Life and Work by Design Blog

OK, so those of you who are regulars have noticed that the blog posts have been really rare this summer and now the September newsletter is at least one week late.   What’s going on?   Where’s Jane?  A couple of people have even expressed concern for my health and welfare.   Well here’s the deal…

Remember when you were a kid and the first day of school loomed sometime around Labor Day and there was just no avoiding it?    Then as adults, some of us became teachers and we actually had to go back at least one week earlier in order to be ready for the students to appear.  Well, this year, I just decided that I was not going “back to school” on time.  I wanted to stretch it as long as I could.

I mean, I am 62, semi-retired and gosh darn it, I want to be lazy and unmotivated for a while!

Once again I spent the summer with my 94 year old Father at our family’s summer place on a lake in Western NY state.  It is located in a resort of sorts where the days are super-scheduled with interesting lectures from well-known public figures, writers, politicians and scientists.  In addition, there are musical and theatrical performances every night and in-between you can choose to take a course on anything that interests you in a catalog of hundreds of classes.   And then there is sailing, golf, tennis and just plain sitting on the porch. (If you want to know more the website is below.)

For those of us who are curious and life-long learners  it is a dream vacation, but after nine weeks of constant intellectual challenges and cultural experiences, I was ready for a rest.  I took Dad back to his retirement home and decided to settle in for two weeks of peace and quiet and just plain doing nothing that I didn’t want to.  From endless walks in the woods and along the shoreline to spending a couple of rainy days just swinging on the porch and reading an entire books at one sitting, it has been heavenly.

In between, I’ve read all of my favorite writers’ blog posts, re-read Barbara Winter’s newly revised book (see previous post), investigated numerous web-sites devoted to Boomer lifestyles and soaked it all up like a sponge.  I was determined not to think the words, “I haven’t got time for this…”   I just took the time.

One of my favorite hangouts in Chautauqua County is The Book Store - a used book Shangri-la.   I picked up a bagful of good reads the other day and one of them is by my favorite columnist and commentator on  American life, Anna Quindlen.  She says,  “Downtime is where we become ourselves, looking into the middle distance, kicking at the curb, lying on the grass or sitting on the stoop and staring at the tedious blue of the summer sky.”    She is talking about kids today who never have time to stop and just be who they are, but one of the reasons our kids are like that is because we, as adults, are like that.

We are over-programmed, over-scheduled, and over-entertained with constant TV, Ipod music, email and internet news stories.  We leave no time to just BE and then we wonder why we are so hassled, hurried and frantic all the time.

Now that I’ve had my two weeks I feel calmer and I have thought through some of my goals for the fall and revised my business plan.  I know everyone cannot just pack up and go somewhere - I am indeed fortunate to have this haven to retreat to.  But, I have resolved to take at least a couple of hours a day once I’m home to just be quiet in some way. 

Walking in the park while thinking qualifies as multi-tasking I believe.  I’m going to try to perfect my ability to do that and hope you can too.   You might be surprised at the ideas that occur to you once you allow your mind to just roam through nothingness if even for only 30 minutes a day. Try stretching your vacation a little…

The website for The Chautauqua Institution is http://www.ciweb.org

How many times have you wondered what it would be like to have your own little business venture?  How often have you thought “I could do that…”?  How many ideas have you discarded because you decided they were silly or someone else told you they wouldn’t be viable?  

 If you aren’t already acquainted with Barbara Winter then you have missed some of the best inspiration for entrepreneurs out there.   And, as of yesterday, the new revised edition of her classic book, Making a Living without a Job is available everywhere.  

This new updated edition includes conversation about earning income in a chaotic economy, ways to use the internet and social networking to build a business, and how to leave your employee mindset behind.  I recommend buying this book to anyone who has ever given two minutes worth of day dream to doing something for themselves.  

Barbara has been my mentor and has more years than she would like me to tell of successfully marketing her own business without spending mega bucks.  Her philosophy is a marvelous combination of “keep it simple” and “just do it” that she shares with humor and contagious enthusiasm.      

You can order your copy today from my web-site bookstore (look in the career information category) or pick it up at your local book store.   

Well, it is now Friday of sailing lessons week and my class of 8 women will celebrate our success this week with a long sail on a much larger boat this afternoon.

After my fiasco on Monday (see previous post), I asked to spend the rest of the week on a larger boat where I could concentrate on learning the mechanics of rudder and sail and jib without the constant fear of capsizing. The staff accommodated me even though that is not how they normally teach this class.

Falling in the water was not the problem. It was the realization that I no longer have the agility or upper body strength to turn the boat back over and haul myself back aboard.  If there had been a videocam out there on Monday, I would win the America’s Funniest Videos contest hands down! Moral of the story - #1 start doing some strength training, and #2 don’t let the physical effects of aging stop you from doing what you want to do - find a way.

So after three days of tacking, reaching, beating and running (all different positions of the sail), I know that I can now rent a small craft at the lake at home and enjoy an afternoon of sailing and that was my goal.

The amazing thing about this class was to watch 8 women, most of whom had never sailed, master all the new skills they needed over the course of the week.  On Monday, we were all going every which way and I was not the only one to capsize.  On Tuesday, we were still pretty scattered and, due to a very cloudy, gusty day, some of the girls did not want to go back out when we gathered on Wednesday.

But the instructors were encouraging and firm and the weather turned lovely and all eight of us had a good fun day finally beginning to understand what we were supposed to do.  We pretty much stayed together and followed the course and returned to shore 2 hours later with smiles.

Yesterday, you could just feel that everyone felt much more confident and were determined to go out and get it right.  And it worked.  We all sailed in a group, followed the course and returned to the dock with no incidents.  It was a real moment of triumph! They all said that everything they had learned just clicked together in their brains at once.

The instructors said that they love watching this happen.  Every group, regardless of age or experience, goes through the same process. In the course of just 4 days they overcome fears and insecurities and push themselves beyond their previous limits to experience something new and thrilling.

My brother and sister-in-law are arriving on Monday for a few days and I can’t wait to go out with them.   He’s a long-time sailor and probably won’t notice, but I know that I’ll feel much more confident and sure  than I’ve ever been as his crew and maybe he’ll let me take over for a while.       Mission accomplished!

In the last 20 years or so, it has become common for people to change careers multiple times but a newer phenomenon is earning a living from multiple careers at the same time.

An article in the WSJ discussed boomers who have Slash Careers.   These are folks who spend a good part of their free time pursuing a passion, while still working at a full-time professional job.

Some examples are a lawyer who does caricature portraits on weekends; a hotel manager who writes mysteries in his off hours; or an English professor who sells her summer travel photography through local galleries.

Another recent article called them Portfolio Professionals and a third used the term Eclectic Professionals. An example would be a teacher who spends the summer doing different jobs that reflect her personal interests or to gain experience in a different field.  And I know a man who is a stock broker by day and a Wine Expert who stages wine tastings several nights a week.

You don’t have to be a professional to have a Slash career.  A story in the Philadelphia Inquirer told of a local man who loves to make independent films and documentaries, but who works intermittently as a longshoreman on the docks to earn income to pay bills and put his daughter through college.

An acquaintance of mine is a very successful executive consultant who always dreamed of being in the opera.  Now she works part-time in the evenings as an extra for the local Opera Company, dressing up in fabulous costumes, wigs and make-up to strut and dance her way around the stage.

If you are daydreaming of doing something new and different to earn your living, you are certainly not alone.   And the need to create additional streams of income is growing for many.  There are very few rules anymore- feel free to start working on an old dream, a new dream, or that long-held, really big idea. Combining two disparate careers is definitely possible.   There are no limits to what you can do!

Remember when you were a little kid out on the porch in the evening and some grownup said, “oh, there’s the first star – quick make a wish?”   We asked for things like red bicycles, baseball mitts, and dolls.   And those things often appeared on our birthday or as a holiday gift.

I’ve been holding conversations with groups of adults over 50 around the topic of what they are going to do in the next phase of their life, and I find a lot of people start their answer with the words, “I wish……”

For the most part, these are folks who have spent the last 30 years living in the same area, employed in the same career and working hard just to maintain the status quo of their lives.  They haven’t had the opportunity to try to make any major changes so they can’t quite imagine how to start.

At a presentation for The Transition Network here, author Carol Saline (Mothers and Daughters) talked about the many transitions of her life.  She suggested an approach for career and life decisions that reminds us that making successful changes or transitions requires taking action. She calls it FOOFY and I like her philosophy.

•    “Get your Foot in the door
•    When Opportunity knocks, just do it
•    When Opportunity doesn’t come calling, send out invitations
•    If you believe in something Fight for it
•    Just say Yes – never let the fear of failure hold you back!”

Wishing for a different life gets us nowhere until we start doing.

In a conversation over the weekend I discovered that an acquaintance previously served on the Board of an organization I would love to be associated with professionally.

I discovered this only because when she asked “what have you been up to?”,  I didn’t hesitate to state clearly what my immediate goals are.   If I had said that I was just “busy trying to build my business” the opportunity would have passed right by.

She offered to provide an introduction to some current board and staff members and suggested an approach to getting involved with them.

I need to polish my resume and pull together a proposal to present within a week or so and that’s going to require putting in some extra hours, but I can’t ignore this “knocking” on my door.

What have you found yourself wishing for lately?  It’s time to turn some of those thoughts into real concrete ideas and apply the FOOFY principles to your efforts.   Paying attention to opportunities and taking even small actions are the first steps to success.

I attended a journal writing workshop a couple of weeks ago that conjured up some old memories.    The leader would pose a topic and then give us 10 minutes to write about it.  This is a classic way to get in the habit of writing about your life, feelings, events and people and I never grow tired of doing it.

On this particular evening, one of her topics was The Kitchen.   Instantly I remembered an incident from my childhood.   I was about six years old and had a 1950 style page-boy haircut.  Mother would keep my bangs trimmed in between trips to the beauty salon so on this day, she had put a pot of applesauce on the stove in a pressure cooker, and then sat me up on a stool and draped my shoulders with a towel.

As she was snipping away, the pot on the stove began to whistle as the steam built up inside (they are supposed to do that) but suddenly, something went wrong and the lid flew off and hot applesauce exploded all over the stove, walls and even the ceiling!  (They are not supposed to do that!)

Fortunately we were far enough away that we were not spattered but to a little girl it was a terrifying experience that I’ve never forgotten.  As a result, I have never used a pressure cooker and on two occasions when I encountered one on someone else’s stove, I quickly left the room.   I have assumed that they malfunction and are dangerous when in fact, although they have gone out of style, they were used successfully for decades on a regular basis.

I think all too often we made decisions based on incorrect assumptions.   For instance, many people assume that all small businesses are risky and often fail.  On the contrary, the SBA Advocacy office reported in 2004 that there were 24.7 million taxable business entities in the US and only 17,000 were large businesses.   And as we have recently found out, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.   And they take us with them.  Small businesses (less than 100 employees) are the heartbeat of our country.  With a good plan and determination anyone can create a successful small business.

Another assumption is that “proper education” and credentials are required to do things like teaching.  In fact, the Experience Corps is a program that finds way for people from all sorts of backgrounds and experience to share their knowledge and life skills with students in classrooms from kindergarten to high school.  A recent survey showed that students made 60% more progress with an Experience Corps tutor.

One I’ve heard a lot lately is, “I’m 63, nobody wants to hire me now.”  Wrong.  Numerous businesses realize that older workers are dependable, responsible and able to contribute wisdom that only comes with living through the decades of life. AARP    has a list of the top 100 companies who actively seek to hire older adults.   Being “too old” after 60 is an incorrect assumption in the 21st century.

Don’t miss an opportunity because you are assuming that you know all about it.  Ask….investigate….try it out…..don’t let past experience or outdated information stop you from discovering a bright new future.

Whew - I think the facelift is complete now.  You know how when you decide to paint the dining room, that leads to painting the hallway which leads to new floors which leads to….. ?  Well  along with re-writing some of my web-site pages to reflect my new workshop for the Over 50 crowd, my friend Diana suggested a logo facelift so with the help of David Waselle, Life and Work by Design now has a clean, fresh new look!    And as always, KC at Website Solutions managed to make it all work together.   Thanks all!  I hope everyone likes the final result.

In addition, my monthly newsletter has been re-named Living My Way.   I am very interested in helping my clients manage all the parts of their lives and have wanted to write more about how my generation is going to “live” in the next 20 years or so whether they “work” or not.   So you will notice some subtle changes in my blog posts and newsletter articles.

My original Dreamer’s Dialogue, based on the ChangingCourse.com curriculum, is still available for those who want to find their passion to fuel their next career.  And Valerie has just announced a new self-study program that I’ll tell you more about tomorrow.

My new workshop is called, Don’t Retire; Re-Inspire! and there are 2 hour introductory seminars being offered in the Philadelphia area in April.  In addition, I am putting the finishing touches on a full day weekend workshop that will explain strategies and teach processes for balancing the life choices that make up your active retirement.  This is based on the Too Young to Retire book by Howard and Marika Stone.

I’d love to take this one on the road, so watch for more information and gather a group of at least 10 people so I can bring it to your town.

Please go visit the website home page to read about the new programs and check the Services page for the seminar schedule.

And now, since I finished one day ahead of schedule,  I’m going to give my eyes, my fingers and my computer a rest for the evening and go have dinner with a tall, good-looking guy who is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time!

1.  Your headstone will not say “he/she just lived and ordinary life.

2.  Your Mother will be proud even if she’s not still around to tell you.

3.  You will have a sense of accomplishment.

4.  You can set a new standard for your kids.

5.  You can help someone else have a better life.

6.  You might win some kind of award or recognition.

7.  You will learn new things about yourself and others.

8.  You will want to get out of bed in the morning.  

9.  You will have something to write in your journal.

 10. Life will be fun again…..   

Ah, did I get your attention?  The problem with blogs is that things get lost way back in the archives - I doubt too many readers actually go back and read them all.  So, I’m bringing an important one back to the front.

Civic Ventures.org is the creation of Marc Freedman, the author of Encore Careers: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life.  For the last several years, Freedman and his group have been promoting the concept of Boomers using their collective experience and wisdom to benefit our society by creating new, possibly unique solutions to many of our ills.

They have created an organization that recognizes the efforts of thousands of folks who have found a cause and applied their passion to it.  If getting involved with the less fortunate, giving back to your local community or finding a better way to provide public services is one of your dreams, you need to get on this bandwagon.

Freedman’s book is inspiring and the website is full of fascinating stories and resources for Boomers who are ready to go back to work to improve the lives of others.    Check it out at www.civicventures.org and read about the Purpose Prizes for 2008 that were just announced.  Six hard-working folks received $100,000 and nine others were awarded $10,000.  They are all over 60 and from towns across the country.  Here’s a link to the press release:

http://www.civicventures.org/news/releases/index.cfm?date=2008_12_03

Some of my students say that they don’t know where to start to look for information about a possible career or great  business idea they need to learn about.  Some don’t know how to surf the internet for reliable information, and others don’t know about some great resources that are right under their noses.Well help is on the way!   I’m posting a series of articles on my website called Your Personal GPS that will explore lots of ways to find out “stuff”.  So far, there is one about all the great reference materials at the library and one about the ABC’s of finding good information on the internet.  Look for at least one more in the next week or so.  If you have a questions or challenges that you need help finding the answers to, please comment here and I’ll find places to help you.   Detective work is one of my favorite past-times!