Life Lens Career Coaching gives insights on navigating your career development, creative sparks and entrepreneurial spirit so your career and life stay in focus.
Last month to continue building on the theme of knowing what you love so you feel energized and inspired in your work and life, I invited you to do a Creative Excursion, a free or low cost solo adventure that re-connects you with your Inner Spark – that unique expression of your creativity, energy, passion and resourcefulness – your true self. A few examples are taking a long walk in a neighborhood you love and drinking in all the colors, details, architecture, character and vibe or leisurely exploring a large international market or antique shop to see what catches your eye that has you reminiscing about the past or dreaming about the future or treating yourself to a class to create something whether it’s a drawing, a floral arrangement, or a meal. Now it’s time to take the next step in our journey to know what we love and capture the details of the experience.
So after venturing out on a Creative Excursion, the next invigorating step is to sit down and make some notes. Write down what specifically it was that you did on your Creative Excursion from start to finish. Add details about what you discovered, experienced, learned and/or marveled at before, during and after the excursion. Here are some guiding questions to get the juices flowing:
- What did you discover by designing and going on Creative Excursions?
- What emotions or details came to your attention?
- What gave you sudden, inexplicable delight?
- What did it reveal about your creativity, passion and inspiration?
Life Lens Career Coaching gives insights on navigating your career development, creative sparks and entrepreneurial spirit so your career and life stay in focus.
Seek not outside yourself, heaven is within. – Mary Lou Cook
With the heaviness of soggy March weather weighing many of us down into states of lethargy, unexplained sadness and illness, what’s a Seattle woman to do to rekindle her energy and focus? Start with recognizing the advantages of slowing down, which is necessary to recharge and regain our passion and purpose in life and work. Slowing down gives us time to care for ourselves, our souls, and shake up our day-to-day routine to re-connect with our inner spark or ‘heaven’ as Mary Lou Cook suggests.
Because we can’t control the weather or when we’ll get sick it’s important not to get too sidetracked by them. As Stephen Covey would remind us in his work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, these situations are outside of our Circle of Influence. Rather, remember that the power of your own inner spark – comprised of your unique creativity, energy, passion, and resourcefulness – can provide an instant pick-me-up and get us going again.
Life Lens Career Coaching gives insights on navigating your career development, creative sparks and entrepreneurial spirit so your career and life stay in focus.
Thanks to Darnell, the GPH crew, the Neiman Marcus team and the 10 amazing women who graced the pink carpet with their confidence and sparkle as they showcased their remarkable makeovers at the fabulous February event! The “Love You – Boost Your Wardrobe, Boost Your Biz” event inspired this month’s post – Knowing What You Love: Part 1 – That Inner Spark.
Each of the 10 women chosen for the makeover and fashion show was selected for their passion, courage and dedication to making a positive impact in the world. As each nominee took their walk down the pink carpet, we heard their brief bio and got a sense of what inspired their work and nomination. As they passed me, I admired the artistry of their new look…but what struck me most was each woman’s unique radiance. Every woman had an inner spark that was blazing brilliantly that night – it was glorious to experience it! Thank you ladies for owning your beauty and being such an inspiration in the work you do!
Like these 10 ladies, we all have the opportunity with each day to harness our passion and courage and then dedicate ourselves to something worthwhile in our work and our lives. However, to do this and do it well, a woman must know what she loves and let that love shine through. This starts with loving ourselves. Oscar Wilde, the famous Irish writer, playwright, and poet shares, “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.” Loving ourselves wholly – quirks, mistakes and all – ignites our inner spark and allows us to live a life we love thus paving the way for our unique contribution to the world to count for something! Like the title of the event suggests, making time to take good care of ourselves by investing in things like stunning wardrobes that highlight our best features and actions like giving back that boost our spirits, can in fact boost our business and work in the world. Why? Because they make us feel good about ourselves which lifts our confidence. Clothed in our own confidence – that Inner Spark – we have the courage to step up, reach out and share what makes us unique, give voice to our ideas, offer our services and make a difference.
What inspires your Inner Spark? How do you reach out to show your spark to the world?
Feel free to share your thoughts in my comment box.
Tune in next month for “Knowing What You Love: Part 2 – Creative Excursions to Keep You Connected to Your Inner Spark” Read more
Insights on navigating your career development, creative sparks and entrepreneurial spirit so your career and life stay in focus.
We all know the tradition of creating New Year’s Resolutions and that frighteningly common phenomenon of watching them fade, fall apart or fizzle well before the desired outcome is achieved. So what starts out as a fun, inspiring activity to help us express how we’d like to create more joy, action, health and well-being in the New Year quickly becomes a disappointing, failed attempt. It often leaves us feeling down on ourselves, unmotivated and wanting to slink back into familiar habits that don’t lead us into inspiring new directions for our life or career, but it feels safer this way. Hence, many people have decided not to partake in the tradition any longer and I was one of them for awhile…until three years ago when I decided to examine tweaking my resolution-creating process to see if I could experience a different, more successful result.
Here we are in the second week of December, can you believe it?! I can’t because it seems like just yesterday we were preparing for Thanksgiving and now the holiday season is in full swing! So as we all continue to prepare for our holiday celebrations and wrapping up 2011, I wanted to offer helpful tips to any of you who are job-seekers wishing for a new job for the holidays. Guess what?!? It’s not too late to still make an impact on your search as employers are eager to connect with talented people like yourself to fill their positions before the New Year. So given that you are not alone in your motivation to maximize these final weeks of 2011, how can you take advantage of the time? Take a peek at this recent article called “Why the Holidays are the Best Time to Job Hunt,” with insights from career coach and author, Ford R. Myers to see what strikes you as a fun and actionable next step for your search to get noticed and hired before its time to ring in 2012!
“Why the Holidays are the Best Time to Job Hunt”
Insights on navigating your career development, creative sparks and entrepreneurial spirit so your career and life stay in focus.
In honor of this month’s holiday of Thanksgiving, I want to share a recent experience I am thankful for and what it’s taught me in the hopes that it inspires you to share what you are grateful for too. Let’s take a moment out of our busy lives to connect on what gives us the gift of true appreciation. This act of ‘stopping’ to articulate our gratitude opens up a space to feel more alive, gain a fresh perspective and to honor ourselves and/or others for helping us not take things for granted.
Insights on navigating your career development, creative sparks and entrepreneurial spirit so your career and life stay in focus.
October is a great time of year to check in on your career/business goals and work satisfaction as the season has shifted from summer’s external adventures to autumn’s internal reflections. It’s a wonderful opportunity to take a deep breath and connect with how you are really feeling about about your work in the world. You now have 9 months perspective under your belt from 2011. What have you learned? What have you accomplished? What remains incomplete? There’s still time to make it happen before the holiday flurry begins. So whether you have your own business or you’re building your career within an organization, I invite you to do a quick check-in exercise to guide your reflection process and help you create a career trajectory plan to finish your 2011 strong and sail into 2012 with clarity and confidence.
Insights on navigating your career development, creative sparks and entrepreneurial spirit so your career and life stay in focus.
Hello Girl Power Hour Readers,
I’m Samia Kornweibel, a fellow GPH-er since 2009 and Career Coach, who is excited about joining the GPH blog community. I look forward to sharing career-oriented insights from my 11 years in recruiting and coaching people through various career transitions to find more fulfillment and purpose in their work. So whether you are between jobs, building your career in your current company or exploring your entrepreneurial spirit – stay tuned for tips and perspectives on making your journey successful and fun!
A snapshot of me: As an Internationally Certified Professional Coach (CPC), I leverage my training, 11 years of recruiting and career transition experience to help people create a plan to gain clarity and action towards achieving their professional goals—including promotions, new jobs or challenges in their own business. My career spans years in restaurant, hospitality, agency and executive recruiting firms as well as studying in several European cultures. I enjoy connecting with people from around the world, learning languages, dancing, exploring new places and helping people unleash their true potential!
I look forward to connecting with you through the blog and at a future GPH event!
Samia Kornweibel
LifeLens Coaching
