Loving work out loud and in front of others.

"The things I remember best about successful people I've met all through the years is their obvious delight in what they're doing... and it seems to have very little to do with worldly success. They just love what they're doing, and they love it in front of others."

~Fred Rogers, in The World According to Mr. Rogers: Important Things to Remember

HERE IS SOME EXCITING NEWS: I have a shiny new website! It has been a labor of love, devotion, and frankly at times, hair-pulling frustration to find the right words that express what I do as a coach. It occurs to me that feeling of frustration is evidence of how important this is to me – to show up authentically, represent the coaching profession, and represent what I do, with the sentiment expressed in words and images. While I worked, I came across this quote from Fred Rogers, a person I have admired from childhood through adulthood. As an adult, I sense that admiration is because he showed up so authentically at work. He captured a truth that I too feel, and so simply...

“…they just love what they’re doing, and they love it in front of others.”

That phrase not only speaks volumes to me in terms of how to approach writing my web copy, but also regarding the momentous possibilities that lie waiting for people, and the potential for how we show up at work. If only we created more opportunities to shift our thinking, and therefore our culture, toward loving what we do. What if, from the start and through phases of development, we asked questions like,

• What do you love to do?

• What about this is so fun, meaningful, or important for you?

• What engages you so much you lose track of time?

• What is your heart’s desire to spend your time doing?

• Do these things connect to work in some way for you? If so, how? If not, how might you find a way to engage something you love (and still maintain a livelihood)?

• And - one of my favorites - how might we collectively support you/each other as we discover more about what is possible?

This kind of exploration may seem lightyears away for some, while for others, it happens naturally. My curiosity gets engaged when considering how we create more of it. How do we create more willingness and opportunity for people to love what they do, and love it in front of others? I trust there are multitudes of people, from preschool through high school teachers, parents, mentors, counselors, social workers, coaches, people in career crisis or transition, and on, who question status quo ways of homing in on our life's work. There are people who understand - and do - what I am alluding to in this post. I am one of them.

Mr. Rogers reminds me that we can start exploring work from angles that bring a very different approach to discerning and then doing work that fits who we are - work that we love. We can approach discernment from a place of honor instead of forcing a fit.

And that is the spirit that my website was designed in. I am starting from the place of what I love to do, and loving it front of others. Fred's words reminded me to simply express myself through the love for what I do.

Though I have done this type of coaching for some time now, I am in the earliest days of announcing it - out loud. It has been a journey, a soul-search of sorts, to find the words that express what I want to express, and to do justice to the meaning and sense of purpose I glean from the work I do.

I coach people in the personal and professional space where work and life meet. I offer personal and professional coaching for people who are managing work-life spillover, career transition, or developing and growing as leaders, and I love it in front of others.