Channukah Hints, Jewrican Factoids #2: Just Get Started

I'm going to title this second hint, "Just get started," since taking action, as opposed to just talking about taking action, is huge. It can and will change your life...if you allow it to do so by taking action. People truly are creatures of habit. And habits can be good or bad, but usually a little bit of both, so if you're trying to make big changes, well you're lying to yourself if you think, "Even though I haven't looked at a gym in 6 months, tomorrow, I'll start 'P90X' and become ripped, so today I can go eat some chicken fries." (ZOMG! How good do some chicken fries sound right about now? What? Am I hungover? Well, thanks for asking but no, not more than usual...HA! I'm kidding. Shut up.)
Anyway, that scenario isn't going to happen, because you're going to build up the thought of going to the gym in your mind till it's exhausting and scary. You're going to feel overwhelmed and defeated and depressed and soon you'll be drunk, in your undies, eating 'Cherry Garcia' ice cream out of the container and shopping on Zappos. (Once again: I am full of awesome ideas. Invite me to your party.)
For example, you know those people who hate, say, their job, or their weight, or their relationship, and blabber on: "Yep, this year, I'm going to [fill in the blank]." And then a year passes, and everything--including their excuses-- is still status quo? Oh, you mean all those excuses didn't help you achieve a better career or become a size 6? How weird!
Or, people who say, "Well, I hate my job, but I figure things will work out one way or another." Really? If by "things will work out," you mean, "things will stay exactly the same, or maybe just worse..." then yes, you are correct! When I, years ago, was in a horrible, stagnant long-term, long-distance relationship, wherein we had zero interest in each other, but neither one of us could bear to end it...things didn't "work themselves out." No, things got much, much, much worse till we both were forced to take action and end it. And that was every bit as fun as it sounds, but we did it.
Therefore, Coaching Hint #2 is: just get started. Take some, even a little bit, of action every day till it becomes a routine. You need to lose weight? Go to the gym for even 15 minutes. Download your favorite TV show onto your iPod and watch 15 minutes of it as you walk on the treadmill. I know, no one knows your suffering, the torment of your existence, Bono should do a concert in your honor... but you can do this. 15 minutes. And you can keep doing this, till one day you'll look at the clock and think, "Hmm, have I been here for 35 minutes? Did I actually break a sweat? That was fun!"
You want to change your job? Invest 15 minutes a day EVERY DAY in networking, working on your resume, researching opportunities, and even more networking. Does that sound like a lot? Interesting...cause I suspect you spend hours a day on Facebook. So, you have time to post photos of your kids, or of the new shoes you purchased, or to scrutinize your boyfriend's female friends' pages, or IM your friends...but not even 15 damn minutes to take the steps necessary to begin improve your life? Really? Interesting.
Just get started. Just do something today. Because there will never ever be a perfect time. Perfect excuses, sure...but a perfect time...no, not so much.
Jewrican Factoid #2: Despite my thing for those country boys from the Midwest, I have indeed been on JDate, but invariably the men would say, "Wow, so hot...but you're not Jewish, too bad." Really? You get to decide what I am? Seems like a lot of responsibility for someone so short. (Zing!)

Channukah Hints, Jewrican Factoids #1

So, sundown will mark the first night of Channukah, and while I'm a pretty bad Jew, I'm a pretty hawt Jewrican. I thought I'd take the opportunity to use the eight nights of Channukah to give out at least one good coaching hint. And maybe share a factoid about growing up Jewrican. (Might as well do one mitzvah to make up for all the mishegas, nu?)
Here's my coaching hint:
I'm convinced that many people remain stuck in careers they dislike not just because our economy's given up, but also because enough time, they start to believe they have no choice. "What else can I do?" These are people who would rather remain safely miserable at something, since the idea of figuring out what they would really want to do with their lives is just overwhelming. Panic-inducing.You ask these people where they'd like to be in five years and this Village of the Damned blank stare comes on. Now, five years is not a long time...but it is a long time to spend doing something which you may already hate.
I remember that when I left TV news, the thought of producing one more package, or doing one more interview made me want to get a gun. The thought of taking one more phone call from a certain anchor at a certain national morning broadcast made me feel like Jim Jones buying Kool-Aid at a Costco: "I'm going to need all the Kool-Aid you got. Yep, and the stuff in the back." I was a wee bit bristling with rage. A wee bit. Therefore, you can either assume the process of figuring out what you really want to do with your life, and creating a life you relish, is both naive and extremely difficult, and you're just going to compensate by spending a lot of time on Facebook and Tivo...or you can give it a try, right?
You could, for example, understand that you do not have to quit your job and throw away everything you've worked for and figure out the meaning of your life and your place in the cosmos within the next five minutes. But you could start setting aside time every single day to look back on your career, however long or short, and think about which jobs you truly enjoyed. Which jobs made you feel excited and fulfilled and competent? Before you roll your eyes at me and say, "Carlota, I hated them all," how about this: were there parts of said that you enjoyed? (Leaving at the end of the day doesn't count.) Were there specific duties which gave you personal and intellectual satisfaction? You could make a list--I heart lists-- of what those jobs/responsibilities were. You could go through your Facebook & LinkedIn friends and see what people you know are doing: are any of them involved in things which make your nostrils quiver? You could contact your alumni associations of your high school, college and grad school and see who is doing what. (FYI: if you're not already in touch with all your alumni associations, if you haven't purchase membership, and become their fans on Facebook, and generally stayed in touch so you can see what opportunities they have available...are you trying to irritate me? You spent good money to attend these schools: get your money worth!)
You could then research interesting and relevant jobs and/or careers on websites like ehow.com, or Vault, or Monster. (I hear good things about The Google.)Basically, you could extrapolate from what you've enjoyed, from what you've been competent at doing, to understanding what you could probably be good at. (Conversely, you can also extrapolate from what you hated to what you shouldn't do.)
True story: I created this business because one of the reasons I excelled in TV was my ability to problem-solve on my feet, in situations of great stress and very little time. I liked having to fix problems. I liked researching a story, and figuring out interesting elements and learning new things. On the other hand, I disliked moronic anchor-persons who were more worried about their hair and make-up than paying attention to press conferences. And so I left TV. (Problem solved.) I extrapolated what I was good at, what I enjoyed, and used that knowledge to create a scenario in which I could use those skills to pay the bills. (Sorry.)
And now, as promised, here's my growing-up-Jewrican factoid: because I, at age 13, was an idiot, and thought I was an anarchist (I know! I know!), I dropped out of Hebrew school. No Bat Mitzvah, no lavish presents for me since I was "above" that. Meanwhile, a friend had his Bar Mitzvah at...the Copacabana. Yes, that Copacabana in NYC in the 1980s: ice-statues, frosted bangs, scrunch socks, rubber bracelets and pastel sweaters up the ying-yang. And all that, could have been mine...