On April 4th, 2008, Lenore Skenazy shocked readers of the New York Sun with her editorial, “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone.” (http://www.nysun.com/editorials/why-i-let-my-9-year-old-ride-subway-alone) In it, she describes how, after many months of pleading on the part of her son Izzy, she left him at Bloomingdales with a subway card and map, and $20 and let him make his way home. Alone. Which he did, beaming ear to ear with newfound confidence.

What was the point of this endeavor? According to Skenazy, it was to strike back against a concept of parenting and childhood that increasingly resembles a prison lockdown. “We become so bent out of shape over something as simple as letting your children out of sight on the playground that it starts seeming on par with letting them play on the railroad tracks at night. In the rain. In dark non-reflective coats…As if keeping kids under lock and key and helmet and cell phone and nanny and surveillance is the right way to rear kids. It’s not. It’s debilitating — for us and for them.”

The public’s reaction was as swift and as strongly felt as it was divided. Read Post

Life is change. This much we know. But sometimes we can be unprepared to face the magnitude of change that such growth can bring, especially when it affects relationships we’ve had for years and always considered immutable.

But people do change. It’s not unusual for a couple to be completely different people at 30, 40 and 50 than they were when they first met. Parents continue to grow personally as life goes on, and their children grow (and change) right along with them. Friends change too, sometimes in ways we could have never predicted.

So how do you handle the fact that the man or woman you married, your parent, your child or that the friend you’ve had since childhood has become a completely different person, with different needs, wants and desires? Read Post

One of the first things you learn when you go freelance is that isolation can be a soul-killer. Dreams of sleeping late, working in your pajamas and taking your laptop to the coffee shop to impress the baristas are quickly overshadowed by just how hard it is to be creative, energetic and connected to the world around you’re perpetually on your own.

Enter the latest trend in freelancing: coworking.

Coworking isn’t about going into business with others, although that’s been known to happen as a result. Instead, the term refers to finding or creating a communal space where you can work alongside other freelancers and entrepreneurs, in a stimulating and creative communal environment.

Coworking spaces often provide large communal work areas and desks as well as individual cubbies for getting away from the crowd when you need to concentrate. In addition, most of them also provide conference rooms, copy/print centers and other “officey” amenities that members can reserve or use as needed. Many such businesses require you to purchase a long-term membership (like a gym) or join a coop, although some places will rent space by the week or even the hour.

Full services coworking spaces often feature lecture series or classes, group events and other activities to help members improve and increase their skills and their businesses. They may also offer networking events, equipment rentals, member business showcases or promotions, fitness rooms, resources and other value-added options.

Coworking spaces provide a place where freelancers can get out of their own heads. They offer professional spaces where members can meet clients and deliver presentations, and where they can connect and collaborate with their peers. In short, coworking gives you all the benefits of working in an office with none of the downsides.

Coworking spaces range from simple coops to expansive, CEO-level environments and small business incubators. If this sounds like your sort of thing, you can start your search at the Coworking wiki (http://coworking.pbwiki.com/), and there’s a coworking conversation going on at the Coworking Community blog. (http://blog.coworking.info/)

Here are a few things you should keep in mind if you’re considering coworking: Read Post

From my article Want To Improve Your Life? Tell A Whopper! at Pick The Brain:

“We exaggerate not to get away with something, but to rehearse realities we’d like to create. And in doing so, we sometimes actually manage to make those exaggerated predictions come true.”

Read the rest of Want To Improve Your Life? Tell A Whopper! at Pick The Brain.

You hear it on the news every day, the list of things you’re supposed to be afraid of today (and just how afraid you should be). Whether it’s killer cholesterol in your food, hidden terrorist cells or menacing muggers on the street, it seems that you can hardly draw a breath these days without the risk of inhaling a fatal dose of fear.

But is there, really, all that much to be afraid of? Let’s take a look:

Well, for starters, you’re almost seven times more likely to die in a car accident than to face any violent assault. And yet I’d be willing to be that most of you feel far more at risk crossing a parking lot at night than climbing into your car in the bright light of morning. (http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm) And as far as terrorists go, you’re more likely to be crushed by a vending machine than die in a terrorist attack. (http://www.mattbarr.com/archives/2006/09/your_chance_of.html) Remember that the next time you start to get irate about those potato chips that won’t drop down.

So why are we so afraid of these things? It’s a combination of intentional information manipulation and poor risk assessment skills.

Let’s consider these things separately. Read Post

Do you believe you can have anything you desire? Some people do, and they seem to have a knack for going after what they want and getting it. They appear to have some secret that whatever they touch turns to gold. While others struggle with achieving their desires and seem to meet with frustration and failure. No matter what they do, they seem to come up short.

According to the movie “The Secret” and the Law of Attraction, you create from the inside out. There is a certain formula you can follow by creating the mindset that will manifest what you want. By utilizing our minds to focus on what we want and keep the doubts at bay, we have a better chance of achieving our desires. The master achievers in business are more focused on the outer world, and suggest you follow a plan and specific actions. They have

I think the recipe for success lies somewhere between both–the inner thoughts and preparation and the outer actions and planning. If you can master your mindset, find an effective plan of action, and stick to it, you have an excellent chance of succeeding in achieving your goals.

Here are 7 steps that offer you a practical formula to achieve anything you desire: Read Post

Have the doldrums got you down? Too many negative hits in a row making you feel like the target at a carnival shooting gallery?

Sometimes, life just sucks.

We all have off days, bad experiences and emotional lows. But if that sucking noise has gone from an occasional hiccup to a full-fledged Hoovering, it’s time to step up and do something about it:

Play hookey. Read Post

If our culture is guilty of anything when it comes to the subject of love, it’s sending mixed messages. Don’t settle for less than your soul mate…but don’t be too picky, or you’ll spend your life single. You should look for someone whose interests match your own…but opposites attract. You must make sure to create time for love and a family…but you must also work 80-hour weeks if you want to build a career. It’s enough to make your head spin.

With our increasingly busy lives and shrinking personal time, one of the biggest issues on the love front these days can be simply finding someone at all. As much as we crave love and affection and feel the need to share our lives with someone, it’s all too easy to just get frustrated and give up. Or chalk it all up as too much work and settle for a less than fulfilling series of one-night stands, superficial friendships and online connections.

And yet, finding that special someone doesn’t have to be that hard. Here are a few ideas you may not have considered.

Special interest groups. Read Post

Children. It’s a big decision, some say the biggest you’ll ever make.

People have kids for many reasons. For some, kids are life’s biggest blessing. For others, they’re a moral or religious imperative. For yet others, they’re a way to leave a legacy - a sort of genetic immortality.

One thing is certain, however - once you have kids, neither you nor your significant other will ever be the same. Having kids can make or break a relationship. A lot depends on how strong your relationship is, what your views are on parenthood and raising children, and - most importantly - how compatible these views are with your partner’s.

Before you make such a monumental decision, there are certain questions you need to know the answers to. Read Post

Many of us spend a lot of time being concerned about every aspect of our lives and often miss out on the sweet feeling of contentment. Concern causes stress, anxiety, and upset, while contentment elicits feelings of peace, confidence, acceptance, and fulfillment. That sounds like a great place to be.

Yet, if we’re not feeling content with our lives, how do we get to that place of self-acceptance, self-love, and self-appreciation? Where we feel everything is right with the world, and even when it isn’t, we can handle whatever comes up. Where we can give up the constant nagging concerns that haunt our every waking, and sometimes sleeping moments. Where we can continue to strive for more, if we want it, while being perfectly okay with where we are.

Here are some strategies I’ve discovered over my years of coaching that can help you experience more contentment in all areas of your life: Read Post