You’re better than talented if you’re being this…

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

This week I was paid my favorite compliment – twice!!

 

I was called “brilliant” (sigh).  It makes my heart melt every time I hear that word.  For me it’s the ultimate hitting of the “making a difference” target.

 

These compliments happened shortly after someone (brilliantly) shared a quote with me about the difference between talent and brilliance.

 

Once again for me it proves true that when we have clarity about something (like the distinction between talent and brilliance in my case), we begin to expertly notice opportunities to practice – and therefore, experience – the thing we have clarity about.  The power of clarity is real.  But I digress – let’s get back on track…

 

The quote is…

 

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Discovering Your Values – The First Step In Career Choice

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

Check me out as I am interviewed on the importance of knowing your values as the first step in making a career choice.

indigoforce on We 2 Me Princeton Community Television

Feeling like you are fighting for survival at your job?

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

Ever feel like you are a lone soldier battling for survival at your job?  There you are day in and out on a vast battlefield  – just you against your job (the work, your boss, the culture in which you work, etc.), that seems to require you to think, act and be a way that seems so counter to who you really are.

 

The job that doesn’t seem to value your unique, bold and direct way of making a difference – at all.  Or, the job that doesn’t appreciate that you have bent and flexed – and maybe even abandoned – your principles and talents in an effort to make others happy.

 

“When will this end??” is the thought goes through your mind over and over every day.

 

If you feel that way, then the path to peace may very well be to bring your preferred (and seemingly opposite) energy to the scene. 

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How you do this is how you are living your life and approaching your work

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

Here is something you do all day, but if done differently for a few minutes once a week, it can help you get insight into a new level of fulfillment from your life – and your work!

 

One of the sessions I did on my Sedona Soul Adventure was Breathwork with Penny Elias. 

 

This was the first time I had ever even heard of Breathwork.

 

According to the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance (yes – there is an organization for everything!), “Breathwork is the art and science of teaching breath awareness and breathing techniques for enhancing the human, physical, emotional, and spiritual condition.”

 

Through Breathwork I got in touch with something about myself that was limiting my ability to tap into a new level of fulfillment through my work and my life without having to change anything about my work or life.

 

What all of that means is that you can promote healing within yourself (for mental/emotional, physical or spiritual issues), by doing an exercise where you focus on your breathing.  You might wonder isn’t that meditation?  Maybe, but I think it’s a bit more than that.  It’s almost like giving yourself a physic reading of your own well-being and how you are approaching life by noticing your naturally breathing pattern which you do by momentarily changing your natural pattern into one that is patterned in a different way.  That different way makes you not help being able to notice how you breath “normally”.  It was clear from my experience that we can all take coaching from our own breath – Penny taught me that the way we breath is the way we are living our life and that includes how we are approaching our work too.

 

Do you …

  • feel short of breath,
  • struggle with shallow breath,
  • or feel out of breath altogether?

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Ever wonder if people at work think you’re a jerk? Are you dealing with a bunch of jerks at work? Here’s a simple tool to help you stop all this jerkiness!

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

In my last blog, I wrote:

 

“The truth is we all play ‘parts’ in our job and sometimes our interpretation of that role – with all the challenges we see ourselves to be up against – sometimes causes us to act in a way that blurs the line for people about who we really are.”

 

This was a really nice way of saying that sometimes we allow the challenges we face at work to justify us acting like a jerk – but we still want (or expect- oy!) others to see and relate to us “as we really are”.  “As we really are” means 2 things:

 

  1. as our “good” traits
  2. as our “good” intentions

 

Of course, most people will pardon isolated incidents of our “bad” behavior – especially if they know and like us.  But if we do this too often, they will start to believe – and then of course – treat us – as we are behaving – like a 1st class jerk.

 

So how do you avoid blurring this line for people? 

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Is your boss dragging you down? Learn what your favorite movie can teach you about thriving despite your boss’s behavior

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

The Society for HR Management recently released their annual Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement report for 2015.  In that report they reveal the top factors that contribute to employee job satisfaction.  The top 2 contributors had to do with relationships at work:

 

  1. Respectful treatment of all employees at all levels
  2. Trust between employees and senior management

 

Following this theme around relationships with people…

 

Relationship with immediate supervisor ranked #6, Immediate supervisors respect for my ideas ranked #7, Communication between employees and senior management ranked #8, and Relationships with co-workers ranked #15.

 

The work itself ranked #11, Meaningfulness of the job ranked #14, and Variety of work ranked #21.

 

Relationships at work rule!!  More than anything else at your job – because how you feel about the people you work with/for has more to do with your ability to feel happy and fulfilled at your job than any tasks you are accountable to perform.

 

So, is your boss dragging you down?  Learn what your favorite movie can teach you about thriving despite your boss’s behavior…

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The real reason you constantly struggle to find work/life balance

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

When I was working as an HR professional I never felt a sense of work/life balance – at least not to the degree I wanted it in my life (mind you – I was also the one writing/creating/producing many of these policies and programs).  That was one of the reasons I decided not to return to a corporate role after the birth of my second child.  I wanted a career shift that would allow my children a different level of accessibility to me.  One I believed a corporation would never fully embrace.

 

Once I decided career coaching was a great match for me and I opened my own coaching practice, I had an unbelievable degree of flexibility in how and when I did my work.  Yet, I mysteriously still struggled to achieve the sense of balance I craved.  As they say, everywhere you go – there you are.

 

So here’s the real reason you constantly struggle to find work/life balance – it’s the same reason I struggled to find it…

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The gift of feedback you don’t agree with

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

I’m back from my mini sabbatical – I went on a Soul Adventure in Sedona, AZ.  These adventures are designed to fill up your energy tank.  To restore you from all the giving you do for others.

 

Giving to others is essential for a sustained sense of fulfillment.  But no matter how much we enjoy what we do for whomever we do it for, we must restore our supply of clarity and connection to a spiritually connected sense of ourselves and to others in order to be able to face life with energy, passion, and compassion for those who mean the most to us.  To deny yourself this periodic “trip to the gas station to fill up your gas tank” is assuring struggle and burnout to set in eventually.

 

Your “gas tank” can be filled so many ways – vacations, hobbies, fitness or spa treatments, time with loved ones, etc.  but a soul adventure is different –

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2 simple things you can do to get new insight, inspiration or the sense of peace you crave in your life

By Gina Calvano | 2 Comments

Doesn’t time away from your usual routine and surroundings sound good?  Even if we are happy with our routine and  job – most people would welcome a break – especially if they could be assured that the break won’t bring about any unwanted disturbances in their life (loss of income, diminished reputation, travel or other personal problems, etc.). 

 

Sabbaticals are more than just “a break”.  They are defined as “a period of time during which someone does not work at his or her regular job and is able to rest, travel, do research, etc.” and “a break or change from a normal routine (as of employment).”  Usually this is done in order to achieve or experience something.  A study published in The Journal of Applied Psychology reported that sabbaticals reduce stress for prolonged periods.  Prolonged stress might otherwise evolve into job burnout – so if you are feeling burned out already, a longer period of time breaking your routines might be the remedy (i.e. 2 months – even a year).

 

Well, I’m heading out on my mini-sabbatical this week.

 

I’m off to

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Want sustained productivity and a good mood throughout your workday? Do this…

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

So often in my practice I uncover with my clients that there is some “other element” of their life that is holding them back from realizing true job satisfaction – this element remains an obstacle for them even after they discover their talents, interests, values and match that to an ideal job and industry.  Often this “other element” is predictable – it is usually:

  • their relationship with money
  • their self-esteem and confidence regarding some physical aspect not easily changed (their voice, signs of aging, disabilities, etc.)
  • their personal style – or lack of it – such as their wardrobe, hair, etc.
  • their relationships with significant people in their life (their partners, parents, friends, kids, etc.)
  • their unfulfilled thirst for personal or skill development
  • a lack of fun and leisure
  • their comfort level with technology

and the number 1 reason…

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