by Solange Lopes | Oct 5, 2014 | Career, Find Your Purpose
What seeds are you planting – Photo credit: http://science.nationalgeographic.com
I do NOT have a green thumb. You know how the cashier just puts up the “Closed” sign right when it’s your turn to cash out? Well, that’s what kinda happened when green thumbs were being allotted in the “Natural Gifts” department, and I got to the cashier station… In all seriousness, all it takes for any plant nearby to collapse and die is for my non-green thumb to make an entrance. So when it comes to gardening and planting seeds of anything remotely supposed to grow out of the soil, I’m unfortunately (or fortunately, it’s just a matter of perspective) not your girl…
Thankfully, physical, Earth-based seeds are not the only ones we can plant (sigh of relief). Even for those of us who were not born-gardeners (or act as natural plant-repellers), we CAN and do plant more seeds than we actually realize. From the way we choose to live our lives, to the successes we create, to the challenges we surmount and the mountains we climb, what seeds are we planting in ours and others’ lives? What are we teaching our kids, neighbors, co-workers, life partners about what it means to lead a successful life?
My pastor asked me and Dear Hubby about the seeds we are planting in our lives, that of our children and of our community. Are those seeds of failure or success? Seeds of anger and resentment, or rather forgiveness? Good or negative seeds? Edifying or discouraging seeds? What are we planting, and what legacy are we set to leave?
I’m part of a blended family, and when I say blended, I mean ultra-blended. Many are the seeds that were planted in me, some of which brought out the best in me, and some which grew the worse in me. Today, as a parent, a woman, an active member of society, it’s now my turn to plant my own seeds. And for all of us looking to live meaningful lives, to make a difference, however small, it’s our turn to choose the seeds we’ll plant in ours and others’ lives. Are these going to be seeds of Faith, resilience, determination, and success? Or will we turn away from the brilliant legacy we all can leave?
The question is: What seeds are you planting today?
As for me, I’m still quite the hazard to plants of any kind, but I’ve recently invested in a sturdy cactus, which so far has not let me down…There is hope, and I’m planting away, or at least trying to….
Happy Sunday!
The Corporate Sis.
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by Solange Lopes | Sep 21, 2014 | Career, Find Your Purpose
Faith – Photo credit: beliefnet.com
Happy Sunday!
For the longest time, I avoided using the F-word at work. Not that F-word, the other one. As a matter of fact, even thinking about it at work would seem strange. And before you start even thinking we’re diving into some kind of religious tangent, let me clarify I am speaking about Faith, not religion.
All throughout my career, I’ve questioned myself about what Faith meant to my career, or even if the two should be acquainted in any manner. What does it matter to our careers that we even believe in anything? How could the wide subjectivity, breadth and intangibility of Faith even affect the very tangible, very concrete (albeit often illogical) world of work? And as much as most belief systems emphasize the value of work, does this make them intrinsically linked to our careers? Does Faith even belong in our careers? Is it better to keep Faith and work separate, or could Faith actually enhance our careers?
After trying both approaches, I would argue the latter. While I tended to restrict my Faith only to certain specific, secluded activities (usually reserved to hurried Sunday mornings), as I started applying the same Faith to my work, I noticed it…worked. I noticed speaking Life and blessings onto my day job did bring jus that. That thanking God for the favor I didn’t have yet, the positive results I had yet to obtain, produced those same results, and even better. Was it magic, wishful thinking or excess coffee? No, and neither was it religious infatuation. It was simply believing in the things that are not seen, the strength within, the power within. It was inquiring within…
So what’s Faith gotta do with it? More than we may think…Because embarking on days filled to the brim with to-do’s, meetings, and performance expectations without enough spiritual or mental preparation doesn’t work. Neither does failing to envision, speak and manifest our dreams, inspiration and calling. Because not believing you can, is failing before even starting.
And because Faith, as strange as it may seem, has got everything to do with it…
The Corporate Sis.
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by Solange Lopes | Aug 28, 2014 | Career, Find Your Purpose |
A good marriage is not great – Photo credit: womenonthefence.com
Happy Thursday!
Marriage is not easy. Actually, if anything requires work, it would be putting two people together with different sets of toothbrushes and brains together, and then proceed to ask them to spend the rest of their lives sharing bedsheets and possibly one toilet seat…Marriage is messy, complicated, obnoxiously loud (yes, even silence turns deafening when you put a ring on it). And apparently, the entire institution seems to be bent on legalizing raised toilet seats and dirty socks.
Yet marriage is beautiful, in a way a weird, color-laden, contradiction-filled painting from some famous artist would be considered beautiful because beauty is easier (and safer) to explain than ugliness. Marriage is your career’s beautiful, free spirited, love-filled big sister. It’s also a license to work hard at something you’re committed to mastering and perfecting over time, yet with no guarantee that you’ll make it past your first raised toilet seat offense. And like marriage, a good, roll-with-the-punches, no-wave career is a good life partner, except you secretly want to pour laxative in his morning coffee just to convince yourself you actually have a pulse (and they actually have responsive bowels, but I digress…).
Gone are the days when an average, good career, or marriage for that matter, was good enough. In the days of the I-phone brain, we need to be fulfilled like we need our next tweet. We need meaning, context, and instant bliss in a bottle. We don’t want jobs, we want careers that help us save the world. Because even if we’re late on our student loan payments and just overdrew our checking account yet again, we are committed not to leave this world in the desolate state we found it in.
So for the rest of us millenials, semi-millenials and somewhat post-millenials, our parents’ picket-fence and safe retirement plan options are worse than dial up internet connection. For us, a good marriage is just not great, and we’ve categorically refused to sign up for good enough. We want passion and self-fulfillment. We have dreams, goals, objectives, and we’d rather bike to work and rent the latest Luis Vuitton purse than one day having to tell our kids to learn a marketable trade, get a safe job or a clean shave…
And maybe that’s why 30% of us will be unmarried by age 40, while 71% among us actually dream of our first startup without being all that ready for the grueling, hard work of entrepreneurship…Because after all, it’s so much easier to fantasize on the perfect wedding dress and ideal family than to actually have to remind yourself why the jerk you married is unable to put the doggone toilet seat down, ever….
The Corporate Sis.
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by Solange Lopes | Dec 8, 2013 | Career, Find Your Purpose |
In the wake of South African and world symbol of human spirit and leadership Nelson Mandela, we all owe it to him and to ourselves to take a good, hard look at ourselves, especially as people of color, and ask the hard questions. The essential questions, like “What are we doing to make a difference in our lives and most importantly, in that of others?”, “How are we shaping our paths to open doors for others”, and really, “What kind of leadership are we offering throughout our lives?”.
We discussed in one of our earlier posts the fact that leadership really starts at home, and goes on to permeate each and every one of our life’s areas. As corporate sisters, we are trailblazers, thinkers, innovators, and example-setters. We stand where very few of us have stood, we are introducing a new dimension of thought and culture in a business world where the interests of our communities are still under-represented. Through our contribution to the corporate structure of society, we are not just offering up the fruits of our hard work in exchange for a paycheck and some level of recognition, no, we also are building a path, and this regardless of whatever capacity we are acting up in. From CEO to director, manager, analyst, and coordinator, from the financial to the operational or human resources side of the business, we are agents of change. As such, we are able to communicate ideas, re-group people, show different aspects of work and lifestyle to otherwise unfamiliar spaces and people, take positive and powerful stances to influence the way we think, act and live. And really, isn’t that the definition of leadership?
As we take some time to reflect upon our own contributions, and how our lives and work impact those of others, let’s think in bigger terms and brighter images than what conventional society and media have us accustomed to. Let’s start thinking in terms of world-changing, breakthrough leadership. Let’s stop believing that world-changing destinies only belong to a select few, that in our limited capacities or mundane everyday occupations, that we are not as equipped to make a difference. Let’s embrace the leadership that is innate to who we are, in whatever capacity we are given to develop, nurture and act upon it.
Are you thinking beyond your circumstances? Are you embracing your innate leadership?
Go one step further and discover what type of leader you are by taking this quiz, courtesy of BlackEnterprise.com:http://www.blackenterprise.com/career/boss-quiz-what-type-of-leader-are-you/
The Corporate Sister.
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by | Nov 24, 2013 | Career, Find Your Purpose |
The holidays are right around the corner, and for most of us corporate sisters, it means family time, food and lots of fun times…yet it also means taking care of everyone else’s needs before our own, barely keeping ourselves mentally and spiritually afloat, running around in a frenzy, and neglecting to refuel by taking care of ourselves. Meanwhile, our to-do lists (note the plural) keep growing longer and more complex by the day. The result? A more depleted, less happy, and less productive sister…
Many are the advice features, articles and guides on how to most efficiently make use of our time, from how to shop more efficiently, to how best to minimize our make-up routine. Yet, in the midst of this information overload on how to do this, what and when to plan for that, and which app can save our multi-directional, uber-busy lives, we very often neglect the essential, the first person to take care of in order to care for everyone else, our numero uno priority: ourselves…We sacrifice rest and quiet time in order to fit in as many errands as possible, answer to as many emails as feasible, and keep dear hubby, the kids, the boss and the co-workers fixed on a constant basis. We are not happy until everyone is, and since most everyone else is quite never happy as well, we’re bound to constantly run on empty…
As counter-intuitive as it may sound, the holidays and its load of to-do’s, frenzied pace and on-repeat Christmas carols, may just be the best time to remind ourselves that as we think of what to gift everyone else with, we should also give ourselves the gift of Time and Priority. So, let’s add ourselves to the top of our priority lists, and manage to find ways to carve time to regenerate our minds and bodies. Whether it’s an hour massage, 10 minutes on the toilet reading a book (yes, the throne has become my favorite reading place, as gross as it may sound), or a half-hour run in the park, it’s crucial to put ourselves back on the list, or one of them lists for that matter…
And if that means buying the dessert and make it look homemade, or get your nieces gift cards instead of racking your brain about their new shoe sizes, whatever it takes, ’tis the season to take care of YOU! And no, there’s no app for that, at least not yet…
Happy Sunday!
The Corporate Sister.
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