A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis I think the the most challenging lesson on the journey to creating an Encore Career is learning to “dance with crazy”. I was on a marketing class conference call recently where a participant requested feedback about what to do with responses from interviews she’d conducted with several clients. She wanted clarity about how she could use the feedback to differentiate herself in her business. One of her customers remarked that she’s a “goddess” in her field and that totally threw her for
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Posts by Sue Koch
Let’s Get Real – What’s Your Excuse?
If you do not feel yourself growing in your work and your life broadening and deepening, if your task is not a perpetual tonic to you, you have not found your place. – Orison Swett Marden A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about how excuses act as a crutch that gets in the way of going after dreams that matter. Now I’ve come across a video that made me take another look at the high cost of excuses. The video offers a rather harsh “GET REAL” look at excuses people make up to avoid going after GREAT CAREERS
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How Do You “Entrepreneur” the Future?
The secret to a resilient life in our kind of world is in knowing how to recycle yourself, over and over, letting go of what is no longer you, taking on new strengths, and shaping new chapters for your life, guided by your own emerging vision. ~ from the book “Life Launch: A Passionate Guide to the Rest of Your Life” We picked up a new phrase from reading a book called Life Launch: A Passionate Guide to the Rest of Your Life. The phrase is “Entrepreneuring the Future”. It seems to be the PERFECT phrase for what Protiring is
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PROTIREMENT! Where the FUN is!
As we grow older, we must discipline ourselves to continue expanding, broadening, learning, keeping our minds active and open. ~ Clint Eastwood Recently I read something about PRO-tirement as an alternative to RE-tirement. Isn’t that a delicious change of perspective? The idea is that instead of retreating and disengaging from the world of work which puts you on the road to illness and despair, you jump forward into spending the amount of time you want doing something new, interesting and fulfilling that permeates your life with fun and adventure. I have been pondering that word ever since, kind of rolling
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Rainy Day Reflections
“I like rain, actually.” ~ Bill Rodgers Earlier this week we experienced a rare rainy day here in the OC. I used to intensely dislike rainy days. Or at least that’s what I thought. This week I realized I don’t really dislike rainy days. Here’s what I dislike… Getting up too early to go out in the rain and drive an hour or more on a commute that normally takes about twenty minutes. Sloshing through the parking lot in “professional” clothes not designed to be worn in the rain and ending up feeling soggy, grumpy and generally out of sorts all
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Are You Ready for a Vacation? Don’t Let Yourself Take NO for an Answer!
“Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.” ~ Leonardo Da Vinci It may seem funny or weird but we coaches don’t always take our own coaching. For example, I often tell my clients that it’s mandatory to occasionally escape the rat race and relax, rest, and recharge. But when a friend invited
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Designing Your Encore Career – Locating the SA-WEET Spot!
I think we each have a personal sweet spot as well. It’s the state of mind in which we experience the most joy and satisfaction in being ourselves. And from that place of pleasure and joy in being ourselves, energy arises to flow out into our day bringing with it the depth and resonance of our own beingness, bringing with it blessing. ~ David Spangler I love sweets. I’ve had an incurable sweet tooth since I was a kid. And so when I find something I love I’m likely to say…SA-WEET!!! Like NO KIDDING! I’ve been saying it a lot
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Designing Your Encore Career – Embrace the Zigzags
“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination. ~ Don Williams Jr. A friend reminded me recently that the beginnings of big shifts in our lives are hardly ever momentous. They most often begin with one small action step. My one small action step this month was to read a book called “The Big Shift” by Marc Freedman. Little did I know that reading it would rekindle the spark that had gone out of my coaching practice and make it burn more brightly
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Want an Encore Career? Tap Into Your Core Genius!
In most cases, your core genius is directly tied to your passions and life purpose. ~Jack Canfield Many people come into career and life coaching thinking that coaching will “fix” something they feel is “broken” in their lives or about them. At the same time, they feel anxious that whatever it is they’ve decided is “broken” may not be “fixable”. What I love best about career and life coaching is helping clients give up the notion that anything about them is “broken”. Instead, they get breathing room to absorb and appreciate their uniqueness. Seeing clients relax into accepting and falling in love with
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Designing an Encore Career is a Call to Adventure!
You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. ~Ragindranath Tagore Are you experiencing that signal – you know the one – that feeling of dissatisfaction, discontent or restlessness regarding your job, your relationship, your future, or some other aspect of your life? If so, then listen carefully! You might be hearing the call to adventure! A friend recently posted an article link on Facebook that defines the steps one takes when one embarks on the Hero’s Journey. I think my clients will find it amusing that I’m sharing it. They’ve heard me tell them often enough that I believe when they choose to
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