Category: work

career, creativity, work

Inspired: The slash career generation

Christa Avampato
Welcome to the slash generation

Welcome to the rise of the slash generation where it’s perfectly okay, and even preferable, to be a baker / neuroscientist / dog walker, or in my case a writer (of many genres) / product developer / business owner / believer that my greatest project has yet to even be imagined. Everything in your career connects in some way at some point so follow that curious nose of yours wherever it leads you. I’ve put aside the boxes and definitions that some people are so desperate to put on themselves and others. The only question now is “What’s your slash?”

 

career, creativity, curiosity, work, writing

Inspired: A madwoman’s (writing) life

Christa Avampato

From PinterestWriters live many lives—1 foot in the manufactured world around them & the other in the worlds they design for their stories. I love that finally I live a career and life that doesn’t admonish me for pursuing everything that interests me, whether it connects or not. It’s opened my mind to possibility in wild and wonderful ways, and made me feel truly free.

adventure, business, career, creativity, entrepreneurship, fear, learning, work

Inspired: We learn best by doing

Christa Avampato
Jump and build your wings on the way down
Jump and build your wings on the way down

We can’t learn to sail from the shore. We can’t learn to fly from the ground. To learn how to build a business of any kind, we must be in business. Business is an art form just like playing the piano or painting a picture. It takes practice, and chances are we will create some really awful work as we learn to make great work. So don’t be so hard on yourself if your first attempts are less than shining stars of success. Honestly, it’s better if they’re not. Go further than you think you can. Give your wildest ideas a whirl. Get crazy. That’s where the learning is, and learning is the best gift you can give to your future self. Don’t be afraid. Just do it. Go have an adventure.

creativity, Disney, work

Inspired: Find the fun

Christa Avampato
Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins

“In every job that must be done there’s an element of fun. Find the fun and *snap* the job’s a game.” ~Mary Poppins

As we are winding down the festivities of the week, and heading into the hectic holiday and year-end season, we might find our heads spinning. When I feel myself getting overwhelmed, particularly if I’m overwhelmed with tasks that are less-than-glamorous, I think of Mary Poppins and the way she lightened everything during difficult times.

Every day, we must do things that are difficult, things that don’t seem fun on the surface. But if we can find even a small element of fun—a co-worker who makes us laugh, something to learn, or puzzle to solve—then the task becomes a little easier. Find the fun, and the job is halfway done.

action, choices, work

Inspired: The only thing I want to be

Christa Avampato
Way to be
Way to be

The purpose of my life is only this: to be a proliferator of good-a** vibes. Everywhere I go. Everything I do. I want it all to add up to this. That feels like the best possible way to spend my time. It helps me. It helps the world. Everyone wins.

career, experience, work, writer, writing

Inspired: Writers are explorers

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

While I was in business school at Darden, I had an interview with an executive who took one look at my resume and said, “You’re an explorer.” He didn’t mean this as a compliment, but looking back I certainly see it as one. An explorer, a modern female Indiana Jones, is all I ever really wanted to be and now as a writer, I certainly, unabashedly, am. My only job as a writer is to see and hear things as clearly as I can, to uncover what lies hidden, to ask the hard questions of myself and others, to try on different lives in an effort to understand someone else’s reality. The best way to live in the world is not to fight our nature, but to embrace it with both arms.

action, creativity, decision-making, time, work, writer, writing

Inspired: The 2 ingredients you need to do great work

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.” ~ Leonard Bernstein

This philosophy of time and planning really resonates with me. I’ve always found deadlines and outsized goals to be great motivators. They give me something to aspire to with just enough doubt to make me put my best foot forward. We don’t have forever to maximize and reach the potential within us. We have to act, sooner rather than later, with attention, determination, and energy, and that idea gets my blood pumping. Certainly, the process can feel daunting and scary, though when I look back on my life the things I treasure most are the things that required me to take big chances on big dreams that had an expiration date. That’s as true right now, as I transition to writing full-time, as it’s ever been. The time is now.

action, work

Inspired: Work worth doing

Christa Avampato

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

What are you doing, right now and in the greater scheme of life? Does it matter to you, to someone whom you care about? Are you a better person for doing this work? Is someone better off because you’re doing it? These are the most important career planning questions we can ask ourselves. The answers to them will do one of two things: either help us double down on our commitment to what we’re doing or steer us toward charting a new course. Life is short. We have a small amount of time to leave the world a better place that we found it, and there are so many ways to do that. Our only work is to find the right way for us.

career, work

Inspired: Another lesson from the dirt—the power of rest

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

The land has so much to teach us. When farmers plant crops, they rotate them so that the land has a chance to rest. Land that’s rested grows the best crops. We’re the same way. A mind and body that’s rested is able to give its best. So take a load off this Labor Day. Do what you love. Be with people and animals you love. Enjoy the sun, sand, surf, and breeze. Tomorrow will be here soon enough. 

career, choices, commitment, determination, dreams, work

Inspired: They only work we have to do

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

Yesterday I was offered the largest consulting contract of my career. I turned it down because it’s not the work I want to do anymore. Was that the right choice? Definitely. Did it hurt to let it go? Absolutely. I was referred by a former client to organize the annual meeting of a private equity firm. I could have played that role and done the work with no problem, but I’m committed to writing full-time and that gig would take me away from my dream. This is the tough work of commitment, the work no one tells us about. Focus and commitment are not a one and done deal. They requirement constant vigilance; temptation to veer off-course is everywhere. The opportunities you don’t take will be scooped up by other people who want and need them. Do your work. Walk your road.