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future

The Change You Need

August 19, 2012 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

 

Right now it’s all about you.

You, who have done so much for so many. You with your hard work, and your diligence, and your integrity. You with your kindness, your caring.

You. You bet I am talking about you.

Yes, this change is hard. You and I know change is a constant, and by now we should be really good at it, but – we’re not, are we? It’s still a surprise when change comes like a pow!-sure-wasn’t-expecting-that-one boom. Even more of a surprise when change sneaks up on you all of a sudden and, in one clear moment, you realize everything – everything – has changed.

That’s the way it is. Sometimes change comes from outside ourselves, and sometimes from inside. And sometimes it’s a slow roller, moving right through our lives.

What I want you to know more than anything right now is this:

You are not alone.

You are deeply loved.

You have, or can get, whatever you need to move through this change.

This thing may not have been what you expected. It may feel like more than you can handle. It may feel big. Scary. Unwelcome. Unsettling. Uncertain.

But that’s change for you, even at the best of times. You and I know this.

What we don’t know what it’s going to look like down the road. The future is unknowable and that is the biggest part of the problem for people like you and me, right? We want to know, dammit, and we want all our little ducks to line up and snap off a smart salute on our command.

We want, more than anything, to know that the future will be the one we want.

Time to bring in Mick Jagger, don’t you think? Old Mick would remind us, “You can’t always get what you want.”

True.

“But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”

Ah, also true. And this is the very lesson you and I have learned, time after time, over and over again in these lives of ours.

When we embrace the change, we get what we need.

Sugar, right now I’m holding my arms – and my heart – wide open.


 

Filed Under: Blog, Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Managing Change, Uncategorized Tagged With: change, compassion, future

Salad Dressing, Change and Career Paths

June 24, 2012 By Michele Woodward 1 Comment

 

Have you been in the salad dressing aisle recently?

Let’s see, there are: Organic, Orange. Paul Newman, Paul Prudhomme. Annie, Amy. Nature Valley, Natural. Balsamic, aromatic, diabetic, gluten-free, fat-free…

On the other hand, let’s explore my mother’s choices – which were: French, Blue Cheese, Italian, Oil & Vinegar.

Thus, my darlings, has the world changed.

It used to be that women like my mother could choose careers like they chose salad dressings. If they wanted or needed to work “outside the home”, they got to choose between nursing, teaching or secretarial roles.

Simple? Yes. Straightforward? Uh huh. Opportunity to do as your wits and passion directed? Not so much.

Even today, with so many career options open to women, we struggle with work. Did you see the now-famous essay by Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter in The Atlantic this week? Titled “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”, Slaughter explores the dynamics of professional success for women who want to be at the top, the unfulfilled promise of feminism, the gulf between the attitudes of men and those of women, and suggests that young, ambitious women freeze their eggs in their 20s in case they work too hard and miss the window of opportunity on their fertility.

OK, then.

Can we look at a bigger picture, my friends? A larger context to why there are so many anxious strivers out there, and why the workplace is hard for so many? Why, yes – let’s do! Here is the big picture context:

The world sneaked up on you and changed.

Sometimes you have to look back to really get a picture of the future. Cary Campbell Umhau, friend and founder of SPACIOUS, highlighted this interesting article on her Facebook page this week – Ten Most Significant Cultural Trends of the Last Decade by Andy Crouch. And what’s changed the most? I’d lump all ten together and call it The Status Quo.

In my mother’s day, the majority got to dictate the status quo, and they determined – like salad dressings – that there would be  one or two or maybe three ways to be “successful”. But now? As Crouch writes, there is no more majority – there were more “minority” babies born last year than “majority” babies.  So what we have today is a minority majority. In fact, if no one is in the majority, then we are all minorities.

That’s a helluva shift.

And what does it mean?

It means the status quo we grew up with is gone.

And we all get to be much more agile, collaborate and create our own definition of success. Unlike my mother’s limited, status quo salad dressing choices, we face a  wide array of possibilities…

And some people, and organizations are not aware of the change that has already happened.

Or are confused by it.

Invested in the past.

These organizations cling to the old status quo. They liked being the majority. It worked for them. They knew the rules. They had power.

But the rules have changed and continue to change. And those organizations will have to change, or die. We’re already seeing it happen with booksellers, camera stores, the travel industry, newspapers. Next to fall? Academia, insurers – anyone who relies on controlling information to generate revenue. Those barriers are leveling.

And where we’re going is faster, more collaborative, more streamlined, more niche – which is, when you think of it, reflective of needs of minority majorities.

Here’s a peek at the future. Right now, today, a kid is sitting with some friends in a room tweaking code that will change our lives in the next two years. She needs no permission, no credential, no template, no budget approval.

All she needs is an idea, and the oomph to see it through.

Maybe that’s the definition of our new and dynamic status quo, then: Embracing change. Valuing flexibility and agility. Collaboration. Being a part of the power of the minority majority. Limitless creation.

Those invested in the old status quo will lose. It’s just a matter of time. And those who embrace change, new definitions, new ways of being? They will truly have it all. On their terms. In ways that matter.

It’s time for you to let the old go to make room for the new. Even if it means change. Even if it means new rules or no rules. Even if it means you have to learn something new.

It’s time. Do it.

It. Will. Be. Worth. It.

 

Filed Under: Authenticity, Career Coaching, Getting Unstuck, Managing Change, Uncategorized Tagged With: Anne-Marie Slaughter, careers, Cary Campbell Umhau, change, entrepreneur, future, gender roles, getting ahead, SPACIOUS, trends, Why Women Still Can't Have It All

Hope.

August 14, 2011 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

There are people who will tell you that hope is not a strategy.  And I completely understand that perspective, especially when I hear my mother’s voice in my ear saying, “Wishin’ don’t make it so” (and she would throw on her twangiest twang as she said it, too).

But hope can be a powerful, powerful thing – especially when it’s tied to a really clear vision of the future.

Have you got hopes?  Could you make a list of them? A list of your dreams?  Your vision of the future?

I know I can.

I hope I’m healthy into my old age.

But wishin’ don’t make it so, does it?

What do I have to do to make my hope a reality?

Feed myself nourishing foods, get moderate exercise, see the doctor from time to time, have friends, enjoy myself.

Looking at it that way, doesn’t getting older seem like a ton of fun?

I hope I’m financially secure throughout my life.

Again, wishin’ ain’t gonna fill up my bank account.  So what do I need to do?

Work smart, invest well, save responsibly, spend reasonably.

[I like that – especially the work smart part.]

I hope I’m always connected to engaged, happy, fun, caring people.

Well, to be connected with engaged, happy, fun, caring people, I need to make sure that I’m engaged, happy, fun and caring myself.

You never get what you aren’t willing to give, do you?

The exciting prospect is that to achieve this I get to keep learning new things, doing new things, meeting new people.  I also get to be open, and vulnerable, and nurturing.

Now, that sounds like a wonderful way to live.

I hope my children are happy adults.

You know what?  I’m going to take that back. Let me be more specific.

I hope my children are good partners.  Good parents.  Good neighbors.  Good friends.  I hope they find meaningful work.  I hope they remain in touch with their own resilience.

I hope they find joy.

I hope they have hope.

Because hope is a vision of how the future might be.

How our lives could possibly be if we just line up square behind that hope and make it a reality.

Just like rock breaks scissors, darlings, hope squashes fear.

We hope we can, so we do.

Like magic.

Hope, when it’s backed up by steps toward a vision of your own creation – yes, in that case, hoping sure does make it so.

 

[photo credit:  Michele Woodward]

Filed Under: Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living Tagged With: deciding, fear, future, happiness, hope, strategy, vision

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