Category: time

beauty, choices, free, grateful, gratitude, happiness, make, maker, time

Beautiful: Make Your Own Freedom

Christa Avampato

54817320435182285_6WPkO2u4_cAction does not imply aggression. You don’t need to bully and bust your way onto the path that is best for you. It’s so tempting to push and prod and throw an elbow to exhibit strength. But there is a better way. A surer way. A happier, more peaceful option.

Just be your best self. Invest your time and effort not in making others see and behave in the way you want them to. Go about this work on your own and inspire through example.

Live your life. Make your choices. And not for the sake of achieving something or changing someone but only because they fill you with happiness and gratitude. That is the truest definition of freedom, something we all define on our own terms and in our own time.

beauty, creativity, dreams, make, maker, time

Beautiful: Create the Conditions You Need to Do Your Best Work

Christa Avampato

21814379414799127_vbmdhYPx_c“Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.” ~ Alan Cohen

Why wait? There will never be a better time to do the best work you can do than right now.

More money won’t help. Neither will the illusion of more time. Focus is gained by focusing. Confusion is sorted out through action. Clarity is gained by deciding to be clear about your priorities.

The conditions around you are always temporary and you have the power to make the ones that are right for you. Begin and the world will mold around your dreams. The Universe loves purpose, passion, and action.

adventure, creativity, make, maker, time

Make Something Beautiful – My New Theme for 2013

Christa Avampato
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From Pinterest

In the spirit of my new year’s resolution to fearlessly go after every dream I have, I’ll write every day about this journey. In 2012 I took the leap into a life of my own design. I spent a lot of time entrenched in the critical processes of planning and experimenting. In 2013 I will breathe life into those plans. I’ll roll up my sleeves, get out into the world, and actually build those dreams with my own two tiny hands because at heart I am a Maker.

Poet Mary Oliver poses the question, “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” In this new year, I mean to answer that question not in words, but in beautiful, thoughtful, passionate actions.

I’m so glad you’re here to share this experience. I hope it inspires you to take up the call to create. In 2013, what will you make?

choices, dreams, priorities, time, to-do lists, work

Leap: All the Work We Need to Do

Christa Avampato

230274_480168285369181_1941994014_n We all have our lists: what to do, where to go, who to see, what to plan, what to look into when we have some spare time. I have apps on my phone where I keep lists of lists. And this is why I love this picture from Startup Lab so much.

When we really get down to what matters, what remains when every last list is either complete or discarded, this is all that counts. Did we love what we did with our time? Did we improve someone else’s life just by being who we are? Did we make ourselves useful and helpful?

If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then rest assured that you are on the right track to a good life. And if the answer to all of those questions is yes, then make sure to give yourself a great big hug and a hearty round of congratulations because you are living the secret of life that everyone longs to learn. It’s so simple: do what you love as often as your can, be your best, unique, beautiful self every day, and make the world a little brighter for someone else.

This is all the work we ever really need to do.

courage, creativity, customer service, determination, generosity, gratitude, thankful, time

Leap: You Don’t Need More

Christa Avampato

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My friend, Adela, posted this on her Pinterest board and it raises a question that I’ve run through my mind so many times this holiday season. It’s fine to wish or hope for something though every person I know who is happy has two qualities in abundance: gratitude and determination. They don’t pray for things to get better; they work hard and make them so. They recognize the value of who and what they have in their lives and they share with others.

Here’s what I’ve learned – everything, absolutely everything, can be figure out. We can find a way into a new job or field. We can solve challenges, locally and globally, by extending our hands and acting together. We can find love by opening our hearts. We can improve our world, for ourselves and others, by shutting down our devices, leaving our homes, and rolling up our sleeves. And none of this requires that we have more stuff. It requires that we have more heart, more concern, more courage, more confidence. It requires us to understand that we have everything we need to do everything we want to do. The question is what will we do with it.

This Christmas, I hope we all get just one thing in our stockings – the strength to decide that the helping hands we want are the ones we already have.

feelings, future, time

Leap: Open Your Heart. Get Better.

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“What happens when people open their hearts? They get better.” – Haruki Murakami

When we are hurt, our natural reaction is to take refuge, to hunker down and shelter ourselves from any additional harm. This is a useful reaction in the short-term because it jump starts the healing process. Our wounds scab over and we begin to regenerate what’s been lost. For a while we need the bandaid to prevent infection.

But sheltering is only helpful for a brief period of time. A cut only fully heals once we take off the bandaid and it is exposed to the air again. Eventually, we have to crawl back out of our shells to find the sunshine again, to take in goodness. Yes, there is a chance of being hurt again. However, we will most certainly be hurt if stay tight in a bud for too long. We need the air. We need the light. We need love.

This Christmas, open your heart and get better.

creativity, future, time

Leap: Enable Your Future

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I no longer try to predict the future. It certainly fascinates me; I am as eager as the next person to know what lies around the bend. The only thing I have some control over is now. I trust that what happens next will unfold exactly as it should and I’m confident that I can and will flex to make the most of the future, not matter what it holds.

I try to build skills and experiences that I think will be useful tomorrow.

I spend a lot of time nurturing relationships and giving much more to my network than I ask or take.

Each day I try to learn at least one new thing.

Before I go to sleep and as soon as I wake up, I make gratitude my first thought. I find that the more often I count my blessings, the more blessings I have to count.

The future is coming for us. We have a hand in how it unfolds. We may not always be able to control it, but we can control how we manage it when it arrives. Be ready.

career, creativity, learning, technology, time

Leap: Why I’m Learning to Code

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

For a few months, I’ve been taking mini coding lessons at on Codecademy. They’re hard for me – I’m learning a new language, turning my thought process on its head, and getting familiar with a whole new way of structuring my creativity. I’m not good, but I’m getting better. This weekend, I received a new book that’s geared toward teaching the very basics of Python, a popular programming language.

I have no interest in becoming a programmer so why would I devote time to gain a basic understanding of coding?

1.) Our world is becoming increasingly influenced by technology. Knowing the basics of coding will soon be as necessary in the workplace as knowing how to use Microsoft Office.

2.) It’s difficult for me. By forcing myself to learn something that doesn’t come naturally to me, my mind must look at challenges in new ways and create new neural pathways. Just as we work muscles so that they get stronger, we must also work the brain.

3.) It grows my understanding as a product developer. There’s noting worse than a business people who ask the world of tech teams without having a clue exactly what their requests entail. I saw this all the time in my old job. Hardly anyone on the business side ever truly understood what they were asking of others. I want to do better.

4.) All it takes is time. Not so long ago, I would have had to enroll in a class to learn these skills. Now there are sites like Codecademy that offer these lessons for free and online. There are excellent manuals and books that will walk beginners through the basics. If it’s there to learn, then why not give it a try?

Are you working on learning something new? Would love to hear how the adventure is unfolding for you!

adventure, career, choices, creativity, time

Leap: Stop Your Career Regrets Before They Start

Christa Avampato

166140673722941520_2Vk6HH2M_bI read this article in the Harvard Business Review yesterday. The author surveyed 30 professionals from 28 to 58 to ask them about their deepest career regrets. I was surprised by the results. In short, they wish they hadn’t taken jobs based on money, had quit earlier to start their own businesses, and had trusted their gut when it came to their careers.

These results encouraged me. As we wind down 2012, I’m making some decisions about where my career will go next. Should I keep freelancing? Should I take a full-time or long-term contract role that has some flexibility so that I can still teach and pursue my creative projects?

I only know one thing for sure – I’m glad I made the leap on June 15th. I’m glad I stepped away from my corporate job to try out this new chapter of my career. This HBR article confirmed for me that no matter what happens next, I will never have to wonder what would have happened if I trusted my gut, quit my job, started my own business, and followed my dream instead of a paycheck. I did all of those things and everything turned out just fine.

We can’t always logically explain our actions. On paper, it looked like a less-than-smart idea to leave my very good job for the sake of following my heart. I just knew when I came back from India that I had to take this adventure and that I needed to take it now. The decision defied any sense of reason. I just knew that I had to take this time and that I had to take this chance, no matter what the outcome.

I much prefer the risk of trying something new over the risk of regret.

choices, creativity, decision-making, experience, future, time

Leap: Give Up and Keep the Wheels Turning

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” ~ Voltaire, French writer, historian and philosopher

In the last few weeks, I’ve done a heavy dose of reflecting. I’m in prime planning mode for 2013. What direction will I take with my career? How will my personal life unfold? What do I want to learn? What do I want to do more often and what do I want to give up? Where do I hope to be at this time next year and how do I chart a course to get there? These are heavy questions.

Sometimes, I get frustrated. I see so many options that I get stuck and run the pros and cons through my mind over and over again. When this happens, I just stop. I close my laptop. I put down my pen. I take myself (and Phin) for a walk.

The break clears my head and I return to my challenges with fresh eyes. While on break, the wheels of my subconscious spin and ruminate without interference from the filters of my conscious mind. My subconscious goes free-wheeling to make connections between seemingly disparate bits of information. It combines information in all sorts of ways without attaching judgement. The key is that last bit: no judgement. When I let my conscious mind give up, my imagination can run wild and that is the best way to solve challenges.

Maybe this time of year invites reflection for you, too. Like me, you may be running through different scenarios for the year ahead. You will need to make choices on how to spend your time, energy, and effort. If it overwhelms you, I hope you’ll give up, too. Stop trying so hard to figure it all out. Let your mind sort it out and don’t get in its way.

This holiday, spend time with your family and friends. Let yourself laugh. Power down your devices (at least for a little while.) Be present. Reconnect with nature. Go for a walk, confident in the knowledge that the answer will rise up precisely when it is needed and that you will be both aware and relaxed enough to hear it.