When You Just Have to Let it Go

A couple of months ago, I was having coffee with a long-time friend. The conversation started out upbeat enough, but then he went into a tirade about a coworker who was frustrating him to no end. My friend went on and on about how wrong his co-worker is. Finally, I said: “I have been there

Does Your Career Inspire You?

Okay, we know that our work isn’t going to be all sunshine and roses every day. There will be times that are frustrating, discouraging, and disappointing. In the throes of this, most people consider giving up (even for just a moment). It’s so easy to feel this way – I have on felt this way

When is a Question Not a Question?

Yesterday’s Cubs traffic gave me a lot of time to think and self-reflect. Since the bus was doing the driving, I had to luxury of uninterrupted time for contemplation. I was revisiting a conversation I had with a long-time friend last week. He was going on and on about a challenge in his life. I

Doing the Right Thing

In the last few weeks, I have spoken to two different people with an ethical dilemma at work. For each person, it was a critical crossroad. At some level, it would have be “easy” to look away, ignore the grey area, and continuing doing the job. Yet neither could. They both spoke up and when

Own Your Value

I was chatting with an acquaintance this week. We were trying to figure out why she had 22 first round interviews, but no second rounds. I was stumped because this person is so capable. We decided to do a mock interview, and as I did, my acquaintance’s obstacle revealed itself. It was her undervaluing her

Courage and Power

I was with some new friends yesterday and I was taken by one person’s experience of showing courage and inner power that he then felt. When I first was introduced to this man yesterday, I saw a kind and rather shy person. So I was very surprised to hear him share a story about what

Are You Up For the Challenge?

I was chatting with a friend a few months ago and she was facing some big challenges that really scared her. First, she was in a job working more than 90 hours a week. Second, she had lost all of her savings fighting a lawsuit that had damaged her reputation tremendously. In the midst of

The Difference Between Winning and Losing

I was with a group of friends last night and one young woman shared a harrowing experience she had over the last several months. So many things went against her, yet in the end she achieved her goal. Why was she successful when many others are not? The answer was two fold. First, she took

It’s Okay to Ask

I was heading to a volunteer activity over the weekend and I knew that the commute would be longer than usual because of the various summer concerts and festivals. I wanted to plan ahead, understand the agenda, and know how long the meeting would most likely be. One of my friends suggested that I not

Go Ahead Today

I was contemplating a number of decisions this past week and will fully admit that I was caught in a bit of analysis paralysis. The idea of looking at the options, researching the pros and cons, and analyzing yet again was a seemingly positive distraction. Oddly enough, my mental postponing seemed to be seeping into