Greetings on this hot summer day!  I keep the clock in my truck set on summertime (daylight savings) all year long so I can keep a piece of summer with me.  It’s just the best time of year.

If you missed my newsletter for July it’s because we were out in the back woods of Montana and Idaho for two weeks trying not to be sniffed and found by a grizzly.  I don’t particularly care for camping in grizzly country, but they sure do live in BEAUTIFUL places!  

On this trip, I built my first campfire from scratch.  Chopped the wood, built the fire, lit it, kept it going and rewarded myself with roasted marshmallows.  How good can it get?  For more on fire building, see the article below.

For those of you who have been wondering about the outcome of my application to graduate school, I received a letter of regret just before we left town.  I’m still assessing my next step.  I plan to take at least one class this fall at CU just to get back into the traditional learning mode.  Graduate school will happen, just not the way I planned.  It will be fun to see what unfolds.

So what’s next for you?  The end of summer and beginning of fall seem to be a natural time to reassess your life and resolve to change.  For some cultures, autumn is the New Year. 

If you’re in that restless space of wanting to make a change, yet reluctant to make a bold step, perhaps it’s time to work with a coach.  A coach can help you clarify your intentions and make a plan.  A coach will also hold you accountable so the plan doesn’t turn to dust.

I have only three slots left in my coaching practice, If you're ready, contact me soon!

Blessings!

Debra

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Monthly Quote

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known,”

~ Carl Sagan

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Building a Fire

As I was working on that fire in the back woods of Idaho, I realized that building a fire is like changing a career.  All the elements and steps are the same, but you’re building a new life.   You gather information like you gather wood; you start with a spark that builds up to a roar if you feed it properly; and as you reflect on the embers, you celebrate the experience and feel gratitude

Here are the similarities I found.  If you think of other parallels, please drop me a note.  There is such power in a metaphor that works.

1. Sharpen your axe.    Stephen Covey quoted Abraham Lincoln in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, as saying “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my axe.”  When you’re cutting wood, you really appreciate a sharp blade.  Good tools can make a difficult job go more smoothly. 

The kind of tools you might need in a career change are a decent computer or access to one, a place to keep all your information together (without having to scoop it off the dining room table every night to make room for dinner), a logical way to keep track of your contacts, a reminder system, and a phone with a professional-sounding message on the voice mail.

1. Start small.  A fire starts with tender and a spark.  A new career starts with tentative ideas and a spark of interest.  You need to be willing to explore even the tiniest hint, to follow leads that don’t go anywhere, and trust that there is value in every path.  Even the smallest spark, given the right circumstances (which you create) will build to a roaring fire.
2. Tend – stay focused – look at it from all angles.  Once that fire starts to flicker, you really have to pay attention.  At the beginning the fire is not hot enough to ignite the larger logs and yet it still needs to be fed.  So you add just the size it needs for now.  You walk around the pit, pushing the bits of wood back into the fire to feed it, and burn the fuel more efficiently.  You keep adjusting.  Same with your career change.  Keep tending, stay focused, look at it from all angles.  The quick follow up phone call you make on a whim might be the very fuel you needed to keep that fire burning.
3. Blow.  Just before a larger piece wood bursts into flame it smokes.  When you see smoke, start blowing like mad.  The extra oxygen hastens the ignition.  Same for your career moves.  When a person talks to you about possibility, that’s smoke.  When you get really interested in a topic, that’s smoke.  Oxygenate it and ignite.
4. Get help (let the chopper chop!).  After I had the fire going and could turn my attention to the larger pieces of wood, there were still some that needed chopping.  So, I picked up the axe and started swinging, not doing a very good job.  That’s when my sweetie joined me.  “Here, let me help,” are just about the sweetest words on earth when accompanied by a sharp axe and strong muscles.  He’s really good at that – much better than me. When you are stumped about particulars in a career, ask someone who’s doing that job.  If you have an ineffective resume, get feedback from someone who knows.  ASK.  Really smart people are willing and eager to help.  Your local librarian is a good example.  Let the experts help.
5. Fire changes things.  Watch fire burn and you see wood convert to ash and smoke.  Your marshmallow turns golden and crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside (mmmm – now you know why I went through all that work!).  When you expose your life to sparks of interest and put your attention to feeding them, things change.  It might be your perspective; it might be other’s perspective about you.  The heat of change transforms. 

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© 2005 Debra DeVilbiss.  All rights reserved. 

You are free to use material from Moving Forward! in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including a live web site link.  Please also notify me where the material will appear.  The attribution should read:

"By Debra DeVilbiss, CPCC, of Forward Momentum, LLC.  Please visit Debra's website at http://www.ForwardMomentum.com for additional articles and resources on creating your right livelihood."

Debra can be reached at 303-485-9853 or by email:   debra@ForwardMomentum.com

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