No More Escape Plans: Build a Life You Don’t Need a Vacation From
Irrespective of where you’ve worked, at some point in your life, you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘Hope is not a strategy’ – meaning that hope is nothing more than a ‘passive, blind desire that a certain thing will happen’. By this definition, hope is the sad state of being you grasp for when you can’t act.
The Case for Hope
Irrespective of where you’ve worked, at some point in your life, you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘Hope is not a strategy’ – meaning that hope is nothing more than a ‘passive, blind desire that a certain thing will happen’. By this definition, hope is the sad state of being you grasp for when you can’t act.
What’s love got to do with it?
“If you keep your head down, nose to the grindstone, focus only on the work, and don’t get involved with people, you’ll succeed.” As the eldest daughter in a family of immigrants, these sentiments were spoken to me quite often by my engineer father. While I got my work ethic from him, unfortunately, I also got his intensive focus, which eventually led to me becoming a workaholic (a topic for another day).
Now while I’d like to say my father’s philosophy was unique, it wasn’t. The work world is replete with idioms about how there’s life, there’s work, and there’s a distinct separation between them: from ‘Thank God it’s Friday’ and ‘Work your fingers to the bone’ to ‘Working for the weekend’.
New Year Ahead - How’s your Vision?
It’s January 1st, day one of a brand-new year. Nina Simone said it best “It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life for me. And I'm feeling good.” January 1st sits perched at the very start of the new year like a blank page in a crisp new notebook, just waiting to be written in.
It stands apart from every other day of the year, with its’ very own ‘new car smell’, just beckoning you to get in and take it for a drive somewhere. Excitedly we get into that car, take a deep breath, turn on the ignition and start driving. At first it’s exhilarating, and with the windows down it’s hard not to get lost in that ‘we’re going somewhere’ feeling. But at some point the thought hits us – ‘where exactly are we going’?
Consumerism as a Force for Good
December - how did we get here so quickly? It seems like just yesterday, we were celebrating the start of 2023, and yet here we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas. Now don’t get me wrong I absolutely love Christmas, it’s my favourite time of the year – from the lights to the baking, to the smiles on people’s faces and let’s not forget the real reason for it all – Jesus. Yet, there’s something about the consumerism focus of the holiday season that’s been weighing on my mind.
4 Questions to Find your North Star
“The Great Resignation”. Employees all over North America & Europe were voluntarily resigning from their jobs ‘en mass’. This economic phenomenon, also called the “Big Quit”, was researched and studied by some of the best and brightest consultants, and one thing continued to show up – people felt a lack of purpose connection to their work.
Thank God it’s Monday
Most of us spend at least 8 hours a day at “work” (entrepreneurs more like 12-16), 6-8 hours sleeping and the remaining 8 hours doing other things like spending time with loved ones, exercising, eating, etc.
Written by: AMANDA STASSEN