Vocationality, Greenville, SC (2025)

08/01/2022

On our recent trip to Spain, my wife and I discovered one of our favorite spots by accident.

We had just climbed Monte San Anton, on the Atlantic coast of the Basque region.

We had just seen the hundreds-of-years-old lighthouse at its top.

We had scanned in vain for the harbor whales which sometimes show up.

And we realized, suddenly, that we both needed to p*e.

Yep, I said it.

When Alison emerged a minute later from a grove at the base of the lighthouse, she had a look of epiphany on her face.

And she invited me to come and see what she had found.

Nestled in the trees, on the rock face that the lighthouse was built upon, was a beautiful, gigantic carving of an angel—some 20-feet from wingtip to wingtip.

We were awe-struck.

It was only 20 feet from the path everyone climbs, and yet no one but us had found it.

(We still can't find it mentioned or depicted anywhere online.)

On our way back down the mountain, we realized, gradually, that we had also passed other rock carvings on our way up, completely oblivious to them.

But after discovering the angel hidden in the grove, our eyes were ready. We could see them.

I'm sure this happens all the time—that you or I pass by something astonishing, completely oblivious to it.

I hope it also happens, at least every now and then, that we have our eyes open, ready to see what's already there, right in front of our eyes.

What are you ready to see today?

07/27/2022

Last week, my wife and I got to visit La Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona.

And we had a moving experience even before we went inside.

Out on the street, there was a man with no legs below the knees, in a wheelchair.

But he wasn't begging.

He was dancing — yes, dancing! — his wheelchair around the street, accompanied by a lovely arrangement of the song "Hallelujah."

At the end of his routine, he stood up (as best he could) on his chair, tipped it back (I caught my breath for a moment), and then gently lowered it and himself down to the ground, in a bow.

I was moved.

Here is a man who, on one level, has less than I have to bring to his life.

But instead of living in anger, or shame, or even embarrassment, he has created something out of that "lack."

Something truly beautiful.

Something truly valuable for others, value they are more than willing to pay him for.

His work, in small ways, is changing the world.

07/26/2022

My wife and I just returned from a two-week trip to Spain, to celebrate our 20th anniversary.

I was reminded again how crucial it is to travel outside our status quo, to experience something new, and to return again with fresh eyes.

And you don't have to travel to Spain to do it!

Try a new brand of something you buy.

Drive a different route home one day.

Shop somewhere different.

Strike up a conversation with a stranger.

Visit somewhere unusual in your area (the kind of place a thoughtful traveler might visit).

The status quo is wonderful, but it gets crusty.

To keep growing, to rekindle the spark of our energy & imagination, we have to travel.

Travel outside the status quo, and return (as TS Eliot might say) to know the place where you live for the first time.

07/19/2022

There’s a story emerging in your work-life, and it’s possible that the story is different than you thought it might be earlier.

I’ve experienced that myself, but I was reminded of it again while watching the wonderful documentary ¡Viva Maestro!, about the legendary conductor, Gustavo Dudamel.

The documentary was clearly being made because of a world tour he was talking with an orchestra from Colombia.

It would have been awesone.

But then, major interruptions arrived.

First, major political unrest prevented the orchestra from leaving their own country.

And then, COVID hit.

Did Dudamel despair, get angry, curse those things out of his control that were preventing his original vision?

Maybe a little. But not much.

Instead, he arranged an entirely different plan, one that cooperated with the interruptions.

I won’t spoil it for you, but it was wonderful.

And I suspect many of us have that opportunity with our careers.

Maybe they’ve gone the way we expected them to, the way we would have filmed a documentary about them …

But likely not. Likely, the unexpected has arrived.

The real question is: are we going to pout about our original idea?

Or are we going to get busy cooperating with the unexpected?

The choice is yours!

07/18/2022

Most careers are in need of rehumanizing.

Because, over time, the mismatch of you with your work has made you feel like a machine.

Or because you’ve been working outside your gifts for a long time now.

Or because your work environments shut you down instead of unlocking your best work.

Sometimes the need for rehumanizing is as simple as this: your career has been happening to you. For as long as you can remember.

You don’t have to experience the Sunday Scaries to have a dehumanized career.

All you need is a significant gap between who you’re made to be and what you’re spending your work-life doing.

Close that gap. Rehumanize your career. We need you.

(Some places are still available in the 75% off deal on The Career Breakthrough Playbook course. DM me if any of this resonated.)

07/13/2022

One of the greatest gifts you can give to your career is getting out of debt.

It creates such freedom.

To do your best work, with less stress.

To gauge whether Good Fit has run or at your current gig.

To more fully appreciate your income.

Other than a mortgage, my wife and I haven’t had any debt of any kind since 2007.

And we’re not holding ourselves up as pillars of virtue: I was in some kind of debt every single year before that, ever since I was a teenager and naively got a high-interest credit card.

I‘d recommend the debt-free years.

07/12/2022

Starting a new chapter in your career isn’t as simple as wishing.

It takes work.

But you’ve got options.

1. You can start from scratch and hope for the best. School of hard knocks.

2. You can copy someone else. If it worked for them, it will probably put work for you—right?

3. You can find someone who’s collected the shortcuts—both to starting a new chapter and (most importantly) to personalizing that chapter to the specifics of you and your life.

If you’re interested in option 3, I have great news:

The Career Breakthrough Playbook, which has already helped hundreds to start a successful new chapter in their work-life, is temporarily 75% off.

Why the discount? Because, when I needed career help the most, I couldn’t afford it.

Once 75 people have used the discount, it’s closed.

If you’re ready for a next chapter, I hope you’ll take advantage of it.

Want the link & discount code? Comment “Yes please!” below or DM me.

07/11/2022

There will be days when anyone forgets to thank you for your work.

Show up anyway.

07/07/2022

Want to know what it's like to experience The Career Breakthrough Playbook at 75% off?

Here's what a new client just sent me over email:
______
Allow me to radically thank you for this offer. My husband saw it (on Facebook I think) and immediately sent me the link. I'm one week in and it's been incredibly enlightening and refreshingly fun. Every video is just chockablock full of your expertise & empathy; I really feel like I'm stealing from you with this discount. I'm telling my husband: Will gets free [products] for life from [our business]!
______
If you've been feeling stuck in your work-life, I recommend that you buy this course now.

It's already designed to help you figure out your best work, and how to get there from here in the lowest-risk, most effective way possible.

But there's nothing quite like 75% off to sweeten the deal.

As a reminder, the 75% off deal will continue only until the 75th person has used it. Then ... it's over.

Link and discount code are in the comments below.

06/29/2022

The issue and awareness of toxic workplaces is on the rise.

But what do we want to do about it?

I mean, what do we *really* wish for here?

I've been thinking about that question a lot while creating two new courses for people in toxic workplaces (The Toxic Workplace Survival Kit and The Toxic Workplace Escape Plan).

The full answer doesn't seem to be *only* to "get out!"

Let's call that Vision #1.

Most of us probably also want toxic places to become healthier places.

Right?

So ... how does that happen?

Here's where we might have a bigger vision for ourselves. It might look something like this.

Vision #2:

• I used to be a victim in a toxic workplace.

• Then I learned how to get healthy and stay healthy, no matter what.

• I learned how to become resilient.

• I learned how to take the lead in my own career, and in each job.

• I then started to practice what it might look like for me to be an actual *force for health* in my workplace.

• And now, years later, I'm working to become a force for understanding, kindness, and healing even to the toxic bosses or teammates themselves.

It's a big vision, granted. It might not be for everyone, and it's definitely not going to happen all at once.

But my guess is that the pursuit of this second vision actually helps to create the world we'd like to experience, one with less toxicity and more health.

How does it land with you?

06/27/2022

You know what changes your *fit* at work?

The same thing that changes fit for your clothes:

Growth.

If you grow in your capabilities, and unlocking your gifting, it's very possible that your current job may not fit as well as it used to.

If your employer grows (in the number of people they serve, or in what they provide), it's very possible that your current job may change too and won't fit as well as it used to.

If your employer shrinks—for whatever reason—that change in growth too can mean things for your role and whether it fits what you have to offer.

And none of those changes in growth is a negative judgment on you or what you have to offer.

So don't be surprised when growth changes fit.

It's not a sign of failure.

It may however be a sign that a new career chapter is right around the corner.

One that it's *your job* to initiate.

06/20/2022

Brian Wilson, the co-founder of The Beach Boys who wrote such hits as "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations," was born on this day in 1942.

Here's what he had to say about the secret behind his success.

Vocationality

08/01/2022

07/27/2022

07/26/2022

07/19/2022

07/18/2022

07/13/2022

07/12/2022

07/11/2022

07/07/2022

06/29/2022

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06/20/2022

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