Motivational Leadership Speaker, Bestselling Oprah Author

Archive for the ‘2009 Challenges’ Category

I have never understood the workaholic mindset, and now that I have slid into it, I am even more bewildered.

I haven’t lived this life since I was a 23-year-old, fresh-out-of-college newspaper reporter working an 80-hour week on a series. One night, a friend stopped by the newsroom to pick something up.

“Why am I still here?” I asked.

“Because your life is meaningless and this is all you have,” she laughed.

Days later, when I turned in my timecard, Joyce Duarte, the assistant to the managing editor, took one look at the hours I’d worked and asked, “Gosh, Fawn. Is it worth it?”

I knew it wasn’t. That was the last time I drove myself that hard. If I worked overtime, I took comp time instead of cash. Always. Time was worth more than money.

Imagine my surprise when I went to bed last night and realized that I am right where I was all those years ago. I am working too long and too hard. I have a purpose! I have a new book coming out! We are setting up multiple websites as part of a new marketing strategy! I am learning the insanity of Web 2.0 and I am trying (and failing) to keep up with e-mail! Isn’t that exciting?

No! For those of you who come to my website looking for the daily dose of optimism, hang with me. It is coming.

It is coming because I am having an awakening.

If you are working so hard that you aren’t living a full and meaningful life, you are not living. It doesn’t matter what you do to drive your success — you are not successfully living because work is not enough. It isn’t. It’s a challenging part of your life, but it is not your life. Not if you are getting the deluxe tour.

I only get to live once. You only get to live once.

I don’t know about you, but I am going for a very long bike ride. What are you going to do to live right now?

Fawn Germer is the best-selling author of four books. Her fifth book, Finding the UP in the Downturn, will be released in April. She travels internationally as a keynote speaker who works with organizations and companies that want more courageous and creative performance.

It’s been a week since the Rocky Mountain News published its final edition. Some of my old colleagues have forged on, using the Internet to keep the Rocky’s spirit alive at www.iwantmyrocky.com. This is pretty revolutionary stuff.

It reminds me of the time the IRS shut down a Popeye’s Chicken franchise in Denver. The next morning, the employees opened up and cooked and sold the remaining chicken so they would get paid for the week. Granted, they got in a lot of trouble, but I really loved that they banded together and carried on.

That is what these former Rocky staffers are doing. They can still do great journalism without the hard copy of the newspaper. Instead of surrendering, they are fighting back with their talent. I’ve always said, your job may not last but your talent does. This website is proof.  I hope it will become profitable and a template for other reporters who find themselves losing out in this economy.

Please visit their site and click on their ads to drive up revenues and support these swashbuckling reporters. And, pass on the word.

I felt so bad that the tradition of Rocky founder William Byers was dying with that last edition, but it’s not. This is exactly what Byers would have wanted.

Again: www.iwantmyrocky.com!

I have a friend who has been looking for work for awhile and will soon start her job at IKEA. She called to go over her success strategy and, out of pure self-interest, I asked when her discount would kick in. That brought up a whole bunch of other questions she said has for her first day. I am either slap-happy because I was up working until 4 a.m., or she really should abandon IKEA job and seek to replace Conan. Here’s what she wants to discuss with her manager: 

1. How many sick days do I get in my first month? If I use more, is that okay?
2. Can I take a cigarette break now? I require multiple cigarette breaks every hour. It is not my fault. If you have a problem, take it up with Big Tobacco.
3. When does the dental insurance kick in? I have a toothache. What kind of discount do I get on the Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria? Do employees get extra meatballs?
4. Sometimes, I will need to bring my cat to work with me.
5. What should I tell customers when they interrupt me while I am text messaging?
6. Which door is best when you’re trying to leave early?
7. Are the display beds available for employee naps?
8. When my probation officer comes to visit, can we use a conference room? Will he get extra Swedish meatballs in his order?
9. When is my first week of vacation?

 I think she’ll be a STAR!

Fawn Germer is the author of  four books, one of which was an Oprah favorite. Her fifth book, FINDING THE UP IN THE DOWNTURN will be released this spring. She is one of the nation’s most popular leadership keynote speakers.

I got the Bill Gates e-mail again! You know. It’s the one that says he will pay us $245 every time it is forwarded. I’ve been getting it since about 1994 and haven’t seen a dime of it, but this version swears the Gates offer was verified on Good Morning America this morning. For that reason, I have decided to take the day off. Things are looking up in this economy.

Fawn Germer is the best-selling author of four books. Her fifth book, “Finding the UP in the Downturn” will be released this spring.

Over the weekend, we got this from Paul Volker this from former chair of the Federal Reserve and current advisor to President Obama: “I don’t remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, when things went down quite so fast, quite so uniformly around the world.”

But today, the headline says Fed Chair Ben “Bernanke Suggests Recession Will End This Year… 2010 ‘Will Be A Year Of Recovery.’”

Now, let me give my interpretation of those guys and all the others predicting this and predicting that: Nobody knows what they are talking about. Why even listen? Usually, the projections make people feel horrible. They zap hope which zaps performance.

Regardless of what any of those economists and pundits say, if you aren’t operating at your peak right now, you will be a victim of the economy. The more you listen to them, the harder it becomes to operate at your peak.

If you tune out the negative and focus on where you can actually gain some ground, you will turn this downturn into an opportunity. You just have to see that possibility exists. I know so many people who have lost their jobs and seem to be moving in slow motion with their searches because they are convinced there is nothing out there. Well, there are jobs out there — just not very many. The way to find an opportunity is to be open to it. See the possibility that exists.

I know a senior executive who is retiring from a director’s position at Procter and Gamble at the end of this month. She’s in her mid-50s and going out into the world in the worst economic climate possible. She always held she was not going to let herself go out to pasture — and she didn’t. But, imagine my shock when I heard that she was just made VP of sales at another major company — before she even officially retired? She expects a lot out of her career — and gets it.

We all need to do the same. 

Listen to Volker and Bernanke and you’ll wind up confused and depressed. Listen to your own voice telling you to carry on — and you can get through this downturn stronger, wiser and even more successful.

I talked with a woman today who complained that she simply cannot stand her job for another minute. I can understand that, because I once had a job like that. I quit after seven weeks. No point in suffering like that when life is short, right?

Well, things have changed a bit since I decided to quit that miserable job. Back then, there weren’t a million people clamoring for every available opening. Today, there are. You can’t be too cavalier about the value of your employment, even when your job sucks.  This is the year to kiss your paycheck (even if you think you are ridiculously underpaid), be grateful for your boss (even if he or she is hopelessly incompetent) and just thank the heavens that you have something when so many people now have nothing.

Many of you will be surprised to hear me say this because I have always said that you should take risks so you can do what you love, because it will be easier for you to succeed. I still believe that. I still think you should keep your eyes open for opportunities and create new success wherever you can. I just don’t think this is a great time to jump into the unknown when you don’t have somewhere to land. Right now, make peace with what little security you can find and ride out this thunderstorm.

I know someone who took a buyout from a tech job and became a middle school teacher. She finds the experience excruciating, but she knows she is in no position to be picky about what she is doing. Others who took buyouts when she did have still not found work, so even though her job sucks — it’s a job.

If you aren’t real happy with your work life, hang in there. We’ll get past these hard times and you will find more of what you are looking for. In the meantime, keep this list of points handy when you start hating what you are doing:

• You aren’t going to have to stay there forever.
• It’s only a job. It is not your life.
• It sure beats worrying about whether you will wind up losing everything you have .
• You can handle anything if you take it one minute at a time.
• There are at least a thousand people who would love your crummy job.

If you really want out, you can look for other opportunities while maintaining employment. But, go slow. I still believe the magic is in the risk-taking, but now more than ever, fortify your risks. And, while you wait, kiss that sweet paycheck for as long as you’ve got it.

I went out with three of my favorite people last night. We brought note pads. I’m going out tonight, too. Same deal. We are focusing on expanding our businesses at a time when others are giving up. We are doing something we could have been doing all along — bringing our individual strengths to the table and sharing what we know so we can achieve at a higher level.

We hooked up at 7:30 and I was astonished that, when I got in the car to leave, the clock said it was 11:24 p.m. I’ll admit that a part of that time was spent laughing and telling stories, but all of us clarified our goals and objectives a bit, too.

How cool is that? Tonight, I’ll be brainstorming the execution of my marketing plan with someone who could sell sand in the desert.

My friends have always been such a great source of entertainment and support, but now I am getting us to put our brains together so we can be even more successful.

Are you doing that? Or are you meeting with your friends to commiserate about how bad things are? Keep it positive. There is so much that you can do to grow your success at a time like this. Be creative. Bring together the collective energy of the people you know and you will be surprised by how much they will help you and how much fun you will have.

Fawn Germer is the bestselling author of four books and one of the nation’s most popular leadership keynote speakers. Her fifth book, “Finding the UP in the Downturn” will be released in March.

I remember my friend Marilyn urging her husband Scott to chill out for a minute and go play golf. He’d just been laid off and was so intense about his job hunt that she worried his health would suffer.

His determination paid off with a job near Dallas that will pay him more money in an area where the cost of living is 35 percent less. Basically, he got laid off then traded up. Not only that, he had his choice of three jobs across the country.

Good for him, bad for me. I’ll miss Marilyn more than I can say. But, I am just so happy to have heard some good news when I keep hearing about more and more layoffs.

I know people who aren’t out there aggressively pounding the pavement because they think there isn’t anything out there. There ARE jobs out there. They are just harder to get. Make it your mission. Do what Scott did. Make it your job to find your new job.

Okay, I know I have neglected this blog. My excuse is not that I was on virtually non-stop travel in December, first for speaking and then for a cruise. It is not that I was lazy over the holidays. It is that I have been immersed in writing a book on winning in a losing economy. I was writing — but not for this page.

I’ve heard from hundreds of you over the holidays, and that has been heartening. Thanks so much for all of your good wishes.  

I know that many of you are very, very discouraged over the economy. Hang in there. Things have to turn around. In the meantime, make up your mind that you are not going to bottom out because your attitude bottoms out. It is awfully easy to get caught up in the negativity. Instead, have great confidence that things will ultimately work out.

I have a close friend who showed up for work yesterday, the first day of work in 2009. She got laid off. This is devastating because she is the sole support for her disabled husband and two children. She spent yesterday and today really getting out there and circulating her resume. She’ll be at it again, tomorrow. I hope she will keep this up without getting discouraged because, if she does, she will find something.

So many people have given in to the negativity. They invest some effort to finding a job, but they convince themselves that there isn’t anything, so they wind up finding nothing. Look, there is no denying the shrinking workforce and terrible economic climate that exists today. That is reality. It is truth. But there is more to it than that.

Some people are finding work. Some people are finding opportunity. Make up your mind to be one of them. That decision makes such a huge difference. Stay positive. You’ll get through this.