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Three Directions Every Purposeful Journey Needs

“The Stream”

Imagine a journey with no packing, no airport security, and no overtired-yet-astonishingly-loud children. Sounds easy, but this type of travel’s tough stuff. In fact, this journey of self-development challenges our strength as we discover who we are and what we’re meant to do.

It’s traveling inward, outward, and back home again.

Kinda sounds like we’re going in a circle, right?

Sort of, but this is no simple circle. Where we start and end may be the same, but are we the same? Luckily, nature recently provided me the perfect explanation . . . and it begins at a beach in Cape Cod. Read more

Cameo Role to Authentic Star—Shift with These Five Truths

The muse for this post . . .

Autumn in Florence—picture yourself there, in the late afternoon warmth. You’re admiring the sun’s natural highlighting of the landscape and falling in love with the architecture and Italian life.

Now, imagine crossing the Arno river via the Ponte Vecchio and exploring its shops until you find “the one”—a beautifully carved cameo pin that you’ll pass down to your future kids someday. She’s stunning, a wearable work of art, and you know immediately that she’s a treasure.

This was me in 2006.

I still have that cameo and plan to gift it to my daughter one day. But until then, I’m wearing it proudly because it’s way too special to tuck away, safe but never seen.

Which brings us to an interesting idea, another definition of “cameo.” Read more

How To Fit One Hundred Years into Four Buckets

One cool bear…

One hundred.

A celebrated number in elementary school, as in the one hundredth day of school. Kids wear glasses formed from the number 100, draw what they’ll look like as 100-year-olds, and journal what they think life will be like in 100 years.

So in honor of this special day, I thought we’d play along. Sound good? Okay, let’s take a little journey into the future… Read more

Know Your Snowflake Type—A Personality Test

Yes, snowflake types do exist…

I hadn’t planned on writing about snowflakes, nor had I ever thought one’s personality might align with a snowflake type. But I couldn’t find the book passage I needed for my planned post, so I sat—blocked—at my laptop and looked outside.

Guess what I found?

A new blog post! A little rough around the edges and in the form of snowfall, but a beautiful idea just in need of a little polish.

So here it is…

When the temperature’s above freezing, a snowflake faces three short-term destinies: Read more

Four Life Lessons from the Police Station

The cops had surrounded me. With no place to hide, I exited my car. One officer approached and with his arm up gave me a…

…fist bump, of course.

And with that, my day at the Kirkwood Police Department community event had begun!

The heat, the wind, the sun. The connection, the gratitude, the joy. It was definitely a day of extremes. And surprisingly, four life lessons: Read more

A Birthday Distillation—Three Questions to Analyze Your Life’s Essence

Not all days bring us puppies and rainbows, not even all birthdays. Mine was Saturday, and in Saint Louis it was “burning” (as my daughter would say).

If you don’t know me well, here’s some inside information—I don’t do well in the heat.

I’ve been that way since I was a kid. I remember our big family trip to Disney World the summer after 2nd grade. We had just parked the car on Day 1, and my first words as I stepped toward the holy grail of Disney? Read more

Outsourcing Confidence? There’s a Better Supplier.

This picture ties in, I promise. Keep reading…

I’ve done enough personal assessments to know that I not only love being acknowledged for my work, I need that recognition. A simple “thank you” is perfect, but I won’t turn down praise.

I’ve known this for years, but have recently discovered that this need plummets as my work’s alignment with my purpose rises.

So how does confidence tie into all this? Let’s take a look… Read more

Blind Perseverance Vs. 20/20 Liberation

To anyone not in my head, I appear to have major issues with perseverance. I’ve left every career venture—and that totals nine—that I’ve ever begun. Some I ended after dipping my toe in; others stung a bit more financially.

So why did I leave?

First, you have to know how I define “perseverance.” (Thanks to my life coach training, I’ve learned the criticality of understanding the meaning people attach to words.) To me, perseverance is the committed effort toward reaching a goal in line with one’s purpose. Read more

Given Up on Your Purpose? Start With Pursuit.

Imagine this: Your boss is launching a new program at work called “Pursuit Week,” and you are the guinea pig. Your job is to choose something outside of work that interests you and to pursue it for a full five-day work week. Do you celebrate or panic?

The celebratory camp can identify with one of these:

  • “I find ___________ so interesting and I’d LOVE to learn more about it!”
  • “I’m passionate about ___________ and I’ve been wanting to discover its relationship to my purpose. This is my chance to try out some ideas!”

The panicked group sounds like this:

  • “My life revolves around work and my kids’ activities; I have no idea what I’m passionate about. Is sleep an option?”
  • “A whole work week? It’s kind of a waste for something that won’t amount to anything once the week is over. What’s the point?”

Let me be clear—it’s okay and quite normal NOT to know your life’s passion and purpose. (I didn’t figure mine out until recently and I’d been actively searching for years.) But if you’re leaning toward camp two, it may be that the distinction between “passion and purpose” and “pursuit” is a bit blurry. So let’s take a look. Read more