William Bridges
Transition Theory
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Sunday, January 4, 2015
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Worthwhile Reading
WORTHWHILE READING
Stephen R. Covey does it again with cutting edge thinking: this sequel to The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People ,lays out the imperitive to embrace ways to find your voice and inspire others to find theirs. Covey gives the reader a transformative model to move from a control model to a realease/empowerment model and highlights the importance of leaders:
Modeling
Pathfinding
Aligning for Execution
Empowering for Execution
Next, Covey hones in on the keys to successful execution: Clarity, Commitment, Translation, Enabling, Synergy, Accountability and stresses that DISCIPLINE IN EXECUTION is paramount by:
1. Focusing on the Wildly Important vs Multitasking
2. Create a Compelling Scoreboard- People will be motivated
3. Translate Lofty Goals into Specific Actions-Measurable
4. Hold each other Accountable- all the time
One intriguing concept he adds is looking for the Third Alternative- being open to the new/better course of action that is better than your way or my way.
Available in Paperback: Simon and Schuster Publishing
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
A Valuable Resource for Getting Unstuck
In the last year, many clients have asked me to partner with them to help get unstuck- one client phrasing it “I feel like I’m stuck in molasses, and my feet can’t get free to move!” Our discussion of change and transition often includes the revelation that the time between endings and beginnings in our lives includes a neutral zone and time of uncertainty and being in-between, as William Bridges has noted in his book, Transitions. This fertile void is often a time to look inward, reassess, let go, before beginning to explore and renew as energy, clarity, and focus resume.
It is refreshing to find a new resource that addresses this issue in new and unique ways: Timothy Butler’s Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths, similarly refers to the “Black Sun” from Greek and Celtic mythology that is an image that can be visualized as tremendous energy radiating from a dense and dark center. The problem of course, is that we are afraid of the dark. We want to move in the sunshine, walk along familiar streets, and have experiences that give us pleasure. We want to feel that most of life can be planned and that we have a reasonable chance of avoiding pain. The idea of staying with things as they are, without a plan, of suspending our model of how things work, puts us at a frontier of unknowing, which is to say at a place that is “dark” to our previous conception of things, to our plan for ourselves and our notion of how things work. We avoid the dim frontier, and so we stay stuck.
Butler, in his work at Harvard Business School and in industry, has developed several useful exercises to unlock the deep intuition and ways of forming a future life vision. He offers these tools through the website: www.careerleader.com/gettingunstuck that include image gathering, writing, and the 100 Jobs Exercise with instructions on how to mine your responses for useful themes and tensions. Butler reminds us that living fully requires that we journey through Impasse-Letting Go-Shifting-Seeing Anew-Taking Action-Growing Again, and in this fall season we can see this playing out in nature.
It is refreshing to find a new resource that addresses this issue in new and unique ways: Timothy Butler’s Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths, similarly refers to the “Black Sun” from Greek and Celtic mythology that is an image that can be visualized as tremendous energy radiating from a dense and dark center. The problem of course, is that we are afraid of the dark. We want to move in the sunshine, walk along familiar streets, and have experiences that give us pleasure. We want to feel that most of life can be planned and that we have a reasonable chance of avoiding pain. The idea of staying with things as they are, without a plan, of suspending our model of how things work, puts us at a frontier of unknowing, which is to say at a place that is “dark” to our previous conception of things, to our plan for ourselves and our notion of how things work. We avoid the dim frontier, and so we stay stuck.
Butler, in his work at Harvard Business School and in industry, has developed several useful exercises to unlock the deep intuition and ways of forming a future life vision. He offers these tools through the website: www.careerleader.com/gettingunstuck that include image gathering, writing, and the 100 Jobs Exercise with instructions on how to mine your responses for useful themes and tensions. Butler reminds us that living fully requires that we journey through Impasse-Letting Go-Shifting-Seeing Anew-Taking Action-Growing Again, and in this fall season we can see this playing out in nature.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Recommended Reading
In her latest book Revitalizing Retirement: Reshaping Your Identity, Relationships and Purpose”,Nancy K. Schlossberg, EdD., provides us with a Unique book, packed with essential insights, compelling stories and a road map to genuine fulfillment. Early on, she defines retirement as a phase, not a stage, pointing out that countless Americans who are +50 retire to new lifestyles that include meaningful work in the 3rd age of life. She encourages readers to reshape their identity, relationships, and purpose The discussion covers several coping skills that deal with accepting change and what to anticipate in midlife transition and decision-making.
Each chapter contains several stories from actual retirees that demonstrate the numerous ways of finding what matters, self appreciation and happiness. There are short quizzes and discussion questions at the end of each chapter so that the reader can reflect on what they have read and see exactly how it relates to their own lives. This book is a must-read for anyone considering retirement in the near future as well as current retirees who may be struggling to find happiness in their daily lives.
Welcome
Welcome and glad to spend a few minutes with you, exploring “What’s Next?” and how we may create synergy and partner to explore new options for your future. As a Life Planner, specializing in transition and reinvention, I work with individuals and couples in a carefully guided Reinvention Process. During this process, we will take stock of your life, clarify dreams, talents, goals and challenges to then identify the steps necessary to intentionally create a meaningful life.
If you find that one (or several) of these questions describe where you are, Life Planning may open the door to your future:
Questions:
Are you:
Adjusting to a major life change?
Full of dreams and ideas but lacking a path forward?
Contemplating retirement from your current work?
Concerned about downsizing, job loss?
In a rut?
Restless and not fully engaged?
Yearning to learn?
Desiring to be passionate about something?
Wanting to make a difference?
Wondering if there is a better or different way that you can live your life?
Life Planning can be invaluable to those in midlife needing to address these dimensions:
We call this life stage the “3rd Age”- the time between 50-75 when we can revisit and focus anew on the 3-legged stool:
You may feel like a pioneer, contemplating an elected or unelected transition midlife and clear that the experience of your parents is quite different than your circumstances and world today. Our generation is developing a new template with countless options for this 3rd Age, many choosing to continue working, but with new parameters, others choosing
to retrain, start and grow businesses, travel and volunteer, locally, nationally and internationally, to name a few. With increased longevity, changing economic times and terrific “social capital” and resilience in our 50+ population, we are rewriting the face and meaning of that phase called retirement.
If you find that one (or several) of these questions describe where you are, Life Planning may open the door to your future:
Questions:
Are you:
Adjusting to a major life change?
Full of dreams and ideas but lacking a path forward?
Contemplating retirement from your current work?
Concerned about downsizing, job loss?
In a rut?
Restless and not fully engaged?
Yearning to learn?
Desiring to be passionate about something?
Wanting to make a difference?
Wondering if there is a better or different way that you can live your life?
Life Planning can be invaluable to those in midlife needing to address these dimensions:
- Purpose, meaningful work
- Community service, civic engagement
- family relationships
- friendships, affiliations
- physical health, fitness, nutrition
- emotional, spiritual well-being
- learning and creativity
- recreation,leisure, travel
- financial needs, resources
- lifestyle, location, housing
We call this life stage the “3rd Age”- the time between 50-75 when we can revisit and focus anew on the 3-legged stool:
- Financial Planning
- Health Planning
- Life Planning
You may feel like a pioneer, contemplating an elected or unelected transition midlife and clear that the experience of your parents is quite different than your circumstances and world today. Our generation is developing a new template with countless options for this 3rd Age, many choosing to continue working, but with new parameters, others choosing
to retrain, start and grow businesses, travel and volunteer, locally, nationally and internationally, to name a few. With increased longevity, changing economic times and terrific “social capital” and resilience in our 50+ population, we are rewriting the face and meaning of that phase called retirement.
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