Christmas in Japan’s not a national holiday though some of the commercial aspects, but none of the religious, have been imported and successfully packaged.
For example, Xmas trees, decorations and pretty lights adorn many shops and street fronts, but are uncommon within domestic dwellings.
Some children get Christmas presents on Xmas eve but Santa’s buck stops early because a magical transformation happens overnight. If you’re curious as to what that is, I wrote a post about spending Christmas in Japan two years ago.
This is a country and culture of ‘matsuri’ (festivals – local, regional and national) and Christmas is therefore but one of many. And that’s fine.
So, with the Yuletide celebrations neatly wrapped up on Dec 24th, one of the customs I like most about the approach to Japanese New Year festivities is the ‘clean up’ that occurs in the final days of December.
Rooms are tidied, porches and cars washed, the unwanted put in recycling bins and transparent plastic bags. A new beginning’s clearly felt in the air.
I think this winter ‘spring cleaning‘ is excellent mental and physical preparation for the challenges and opportunities that await.
Why?
Because it’s frequently necessary to cast off the old before donning the new. There just isn’t room to physically and mentally store stuff that no longer serves us.
And it makes setting goals (or New Year’s Resolutions, if that’s your preference) a whole lot easier when mind and body are freed from clutter.
Success equals Goals and all else is Clutter.
Here’s my aging copy of Brian Tracy’s marvellous book, “Maximum Achievement“, sitting on top of a file of notes I made about it and his accompanying CD audio program, ‘The Psychology of Achievement‘.
Alas, our tatami room is not 100% clutter free and so there are things not seen that my better half would kill me for if I included more in the photo.
But hey, that’s life. We do the best we can, with what we have, right where we are.
“Tatami Goals”? Yeah, I like it!
And here’s a look inside that blue folder. I spent many hours reading, listening to and typing up what I felt to be the best of Brian’s work from the book and the CDs.
If you have the opportunity to do an end-of-year clean up, I urge you to give it a go and leave a comment here about what you did.
As ‘mental preparation’ for the menial tasks, take a look at these two posts.
It’s been almost three years since I did this email interview about mid-life career transition with Singapore-based writer, entrepreneur and owner of ‘goal-setting-college’, Ms. Ellesse Chow.
Reading it now, but with the benefit of hindsight, I can see where my optimism about mid-career change (as a coach) was about to collide head-on with severe economic turbulence.
Of course, since then we’ve experienced what the Western media have been calling the ‘Global Financial Crisis’, but in Japan is more often referred to as the ‘Lehman shock’.
As we approach the end of 2010, here are my three ‘rules’ of career change (not set in stone, just based on what 36 months of living and breathing untethered from the corporate teat have taught me.)
Mid-Career Change Rule #1 – S##t Happens
Mid-career change is not a ‘walk in the park.’ Stuff just, well, stuff just happens. That’s life. Be prepared and open to change before you embark on such an adventure.
Mid-Career Change Rule #2 – Know Your Strengths
This is where a good inventory of your skills, experience and interests can be a godsend.
I wrote about Prof Ed Schein’s career anchors approach in Dec 2007. And the advice I received in that report about my career anchors has been, almost uncannily, spot on.
Will this type of research-based and guided self-analysis work for someone just starting out in life and thinking of career change?
It’s very possible.
Back in Xmas 1986, I was preparing to swap my science teaching career for an IT training career with McDonnell Douglas Information Systems.
You can get a sense of that transition story in Ellesse’s interview, and also from my ‘About Mark McClure’ page on this blog.
Anyway, on the last day of School, my class of 16-year olds gave me some ‘goodbye’ presents.
It was very sweet of them and I recall those days fondly – even more so when my daughter and I visited the school in March this year. Walking into a school again almost 24 years later is a very humbling experience, especially when so few of the staff there still knew who I was!
The one present that’s survived all those years is the push’nGo firetruck shown in the picture. For the life of me I can’t remember why they chose that. Perhaps I resembled the driver haha!
Looking at the toy this afternoon, I can see how the driver’s head is cracked, the truck’s paintwork is fading, and one wheel kind of wobbles when the head is pushed down.
But it’s still a toy fire truck.
Admittedly, a somewhat beaten up truck, but recognizably one.
And I, at heart, remain a teacher; using my skills in one way or another.
For example, what’s a career coach?
He or she, in my opinion, is a teacher of the self.
A mirror of possibilities and probabilities that another person can use to teach themselves.
And what about a tech case study writer or white paper writer or personal growth writer? (My current three writing loves.)
The best writers use words to help teach the prospect or customer about solutions to the problems they’re facing. And if I’ve learned anything about copywriting and human nature, it’s that people are most interested in ‘benefits’. They care much less for ‘features’.
So it’s in those three worlds – coaching, teaching and writing – that my days are experienced. Funny how those three attributes have morphed and changed as career companions over the years. I don’t expect them to go away while I still draw breath.
Returning to the question of identifying what ‘career anchors’ a person might discover for themselves from their 20s onwards.
Although I didn’t have the advantage of Ed Schein’s work or of the Internet 25 years ago, I did have my own intuitive feeling about what work engaged me, and what bored me. This is sometimes expressed by career writers with a personal growth bias as, “do what you love“.
It’s also regularly disparaged by people of a more pragmatic persuasion. These people quite rightly see career choices and rewards becoming ever more competitive and uncertain, especially as the ‘globalized economy‘ continues to add hundreds of millions of equally ambitious people into the equation.
Who is right? Well, I believe both are.
And that brings me to express the final rule in this way:
Mid-Career Change Rule #3 – Aim at Doing More of What You Love
Books can (and are) written about this precept to “do what you love.”
It is, of course, easier to say so on a full stomach, under a dry roof, and in a clean bed.
That’s why you have to be careful about following the advice of those who advocate, “Yes, go do what you love. The money will follow.” It aint necessarily so and you would therefore be wise to AIM at doing more of what you love while also taking care of providing daily sustenance for you and yours.
It’s at this point – that of providing daily sustenance – where some people get stuck.
Of course, they dream about how wonderful it would be have a job they both love and get well paid for. But this ‘daily sustenance providing’ is a real drag. And it can be, if your circumstances demand almost all of your time and energy to get to first base. There are no simple answers here.
However, there are questions you can ask that may eventually lead to answers appropriate for you.
Here’s one example of this type of question to finish on, and one which also allows me to introduce a very deep thinker and believer in human happiness – the late (and ex) Father Anthony De Mello.
The question is : “Do you want to be unconditionally happy?”
Let that one simmer on the back burner but be aware, it might take time for you to wake up and answer it.
In the meantime, kindly give your attention to these audio recordings of Dr. De Mello doing his thing at a retreat. I don’t know exactly where or when, but it was many years ago. Whoever made the YouTube videos has added some entrancing Nature shots but those are just a backdrop for the ‘magic’ our good Doctor is working.
In fact, these two clips are almost word for word what is written in his book, “Awareness“, between pages 9 and 15. The first clip is insightful and I often ponder on the contrasts between unconditional selfishness and unconditional selflessness. The second clip is, well, hilarious! Enjoy…
Well, what did you think?
I’d be interested to read any constructive comments.
That question again: “Do you want to be unconditionally happy?”
Try applying it to your ideas on doing more of what you love and see what comes back. Keep a journal or blog about your thinking. That’s partly what I’ve been doing with this blog since Nov 2007…
Are you a worker bee / corporate drone, or a samurai / free spirited entrepreneur?
In the link below, Jason Calacanis delivers a rousing performance to some Penn State students – all the more so because it was unscripted. A 37 minute master class in self-belief, desire and never giving up.
Yes, he’s controversial and outspoken. Drones around the globe will hate him with a vengeance. But hey, he’s a Brooklyn boy, and while acknowledging that rice pickers are needed, holds a special affection for the samurai (entrepreneurial) class.
The downloadable video and audio-only files are well worth keeping if you have even a smidgen of desire to start and grow your own business.
Jason Calacanis – Rice Picker or Samurai? (Oct 2011Update: Broken link?)
Some choice quotes:
For the people who want to be worker bees and drones:
“…there’s really not very much to tell you. Your life’s going to be very boring. You’re not going to get much accomplished. And you’re going to die and regret not starting a company, and not being your own boss, and not doing something epic. But by that time it will be too late.”
And for those who felt and acted on an entrepreneurial calling:
“… you saw that you had a choice in life. You didn’t just have to get in line and go work for somebody. You could actually come up with an idea, execute on it and be responsible for your destiny.”
Interestingly, while he believes that entrepreneurs can be made, the roots usually come from the example or influence of entrepreneurial parents in a person’s younger years.
That being said, there’s no time like the present…
I attended a high school festival recently where one of the class themes was a ‘celebration of individuality.’
And among the various exhibits the students had made was a poster with those famous words of Goethe:
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
Having watched these students take that theme from concept to execution, despite being very busy with their studies, I think the seeds of success in any major goal (such as career change or finding meaningful work) come down to the two ‘B’ words:
Boldness and Begin.
That’s it.
- Mark ‘To Boldly Go’ McClure
Here’s an excellent article about Harvard psychologist, Ellen Langer, and her lifetime’s research into ‘mindfulness’.
I was impressed by her bestselling book of that name some years ago, and while I’m still often far from mindful, I’m grateful that her words helped stimulate my thinking into the kind of learned behavior that’s so strong it becomes habitual.
Although her original study at the monastery was with elderly people, I suspect the positive ramifications of mindfulness for middle-aged people considering a career change are equally significant.
What I took from her book was to pay more attention to the seemingly inconsequential things and happenings around me. Why? Because it appears there’s a kind of “living placebo” at work within me that I’m not consciously aware of most of the time.
How to start experiencing mindfulness
I found the easiest way was to begin with my breath since I enjoy running and exercise so much. Plus the automatic nature of breathing is fascinating in its own right and its gentle observation encourages a peaceful, easy feeling (as ‘The Eagles’ used to sing.)
From that place of calmness eventually came another voice, one that I feel has my best interests at heart and, as far as I can tell, the highest good of others around me.
On a practical level I find this voice makes allowances for both the work necessary to “put bread on the table” and the vocational aspect of what I truly enjoy doing – in my case, writing, teaching, reading and running.
The Harvard article also mentions Jennifer Aniston’s plans for a film of her life story.
That looks interesting. I didn’t know she had another book, Counterclockwise, out too.
It’s very possible.