In our work lives, we sometimes find ourselves in a kind of wilderness. Perhaps we don’t know why we’re still doing what we’re doing, or we’re just exhausted with it, or more potently – we just can’t care anymore and have no more f***s to give. This can be because of an untenable work situation or culture, a bad boss, an accumulation of compromises we’ve made that topple of their own weight, or a blinding realization that we are really not making a difference.   In my recruit

"The gift must always move," I read in an article by Lewis Hyde over 40 years ago. I was in my early 20s and only knew that I had to write poetry and also find a way to pay the rent and go out for occasional enchiladas. Until I read those lines, I didn't connect the truth of seeing a calling -- something we feel born to do or something that emerges with such clarity that it just about takes our breath away -- as a gift I needed to pay forward. I only knew Hyde was saying som

Sorting through my sister’s garage recently, I stumbled across something I recognized immediately – my mother’s leather portfolio full of maps, all still nestled in there. It’s burgundy, with the scrapes and scratches of time, and zippered pockets full of maps – city maps, state maps, national park maps. And inside it still smells like our old house, and her. My mother taught elementary school briefly before she began having children, and I remember her telling me that she re

As the last 25 years of my life have been largely focused on people’s relationships with their work, I’ve always held a special place in my heart for Labor Day. It was established in the late 1800s in recognition of the struggles for workers’ rights, and while those legitimate struggles continue into the present day, the growth of labor unions and the middle class in the 20th century allowed many of us the privilege of thinking of our labor in terms of what it means to us. In

There's a whole lot of travel going on this summer, perhaps some even involving you and a slew of planes, trains, and automobiles. Yet for many of us, such travel is rarely about stopping out of the whirl of motion to catch up with yourself. Particularly when it comes to getting clearer about your life's work playing out in real time, many of us need a true retreat to step back, listen to what we're truly called to at this time, and discover the next best path to take. That's

Several years ago, I played rhythm guitar with a wonderful local rockabilly band, Miss Major and Her Minor Mood Swings. We built a nice fan base, won a local battle-of-the-bands, and one holiday season we got to open a show for Wanda Jackson, an icon known as “the Queen of Rockabilly.” As we were setting up for our sound check at Knucklehead’s, I strapped on my ’67 Telecaster, plugged in, and began to tune up. A couple of young men were sitting near the stage, and one stage-w

When my mother was diagnosed with fast-moving macular degeneration in her 80s, she knew she might not have her vision much longer. Mom was never interested in using a computer, as my dad was, but her life was full of books, magazines, and newspapers. She was the most well-informed person any of us in our family ever knew, an advisor and campaign treasurer for our U.S. Congressional Representative, a local and regional leader in the League of Women Voters, and a participant in

At some point in our lives, many of us arrive at a reckoning. The scenarios are different, but some version of a question can show up: What happened to that thing I used to love to do? My friend Catherine and my client Tina have both returned to painting after decades in commercial graphic design and teaching. Their paths and creative personalities are wildly different, but both heard “the voice” at a certain point, first quiet and then loud and persistent. Catherine's desire

“Faith and fear both need to be brought to the bargaining table to hammer out an agreement between them,” Gregg Levoy says of finding the work you love. Gregg should know. As the author of Callings and Vital Signs, he has been writing about unearthing and enacting the work that matters to us based on his passionate insights and lived experience (especially leaping from being a salaried journalist to a beloved freelance writer and inspiring presenter). Last Sunday, Gregg w