All Posts by Darrell Gurney

March 12, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” –Oscar Wilde

How many of our days are shaped by an attitude that one day is simply an extension of the next…and that what we hold as “the way it is” today will continue to be that way tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.

It gives our ego some feeling of security to feel that we “know” what’s possible and what’s not, but what if the only thing in stone is the 6 inches of masonry between our ears?

To allow the unexpected, we have to let go of what we “know”, which we’re not wired to do…because we’re wired for safety. But a focus on safety doesn’t launch bold dreams.

If you DIDN’T know “the way it is” in a particular area of your life today, and were open to create something as simply “possible” — in your life, your relationships, your career — who would you talk to, what action would you take, what support would you get?

Got not knowing?

“Most people want to be circled by safety, not by the unexpected. The unexpected can take you out. But the unexpected can also take you over and change your life. Put a heart in your body where a stone used to be.” –Ron Hall

Q & A
Media Source: Fortune, Anne Fisher

Topic: “6 Networking Mistakes That Job Seekers Make”

Reporter Query: Please respond to a subscriber’s dilemma:

“I keep hearing that tapping my network of professional contacts is a far better approach than responding to ads and, based on my own experience in my past jobs, I know it’s true. My problem is that I really hesitate to get in touch with former colleagues and other acquaintances I haven’t seen or spoken with in years.”

CareerGuy Response: Hi Anne, In my job search workshops, when I ask people to tell me what they think networking is, they usually say, ‘Getting in touch with my business contacts to let them know I’m looking for work and asking if they know of anything. The trouble is that, if you ask for ‘anything,’ you just might get it.  See Full Article…

March 5, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“FEARLESS is getting back up and fighting for what you want over and over again….even though every time you’ve tried before you’ve lost.” –Taylor Swift

In January, I noted after the Golden Globe Awards that Matthew McConaughey won the Golden Globe for a movie that was rejected 86 times! And Sunday night, he won the Oscar.

A subject that can’t be revisited too many times, especially in the case of living a life of dreams:

tenacious

— adj

1.     holding or grasping firmly

2.     retentive

3.     stubborn or persistent

4.     holding together firmly; tough or cohesive

5.     tending to stick or adhere

Dictionary.com

If there were one thing that, one day, people would remark that YOU brought about in the face of XX number of defeats, losses, rejections or trials, what would that one thing be?

What are you going to do today so that they can one day say that?

Got tenacity?

“There are times in life when people must know when not to let go. Balloons are designed to teach small children this.” –Terry Pratchett

February 26, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” –M. Scott Peck

One of the biggest killers of dreams and grand intentions is the age-old reason: “I just don’t have the time.”

We live as if we are unique and special with our personal justification. Our life is somehow different than every other dreamer’s life, and we got shorted some minutes of each hour, or some hours of each day.

We may each eventually leave this time-space dimension holding on dearly to that good reason, with a gravestone that reads: “Left us with so much potential still intact.”

It’s true we all have the same amount of time. And it’s also true that some will step out in faith and actually MAKE time for those dreams and intentions to flourish.

How many books would be written, hobbies turned into careers, businesses started, non-profits formed…if there was just the time?

I once told a friend that I was going to work on a dream project for a couple hours a day. And I proceeded to tell him that for many days…without actually doing it.

He said that it would be far harder for me to commit to simply doing 15 minutes a day…because that amount is actually feasible and doable. It was way easier, he said, to make some grandiose commitment but then continually bail out because it’s unrealistic.

What dream or project can you put 15 minutes into today, tomorrow, and the next day? Those quarter-hour installments all start adding up to progress…and your personal evolution.

Hey pal, you got the time?

“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” –C. S. Lewis

February 19, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.” –Elvis Presley

I am in Nashville this week speaking for some professional groups and Belmont University…so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit nearby Memphis, and the home of the King of Rock n Roll, Graceland.

What struck me about all that I learned was the incredible tenacity and courage that this seemingly having-it-all-together star exhibited when faced with adversity throughout his life. True, he had a gift, and yet he also had many pains and stretches, multiple effects of his basic nervousness, and several stages when he thought his career was all but over.

But he persevered, and would always go to the next best version of himself…which outshined the last version.

Have whatever opinions you will about his life and eventual early demise, and yet he demonstrated a stick-to-it-iveness that courageously, and with much cold-sweat, brought out new Elvis after new Elvis to the world.

I ask myself, “How am I bringing my newest, best version of myself out all the time, beyond the fears of stagnation and obsolescence?” “What might be possible if I have a dream that takes me further than where I’ve been?” “What might be possible past my past?”

Got re-creation?

“Every time I think that I’m getting old, and gradually going to the grave, something else happens.” –Elvis Presley

February 12, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day LOVE Edition

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“Do what you love; you’ll be better at it. It sounds pretty simple, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t get this one right away.” –LL Cool J

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ve heard those words before…in so many forms and from so many notable individuals.

“Do what you love and the money will follow.”

“Choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.”

The adages go on and on. Isn’t it funny that, somehow, we just don’t think the speakers of such proverbial wisdom are speaking to US!

We consider the sentiments sweet…but they obviously pertain to someone other than us. Because WE need to be really practical. No time for such luxurious thinking when the light bill needs to be paid.

Yet I wonder how many light bills would be set for automatic direct-debit if more folks had the light on in their soul?

With Valentine’s love in the air, consider nourishing your own heart this week with a crazy thought that starts with “What if I could actually…” It just might be the beginning of an epic romance.

Got Career Pitter Patter?

“There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love; there’s only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.” –Wayne Dyer

Q & A
Media Source: CareerBuilder

Topic: “I Fell into This Career But I Love it”

Reporter Query: Did your current career take you by surprise but now you love it?? Did you set out to do something totally different in your career,  and by  chance or circumstance, wound up in something that is much better?  I’m looking for first person stories from people who have “fallen into” their current careers, but are now much happier than they’d ever imagined they’d be.

CareerGuy Response:  Hi Kaitlin, As to your query, I actually fell into what I do as a career coach and counselor!  At age 24, I came to LA to get into the entertainment business and was coached in a method of networking behind the scenes to be known by the people in high places. I used it to meet personally with the CFOs of the top 7 entertainment studios and was offered a position with MGM/United Artists without even going through HR!  After a short stint in the studio finance business, I used that same “backdoor” approach to get into headhunting which I did for 15 years. Then, deciding I wanted to teach people how to fish rather than give them one, I remembered my lessons learned and began teaching this “backdoor” approach to job seekers.

February 5, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” –Steve Jobs

I’ve recently been toying with the idea of unrecognizeability.

What would it be like to have life be unrecognizeable? What if we became unrecognizeable to ourselves…such as doing things outside our comfort zones or dropping set ideas of the way “it is”, the way “they are”, and the way “I am”?

In Zen, the term “beginner’s mind” captures the idea of seeing things brand spanking newly (my flavor added).

How would your relationships, your career and your possibilities appear if there was no past surrounding them and everything was open, free range?

Today, take one area that means a lot to you…and drop all your ideas of the way it “is”. Quit being the expert. Then, create something new from that place. A wild new action. A bold request. An out-of-the-box and courageous initiative. Because from that place, anything is possible.

Got unrecognizeability?

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” –Shunryu Suzuki

January 29, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.” –Robert F. Kennedy

Significantly insignificant, or insignificantly significant? Which is true about you, me or the person on the corner?

In other words, and for example, if I just happen to not write my little Wednesday missive here and the day passes without a hint of someone “unhumping hump day”, would anyone really notice?

I’ll bet the world wouldn’t stop on a dime.

And yet, might one little thought shared herein, that someone took the time to consider, change the whole course of a person’s day, week or life? Perhaps. At least it’s worth a shot.

Look, I don’t presuppose that the fate of humanity is hinged on my little weekly note of inspiration. Nor, probably, does your particular offering–in whatever form you’re giving it today–make or break the future of mankind.

However, how are you ever to know if you don’t play full out as if it did?

And what does it really cost you to try? I little potential embarrassment? I touch of possible failure?

There’s an old story about a man throwing starfish, hundreds of which had washed up on the beach, one by one back into the ocean.

Another man came along and said “This is futile. Look at all of these starfish! You can’t possibly make a difference.”

He picked up another one and tossed it in, replying “It sure made a difference for that one.”

What action can you take today to fulfill on your unique role/voice/dream as if it truly made a difference?

Got significance?

“One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something.” –Henry David Thoreau

January 22, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“You make me want to be a better man.” –Melvin Udall, Jack Nicholson’s character in the 1997 movie “As Good as It Gets”

That line was included in the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movie Quotes” centennial celebration, and gives a good clue as to what can make every day occur like your best day.

What makes you want to be a better person? What’s the project that really pulls at your heart strings? What’s the cause that calls you? What’s the personal expansion in your skills, talents, career or life that you’ve dreamed of?

When your dream or passion is at the forefront of your mind, day-in day-out, all days are equal–whether it’s Wednesday, Friday or Saturday–because you have meaning behind your doing.

Take a small action today and every Wednesday to nurture that which makes you want to be a better person.

Got motivation?

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” –Dr. Wayne Dyer

January 15, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” –Calvin Coolidge

On Sunday night’s Golden Globe Awards, Matthew McConaughey won a Golden Globe for a movie that was rejected 86 times!

And, for the record, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Milton Hershey’s first three candy stores went bankrupt. Julia Child’s first cookbook was rejected 6 times. Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield’s “Chicken Soup” series was turned down by 140 publishers. And we’ve all heard the inspiring story of Abraham Lincoln eventually becoming President of the United States…after a whole lot of adversity and rejection.

As we’re forging forward into this brand spanking clean new year of possibilities, what large or small action can you take each Wednesday–when a lot of the world is focused on the work week ending soon–to dust off a dream or initiative that hasn’t hit just yet…but might if you gave it another chance?

We’re amazed when we hear the stories of others stopping at nothing to have a dream come alive. Why can’t we be one of them?

Personally, I’m shopping a show concept, DreamJobLife to production companies and networks. We’ve met with some of the BIG players and TOP reality producers on the planet. And the feedback from some, who absolutely love the show anyway, is that it’s “earnest”…and that the American viewing public wants “train wrecks”, not earnest.

Really??? No room for positivity, inspiration, and upliftment?? I personally don’t think so! (Please LIKE and FOLLOW if you agree.) So we move forward, and I invite you to move forward on what’s important to you this year as well.

Never give up on your dreams! Go out and create an epic fail! Some will become enormous success stories that others will write about!

Got Persistence?

“Never give in–never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.” –Sir Winston Churchill

Addendum: Question what the world calls “good sense”!

January 8, 2014, TGIW: Unhumping Hump Day

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

“If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.” –Ray Bradbury

I don’t know if you’re like me. When a new year starts, I can feel a bit of excited apprehension. Did I wrap up the last year well? Am I all set to go for this new year? Will I be able to grow and expand and evolve in the next 12 months in the ways I want? Did I tidy up my space and make it clean and focused for good work ahead?

I can get a bit caught up in the questions surrounding this whole made up ritual based on made up time and made up meanings around a clock ticking from 11:59 on Dec. 31 to 12am on Jan. 1.

And yet, hopefully, I remember that, just like most folks never feel “ready” to have children, I don’t necessarily have to feel “ready” to birth a new year. The resources and way will show themselves and, just like we somehow raise kids from newborn to out of the house, this new year will grow up too. Life will continue to grow and expand as long as I am daring enough to be committed to grow and expand…be it Jan. 1, or Aug. 9 or Nov. 16.

Got daring?

“We are always getting ready to live…but never living.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson