by the Kauffman Foundation, which promotes entrepreneurship, showed that 70% of respondents agreed that the success and health of the economy depended on the success of entrepreneurs; 80% agreed the government should encourage more entrepreneurship.

——————————————————————————–

FOR THE RECORD:
Small business: An article in Business on Monday about a new wave of baby boomer entrepreneurs said the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship and Small Business is at Columbia University. The center is actually part of Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business in New York City. —

——————————————————————————–

Though many people think of entrepreneurs as twentysomethings laboring in their garages on the next Silicon Valley success, the reality is that people age 35 and older have higher entrepreneurship activity rates, a separate Kauffman study found.

“People in the older age brackets are much more likely to successfully start companies than younger people,” said Tim Kane, economist at the foundation and co-author of the organization’s Growthology blog.

Older workers or professionals often “have personal savings they rely on, and they’ve actually worked in an area and know a sector — it might be a steel factory — where they have an idea that their company is not willing to get behind,” he said.

Consultant Joe Stevens is a good example. The Marina del Rey resident was in his mid-50s in 2003 when he lost his job as a bank executive. That job had been a lifeline when his prior position was also lost in an acquisition, he said. That was in the healthcare field, where he’d worked since he was 23.

“I was really hung out to dry,” Stevens said. “It was my age. I felt I had no other option but to start a business.”

He looked to his work experience to find a need to fill. As former chief operating officer at a firm that assembled medical equipment, he knew firsthand how a well-designed safety incentive plan could cut injuries and thus reduce pricey workers’ compensation insurance premiums.

He sold his condo to fund the first year of Bridge Consultants Inc. and struggled to convince potential clients when he had no customers who could provide references. By the end of the year, he had made $27,000.

That was in 2003. Today, Stevens said his Playa del Rey firm employs three people and he expects sales of at least $500,000 this year.

Potentially thousands of baby boomers could try to follow his lead as jobs are lost or jeopardized by the economic crisis.

“The older you are, if you are still in the workforce, the more likely you are to be an entrepreneur,” said Ed Rogoff, the academic director of Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship and Small Business at Columbia University and a management professor who has studied older entrepreneurs.

“That is a growing trend generally, but I think what has happened in the economy lately is going to push it up considerably,” he said.

More contacts, less tolerance for risk

In addition to more money, even with lower home values and shrunken stock portfolios recently, older entrepreneurs often start off with larger networks of contacts. That’s a crucial strength and provides the beginning of a customer base, Rogoff said.

On the downside, older entrepreneurs may have less of an appetite for risk.

“If you are 26 years old and bet the farm and you lose it, you start over,” he said. “If you are 66 or even 56 and you do that, you may have suffered a financial calamity you can’t recover from.”

At the same time, today’s economic troubles will continue to put pressure on both ends of the start-up sector, Kane said. It will be hard for deals to be done to fund new companies and for companies to have successful exit strategies as the acquisition and stock markets cool, he said.

But just because a company doesn’t get funding doesn’t mean the company goes away, Kane said.

“It may not become incorporated or hire all its workers, but the founders in most cases are going to struggle on,” he said.

Stevens has advice for those who want to start a business, no matter their age.

“You do have to have an idea that’s a winner, whether it’s unique or you take somebody else’s and know you can do it better,” he said. Make sure you have enough money to commit to the new business for at least a year.

There are plenty of resources for those thinking about entrepreneurship.

The Small Business Administration, for example, launched its website for older entrepreneurs last week at www.sba.gov/50plusentrepreneur. The site repackages and links to information from the rest of the SBA site, including a self-assessment test for entrepreneur wannabes. There are also many links to outside resources.

The site offers encouragement and statistics that back the contention from the agency’s acting administrator, Sandy K. Baruah, that entrepreneurs over 50 “will drive significant new business growth in the coming years.”

Those new business owners will be part of the churn that accelerates when the economy undergoes tough times, which another Kauffman study says eventually boosts jobs and productivity.

“A recession forces a reallocation of jobs and resources, it sort of reshuffles the deck,” Kane said.

“Most of it is painful and difficult, but most of that is good and necessary. When we get things sorted out again, you do find this entrepreneurship activity has a payoff.”

[email protected]

I’m certain that there are a lot of people walking around — or holed up at home – in a bit of a state of shock these days. With the financial losses and lay offs affecting so many, there’s a lot of fear and confusion about what’s happening. We all, really, want to know ‘What’s going to happen to me?’
Years ago, during the dot com bust, I was interviewed on the Style Network talking about what to do when faced with a lay off. At that time, I was working with many dazed and confused people in their late twenties and early thirties – these were people in what I call the Roadblock LifeStage and most of them really needed to reassess what they wanted from work and how they could take what they’d learned and done to a new job. A few of these clients were already trying to decide their next moves when they found themselves involuntarily laid off. And more shocking was that this was the first time they’d found themselves needing to do a job search.
For many millenials (the youngest generation in the job market right now) this is the first time that their good efforts will not be rewarded with some sort of job security. The hard truth is that we usually learn the most from the rough times if we’re willing to pay attention to the lessons they hold for us. That’s the good news – I’ve seen people discover new opportunities that they never would have found if they hadn’t been pushed to find them. Really.
These times require most of us to dig deep and look for ways to pursue the next ‘big thing’ in our lives. A job search is not easy. It can be a long roller coaster ride. But there are options – they may not look like what we thought our options would be… but these options can be temporary and used as a means to be ready when better opportunities are available. This will likely be a time that will push most people out of their comfort zone to contact people they may be uncomfortable contacting – but could result in a greater sense of connection and community – and a new opportunity. It could also be what motivates people to step out and pursue an interest that they had put on the back burner.
If you’re finding yourself with time on your hands – by choice or not – use it to look at what you pay attention to. What we pay attention to grows. Use this attention to guide you. If you don’t see an answer there then you may not be looking closely or curiously enough. Innovation comes from curiosity. I’m convinced that on the other side of this downturn we’ll experience tremendous growth. How will you use this opportunity?

Another post from our guest blogger, KSS…

One of the things that’s become an essential part of this sweeping life change I am about to make is reminding myself to share the journey. At times this is very easy. I’ve come to an exciting realization, found renewed confidence in my goals or connected with a loved one who serves as a big supporter.

For me, it’s hardest to share this process when things are not going so well. Stress compounded by dismay mixed with inertia all create a situation where I only want to hole up inside of myself and refuse the support of my network of confidantes – the very people cheerleading me along.

It’s not that I don’t want them to know, but rather that the thought of sharing all the mishaps seems like it could possibly worsen an already overwhelming situation. Making a life change is a special, exciting time, but there are hurdles along the way and things do not always unfold smoothly. To ruminate on these worries might somehow draw out the circumstance, preventing forward-movement and progress. At least, that’s what I’ve told myself.

I don’t really think that strategy works though, at least not anymore.

This is a process and having the support of loved ones is a fortunate thing. Now, I feel that while I do not need to dwell on the negative with my confidantes, I should at least acknowledge setbacks. After all, their advice and comfort is determined by exactly what I tell them. Presenting the entire picture – the ups and the downs – means they will not only understand my journey better, but also see that this process is a very real, raw thing.

Rather than isolate my journey to myself, I’d rather risk the exposure of my occasional frustration, error in judgment or oversight. Consequently, sharing my whole journey now makes me feel that much closer to my faithful network of support.