Sustainable Ambition Forum - 06.17.21
At the start of summer, it’s an interesting moment here in the U.S. There’s a thawing, akin more to spring than to summer. And after all the prognostications of the new normal, the time is upon us.
But, are you feeling it, too? A bit hesitant to come out of this pandemic cocoon? I’m not quite ready to jump right back into whatever awaits us out there.
Instead, I sense the need for a collective pause and centering. Or better yet, a collective time of renewal, reconnection, and reinvention.
So, I’d like to challenge you to take this unique moment that’s meeting us at this summertime, a moment of slowing down, to think about re-writing your re-entry on your terms. This moment presents a prime opportunity to pause and power up your imagination to redefine your world.
I’m pulling some thoughts together on this topic and will share in an upcoming newsletter, but in the meantime check out some of the articles in our Round-Up below that speak to this topic and offer some guidance.
I’d also like to call your attention to the Podcast Episode #16 below with Christine Bader and Eva Dienel, the founders of The Life I Want. I loved this conversation and the work Christine and Eva are doing to shed light on the structures and systems that need to change to make work better for all.
Also, both Christine and Eva make points that are good lessons as we think about rewriting our re-entry. With gratitude for their inspiration, let me share…
In the episode, Christine speaks to the fact that modern work structures often don’t leave enough room to accommodate other aspects of our lives. It shouldn’t have surprised me to hear this, but it jolted me to recognize that many of us are slaves to our work. As Christine and Eva talk about, we are living to work as opposed to working to live. So, what would it look like to re-write your entry and renegotiate part of your work structure to accommodate more of your life?
Also in the conversation, Eva talks about defining our own measures of success. Right Success, the first pillar of Sustainable Ambition, is about defining success on your terms. Well, what if you were to create your own measures of success, as Eva has done. She shared: “When I quit my job I said I want to run as many miles a week as I work, I want to spend more nights camping outside. Those were going to be my measures of success for my life.” In this moment of reimagining your world, what metrics would you create to define success in your life?
I think this is an important question to consider as you rewrite your re-entry. I mean, who would be more successful—someone who met their own measures of success, or someone who met society’s measures of success? What would be more fulfilling and rewarding—experiencing internal rewards or external rewards?
I’d love to hear your stories about your own re-entries—what are you excited about, what’s challenging, what’s been surprising? Or, share how you are inspired to re-think and craft new structures and new definitions that are right for you. You can share with me here.
Thanks! And, enjoy the official start of summer!
Kathy
The Round-Up
Right Success: I love Roger Martin's work, and this is an interesting perspective to apply his Playing to Win strategy approach to managing one’s career. The article makes me also think of Morten Hansen’s work, his book, “Great at Work,” and the concept of “do less, then obsess” to reach higher performance. If you take away anything from the read, consider: Are you paying attention to your career? Are you being intentional? Are you setting yourself up to succeed, and importantly succeed on your terms?
Right Aspiration: Right Aspiration asks us to think about our careers from decade to decade and reflect on our satisfaction and ambition over time. And in this moment in time, at a moment of disruption and the start of something new, as this article shares, it offers a perfect opportunity to start anew. What if you were to look at things from a mindset of making a fresh start? What then would be possible from here?
Right Effort: Similarly, this article encourages us to craft our new world coming out of the pandemic and offers a simple 2x2 exercise to plan your re-entry. Where do you want to put your attention and focus? What will you let back in? What will you hold onto? What will you let go of?
Reading: I’ve been digging into Martha Beck’s latest book, “The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self.” It’s a good guide to learning how to listen to what calls you as opposed to listening to societal should’s. If you’re ready to start defining your own success, it offers a place to start to tune in.
Listening: As we come out of our hibernation, this was an interesting listen from TED on a collection of stories related to Revitalization.
Watching: A good reminder from Elizabeth Gilbert to listen to our own nature and calling. Are you a jackhammer (i.e., you know what you want to do and you focus, focus, focus) or is your nature to be a hummingbird (e.g., you’re led by curiosity and variety flying and drinking from one thing to the next)?
The Sustainable Ambition Podcast - Episode 16
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It was great to speak with Christine Bader and Eva Dienel about their important work at “The Life I Want: A Future of Work that Works for All,” where they are telling rich stories to reframe the discussion about work in our lives.
For them, the future of work requires that we change our relationship with work, as individuals and as a society, so more people can live happier, more fulfilled lives. A hint: it all starts with asking about “The Life I Want,” rather than with work.
In the conversation, we touch on the idea of creating your own measurements of success, the need for having a superpower and safety nets to chart a divergent path, the importance of valuing care in our society, and that the answers lie in fixing work for the most marginalized, as those solutions will likely work for all. If you want to be inspired to create a life you want and want to hear how to start to rethink what it would mean to take an alternate path, listen in.
Find it on Apple Podcast here
Or, listen on our website here
You can also find the podcast, subscribe, and listen on Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Overcast.
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The Monthly Progress Practice: June
At the beginning of the year, we shared our Monthly Progress Practice. Progress happens through small actions, so we offer a monthly practice of small actions or micro-habits to inspire positive change throughout the year.
Our guidance for June: Own your presence. Think about the energy you want to bring into every room. Be intentional about positively attracting people to you as a leader through your way of being.
Find Your Guide:
Find the perfect guide to match your journey.
“Your heart knows the way, run in that direction.”
— Rumi
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SUSTAINABLE AMBITION™ IS ABOUT CRAFTING A FULFILLING CAREER TO SUPPORT YOUR LIFE FROM DECADE TO DECADE.
It is centered around articulating your personal definition of success and achieving that without burnout while honoring your personal aspirations and ambitions as they ebb and flow over time. The end game—more fulfillment and ease in your professional and personal life, while still being ambitious.
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