Category: determination

adventure, choices, determination, government, journey, politics, risk

Step 256: What We Can Learn from Rahm Emanuel

Christa Avampato

“If you run before the wind, you can’t take off. You’ve got to turn into it. Face it. The thing you push against is the thing that lifts you up.” ~ Delta commercial

Rahm Emanuel has a reputation for being a tough administrator who gets the job done. He runs a tight ship as an ambitious First Mate. I’m sure somewhere in the history books, long after the Obama administration has left the White House, there will be some chapter somewhere that recalls Emanuel’s role as the White House Chief of Staff. More than likely, the average American will not remember him nor his critical role in making the Obama administration run. Even now, do we know how much policy he has influenced with a heavy hand? At best, we know that he is a trusted adviser to our President, though we don’t know his advice.

Last week Mayor Daley announced that he will not seek re-election, and rumors begin to circulate that Emanuel may exit the White House to return to his beloved city of Chicago to become the star of his own life and career, as opposed to someone’s manager who looks on from the shadows of the wings. I thought about that image when I met with Brian last week. Brian has been a supportive and unrelenting advocate for me and my career. He thinks I have spent enough time in a supporting role and that it’s time for me to step out on my own in some way. He voices that message on a regular basis.

I tell him I need some more time to save money, to grow my experience base. Brian’s all for pragmatism, though he’s more in favor of setting the stage for how we’d like our creativity to organize itself. In other words, if we tell our creativity we’re just not ready and we need a plan B then our creativity will believe us and get going on a brilliant plan B. Our creativity, in large part, does what we tell it to do.

The trouble is that I’m an excellent supporting character. I’m really good at juggling priorities and managing around challenging personalities. I’ve made a successful career out of improving situations that very much-needed improving, and until I decide to work from a clean slate, I will continue to be part of the clean-up crew. We get the circumstances we ask for, or at least the ones that we’re willing to tolerate.

We all deserve the opportunity to be the stars of our own lives, to test our own ideas, and to make our own independent contributions to the world. As much as Rahm Emanuel may respect his boss and believe in the Obama agenda, he doesn’t call the shots. At the end of the day, they’re called for him to execute against. That’s the gig that comes with being a Chief of Staff and not the Chief. Of course he’s considering the possibility of becoming the mayor of his hometown. And with that inspiration, we should all think about what stage it is that we’d like to star on – we all deserve a little piece of the spotlight in our own lives. Turn into the wind, and see what lifts you up. For Emanuel, it’s the city of Chicago. What is it for you?

celebration, creative process, determination, frustration, work

Step 249: 5 Ways to Bring Great Ideas to Life

Christa Avampato

“Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.” ~ Joseph Joubert, French essayist

The past week I’ve been blown away by all of the opportunity and possibility around us. From new Linked-In and Twitter connections, to chance meetings, to introductions by colleagues, I’m connecting with potential on a new level. After many of these initial connections, I’m getting follow-up requests and invitations for continued conversations about working together on new and exciting projects. After each connection, I’ve been taking time to consider one very critical question: can the project be driven to completion?

By nature, I get tremendously excited about new opportunities and possibilities. New is invigorating. And there are so many new opportunities out there that it would be very easy to constantly be distracted by the next latest, greatest project. Finishing is tough work. It requires determination and plenty of time and effort. So how do we keep that excitement of something new when we’re halfway through? How do we keep our energy up to complete the job?

Here are some ideas that I’ve found helpful:

1.) Remind yourself why the idea was exciting to start with. Having e a mission-based approach to a project can make any mundane tasks for meaningful. Recognize that every project will have some parts (paperwork, etc.) that are not thrilling but absolutely necessary to making the opportunity a reality.

2.) Share the load. Working on a project with others (both on the creative and mundane tasks) will make them go faster and many times can make them more enjoyable. It’s especially important when halfway through a project to connect with others that can keep our energy up while we drive the project to completion. If we can get others to help us with the mundane pieces, then all the better.

3.) Keep mementos of past successes in sight at all times. When we’re halfway through a project it’s important to remember all of our other accomplishments that were made possible by our hard work. Those past successes help us see our current project as another celebration-in-the-making.

4.) Celebrate small victories. We often think of celebrations as endings. Why not make celebration a regular activity that commemorates milestones along the way? Getting each piece of a project done contributes to the whole so we should take a moment to congratulate ourselves on being one step closer to our achievement.

5.) File the new ideas for the future. I had a conversation many years ago with a would-be writer who said he could never complete a book because he always got distracted by his next book idea. He had a trail of unfinished books that he could never get anyone else interested in. New ideas can be a distraction and a way to procrastinate, even if they’re entirely valid. Don’t ignore them – one of them may very well be your next big thing. So jot it down and keep it tucked away in a file of what to do next once the task at hand is complete.

How do you keep going when you’re in the midst of a project?

determination, failure, faith

Step 221: Entrepreneurs Equally Confident and Vulnerable

Christa Avampato

“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability… To be alive is to be vulnerable.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle

Entrepreneurship takes a bit of unbridled confidence. Part of an entrepreneur must remain a child forever. Go into a kindergarten classroom and ask students to raise their hands if they believe they are fantastic singers. I bet everyone would not only raise their hands, but also start to belt out their favorite tunes. Ask the same question to a room full of adults and you’d be lucky to get a hand or two. That hand or two belongs to people who are innately entrepreneurs. If we really want to make it with our own ideas turned into businesses, we need confidence more than we need anything else.

And while all entrepreneurs need confidence, they also need to put the very best of themselves out there everyday, knowing that some days they may come home empty-handed. To put our own personal brand out into the world without hiding behind another company’s name leaves us equally open to praise and criticism. People will constantly ask us how it’s going, and we have to sometimes buck up and say “could be better”. We have to remain hopeful and vulnerable all at once. We have to keep knocking on doors to keep discouraging thoughts at arm’s length.

A few months ago, I put together 27 interviews from my Examiner.com column about entrepreneurship into an e-book, Hope in Progress. Each of those entrepreneurs exhibits that perfect balance between remaining vulnerable and confident at once. I learned so much from them, and am grateful that they took the time to share their stories with me. Each of them lives by Madeleine L’Engle’s edict, expressed so beautifully in her quote at the beginning of this post: to be truly alive, we have to put our deepest desires out there into the world, listen to the response, and remain grateful for the opportunity to fully express who we really are.

creativity, determination, frustration, learning, Life, loss, luck, mistakes, presentation, producer, television, trend

Step 199: Why I Hate Reality TV Shows With Elimination Rounds

Christa Avampato

I have a hard time watching reality TV, especially when elimination rounds are involved. I get nervous for the contestants as if I’m on the show myself. I never knew why until my brother-in-law recently shared his view on these shows: “You don’t get judged on the body of your work; one mistake and you’re gone.” This is a horrible lesson to reinforce in our society.

Real success comes from trying a lot of different ideas, taking risks, and learning from failures as well as achievements. To support the idea that one false move means you’re down for the count is just plain dumb. Real life isn’t like that, making the idea of this kind of “reality” TV anything but.

My brother-in-law had an idea: why don’t we let all of the contestants stay until the end and have the judging be on the full season of work, not just one dish, one task, or one song? Have the weekly winners actually win something extra. Let people learn from their weekly mistakes, and actually see what they do with what they learn. That would be a reality TV show worth watching.

decision-making, determination, future

Step 148: Ignorance as Gift

Christa Avampato

About 3 years ago I moved back to New York City after business school, no job, no place to live, and barely enough money to get by. I had the gift of a very large blind spot that prevented me from seeing that about 6 months later the economy would unravel into the great recession. Ignorance was not only bliss, but almost single-handedly responsible for making my current life possible.

Yesterday, I made my way to Laguardia airport for a much-needed vacation, by way of Astoria, Queens, my landing spot 3 years ago. My friend, Anne, needed a subletter just as I was graduating and I needed a cheap place in a good neighborhood. The Neptune Diner is right down the street from Anne’s and a favorite local spot in Astoria, owned by a Greek family that has been cooking up homemade meals for decades. They make an out-of-this world delicious, cheap lemonata chicken and it made for a fitting meal yesterday to celebrate how far I’ve come in 3 years.

I took a seat at the bar, ordered the chicken, and took a look around, drinking in my ridiculously good fortune. My mom and I came to Neptune when we moved my few arms-full of belongings into Anne’s. My mom was so proud of me, despite my lack of job, money, and a place to call my own. I was scared to death but I didn’t tell her. Despite my many wonderful friends and supportive family, I felt very much alone 3 years ago. I knew in my gut I belonged in New York again; I just didn’t know why. So I trusted myself and kept following my instincts.

Happily, it did all worked out. My gut knew the way. After a lot of networking, I got a job at the end of my first month back. I started this blog, which has provided me with a great abundance of opportunities to meet interesting people and share information that I hope helps others. It has also helped me land paying freelance gigs and opened my eyes to the opportunities in social media. I have a beautiful apartment in my favorite New York City neighborhood. Through diligent savings, I’ve got a nice little emergency fund tucked away and have started paying down my school loans faster than planned. Last week, I completed my yoga teacher certification. And my loving friends and family have only grown more supportive of my life. It’s been a full, happy 3 years.

Now, I find myself at another cross-roads that feels somewhat like that time nearly 3 years ago. For the past year and a half, I have intensely researched entrepreneurship, and mulled over the idea of starting my own business on the side, hoping to eventually make it my full-time gig. I know that transition takes time so I have a good day job that supports my entrepreneurial vision. No matter how much research I do, I know entrepreneurship must be lived to fully understand it. To really embrace it, I will have to put the books aside and jump.

As I looked around the Neptune Diner, I reminded myself that from a place of fear and ignorance, good things transpire as long as we maintain the right attitude. My life serves as proof of that. I know in my gut, again, that this yoga-based business is the right idea, right now. I don’t know how it will all fall together. I just know that it will so long as I keep at it.

decision-making, determination, yoga

Step 72: Attitude

Christa Avampato

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” ~ William James, American philosopher

Today began my second weekend of yoga teacher training. Two weeks ago, I left the first day of my training with my head swimming, my emotions racing, and a lot of self-doubt living inside my body. All I could do was go home, go to bed, and promise myself that no matter what, I would get up the next day, go back to that studio, and give my best. I’ve got attitude in spades.

And my attitude on the yoga the mat is beginning to infiltrate other areas of my life in powerful ways. Last night when I found out I didn’t get into Columbia’s PhD program, I couldn’t even be upset. Nor was I disappointed. My first reaction was “well I guess my path leads a different way.” Last week I had lunch with my boss and we talked about our shared belief that we could learn just about anything we ever needed to learn. It might be difficult and it may take us some time, but if we really put our minds to anything, we could reason through it. Attitude at the beginning of a task or how we accept news we didn’t anticipate, makes all the difference in how we pull through.

Somehow, without even knowing it, I took all the yoga I’ve been practicing out in the world for so many years and embodied it to apply to issues in life that have nothing to do with yoga. My practice changed me. It gave me a better attitude. It helps me to let go and trust. Or at the very least, it helps me to keep trying.

books, determination, movie, science

My Year of Hopefulness – The Transformative Power of Tenacity

Christa Avampato

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.” ~Louis Pasteur

My friend, Laura, the author of Laura Reviews, recently posted an interview with Hugh MacLeod, author of Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity. At the end of the interview, Laura asked him for his advice to writers. He simply said, “Keep doing it. It’s better to write 50 words every day, than 2,000 words every month.” In other words, keep going.

On Daily Good, a blog that promotes positive news stories, I read the quote above by Louis Pasteur. Pasteur is best known for the development of vaccines and the process of pasteurization. While he could attribute his vast scientific accomplishments to intelligence or creativity or even a variety of qualities, he credited his tenacity as the only key to his success. In other words, his achievements are due to his ability to keep going.

With all the rain falling in New York City lately, I’ve steadily been working my way through my Netflix cue. I rented We Are Marshall. It looked like a compelling story, and one I was unfamiliar with. After a tragic plane crash in which nearly the entire team, coaching staff, and many fans of Marshall University’s football team perish, the university considers deferring its program.

One of the four remaining players rallies the school’s students who stage a peaceful demonstration outside of the school’s board meeting as the board is deciding whether or not to defer the program. Every student at the university turns out, chanting one single saying, “We are Marshall.” After an exhaustive search to find a new coach, Jack Lengyel (then head coach of the football team at The College of Wooster) convinces Marshall to give him the job of head coach.

A grieving town, a spare number of players whose hearts and spirits were wracked with guilt, and a university suffering with a tremendous sense of loss and loneliness. That’s all Jack Lengyel had. And though the team had far from a winning season in 1971, the fact that they could rebuild any sense of spirit and win any games at all in the competitive arena of college football was nothing short of a miracle. They just wouldn’t take no for an answer, not matter how many obstacles they encountered. They kept going.

Tenacity pays. It obliterates challenges. It provides confidence to those who embrace it and inspires others who witness it in the spirit of others. So when we’re down or lost or we don’t know what to do with what we’ve got, the only way for us to get unstuck may be to just keep plowing through.

The image above can be found at: https://christaavampato.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/tenacity.jpg?w=300