Category: career

career, growth, work

Beginning: The Meaning of Work

Christa Avampato

I had brunch on Saturday with my friend, Susan, in DC. An amazing and inspiring woman, Susan talked about so many strong women she knows who are now beginning to frame up their own futures in every sense. We couldn’t figure out if it has to do with our age (we’re both in our mid-30s, as are many of our friends) or if it’s more of a societal shift. Is carving our own road the way of the future? Is the entrepreneurial path, or some flavor of it, the new norm. Will we begin to become a society of people who take a role at a company for stability as we build up our own unique ideas that eventually take more of our time and generate more of our income?

Later that afternoon I had a drink with my friend, Matthew, where we talked about wanting to give our lives meaning. We believe that there is so much good work in the world to be done that we cannot simply phone it in for 40+ hours / week to a job that doesn’t fulfill a mission. There must be and can be more that comes from work. It should make our lives bigger and generate energy within us rather than leave us feeling insignificant.

There used to be an idea that a job is a job and we get paid to do a job because it isn’t supposed to be fun. Last week I sadly heard a friend of mine lament that she felt there was no use looking for a new job at a new company because every place is just as bad as every other place. She’s in her late 20’s, and my heart broke a little for her. She’s too young and too talented to be so deflated, though on some unfortunate level, I get it. Corporations beat you up. They do make you think it can’t be better elsewhere and that there is always a bad apple in every barrel. I have to challenge that notion for my own sanity. I believe the bad apples can be pitched for the sake of fostering a healthy system. It takes courage, concern, and enlightened leadership, and it can and should be done.

I got the chance to meet MJ, whom you may know from all of her amazing comments on this blog and links to resources that relate to my post topics. It’s always a treat for me to meet new friends whom I get to know through my various online channels. Whoever said technology is isolating us isn’t using it correctly. It’s expanding my network and opportunities for learning significantly.

MJ made a very astute correlation between work and a bucket of water. GRab a bucket full of water and stick your hand in it. Your hand is you at a big corporate job. Pull your hand out. You’re left with some water clinging to your skin as evidence that it’s been in water (call this water experience) and notice that the space where you hand once was in now filled in, the water level being every so slightly lower in the bucket. That pail of water is the corporation you work for. When you leave, there’s a minor change in the environment, but not much and it’s quickly filled in. We talked about the desire to make a change to new roles that can uniquely be filled by us, where our presence is needed and would be missed if we left.

All these conversations had me turning over the meaning of work in mind. It should be something that contributes to the mission of crafting meaningful days. I’ve no desire to feel that my work in ancillary to my life; that I am one person at work and another at play. I want to be in an environment where I can bring to bear all that I’ve learned and have the environment teach me more in return that becomes useful in my continued work the following day. That’s what I hope work becomes for all of us – just another word for “grow”.

career, experience, work

Beginning: Learning from the Tiny Experiments of The Onion, Starbucks, and Chris Rock

Christa Avampato

On Friday, Brian and I talked about the idea of tiny experiments that get us ready for big leaps. I had been chiding myself a bit about all of the things I haven’t done yet in my 35 years of existence. This kind of topic always gives Brian a good chuckle.

A Realization Date
Last weekend I went on a date (nice guy, but not the right guy for me) and we got into talking about all of the work we’ve both been doing on our own personal projects. I tend to shy away from this type of topic on a first date because I know I am hyper-productive. Unfortunately, this guy kept asking questions and so I had to keep answering. Several times he articulated that he couldn’t believe how much I’ve done in the past two years. While I appreciate the compliment (?), I also know that I need to be with a guy who is in that same mode of productivity, who’s in this life to get as much joy from it as he possibly can. I need someone who inspires me and helps me grow.

The Mind Prepares
This date woke me up a bit and got me out of my tiny rut of being a bit down on myself as of late. I am a tough self-critic. Relentless. I expect a lot of myself. I’m a little annoyed that at 35 I haven’t made some bigger leaps in my professional life. Brian reminded me that I needed all these little pieces that I’ve been collecting over my career, that the step into full-blown entrepreneurship is a big, mind-shifting step and so our bodies and minds try to ease that transition as much as possible. It’s a step-wise process. “Inch by inch, it’s a cinch. Yard by yard, it’s hard.” Every role I’ve had has played it’s part, which might be why I’m being so darn picky about my next role. It’s got to fit in to the master plan, which is a new perspective for me to take.

So how do we cut ourselves some slack to take the small steps that prepare us for the big leaps? Author Peter Sims has some ideas. This Sunday’s Times ran an article by Sims on the “daring to stumble on the road to discovery”. Sims’s book “Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries” is a treasure trove of successful examples that illustrate how powerful it is to try, tinker, and try again based on experience. Starbucks, The Onion, and Chris Rock hold the same truth: try out a creative idea on a small beta scale, learn, and then go bigger.

Quiet Down
The article helped to quiet my inner critic. This is exactly the approach I’ve been taking with Compass Yoga. I offered by-donation classes – made a bit of money, grew as a teacher, no way to scale. I rented my own studio space for group classes – broke even financially, took a lot of marketing time, and brought me little satisfaction as a teacher. I attempted to partner with nonprofit organizations and grow a community of new teachers to offer free classes to their communities – no money, lots of administration, grew as a teacher and leader. None of these experiments were a waste, and ultimately they each gave me something that lead me to my latest experiment in mission and direction for Compass.

My message is this: take your time, figure out what you really want to do, and then give a small bet a-go. Hang your foot out over the edge and pay attention to how it feels. If that bet doesn’t work, place your foot back on solid ground, regroup, and try again with a new bet based on your learnings from the first bet. Get going, stumble, discover, learn, repeat. A winning formula.

career, dreams, learning, work, yoga

Beginning: Wounds Can Be Made Into Wisdom

Christa Avampato

“Turn your wounds into wisdom.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

Opposites are a blessing. We gain new insight into joy through sorrow, love through heartbreak, health through sickness, success through failure. In this way, not getting what we want is a reason to be grateful.

A blessing wrapped in disappointment
When I graduated from business school, I wanted to get a job in media. I had been out of the entertainment industry for a few years and I wanted to get to it more than anything. I interviewed at NBC and it proved to be a day of horrible experiences. I didn’t get the job, and even if I did I wouldn’t have taken it. The day of interviews was that bad, and I was horribly disappointed and hurt by the process. I have been a huge fan of NBC since I was a kid, and this was a dream job for me for as long as I can remember. With this opportunity gone, I had to get a new dream. And I did through Compass Yoga. NBC did me a huge favor in the long-run, even if I didn’t know that at the time.

A chance to show what you know
As life often does, I got another chance to enter the world of television. I recently interviewed for another large TV network whose work I greatly admire. This time I didn’t go into the situation with rose-colored glasses like I did with NBC. I was clear about who I am, how I like to work, and what I’m meant to do. This opportunity just wasn’t what I wanted, and so I opted out of the process despite the network’s strong plea for me to see it through.

That wound from my NBC interview provided me with a great amount of wisdom and the confidence to take control of my own career. It felt good to turn toward a path of my own making.

1, career, change, work

Beginning: Get It Done

Christa Avampato
from http://risefromyourashes.blogspot.com/

“You know the rule: If you are falling, dive. Do the thing that has to be done.” ~ Joseph Campbell (given to me by reader, MJ)

“If you have a financial safety net, you’ll always be able to walk away. And that in and of itself will prevent you from having to walk because you can be brutally honest about what you need to stay.” ~ Margaret Heffernan

Being truly honest in the workplace is difficult. Companies have these nasty little things called performance reviews that they can and often do lord over us to get us to fall in line. That is until you just can’t stomach the party line anymore. Some of us have lower tolerances for this than others. Mine is extraordinarily low to nonexistent. Everyone I’ve ever worked with will attest to this, and all of them will say that I am very straight-forward. My favorite description that one of my team mates used a number of years ago to describe me is “tough and fair.”

My mounting frustration at work over the past few months is plainly obvious, to me and to others, and this has been intentional. Authentically, I have to let others know when something just isn’t working. And finally I just decided something had to change, or I had to walk – or dive as Joseph Campbell would say. I am just done with the current situation, and during my mid-year review this week I expressed that. No anger or cynicism. Just a simple statement – “I’m done.” It needed to be said for my own health and the health of the whole system.

This kind of statement is alarming to most because a) few people speak that plainly at work and b) it takes a lot for most people to get to this point. It was a risk certainly, though with Margaret Heffernan’s brilliant advice and my saving abilities, I have the luxury, and I mean luxury to the highest degree for which I am very grateful!, to be able to back it up. I can walk if I need to or want to, and so I can lay out very clearly why improvement needs to be made quickly or we need to part ways.

I had my doubts about whether anything could or would be done in enough time, though I was pleasantly surprised to show up today and find that a shift was put into place overnight. I have some strong beliefs about improvement – 1) it’s a continuous process, 2) it’s always possible, and 3) it’s important to give people a chance to try. It’s incumbent upon us to lay out our frustrations clearly and succinctly, with possible solutions. It’s incumbent upon leaders to get to the bottom of those frustrations and try to solve the systematic problems that cause them. And if those leaders show a genuine effort in trying to improve, I think they deserve a chance to give it a whirl on our behalf. A former boss of mine once told me that it’s important to let people apologize for their mistakes. I’d extend that same kind of sentiment to improvement, too.

So, we’ll see how it goes. We’ll see if the change sticks and if this situation can be turned around, at least in the short-term. Clearly there is something for me to learn in this latest twist in the story. I promise to keep you updated.

career, change, commitment, courage

Beginning: Tear Down The Walls to Your Potential by Commiting to Your Own Road

Christa Avampato

Leap of Faith from liz-green.com
“The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating — in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.” ~Anne Morriss

MJ, one of the very loyal and resourceful readers of this blog, sent me this quote a few weeks ago and its been milling around in my mind ever since. I’ve been thinking a lot about boxes – the ones we put ourselves into, the ones we put other people into, and the ones others put us into. I’ve been thinking of taking a more freelance approach to my life and work, and this potential is causing equal amounts of anxiety and excitement. I feel like I’ve got one foot firmly planted on a ledge and one hanging in mid-air. To combat this feeling, I focus on my breath until the anxiety passes.

And then this quote by Anne Morriss will pop into my mind. Perhaps a commitment to this new road is what I need to put the fear to rest for good. Rather than going round and round about the possibility, what I may need to do is stop waiting and just leap. What I’m doing now feels akin to holding my breath, freezing so that I won’t slip or stumble. We exhibit the freeze response when we encounter fear that we feel like we can’t fight or flee. The fear is all around us and so we hold, hoping it passes us by without seeing us.

This fear I have at the moment is different. It doesn’t really ever subside because it’s in anticipation of a step I know I must eventually take. Just today, I spoke with 3 good friends who have come to the realization that they need to have greater control over their careers, and that means taking their careers more into their own hands rather than leaving their promotion entirely at the hands of others. One just joined a start-up, and two are considering their own ventures entirely. All came to this conclusion: they are their own best bosses.

Not perfect and certainly not without its own challenges, but as good as it gets.

What entrepreneurship gives us, as Anne Morriss so brilliantly gets at in her quote, is the removal of walls and barriers to our potential. So long as we allow someone else to put us in a box constructed completely of their goals, performance reviews, rules, and visions of success, then we give someone else the power to define our future. The only box I’m ultimately interested in is the box I put myself into because I always have the option to break out of that one and redefine its boundaries. Perhaps its time for some re-imagineering of just how my time is spent, with whom, and for what.

career

Beginning: Win a free ticket to Mediabistro’s Career Circus NYC on August 4th

Christa Avampato

Through the generosity of my friend, career guru, and founder of Exaqueo, Susan Strayer, I’m running my very first contest on this blog. Susan is speaking about the importance of having a strong personal brand at Mediabistro’s Career Circus on August 4th at 92YTribeca NYC. As a speaker, she has two free guest passes to give away and kindly offered them up to readers of Christa in New York. Each ticket would normally cost $145 and I’m so grateful to Susan for her offer!

Why you should enter this contest and go to Career Circus:
1.) Along with Susan’s stellar talk, you’ll have the opportunity to hear from a variety of career experts giving you guidance, new tools, peer support, and techniques for managing your career. This is advice and guidance we all need in this changing economy?

2.) In this economy, we use all of the good personal PR we can get and I want to help you out. So, if you win the drawing for one of the two passes, I’ll feature you in a post on this blog highlighting your professional expertise and what you bring to the table at any employers that is lucky enough to work with you.


How to win one of the two passes:
– Leave a comment on this post with your email address or Twitter handle, as well as any commentary on what you hope to learn at the Mediabistro Career Circus if you win one of the tickets.

OR

-Share this post via twitter and make sure your tweet includes “@christanyc” so I can track the retweet


When the winners will be announced:
I’ll choose two winners on Wednesday evening and announce them in Thursday’s post. I’ll also notify the winners via email and Twitter, and follow-up with them after the event to ask a few questions that will go into their feature post on this blog.

Good luck and I can’t wait to hear from you!

career, nonprofit, story, yoga

Beginning: Compass Yoga’s Story Resonates with Lawyers to Secure Pro Bono Legal Counsel

Christa Avampato

“Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.” ~ Ben Okri

This week I learned an enormous amount about the power of authentic storytelling. I founded Compass Yoga to provide yoga and wellness programming to populations dealing with specific health concerns. Given the incredible need, we are focusing our efforts on helping returning veterans, their families, and their caregivers, particularly those who are challenged with PTSD and other stress- and anxiety-induced illnesses. For some people, this is a difficult mission to imagine. They can’t see how veterans will ever take to yoga and other therapeutic treatments outside of traditional Western medicine. I understand their concern, and so storytelling has become a major focus for us.

On Tuesday, I presented to Lawyers Alliance, an amazing nonprofit who mission is to assist existing and would-be nonprofit organizations with legal matters. I requested their help in filing for nonprofit incorporation and 501(c)(3) status. To begin the process, I applied, had a phone interview, and then presented my case to them in-person. I was acutely aware of the my presentation’s dual-purpose – first, I needed to demonstrate the practical need for the organization and the logistics I would put in place to deliver on the mission. Then, they needed to see if I was passionate about the idea; they needed to hear my personal story. In short, they to know why this organization matters – to the world and to me.

I am so happy and grateful to report that on Friday I learned that Lawyers Alliance has agreed to take Compass Yoga on as a client. For a small retainer fee and necessary government filing fees, they will help us through the process of incorporation, set-up, tax-exemption filing, and other associated needs. Now the match-making process begins and they will contract with a pro bono attorney from a firm to work with me and the Compass Yoga Board on these actions.

When I received the notification, I literally started jumping around my apartment. I couldn’t believe this incredible good fortune. Wins like this make me want to work even harder to realize all of the potential for healing we have brewing with Compass Yoga.

A million thanks to so many of you who have sent your good wishes, resources, ideas, suggestions, links, and general goodness in this effort. None of this would be possible without all of you. It takes a village to grow and spread a good story, and I’m honored and humbled to be among you on this road. Today, my heart is full of gladness and sincere appreciation. Through my teaching, I’ll pay it all forward many times over.

career, choices, decision-making

Beginning: Spend One Day in Your Ideal Job

Christa Avampato

“What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.” ~ Buddha

You and I have been doing some soul-searching. In Mary Oliver’s beautiful words, we’ve been working hard to figure out what to do with our “one wild and precious life”. Yesterday I wrote about being at a crossroads in defining my soul’s work, and I’ve been spending a lot of time laying the foundation for Compass Yoga. Yesterday, I lived a day in my ideal job running Compass, and it was by all measures one of the happiest working days of my life. This is no small revelation.

I started out the morning at a reasonable time without feeling rushed – I walked Phineas, got ready, had some breakfast and was able to spend a few moments in meditation to prepare for the day ahead. I then went to meet with a group of attorneys who will potentially take Compass Yoga on as a client in their pro bono practice. I took away a few key items and decisions to speak about with the board when we convene for our first meeting in a couple of weeks. Then I gave a presentation on how yoga and meditation alleviate the body’s stress response at a men’s health fair at Jericho Project, a nonprofit partner that provides assistance to the homeless and like Compass has a particular interest in helping returning veterans.

It was a very good day, an ideal, fulfilling career day. And this got me to thinking, “Why couldn’t every one of my work days feel like this?” The answer of course is they can be, given certain decisions that I am on the doorstep of making. It was a motivating experience.

This day in my ideal job gave me a whole new perspective and new confidence in pursuing my entrepreneurial path. I felt such a sense of peace and satisfaction on this road. Even at a couple junctures when there was a bit of stress, it dissipated quickly and completely. I didn’t go running for the hills when the work day was done. I just eased into my evening. It’s been too long since I had a work day wrap up like that. I must remember Buddha’s wise advice – what I do now, today, becomes the basis for who I am tomorrow.

Give it a whirl
Maybe you have an idea of how you’d like to spend your work days. Maybe you have an idea of a venture you’d like to consider. Is it the right path for you? Should you leave behind your current job? Perhaps. My advice would be to take a day off and really live that ideal career day. See how it goes. Your body will tell you if you’re on the right path. Listen to it, and let me know how it unfolds.

career, dreams, work

Beginning: Leaving My Assistant Hat Behind

Christa Avampato

I had two very vivid dreams while on vacation in Florida. They were so powerful that I truly feel like they were not just merely dreams, but messages. Being away from my home base opened up my mind to new possibilities and ideas. Not surprisingly, both of these dreams had to do with finding my life’s work. One was an affirmation of what I’ve known for some time but didn’t know how to articulate and the other had to do with options as I move forward. I’ll tell you about the first one today and the second one tomorrow.

My chance with The New York Times
I was interviewing to be the assistant to the Executive Editor of The New York Times, an institution that I treasure. For some reason, I decided to stop off and run an errand before going to the interview. My interview was at 5:30 and I looked down at my watch while finishing my errand and it read 5:36. I ended up getting to the interview at 5:50 and Bill Keller (the former editor who just stepped down last month) was waiting for me. He told me he was very disappointed in my tardiness though with some work I could probably make a good assistant. At first, I was horrified at being late (those of you who know me personally know of my great love for punctuality), and then I was horrified by the word “assistant”. I got up from the table, told Mr. Keller I wasn’t interested in being anyone’s assistant, and walked out of the building. It felt amazing.

No longer assistant material
This dream has real significance for a few reasons. If there is any institution that resonates with me for its history and commitment to excellence, it’s The New York Times and I am a huge fan of Bill Keller’s (despite his skepticism about social media). If I was disgusted by the thought of being his assistant, then I can’t really imagine signing up to be anyone’s assistant. I’m grateful for the time I spent as an assistant; I learned so much. And now those days are behind me. For everything, there is a season.

Love the work, love the result
This dream also made me realize that for my work to be truly satisfying, I have to love the work itself as much as the result of that work. I would never be an assistant at The New York Times because that is the kind of job that requires the commitment of someone’s entire life. I used to be a person who could do that; I certainly did that to work in professional theater and I ultimately left to get a life. Now, I guard my personal time as a prized possession. The only mission I’m professionally committed to now is my own with Compass Yoga. I love the work and results of yoga and its teaching.

Times change, and our priorities change right along with them. Now I’m meant to work for me.

1, career, change

Beginning: Be Part of Your Own Demise

Christa Avampato

Yesterday I wrote about tearing down systems we don’t like in favor of building systems we’re proud to be a part of. That lesson hit home in a big way while I was on vacation.

Change is Unavoidable
I spend my weekdays at a company that needs transformative change. It’s a lot to ask – the company has been around for over a century and is in the financial services space. There are a lot of very well-intentioned people there who are extremely intelligent and talented. The trouble is that those people either A) don’t want to rock the boat or B) have a hard time cutting through the bureaucracy of a siloed, hierarchical organization. The even larger trouble is that movers and shakers are not rewarded at this company; at best, they’re given titles that have words like “special projects” in them and at worst, they’re made so frustrated by the system that they leave for greener, or at least flatter, pastures.

Day Job Status
I think I’m in group B and I might be in the frustrated camp, too. (Yes, yogis get frustrated, too, and I think it’s a healthy emotion that should be aired in order to get through it. Some at my company disagree.) As I was out walking Phin yesterday, I started to think about all of the companies that I interact with regularly and greatly admire – Google, Apple, Netflix, Disney / Pixar, Amazon, media outlets that were founded as network television and newspapers. I realized all of them had a glaring commonality: their new lines of business were in great opposition to their existing lines of business. Courageous individuals within these companies saw the future of their industries, wanted to play a key role in that future, and so they championed new ideas, even if those ideas seemed contradictory to the ideas these companies were founded upon.

Frustration Takes a Holiday
With that insight, my frustration with my day job melted. I realized that I just won’t be there that much longer unless some hefty cultural changes quickly make their way through the chain. As Brian always tells me, “Christa, you don’t get to decide when you’re done. One day you wake up and you have to make a change in that instant.”

Can You Change Fast Enough?
Change is a constant hum under all of our daily activities. There’s no escaping it, personally or professionally. The best we can do is be out ahead of it and be able to roll with it once it arrives. There are companies that do that; there are individuals who do that. It’s not easy work, but they are the ones who survive and thrive in the long-run. While I work for someone else as Compass Yoga gets off the ground, I’d like to be with a company that understands that our demise is imminent. It’s just a question of whether that demise happens to us, or with us.