This page is a companion piece to the newsletter "Rejuvenating your Future".

This page is under construction, but the links are working now.  Please visit again soon when more resources are added to it.  So far we have articles and periodicals, books, websites, and sidebar that didn't fit into the newsletter.  If you have suggestions for additions to this page, please email jguy@jenniferguy.com .  

Resources to Help You Conduct Your Inquiry

Articles & Periodicals

The Merlin Factor: Leadership and Strategic Intent. This article will help you to invent a relationship with the future.  What is more important?  Your skills, or your future?  Find out.

Strategic Project Design  This one of our proprietary newsletters.  It can help you to understand the structure of a project so when you are planning yours, large or small, you can be sure you aren't forgetting anything.  There are other project design and management tools on this site. 

First Impressions: a daily dose of inspiration from FastCompany Magazine. Subscribe to a daily email for interesting items to spark your thinking.  Check here for articles on work/life issues.  For example, on Sept. 6, 2002, the First Impression email  quote was "You can't love your life if you don't love your job." 

Books

What Color is Your Parachute? You can order it on the web from http://www.bn.com// or http://www.amazon.com/ or directly from the publisher, Ten Speed Press in Berkeley, Calif., at 1-800-841-BOOK or at http://www.tenspeed.com/.

Chapters: Create a Life of Exhilaration and Accomplishment in the Face of Change by Candice Carpenter.  My husband read this and it gave him a whole new perspective on his work and what he needed to be satisfied in his job. 

 The Artists Way at Work: Riding the Dragon. Quill Press; June 1999, Bryan, Mark with Cameron, Julia and Allen, Catherine. www.artistswayatwork.com/awaw.aspl

The Doom Loop, by Dory Hollander.  This book 

Websites

Revitalize your work life: USA today's Career's Network This site changes frequently, but can provide some useful resources for someone in search of a new job. 

The Buckminster Fuller Institute: This site is full of inspirational stories about a solitary man who made an extraordinary difference. http://www.bfi.com/  If you are feeling at all as if the world owes you anything, this is the site for you.  "1927, at the age of 32, Buckminster Fuller stood on the shores of Lake Michigan, prepared to throw himself into the freezing waters.. On the verge of suicide, it suddenly struck him that his life belonged, not to himself, but to the universe. He chose at that moment to embark on what he called "an experiment to discover what the little, penniless, unknown individual might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity.

Sidebars that wouldn't fit in the newsletter

Family vs. life - the eternal struggle

If your family feels it doesn’t see enough of you, maybe it isn’t the amount of time you spend with them, but the fact that you aren’t THERE when your body is.

A manager/single father I know prided himself on spending time with his kids, and was shocked when his 8-year old daughter asked him to turn off the golf game one day. It seems he was spending all his time on the phone or watching sporting events while he was "with his children".

At first he was miffed at having to choose between golf and his kids, but after some thinking, realized two things. 1) that he would choose his children over golf ANYTIME, and 2) that it wasn’t a matter of choosing between them, but not pretending he was being with his children when he was really watching golf. Representing one as the other was the source of the problem.

He found that spending just a few hours with his kids playing or even working with them doing chores, raised his level of communication with them, their sense of being with their dad, and his whole sense of living his values. And he didn’t have to give up golf!

Take Inventory (a tool for designing your future)

Separate from your writing exercise (although some things will occur to you during your writing exercise) make lists of the following:

Your accomplishments

What are you proud of? Don’t limit this to business accomplishments. Did you sing a solo with your choir, or become an Eagle Scout or published an article in your college newspaper, – no matter how long ago, then write it down. What do YOU consider to be an accomplishment?

Your special skills

What kind of things do you do especially well? From flower arranging to making power point presentations - from marketing new products or keeping a team in action Get a comprehensive list of what you do well.

What is your unique contribution?

This question may take some time to answer if this type of exercise is new to you. You may have to observe yourself in meetings, at church, at the grocery story to figure out what you have to contribute that is unique to you.

What are your commitments?

Often people say that they want to spend more time with their families. They feel torn between their need to have some personal time and their desire to provide for their families. They find that spending time with their families restores their sense of purpose in life and they have less of a need for other entertainments. (See side bar)

• Clarify for yourself where you should have your attention to truly serve your commitments.

• Determine what your values are.

The question becomes "how can I design my life and my work so I am making my unique contribution while I work and live my values?" The answer to this is the key to energy and enthusiasm for life and an eagerness for work.

Stand in the future- 20 or 30 years out. Imagine that you have made the contribution you want to make, you have the family you want to have, and you have done what you want to do professionally.

How do you know? Look around you and articulate what your "conditions of satisfaction"3  are for fulfilling the design of your life. Fill in the details as if you were telling the story of your life.

For example:

• I am 75 years old and retired. My kids have all gotten the education they need for the lives they want to lead. They are having satisfying relationships.

• I have retired from my job where I made a significant contribution by leaving a legacy of communication and fair management practices.

• I have never stopped learning. I earned my PhD in my 50’s and continue to learn new things on various subjects every year. E.g., physics, mathematics, engineering, etc.

• I live an active life. I have volunteered my time and my energy to organizations doing important things for humanity.

• I am connected with my inner self. I have worked constantly to stay at peace with myself and my surroundings. I have regular practices that enable me to keep myself centered and oriented around contribution and living life fully.

Keep working on this - it might even take you a few days - until you are completely satisfied with it. Keep asking yourself "if I can say all of this in the future, have I lived the life I want? Have I lived a life I am proud of?"

There are several possible approaches to fulfilling this design for your life. You can take each item and craft it into a project by itself with milestones and practices and interim goals.

Another way is to make a plan for a short time horizon. If you look at the next 12 months, where should you be paying attention, or taking action to be building the life you have designed?

A third way is to tackle one area at a time. Then revisit this inquiry when that is in good shape.

You can evaluate your job, your home, the level of challenge at which you live your life. Should you get a new job, or can you see ways that you can fulfill your design by opportunities at your current job? Are you spending too much time watching TV and not enough being productive? Are you contributing enough? Volunteering enough? What legacy are you leaving your children?

This type of question will lead you in the right direction. The shorter the time horizon you choose, the more frequently you should revisit this inquiry. It is easy to address one part of your life and then forget to come back and look later at the next step.

Each one of us deserves a life that we are enthusiastic about. We deserve to have something we look forward to living. This Designing Your Life exercise will give you a place to start, but it is your commitment to your life and the lives of the people around you that will make the difference in the long run.