Happy New Year
What's coming for you
Editorial calendars are not my strong suit. I feel stifled when a calendar tells me that this is the day to talk about the impact of fonts on your resume. I’m much more likely to pick up on a theme in the ether that’s gotten me riled up and tell you all about that.
Still, for this to be a useful tool for you, as a job hunter or a friend of a job hunter, perhaps some semblance of a theme each month is in order.
What do you think? Tell me in the comments.
My favorite thing about substack is the ability to hear from you. I like it when you write to tell me a note moved you or gave you something new to think about. And that seems to happen most when I’m riffing with what’s on my mind and working with the power of the universe to simply say it. You see, my mission has never been to reiterate what you can already learn from thousands of other career and resume coaches, my passion and sweet spot is to remind you of the myriad ways you MATTER and add value in the world. The way that you are a being here and now to leave a positive legacy. Sometimes that comes in the form of very practical to-dos, but always after a call for you to reflect.
Reflections are your first step to determine what’s keeping you from being you - at work and beyond. We all have roles we have played for our lifetimes and breaking out of them is hard and scary. I believe it’s a requirement of our time on planet Earth - to break free of limits and move ahead toward making the world a better place.
This doesn’t have to be a BIG GIANT HUGE THING. The ability to do small things, seemingly inconsequential things, with kindness and devotion to the planet and living things on it is the point.
This point requires you (and I) to care for ourselves. It’s a fairly modern need, this desire to have our work deliver our “passion” and while I’m 100% here for it - I also recognize that it’s easy to lose focus on working to live when the economy is a mess and you’re carrying $50,000 or more in debt.
I’ve been there myself and know how hard it is to focus on what I want and why when I can only muster energy to avoid the dunning calls and letters.
All this to say, 2024 is the year that I’ll mixing themes and talking about debt reduction, common sense money management and career planning as a way to help you bring your life and work into balance, so that you can make each career move from a place of confidence.
I hope you’ll come along for the ride and share this with your friends, family and colleagues.
Personal Stuff | What I’m Reading and Watching and Listening To
(by the way, these are not affiliate links - not because I don’t believe in them, but because I haven’t yet figured out how to set them up)
I just finished listening to the 10 part podcast “George Bailey was Never Born” and I recommend it if you’re interested in economics, banking, Hollywood, affordable housing and making the world a better place. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts.
Just finished reading Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. Who knew there’d be an adoption story in this tale of family, connection, the secrets we keep? I guess I should have figured there’d be one, but I was surprised. For me the book was a little slow in the beginning. I was focusing too hard on trying to find something that wasn’t there - but when I relaxed into getting to know the characters and swimming along with their lives, I was captivated. This is a marvelous book, well written and deeply felt. If you haven’t read it yet, do it now.
Working: What We do all Day - I found this netflix series this week. Michael is back in the hospital, awaiting a bypass and coming home I can’t watch the shows we’re watching together. And since it seems I’m obsessed with working and finding meaning in our work and understanding the ins and outs of how we work, well, this jumped into my lap. It’s a well put together series and a thoughtful discussion of why and how we work. The show is choppy at points but I’ve taken away some good talking points that you’ll likely see in future episodes of THIS newsletter.
I hope the new year brings you and yours time for reflection and kindness. Until next week - go ahead and leave the lights up!
Peggie