Finding Career Inspiration in Life! Building Your Future Now

Finding Career Inspiration in Life! Building Your Future Now Inspiration is a pretty important thing to have in whatever you do in life. Whether it is a book, a movie, or a personinspiration is a key driver to giving us an amazing push to accomplish many exceptional things. In our careers inspiration is a fundamental foundation to building a solid experience year after year. Dont see it? You might not! But it is there. The people that have given you infinite wisdom to do your best. Leaders that you have followed or other people that you dont know wellvisionaries that have been stalwarts in our society. We are absolutely influenced by those people that have stood for something and still stand dispensing their strength through their actions and timeless words. Our careers usually reflect what we are ultimately capable of achievingit is our dreams in motion. We capture inspiration from so many sources every day and every waking hour even if we arent aware of it. It seeps into our unconsciousness and grows there. Also, I implore you to go out there and get inspired on purpose. Read people who have done great things. Discover histories of amazing victories and crushing defeats. Believe in those that others havent been kind to. The world is an open book for you to read and live. Inspiration is a way of feeling the world around you. In your career be different and strive for something moreinspire others to also do great things and discover their own path to inspire others! Image: Avi Acl

What justifies relocating a family

What justifies relocating a family I am cooking but its in a slow cooker. Im resisting my rental apartment oven because  I have a $12,000 oven at the farm that no one is using, and maybe that wouldnt be so frustrating to me if I didnt also have  $35,000 piano at the farm that no one is using. I can tell Im throwing all caution to the wind because writing  other blog posts I told myself to not tell you how much I paid for the piano but really, thatll be nothing compared to what I end up paying for a cello, so maybe Im just conditioning you for more shocking news to come. At 9am  my older son goes to a violin lesson he goes  every day because why not? We live walking distance from the teacher and if hes going to play an hour a day he may as well do it with someone who has a lot more patience than I do. And at 9am my younger son goes to Swarthmore colleges practice rooms to play piano. I hope the people in charge at the college dont read this blog because Im not actually sure if my son is allowed to do that. But if they do read this blog, I would like to teach a writing  course at the college. Wouldnt something about how to write online  be a great idea? Can you please email me about that? I taught creative writing at Boston University and I loved it. Well, except for that one kid who asked me to change his grade because  he had to get an A for his application to law school. A good time for me to talk with  my husband is before the kids leave, because thats after my husband has done chores in thirty-below temperatures  and two feet of snow and hes coming in to get warm. I am stirring  beans into chili with the phone tucked between my neck and chin when a mouse runs across the kitchen floor. I barely  flinch because Ive seen that mouse for three days. The landlord says we dont need to worry because the apartment only gets mice for the week after Dunkin Donuts exterminates. When I want to live without mice, I set up my laptop in Dunkin Donuts. Right now I stir and talk. Stir and talk. My husband talks about the weather, which is not different from  when we lived on the farm. Farmers talk about weather. The only  difference is that he checks the weather updates for Swarthmore now, so he can also talk about my weather as well. My weather is like a very cold fall on the farm before the leaves have fallen. The kids  are unimpressed. They still wear shorts. I tell this to my husband and then, to be honest, we sort of run out of stuff to talk about. I say, Im happy you are moving to Swarthmore to be with us. It means so much to me. He says, Remember that Im not moving all the way. Oh. Okay. What should I call it then? Im still going to take care of the farm. Okay. What does that mean? I thought youre hiring someone to take care of the farm. I am. But I still have to go back. Okay. Well, Im happy that you are hiring someone to take care of the farm so you can come to Swarthmore. Silence. Stir. Mouse. Flinch. Stir. Silence. Good. Okay, I say. I give the boys chili for breakfast. Lunch for breakfast is one of the rules we break when my husband is not around. I dont think he even calls it lunch. He calls the noon meal  dinner and dinner supper and lunch is something people do in the city when they have no  hay to rake. There is no supper in our life. My husband  has adjusted so much for me and the kids  that somewhere he lost a meal. I call him again later from Dunkin Donuts.  I drink my coffee, in the front picture window, and watch people get on and off the train. The tractor is running in the background. I say, I thought  we decided that part of having a good long-distance relationship is turning off the tractor when I call. Its too cold, he says. Then he says, I thought we decided you wouldnt go to Dunkin Donuts. In therapy, as things got more and more difficult, the conversation became, Why are we doing so much for cello? Why are we putting our kids needs ahead of everyone elses? And Id say, Should we stay at the farm? Is that a way to handle everyones needs equally? I didnt know what would happen when I moved. I knew the family had to make a choice. Just like there are no families where two people have high-powered careers, there are no families where two people are chasing unrelenting dreams. But  I want a family where we help each other meet our goals. And then it hits me: My husband has already met all his goals with farming. He is scared to leave the farm because he doesnt want to lose what we have. But I always want more. I am not interested in hanging on to what weve done before.

Creative Solutions To Finding Space For Your New Home Office

Creative Solutions To Finding Space For Your New Home Office Have you been trying to figure out how to squeeze a new home office into an already cozy living area?   Youve tried sharing the kitchen table, and its a constant battle between your work, the kids, meals, and other projects.  Maybe its time to take a step back and do a little out-of-the-box thinking.  Here are two ways to find home office space you probably hadnt thought of. Staircase Ideas In the western U.S., roughly 50% of homes have more than one level.  Farther east, that number goes up to 80%.  And of those that are only one level, many have space that could be converted into a loft. If you have an existing, traditional stair case,  it occupies a space of at least 30 and as much as 60 square feet.  What if you could capture a chunk of that thats the perfect size for a trendy or classic desk?  First, take a look at some ideas for staircases for small spaces, because the objective is to shrink the amount of space thats being taken up by the stairs.  For the most part, this involves changing the stair configuration from the old-fashioned closed-in, straight, square, and stodgy look to something  thats more free form and open. The image above show how space that used to be a difficult to use under-stairway storage area is now available for a workspace table or desk.  So you not only gain space for your home office, youve really updated the look of your home. What if you dont have an upstairs or basement?  If you have a vaulted ceiling, consider adding a cozy loft.  Again, finding staircase ideas that dont take up a lot of space is critical, because you want to gain more in the new loft that you lose to the new stairs.   Below is an outstanding example of how a loft transforms a huge vaulted ceiling into more usable space. If you dont have a vaulted ceiling, theres still a similar option.  Take a peek in your attic and see what kind of space is up there.  Very often, with a little creative thinking,  a modest getaway can be sculpted out around the existing roof framing. The Closet Office Option One of the reasons “the cube” became so popular is that it naturally encourages you to stay focused and productive.  If your home office is a shared-function space, it’s challenging to accomplish that.  Even worse, if your home office is just a roll-top desk and much of what you need is in an adjacent closet or even another room, productivity suffers. While it may be impractical to claim an entire room for your home office,  there are creative alternatives.  I’ve claimed the by-pass door closet in a spare bedroom, essentially creating my own cube.  The ends house printers and storage, and there are shelves both on the sides and above.  The desk fits completely inside so I can close it off out of sight when I’m not working.  Again, the key is to be open to solutions you may have been overlooking.