Category: work

creativity, movie, technology, women, work

Leap: Plan B for Technology’s Unsung Hero, Hedy Lamarr

Christa Avampato
Hedy Lamarr

“All creative people want to do the unexpected.” ~ Hedy Lamarr

We look down on Plan B, as if its accomplishment is not as worthy of our time and attention as Plan A. I’m glad Hedy Lamarr, a stunning actress of the golden age of Hollywood, had a Plan B, and so are you. Of course Hedy Lamarr didn’t need a Plan B to survive and thrive, but she had one and she worked on it diligently, seeing to it that it was as successful than her movie career.

In 1942, with the world immersed in war, Hedy did her part to help the efforts of the Allies. Along with her friend and collaborator, composer George Antheil, she developed and patented frequency-hopping spread-spectrum. In short, it was meant to encrypt communication messages to prevent them from slipping into enemy hands. The technology of the time was not sophisticated enough to take full advantage of Hedy’s invention, but she pushed on. Today, this technology is still hard at work within Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. We use it every day.

Not bad for a Hollywood actress – shaping and transforming the entirety of the tech industry. We need more Plan B’s like that, and more people like Hedy Lamarr.

community, creativity, work

Leap: Do What You Can. It’s Enough.

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/begeezer/

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” ~ Edmund Burke

We’ve got problems.

The environment, education, the economy, healthcare, world peace. These are big issues, and they only scratch the surface of all the needs of our community. It’s easy to trick ourselves into thinking we don’t have the power to generate change. It all seems so daunting and it is if we think of them as all or nothing challenges. But if we could do a bit, and perhaps inspire someone else to do another bit, that might be enough of a daisy chain to get us going in the right direction.

I won’t solve the healthcare system’s many ails, but Compass Yoga is helping people feel better in small ways on a day-to-day basis.

I won’t solve the public education complexities, but I’m working with the Joan Ganzy Cooney Center, the educational center of excellence for Sesame Street, as a pro-bono consultant on their STEM (Science, Technology, Education, and Math) video game challenge that encourages students and educators to create and use games as a means of understanding STEM concepts.

I won’t solve the economic conundrum, but I’m starting The Geronimo Project as a way to publicizing incredible work being done by entrepreneurs and people who take big leaps into careers they love.

These are little things but I care about them and the people that they affect, and that’s enough of a reason to keep going bit by bit. What little things are you up to that are making this world a better place? Keep doing them.

nurture, sleep, work

Leap: A Needed Balance Between Working and Resting

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“When one foot walks, the other foot rests.” ~ Indian Proverb

I used to look down on the very idea of rest. Who needs rest when there’s living to do?

I do. A few years ago, I put my lifelong case of insomnia to bed and never looked back. On a rare occasion I will have a restless night, but rather than that being the norm, it’s often brought on by some infrequent and specific external stress. 99% of the time, I get at least 7 hours of rest so that I can recharge and be ready for the day ahead.

Rather than harming my productivity, the rest has actually enhanced it. I like the feeling of being able to lay down after a good day of work and know that I’ve earned the rest. It helps me to focus. It helps me to live in the present moment and to appreciate the busy times as much as the slow times. The rest has also made me more mindful of my own energy levels and it’s helped me to recognize when to call it quits. Rather than fight it, I revel in the need and ability to rest.

As I make these big changes in my career and my life, I feel more confident than ever that I can be both productive and nurturing of my body, mind, and spirit. I used to fear burn out. Now, it’s not even up for consideration. At the slightest twinge of discomfort, I’m able to take a breath or two or three.

Recharging isn’t something that needs to be done on week-long vacations, though I highly recommend those. Every day, we have the choice to come back down into our bodies, into the very depths of who we are, and rest there. Quiet. Peaceful. Free.

adventure, career, work

Leap: Go Against the Tide of Bland

Christa Avampato
Photo by Alice Lily

“Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is?” ~ Mark Twain

Brian has been counseling me now for several years about my confusion around people who phone it in, people who just take what life gives them, shrug their shoulders, and deal with it. Life happens to these people. I meet them, talk to them, and try to understand how they can get through life without ever really figuring out what this life is meant to be for them. Bland is a flavor that’s just fine for them. I think they’re missing out, and that we’re missing out on the benefit of their special gift. They think I try to hard, care too much, and set myself up for constant disappointment with my high standards.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I get to the end of my days, I want to look back and enjoy all of the interests I got to explore all over again. I want to appreciate the value that I brought to the world and feel the warm glow of knowing that many lives were made better because I was able to help them. That’s a tall order, and it’s not something that happens through low expectations. It happens for people who are willing to go out on a limb, push toward the edge, and do the work that lights them up with a sense of passion and purpose.

Life hands us a lot of garbage, a lot of opportunities to do things that just don’t matter. Put those aside. That’s not your work to do. Demand excellence. With a bit of creativity and a lot of courage to follow our convictions, there is so much good work to do in this world. And we have the ability to do get it done. Don’t settle.

business, career, creativity, job, journey, work

Leap: Stop Digging Trenches

Christa Avampato

“The only explicit lesson I got from my father was when I was not doing very well in school, and he had a little chat with me and said, “You know, there are people who work for me who dig trenches, and there are people who are professionals, and if you keep going the way you’re going, you’re going to be digging trenches for the rest of your life.” So that shook me up.” ~ Harry West, C.E.O. of Continuum, an innovation design consulting firm

Harry West was featured in the New York Times on Sunday in their corner office section, a weekly features that attempts to get inside the mind of a top executive. Harry’s statement above hit me like a punch in the gut. My education is what saved me, what lifted me up out of the situation I grew up in, and made my studies, travel, and the life experiences I treasure possible. Though I the hard lessons from very lean times are always with me, on occasion I need to remind myself that I am now on much more solid ground. At one point, I had to dig trenches because I had to start somewhere and there were few options for me. That’s not the case anymore. I’ve done my fair share of trench digging and it’s time to put down the shovel.

I don’t mean this to say that I’m done working hard. I hope I’m never done working hard, and if it ever looks as if I’m letting up on my relentless pursuit to go further, I hope you’ll force me to snap out of it. At some point, we need to pick our heads up, take a look outside, and find the thing that lights us up. Life is so incredibly short. We’re here for just a handful of years and we can’t spend it all in the trench.

The point of digging trenches it not to perfect that craft – it’s to lay the ground work for something that homage to the light within you. Learn what it feels like to dig one, and dig one well, and then figure out why on Earth that trench was so important in the first place. There must be something you want to build that makes good use of it, that wraps up your experiences and makes meaning of them. No one else can do that work – only you. Get after it.

adventure, art, career, faith, work

Leap: Shelter from the Storm Found at a Voice Over Class at Simple Studios

Christa Avampato

Wait a minute! Did I go to bed and wake up in September 2008?

This is the question I found myself thinking while at work yesterday. September 2008, 5 weeks after I joined my company, Lehman Brothers failed and the market went to hell. Several months later I was the only filled desk in an island of empty cubes. It was horrendous. I got through it, but it was no picnic and I’ve still got a few scars to prove I was there. You can’t see them, but pull up a chair any time and I’ll gladly tell you the story. (Not now, of course. But eventually.)

This week, I found myself in that same beat up situation. Fire drills from every direction. Some colleagues who have somehow forgotten that the first five letters of the phrase “humane treatment” are “human”, as in don’t pretend we have to chin up because that’s just how it goes. Some “leaders” telling us that we are the ones responsible for making this reorg work and not them. (Not my leader, mind you, who has been incredibly awesome in this whole ordeal!) It’s enough to make anyone go running after her sanity right out the front door.

And then last night I started my first voice over class. I left the office and thought to myself, “Really – now I need to go to class? I just want to go home and crawl under my bed.” I didn’t want to talk to anyone, see anyone, or smile at anyone. So, I got moving. I hopped out of the subway at 14th street and walked 15 blocks to Simple Studios, the class location.

As I approached I remembered that I had some of my yoga teacher training classes on the same floor of this building in 2010. When I began that training, I was also at a crossroads. I was also a bit blue and lost and confused. It turned out alright then. I channeled my energy into the training and Compass was born 5 months later. Maybe this history, just like my earlier feelings about September 2008, repeats itself, too.

The class was incredible. Sponsored by the PIT (People’s Improv Theater) and taught by the entertaining, honest, and incredibly smart Ed Lewis was a joy. The moment I walked into the building and headed for the elevator I felt a release, like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I left feeling lighter, happier, and more capable. I also think voice over work is going to be a blast!

My very dear pal, Jeff, is taking the adventure in voice right along with me. So here we go, folks! Another new adventure begins as I believe the curtain may come down on an adventure that’s gone on a tad too long. I’m not one to believe that when one door closes, a window opens. I believe that when a door closes, we have the ability, the choice, and the responsibility to rise up and carve our own way toward a brighter tomorrow.

I’m ready. As George Michael said, “I gotta have faith…”

adventure, career, choices, future, work

Leap: Sometimes Your Future Chooses You

Christa Avampato
Photo by Soller

Next week is going to prove to be an interesting week around the office. There are rumors flying about changes in staff, strategy, and priorities. I’ve heard so many at this point that they’ve all cancelled one another out. Only one thing is for certain – the way it is now is not the way it will be going forward. But isn’t that always true? Change is part of life, every piece of it.

Not even a year into this work toward my new year’s resolution, and it may come to be bear without me doing much of anything. We don’t always get to choose what happens to us, but we always have the opportunity to choose what we do about it. Sometimes we leap on our own, and sometimes we’re pushed into taking the leap. We don’t always see the push coming, and many times there’s little we can do to stop it. The question is will be commit to this new trajectory being laid out for us or will we try to cling to the ledge of a cliff we don’t really want but feels familiar?

My answer in one word: Geronimo!

art, career, movie, New York City, work

Leap: Finding Meaning in Experiences That Are Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Christa Avampato
Thomas Horn and Tom Hanks in the film Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

“And if that’s all you learned from 9/11, if that’s all you remembered, that: My God, you could extinguish life so suddenly, so unexpectedly, and it could happen to me, and therefore I should think harder about the way I spend my life instead of just wasting it. Now, it’s not going to teach you what to do with your life, but it will teach you to do with your life, and to do it more and quicker and better. And that can be extremely valuable.” ~ Mario Cuomo

Mario Cuomo made this statement in the PBS documentary about the history of New York City. It rang powerfully in my ears when I recently went to see the movie Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. The movie centers on a family that is forever changed by the events of 9/11. And before you go thinking, “Oh great, another 9/11 movie” like I did, watch the trailer. The performances are mesmerizing. You will want to look away and you won’t be able to. You’ll want to go back home to your life as usual, and you won’t be able to shake the feeling that you need to live the life you want. Today and every day after.

I recently had drinks with a friend of mine who recently got a new job. I asked her how it was going and she replied, “It’s called ‘work’ for a reason.” That gave me pause and then made me feel very, very sad. Was I asking too much of my career? Could a job ever be something we jump out of bed for or was that the stuff of Hollywood and daydreams? This thought nagged at me. Was I a fool to believe in a better way to work? This question refused to go away for days, and then I saw Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and then I had my answer. I stopped feeling sad for myself. Instead, I felt sad for my friend.

Work has to be more than work as we know it. Mario Cuomo is so damn brilliant and wise – YES, we have to do with our life. Anything less than that is just a waste. It must be meaningful, and not just in bits and pieces and once-in-a-whiles, but always. Every, single, day.

And this is just more fuel for the fire in my belly to work on Compass Yoga full-time. Here’s to people who want to jump up out of bed thankful for one more day, sink their teeth into life, and refuse to accept anything less. You are the rainmakers that this world needs and wants!

choices, decision-making, travel, work

Leap: What We’re All Really Doing Here

Christa Avampato
Photo by Mark Nethercote

“We‘re all just walking each other home.” ~ Ram Dass

I read this quote from Ram Dass and it stopped me in my tracks. It reminded me that we are here to be of service to one another. All we’re ever really trying to do is make life a little bit easier, a little happier for someone else. And we do this in all sorts of ways – through friendships and romantic relationships, community service, teaching, new products and services, and art that inspires and intrigues. And it’s all part of the same journey – one destination, a fulfilling life, and many paths to get there.

We’re all on our way home. We may be on different timelines, with different stops along the way, but we’re all part of one another’s adventures. It’s an honor to bring other people into our lives and have them take us into theirs. The only questions we really have to answer at the end of every day is this: did I make this day worthwhile, for me and for others? Did I help someone travel a bit lighter, get a bit further, and smile wider than they would have without me?

That’s what I’m doing here – for my students, my friends, and all of the people I have the extraordinary privilege to interact with every day. It’s a gift to be with them, and I treat every moment with that same belief. We’re just encouraging one another as we make our way forward.

career, nonprofit, work

Leap: You’ll Find Opportunity Everywhere. Now, Plan.

Christa Avampato

Since formally announcing my New Year’s Resolution to go my own way in my career this year, I’ve been spotting new opportunities everywhere. It’s as if I’m manufacturing rocks to turn over just to have some place to stash all of the possibilities. The board members of Compass Yoga tease me sometimes about my unending enthusiasm and my belief that yes, I can heal the world, and so can everyone else. Our future really is T.B.D. and it really is up to us.

Last week, I met with a few of the board members and we determined that with the legal set-up work behind us, we now need to get cracking on a solid strategic plan. I fight structure a bit, but I know how necessary it is to make the best use of creative energy. Being the President of a board is a brand new role for me, as is making the shift to work for myself. In the process, I’m seeking out lots of advice and doing a lot of research, which I love.

Here are 2 resources from my research that I thought you would find helpful if you’re doing some planning of your own:

1.) I came across a 10-step guide from the World Bank that details the strategic planning process for a nonprofit from beginning to end. (If you click the link, it will automatically download the PDF to your computer.) Even if you’re not starting a strategic planning process for a nonprofit, this document is filled with lots of wonderful advice about the act of planning in general.

2.) Also, over the holidays I read Steve Newcomb’s latest essay, The Art of War: A Warrior’s Guide to Raising Money in the Battlefield of the Silicon Valley. I’m not raising money in Silicon Valley (yet!) but this guide really helped me understand the value of a plan of attack and a few approaches that will be very valuable as the board and I undertake this planning process.

Happy planning, plotting, and acting!