Category: decision-making

choices, decision-making, dreams, meditation, yoga

Leap: Everything is Difficult

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“You cannot dream yourself into a character: you must hammer and forge yourself into one.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Have you ever shied away from doing something because you thought it was too difficult or because someone else told you that what you wanted to do was too hard? This pesky thought creeps into any and every crevice of doubt – about our careers, relationships, passion projects, and any time we are considering a change of any kind. It is the enemy of good decision-making and the only appropriate response to this thought is a loud, strong “Get out and stay out!”

It’s all tough. Everything you want to do in life has challenges. If you are waiting for the seas to part and the obstacles to disintegrate you are wasting your time and undermining your own strength. The path of least resistance that we hear so much about never said anything about a complete lack of resistance.

For a long time I lived with this conflict: I face a lot of challenges in my life and then in yoga class I hear that we shouldn’t struggle because life is supposed to be easy. Then a clear nuisance revealed itself to me. Life is challenging. We are almost always in the midst of difficulty. However, even a troubled road can be traveled with ease.

We can soften around obstacles so that we can navigate our way around them. We can move our attention inward when we need to replenish ourselves after a long day of work. Life may be filled with struggle but that doesn’t mean we have to be strugglers and take on all of the stress and anxiety that comes with that. To travel a hard road, we need strength, courage, stamina, and resilience – all the things that yoga and meditation provide.

So you go right on choosing your deepest, most passionate dreams, regardless of how hard it will be to bring them to life. Be confident in the fact that everything worth doing requires an effort of some kind. The trick is to also find the ease that lets you enjoy the journey and keeps you motivated to stay the course. Need some help with that? Contact me – my pep talks will make that pesky voice of self-doubt head for the hills.

art, change, choices, creativity, decision-making

Leap: The Work of Art that You Live

Christa Avampato

“Your thoughts, words, and deeds are painting the world around you.” ~ Jewel Diamond Taylor

Life isn’t happening to you. You aren’t being forced into a job, relationship, home, frame of mind, or attitude. These are all choices. How your days unfold is a result of your decisions, one after the other.

And here’s the really beautiful part: everything, and I mean everything, can be changed, fixed, and improved. And the person to do that is you.

It is within your power, within your right, to have exactly the life you want. If something isn’t working, if something is bringing you down, then you can take the steps to correct that. You can move toward joy, from wherever you are right now.

Your life is your canvas; paint a picture you’ll never grow tired of looking at. Don’t accept anything less.

adventure, choices, decision-making, dreams, time

Leap: Your True North

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

Finding our true north is about deciding what matters.

Next week will mark 5 months since I left my corporate job to start Chasing Down the Muse, my own consulting and teaching practice. I did this for many reasons though there is one reason that stands head and shoulders above the others: I wanted to work on projects that matter to me. I care deeply about education (defined broadly as cultivating the imagination by stoking our creative fire with inspiration and information), healthcare (defined broadly as helping all people attain their maximum level of wellness), and strengthening entrepreneurship / small business.

I was working a corporate job in financial services. It didn’t add up. This is not to say that I think financial services is a terrible place to spend a career. On the contrary, I am grateful that I spent time in this industry because it helped me to understand the mechanics of our economy during an unprecedented crisis. It just wasn’t right for me anymore in this capacity. So, I left in an attempt to find a better path with a safety net that consists only of my savings account and my passion to live an authentic life.

Planning to leave wasn’t easy. I had a cushy gig with nice people (many of whom I am honored to have as friends), regular work hours, a healthy paycheck, and a solid benefits package. It was a lot to walk away from but I’ve never looked back. These benefits paled in comparison to the possibility of doing the work I am meant to do, the work I am called to do.

I should have been scared. On paper this looks like an extraordinarily naive decision made by a wide-eyed twenty-something, not a thirty-, on the verge of forty-something, who’s been around the block a number of times. But here I am, 5 months later and resolute in the fact that given the chance I would absolutely do it all over again and perhaps sooner.

There isn’t a single day when I say to myself “I really should have stayed where I was.” Even when it’s hard, even when I haven’t had things work out as I planned or expected, I continue to feel motivated and inspired by possibility and opportunity. I’m always confident that something I really wanted doesn’t work out because room had to be made for something I have not yet even dreamed of.

To chart a new course, to step off the ledge, requires the belief in our ability to fly even if we have never taken flight before. Certainly, it requires equal amounts of conviction and lunacy because there is no proof, evidence, or guarantee of success. We make these kinds of decisions based on guts and faith.

You might think this is a recipe for anxiety but it’s exactly the opposite. Somehow, I am now calmer, clearer, and more relaxed than I’ve ever been. It’s the greatest feeling in the world to be free, happy, healthy, and fulfilled. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t feel like the luckiest, most blessed, grateful person on the planet. To somehow repay the world for this incredible opportunity, I put these thoughts down on paper in the hopes that they help you find your own true north.

Never, ever doubt that your wildest, most wonderful dreams are not only possible, but also probable, if you set out to find them.

choices, decision-making, time, work

Leap: How to Decide What to Do

Christa Avampato

I’ve recently been faced with a few career decisions. I’ve had some opportunities crop up that are tantalizing with a side of “I’m not sure this is really the right choice for me right now.” To be clear, they are really wonderful options – good pay, interesting work, nice people. But in each there is a key ingredient that makes me think I should pass. Either the flexibility in schedule isn’t there or the work doesn’t feel like the best use of my time.

These decisions feel like the textbook definition of “the fork in the road.” It would be easy on some level to take these jobs and I’d be good at them. Here’s the morbid, though quite helpful, question I keep coming back to: what if this is it? Post-Sandy, we’re hearing about people who lost their lives despite following all directions and making good decisions. This grim idea gives me pause. I’m not any different from these people. That could have been me, and perhaps a bit too easily.

These are the tough questions, ones that don’t have any right or wrong answers. Isn’t it now, on the tail end of youth prior to solidly moving into middle age, that I can really take every chance to firmly commit to joy in my work? And isn’t that the choice that could have an expiration date? Down the line, won’t there be some job that I could do that feels a bit less like joy and a bit more like selling out that I could take if I really needed to?

This is the hero’s journey and I am in the midst of the “challenges and temptations” portion of the trip. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where character is formed and tested. Revelation and transformation lie in wait just around the bend. And it is not easy.

choices, decision-making, happiness

Leap: Joy is a Non-Negotiable

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“It is only in sorrow bad weather masters us; in joy we face the storm and defy it.” ~ Amelia Barr, British novelist

The clouds will gather. The storms will come and they will go. We can’t control them. They are bigger than us. Bigger than all of us banded together. But what we can control is the amount of joy in our lives. We can choose happiness. We can choose, in this and every moment, to be grateful, to love, to be kind, to be strong, to pay attention.

Too often we have come to think of joy as a luxury. We think we should thank our lucky stars for the opportunity to be joyful when in fact joy should be the default state. We weren’t born to trudge through our existence with a heavy load bearing down on us, constantly downtrodden and agitated.

We are made for joy. I completely reject the idea that, “It’s called a job for a reason, and not because it’s fun.” Who decided that work couldn’t be joyful? Who decided that we couldn’t find enjoyment in our efforts?

What if we made that path a non-negotiable? What would come of us if we decided that joy had to be an integral part of everything we do? And going a step further, what if we refused to do things in which we couldn’t find any joy or purpose? What would our world be like then?

adventure, creativity, decision-making, determination, integrity, work

Leap: Caution – Once You Find Your Path, You Must Take It

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Happiness is a choice… sometimes, a contagious one.” ~ Milkshake

On Thursday I had an interview for a wonderful job. A dream job for many. A year ago, maybe even just 6 months ago, I would have worked my tail off to land it and then willingly packed my bags to move myself 3,000 miles to take it. That was before I clarified that my dream work involves doing very cool trend and innovation research and then using that research to build things that are useful for the world.

This job is purely the research side, and I’ve been there before. It’s a great job; it’s just not a great job for me. I need tangible results that I can point to. I need contact with end-users. I need to know that I am spending my days in service to others.

Clarity is a beautiful and rare thing when it comes to our path in our careers. It takes years and years to get there. We long for it. We chase it down. We think that all of our problems will go away once we find it. I have not found that to be the case.

Finding our path can prove to be a giant pain in the ass because once we know it, way deep down in our gut, we can’t do anything else. We have to take it. All the other shining, beautiful opportunities of what we could do pale in comparison to what we know is our reason for being.

This job carried an incredibly handsome compensation package at a company with a great culture, working for a wonderful boss whom I respect and admire. But it’s not my work to do so I turned it down on the spot. I didn’t even have to think about it. I didn’t even hesitate to say it wasn’t for me. All the perks didn’t matter because I need to do the work I’m meant to do. That’s the only option.

If I took this job, I would have to put my teaching, writing, and consulting for good causes on hold. My personal life would disappear. It’s that kind of job – 24/7, nonstop, “jump this high now” type of work. I’ve grown too used to doing what I love, too used to finding complete joy in work. There’s no turning back now.

art, choices, creativity, decision-making, design

Leap: Curate Your Life

Christa Avampato
Photo from Lifehacker

“Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film.” ~ Ansel Adams

“Curating a creative life” has been my tagline for this blog for several years. At one point my obsession with change got the best of me and I toyed with changing the tagline as I thought about how I wanted to craft my career and my businesses, Chasing Down the Muse and Compass Yoga. After a couple of days of a new tagline, I changed it back. There’s nothing wrong with sticking with what works and makes us happy. I realized it’s much more than a tagline; it’s my mantra.

It would be easy for a museum curator to just get any pieces of art up on the wall but that’s not the role of a curator. He or she carefully chooses what kind of art to install, and how and why and for what purpose. An art exhibit needs to hang together. It makes a cohesive statement and the pieces support the whole.

Your life is a living, breathing house of art. You are the sole curator of it; you decide what to add, what to toss, and how it comes together. And you are the only one who gets to judge its worth and meaning. You have the best job in the world and it’s the only job you really need to do. Don’t just live your life; craft it by your own design.

business, career, choices, decision-making

Leap: Is It Time to Specialize? Your Ideas Wanted!

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

Throughout the chaotic economic environment over the last 5 years, I have championed Generalists. I have taken pride in being one of them, in touting our expertise as people who can and do wear any hat. I love a vertical learning curve; I crave the opportunity to look at a seemingly impossible scenario and dismantle it bit by bit.

During my recent vacation to Florida, I devoured the book Yes, Chef, the autobiography of chef Marcus Samuelsson. The book is an incredible adventure story and his determination is center-stage throughout the story. From his teenage years, he was determined to be a world-renowned chef. His focus is inspiring, and it’s clear that this focus drives his phenomenal, though not always predictable, success. He’s very honest about the low points of his life and career, and he candidly describes his tremendous sacrifices for his work.

When I began the book, I was experiencing some twinges of concern over my freelance work. I was pitching a lot, and the slow cadence of August was frustrating me in the last days of the month. Reading Marcus’s book got me so hyped up that I wanted to jump out of my seat and keep on pitching. (And as I hoped and expected, September has picked up with a number of cool and interesting options in full-time and freelance work.)

His story also made me question my Generalist persona. Some people know me as a business strategist and product developer. Some people see me more as a writer. And still others look to me as a yoga and meditation teacher, as well as a nonprofit founder. Truth be told, I’m all of those things. I love them equally, and I have no desire to give any of them up for the sake of the others.

But should I? Would I be better served professionally and personally by solely focusing on one of these skill sets? Or should I concentrate my efforts in some other way (for example, if I went in the direction of health, should I work as a business strategist for health and wellness companies, while writing about health, and teaching yoga)?

I’m still entirely undecided on this front. It feels like an enormous decision and I don’t see a clear path as of yet. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, advice?

adventure, choices, creativity, decision-making, time

Leap: When You Don’t Know What To Do, You’re on the Right Track

Christa Avampato
This photo was taken by my yoga teacher, Arturo Peal

“It may be that when we no longer know which way to go that we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.” ~ Wendell Berry

It feels good to have direction, to feel confident in the decisions that lie in our past, the choices of our present, and the road of our future.

But what about the fork in the road? We stare for a long time down the path to the left, then pivot to stare an equally long time down the path to the right, and don’t know which to choose. We are keenly aware that with a single step, we are changing our future. We don’t know how it will unfold, but we know that there is no going back. With certain decisions, there’s no way to retrace our steps and make another choice. Things will be forever different.

When the going gets tough, we find that in that moment we actually get going. The Hero’s (or Heroine’s) Journey lies not in choosing between good options and bad options but good options and equally good options. That choice will allow us to clearly see our own priorities. We will finally know what’s most important to us, and very often it will surprise us and those around us.

Surprise and realization keep life interesting. They keep us engaged. They keep us growing and evolving. Confusion is a good sign that we are getting down to the real work of life – to decide what truly matters and why.

change, decision-making, opportunity, work

Leap: Make Room for New Opportunities

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“How beautiful can life be? We hardly dare imagine it.” ~ Charles Eisenstein

On a rainy Saturday morning, I made my way to this blog as Phineas was snoozing long past his usual morning walk time. A recent incident was weighing on me. Though I know I made the right decision in distancing myself from the situation, I still felt confused about why it came about at this time.

I have long-believed in the idea of space clearing. Sometimes life can get too full. Like an over-stuffed garden, our lives also need tending and weeding so that the plants we want to grow have the freedom and room to do so. I used to think this was just a chore that happened once in a while, but as I get a bit older I realize that this process is continuous. We must be diligent in keeping up with it, especially given the pace at which life and change moves in our world. Otherwise, the task becomes overwhelming.

That’s not to say this chore is easy. Every change and every ending is difficult, no matter how much it’s needed, wanted, and warranted. Think of how much energy and effort it takes to pull weeds from the garden. Sometimes their roots are sunken way down and we must dig deep to fully excavate them. But the work is worth it. In the end, there is a freedom there and with that freedom we get the opportunity to plant something new, something beautiful, something we have yet to imagine.