Career Shift Blog
by Rachel B. Garrett
100 Things that Bring You Joy
Last week, my ten year old daughter, Roxanne, came home from school with an assignment that honored the 100th Day of School. I know, how did we get here so fast?
The assignment: Make a list of 100 things that bring you joy.
While we’re usually pretty hands-off when it comes to homework, the whole family jumped in and made this our evening activity.
Last week, my ten year old daughter, Roxanne, came home from school with an assignment that honored the 100th Day of School. I know, how did we get here so fast?
The assignment: Make a list of 100 things that bring you joy.
While we’re usually pretty hands-off when it comes to homework, the whole family jumped in and made this our evening activity.
Especially our older daughter, Jane, who has always been driven by her sense of wonder.
This exercise lit a fire in her that tapped into her innate joie de vivre.
For the next hour, she shared a steady stream of hundreds of things, moments, and ideas that brought her joy.
“Taking long walks in the park.
Jasmine rice
Getting presents.
Giving presents!
Using your parents’ logic against them.
When someone has the reaction you were hoping for.
Boggle! And not just because I always win.
When someone smiles at you.”
Then, with perfect comedic timing, Roxanne added: “Making a list of 100 things that bring you joy!”
It made our evening and our week.
It reminded us how much joy we can find in our lives in the smallest of moments. If we’re present. If we’re open. If we allow ourselves to savor life’s Boggle-sized gems.
I encourage you to make this list. With a partner, your family, with friends, or on your own.
Keep it handy. Read it when you remember. Add things to it often. And feel the joy again.
Give Your Career Desires Some LOVE
While I don’t go for grand gestures on gifts for my people, I do spend my time and creative energy on writing just the right words for each of their unique love notes.
And as many of you know, that’s exactly how I honor my own desires for my business and my career. I write a love letter. I let those desires live outside of my head and my heart.
I know many of you feel stuck. Like you want something new, but you don’t know what it is. Like you don’t even know where to start to figure it out.
Well, here’s where you can begin.
I hope you added a little extra joy or sweetness to your day yesterday. While I don’t go for grand gestures on gifts for my people, I do spend my time and creative energy on writing just the right words for each of their unique love notes.
And as many of you know, that’s exactly how I honor my own desires for my business and my career. I write a love letter. I let those desires live outside of my head and my heart.
I know many of you feel stuck. Like you want something new, but you don’t know what it is. Like you don’t even know where to start to figure it out.
Well, here’s where you can begin.
Honor what you want by sending your career desires some love.
Talk to that part of you that is hungry for more meaning in your work.
Talk to the part that wants to learn.
Talk to the part of you who wants time and space to talk to this part of you.
She is waiting for you. She has more to say than you are expecting she will.
Sending career love and mojo your way,
Rachel
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Your Career Report Card
Every January and February, I work with clients to assess their current situation.
I ask the question, “How’s work working for you?”
The gut response is often…”I’m not sure...”
So we get more specific by answering the following questions - allowing my clients to get honest with themselves about what’s working, what’s not, and what actions they need to take next.
Every January and February, I work with clients to assess their current situation.
I ask the question, “How’s work working for you?”
The gut response is often…”I’m not sure...”
So we get more specific by answering the following questions - allowing my clients to get honest with themselves about what’s working, what’s not, and what actions they need to take next.
Growth:
Have you identified what you’d like to learn in your role?
And/or what would you like to learn in your career in general in the next year?
Are you on track to take on projects, attend workshops or participate in programs to help you get there?
What are your biggest obstacles to going after the growth you want?
What are you doing about those obstacles?
Energy:
What percentage of the time in your role are you feeling sparky, fully alive, in flow?
What are those things that make you feel sparky in your role?
Is there a way to do more of them or spend more time on them?
What are the things that are currently draining you in your role?
Is there a way to do less of them?
What would your work feel like if you could do more of the sparky things and less of draining tasks?
Life Fit:
Is your work aligned with your values?
What are your top life priorities right now? (Money you need to make, flexibility you need, etc.)?
Is your work in sync with your priorities?
Are you able to spend time with family and friends?
Do you have time for creative projects or the things that bring you joy?
Set aside some uninterrupted time to reflect on your own answers. And then, without judging any past decisions or current desires, ask yourself - how’s it really going? What grade would you give your current work situation? And if it’s a C or below…what do you want to do next?
Reach out to me at rachel@rachelbgarrett.com let me know what showed up for you and where you want to go from here!
5 Podcasts With Wisdom (and Wordle Nerdery)
Here’s a round up of podcast episodes that are giving me the tools and the inspiration to keep moving forward and doing my best despite the big expectations I had for 2022.
Goodbye, January 2022!
I haven’t been this happy to release a month since March of 2020.
Emotions ran high. PTSD from early pandemic days loomed large. Decisions became impossible to make, to get right and to stand by.
I drew my energy and my peace from my new daily writing practice (I passed my one month anniversary!), my work helping more women identify and claim their career desires (we just wrapped an exciting 4-week group program), our family Wordle competition (That somehow my 10-year old is winning. I want 10-year old neural pathways!) and of course, you know me…my podcast addiction.
Here’s a round up of podcast episodes that are giving me the tools and the inspiration to keep moving forward and doing my best despite the big expectations I had for 2022.
The Happiness Lab: Stepping Off the Path of Anxiety
https://www.happinesslab.fm/2022-new-year-mini-season/stepping-off-the-path-of-anxiety
First of all, I recommend the entire 2022 mini season that dives into the tougher emotions we don’t like to recognize or talk about like anger, anxiety, grief. In this episode, Dr. Laurie Santos talks with Psychotherapist and meditation teacher Andrea Wachter about tools to acknowledge and quiet anxiety. Have a notebook handy for this one. I listened to it twice!
On Being: Pico Iyer and Elizabeth Gilbert - The Future of Hope 3
https://onbeing.org/programs/pico-iyer-and-elizabeth-gilbert-the-future-of-hope-3/
This is part of a 4-part series of conversations around hope and I’ve enjoyed all of them. Having experienced the loss of her partner, Raya Elias, in 2018 Liz Gilbert connects lessons of surrender she learned from this loss to similar insights during the pandemic. I always find wisdom in Liz’s vulnerable observations and clear words that capture our humanity.
Dare to Lead: The Great Awkward
https://brenebrown.com/podcast/the-great-awkward/
Brené always knows how to name the things none of us want to say. She and her sister Barrett discuss what “going back to the office” will look like and how inevitably it will be different than it ever was and we should expect it to be awkward AF.
PS. This was the last episode Brené released before announcing she would hold off on releasing episodes until further notice. While she didn’t say it, this is clearly in response to Spotify continuing to give a platform to Joe Rogan and others who are spreading misinformation. Way to use your expertise and power to make change and stand in your values, Brené!
CYG: Grief Companionship
https://www.callyourgirlfriend.com/episodes/2021/10/29/grief-companionship
This conversation is from the fall of 2021, but I thought it was so relevant as so many people are grieving both the people they lost in the past two years and also all of the things we’ve missed out on because of this damn pandemic. We have so little language and conversation around grief and this episode provides really practical things you can do for your people who are suffering alone right now.
Pop Culture Happy Hour: Wordle is a daily dose of delight, despair, and sometimes smugness
For those of you who didn’t think you could create a new daily habit…you were wrong! If you’re like me and you haven’t missed a day since you started playing…I see you. This is some Worldle Nerdery that will make you smile all the way through.
Enjoy this list and let me know some other favorites of yours that are getting you through!
Quietly listening and wordling,
Rachel