The M.A.P. Maker

Creating good habits: A kindergarten approach

Have you ever tried to create a new habit, only to find yourself backsliding right back where you started? Here's a simple yet (for me, anyway) effective way to support your effort. 

Back in March, I decided that I needed to build some better habits into my life. I resolved to:

• Exercise 30 minutes a day
• Meditate 20 minutes a day
• Drink 64 ounces of water a day
• Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day

My intent was good, but I knew that the implementation of that intention had a perilously short life span if left to its own devices. I needed a way to keep myself on track. 

I decided to take a page from The Kindergarten Handbook (OK, there's not really a Kindergarten Handbook, but there should be). I created a four-columned chart with a column for each habit and went to the local stationery store to buy some sticky stars (multi-colored, thank you very much). I put the chart on the wall where I see it all the time.

Each day that I did my new habit, I got a star in that column. Any day I didn't, I was faced with a huge, ugly, you-failed-buddy expanse of white space. 

It's amazing how effective that approach has been. There was an immediate and sustained shift in behavior. I would like to say that I responded to the reward of being able to put a star up daily for each column, but the reality is that I was more driven by not wanting to see the white space as constant reminder that I didn't do it. 

There have been many days when the only reason I did one of the new habits was because of the chart. 

I did this for a couple months, then fell off for a few weeks. And while I did each of them more consistently than when I had begun (which tells me that I really was deveoping better habits), it was still too easy to just let it slide. I started it up again a couple weeks ago, and have jumped right back to close to 100%. 

What new habits do you want to develop? Why not make a chart and experiment? Maybe it will work for you, maybe it won't (who knows - I might just be stuck developmentally back in kindergarten). But the risk is zero, and the potential upside is huge. What have you got to lose?

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Passion Catalyst lesson #5 - Success is not a solo sport

This is a series of lessons learned in my nine years as a Passion Catalyst.

As I was transforming myself from Curt the marketing guy to Curt the Passion Catalyst, I realized I had a lot to learn. I had put a framework around something I had done naturally, informally for years, but the career passion spin was new. 

I decided to start building a "knowledge base" by interviewing people who had successfully pursued their passions. As I did, a few common themes started to emerge. One of the big ones, expressed in some way by pretty much everyone I talked to, was this: "I couldn't have done it alone."

The more clients I see moving toward their own transformation, and the more I experience of my own journey,the more convinced I am that the support of others is as vital to our success as oxygen is to staying alive. 

That support might come in any of a number of packages. For example:

• Emotional
• Knowledge (e.g., a mentor)
• Logistical / practical
• Networking / connections
• Creative / brainstorming / idea-bouncing
• Spiritual
• Financial
• Motivation / inspiration

My own path has been packed with examples when, if not for the support of others, I would have just gone splat. Some of them have related to my business, others have related to other parts of life (which in turn related to my business, because life is a holistic system, with every piece interconnected). 

On the non-work side, I have written about the support of my friend Sharon during some really challenging times with my health. On the work side, one of my favorite examples took place in the first year of my Passion Catalyst work. 

The 11th-hour reprieve

As you might imagine, recreating myself with no formal background to stand on other than, "This is who I am - I do this naturally," presented some challenges. In fact, that first year was brutal. After ten months of trying to make something happen and making about a third of what I needed to meet my monthly obligations, I finally threw my hands up and said, "I give up." I resigned myself to having to go back to the marketing world. 

Just prior to that I had reached out to Richard Tait, co-founder of the game company Cranium, and asked him if I could interview him to get his career passion insights (his e-mail address had been on their web site, and I just lobbed the request over to him). He graciously said yes. 

Over the course of our conversation, I told him about my Passion Catalyst work, and mentioned some discussion groups I had been organizing. Something about what I was doing must have resonated with him, because later that day he sent me an e-mail offering to talk to one of my groups. 

Rather than something small-scale like that, I decided to create an event called the Passion People Speaker Series. Richard was the first speaker. That month, for the first time in the ten months since I had hung out my shingle as a Passion Catalyst, I earned enough to pay all my bills. And I could trace all that additional business to the event in some way, whether it had been someone who had heard about me via the event promotion, or someone I met at the event. 

In a very real way, my Passion Catalyst work exists today because of Richard's generous offer of support eight years ago. I'm not sure if I would have picked it up again after feeling so battered and bruised by the attempt. Richard's support, whether he realized it or not (I'm sure he didn't), amounted to an 11th hour reprieve. 

Do a support check

Having the support you need to succeed is too important to leave to chance. Take a look at your own life and ask some questions:

• Where do I get my support?
• Where could I get my support?
• What kind of support do I need? 
• What kind of support am I missing?
• Who can I reach out to?

And to balance the equation out and keep the energy flowing, complement those questions with these:

• Who needs my support?
• Who can I help, and how?

Be conscious about what you need, be purposeful and intentional about bringing it into your life, and be proactive in reaching out to find it, and the support you need will show up.

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Career passion tip: Seek change

I'm no psychic, but I can guarantee one thing about your future beyond a shadow of a doubt. It's going to entail change. 

Most people resist change kicking and screaming, but that doesn't stop it from coming down the pike. It's part of the human experience, and it's going to happen whether you like it or not! 

So if change is inevitable, use it to your advantage. Instead of resisting it, tap into its potential to sculpt your career to increasingly reflect what energizes and inspires you. Think of incremental change as a tool to help you keep moving towards work you love (and make sure you stay there once you find it). 

Too many people look at their jobs like they are chiseled in stone. But in reality, most people’s work is much more malleable than they realize, especially when they add time as a variable. Small steps taken over time can add up to a big shift. And what is out of reach today eventually comes into reach when you combine choices and action with time.

Make a habit of seeking change. First spend some serious time taking a look inside. Figure out what makes you tick. Identify the common themes are that tend to be present when you feel energized (read Does your career fit for some ideas on how to go about that). 

As you develop the habit of seeking change, focus on incorporating more of what energizes you and reducing what drains you. The insights you gained in your self-exploration provide the building blocks for change. Using those insights you can continually ask, “How can I build on what is working? How can I change what I don’t like?”

Some changes will be big, and others small. Over time, you just might be surprised at just how much potential there is for change when you consciously, consistently look for opportunities to sculpt your work.

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Positive change tip: Get traction with a singular focus

Have you ever dived into personal development, only to find yourself feeling overwhelmed by all the bazillion ways you can grow, improve, and expand? It can feel a little bit like you're drowning. 

What's worse, because there are so many things you're trying to put into play, you end up getting marginal traction on all of them. The result is often a lot of energy expended, but little substantive change.

If you really want to get results in the long-term, pick one main thing and commit to exploring it thoroughly. Give it a chance to really take hold and make a difference in your life. 

Maybe you decide to make it an experiment to see what kind of results that technique or idea yields if you really embrace it. I'm fond of 30-day experiments. Some of them end up sticking and become part of my repertoire, while others fall by the wayside. One possible area of focus I'm looking at right now is EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique, or tapping). I want to take 30 days to jump in and put it to work in my own life, exploring what results I can get out of it. 

Or you might decide that you don't need an experiment. Maybe you have found something that really speaks to you and you want to build a deep expertise. Then you start learning all you can, putting it to use, and building on those results. 

If you want to put a heaping pile of personal development ideas on your plate and dig in, that's fine. I must confess, I can't resist all of the tasty morsels I come across. Think of them as hors d'oeuvres. But if you commit to spending the majority of your focus on one main idea at a time - making it the main course - the likelihood is exponentially greater that that idea will really make the impact it has the potential to make. 

It's worth noting that the same idea applies in any area you want to make changes and see positive results. In fact, this post was actually prompted not by my own personal development work, but by my exploration of ways to grow and build my business. I realized that, because I was feeling so overwhelmed by all the great ideas out there, I wasn't implementing any of them especially well. 

So how about you? What one thing will you focus on?

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Success tip: Learn to surf your changing reality

In a comment on my recent US News & World Report blog post on how to be your own career expert , a reader described a situation where his dream job turned into his nightmare due to changes beyond his control. Noting that he ended up in a situation where he was miserable despite pursuing a path he loved, he wrapped up his comment asking, "What did I do wrong?" 

Pondering what I should write in response, I put my finger on what I think is one of the most important success skills you can have - the ability to surf your changing reality as it unfolds. 

Why do I think it's so important? Because, as the saying goes, the only constant is change. It would be nice to say that you can pick a path and you'll be on track for life, but it doesn't seem to work that way. No path is guaranteed. Trying to hang on too tightly to any situation is a recipe for getting stuck. 

That doesn't mean you have to jump ship in the middle and change careers every time things get challenging. It simply means that your reality today isn't likely to be your reality ten years from now. You have the choice to either acknowledge those changes and sculpt your path accordingly, or feel the increasing pain of trying to stay rooted in a reality that no longer exists.  

In the above-mentioned reader's experience, for example, what had been a dream job turned toxic when a bad boss entered the picture. In that situation, surfing might have looked like acknowledging earlier that the situation wasn't tolerable and resolving to make a change. Maybe it would have involved saying, "OK, why was this my dream job? What are the characteristics I had here that I want to carry forward? What else is out there that might allow me to experience that?"

The more ability and willingness you have to adjust and adapt, the more potential you have to stay in the flow of the energy. A big part of staying energized and inspired for the long term involves recognizing changes and surfing to adjust to them, aligning ourselves with new directions and opportunities. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Martin Luther King Day: 4 steps to making it personal

For most of us Martin Luther King Day comes and goes, like so many potentially meaningful days, with no discernible impact on our lives.

This year, instead of just thinking, "Whoo-hoo! I have the day off," or "Hey, there's a sale at the mall," spend some time exploring one simple question. "What could this day mean to me?" You can do this with any special day, but since today is MLK Day, that's a good place to start.

Here are four steps to help you use today (or any meaningful day) as a catalyst for personal exploration and growth.

1. Explore what it means to you.

This exercise isn't about pondering what effect King had on the country, or why he deserves to be honored. It's about stepping back and taking a look at the messages the day has for you, and how that applies to your life. You'll be taking it out of the abstract and finding specific and personal meaning.

You might start exploring it from different angles. For example:

• What are the messages this day has for me?
• What about this day feels important?
• What do I admire about King?
• If I had three words to describe the essence of this holiday, what would they be?

As the resulting insights start to take shape, take it out of the abstract and into your life with step number two...

2. How does this relate to my life?

Let's say one of the things you admire most about King was both his vision. To apply that to your own life, you might ask, "OK, what is my vision? What am I working towards in my life that feels important and compelling? What do I really care about?"

This step is simply about taking stock, not judging what you find. Maybe you look at your life and realize, "Wow, I really don't have any vision that feels compelling to me." Rather than looking at that insight negatively, simply look at it as a potential doorway to change.

3. What action does this suggest?

Once you have insights about how it relates to you life, it's time to start moving towards using them for positive change. Let's say you realize that you're not satisfied with that lack of vision. If that's the case, you have a choice; either lose yourself in being dissatisfied, or use that clarity as the starting point for asking, "OK, what do I do about that?"

You might realize that you don't have clarity about what that vision might be. It's impossible to move towards a vision if you don't know what it is, so exploring that potential vision would be your first step. You might explore questions like, "What would I want my epitaph to say about me and the impact I had in this world? What inspires me? If I could make a difference with one thing in this world - based not on what "they" think is important, but on what has a significant positive charge for me - what would it be?"

Or you might realize that you have a vision already simmering, but you aren't taking any action on it. Your action exploration then might focus on brainstorming different steps you could take, large and small, to start moving towards it.

4. What is the first step, and when will I take it?

Finally, remember that none of the above two steps are anything more than abstract philosophizing if you don't actually choose a step and take it.

So there you have it. Four steps to turn any meaningful day into a catalyst for growth and discovery.

What could this day mean for you?

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

How to be a life sculptor

I often talk about the power of choice to create the life we want (see my posts on the power of the crossroads of possibility and creating your dreams one choice at a time). One of the ways I think of it is using choice as a tool to sculpt your life.

As a sculptor, you have two options. First, you can start with a vision of what you want to create and start removing what doesn't fit. That might be a toxic job, limiting habits, people who drag you down - whatever it is that is standing between you and your ultimate vision. Your efforts are aimed at a specific result.

You can use choice to remove what doesn't belong and reinforce what does. The first step to doing that is to be consciously aware of what is standing in the way and what reinforces your vision. Then you can consciously apply choice as a sculpting tool. For example, you might make a short list of ways that you get in your own way and commit to first noticing them, then to making different choices.

With the second option, you can follow the flow and discover where it takes you. As Michelangelo said, "The idea is there, locked inside, and all you have to do is remove the excess stone." You notice what doesn't belong and remove it, watch for what does belong, and let a life aligned with what energizes and inspires you emerge. 

The beauty of this is that we don't always know what's right for us until we find it. If you aim to create a sculpture based on a flawed and incomplete perspective of what you really want, the end result is bound to be just that, flawed and incomplete. Allowing yourself to discover what's locked inside the stone frees you to learn and grow. You can see each choice you are confronted with as an opportunity to move closer to the heart of it all.

Neither of these approaches are superior to the other. In fact, they're complementary. The first option gives you focus and direction. It gives you a goal to aim your efforts toward. But by itself, it risks being rigid, unable to adapt to hidden features within the stone.

The second option allows you to let go and flow naturally towards your best life. But by itself it runs the risk of meandering aimlessly, dabbling a little bit here and experimenting a little bit there. The focus and direction of the first approach helps channel the energy towards results. 

The two approaches can be used simultaneously, or you can tap into them one at a time. For example, you might let the sculpting flow naturally to help you get out of a rut created by basing your career decision on external expectations, or societal definitions of "success." Once you start to get clarity about what feels right, you can use the focused approach to give it form and substance. That alternating process is likely to continue throughout your life.

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

If you started over today, what would you do?

Reading an interview today with Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest (a great book), I saw this exchange:

Q: If you were graduating from college today, what would you do with your life?

A: I would try to continue to learn every day and never stop my education. I would try not to get lured in by the trivial, the mundane, the commercial and the profane. I would spend as much time as possible outdoors. I would be sure that I would be able to sing, dance and draw. I would seek the most joyous way I could find to work on behalf of others. I would find mates who would want to join the effort, or whose efforts I could join. I would focus on an array of skills, and know how to work with my body just as much as my head. I wouldn't try to save the world; I would try to serve the world. I would read like crazy. I would avoid too much time on the Internet, but definitely be digitally literate.

As I read that, two things struck me. First, I love Hawken's answer. I looked at it and thought, "That's not just good advice for a new graduate. That's something for each of us to aspire to, starting today, wherever we are in our lives."

Second, it strikes me that the question has the potential to be a great way to explore the career and the life you want to create from here. Ask yourself, "If I were starting over today, what would I create?" Explore the answer across multiple fronts. What would be important to you? What would you aspire to?

When you are finished exploring that, ask yourself, "How well does my current life stack up against this? Where am I strong? Where could I use some work? Where are the opportunities to align myself more with what I would create if I were at the starting line today.

Here's the punch line. You ARE at the starting line today. Perhaps you're not starting over, but you are starting. And you have a choice. Either you coast into the future on autopilot, fueled by the momentum of the past, or you stop and say, "What do I want to create from here? What steps - even small ones - can I take to make that happen?"

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

New Year's Resolution alternative: 52 New Week's Resolutions

'Tis the season for well-intentioned resolutions that ultimately go splat. This year, instead of making a flurry of New Year's Resolutions that never see the light of February, try something different. Resolve to make 52 New Week's Resolutions.

A new week's resolution is just what it sounds like. At the beginning of the week, you commit to something for the duration of the entire seven days. Maybe getting some kind of exercise each day, or reading a self-development book for half an hour each day, or eating your vegetables.

At the end of each week, you review how you did on staying true to your commitment. If you succeeded, celebrate. Acknowledge that success. Then make another resolution for the next week.

During the course of those 52 weeks, you might have the same resolution for several successive weeks. For example, if you are working on developing a new habit, it might be helpful to make that habit the focus of your resolutions for at least four weeks (since they say it takes 28 days to develop a new habit that sticks).

You can use resolutions to build on previous weeks' resolutions, or you might use them to give yourself a taste of something new. For example, you might commit to refraining from complaining for an entire week. It's a great small-scale way to explore something without having the daunting weight of forever-n-ever. You can see what it's all about, and decide what about it - if anything - you want to carry forward.

Why bother with new week's resolutions? Here are a few reasons.

You have more opportunities for success

When you make a New Year's Resolution, you have one chance for success, and 365 opportunities for your resolution to join the vast majority of resolutions on the failure pile. But with a New Week's Resolution approach, you have 52 chances for success.

Success builds on success. The more you succeed, the more confident you feel that you can continue to succeed.

Odds are good that you won't hit the mark all 52 times, but achieving your resolution most weeks will still have a cumulatively positive impact. Let's say you fail to keep your new week's resolution six times. You still have 46 weeks worth of success. Not too shabby!

You have frequent opportunities to refocus

When you're in it for the long haul, it's easy to veer off course. Setting a new resolution each week gives you the opportunity to check in and ask, "How's this going?" You only have a week's worth of veering off course before you check in and course correct if necessary, rather than potentially many months' worth.

You are more aligned with the reality of change

As I've said many times before here, real, substantive change doesn't typically happen with the flip of a switch. It happens gradually over time. We take a step, get a result, learn from that result and then put that learning to use as we continue forward. It's an iterative process.

Setting yourself new week's resolutions lines up with that idea. It lets you keep taking steps towards change, building on them as you go, rather than decreeing that a change has taken place and getting frustrated when you discover that, no, actually it hasn't.

Renewed commitment built into the system

Let's face it. Most of us have woefully short attention spans. Sure the resolution seems compelling on January 1st, but what about August 1st? By then it's likely to be ancient history. Making weekly resolutions keeps your focus fresh and current. And the best part is, you don't have to wait till next year to commit to positive change again. It's a continual part of your life.

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

What is your theme for the new year?

When it comes to making positive change, it's easy to get fragmented and disjointed. There are so many ways we want to make our lives better and we try to take them all on. The result is often a little bit like those fireworks that spin on the ground, throwing sparks off in all directions but not going anywhere.

What if, instead of a random hodge-podge of well-intended but potentially ineffective positive efforts, you created a unifying theme that ties it all together? What would your theme for 2010 be?

For me, the theme that comes up is "compassionate self-discipline." One of my big challenges is staying focused and disciplined. Too often, when I resolve to "be more disciplined," it takes on the feel of a harsh, angry taskmaster. I realized recently that I need to weave a sense of compassion into my self-discipline efforts, or it will never be sustainable.

Other themes might be "feeling energized," "fun fitness," "relationships with integrity," "unleashing creativity," etc. You might identify one theme for your professional life and another for your personal life, or you might find one that feels relevant across the whole spectrum.

Creating a theme for your year turns your year into a "project." It creates a unifying theme for your positive change efforts. It helps you focus your energy in a common direction, rather than letting it fly off in all directions like that spinning firework.

Once you identify your common theme, you can start asking questions, like:

• What would help me align with that theme?
• What am I currently doing that is at odds with that theme?
• What new habits would help me develop that theme?
• What changes would help me move toward that theme?
• What do I need to learn to breathe life into that theme?
• What books can I read that have to do with that theme?
• Who can help me develop that theme? 
• What are some related topics that would support my mastery of this theme?

With a focused theme, the year becomes a space for you to take an immersion course in the theme you choose. It is a time for you to both learn everything you can about that theme and to practice putting it to work in the real world. 

Each year has the potential to be a learning labratory. You can design your "course curriculum" for the year by asking questions like the ones I mentioned above. 

What is your theme for the new year?

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst