What happens when you take over 300 million citizens, put them in isolation for a year-and-a-half, give them time-on-their-hands to think, and force-feed them with constant reminders of their mortality?

Shit’s going to happen.

One of my closest friends, a British rock star, characterized the past two years as, “It seems God has sent us to our rooms to ponder our behavior.”

Americans have never been a self-reflective lot. How much time do all of us spend on looking within and finding our truth? I’ve been helping people look within for 31 years, and many of them come into our programs frightened of what they will see. Yet, more often than not, distinguishing between truth and fiction leads to profoundly better professional lives.

Until we engage in self-inquiry, we live other people’s lives. I am a musician and a human development leader. The only way I could get to college required taking pre-medicine. Coupled with piano performance, I was engaged in two of the most rigorous undergraduate programs. But even the obvious didn’t help. When asked to dissect a bug, mouse, or rat, I passed out. They rolled out a corpse at USC, and the professor asked us to gather around the week-old remains. I had a concussion when I came too. When I returned to class, my professor suggested that my low interest level, passing out, and periodically throwing up indicated that medicine was not my future.

But we inflict this on our kids all of the time. When we tell them to get a “real job,” there can be only two outcomes. The healthier one’s rebel, and the rest either go into a mediocre use of their time, or they rebel later and come to one of our programs.

The spiritual casualties of career development bring their ambivalence to work every day. Now, all of us are in a restructuring of work, the like that have never been seen before. Just prior to the pandemic, about half of America’s workers characterized themselves as “persistently underemployed.”

I believe underemployment is the single biggest contributor to our nation’s turmoil. This huge category of workers doesn’t know how to change. Or they are too frightened to try. Without an intervention, the day-to-day struggle of underemployment has turns on them. When underemployment reaches half of America’s workers, all that it takes is one individual to claim there isn’t enough because of people that are different than us, for the world to explode.

The promises from almost all political leaders don’t inspire the underemployed to take action. Promises tell people to wait.

Two months ago, we launched a new platform called workskunk. One-by-one, we are moving the career and talent development services of Inspired Work into beautiful digital content that is available without charge. We have reduced our signature Inspired Work Program fee by 75%. From rent experiences and growing awareness, this is the least we can do.

My turning point on the underemployment challenges of our country came out of heartbreak. Three years ago, we took a long vacation in Italy. In many ways, we consider this sacred place our second home. We spent a few days with various Americans that live in Milan or Rome. Everywhere we went, people called out their names. One afternoon, the general manager of our hotel took us to the roof and pointed out the history of Rome for over an hour.

On our way home, we had to connect with a plane in Chicago. An hour later, a bad storm moved in, and an announcement was made that all flights were cancelled. In one moment, thousands of people went crazy. Abusive insults were hurled at employees, people elbowed their way into lines, arguments erupted at every turn, and I felt tears.

We had just returned from a country where beauty is celebrated at such a high level most of my friends would buy a book and wait out the storm. Germany, Japan, New Zealand, China, and Canada have talent development strategies that train workers to move up. As technology replaces the old tasks, their talent is already in a new job. We throw people out the door the moment their skills become obsolete.

This is what I want for my America:

• That we reinvent an educational system that prepares our children for the Industrial Revolution.

• That we teach our children that finding work they love is job number one. Because that is the best possible fuel for change. It is also the fuel to develop the skills that allow us to change.

• That we develop those skills that bring freedom and confidence to everyone who works:

• Drawing enough healthy attention to ourselves to thrive

• Finding the right people to help us

• Developing self-inquiry practices to be aware of what we need

• Generously praising others and graciously accepting praise when it comes our way

• Instead of waiting to be fearless, develop the courage to take action

I don’t want to get back to normal. I want abundance, a culture that routinely mentors the less fortunate, a country that assumes each person has a purpose and a gift, communities that build problem solvers, and an educational system that inspires us to grow throughout our lives.

This is who we are meant to be.

We welcome dialogue.

You can join workskunk without charge at: www.workskunk.com

You can get on the path to your finest work at: www.inspiredworkservices.com/events

The post What I Most Want for America appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Taylor Swift

“Courage is getting up on that horse even when you are scared witless.”

John Wayne

I know the “self-help” industry promotes the notion of fearlessness.

The pursuit of fearlessness, in truth, is an enormous waste of time. In our endless search for comfort, the casualty is action.

My viewpoint of fear changed when I Bob Maurer. He has played a variety of leadership roles in the Behavioral Science Department at UCLA Medical School. More simply, he has devoted most of his professional life researching and communicating the behavior of successful people. Some would think he studies the rich and famous. He learns from people who are successful in every meaningful area of their lives. That means the subjects are happy about their family, love, money, careers, physical and emotional health.

He tells us, “Successful people are used to the experience of fear and when frightened, reach out to another person for comfort.”

Just to be clear, Bob isn’t suggesting that “reaching out” includes taking our friend’s box of candy. For parents and anyone close to children, what happens when they get frightened? For what? Comfort! And when they stop crying, do they want to cling to us until the end of the year? Sometimes I do. But usually, the moment their alarm shuts down, they move on with their lives.

That is until the magic switch turns on. We cry, and an adult turned to tell us, “Shut up, or I’ll give you something to cry about.” Or the watered-down version, “You a big boy now. “Stop crying. That’s for little shameful sissy boys.” Or under the breath, “We’re on a plane, and if you don’t stop, I’m going to have to send you outside.”

Our biology shuts down when we get comfort from another. But when we did stuff it, we moved on to the many ways adults seek comfort.

We lie, become mean-spirited, quit what we’re doing, order a no-contact delivery of two dozen special items from Princess Donut. Some of us drink, watch Oprah, leave town, or run away, smoke, over-exercise, and chase people on the LA freeways.

This is the adult way.

Or we can choose the self-help way.

Human development’s made breathtaking fortunes offering fearless lives. But first, we will have to demonize fear itself. You know, read this book and you will be fearless and pursue the life you really want without the sweat. Try hitting the freeways of Los Angeles without fear, and you will quickly take out your two front low-profile tires on your brand-new BMW. Or, that 50-pound woman in the 6,000-pound sport utility to the right, you can only see the top of her head, but she is texting and swerving into your lane. She’ll crush you as the Queen Mary did to that warship in the middle of World War II. Except she won’t notice because the dim bulb is still texting.

And now, the truth.

The grandfather of human development was Napoleon Hill. For years in the early 20^th century, Mr. Hill was a con artist moving from one town to the next selling land deals, fake stock, and more. He did have a highly developed sense of intuition. Time and time and time again he skipped town just as law enforcement was on the way to get him.

His fortunes turned with his first bestseller, “Think and Grow Rich.” Sounds good to me. In it, Napoleon managed to get Andrew Carnegie, one of the world’s richest men, to share his “secrets” to success. By the way, when you read a cover with “secrets,” a bit more research could be a good idea. Secrets and fearlessness are the two most common themes in self-help markets. I argued with my first publisher about the category of self-help asking they start a new one called, “Get Help.” He was the first person in media to suggest a life without fear. Once again, why did he skip town?

Andrew Carnegie never met Napoleon Hill.

The next big human development leader began adulthood with the name Jack Rosenberg. Loving anyone for their potential is cruel. Jack tortured himself over that one. By day, he was a used car salesman in San Francisco. By night, a husband and father on the other side of the bay. Despondent, Jack enrolled in Scientology. He was pouring money into the volumes of auditing to make himself “clear.”

He describes the morning when, he “got it.” He was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to work when it all came together. When he was back on land, his life had changed. He took the essence of Scientology auditing, turned it into a group program, changed his name to Werner Erhard, abandoned his family, and launched EST.

A friend enrolled me in it. I sat in the chairs for 18 hours, listened to hours of cursing, watched everyone’s reaction and I lost my fearlessness because I was too exhausted to feel my hands.

Today, Werner Erhard lives in Switzerland, the one country that outlaws the practice of Scientology.

My point?

Don’t wait to be fearless before pursuing the life that you want.

Perhaps the deepest lesson is that even the most imperfect people in the world can contribute to positive change.

Look towards action as being the primary way we succeed. It doesn’t matter whether you are frightened or calm during the journey.

As per my observations, the more we want something, the greater probability we will get frightened.

It is normal. Successful people know this.

Cher has always had a personal stage manager with the temperament to deliver on the biggest responsibility. Cher has had crippling stage fright her entire life. Sonny Bono was the one that dragged her out in front of us. When they broke up, Cher hired someone else to take the responsibility. She cursed, swore, threatened, claim she was sick, cried, and told one of them she would never work again. But, once they pushed her out that door where she turned into, Cher!

Without that intervention, she would probably be Cherilyn Sarkasian, the crazy manicurist at the strip mall.

Our point?

Stop wasting time waiting. Life is almost always shorter than we think.

Imagine arriving at the pearly gates only to declare,

“That wasn’t so special.”

The post Why We Will Never Get Over Fear appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

The way we unconsciously communicate to others determines how the world will engage with us.

When the late and great Toni Morrison accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature, she said,

 “We die. Perhaps that is the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”

I am fortunate to hear a close friend and colleague speak on a regular basis. When we first met, I had concerns about just how precise she is in how she communicates. Would that put anyone off? Then, I noticed just how freely she includes every emotion that lines up with the message she wants us to hear. And, you know what? People hang on to her every word.

As a musician, I have always felt a need to be so prepared that when I step in front of an audience, I can throw the music away and be fully present. As per music, I am a huge fan of Lady Gaga. Many of us believe her stunning performances are because of an innate gift. But it is far more than that. She cares so much for every audience that she spends superhuman hours and scripts every detail so that when she steps out, we, the people she loves, just might remember that performance forever. This is the sign of someone that respects us. Art Pop, the Sound of Music, Tony Bennet, or there Star-Spangled Banner. We remember.

We seem to produce a new batch of junk words with every generation. For some, we use the words to let the listener know, “You are not a member of my tribe.” For some, despite all of the preparations, we don’t quite make it to the finals because someone came in that cares more. Many hear the word charisma and we might think of the Kardashians. In the social media world, Kim is a star. She builds a $200M business out of thin air but that is not quite the truth. Kim builds a business with her tribe. As much research as I have recently poured into social media, she cares about them.

True charisma isn’t about the ego of the speaker. Real charisma is in our ability to focus on the person in front of us; to understand their lives and challenges so much that we connect with them.

The rest of us rely on junk language because we didn’t do the work. Or, we don’t really want to identify with baby boomers because our tribe is 40 years younger. Using junk language signals we don’t care that much or we haven’t done enough work to understand, silence is just as important as the words between that silence. The music was just so perfect until your anxiety pushed you to add more noise.

We hear that, and we also feel it.

Let’s review today’s most common junk words with the people who are listening:

Hope

“I hope that we can solve your problem.”

To clarify, the only time to use the word hope is when we are in a storm with lashing cold winds, our boat capsizes, and we hope someone will find us before hypothermia does the rest. But, when we use it in our everyday language we are telling the world of our reluctance to take action as well as results.

It was Nothing or worse: You Shouldn’t Have

The last time I handed an envelope filled with a trunkload of money in it, she responded: “You shouldn’t have,” I grabbed it out of her hands and said, “Well I’ve got big plans for this.!”

There is the shot across the bow of our kindest praise when they tell is, “Oh, it was nothing.”

Nothing? When we give someone praise like this and they respond, “It was nothing,” what are they actually telling us?

“Don’t look at me, don’t judge me, and do not do that again.”

I’ve met so many people with this kind of “flying below the radar” thinking right after they are laid off. Many of them were doing a great job but no one knew that.

On the other hand when someone gives us a gift and we come back with, “Oh, you shouldn’t have,” they will usually not do that again.

Do you know what I mean?

“Yeah.”

What is that? It’s coming up with a whatever comes after generation m or z. It shows up on the news.

“You have been telling all of us to stay out of the office to avoid the plague. What are your thoughts?”

“Yeah.” What is that? I’m depending on my readers to tell me why so many young people respond to every question or directive with, “Yeah.”

Honestly or To Be Honest

Most of us will let it go once. But if you continue to use the word, we can surmise telling the truth is a special event in your world. Is honesty that special? Are you sorting out whether to tell us the truth, will the easiest answer be, “Thank you for coming?”

No Problem

I saved this for last because the words give me life-threatening facial-ticks.

The first time I heard this was while a trauma team was pushing in a chest-tube after a serious accident. I asked them to stop for one second so I could imagine catching my breath, I gurgled out a ‘thank-you’ and the resident gave a vacant expression while responding, “No problem.”

What? I began looking for dead relatives beconing me to come forward.

Like the simple word “thank you,” there is still no substitute for, “I’m delighted to help,” or, “What else can I help you with?”

Years ago, a guru in the diversity movement gave me a bias test. She said I sailed through every possible shortcoming until they found that I am a geographic racist. I replied, “I live in Los Angeles, we change nations every five blocks.”

But, the real source of my wrath was found in Portugal. They practice Fado, which is the art of nonchalance. Please return to the first picture above. That is a face filled with Fado as a service person blows cigarette smoke while filling the bag with groceries.

I guess this is what happens when a country spends thousands of years fighting off Spain and eating fish.

If there are any words you use as junk, there is a solution. Ask two people that spend significant time with you to listen for the 1-3 junk words you use. Whenever they hear one of the words, their hands are to reach forward and you are going to put a $20 in the loved one’s hand.

There is one exception. Whenever you dare to use the words, “supposed to,” send $100.

When someone uses this word on you, there is one reason. It indicates that wherever you are, it’s the wrong place.

Love to all. Stay safe.

The post Words That Cut Our Power In Half appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

The door to my life’s work opened when my record producer suddenly died.

I will never regret letting go of that career to help others find their ideal career. But the demands of Inspired Work grew and music, the primary language of my life, slipped away.

I thought about it all of the time. I used to fly a lot and would close my eyes only to think of how much I missed that part of my life. A year before this story began, a client that produced one of the biggest chunks of revenue asked that I take her to a psychic. Then, she asked that I join her. I drove here there myself. The guy looked a bit like Jabba the Hut. He was also bald except for on long braid coming directly out of his skull. She grabbed my arm and directed, “You go first.”

As I sat down, he looked at me and said, “You’re a musician.” I responded, “You’re the psychic.” My nasty little pushback ended with the next words. “If I am wrong about this, I will also be wrong with everything that follows. You are one of those few people who doesn’t listen to people’s words, you listen to the music in their voice.” I felt all of the air come out of my mouth followed by deep anger. Up until that moment, it was my secret.

Right now, we are days away from launching workskunk. Getting here has been a profound and often difficult journey. I believe that ending underemployment will solve our country’s deepest source of turmoil. Consequently, our core services will be available without charge.

Like everyone else, the pandemic changed most of our plans. Since April last year, we have been working in our caves. We have received support from all over the world. But the day-to-day experience has been developing a platform that is unique, that provides solutions, and retains the profound feel that has accompanied all of our programs.

Every time another obstacle showed up, we treated it with trust, and time and time again, what often felt like a miracle showed up. I have a deep-seated hatred of stock music or playing in bars. In June, I found myself sitting in front of Yamaha’s Montage 8. It is the most groundbreaking technology in music. Like so many of us, I find it easier to lose my life to the mission rather than protect the parts of life that make mine so very unique.

From all that we can find, workskunk will be the first human development platform with original music. We purchased libraries of stock music. When we threw it out, I realized that using that music would make us sound like everyone else. Apparently, God wanted no part of that and insisted I invest the time to do music well.

My reaction to being immersed in music again reminds me of a scene from my favorite career movie, Joe vs. the Volcano. He is near death on top of a raft made from luxury luggage. Meg Ryan is asleep. He looks up and the most magnificent full moon rises over the ocean. Joe struggles to his feet and gasps,

“I never knew how big.”

The post Anyone Sacrificing Their Life for a Mission? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Not long ago, our country celebrated a 3.8% unemployment rate. At the same time, about half of America’s workers characterized themselves as underemployed. Most of them were stuck because their world prepared them for the Industrial Revolution. Without intervention, the underemployed hold multiple jobs to barely cover the needs of their families. They hold onto obsolete jobs hoping they don’t get laid-off, but they do. The underemployed consistently hear that technology is taking away jobs. When so many people look to the future and cannot find a place for themselves, of course, we are going to have turmoil!

We will never learn anything of value by studying failure or mediocrity. Our time is far better invested in studying the people that are succeeding in the way we want to succeed. In this particular case, let’s take a look at some of our most revered workplace icons.

The world is facing the biggest restructuring of work in 300 years. Many complain that technology is taking away their jobs. This is true. But, it is equally true that advancing technology offers us the freedom to do far more with our lives. Millions of us are already “in” and using our time to forge unique careers, solve big problems, help and connect with others. Getting from the old to the new requires a new mindset, a new set of skills that require a bit of courage to learn, and the opening of one’s eyes in an era where we can learn anything that we want in just hours.

Helping our people move into the new world of work is critical for our country. We lay people off while other countries rebuild them. Many of America’s global competitors have developed talent strategies that educate workers to grow into new roles. Instead of passively standing by as change make a role obsolete, they are preparing their people to grow and move forward. We ought to study the success of these countries, which include: Germany, China, S. Korea, Canada, and Japan.

The single most important difference between the talent strategies of these countries is startling! The underemployed don’t need promises, they need guidance. America has the world’s most diverse talent pool in the world. Not only do we need to develop the talent that is already here, but we also need to attract the world’s best talent.

Mini-Guide for the New World of Work

Job Number One: Love Your Work

Retooling oneself can be a pain in the ass. Therefore, it is a good idea to not only take care of today’s needs but to also address past missteps. The most successful people in the world insist on finding the work we love.

From Steve Jobs:

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

When we forget to build a foundation, the house above will eventually crumble.

The Industrial Revolution didn’t tell us to love our work. We were told that if we took a job, even one that was monotonous and mind-numbing, we would be rewarded by security and predictability. When children began to dream about their future, they would often tell their parents what they wanted to do with their lives. One of the most common responses was,

“Go get a real job.”

Get this, loving one’s work was always the ideal way to unleash one’s soul. I know this because I have been around thousands of people identifying what they most wanted to do with their lives and how they were going to monetize that.

When we began our business, most of our participants wanted to define their ideal work because it felt spiritually right. Most people continued to do the work that gave them predictability and security. Then, technology rose up like a tsunami, and wash the old model away.

Today, loving one’s work is job number one. Love is the single most effective fuel to retool one’s life. Every time the world speeds up yet again, the need to find the right people to help us grows as well. The need to become visible has grown as quickly as the fact that today’s college graduates will change careers 4-6 times.

Loving our work gives us the juice to include discomfort and develop skills we never had to use before.

From Oprah Winfrey:

“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you. ”

Defining and finding the work we love brings positive energy to all of our relationships and a form of enthusiasm that cannot be manufactured.

Job Number Two: Develop Connectivity

Connectivity is a series of skillsets that help us quickly and graciously connect with the right people.

Connectivity allows us to build a customized community that supports our mission, vision, and purpose.

Connectivity gives us the means to be visible and when people see us, they also see our unique value.

Connectivity skills make it effortless for people to tell us what they need and want.

We tend to be hard on ourselves when we are frightened. When we cannot connect, we often turn the outcome into a shortcoming. It is actually a learning solution and one that requires practice. For those of us with deep fears about getting attention, the alternative ought to be more frightening. Don’t wait to be fearless. Use courage to take action now.

From Warren Buffett:

“Without passion, you don’t have energy. Without energy, you have nothing.”

Warren Buffett

Job Number Three: Become an Active Learner

My office window looks direct to Sony Music, a five-story upscale office building that has been empty for almost nine months. Countless employers and business owners are having to find information to not only respond to the health crisis but to understand how to build a strong culture with remote work. Every day, accelerating change impacts all of us.

As a result, active learners have quickly taken ownership of the modern workplace. Today, savvy employers ask a few questions to determine if someone pursues knowledge or not. If the candidate doesn’t have that characteristic, the interview is usually over. Oh, they might look as if they are in their body but they are making grocery lists and reviewing unfinished work.

In a world that moves so quickly, traditional degrees are usually obsolete when the ink drys on the diploma!

Like so many previous outlooks, many families treat education like another chore.

Active learners don’t get laid off, they don’t become obsolete, they grow in ways that are profoundly surprising and moving.

How do I know this? I consume information every single day. I listen to successful people. I’m also comfortable with not having a clue on how to approach a problem. As a result, I’ve learned there is always a solution.

Always.

How do we turn people into active learners?

Love your work and you will learn what you love.

The post Loving One’s Work Used to be Nice. Today, it is Essential. appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

For years, many of our participants have become one-on-one clients. And then close friends. They come through our programs to define in deep detail what they want to do with their lives. Many take that and move forward without my direct involvement. It doesn’t matter how my one-on-one clients practice their spirituality, but I always tell them mine.

There are no guarantees in life. It is far better than waiting for success; we center our energy on improving the probability of success. True optimism is the mindset of believing our actions will lead to good outcomes. Action is almost always the beginning of success. But, when we turn the results over to God, I’m always surprised.

Many of my clients have become dear friends. I’m always surprised at what happens when each takes action, trusts the outcome, and doesn’t over-manage the results. The author came for my help to move from corporate communications to a fully successful author. He gets better deals than me and is writing a new book on an island that I hope to one day in the future, spell correctly.

I think of another dear friend. You know who you are. She left a big studio job. Her imagination is wildly productive, and she uses it like magic. In our time together she never once responded to change with cynicism or contempt. I often say that when someone gets on the right path, we can’t decide whether they are playing or working. Her outcome included moving to work for one of the biggest entertainment icons in Europe. The last time we visited, her new life is filled with so much joy, that she skips through London.

I’m so ready for this year to be over. It is also the year in which we changed how we reach people by working harder than ever and turning the results over to God.

What do I want for you?

• Full employment.
• Work that matters.
• Work that is an extension of your real purpose.
• I want you to skip down the street.
• Remember there is always a solution, especially when we look.

The post 2021 – The Year to Transform Work appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

“Save the Planet?” he yelled. He brought up that our planet is so much bigger than us. “If humans become any more irritating, the earth will shake us off like fleas. Every time that I heard George, I was moved by his brilliant intellect fused to rich irony. That gift changed people’s minds on a variety of subjects.

George Carlin’s wife died early in 2008 and he followed her, dying in July 2008. During that difficult time, he wrote these words to all of us. Clearly, the man was paying attention:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more but learn less. We plan more but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight or to just hit delete.

Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, ‘I love you’ to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.

George Carlin

The post Some of the Most Beautiful Words You Will Ever Hear from the Late Great George Carlin appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

The most important piece of information is that human beings are able to think about something other than themselves for a maximum of 15-seconds.

The findings made pitch-selling obsolete. But, how does this impact our day-to-day living?

For several years many of us have been proving that being concerned with our own needs and expectations rather than helping others has not helped any of us.

If you are the exception, please speak up.

Over 12,000,000 spam e-mails are sent out for every sale that is made. By not having the respectfulness to find out what we need, continual pitching only shuts us down.

If you have achieved terrific results from continual pitching, please speak up.

We have been yelling at each other for a number of years and all that has accomplished is to make our country an ugly place. When I was a little kid, Lady Bird Johnson (One of the First Lady’s) was on a kick to beautify and clean-up America.

My grade school teacher screeched at us, “When you see trash by the side of the road, what do you think of?”

A kid in the back of the room responded, “Home.”

There is the rub. When trash becomes a way of life, all of us suffer.

My redemption has emerged from being of service. I don’t do it because it is right. I do it because service is the one thing that makes me feel great.

There were times in my life where friends referred to me as the “king of one-liners and put-downs.” It didn’t make me feel better. For one moment, I believed I was better, only to discover that what I had said made me far worse.

Do we want our lives to improve?

Go ask people what they want and need.

If you want our lives to improve,

Give it to them.

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I’m not big on offering unsolicited advice but 2020 will most likely go down as the most difficult year in our collective history. Yogi Barra once said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” The famed baseball pitcher and philosopher was making a point in how important it is for us to take rather than think about action. This time, it is just as important to take the right action. So, I will do my best to give a few suggestions such as, “If I were in your shoes.”

Today’s Notes Include:

• What happened last weekend?
• Where are 2021s big opportunities?
• Why can December be so very important?

What Happened Last Weekend?

The unprecedented challenges impacting those of us who work pushed us to offer the November Inspired Work Program for $100 rather than $800.

Our participants came from all over the world. They blew away our fears that by making such a crazy reduction our participants would treat the program far too casually. But, they didn’t. They rolled up their sleeves and worked. They produced life-changing results. We were hit with so much goodwill and gratitude that we are completing 2020 with one more $100 program. Up to 100 participants can join us in December for the same fee.

We did this one out of love and my suggestion is to treat the opportunity in the same way. Take yourself into the new year with a new life. Give your friends and loved ones a gift unlike any other.

Where Are 2021s Growth Opportunities?

Let’s start with the obvious. if you work in an industry or organization that is shrinking, leave. Start by exploring the industries that are growing. Explore the ones that capture your imagination and interest. Rather than inundate our readers or turn my primary role into soothsayer, we will ongoingly provide news about “what’s next.”

A few of our hottest markets:

Technology 

Duh! But technology is rapidly growing in areas that might not come to mind. Bio-science is at an accelerative turning point. Incurable diseases are being cured. Health improvements are more widely available and cheaper. New talent hubs are emerging in areas like Southern California but also throughout the world. Investment capital is committed and rich. This is an area ripe for growth with new business and employment. Plus, the dynamics are to be part of something that saves and improves our lives.

We were headed towards a tipping point with communications technology, now we are on fire. As the world became used to Zoom and Skype, business travel as we knew it is over. Consumers have always been the biggest drivers of change. As I write this, I’m looking at Sony Music and Universal Music. Both buildings have been empty for about six months. As commercial real estate undergoes its biggest shake-out ever, look to the organizations that make telecommuting easier, more gratifying, and productive.

Over the last few years, billions have been invested in virtual work technology. This isn’t Zoom or Skype. The drivers offer meetings that we can step into, travel experiences that feel as if we are there. Occulus comes to mind but most every huge technology company is taking high-quality virtual immersion seriously.

Social Entrepreneurism

Social entrepreneurs solve world problems by making the solution wildly profitable.

The category is growing more quickly than other forms of start-ups.

Virtually everyone is in the midst of a direct confrontation with mortality. Often, that leads to an urgency to develop meaning within our own lives. Work is one of the key platforms for such an opportunity. For many, making money is no longer enough. The trend is there for fresh graduates as well. Many no longer go to just any employer website. They look for organizations and leaders that cure disease, offer high-quality and cost-free education, clean-up oceans, and bring greater safety to our communities.

You do not have to move to Silicon Valley to become part of this movement. We find innovation centers throughout the world. There is a growing need for solutions and after we get through this year, I predict we will witness explosive growth.

How can you learn more? Open Google and enter social entrepreneurs, the world’s top social entrepreneurs, etc. Look to authors such as Peter Diamandis, Kevin Kelly, and, of course, Daniel Pink.

Media Content

We are in the midst of the greatest explosion of media content since having three Television networks. 2020 has been tough on media organizations and while quite painful, much change will be positive. Entertainment options have grown explosively for the last ten years. The pandemic became a big pothole for new development and production. As it comes back, we will find large volumes of employment and business opportunities.

Really, reruns of Charlie’s Angels can only go so far.

What is the Big Deal About December?

If you regularly ask people, “Where do you winter?” There is no need to continue.

Employers and larger clients are in the midst of finishing up their 2020 budget. That means many leaders want to spend what’s left of their existing budget, which will be gone in just a few short weeks.

When I was in the staffing industry, I offered people bonuses to stay in town. We routinely produced our largest billings.

Of all the times we have secured business, here’s my favorite story: We were in New York on a variety of business development calls. One was to meet the entire human capital team of a global media company. We were grilled for about an hour and felt the conversation had gone well. About five minutes after leaving the building, my phone rang. It was the leader of the meeting.

She said, “Would you please send us, immediately, a retainer invoice for $185K?”

Our administrator had just left for the holidays. So, I asked, “When do you need it?”

“We need it for a 2’clock payment run.”

We raced back to the hotel, sent an invoice, and two days later, received the funds. The project was delivered the following summer.

I live by a spiritual philosophy that has served me quite well. It is to raise our probability of success. But, the results are up to God. What I have noticed is that those of us who work hard, with open hearts, and a smile whenever possible, often turn out to be quite lucky.

Folks, we welcome your comments and participation.

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One of the few things I know for sure is that when we believe there isn’t enough for all of us, we turn on each other. The purpose of democracy is to provide relevance to every citizen. The purpose of democracy is to provide relevance to every citizen. For many of us, that relevance begins with our work.

As the world undergoes the most extensive restructuring of work in 300 years, not one political leader has told the American people how to remain relevant in this new world of work.

Over 50 years ago, advertising companies introduced focus groups that gave politicians the messages we most wanted to hear. When was the last time you heard a politician tell us what to do? The last President that did this inspired young people to give back to the world with the Peace Corps. He told us we were out of shape and brought physical education into our schools.

Today, instead of guidance, we hear promises. We have also come to know most of these promises will not flourish. More profoundly, when we are afraid and uncomfortable with change, promises encourage people to wait, all at a time when action is the only way forward.

Before the pandemic, we celebrated a 3.8% unemployment rate. But, about half of our nation’s workers characterized themselves as “underemployed.”

Who are these people?

They are the mothers that hold 2-3 cheap jobs to keep a roof over their family. They are the mothers getting home at 2 in the morning exhausted. But, before they go to bed, they make lunch for their children.

Underemployment is deeply influenced by the quality of our schools. Most continue to prepare our children for the Industrial Revolution. Young adults have invested in graduate degrees only to find themselves serving coffee and picking people for Uber. We have yet to find one school that requires sales training, presentation skills, the ability to build a customized support system that matches their vision, mission, or purpose. Yes, learning these life skills requires courage. In an ideal world, you would be consistently telling them why personal change is worth the effort.

Our world changes so quickly that today’s college graduates will change careers, not jobs, four to six times. Within this frenzy, we need to be building the ability to graciously and fluidly connect with the right people. Without these skills, no one will know they are here.

Of course, many of us are frightened we will not change in time. People cannot change if they are isolated. Millions of our citizens need to work, but without help, they look to the future and lose confidence there is a place for them. Of course, we have turmoil.

Our nation is in deep trouble because of our neglect in guiding all-American workers. But, we are also in jeopardy on a global scale. China, Germany, Japan, Canada, and South Korea have sophisticated strategies to build rather than ignore the strength of their talent. We belly-ache about technology taking away rote and mind-numbing jobs. These countries use technology to free the mind for new and essential work. German automakers are well-known examples of investing in cutting-edge technology and training their workers to move into new roles. Like many of the other nations that are ahead of us, Germany developed partnerships with employers and educational institutions to keep their workers employed and competitive.

We would probably call that socialism. Actually, it is good business.

At the very least, being given freedom from rote and monotonous work allows us to return to using work as a platform for our lives, abundance, and meaning. Today, we can live wherever we want to. I no longer have to grab a flight to New York or Europe to do business. I just turn on my computer.

Technology also offers us the opportunity to design careers and businesses that we love. I have been facilitating that outcome for 30 years. Letting go of mediocrity and developing work that matches our career DNA is one of the greatest opportunities in life.

One of the most important lessons I have learned from my work is that when we find our true purpose, there is always a solution to make that work sustainable.

So, while other countries are showing their workers the way, we shower our people with bad ideas. One candidate implied that technology companies had exploited and victimized.

We are about to launch a new company designed to help end underemployment without financial barriers. As a social entrepreneur, I believe that making our solutions available to everyone who works that right and the best thing to do with my life. But, the scope of this problem is so big that doing it alone would feel like trying to put out a forest fire with a tablespoon.

We need your guidance.

We need a consistent voice of why changing ourselves is so very important for our economy, health, joy, fulfillment, and families.

You know the words by heart, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Our country needs an awakening.

There are millions of problems that need to be solved.

There are millions of people that want to help.

What could happen to the spirit of our country if we become a nation of mentors?

Hard to visualize?

We live in a country that exists because of imagination.

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