Love of the Week

It cannot be healthy for a person to feel as happy as I did this morning when the phone rang and I beheld the sight you now see, too.

It has been a long-fought-for victory, that little vertical ponytail. For weeks, my granddaughter Lirael tried to make it atop her towhead, with each attempt being felled by something or other. Like gooey fingers or tricky rubber bands.

➡️ METAPHOR ALERT! ⬅️

It cannot be healthy for a person to feel as happy as I did this morning when the phone rang and I beheld the sight you now see, too.

It has been a long-fought-for victory, that little vertical ponytail. For weeks, my granddaughter Lirael tried to make it atop her towhead, with each attempt being felled by something or other. Like gooey fingers or tricky rubber bands.

➡️ METAPHOR ALERT! ⬅️

Finding your purpose is also – usually – a long-fought-for victory, felled time and time again by something or other. Like expectations, or expedience, or events, or economic security.

If you’ve been with Becoming You for a while, you know these blockers as The Four Horsemen of Dream Destruction, so named (by me!) because they have an uncanny way of blocking your values and galloping away with your life.

Have you ever wondered which one is galloping away with yours? Great news! There’s now a fast, free, and even fun way to find out. Why? Because I went and made a quiz for you. I hope you’ll take it, because if you are hoping to identify your purpose, and really, truly, and finally become you, you have got to get the reins of your life away from the horsemen and back in your own hands.

So here: Four Horsemen Dream Destruction quiz. It will only take you less than five minutes.

I am full of surprises, aren’t I? Indeed, there might be a vertical ponytail coming from me shortly.

Hate of the Week

This weekend, one of my daughters convinced me to watch the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives with her. OMG, do not get me started. It was…quite the thing. But it is not my hate this week! In fact, I am actually kind of obsessed with the idea of those women taking The Values Bridge, which would promptly stop their drama with its clarity. Well, maybe.

What I hate is that while I was watching it, I calmed my verklempt response to it by eating ice cream – until, that is, I took a bite of my Dove bar and BROKE MY TOOTH. Like, in half. Is there any pain like broken-tooth pain? Trick question. The answer is no.

Anyway, I had emergency surgery and all is well now. But there were a couple of days there where – well, let’s just say I was not my best self. My dentist shrugged and told me the culprit was likely age. But I happen to know the culprit is likely gummy bears. I don’t believe he needs to know this, do you?

Hmm of the Week

Honestly, I am never going to stop going “Hmm” about Careless People, which I just finished this week. If you haven’t heard about this book, it’s a heart-stopping, page-turning memoir by one of Facebook’s top policy executives, Sarah Wynn-Williams.

Here’s the thing. I have always been a big believer that business, with all its flaws, is more good than bad. Yes, companies have their share of charlatans and jerks, but if you average it all out, I’ve always thought business is generally filled with decent people doing their best under challenging circumstances.

Careless People paints a picture of a company led by nefarious, evil, arrogant hypocrites, and that is going easy on them. If this book is accurate – and there is no reason to doubt the author’s account – I have to come to grips with the fact that maybe my sunshine-y optimism is, well, too sunshine-y and optimistic. This is serious stuff to ponder, and deeply important for a professor of management. More on this as I sort out my “Hmms."

Live from New York…It’s Becoming You! (Part Two)

This week, we return to questions from the Becoming You reunion — and to the complicated truth of what can happen after you find your purpose. What follows is a real conversation about the trade-offs of living your values, the unexpected upside of getting fired, and what it actually takes to keep evolving with purpose.

Tune in Here!