Thought for the Winter Solstice and the "Unend of the World"

The world didn't end, hysteria to a close, Now we wait for St Nick and Rudolph's red nose. Spend this day in gratitude with a future so bright, May your enjoy your holiday season and sleep peacefully tonight.

Poem for before "the end of the world" 12/20/12

If today were my last day, how would I spend it, with whom?

Would I go into the day with excitement and joy, or anticipate with tragedy and doom?

Would I spend most of the day regretting the moves I have made in my life up until now?

Or would I ponder the friends and the places I’ve been with gratitude, appreciation and “wow”?

Like winning the lottery, today is a day of speculation, a possibility of change,

I invite all of us to take a look at what we’ve created and choose tomorrow to re-arrange,

Anything that we may not enjoy or may not serve who we are being in this life,

That we use this gift that the Mayan’s have given to breathe, start tomorrow free of strife,

Of the doubts, the restriction and the rules we have placed on ourselves full of all of the “shoulds”

That we love one another, and shine our true selves to experience a world made for good.

Namaste.

An Ode to Perimenopause

I've been researching what happens
To we women in this stage, it seems all we have built until now
Has become trying, unnerving and sometimes enraged
For no reason, no what, why or how.

Some days we can't get out of bed or in doing so we ask "does it matter"?
We eat carrots and salad and a few cookies, just a few
And yet still, we just keep getting fatter.

We go to yoga, and spinning and swimming with friends
we commit to go taking a walk
Yet the most we can do on the days we are blue
Is to pick up the telephone and talk.

There are days we don't feel it, and days that we do
And we never know which will arrive
What I wish for my friends and the women I love
Is that the men in our lives can survive

All the bitching and yelling and sulking and need
To express how we feel and not shock
The women we're becoming when we pass through this phase
Very soon my dear friends... we will ROCK!

Getting is Sexy, Keeping...not so much!

For many people, the key to success in our society is acquiring things.  That's sexy.  Getting stuff you want is a very sexy thing.  Advertisers spend billions of dollars to convince us what it is that we want, and when we get them, we win.  

But, the actual key to having a life of success, filled with what you want, is not the actual getting of the things, but the maintaining of the things.  That is not sexy.  Maintenance is not sexy.  

It's not the losing weight that is the largest challenge for most people, it's the keeping it off.  It's not the buying of the beautiful home that's the challenge.  It's maintaining the home, the up keep, the maintenance, the taxes that's the challenge.  It's not getting the great job that makes for a successful life.  It's keeping the great job that makes for a successful life.  It's not finding the relationship that makes you happy that's so hard.  It's maintaining the level of happiness in the relationship that's the challenge.  It's not hiring the great employee that's the challenge.  It's keeping the great employee.  Maintaining their level of commitment and passion and engagement that becomes hard. 

So, if maintenance is the key to success, what are the steps to maintaining in life?  This is a strategy focused on maintaining what you have, that you still want.

1.  Get what you want.

2.  Be grateful that you have what you want.  (A hugely underrated step, but very powerful)

3.  Set an intention around how long you'd like to keep it.

4.  Make the commitment to what it would take and be realistic about what has to happen in order to maintain.  Be sure you have the support, financial, physical, emotional, legal that you may need.

5.  Enroll and engage other people to help.  Create an ecology around you, a people, a support system, an environment that supports you in maintaining that much desired state of being/ having/ doing.

6.  Never take for granted what it took to get what it is that you want, and acknowledge yourself for the ability to maintain it.

I wish you joy and wonder in the maintenance of it all!  

Just another Friday?

At most workplaces, Friday is the day that everyone looks forward to so they can get through it and go off to their "lives".  But what about the 40 or more hours preceding Friday where they have spent their time and attention?

I propose that each Friday, every employee create for themselves a "What I accomplished this week" list.  Perhaps the list has "What I was expected to accomplish", "What I didn't accomplish and what I need to get it done" and the "What I was not expected to accomplish, but did it anyway because it was a challenge and used my talents and strengths".

Instead of just getting through another week, this technique will help employees acknowledge and celebrate where they chose to spend their time and attention. Then, after several weeks of this, perhaps compile the lists, and share them with those who acknowledge all of this work with a paycheck.

Employees will feel accomplished, Leadership will be validated in writing the checks,  and everyone will enter the weekend feeling good about the transaction of work.

Now that seems like a Friday "happy hour".

Today's big hiring mistake

The US Economy has spent the past 4 years adjusting to the "new normal" and it seems, lately that the "new normal" is getting better.  The economy is expanding faster than anticipated, and many companies are hiring again.  Expanding their workforce.

This is good news.  But, I think companies are missing one big piece.  During the hiring process, many companies use metrics, assessments and motivators to see if a potential employee will "fit" into their culture.  Here's the problem,  The "organizational culture" leaders are trying to get employees to fit into, is not their actual culture.  

Have you ever hired someone, or worked with someone who is new, energetic, enthusiastic and excited to be there, and then 2 weeks later, that person has the same attitude and energy level of his/her peers?  THAT is the evidence of true corporate culture.

What the leadership perception of "how we do things around here", (or in other words the organization's culture) and "how we actually do things around here" is quite often not in alignment.   Leaders must make the time and resources to find out what is actually happening in their organizations and then create an organizational culture that supports the vision, mission and satisfaction of the leadership, the employees and mostly for the benefit of the customer.  After all, when all three of these elements are satisfied, this is a "New Normal" where everyone wins.  If this is something you'd like more information on.... please contact me at carolyn@carolynstrauss.com.