Yes I did.

I’m going to be a full-time creative career coach when I grow up, which will specifically be on March 22, 2010.

Cue the tears sobs of gladness (did you expect anything else?):

I Quit My Job! from WhenIGrowUpCoach on Vimeo.

Hold On by Kelly Rae Roberts. She knows just what to say.

Y’know when you have a Great Big Plan for months & months & then that plan blows up in your face/falls apart/decides to become a Great Big Mess?

Well, I do. It’s happening today. In case it’s not obvious, things are not going as planned.

I wanted to have exciting news for you guys tomorrow – a juicy, exciting, awesome vlog where I would most certainly cry. And now….well, I know it’ll happen SOON but I just don’t know when. And I know that I’m a life coach & I know that I should (there’s that word!) just roll with the punches & take deep breaths, especially because I know that this Great Big Plan might only be delayed for a week or two. But I don’t wanna roll with punches or be rational or take deep breaths. I wanna yell & throw a tantrum & shout to the skies, “Why is this happening to ME?!” (more…)

And we’ve only just begun by Chris Piascik

This is another scary post for me, guys. Like Dear Future Me, this was a word doc that I wrote for myself, to tuck away for me as a journal entry while my journals are still packed in a box.  But as I finished, I realized that this could serve as the more authentic posts I’ve been yearning to put here that could possibly bring some of you comfort or inspiration or comraderie or strength. And if there’s a chance I can offer that to you, what kind of selfish twit would I be to keep that to myself? And when you get to the end of the post, I think you’ll see why I felt that I had to post this, in keeping with the intention of putting myself Out There. Enjoy my diary entry (gulp)!

It’s my Me Time now. I haven’t taken an official, scheduled Me Time in probably, oh….too long. I can’t remember the last time it’s been on my calendar. There’s been unofficial Me Time here & there – time for a bath, or reading the paper, or somesuch Me Thing – but nothing that’s been a gift: Here’s 90 minutes. It’s for you.

So here I sit, sideways in the big red patterned chair so I can look right out my window onto the NYC skyline: a green & white Empire State Building, a gold twinkly bridge, the Chrysler Building that shines, well, like the top of the Chrysler Building. I saw a Broadway & Musicals station on Pandora when I was browsing, & I clicked on it. I don’t remember the last time I listened to show tunes when I wasn’t a passenger in my mother’s car. Bernadette Peters is singing “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” & I’m on the verge of tears.

You can do it
All you need it a hand
We can do it
Mama is gonna see to it! (more…)

I was a super big Facebook & Twitter tease last week, where I got a whirlwind request that blew my freaking mind off. It was Great Big Excitement & yet….I wasn’t excited. OK, I was for a moment or two, & then…..stilted. Stifled. Stuffed in a closet & suffocated. So, why was I acting super cool? I wasn’t sure….but I brought out the video camera anyway to talk about it. And yes, I disclose the Great Big Excitement, which I actually learned will be live to the world this Wed, the 13th. Because of that, we relaunched my site early (a new design! online scheduling & payment! free resources! cartoon people!) & it’s live as of yesterday! With my 32nd birthday on Thursday, all this change & Great Big Excitement might give me a heart attack.

Great Big Excitment & The Vampires That Come With It from WhenIGrowUpCoach on Vimeo.

Believe by San Smith, found via pecannoot

Have you watched our Spring video yet? Aren’t I annoying, bothering you about it every second? Well, this time it’s for a reason – the reason being that I stole a fantabulous New Year’s exercise right from my Spring collaborator, Jess LC. Jess went into detail in that very Spring video (did ya watch it yet? Did ya? Did ya?) to talk about a letter that she writes to herself every New Year’s Day from a coffee shop, & she even time travels while doing it. Nope, she doesn’t have a DeLorean (it’s 2010 – where are all of our DeLorians?), but she pretends she does. She dates the letter a year from that day & writes all of the things that happened  that year – how she looks, what she’s accomplished, where she’s living, yada yada yada. I was intrigued. THEN she said that 83% of the statements she made in the letter were true when she opened the letter on the actual day it was dated. Did your head just explode? Because mine did.  Read her post about it & watch the video (did ya watch it yet?) because I can’t explain it any better & I’m getting too excited about my letter to explain any more.

I so loved this idea (so, so loved!) that writing the letter to Future Michelle on 1/1/11 from Present Michelle on 1/1/10 was the only thing I put on my calendar on New Year’s Day. Yup, I took time out of my movie marathon to write it. And write it I did, for an hour or so, & I cried during most of it. It was just super emotional  & encouraging & really real, if that makes sense. I was going to keep it to myself, tucked away in my Google Docs until 1/1/11, but instead I figured I’d put my money where my mouth is & post it for all of you. I hope it inspires you to take the time & do the same – to not only allow yourself to Dream Big & visualize your dreams made real, but to feel them too.

I do admit, there were names & numbers that I was uncomfortable in disclosing, so Idid a bit of rewriting. I also left out 1 little paragraph that was so personal it scared me even writing it! But honestly, I don’t think it took away anything from this letter. So, let’s just say I revised the letter to protect the innocent. (more…)

Today’s guest blogger is Cory Huff, who I stalked after I saw he was looking for people to profile on his website, The Abundant Artist.  I didn’t quite fit what he was looking for, so I followed him on Twitter instead of submitting myself. It must’ve been The Secret working, because Cory DM’d me & asked me to guest post for him! I haven’t taken him up on it (yet!), but he’s jumping in the ring first with this awesome post about why we should all be aspiring troublemakers. Take that, Goody Two Shoes!

Do Your Own Thing by StephanieFizer

“I’m a troublemaker, not a double taker. Doing things my own way and never giving up.” – from the song Troublemaker, by Weezer

I tend to get in trouble. I say the wrong thing at the wrong time. I do what I’m not supposed to do. When I’m being held back by people who don’t know what they’re talking about I tend to strike out on my own just to show them what I can do. I offend people when I speak truth that goes against what they believe. I’m that Gen Y guy who makes the Baby Boomers grind their teeth in frustration because even though I didn’t do it the way they think it should be done, I still did it well and it had great results.

It has worked out pretty well for me to be this way. I got lead roles in all my high school plays because I was the best. I got my wife to marry me because I asked her six times. In college I got good grades on papers by ignoring what the professor told us to do and just wrote something worth reading. At one company I worked for I was allowed to start a new department because I kept bothering the CEO & VP about social media & blogging. I was also the highest commissioned sales rep at that company because I didn’t sell the way everyone else sold. (more…)

from momentary bliss, found via kind over matter

Jen Curran picked up a postcard of mine at a rehearsal studio last month, & emailed me to introduce herself. She was in the midst of her last week or two at her desk job, & came on over to see if I was another creative soul out to inspire others to follow their bliss. Thankfully, she found that I was & emailed me about her background (an NYU/Tisch theater grad like me!), her 10-month-old blog (follow my bliss), her new online bakery Fanny & Jane & her current quest to find her grown-up passion while free of the cubicle chains (aka “plan-less”). She asked if she could write a guest post for me, & as soon as I clicked over to her blog I got entranced. I spent hours there, & responded with an intelligent, “Duh!” You can thank me later.

I quit my boring desk job exactly three weeks ago today.

While swimming with my boyfriend one lazy Saturday afternoon two summers ago, I made a promise to myself that I would quit that stupid desk job by the time I turned 29. Having been only 27 years old at the time, turning 29 seemed like a date so far off in the future, I figured I would surely determine the precise ways and means to go about quitting my job by the time my 29th birthday rolled around. (more…)

I met Aidan Donnelley Rowley at her (amazing, beautiful, drool-enducing) home in the Upper West Side as the host of the NYC Fire Starter Session run by Danielle LaPorte. Aidan is one of those people whose warmth, authenticity & niceness overshadows the insecurities that one (i.e. me) can feel  when meeting a beautiful, successful, put-together, seems-to-have-it-all woman (i.e. Aidan). I’m now hooked on her blog, Ivy League Insecurities, & can not wait for the release of her book, Life After Yes, next year. Aiden posted this on October 6th, and I was thrilled when she agreed that I could share it with all of you. I think this will resonate with anyone that has left – or is thinking of leaving – a “sure thing” to “chase a persistent dream” (Charlotte, are you reading this? And yes, I posted this back to back with yours on purpose. Aidan used to be a lawyer!), as it describes what goes through your mind when you’re thisclose to reaching your goal.

Listen to your dreams2 by wordboner

As I type these words, my fingers are tingling and my palms are sweating. I’ve had these symptoms before. A lot recently.

Why the sweaty tingles? Good question. And you, my friends, deserve an answer. So do I. Truth be told, I’ve had this tingly/sweaty thing on and off for a while now. And it’s finally occurring to me that it’s not the copious amounts of Pike Place Roast that I pump through my veins at all hours of the day. No. (more…)

options, originally uploaded by recovering lazyholic, found via kind over matter

As creatives, we’re doubters. We doubt our talent, & our ability. We doubt that the world will receive us positively. We doubt we can support ourselves without “stability”. We doubt that what we do is “good enough”, or “unique enough” – or just plain good & unique. We worry. We take that Vampire voice, the one that whispers negative thoughts into our heads, & listen to it. We let it take away our trust, our enthusiasm, our energy & our optimism.

Why does The Negative stick, & The Positive gets thrown away? In two separate sessions with two separate clients – artists both – the theme of positivity/negativity came up, & they were eerily similar. One client realized that she can listen to compliments on a loop for 24 hours – all genuine, all different, all sincere – without any of them sinking in, while that one negative comment, “You have no voice” or “You copy other people’s work” lays on her shoulders with every piece she works on. The other client discovered that he was embarrassed to send a link to his website to family & friends, even though two of his relatives asked how they could get prints of his work. Even though he was getting positive feedback from putting his photos on his Facebook profile, his Vampire Voice was saying, ‘You’re not good enough” & “You’re not perfect” & “They’re all gonna laugh at you.”

So, why is it that we don’t allow the positive comments, the kudos & the accolades, sink in? Why does the one negative comment – or the fear of it – overshadow the 100 positive ones, or hinder our ability to move forward? When we go to paint, or set-up a shot, or perform a song, why does The Negative haunt us? Why don’t we allow ourselves to focus on the relatives that want our work hanging in their home, or on the fan emails we’ve received saying that something we’ve done meant something to someone else? Why can’t we accentuate The Positive? (more…)

…then you wanna sign up for Operation: New Life Design!

you only live once by vol25

I wrote about this new group “class” (I put it in parenthesis because I ain’t no teacher!)  back in August, but I had to change the start date to Sun, Oct 11th at 8p Eastern. That means that registration closes this Sunday! How it’s almost October already, I have no idea.

For only $399, which boils down to just $33.25/session (less than half of what I charge for a one-on-one) you get: (more…)