Word-Of-the-Week #777: Invest
June 27, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #777: Invest
Invest – to put time or money into something, hoping for a greater return.
How much time have you spent investing in yourself? Would you like to achieve more regarding your career? How about your retirement plan? Are you funding it monthly?
This is the 2nd half of the USA Today article by Ken Fisher, Female executives offer some career advice to younger women: ‘Leave the comfort zone’.
To Recap: “I asked top women at my firm what advice they would give women seeking to fulfill their vision of life.
Don’t settle for comfortable – “Be direct about your aims.” and “If you don’t ask for it, some other jerk will.”
Don’t expect to have all the answers – “Life is unpredictable. You need to be flexible and resilient.”
- Always fund your 401(k)
“Invest in yourself. Participate as much as you can in your 401(k). Get invested in the market and stick with a basic plan — don’t get too cute with it,” says Garrity
Coffey also stressed simplicity. “For longer-term savings, save all you can in any amount you can and invest in stocks. Look up in 20 or 30 years from now, and you will be glad you did.”
Then, some frank talk about the trade-offs accompanying marriage and kids.
If you’re going to marry, Garrity says, “Marry someone who supports you — personally and professionally. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my husband. I don’t like the phrase ‘you can have it all’ — it sets false expectations. You can have a successful career and family. But it takes hard work, compromise, direct communication and the realization it will never be perfect.”
- Create a support network
‘Realistic expectations rang Hitchcock’s bell, too. “If you’re to stay home to raise kids, understand you’re taking on major personal risk if something happens to the primary breadwinner in your family. Make sure you have enough disability and life insurance to support you and your kids if the unexpected happens. It happens.”
And make sure you have a support network, says Jarvis. “This group can help you navigate through opportunities and setbacks.”
Finally, they agreed, your path is up to you and no one else — to go your own way—maybe a bit like my mom did, just different.”
While these past 2 WOW’s have been directed toward women all of this advice works for both genders!
This week’s focus is on investing in you and your future! Have you spent time fostering relationships to create a support network? Do you have a retirement plan? Did you know that if you invest just $200 a month over a period of 30 years you could easily end up with over $228,000?
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.
Word-Of-the-Week #776: Challenge
June 25, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #776: Challenge
Challenge – something new and difficult which requires great effort and determination.
Do you LOVE a good challenge? Or do you tend to dread it? When was the last time you felt determined to do something new or difficult? How long did it take you to handle the challenge?
I found this in the USA Today by Ken Fisher, Female executives offer some career advice to younger women: ‘Leave the comfort zone.’
“With the 10th anniversary of my mother’s death approaching, this Mother’s Day was wistful. She would have turned 100 in weeks.
Mom grew up tough in southwest Arkansas. Pre-Great Depression, before penicillin, where railroads and river shipping reigned. She married my father during World War II, moved west and never looked back.
Honoring her memory, I asked top women at my firm what advice they would give women seeking to fulfill their vision of life.
- Don’t settle for comfortable
Jill Hitchcock, a 20-year veteran, who heads our national Private Client Group, offers this advice: “Run toward the things that scare you, especially early in your career.
Too often, I see associates, especially women, seeking ‘comfortable’ roles instead of what really challenges them to build new skills,” she said. “Don’t close doors opting for comfortable or known roles that play to skills you have; move toward roles that build skills you don’t have.”
Carrianne Coffey, also 20 years at my firm, who runs our comparable overseas group, echoed this: “Feeling role-comfortable creates mediocrity and stagnation. Get a comfortable bed, some good sheets — then leave the comfort zone when you wake in the morning.”
She adds, “Be direct about your aims.” Her favorite advice comes courtesy of her older brother: “If you don’t ask for it, some other jerk will.”
- Don’t expect to have all the answers
Take time to breathe and reflect, says Laurine Garrity, our global marketing head.
“Don’t expect to have all the answers early in your career,” she says. “I often see young adults seriously stressed thinking they need a long-term career roadmap. Life is unpredictable. You need to be flexible and resilient. So find out what you enjoy, what challenges you — then learn from those experiences and build on them. Over time, with work and self-reflection, you should land in a good place.”
Lane Jarvis, our human capital tsar, stressed avoiding burnout.
“Take care of your health. Don’t prioritize work over taking care of yourself. It will make you better and healthier so you can work longer.”
This week’s focus is on challenges. When was the last time you had your abilities tested? How did it make you feel? Does it make you more determined and want to put forth the extra effort?
Stay tuned for part 2 next week!
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.
Word-Of-the-Week #775: Recalculating
June 13, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #775: Recalculating
Recalculating – re-thinking and or re-planning in order to eliminate errors or to incorporate additional factors or data.
Have you arrived at your “perfect job” destination? Are you living the life you dreamed of? Do you ever feel you are off track?
I am taking the liberty to rerun this WOW. It came up for me personally as its how I feel about parts of my life right now. I probably have 25% to 30% of my life left and that has caused me to think about how I want to spend that precious time. “So instead of accepting things I cannot change, I am changing things I cannot accept.” I am recalculating relationships.
Henry DeVries, assistant dean for external affairs UC San Diego, featured a UT article titled, “Recalculating the next career step.” He writes, When Karen Jacobsen walks on a stage, there is no question she is in the driver’s seat. Known as The GPS Girl, Jacobsen’s speaking voice is in over 100 million GPS units giving drivers directions worldwide as “Australian Karen.”
“You could say I specialize in telling people where to go,” says Jacobsen, an Aussie who moved to New York over a decade ago and had an unexpected twist in her singing career when she got a 50-hour voiceover gig giving driving directions.
Today she is also an author who speaks to audiences on how to create a road map for their future. Jacobsen, who is also the Australian voice of Siri for the Apple iPhone, has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, the NBC Today Show, the CBS Early Show, in the New York Times, Glamour magazine and was named one of People magazine’s Most Intriguing People.
In her book, “The GPS Girl’s Road Map for Your Future,” she writes about how to listen to your Inner GPS and to ‘recalculate at any time in life’ just as we do when driving. She knows drivers hate it when they get off course and hear her say, “recalculating,” but she loves the word.
“I think the word recalculating is actually good news,” says Jacobsen. “It may mean you have been off track, but by the time you hear the word recalculating, you are already back on the right road. Recalculating is how I got from the Great Barrier Reef to the Big Apple.”
This week’s focus is on listening to your inner GPS. Are you in the Driver’s seat or the Passenger’s seat? Is there a part of your life that needs recalculating? How would it feel to create a new road map?
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.
Word-Of-the-Week #774: Receptive
June 6, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #774: Receptive
Receptive – willing or inclined to receive suggestions or information.
How willing are you to receive suggestions? If new updated information comes to you how receptive are you to accepting it? Would you say the company you work for is open and receptive to suggestions or new information?
My dear friend, speaker buddy, and mentor Gloria has given me great “Words of Wisdom” over the years that I found to be very timely and helpful. She would always start by saying, “If you are receptive…”
Sometimes I would answer, “No. I’m just not feeling that today.” And then giggle. She has been a great teacher and I a great student. In order to learn and grow you need to be receptive to new ideas or different ones. As the saying goes, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
I got lots of positive responses to the past couple of WOW’s and felt they were worth sharing. That’s of course if you’re receptive!
This from my sister Lurene, “I think if everything in our life was certain it would be boring. The Buddha says, “Life is uncertain, death is certain.” I had a Yoga Master tell me that quote in one of my very first yoga classes and said “If you came here, to this class with certain expectations – wait – you might leave with something much different or better – be open.”
And this from long time subscriber Joe, “Fear can be used as a crutch to not try anything or go beyond one’s abilities to change and better oneself. It can be an excuse. But when we actually go into the arena to attempt something that no one else will, regardless of the consequences, that allows us to conquer whatever fears we have in this life.
The unfortunate thing in this life is that so many people fear death so much, that they don’t LIVE”.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!” – FDR
On Comprehension Joe had this to say,“These skimming habits don’t allow us to really sit down and take our time reading a newspaper, magazine or even books. It is too bad, really, because in the process we lose the basic communication skills we need to connect with our fellow man.
Too many people today, especially the young, need to stop looking down and start looking up, or they will miss life.”
This week’s focus is on being receptive. Is there an area in your life where you’d like to see different results? Do you have a good friend or mentor who can help you with that? Could you be more open to receiving suggestions or information?
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.
FUN-video: Flagstaff to Paso Robles – Movie Trailer
June 4, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-video: Flagstaff to Paso Robles – Movie Trailer
- Here’s a preview of our May Road Trip. Enjoy!