Category: work

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?

goals, marketing, New York City, priorities, work, youth

Step 237: Do You Want to “Arrive”?

Christa Avampato

I always know that something is afoot in the universe when the subject of a conversation I have with a friend is echoed in a conversation I have at work the very next day. Last night I had dinner with my friend, Courtney, and we talked a lot about “arriving”, both in a professional and work sense. I met Courtney through my yoga teacher training and as new teachers we’re both trying to find our way through the complicated maze of the wellness industry. She and I are both contemplating full-time career moves as well.

We talked about relationships and living in New York City, a city whose residents strive to arrive in every aspect of our lives and yet are also always reaching for that next rung up. After all, most of us moved here to prove we could make it here, and therefore make it anywhere. (Thank you, Frank, for writing that succinct, poetic line to describe our complicated, collective goal.) Because we live in this delicate balance of thriving and striving, it’s hard to know when we’ve actually made it.

I work full-time as a product developer for a premium financial institution. Like many luxury brands, our brand halo has always had the understanding that once you carry our brand in your portfolio, you’ve made it big time. It’s a sentiment that’s served us well except for one tiny, recent glitch: many young people (young Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennials) don’t feel like they’ve made it yet and therefore don’t have a sense of belonging with our brand as they do with many others. It’s a tough nut for us to crack since we’ve spent over 100 years touting ourselves as aspirational and a recent market study showed that young people today are choosing to grow up later in life than previous generations. The real risk for us is that if we don’t grow loyalty among the youth segment now, we actually won’t be relevant to them once they do feel like they’ve made it.

I’m a cusp Gen X / Gen Y so I understand this mentality. In truth, I’m not sure that I’ll ever feel like I’ve arrived and a large part of me doesn’t want to feel that way. I live in New York City because I actually love striving, pushing my limits, and the feeling I get from growing, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and professionally, every day. Honestly, if you’re not interested in growth and change, I would recommend living someplace else. New York City is just too difficult a place to make your home unless you love to push yourself every day. I love New York City – I’m probably a lifer – but it is not for everyone and I understand why people choose to move. There’s no shame in that at all; it’s just a matter of priorities.

When I think about the youth dilemma facing my company, I think we’ve got one clear choice: Do you want to be a brand that rewards people once they feel like they’ve arrived at some idealized financial state or do you want to help people strive, accomplish, and push their boundaries no matter where they are on the “arrival spectrum”. That’s a very different kind of brand attitude that requires a new overarching brand strategy and quite a shake-up at my company. It’s a question worth pondering and acting upon – living in a state of limbo and identity crisis doesn’t help anyone, and in actuality it’s a sure-fire way to become irrelevant. Eventually, you’ve got to say “this is who I am” and be with the people who support that.

growth, happiness, history, nostalgia, work

Step 235: Insights from a Little Trip Through My Archives

Christa Avampato

This weekend I needed to put together a portfolio of sorts. I started digging through my archived files relating to different projects I’ve worked on since graduating from business school 3 years ago. A few ideas hit me as I sorted through the many documents I have saved, and all of the personalities that had a hand in crafting them:

1.) The breadth of work that came my way once I entered the innovation field still knocks me out and makes me feel incredibly lucky. From re-designing a toy store floor to developing a cost-neutral social media system to track credit card fraud practice, the ride has been anything but boring.

2.) I have had the great good fortune to work alongside some incredible talent. I owe them a big thank you for everything I’ve learned from them.

3.) How some less-than-talented people climb the ladder, particularly in competitive cultures during a massive recession, still astounds me. My friend, Wayne, always says that a chapter in his corporate autobiography will be entitled “Cruella De Ville and Other Crazies I’ve Survived”. I’ve also seen a lot of wonderful people let go during a time when companies should have been thanking their lucky stars to have such incredible talent among their ranks.

4.) The amount of personal and professional growth is evident when I view the spectrum of my work as a whole. From the data analysis to the strategic planning to the execution design, I could see my strengths growing and multiplying throughout the paper trail. I winced a little looking at my early work after b-school – it was a good reminder that we all start somewhere and we’re all capable of growth, many times in leaps and bounds!

5.) The projects that I felt the most passion for weren’t always the most successful or the ones that earned my paycheck. The pro-bono work and the projects we couldn’t get funded were the ones that really made me come alive. Funding within large companies is an odd thing – newness and risk are not things that large companies easily take on. And yet, those are the very ideas that have the greatest upside. Playing it safe carries its short-term rewards for sure, but it doesn’t hurt to take a peek over the horizon toward a tomorrow further down the line.

As I look back on my body of work, it’s always the things I did against all odds that brought me the greatest happiness.

career, dreams, education, work

Step 234: Public Education Needs Us to Set Sail

Christa Avampato

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” ~ John A. Shedd

This week I read Paul Tough’s op-ed in the New York Times about innovation in public education. As I begin the journey to transition my career in corporate product development to innovation in public education, I’ve been doing a lot of research on new ideas in the education field. Tough, who wrote the excellent biography Whatever It Takes about Jeffrey Canada and the Harlem Childrens Zone, raises the flag on Congress continually commissioning fact-finding studies rather than putting new ideas into action in schools. This is equivalent to companies testing new product ideas in powerpoint rather than in market.

It’s safe to test in powerpoint, to commission research studies. The trouble is those acts don’t move us forward on our journey. Testing new ideas in the public eye takes guts and conviction. Innovation in any field is not for the faint of heart or the perfectionists. Innovation is for the ones who are willing to let go of today’s safety for the possibility that a brighter, happier tomorrow lies just beyond the shore. It is for the person who is willing to give up the perfectly acceptable for the hopeful promise of the truly extraordinary. Innovation, particularly in an area as critical to our future as public education, is for people who demand the ship pull up its anchor and head straight on toward the horizon. And if that ship refuses to move the innovator will pitch herself overboard and go it alone with the tides. It takes a certain amount of fearlessness mixed with equal amounts of curiosity and humility.

Paul Tough, Geoffrey Canada, and a myriad of others who care deeply about public education today are those innovators who would rather risk it all because the truly risky bet is to just do what we’ve always done; and what we’ve always done in public education is no longer working. We’re seeing the frightening effects in free-falling test scores, soaring drop-out rates, and ever-increasing desperation in the very poorest school districts. Public education needs you, me, and as many others as we can gather. Our government bands together to save the big banks, but not public education. Most government officials don’t understand that simply throwing money at the public education problems doesn’t make them go away. It takes just as much heart as it does money to have an impact in the lives of our children.

Some people ask me why I’d hop off the corporate product development track to pursue a career in public education. I have a plum position with a well-known company working on new technology development, a role that many MBAs would take in a heartbeat. I make good money. Most of the time the hours are perfectly manageable. By all accounts, I have found a safe harbor in the economic storm. I am beyond grateful for the opportunity. I could stay there and do well and move up the ladder. That life would be fine, but for the fact that it is not the least bit reflective of my spirit.

Here’s the rub: I don’t bring my heart to work. I show up to collect a paycheck. Nothing I do is building a better world, directly or indirectly. It’s just making more money for people who already have plenty of money, more money than they could ever possibly need. And I don’t want to wake up at the end of my career and look back at a broken public education system only to say, “I really should have spent my career trying to innovate in schools. That would have really made a difference.” I could sit back and years from now look around at a big pile of money in a bank account, and it would feel completely worthless. I would have wasted my time, and that’s just too tragic for me to bear.

So I’ve started to make my way out to sea, a tiny little row-boat paddling as fast as I can toward the sun. Call me an idealist; I’d welcome that. I’d rather live by my own ideals than by someone else’s. The mother ship is fading into the background and I’m looking for a way to do the work I was built for. Sometimes you’ve just got to set sail, no matter how rough the waters may seem.

care, community, happiness, harmony, work

Step 230: Bring Your Heart With You

Christa Avampato

On the heels of yesterday’s post, I’ve been thinking a lot about heart and passion and why we show up when, where, and for whom. For a while, we can get away with putting in just enough effort and time, the minimum requirement. Things will crank along at an ok speed. The work will get done. Most people will think the result is just fine.

The problem is that working listlessly eventually takes a tremendous toll on our psyche and our spirit. It dulls our senses and our intellect. It makes us less of who we are, and that’s the last thing that the world needs, especially right now. What the world needs is all of us at our very best, bringing all of our gifts and talents and attention to bear. There’s no glory in spending our days in a holding pattern.

We need to show up every day, at home, at work, at play, with an open heart and an open mind. We don’t have time to phone it in. Really, life is precious and fleeting and we don’t get to choose how much of it we have. We only control the amount of joy we pack into it. And the world can’t wait for us. If need be, it will drag us kicking and screaming toward our better future.

I would rather just take the world by the hand, and go along smiling toward the bright, happy days ahead where I’m using my heart and my mind in equal measure. The only work we have to do is the world we’re meant to do. Everything else is just a distraction.

career, work

Step 229: 7 Job Search Methods That Worked for Me

Christa Avampato

A lot of my friends are peeking out from under the gloom of the recession to see what opportunities lie in wait. Now two to three years out of business school, we’re starting to think seriously about a move that aligns our hearts and our minds, and we care deeply about impacting the world in a significant way. The heart-led job search can be tricky terrain. It’s not as easy as hopping on Monster.com and blanketing the field with our resumes. This one requires more finesse, creativity, and patience.

In today’s post, I thought it might be helpful to list a few methods I’ve used over the last three years that have led me to interesting new ground. If you’re in the market, I hope these ideas get you going, too.

1.) Be authentic about your interests. Someone somewhere in the world needs the gifts you have to offer. I stopped trying to get organizations to like me and just focused on talking about the ideas that I’m passionate about. I want to take my experience into the public education field, a field I love to research. I’m constantly reading about it, and trying to connect to others with the same interest. I focus on learning and sharing as much as I can. Talking about that passion is helping me to find my pack. And in the heart-led job search, your pack is king.

2.) Don’t network when you need a job – network all the time. In many ways, having a job where we’re comfortable can make us a little lazy. We stop going to events. We stop looking for new connections and neglect the ones we have. Then all of a sudden we need something, and we wonder why people won’t put themselves out there for us. Keep the mindset of constant connection, to new contacts and treasured ones, and you’ll find opportunities present themselves to you as often as you look around for them.

3.) Free can lead to fee. Especially in the recession, organizations are looking for more help. Because I’m interested in the social venture / nonprofit fields, this is a bit of an easier sell for me. I’ve done pro-bono marketing and communications work with Junior Achievement, American Red Cross, and Save the Children. I’ve not been paid for this work yet, but down the line I know these relationships will be very valuable, and I’ve gotten incredible experience with organizations who mean a lot to me. Win-win. Check to see if your company has any of these projects you could join (or lead!) and if not, reach out directly to organizations that interest you and offer a few hours of free consulting.

4.) Volunteer. Again, easier for me to make this case because of the work I’m interested in, but I have a lot of friends who’ve made valuable contacts while doing something good for their communities. Alumni clubs are a great starting resource. Also, check out programs like iMentor that place an emphasis on bringing their volunteers together in social settings to meet and get to know one another.

5.) Social media is more than a means to keep up with your friends. I write on this blog every day because I love it, and believe me it is a lot of work. I’m not suggesting that everyone have a blog, and there are ways for everyone to be involved in some aspect of social media no matter how much time they have (or don’t have.) I also tweet, use FB for my work, tap into some location-based services like Foursquare, actively use LinkedIn. My inbox collects about 30 e-newsletters per day that I scan for interesting stories and companies. Every cool opportunity I’ve found since business school somehow has a social media link. It’s that important – so get out there in some virtual way and connect to people who interest you.

6.) Write letters and emails to people whose work you admire. When you read about an organization that interests you, write to them and express your interest. I do this all the time and I’m always pleasantly surprised how much people like to talk about themselves and their work to someone who shares their interests. Learn from them.

7.) Make your current work as meaningful as possible. I work on new technology projects, particularly related to mobile technology, in my day job. I know technology is critical to public education moving forward, so while I currently work outside of public education, I know the experience I’m getting will be very valuable. Looking forward to the future is important, but don’t let current opportunities go to waste. You them wisely.

I’d love to hear what’s worked for you in your job searches!

time, to-do lists, work

Step 226: More Free Time This Fall

Christa Avampato

My summer was not the relaxing break I hoped for a few months ago. Trips that didn’t go the way I planned, travel delays and cancellations for a variety of scary reasons, and work that took a turn for the insane. In general I felt off. About a week ago, I saw some of the fog start to lift, and then it plunged right back down for another round of crazy. I was feeling worn out, but still laughing, which is always a good sign.

Last weekend I took a hard look at my Fall schedule and saw the work mounting. I made some tough decisions about which pieces had to take a backseat for the time being. This afternoon I got an email from LIM College saying my social media class couldn’t be offered this Fall. I was disappointed to say the least, but nothing is as good as it seems or as bad as it seems. To their credit, LIM offered me the opportunity to teach several other classes this Fall that are more central to their curriculum (mine was very much an elective) but either the schedule didn’t fit with mine or the topic wasn’t my area of expertise.

The unfortunate aspects of not teaching at LIM College this Fall:
1.) I spent a lot of time and effort on the class building it from scratch

2.) I was looking forward to getting into college-level teaching much earlier in my career than I anticipated

3.) Missed income since I now won’t be paid this Fall for class or the work I’ve put into it to-date

And the upside:
1.) If the scheduling works out, mine and LIM’s, there is the possibility that I could teach the class at LIM in the Spring which would mean that the work I did would not go to waste

2.) I met Dudley Blossom, the Chair of the Marketing Department, at LIM. He is even more disappointed than I am that the class won’t be offered. His guidance as I built the curriculum was an incredible experience for me and I am confident that we will do some work together somewhere down the line

3.) I now have time for some of the projects that I put off in order to teach at LIM:
– Working on Innovation Station and a variety of other public education projects
– Spending more time on my yoga teaching through Compass Yoga
– Taking additional freelance writing assignments
– Working on my book idea that uses yoga principles as the basis for personal financial management
– Getting and training a dog
– Spending more time at the gym

4.) Now that I do have a curriculum created and I fully own it, I can shop it around to other schools who may be interested

5.) I learned a very valuable lesson – I will never again do freelance work for anyone without a contract

6.) I can take a couple of weekend trips I had originally decided to cancel this Fall

7.) My normal working hours won’t be divided between this class and my job, meaning that I won’t need to take up any of my personal free time to attend to work duties

8.) Fall is my favorite time of year, and honestly it’s always a better set of months for me than summer. Now I will get to enjoy more of it outside

9.) Having this class on my schedule made me re-sign my lease on my current apartment and not have to worry about moving; for that I’m very grateful

3 negatives, 9 positives. By sheer number, that’s about as much lemonade as I can make. The real bonus for me comes from knowing that all these types of things happen for a reason. There must be something else this Fall that really needs my attention, and now whatever that thing is, I’ll have more time for it. The unexpected can set us back a bit, but it brings with it a lot of excitement, too. I wonder what’s around the bend…

routine, rules, schedule, work, work ethic

Step 224: The Value of Discipline

Christa Avampato

“Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly.” ~ Julie Andrews, British actress and singer

I used to dislike discipline. It stifled me, preventing me from following my curiosity in any direction I found interesting. With experience, I’ve found peace in discipline. In my yoga and meditation practices it has helped me to see myself and the world a bit more clearly. Discipline, when applied at just the right moment, in just the right amount, can actually set us free because it provides a focus to build around.

Some people are born with an innate sense of discipline. Some people have discipline only in certain areas of their lives. I fall into both camps. By nature, I am not a disciplined person. I don’t like rules and rigidity, and I don’t like setting rules for others. I started to gain discipline when I started running competitively. That’s translated into discipline in a number of other areas of my health and fitness. Exercise is one of those things that needs to have a schedule in order to see consistent, positive results. Work out once a month and it won’t yield much. Work out a few times a week, and the results are readily apparent.

I’m the same way with my writing – I sit down at this computer every day and just get it done. I wanted to be a better writer so I had to practice. Now it’s not hard for me to post to this blog every day. Actually, when I don’t post every day, I feel an emptiness. Something seems off and out-of-place in my life when I don’t write about my day. My financial savings plan is another areas where discipline is mission-critical. I pay myself before I pay anyone else.

So what areas of our lives benefit from discipline? I always go by one general principle: “what gets measured, gets done.” If you need to accomplish a goal or improve a skill, chances are discipline will help. Every accomplishment has a game plan, and if something has a game plan, then progress can be measured and tracked in increments.

And how do we build more discipline in the areas of our lives that need it? Here’s my method:

1.) Your schedule is your best friend. I live by my calendar on my phone. Once I see my schedule mapped out, I stop worrying about it. This map of my time also helps me to not over-commit. (I’m a ways off from that goal, but I’m improving!)

2.) I spend one night a week at home on my own and I guard that down time like a hawk. I need it, it’s important to me, and even if President Obama comes knocking for a meeting about how to fix the world, I’m not giving up my one free night a week. Actually, that’s not true. I have a lot of ideas about how to fix the world so if President Obama wanted my opinions on that topic, I’d take the meeting. But I’d probably re-schedule something else that week to make up for it.

3.) Write it down. What gets measured gets done, and I’m horrible at remembering my own progress. I have to write it down so I can refer to it regularly. I need that written guide. So whether it’s in excel or a note in my project notebook, it’s recorded.

4.) Don’t build discipline in areas that don’t interest you. I really love listening to jazz music, but I really don’t like playing it. I tried to develop a regular practice when I played the saxophone, but I didn’t like it. I just played an instrument because everyone else I grew up with played one. I didn’t get any joy from it. Playing the saxophone made me horribly nervous. So I gave it up and turned my attention to writing. If your body and mind are fighting discipline in an area of your life, maybe that area of your life is not deserving of your time.

5.) Break it up. A friend of mine in college gave me a tiny two-inch picture frame. I still have it on my desk at work, and it’s traveled with me to every job I’ve ever had. It reminds me that all I have to do at any one moment to get to a given goal is to do what fits inside that tiny picture frame. A huge project can be overwhelming. Separate it into tiny pieces and no one piece will seem that difficult.

What are your methods for gaining and maintaining discipline? What’s worked for you?

community, work

Step 191: The Respect of the Few or the One

Christa Avampato

“The respect of those you respect is worth more than the applause of the multitude.” ~ Arnold Glasow, American author

For my social media class at LIM College, I’m planning to set up a series of projects that the students will complete so that they actually participate in social media, not just consume it. The class will include a section on analytics, which gets at a core question with no clear-cut answer: “Was the campaign effective?” Which begs the question, “What does effective mean?”

It’s easy to measure clicks, site visits, comments, even to track a social media consumer’s journey through an entire site. What’s not so easy to measure is inspiration, influence, and respect. When building communities, online or off, it’s worthwhile to consider whether our primary goal is a large group or a highly-engaged group, no matter what the size. Did they respond to our call to action? Did they take up their own project thanks to our courage to carve our own path?

Some say that [mass] imitation is the highest form of flattery. I’d rather a single, simple email, phone message, or comment from someone I admire that says, “nice work.”

career, passion, work

Step 189: A Good Enough Day Job

Christa Avampato

I went out last night with a friend of mine and we got on the subject of day jobs, a job someone has that financially supports their pursuit of interests that may have nothing to do with how they earn their paycheck. I’m passionate about writing, yoga, and teaching, and I’m slowly working my way toward making more of my income from those sources. In the mean time, my student loan collectors require payment so it’s off to work (at a day job) I go.

Lately, I’ve been feeling a little badly about my day job situation, wanting to make more of my income from activities that I’m truly passionate about. My friend whom I spoke with last night is a tremendously gifted writer and comedian. She’s a freelancer who makes her living as a content strategist and project manager. She’s found her freelancing work gratifying enough to make her living, and not too taxing so that she has plenty of energy and creativity to pour into her writing and comedy. She has such clarity about the role of her day job in her life, and her attitude made me feel much better about my own situation. Making a living from a passion takes time, and that’s okay.

I thought about my friend in light of the many statistics that I read about the job satisfaction of Americans. These stats only look at day jobs. They don’t account for the real passions of American workers, which may be far different from the jobs where they earn their paychecks.

Everyone owes it to themselves to have a passion. If you can turn that passion into a career, then make sure to applaud your ingenuity and efforts. And if for a while you need a day job to keep those passions alive, know that you’re not alone. There are plenty of us in that same boat. Some people find that they prefer this arrangement, that they want their passion to stay their passion rather than tying a paycheck to it that may diminish their enjoyment of it. It’s all about finding the balance between work and passion that works for you, and that’s something that we all control individually.