Scrooge Your Career

Perhaps you have found yourself watching the movie A Christmas Carol, Scrooged, or another version of the Dickens story of personal redemption. Let's consider this story with an eye to our careers or businesses. We cannot change the past, the present is of our own making, and all that remains under our control is our future. Or does it?

I know I have seen and heard many friends with a spirit of despair when it comes to their economic future. We feel betrayed by big industry's failings, our state's poor choices, our employers for not planning for darker times. Do you feel frustrated by customers unable to afford your great product or service? Just as Ebenezer Scrooge looked to Christmas Past and Present with horror, we too can share his joy in looking to our futures. We can shake off what we can't change and change course, look to new directions, find something in yourself that was obscured to you and bring it front and center. Be bold.

Scrooge needed to learn to be generous in spirit with others. I',m going to guess that you've been doing that all along and the neglected one is.... YOU! These are times for Bold Change. Do not be discouraged by the economy we live in. Refuse to participate. Look to the new decade as your personal milestone of great change and growth, just as Scrooge does.

So where do you start with this Bold Change? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• "What would I do with a million dollars?" You just may find that some of your ideas don't cost a million dollars at all, in fact they may cost nothing.
• "Why do I do what I do for a living?" Again you may be surprised. Is it because you are afraid or just comfortable? What is the back burner career you have dreamed of making real?
  
• "If I were to be assured that my circle of friends and family would support a change in my career/business/economic standing, what would I do differently?" When you've answered that, consider why you care so much about what other people think!

Your future is yours. Isn't that great? Don't be a captive of routine or expectation. Be bold and unafraid. Go back to school, relocate, kick your grown kids out of house, change the way you promote yourself and your business. Just do something to take charge of your future.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Life!
Your friend, Mary Rogers

What is a Chick in Charge? Part 2

As I put forth in my previous post, I consider a Chick in Charge to be a woman who takes personal responsibility for her entire life.

"But that's not fair!" you may feel. "There are other forces in charge of my boat!". Here's what I say to that: Only if you put them there. You can't always be in control of every aspect of your life, of course not. But when you grant that control to other people or institutions, you should do it with what I call Reasoned Grace.

For instance, perhaps you can't put 100% effort into advancing your career right now because you have 3 children who need daily bathing, a husband who you adore making dinner for, and a German Shepard that likes to sit on your feet while you watch Two and a Half Men on Monday nights instead of attending City Commission meetings. The problem is when you start complaining about watching Jane at the office get promoted past you because you are a mom. If being home, really home, after 5:30 is your reward at the end of the day, hooray for you!

If you've made a decision with Reasoned Grace, you accept responsibility for the consequences of YOUR DECISION to have different priorities. A Chick in Charge makes deliberate choices and decisions about her life and doesn't feel the need complain or explain because the only place to go is the bathroom mirror. She gives herself the power to frame AND responsibility for her lot in life.

This is not easy. Women who achieve this have a crystal clear sense of their core values. You lose your confidence when those values become murky. What is really important to you right now? This is why transitions in women's lives are so tough. In one decade, your children are first on your list, a few decades later your aging parents make an appearance at the top. Where did my yoga go????

Your Chick in Charginess is reflected primarily in two ways that you can measure: money and time. Where do you spend your money? Where do you spend your time? If you have a clear sense of priorities, decisons of time and money become so much easier!

Next week we will explore Chicks in Charge of their money...

What Is a Chick in Charge? Part 1

Are you a chick in charge? Do you know one? I started the Chick in Charge
brand message a few years ago and found that the words made some people just downright uncomfortable while others flocked to buy any merchandise I
created. I am fascinated by the various interpretations of this little 3 word phrase. Some assume that it is meant for female bosses or business owners. I've been told by a few men that it simply warns them of a *itch in their midst.

To my senses, here is what defines a Chick in Charge: A woman who makes the most of her personal assets, understand and battles her flaws and never puts her head in the sand. She is in charge of....... herself. What does that mean? She takes personal responsibility for her entire life.

So what does it really mean to take personal responsibility? Think about the women who strike you as Chicks in Charge. She is her own source of power, her own source of happiness, she responds to her circumstances not reacts. I have always marveled at women who have been victimized and somehow seem to overcome all odds and move on. Or the minority youth, raised in poverty, rises above society's expectations and graduates from Yale. These are women who refuse to live a lesser life than the one they dream of. Nobody is going to dictate the boundaries of their potential.

At the other extreme, are women who have been given every advantage in terms of heritage, financial support, education and opportunity who have manufactured their own boundaries: living to meet others expectation instead of their own, buying into put-downs, following a parents dream instead of their own, accepting her culture's diminished view of a lifestyle, finding comfort in a blanket of fear and lack of confidence. These are definitely
NOT Chicks in Charge.

Realistically, we each have a toe in both profiles. Do you get that intuitive gut feeling when you are not being true to yourself? Do you negotiate with yourself? I'd love to hear your comment! E-mail me: mary@goMarigold.com and let me know if I can share your thoughts in a future article. More on this next week....

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