"I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life--and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do."- Georgia O'Keeffe

I have a girl-crush of long-standing on the famously cranky Ms. O'Keeffe and her striking art. Check out Joan Didion's book of essays, The White Album, for one prickly woman's take on another prickly woman. (http://amzn.com/0374532079).  Anyway, before reading the above quote, Ms. O'Keeffe would have been the last person on earth I would ever have associated with fear.  But, of course, she was human. She also had to make her way to become Georgia O'Keeffe: the transformation didn't happen overnight.

I was thinking of her, because I went to a networking event last night, and I kept extremely well-educated meeting young women who were telling me of the various things they wanted to do and people they wanted to be when they grew up. And, aside from one wonderfully pretentious creature (...you know that level of pretentious, wherein you almost want to hug the person because they make you laugh so hard? Exactly.), I wish them all the best. I wish them all the courage to ignore fear, and figure out their goals, and go out and start the process of achieving those goals. I can't wish for them to never experience fear...since who am I to say that fear isn't sometimes the best motivator?

I guess my point being... fear is normal, fear is even natural. Experiencing fear is part of life. Giving in to fear, and losing the ability to achieving your dreams, on the other hand, should not be a natural or normal part of your life. Because while the more you do, the more you'll be able to do...the more you give in to fear, the more fear you'll experience. And the more you will lose to fear.

Want some help confronting those fears? Email me @ carlotazee@gmail.com, or like my Facebook page, "Carlotaworldwide Creativity Yenta," for a free consultation!

Crazy Like a FNC

If you know anything about me, you know that I spent a number of years toiling in the trenches of TV news. I worked for almost every network in Moscow, New York and Washington, D.C. I met President Clinton,
had phones and other assorted items thrown at me and I made some writers cry...but it wasn't all good times.  There were indeed some very, very bad times when I thought, "This...this is why I went to Wellesley?" 'This' usually being busting my ass to get an affiliate in Oklahoma, for example, to send us a link to their 'copter covering some live, out-of-control car chase, which would then get double-boxed with a speech by President Bush...with Bush, naturally, getting the smaller box. Priorities. Sometimes 'this' was having to explain to a producer who Joe DiMaggio was or that yes, Alaska was actually a state. Sometimes 'this' was having to attend press conferences on Capitol Hill because certain (cough cough) "reporters" were too busy having makeup spray-painted over their faces. Memories!
Anyhoo. I'm bringing this up since yesterday there was all this drama about the FNC employee, working as a  mole for Gawker, who was outed and then fired. So yes, I have worked for FNC. (Oh, you all lost respect for me? Ha. Can't lose what you don't have right? See what I did there?) Therefore, when the news of this mole came out, a ton of friends sent me emails, or posted links on my Facebook wall, like, "ZOMG, can you believe it?" Meh. Listen, I'm the last b*tch on the planet to defend the Death Star that is FNC...but I personally don't have a ton of sympathy for the 'Fox Mole.' (I did secretly hope the Mole was a certain person, in the hopes that this person would get fired and I could cackle with glee, since that's the kind of sensitive, caring girl I am.)
Back to the Mole.Whatever he thought of Fox, however shitty his experience...they did pay him, and give him benefits etc. to toil there, yes? And by writing these 'exposes'...what message does that give? Well, I certainly wouldn't hire this guy to work for me, since he's already demonstrated that he's only looking out for one person. He worked for FNC for a number of years...if he loathed it so much, fine, be a big boy and leave...like the rest of us. By staying, and talking smack--and brilliantly leaving a digital trail--he showed that he wasn't emotionally invested in FNC.
Some of you are rolling your eyes, like, "Carlota, say what!? Was he supposed to give FNC a promise ring, and swear he'd stop cheating?" Well...kinda. Think of it from the company's POV: they employ you, they pay you...and this is how you're going to pay them back, by airing out all their dirty laundry?
Not to mention, what message does to send to future employers? I wouldn't hire this guy to be my assistant, since I'd be thinking, "You talked smack about FOX...what would you say about me?" And I'm no fan of FNC!
I know, I know, you hippies, we do have freedom of speech and other rights, like the freedom to wear unfortunate jeans in this country...don't remind me. But now the Mole is unemployed...and hundreds of thousands of other people haven't stopped sending in their resumes to work at FNC.
And if you're ready to find a job you can emotionally invest in, email me @ carlotazee@gmail.com!

Why not You?

If nothing else, if I could get all my clients/humans everywhere to understand that perfection is one of the biggest time-wasters… I’d be (somewhat) satisfied. And I say this as a former anorexic, so I know all about how damaging the search for perfection can really be. I’m thinking about perfection—and how boring it is—because so frequently I find clients use the ideal of perfection, and conversely, their lack thereof, to stop themselves from starting important things.  These are the same clients who look at me and say something like, “I mean, maybe if I knew as much as you do about business….” And then, inwardly, I sort of grimly chuckle because, once again: I was a history major in college, who then moved to Russia, fell into TV news, did very well, left to go to law school, graduated with enough debt to buy a third-rate African dictator a decent McMansion, and finally started this business because people kept asking me for my advice and then referring me to their friends… and, oh yes: the cats won’t work.  My point being, to quote Homer Simpson, “I was told there’d be no math.” I knew from nothing about business.  History? I can talk to you for days about Stalin’s purges, or the Siege of Lenningrad, for example…but business? Um, not so much.

But I figured if so many other idiots people could give completely retarded advice coach…well, I actually had good ideas, and realistic solutions to problems so…why not me? What was the worst that could happen? I’d make a mistake? And, nu? So what? I’ve worked for Nancy Grace, for f**k’s sake.  I’ve attended planning meetings with Nancy Grace. (That right there is guaranteed to let me skip a few reincarnations and achieve Nirvana at least 15 minutes early.)

I wasn’t hooked on perfection when I started this business. I was hooked on helping people. I was hooked on doing something useful and important and valuable.  I thought, “Well, why not me?” And to that end, I’m attaching a link to an amazing excerpt from Carole King’s forthcoming autobiography. Whatever you feel about her music, read the excerpt to savor her stunning confidence, at 18(!!) in herself and her talent. And the next time you start assuming you can’t do something, anything, that actually you, probably better than anyone else on the planet can do…maybe you’ll think of teenaged Carole King shrugging and thinking, “Why not me?” 

http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/carole-king-2012-3/