On career shifts, boundaries, and new workshop dates (on summer sale!)
In this issue of the newsletter:
assorted musings on plunging into the career unknown, work habits, and some recommendations (there are a couple affiliate links below, but as always I don't recommend things I haven't done/read/enjoyed myself)
new workshops on values-based decision making, leveling up your speaking skills (on sale this week only!), and making dream projects into reality
It is, somehow, July?
Here’s hoping everyone’s month feels more mid-summer than Midsommar (2019) so far! Last month marked a year since I left the Adler Planetarium. My last day there was a culmination of months of chaos in recovering from the accident, returning to work, and starting my business all at the same time, along with auditioning for (and getting into) circus school. No sweat, right? Just kidding: sweat. Lots of sweat.
Above: a picture of me on my last day of work
I suspect that, like many other people, when I’m faced with a significant life event, a big change, or some other milestone, I think about how great it would be to take some time and reflect. And I keep thinking about how great that would be, as I continue my frenzied slide down the mountain of scrabbly rocks and pokey tree branches that is the steep slope of change, pinwheeling my legs in midair like Wile E. Coyote. I do manage to set aside a day for reflection here or there, from time to time, but as many of you know: time is mostly a dish served in narrow slices.
And yet: things get done! A miracle? A mystery? Maybe a little, but mostly... neither. Filling (and refilling) yourself with the time you need is a constant negotiation, with the external forces of our lives, with the people in our lives, and above all, with ourselves. One of the things I’m teaching in my current workshop, Make It Real, is to develop a kit of boundary-making practices around a given project, to find workable ways to treat your idea like a seedling that needs protection to become a tree. If you look around for advice on getting things done, there is SO MUCH advice out there that involves cycles of blame, e.g: oh, you haven’t finished that project yet? You procrastinate too much. You take on too many commitments. You should have tried harder, or you shouldn’t have tried at all. Who can make progress on anything with messages like that whipping around your mind? And what is anyone supposed to do with them?
“Don’t procrastinate” is about as useful a piece of advice as “don’t trip and fall”— usually, there’s a reason we stumble. Boundary-setting (even in small ways) is a practice that can help define the shape of a project (or our work, more broadly) so we can see it with clarity. I owe my own boundary-setting around work to insights from the book How To Not Always Be Working, a particularly helpful read for anyone who finds that the work of your life and the life of your life are heavily entwined. The author of that book, Marlee Grace, is offering their Teaching as a Practice course right now-- I took their class a few years ago, when I first started thinking about teaching outside traditional academic settings, and loved it! I really appreciated how much it expanded what I thought could be possible through creative teaching (even as someone with a lot of formal teaching experience).
New Workshop Dates!
I have a newly revamped shop and new workshop dates, and I’m having a mid-summer sale on my popular speaking workshop, Give an Amazing Talk.
August 14: Making Values-Based Decisions for Your Career
Making Values-Based Decisions for Your Career is a little workshop to help you make big moves! Feeling overwhelmed by decision fatigue? Struggling to choose your next step in work or life? This workshop will help you identify your core values, and develop a framework for making value-aligned career decisions.
August 21: Give An Amazing Talk (on sale until July 15!)
Want to speak so that others will listen? Build confidence talking to an audience? Get your ideas out to the wider world? Learn to shine in front of any crowd with this four-week workshop.
Got a project sitting half-finished somewhere? Or maybe it’s not half finished– maybe it’s... half started? Whether you want to get started, build momentum, or cross the finish line,this six-week workshop provides structure, accountability, and feedback to support you in reaching your goals!
That's all for now, friends! May your days be warm but not sweltering, and may you never blame yourself for stumbling.
Lucianne