How to Build a Meaningful Career

Do:

•  Make a prioritized list of what a meaningful career would look like to you 
• Invite four or five people to serve as a board of advisors as you explore what you want 
• Experiment with different elements of a job that you’d want either in your current job, outside work, or by talking with people 

Don’t:

•  Focus on your next role — think about what you want from work over the long term 
• Let the stage of your career hold you back — even those deep into their careers can make changes
• Neglect your finances so that when you want to make a change, you don’t feel able to

from How to Build a Meaningful Career

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

This 80 degree August is unreal. 

All I want is for someone to buy me a house in Shaw on a shady street. 

Preferably one with a porch for an American flag, a mid-size, fenced-in backyard for Maverick to play (and for a future small pool to be installed), exposed brick, a pretty staircase, pocket doors, high ceilings, hardwood floors and off-street parking.  

On Climbing Mountains

"Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you're no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself....To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountains which sustain life, not the top." 

- Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Trip Planning

And a glass of red wine to get me in the rainy, fall, West Coast mode. 

NOLA?

Already looking forward to the next few months - what, with the lake, annual softball tournament, Loufest, Roots and Blues, a epic trip to the Pacific Northwest and more - but today, my sister suggested a NOLA weekend in February. 

The idea has my head spinning. It complicates my plan to do an exotic NYE (although the holiday vacation is perfectly suited for that) and a trip to Greece... But I don't care. I love NOLA, I love trip planning and I love my sister.