A Note of Thanks

My son is 15 years old. It's a strange age. He is starting to look like an adult. The discussions we have are like talking with an adult, albeit with slightly less life experience. I trust him to cook for himself on occasion and not burn the house down. And yet, at 15, there are so many concerns that seem to hit teenagers harder than most adults. Am I smart enough? Do I look good enough? Am I funny enough? Do people like me? Most people need reminders of the things they do well. It's hard to see when it's something that is part of you and you do it every day. This is even more true for the students in your life. They are wrestling with worries about their future as well as their present. Finals. College entrance exams. Scholarship essays. Scholarship rejection letters. Instagram vacation pictures. Snapchat snide comments. Athletic personal records that surpass theirs. So many ways to feel like they are not enough. And yet, they are still studying. Still trying. Still ac...

Treasure Map, Ahoy! by Ted Major on Flickr CC BY SA The comfort zone is rarely comfortable. Especially if you know there is more out there. Sure, in the comfort zone you know what to expect. There are few surprises. But it's more familiar. Easy. Default. Not really comfortable. I've been planning for the past 18 years to leave Columbia, MO. It's a nice place to live, sure. But it's familiar. Very few surprises. I know there is more out there. But each time I start to think that maybe this is the time, something happens that I let derail me. I take comfort in the default. In few surprises. What I let derail me were excuses. Yes, it would have been harder to move somewhere else when my son was a baby. Yes, I might not have gotten a good job right away. Or I might have gotten a better one. I talked myself out of the unfamiliar and stayed with what was safe. A few months ago, I was traveling with a co-worker to visit schools in Texas. "I love it here," ...

She's a perfectionist. She wants to know how all the pieces fit together before she gets started on the puzzle. She is also a little introverted, not wanting to cause issues and definitely not interested in presenting in front of groups -- clients or peers. For some, she can be a little frustrating -- the person who asks the detailed questions before the process has been fully hashed out. For some, she seems like an anchor, not interested in changing her well-defined method. But as it turns out, she just needs a little time and a better understanding of the reason why. I first recognized there was more to Deb when she asked me to show her around LinkedIn and help her get a profile started. She had several clients reach out to connect with her on the networking platform, so she saw the benefit. She just needed a little help understanding how it all worked. I explained the overall platform, showed her a few profiles I thought were well done and went through the privacy settings ...