So what is it that you do?

A good friend of mine asked me,

"So I kind of get what you do, but I really just don't get it." 

To which I replied with a laugh and explained it the best I could. I'm sure she's not the only one who has wondered just what I do these days now that I post random comments about being able to have business conference calls in my jammies without leaving the comforts of my bed and spending Wednesdays at Disneyland with friends. 

So, what do I do now? 

Great question. Here's an interview with myself answering that very question.

The final paragraph in this chapter.... on to the next one!

In my biography, today will be documented as the last full-time day at The Marcus Buckingham Company. This chapter is ending with a whole new chapter (let's be real, it could be a mini novel) of freelance work and being a corporate trainer. Excited is an understatement for the emotions I'm feeling right now.

My farewell photo with Marcus Buckingham

In all of my jobs since graduation (yes, I've had a few), I've always has a salary gig. This new chapter will be all about working my passions into rent and student loan payments. Am I nervous? You betcha! Am I thrilled? YOU BETCHA! 

Some have asked what exactly it is I'll be doing... well, while I don't know **exactly** what everyday will bring, I do know that the main part of my income will come from being a contract corporate trainer for Fred Pryor/Career Track.

What is a contract corporate trainer you ask? Great question! I am charged with leading 6-hour seminars in various cities across the US and Canada on topics ranging from Social Media, online marketing, event planning and communication skills - for now. My goal is to get my teaching topic list as expansive and robust as possible. I love to learn and love to teach even more. I think I've really found my niche (finally).

Life is funny...

I am a planner. 

I like to know what is coming. 

I don't really like surprises. 

I'm not opposed to change, but I better have control over the change that is happening. 

Essentially, I'm a borderline control freak. 

May 2012 brought a major life change. I dropped everything I knew, everything I was comfortable with and took a huge leap of faith to move to LA and start working as the sole marketing employee for The Marcus Buckingham Company as their Marketing Manager.

Within three weeks I was offered a job on the spot, participated in my MBA graduation, signed a lease for an apartment, took a celebratory cruise, tied up loose ends with PLNU and moved to LA to start my new life. It wasn't always sunshine and rainbows, it actually was terrible for a long time, but I decided to embrace the change, continue to grow professionally and take time to reflect on what I wanted in life. This past year has been 90% out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

I've grown and changed a lot in the last year and I'm incredibly grateful for all of those involved in making me who I am today.

Being a borderline control freak, you'd think I had enough change in summer 2012 that summer 2013 would be smooth sailing, right? Hardly...

I'm excited to announce another major life switch. 

My enneagram results

Many of you know I work for Marcus Buckingham who specializes (and made famous) the strengths based leadership philosophy. I have been a Marcus fan for MANY years (close to ten years) and am always curious about other assessments out there. Since starting here I was introduced to the enneagram and I was surprised at the results. Here they are...   You are a Type 3 with a 4 wing: "The Professional" Your trifix is 3w4, 6w7, 8w7. In enneagram theory, you have one type for how you relate to the world (either 8, 9, or 1), one type for how you think (5, 6, 7) and one type for how you see yourself (2, 3, 4.) Your tri-fix contains one number from each of these triads. They are listed in the order of how strongly they present in your personality.

A good point about Gen Y work patterns

Thanks to my dad for sending me my latest article I want to talk about regarding Gen Y and the work place. Finally an article that doesn't seem to bash Gen Y but tries to shine light on the reasoning behind the "flightiness" in our resumes.

The article talks about one major reason a Gen Y employee would leave a job is because they're not learning anything. And here the other articles are saying the reason we're upset is because we didn't get promoted for showing up on time for six weeks. (HA! Take THAT other articles!!) While I will admit Gen Y does have a very inflated sense of self, that doesn't mean we need to only see the negative aspects of a high self worth.

I will be the first to admit it that I have ADD and if I don't care about something or feel as though someone doesn't care about me, then see ya! Probably a good riddance anyways. My ADD causes me to work really fast on something and be very productive and then SQUIRREL! and I'm off to something else just like that. I don't think anything or anyone is to blame for Gen Y being like this (yes even technology is in the clear for the most part). 

Burn out and Gen Y women

I was reading an article recently (this one) and it was frankly, really depressing. It talks about how Gen Y women are typically burning out of work by 30 and opting for stay at home mom or jobs well below their potential. Why is that? The article explains that women have been working so hard for so long to be on top and the best (think high school extracurriculars and AP scores for college applications and think college internships and grades for grad school and workforce) that by the time they hit the workforce they're exhausted and they essentially start on the bottom again and have to work their way up. With women's desire to have a family and a career, it all catches up to them and this article is saying that women essentially give up and become dependent on their man or okay with a lesser demanding job knowing society won't think less of them in the end.

Hmmmmm.... being a 25 year old, go-getter Gen Y female, this troubles me. Am I on the path to burn out in five short years? How do I avoid this burn out? Wait, am I identifying with the "symptoms" they're describing? SHOOT!

I shared this article with a really good friend of mine, Erin, who is also a career minded, Gen Y female and she completely agreed with the article. Here was her response, "We are an interesting era... we want it all and all take balance. We want the husband the house the stability the good job the time for friends and fun and so if work isn't killing us, trying to make sure we keep everything else 'in order' will. We want everything, cake and ice cream and no frosting with a spoon and a fork but no knife and maybe a cookie on the side." I think she's exactly right on that. We want it all and we want it all now, but there are these new obstacles in our way. Ones we weren't prepared for in school or any other training of our past.

How is it a "we"...?

First of all I want to say before I write anything that yes, I do love sports and get pretty into it while watching games and yes, I do follow the NFL. However, no I don't do fantasy (seems like a waste of time and emotions) and no I don't sit around and talk about it like I'm the best color commentator there ever was come Monday morning. With that said, please explain the reasoning behind the use of the word "we" while explaining games. 

My office is like most offices (I'm assuming here) which means a good portion of Monday morning is devoted to phrases like "dude did you see that awesome down by <insert name of player here>" and "What an UPSET!" and random musing about the standings of various fantasy teams. Which in football season doesn't bother me at all (basketball season I want to invest in ear plugs). What I don't understand and wonder if/when I ever will is when people say "oh yeah we clobbered them" or "dude we had such a sick win over <inset team name here>". I'm sorry, what? We? As in YOU and the rest of the team? When was the last time you put on gear and was slammed to the ground by a defensive line man?

While I get wanting to have something to identify with and getting into the game and being a part of it, cool fine whatever, but that doesn't mean YOU did anything about that awesome play. And why is it that it is always "them" when they did something bad, but "we" when the team is riding high? Explain that one to me Lucy.

In my opinion the only people who can say "we" when referencing a team are the players themselves and college students.