Wellbeing. It packs a lot of punch doesn’t it? At first glance it might seem like it’s all about health (wellness) – and to a great extent it is — but it’s so much more too.  Emotional wellbeing, physical wellbeing, financial wellbeing…….personal wellbeing, professional wellbeing, organizational and community wellbeing…..the list goes on and so much goes into each facet.

This word gives me a visceral hit. It feels so authentic and envelops so much that I’m passionate about both personally and professionally.  Ironically, it’s not a new concept to me. It’s been there all the time. In my work as a coach (Big Cheese Coaching) I help people navigate their work and life in a way that fosters more meaning, joy, success and fulfillment. I specialize in emotional intelligence for leaders (of all levels) and pay great attention to the skills (personal, professional) we need — in pursuit of our various work/life goals — to be our best, to be happy and to create environments and relationships that foster ‘TGIM’ (thank goodness it’s Monday) attitudes and aptitudes for all. Isn’t that all about personal, professional and organizational wellbeing? 

And concurrently for the last 9+ years, I have a professional relationship (providing communications advice and service) with an organization that is all about financial wellbeing – setting standards for financial planning.  Who can argue that one’s financial life can have an enormous impact on one’s personal wellbeing? 

And yes, the fitness side of things…with a degree in fitness from Mcgill (my first career with a continued lifelong interest) I was heavily involved in promoting fitness and wellbeing for nearly 10 years. 

So nothing has changed – yet everything has changed. Because sometimes a word, theme or phrase has the power to remind us of what is important and what we stand for.  Naming and claiming a word can illuminate what’s already there but perhaps needs to be brought more into focus. Or at least it can serve as an anchor or central theme to encompass disparate pieces that have more value when you look at the ‘whole’ vs. just the parts. 

So yes, “Wellbeing” does that for me and it’s my word for 2012. It’s in my focus for my own life and for my clients who come to me to be better leaders and/or to have more success and fulfilment in various contexts of their work and life.

Of course I realize I’m not alone in loving this word.  I’m in good company. It’s everywhere these days. The health and wellness world have a piece of it; the financial industry; and even economists are incorporating wellbeing into measures of what makes for a strong, healthy economy.  And one of my favorite sources of ideas and inspiration: the field of positive psychology. In fact, the guru of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, frames his latest book “Flourish” as a ‘visionary new understanding of happiness and wellbeing’ (great book and brilliant guy). And of course, wellbeing is a central theme to the EQi (emotional intelligence assessments).

I welcome the ‘crowds’ (there’s room for all) and am staking my place on “planet wellbeing”.  Care to join in?

If you are wanting to create more joy, optimism, success, energy, peace of mind (and the list goes on) in your work and life this year — professionally and personally — then I invite you to hop on board the Wellbeing train too. Not sure how to get there? I can help!  

Wellbeing.  It’s my word and now you can have it too. You’ve got my word.

Now let’s get to work — and create success and wellbeing in 2012 with a TGIM work + life!

Eileen

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I was invited to contribute one of the tips. I recommended leaders (of all ranks) learn coaching skills. I do a lot of work in this arena — teaching leaders a variety of coaching skills — via workshops, webinars, and directly coaching leaders. No longer can a leader get by just on technical/functional smarts. They need to inspire, grow, invest and develop their people to bring the team and organization to excellence. Unfortunately for too many, the rise to leadership came without any guidance on how to coach/lead others. If you have your eyes on a bigger game this year, make sure you add ‘coaching skills’ to your learning agenda this year. And of course, check out the other very worthy tips from others in the Globe and Mail article!

Warning: shameless promotion coming up! You can read what people have said about my workshops, presentations and coaching  in this area in my “Workshop Testimonial” page  and “One-on-one leadership coaching testimonials“

To a TGIM work+life in 2012!

Eileen

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Scroll down for this year’s 12 Questions (some are brand new and some you may have seen from past year’s list).

Note: for boomers approaching or in the UNretiredLife stage (past main career) I have posted the same questions at my UNretiredLife blog but with some comments specific to this lifestage: 

THE YEAR PAST:

1) What went well?

2) In what ways did you grow and evolve in the ‘evolution of you’?

3) What were some key lessons for you personally in 2011?

4) What do you need to clean-out or let go of right now to be ready to start fresh in 2012?

5) What personal accomplishments are you most proud of from the past year?

6) If there was a theme for 2011 for you personally, what would it be? i.e. “This was the year of ____.”

THE YEAR AHEAD:

7) What do you want for yourself in the year ahead and in what ways can you take responsibility for making that happen?

8 ) What strengths (name at least 3) will you deliberately use more of in the year ahead to realize your goals?

9) In what ways will you take care of yourself to maintain your “Mojo” – resilience, energy, inspiration and sense of wellbeing?

10) What are your learning goals this year? If you had a ‘learning agenda’ what might be on that list?

11) In what ways will you contribute something to the ‘greater good’  of _____ (choose a community or communities of choice)?

12) If the year ahead is to have a personal theme for you, what would that be? i.e. “This will be the year of ____”

To a season of joy and celebration – may you complete the year in good health and spirits. And may you look forward to a shiny new year with fresh eyes, energy and empowerment to create the year you want!

TGIM!

Eileen

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Shortly after graduating university, he was unable to pursue a career due to medical issues. Now years later, he is better and resuming his job search but has no recent references given the pause in his career. I offered a few tips — and things to think about beyond references.

The advice may be relevant for anyone in job-search mode. While references are important when presenting yourself as a worthy candidate – there is a whole lot more to consider as well. Equally important is a networking strategy as well as concrete ways to demonstrate you are up to date and work-ready (courses, retooling, etc). I also touch on volunteering. I have often heard of people who have landed great jobs leading to very full careers via a volunteer role.  Have a read of the article- and as always, I welcome your comments.

To a TGIM work and life!

Eileen

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In the News! In the past couple weeks, I’ve been quoted quite extensively in various articles about boomers’ work and life in the so-called retirement years. See links below.

And, btw, if you feel you are years away from retirement and don’t need to think about this – well, think again. Planning for life (and possibly work/career) in the next stage of life takes time. I know. I started in my ’40′s — and as many of you know, I have been developing an extensive second career that could serve me well into my so-called retirement years (Big Cheese Coaching)  — and have been doing so alongside my other career in communications.  Takes work. Planning. Thinking. And more.

Anyways, don’t take it just from me – hear what others have to say:

Retiring Retirement - and how boomers can stay engaged with work and life (Investment Executive, November 2011)

Retirement Can Get Old Very Fast - if you don’t do the ‘life planning’ part of it (National Post, November 5, 2011)

Post-work Planning – how boomers can plan for life after full time work (Investment Executive, November 2011)

To a TGIM work+life in all stages!

Eileen

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I hope you don’t have to deal with this kind of situation but if you do, rest assured. One bad experience does not have to derail your career. Have a read of some advice I offered in this particular situation. And let’s hope that bad bosses become the exception and not the rule!

P.S You can check out some of the other questions (and advice offered) from myself and my colleagues at the “Ask a Career Coach” page. And feel free to send me your questions too - I can respond to them here at TGIMworklife or possibly on the Globe and Mail site

To a TGIMworklife!

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For me at this very moment, I am grateful for:

1) The most glorious day of sunshine we have today (here in Toronto). I went for a walk and drank in the stunning foliage, warm air, and overall sense of awe how beautiful this season is.

2) The ravine and beautiful park just across my home that gives me an instant burst of feeling like I’ve gotten away and into deep nature which is very soul-fueling for me.

3) My beautiful network of lovely friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, clients and community….I feel connected and loved in many parts of my life.

4) My ability to think, speak, hear, walk, write, eat, see, breath, smell, touch, feel…..I am all too aware of the ease of those tasks sometimes taken for granted — and the unquantifiable sources of joy I get just because I can do each of those things.

(NOTICE THAT I AM PAST 3 THINGS….IT’S HARD TO STOP ONCE YOU START)

5) My ever-expanding capacity to learn, grow and develop myself….and help others too in my work. In return, I get satisfaction that is hard to describe but enormously important and what makes for meaningful life for me.

6) My ability to be grateful and practice it regularly and reap is rewards. Gratitude expressed inwardly and outwardly fuels my wellbeing tank. Read more about this in my short story in  my entry in the Gratitude Book Project here.

Now your turn. Go on try it. Start with three. See how it feels. You may like it. In fact, so much, you may wanna do it everyday. Why not?

TGIM and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving on this beautiful Monday!

Eileen

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Ooooh, that question. Yeah, it’s one of the many ways one must prepare for a job interview. Your response could make or break your chances of getting to the next level in the interview process. This is the gist of a reader’s question that was sent my way, as one of the career coach ‘ask an experts’ featured on the new Globecareers section.  Check it out – along with a few other questions I was invited to respond to:

How to Answer the Salary Expectation Question

Help – My Job is Going Nowhere!

How Can I Manage People Better?

Do you have a question you would like to send to Globecareers? You can email it directly to careerquestion@globeandmail.com. Or send me a note directly and I can either forward it or try to respond in an upcoming post here.

To your TGIMworklife!

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Here’s my first article about how to manage people more effectively. http://tinyurl.com/3jjtfdh  

If you have a question you’d like to send to Globe Careers, email it to: careerquestion@globeandmail.com

The background: Very early this morning, I set out on a little run before work. It’s been a while since I felt like running because I’d been fighting a cold, feeling tired and a little off my ‘mojo’ of late. But in the last couple days I felt a return to my old self. With some deliciously-renewed energy and enthusiasm I headed out for a run. Ahhh, all was well and I was feeling great.  As I ran (super slow), I noticed the birds, gardens and my mind blissfully wandered…until I tripped, crashed and fell. Ouch.

In a nano second, I was on the ground, the world spinning, nauseous and with an aching ankle and a bloody knee.  What the  @#@# (expletive)! That was my first reaction. I looked over and saw the culprit: an iddy biddy pebble. That little, modest thing somehow got under my foot and tripped me! Such power! Stupid, bad rock! Stupid me for not seeing it! Now I’m going to miss my golf, not be able to run….yada, yada, yada….let the whine’n’worry fest begin!

I heard my little (coaching) voice inside me whisper: Is that all y’a got? Maybe there’s  another way to experience this?

Y’a think?

I had no way of going back and reversing that fall. But I did have a choice in how I’d deal with it – right then and there. So yeah, I decided to look at this tumble in a new light. Accidents happen (and thankfully this was just a small one).  Recently  I’ve been paying more attention recently to a more soulful and spiritual way of approaching my work and life. Well, no better time than now to apply that philosophy. I reminded myself that I can do better. How I look at ‘the stuff that happens’ in my work and life has much more impact on how I actually experience my life  than the actual events and circumstances.  Living and working a meaningful (tgim) life means we have to navigate these ‘tumbles’ and falls in a moment by moment way.  The tough part is remembering to do that in the moment.  But I did, kinda.

You see I’ve just started to tune into a powerful series of teleseminars put on by Jennifer Mclean. Jennifer has interviewed 24 of the world’s most renouned experts on topics related to living and working more soulfully, joyfully and authentically (yummo!).  James Redfield, Dan Millman, Wayne Dyer, Marshall Goldsmith, Sonia Choquette, Hale Dwoskin – to name just a few.  Chock full of tips, lessons, wisdom, these sessions remind me of the choices we have and lessons to be learned in our ‘moments’. I just listened to the first few this week, so fresh in my ears I looked at this tumble in a new light and with new questions.

There are lessons in everything that comes our way in life (the good, bad and ugly). As I brushed myself off from the tumble I wondered what the lesson was from this fall. I reflected on this as I hobbled home. I noticed I could walk but couldn’t run. Was the universe telling me to slow down? Maybe.  More lessons started to bubble up as the day wore on because I stayed in the question (and particularly, as I write this post – writing helps us reflect!).

Being of service to others — people can be generous and kind and it feels as good to give as it does to get.  Well, it was a quiet street but one gentleman who was tending his garden saw me lying on the ground. He came to offer help. I was okay (ish) by then but was so grateful that someone was there to offer help. I told him so. We had a nice chat as I tested out my ability to walk. Two strangers connecting and some gratitude shared. I think we both felt better for it.

There are no coincidences: I asked this gentleman his name. He said it was Patel. Hmmm. My “patella” (knee) was bleeding.  Coincidence? Perhaps? But James Redfield (Celestine Prophecy) says there are no coincidences in life so if that’s true, what was the significance of this? I don’t know yet, but as I look at my knee in the next few days I will be thinking about this and I have a hunch it won’t be about the bruise, scab or swelling. I think there might be something more here at work….those lessons perhaps, still unfolding?

All we have right now is the present:  It’s good to make plans and to have goals. I’m a huge advocate of that. But if we only focus on what’s next, we miss the ‘now’.  I started off worrying about my future golf, running, mobility, etc. But I quickly shifted to focus on what I could do ‘now’: to ease the swelling of my ankle;  AND to reframe my thinking so that I can be resilient from yet another potentially ‘mojo threatening’ event, ruining my day. The result was much better. Not only did I take care of the ankle (less swelling), my mojo is just fine!

My Take Away: Today’s tumble reminded me that I have the power to choose how to be with the seemingly irritating stuff that happens. Today’s accident wasn’t about the fall at all. Today’s accident was a metaphor for all the other stuff that bugs me in life or appears to set me back  such as the work deboggles, the lack of time, the unforeseen challenges – and more.  It’s not always the big things that are going to derail us. The small stuff can – if we let it – take us away from experiencing the good in life (it was such a small rock afterall….and just a little fall).

So to echo the teachings of James Redfield (Celestine Prophecy) and others – there are no coincidences or accidents in life.

So thank you to “Patel” for his generosity and Jennifer and her panel of experts for her series. And mostly, to that little rock for pretending to get in my way and reminding me how to see the bigger picture.

To a TGIM work and life

Eileen

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