This class is over: but check out the current classes.

Attention TwentySomethings: Are you frustrated and confused in an unfulfilling first or second job and wondering how to make the right moves to get somewhere that feels and looks right to you? Wondering what college was for and how to apply what you learned during those years? Not sure how to get the pieces to fit together? I’ve created The Twenties Launch Teleclass, a workshop (done over the phone in teleclass form) for you!

The Twenties Launch Teleclass AKA

How Did I Get Here and Where Am I Going? Career/Life Telelcass Designed for TwentySomethings Looking for Answers starting Wednesday, September 19th at 12PM or 7PM with Daisy Swan, MA, CPCC

The Twenties Launch Teleclass AKA How Did I Get Here and Where Am I Going Next?

Career Life Telelcass Designed for TwentySomethings Looking for Answers.

I’ve decided to create and offer this teleclass because I wish I’d had something like this when I was that age. I couldn’t have felt more confused and lost when I was in my twenties and now I have the useful combination of years of working with twenty-somethings and technology to help me offer this useful and supportive class.

This teleclass meets one night each week for 4 weeks. This is for people in their twenties who want to learn about their career options and how to make their choices become a reality. My mission is to have each participant create a vision for how they want their lives to look going into their 30’s, and beyond, so that they have a larger view of what’s to come. We’re not talking about locking anyone into a life plan that is constricting and narrow minded, but rather one that can breathe and expand as opportunities present themselves. Participants will get great, smart and enthusiastic support throughout this teleclass, as well as unlimited email access, all designed to increase your sense of clarity and job search skills. You’ll hear others as they go through their learning challenges and successes and get great coaching from an experienced, thoughtful professional who’s been in the career biz for over 15 years.

I’ve worked with hundreds of people going through transitions of all sorts, and I know first hand the confusion of too many choices and too much (perceived) negativity about the available options. I love to see people figure this puzzle out and move on, confidently, to do the things they don’t even know are possible.

Learn the 7 rules for job search success and the necessary tools to stay true to yourself while developing the necessary coping and planning skills that will carry you through the rest of your career and life. Learn to create a dynamic and professional resume that will speak the language of your next employer…this is a skill that will serve you throughout your life, the sooner you master it the better!

Join me at either 12pm or 7pm, Pacific, September 19th as we discuss the challenges and the opportunities that are available to twenty-something’s who want more but don’t know of what. I’ll have guest speakers to answer relevant questions, and useful and clear homework to keep you on track as you move forward.

The price for this teleclass is $149, deeply discounted from my one-on-one rate. I’m offering this teleclass because I see the need for so many people in their twenties to learn what I wish I’d learned when I was in that time of my life. Additionally, my schedule doesn’t allow me to see all of the clients I’d like to see, so this creates an opportunity for several of us to work together and move through confusion to clarity. Participants will get the same support and clear-eyed coaching that one-on-one clients do, but in a group forum.

Requirements apply: Participants must be between 23-29 years old, have graduated from college, and be willing to do the homework as assigned. What you will get:

Four 60 minute phone meetings; I’ve increased the number of sessions for this class to include an informative informational session with other professionals who can answer questions about various career paths.

Unique and effective exercises and handouts to assist you in learning about, and seeing, your career options in a clear, grounded way to get and keep you moving forward, gaining clarity and momentum.

Energizing, motivating and fun discussion, Daisy’s hallmark. If it’s not fun and engaging, why bother, right? The right number of people on the call makes for interesting and lively conversation that everyone gets to learn from.

Tools to create an excellent, sharp resume, and feedback from an experienced career coach who’s dedicated to your success. Let your resume be the tool that effectively organizes how you present yourself to others.

Unlimited support via email from Daisy during the weeks of the teleclass.

The opportunity to hear how others make progress and overcome obstacles, and great brainstorming from other smart, creative people like you!

Career coaching from a creative and innovative thinker who will give you individualized attention even with others on the calls.

The fee for this 4 session teleclasses is $149. Career coaching with a professional seasoned career coach can cost anywhere from $300- $500 per month. Here’s a great, effective option if you’re ready to get serious with career exploration, need some questions answered and structure to make your next moves.

Get ready to try something new, get your goals in gear to create a new lifestyle that really works the way you want it to — A worthwhile investment with a great return! * What is a Teleclass?

Teleclassses are a great way to have interactive training classes that are conducted over the telephone using the latest in teleconferencing ‘bridge’ systems. How does this work? Clients can participate from anywhere in the world and there’s no travel involved! All you need is a comfortable place to be on your regular phone! Note: The cost to call the bridge line, which connects everyone together on the call, is a standard long distance charge. You will only pay your long distance fees as usual. Here are some guidelines to make everyone’s experience on the call a great one: Dial the Conference Dial-In number that you receive via e-mail. At the prompt, enter the PIN Code followed by # Use a land telephone for the best phone reception for you and for others in the class.Headsets can be used. Cell phones can be used. No internet phones or speaker phones No cordless phones, speaker phones, internet phones

Please disable the “Call Waiting” feature on your phone. To do this on most phones, dial *70. The “Call Waiting” feature is reinstated once you hang up.

Please turn off the ringer on a second line if you have one.

To mute or un-mute your individual phone line, press * 6.

Please call in to the class on time so that the class can start on time with minimal interruption. We’ll all be introducing ourselves or saying hello when we begin classes.

Gather your friends and sign up together for a group workshop and receive a reduced group rate on this teleclass!

Click here to see what other Twenties Launch participants have to say about this class.

Daisy Swan, MA, CPCC works with clients as they choose and make sane, fulfilling and creative career and life transitions. She has been a career counselor and coach since 1991 and has been in private practice in Los Angeles since 1995. Daisy works with clients in a practical, creative, strategic and supportive way, guiding and encouraging clients as they clear their path to find their right way to live their lives. She has appeared on NBC’s daytime coaching show, Starting Over and has been quoted in the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Post regarding career and life changes. For more information about Daisy, and her services please go to www.daisyswan.com.

The 20’s :

I’ve come to think of the twenties as a truly trying time of life. I have worked with hundreds of clients in their twenties who, since graduating from college, have become frustrated, confused, disenchanted and somewhat disenfranchised. They often believe that everyone else has everything figured out and feel the pressure to catch-up and make all the right moves and decisions so they’ll know what they’re going to do “for the rest of their lives.”

I was one of these twenty-somethings too — twenty years ago. And I know how overwhelming all of the decisions (choices?) can feel. Unfortunately, most of us don’t get the one-on-one support and encouragement that we need to realize what really clicks in terms of our work life. Not to mention all of the social and familial changes that may have taken place: parents who might have separated during their kids’ college years, good friends moving across the country, dealing with office politics or difficult roommates. The pressure we put on ourselves is coming from so many sources: parents, relatives, friends, society, and mostly ourselves. It’s difficult to know how to resolve questions and concerns that are new. It’s hard to take a leap to go for a job when you don’t have experience or contacts. (How will you know it’s right for you?)

Often times an overwhelming decision-making process motivates people to make decisions based on limited information. For instance, many new grads choose to go to law school because it’s a respectable profession with a structured career path. Law school itself may be interesting to many new grads who are used to the rigors of studying, but the actual work and structure of the life of a lawyer leaves them cold, angry and in debt.

It may take time, but through our work together clients are ultimately able to make the decisions they need and create what they want.

The 30’s:

You’ve probably already heard that the 30’s are the new 20’s…

Many of my clients in their 30’s have made moves to a new city and are trying to get a new career going. Or they’ve been doing what they’ve been doing for several years, let’s say working in the entertainment industry, and have realized that they ar not yet where they thought they’d be. They don’t have the satisfaction, money, social life they thought they’d have by now. They want and need to make some changes but don’t know where to begin. Together we look at real interests and intentions, find out how to get back to what really matters and how to fulfill their needs. We then develop strategies to uncover options that will work. We all throw roadblocks in our way when we think we can’t have what we want or think what we want isn’t possible. I support my clients by looking beyond these roadblocks. We then figure out how to make things happen instead of letting goals remain unreachable.

The 40’s

Most of my clients in their 40’s are lookin for authenticity. They’ve weathered the 20’s and 30’s and are looking to find the right way to have their work, their personal lives and their avocations all moving in the right direction – for them. It’s a new way of looking at the world. The old concerns about what others think of them become less important and they’re ready to break into something that may have previously seemed daring. Or maybe they are ready to step up to the next level in their career, or take a leap and combine interests and talents. These are the clients who know it’s time for something new and important. We work together to get clarity about priorities and the necessary steps to take it to that next level of satisfaction and success. The 40’s can be a great time of change – invited or not – which can include both frightening and wonderful things. As a 40 something myself, I know the 40s have been an incredible time of change, yielding more personal and professional happiness than I could possibly predict.

I know from first-hand experience that nothing good comes without effort and the willingness to learn. Doubt and fear are tremendously powerful. I work with my clients to recognize where and how their doubt and fear stops them. We take a good look at what’s possible and how to go for it without being foolhardy or naïve. Accomplished professionals or those beginning their work lives, those with a lot of money, and those with little – everyone deals with the challenges of fear and doubt. I work to show people the possibility that I see in them and that they suspect is there. Together we come up with ways to make things happen so that they get what they want, the way they want it – with integrity, safety and increased clarity.

A couple of years ago I heard Bruce Mau, respected architect, talking about the creative process that he and his team work and live by. I found it very inspiring. Thought I’d share it with all of you.

An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth Bruce Mau

1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

2. Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real growth.

3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

5. Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

6. Capture accidents. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

7. Study. A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.

8. Drift. Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.

9. Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

10. Everyone is a leader. Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.

11. Harvest ideas. Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.

12. Keep moving. The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.

13. Slow down. Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

14. Don’t be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.

15. Ask stupid questions. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

16. Collaborate. The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

17. ………………………………………… Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.

18. Stay up late. Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.

19. Work the metaphor. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.

20. Be careful to take risks. Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.

21. Repeat yourself. If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

22. Make your own tools. Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.

23. Stand on someone’s shoulders. You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.

24. Avoid software. The problem with software is that everyone has it.

25. Don’t clean your desk. You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.

26. Don’t enter awards competitions. Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

27. Read only left-hand pages. Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our “noodle.”

28. Make new words. Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.

29. Think with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

30. Organization = Liberty. Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between “creatives” and “suits” is what Leonard Cohen calls a ‘charming artifact of the past.’

31. Don’t borrow money. Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.

32. Listen carefully. Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

33. Take field trips. The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic”“simulated environment.

34. Make mistakes faster. This isn’t my idea I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.

35. Imitate. Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

36. Scat. When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else “¦ but not words.

37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

38. Explore the other edge. Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.

39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms. Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces what Dr. Seuss calls “the waiting place.” Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.

40. Avoid fields. Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.

41. Laugh. People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I’ve become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

42. Remember. Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.

43. Power to the people. Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can’t be free agents if we’re not free.

I’m just back from an inspiring trip to St. Louis for the International Coach Federation annual conference. For three days I was surrounded by people who, like me, love to support, encourage and inspire others to reach their potential. Can you imagine getting into an elevator with a bunch of people like that every morning and evening? They aren’t wild and crazy and over-powering you with their ‘stuff’ — they just radiate kindness and friendship. 1300 people were there — so that’s a lot of kindness in one spot.

We coaches are a bunch of people who want to give the gift of seeing others expand their own gifts. That’s what I do with my clients; I meet them and quickly see what they have to offer — something they usually don’t see, which is why they are seeing me. That’s my gift: seeing what others have to offer. I’ve always had that gift but I didn’t know how to offer it until I was in my 30’s when I started doing career counseling. That’s when I started to see how all of the chaos and confusion of my 20’s could serve me in the next phase of my life. I love what I get to see with my clients…see them come to life again.

So my taxi ride. I was inspired to write about this after my husband handed me an editorial from today’s Sunday NY Times; Thomas L. Friedman’s The Taxi Driver. He tells of the driver who picked him up at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport; he was continually talking on his Blue Tooth, driving, and watching a dvd on his dashboard while Friedman was writing on his laptop in the back seat with his iPod on. No chit chat going on. No discussion of politics or even the weather. Nothing. The message here being that all this technology is interfereing with communication while enhancing connectivity. We’re all aware of this phenomenon. Personally I get headaches from this sort of thing….but more on that in a minute.

My experience at the St. Louis airport was a whole different thing. After arriving in St.Louis late on Weds. night I realized that I hadn’t made arrangements for transportation to my hotel…too distracted with too many things going on here to think that all the way through, right?
So I approached a bell,man at the baggage corral. He was a kind older fellow. He explained all of the options available to me, pointing out that my best, and most expedient option, was to take a car service to the hotel. He then gave me a number to call and told me to tell them that he was my tipster. They were so nice but didn’t have a driver for me. My guardian bellman then went and talked to a driver waiting for his charge, but again, came up without a ride. I said I’d just find a cab outside, but he kindly told me to hold on while he remembered another number to call. This time a gentleman said he’d be there in five minutes and told me where to meet him. My bellman knew just where to go. OK, so now I’m thinking, “hmmm, what did I get myself into? Will this be some guy who just happens to be driving around? Will I actually make it to my hotel or some deserted garage?” My bellman with the kind eyes smiled when I gingerly said ‘This is a real car service, right?’ “I realized a long time ago that you need to treat people with respect and kindess. That’s the way to do business. So you don’t have to worry. I’ll take care of you.” “Okay,” I said. Then he went on, ” I’ll take care of you and your husband or anyone. You know why? Because I love you. I love everyone. ” I was so calmed by him and he made me smile. “That must be a nice way to go through life,” I said. “Um hum.” He nodded. I’m not making this up. This guy was the real thing. Outside the airport a lovely big limo was waiting for me with a charming well spoken driver who swiftly took me to the hotel. We talked about my work and his, he told me about his sister who has two Masters degrees and his large family that enjoyed the Cardinal’s win. We talked about the outrage he and his fellow St.Louians feel about the news that their city was named the most violent city in the USA. “We think it’s just because we won the Series. Crazy.”

These two caring and professional men ushered me to my destination — to a hotel filled with generous and purposeful people from 33 countries who gathered to talk together about how to continue to provide more and great support and coaching to every kind of person of our world. This is the kind of world I’m looking to be in…it’s the one I choose.

But here’s the thing: Technology is what connects so many of us. I found myself in many conversations with my fellow coaches about how we use our websites, podcasts, ezines, shopping carts, web radio stations, webinars, and teleclasses to communicate with prospective and dedicated clients. And we also talked about our loneliness because so many of us work with clients over the phone and via ‘crackberries’. Many of us are busy with clients, busy writing our newsletters and blogs and so don’t have much person-to-person face time with our colleagues.

After one converstation with a friend who has spent the past year getting her business up and running on the web I had a massive headache as I digested everything she’d explained about how she created this impressive enterprise. This is how it’s done now, I reckoned. But my headache, I realized, was talking to me. Maybe this isn’t how I’ll do it. Maybe I’ll figure out how to do this work my way. I’m not sure how that’s going to look, exactly, but I know it’s going to be my own way — My headache went away when I settled into knowing that things always work when I settle back and rely on my inner knowing. I have the right answers for me…just like I encourage my clients to know. They know what works for them. When I create the space for me to hear my answers, they show up. I get to help my clients hear their voice — the one that knows what works for them. I’m grateful that I can hear my voice. And the voices of my fascinating and creative clients with whom I have a very real connection. Nothing virtual about it.

I’m dedicating this blog to my Dad, Dr. Robert Spalten. My Dad was a dentist, architect, jewelry designer and artist, a boulder furniture builder, amazing chef and lover of books and music. He loved to sail and hang out with his various dogs and read everything from novels to medical journals to how-tos. He had several amazing gardens — giant garlic, fruit trees exotic fruits, and vegetable gardens. He built boats and ponds. If he was interested in something there was no end to what he wanted to discover. If he wasn’t interested, he wouldn’t pretend to be…couldn’t. A lot of people thought he was a little nuts and a lot of us had a problem with him at times… I did for years. But as he mellowed with the love of his second wife and daughter he learned to love better — and to love me, his first daughter. He found a way to make time to give time to me, too. And thankfully I learned to love him back before he died on December 24th, 2001. He ultimately showed me that I could be fascinated by everything the world has to offer.

Now I’m happy to say that I am my father’s daughter. I don’t let anyone squash me or my enthusiasm for the things I’m curious about. Life is just too short to not know about whatever you want to know about. I’m not into paring things down– except apples for a pie — to be ‘specialized’. I’m into synthesizing. Learning and experiencing and discovering. This is the way we Spaltens do life. This blog is a place to explore everything that makes living an amazing journey of curiosity. I invite you to participate with me.