How do you imagine the workplace would look if being sensitive at work was seen a good thing?

I’ve been curious to know how you feel about being sensitive at work. In my heart of hearts, I know that sensitivity needs to be redefined, re-imagined as the positive quality — and skill — that it can be.

Last week, I asked you if it’s acceptable to be sensitive at work. I also asked if you consider yourself sensitive? And whether or not you have seen that sensitivity as a liability, especially in the business world?  And I shared my journey of learning to love my sensitivity, and some ways that you could learn to love yours, too.

How I applied sensitivity with a bunch of MBAs

To help craft a snapshot of how the business world might look if we allowed sensitivity, I thought I’d let you in on something I rarely discuss:  One of the first times I intentionally listened to, trusted, and acted on my body’s intelligence in a business setting.

I was at UC Berkeley, where I had earned my MBA. MBA education tends to be pretty heady. Intellectual. Not very touchy-feel or embodied. It’s a Wednesday in February, 2002. To earn money while I’m pursuing my PhD in Somatic Psychology, I’m counseling MBA students back at my alma mater. At first, I was just working with the MBAs on preparing for management consulting interviews, which are a bit different than traditional “behavioral” interviews because they involve a business case, and being able to improvise the facts in a fluid way. But I was asked to improvise in a whole new way.

That day, three students in a row ask me a question that goes something like this:  “Susan, how in the world did you go from being a management consultant to getting a funky mind/body oriented PhD?”

I notice that when each of the three students asks, I feel a swish in my gut, a quickening of my breath, a tingle on my shoulders, and a dash of curiosity. It takes me until the third person to realize that although these students have some interest in my story, a deeper question lurks underneath. I feel that curiosity as a bubbly, joyful energy that moves rapidly around my body. I pay close attention to the sensations, listening in the way you might listen when you hear something moving around in a bush. You hear it, but can’t yet see it. I feel the sense of some new information, but until I “track” and follow the sensation in my body, just sensing around as though I can touch it, I don’t know what the sensation is trying to convey to me.

And then, when I simply surrender and tell  myself, “When I’m meant to know, I’ll know,” I experience a deep, instinctual knowing. An “aha” arises within me:  “Oh, I think these students want to know for themselves. They are curious about my story of career change because they are really wanting to know how to make a non-traditional career change.”

By tuning in to my body’s shifting patterns, the changes in my energy, breath, movement, and other factors, I am able to sense the next step. I blurt out to the third student, “Oh, are you wanting some help with blazing your own trail, finding your own work?”

“Yes! Can you help me with that? I’m pretty fed up with the assessment tests that tell me I should be a management consultant like you were. I have two kids and another one on the way. I actually would like to see all three of them grow up. I doubt traditional management consulting will afford me that kind of lifestyle. I’d love your help.”

Until that point, I had a growing desire to do counseling with the MBA students, but my assignments had been narrower, to help them with interview preparation, as well as resumes and cover letters. That same day, with a lot of gumption, I march into the office of the Director of the Career Center, and can feel the energy streaming up my body, as the words travel up from my belly to my mouth and tumble out with excitement.  “Abby, I want to counsel the MBA students. They’ve been asking me for that kind of help and I’m getting my PhD in psychology…”

“Go ahead. You’ll be great. I know.”

That was it. I start doing the counseling. And I love it, too.

How to use sensitivity to choose between two job offers

I also remember the first time an MBA student came to me with two job offers. A woman I’ll call Jenna says, “Both Bain and Deloitte have offered me jobs. They seems so similar. The salaries aren’t too far apart. But I can’t decide. And it’s Friday, and I have to give them both answers on Monday. How am I supposed to decide, beyond talking to a bunch of people at the firms, which I’ve done. I’ve spoken to over 20 people at each, but I still feel conflicted. What should I do?”

“I can’t tell you what to do. I won’t presume to guess what’s right for you. But I can help you sort it out. Can I ask you to be a guinea pig, so you try out something I’ve just learned in my Somatic Psychology classes?” I wonder aloud to Jenna.

“Sure, why not?” she replies.

“This might seem a little weird, so bear with me.” I tell her.

“Weird is good,” Jenna chirps, a big smile on her face, reflecting a willingness to try something new.

“OK,” I tell her, “I want you to imagine that you can put one company in one hand and the other company in your other hand. Which one goes in your left hand? Just check in with your gut, there’s no right or wrong.”

“Hmm, Bain’s in my left hand,” Jenna lets me know.

“OK, now, feel into your left hand. What do you notice?” I inquire.

“It feels hot. Clammy. Sticky.” She replies. I let her “marinate” for a bit in those sensations.

“OK, now, imagine you have Deloitte in your right hand,” I direct Jenna.

“Hmm, it feels light, airy, spacious. Funny, but it’s kind of making me want to laugh. It’s playful, if that makes sense?”

“Sure, that makes sense, in a sensory way. Maybe not quite yet in a mental way. It’s your experience.” I tell her. “But I wonder, does this seem random, or do you really think the qualities you feel in your hands actually reflect what you feel about the firms?”

“Yes, oddly, yeah. This is definitely a different way of getting information. But I’m still not sure I’m clear about which firm I want to go to.”

Next, I ask Jenna to hold her hands side by side, imagining she has Bain the left one and Deloitte in the right, and to compare what she’s experiencing.

“Hmm, the left one is wanting to stay above the right. Like Bain comes across as high and mighty to me, actually. Deloitte isn’t as stuck on its name. The people were more down-to-earth. But you know the Bain website is the one that says their people are down-to-earth and I think that…”

I cut Jenna off mid-sentence, “Can I please ask you, just for now, to pay attention to the signals in your body. It’s like taking the elevator down, out of your head. For a while. Can you do that?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Jenna looks a bit embarrassed, but I encourage her to start off where she left off, feeling into her body to see how “down-to-earth feels.”

“I feel that in my heart area. It gets warm. Like that matters. I need to be down-to-earth. That’s just me. I come from a non-profit background. I care about things that matter. And compared to Bain, Deloitte seems to feel more like the work matters to me. You know, it just feels more right. Wow.”

Jenna thanked me. And she told her fellow classmates about the exploration we’d done together. Over time, I built a reputation for helping these professionals to make decisions that were formed from the “insight out.” In other words, they could feel into their instinctual, innate, embodied wisdom, and find an insight, and express it out.

Jenna got an answer, an “aha,” that came not from her intellect, but from her inner wisdom.

Do you ever get stuck in your head, with a decision swirling and twirling, going nowhere? What’s your own way to get out of the turmoil?

Please share your tools and techniques for getting unstuck. We can all use some help to get moving again.

Susan Bernstein, MBA PhD
When you want to move more wisely through changes at work, check out Smart Sensing

Do you consider yourself sensitive? Have you seen that sensitivity as a liability, especially in the business world?

I know a lot of people who feel that way. But I’ve discovered how to hone that sensitivity, and use it in a positive way.  Let me share my story with you. Let me know what you think…

In my last blog post, I wrote about how my first consulting project was incredibly difficult, and how a managing partner’s harsh words made me stop trusting my impulses and instincts, and start living too much up in my head.

But that all changed, starting in November, 2001. Let’s visit that pivotal time…

It’s my first semester at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute where I’m studying towards my PhD in Somatic Psychology. The coursework could not have been more different than in my Berkeley MBA. It’s so much more experiential, grounded in the body. I can feel what I am learning. It’s visceral.

It’s a Saturday afternoon, in a big airy conference room with lots of windows. The sunshine is streaming in, illuminating the pastel orange wall in front of me, and warming my back. One of my teachers, Judyth Weaver, guides our small class of 14 students  through a particular physical exploration, where we are to subtly notice how our feet feel as we walk, barefoot. And to attune our attention to the way our knees bend. And the way our head moves – or doesn’t – as we walk. I do not recall the all the specific details of the exploration, but I vividly recall the hot anger and distancing loneliness I felt inside.  We are debriefing that activity, and I am irked and frustrated that my experience of the exploration was not similar to what my colleagues are experiencing.  I truly feel left out, as though something is really wrong with me for being different.

As we move around the circle, I’m the last one so speak. I angrily blurt out, like a little girl wanting sympathy, “My experience wasn’t like anyone else’s!”

Surprisingly, Judyth smiles warmly and tells me with whimsy, “Congratulations, Susan!”

I’m baffled.

Gently, Judyth helps me to see that each person has his or her own unique perception of the sensations and emotions that arise from any activity. Essentially, circumstances are exactly as they should be.  A lightbulb goes off inside of me!  I do not have to conform to some outside standard in life.  My own inner experience matters.  This state, of knowing what is real and true and organic for me is perfect and natural.  My sensations and perceptions are supposed to inform me of my tastes and preferences.  What a joyful and life altering discovery!

Since that moment, my life has felt richer, more personal, more awake and aware. And, of course, I want to share with the world how the simple practice of noticing sensations can bring personal freedom.  Following my simple instinctual urges opened up my world and my energy.  By contrast, I had been pursuing an elusive, non-existent “objective fact” about virtually everything in my business life. Unfortunately, that error had closed me off in many ways.

I’m joyful to have an embodied awareness that my body is not merely a vehicle to transport my brain around.

And my brain is not merely some kind of computer filled with facts to be computed and analyzed.

When do you trust the wisdom of your body?  When don’t you trust your body’s messages? What would it take for you to listen to, trust, and act on your body’s intelligence?

In my next blog post, I’ll share how I started teaching MBA students to listen to their body wisdom, and how that shifted their careers. I think you’ll find it helpful for your own sensitive journey.

Stay tuned,

I’d like to know your thoughts: Do you think it’s a good idea to be sensitive at work?

I really want your thoughts about sensitivity in the workplace. So please post your ideas and feeling, below. In the next three or four posts, I’m going to share my perspective on this, well, touchy subject.

I grew up hearing a lot of the phrase, “You’re too sensitive!”

For years, I thought that was a bad thing. No longer.

As a kid, watching certain Hallmark commercials would reduce me to a crying heap. If I heard the news about a friend’s injury, I seemed to feel uncomfortable sensations in the same limb, a kind of “sympathy pain.” And I didn’t do a very good job of receiving constructive feedback, as I tended to already judge myself harshly. It took me years to realize that one of the women I worked for before business school was envious of me and seemed to delight in giving me lots of feedback, under the guise that “This will really help you in your career in the long run.” I bought her BS because I was so sensitive that I didn’t stick up for myself, even when her highly critical judgments stung.

Flash forward to the mid 1990’s. I’ve just completed my MBA at UC Berkeley. I’ve joined Accenture as a management consultant, focusing on retail strategy. I’m staffed on a project at Levi-Strauss & Co. Our two cultures couldn’t be more different. Accenture consultants wear suits (I relish wearing jeans on the days I work for Levis onsite), speak very formally and carefully, and seem to analyze everything in a financial model. The Levi’s people naturally dress in jeans and casual clothes, speak very freely and often from the heart, and have posted giant charts in our team meeting room with each member’s Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, family birth order, Enneagram number, favorite color, and even their astrological sign! I’m conflicted. On the one hand, it’s great to share personal information to get to know people. And on the other hand, my business sensibilities tell me this information is a no-no, or worse, woo-woo.

We can opt out of sharing any of this information about ourselves, and more of the Accenture team members are private about themselves. This poster is supposedly used to help us understand each other. But for me, the chart forces me to make an uncomfortable choice: Should I share honestly about myself, or not?

Much as I want others to know me authentically, I go against my sensitive nature and hide a bunch of details about myself. Why? I want to appear like a “good” Accenture employee, and be as “neutral” as possible.

The Accenture partner in charge of the Levi’s project, Mary, invites me to attend my first team meeting, with about twelve Levi’s and Accenture people in the room. I’m told to keep quiet, say nothing, just observe. After the meeting, we’ll debrief. I do my best to pay attention to all that’s happening, but this re-organization project’s been going on for about two years and I am missing a huge amount of context. I can barely keep up with all the acronyms, initiatives, analyses, and updates. Instead of all the data, I seem to be able to pay attention and track the interactions between the team members, so I pick up on subtle cues. I am aware of who likes each other, who is easy to work with, who pulls power plays, who strategically withholds information.

After my initial meeting, Mary invites me to talk with her privately about what I’ve noticed. I’m not sure how to encapsulate all the different information, so I reach for what feels most obvious and tell her, “Well, it’s obvious that the two top Levis leaders on this project — Bob and Tom — they don’t like each other.” Mary looks at me, kind of stunned, and cocks her head, furrows her brow, and challenges me. It’s as though I’ve seen a secret I’m not supposed to see, so she is compelled to ask “Wait, how do you know that?!?!”

It takes me a moment to poll my memory banks for the specific instances that clue me in on Bob and Tom’s disdain for one another. “Did you see that glance that Tom gave Bob when he started to announce that the initiative was doing well?” I ask Mary, rhetorically. “It was one of those glances that lasts only a millisecond that telegraphs “You’re not supposed to open your mouth.”" I follow up by pointing out the way Bob let out a sigh when Tom started to read the latest sales figures, “as though communicating, “You’re boring me.”"

Mary scowled at me, pointed a finger, and gruffly said, “That’s not why we hired you. I don’t want you concentrating on the interpersonal dynamics. You’re here to help with the strategy for how to roll out this change to the organization. You’re not here to fix the dynamics between Bob and Tom. Stick to the facts.”

In that moment, my sensitivity went into hiding, only to be excavated and recovered when I began studying for my PhD in somatic psychology nearly seven years later. In the intervening years, I came to believe that noticing subtleties, being attuned to the way people express themselves, to feeling the energy in a room — that these were all antithetical in the business world. I thought that success translated to “stay as objective as possible.”

In my next blog post, I’ll do a flash forward, to give you some perspective on how I got my sensitivity back.

For now, I’m curious about you.

So please share your wisdom. Have you ever had an experience, especially in business, where you were told not to be so sensitive? What was happening? How did you respond? And what did that experience teach you?

In business, we’re always talking about getting to the top.

But when it comes to navigating the future of work on a very personal level, staying at the top, at least when it comes to being in your head, is dangerous. So I want you to take the elevator down.

Whether you work on the ground floor or at the top of a gigantic highrise, you will need to cultivate a key skill for the future:  The ability to get out of your head from time to time, and tap into the wisdom within your whole body.

So, why should you care about getting out of your head and into your body?

Because really brilliant, flexible, resilient people know that raw intellect will only get you so far. You know super smart people who are ultra annoying because they rub people the wrong way. They share their ideas without regard to the impact they are having. Or people who get a fixed idea of what needs to happen, and because they are attached to this idea, they miss the signals (including the emotional and interpersonal ones) that it’s time for a change. Or people who are so wedded to the way things “should” be that they fall apart or shut down when change happens.

If you want to be have a positive impact on your business or organization (or a mission or venture that’s vital to you), you need to be able to pay attention to subtle signals, like the way you feel when your manager’s voice changes tone, and she’s expressing displeasure. Or the way you feel when you’re walking down the hall on the way to a meeting, and you bump into a colleague who looks like he’s going to burst. He asks for a moment of your time. If you’re paying attention “below the neck,” you may feel an urge to reach out, or an impulse to keep walking, but if you’re tuned in to your inner wisdom, you’ll make a good decision about your next steps.

The future of work is incredibly fluid, dynamic, and shifting. It’s more like improvisational jazz, less like a practiced symphony that’s been played hundreds of times. Are you ready for these times?

I believe that the people who have the greatest capacity to make the biggest impact in the future of work are those who activate their inner supercomputer, the laser-fast decision making, the intuitive assessment, and the trust-building that comes from tapping into the body’s inner wisdom. I’m not suggesting that you leave your head and the intellect out of your navigating. What I am suggesting is that you widen your base of power by using both mind AND body wisdom. Are you one of these people.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be articulating a set of skills that I call Smart Sensing to describe this ability to pay attention to your instincts, impulses, and sensations, and to use them in making good decisions, connecting powerfully with others, bouncing back from adversity, staying positive and focused, and adjusting in a dynamic way.

When you activate your Smart Sensing capacity, you feel confident about to respond in complex and ambiguous situations. That confidence derives from from accessing more than just your intellect, but also trusting a deeper, innate wisdom

To navigate change fluidly requires picking up on the signs and signals that something is in flux, trusting the instincts and impulse that harken change, and then being courageous enough to move ahead when the path is not yet clear. This all requires well-developed Smart Sensing. Some people turn off their sensing — their ability to pick up on the information that’s constantly coming to them through their sensations. Like the way they feel a warmth around their heart when they’ve made a customer delighted. Or the way their chest tightens in the middle of a stressful negotiation. Some people learn to numb out, unable to feel these sensations, at least until they get guidance on how to listen to their own inner signals again. Others cultivate their ability to sense, even at subtle levels, so they can read the mood in a room and respond accordingly, or they can adjust their posture and gestures to make people feel welcome.

Those two groups of people — the low-sensing and the high sensing — are like the difference between a stripped down, basic cellular phone and a smartphone. The former only helps you make phone calls. The latter can tap into the weather, the traffic report, and restaurant reviews to help you select the right clothes, route, and venue to impress your new client. The smartphone gathers up-to-the minute information that makes you more adaptable to the conditions around you.

The good news is that you have smart technology built right into you. You have access not only to data and information, but to wisdom, so that you can respond flexibly to new conditions, new challenges, and even new quirks in people. With wisdom, not merely data, you can discern which way to turn. You can judge how your actions will work out. You envision the consequences of your choices. And you sense how you are feeling, moment to moment, so you can manage your energy and continuously renew yourself.

In tumultuous times, some executives default to gathering more data to analyze. Yet when change is so rapid, massive, or uncertain, access to more information tends to either impossible, or leads to analysis paralysis. Instead of analyzing, they need to be proactively adapting. Yet when you’re accustomed to knowing all the ins and outs of your business, and move into a role where no map of the territory exists, finding your way requires new skills. This is especially true when it comes to leading and influencing other people to come along. Instead of more data, you need access to a broader base of inner wisdom, so you can trust yourself and connect with the people involved in this new future.

The core skill in Smart Sensing is the ability to pay attention to what your body is telling you, by listening to your sensations. So let’s start with one activity to help you do that.

Try this activity:  Discovering the Connection Between Your Thoughts & Sensations: I’d like you to bring to mind a positive memory of something you’ve done in the last month or so. It doesn’t need to be monumental or extreme. It just needs to be positive. Remember as many of the details as possible, and bring them to your mind’s eye. Where were you? What time of day was it? Who was around? What was happening? How did you feel emotionally? What were you hearing? What were you saying and doing?

Now, take a mental snapshot of that, and then notice how you feel in your body when you bring this memory to mind. What do you experience? If nothing immediately feels noticeable, pay attention for energy, breathing, tension, and temperature. Write down all the sensations you can notice in your body.

Then, take a moment and shake out your body. Wiggle, jiggle, and imagine that you can cast off this memory, so you’re clear for the next part of this activity.

Next, bring to mind a recent negative event. Please don’t select something traumatic. Choose something only mildly upsetting. Once again, bring to mind as many of the details as possible, and visualize or sense them. Where were you? What time of day was it? Who was around? What was happening? How did you feel emotionally? What were you hearing? What were you saying and doing?

As you did before, create a mental snapshot of the negative event. Allow the experience to be fresh and novel and get curious about how you feel in your body when you bring this negative memory to mind. What do you experience in your body? Once again, pay attention for energy, breathing, tension, and temperature. Write down all the sensations you can notice in your body associated with this second memory.

Finally, contrast the sensations you felt in your body with each of these memories. What’s different in your body with each of these? What are your sensations telling you?

Sensations are your body’s signals, so you know what feels right, good, and positive for you, and also what feels wrong, bad, and negative for you. Certainly, there are subtleties and nuances. For example, some kinds of fear tells us to avoid danger, while others tell us we’re simply anxious about doing something new. Over time, as you start tracking your sensations, you will enhance your ability to discern these small differences and respond in ways that keep you aligned with what truly matters to you.

What are you sensing now?

Go ahead. Take the elevator down. It’s the thing to do if you want to be on your way up.

Sensitively yours,

Dr. Susan Bernstein, Work from Within

Are you just a floating head?

I know. That’s a weird question. But it arises because I am currently reading the book, New Self, New World: Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-First Century, by Philip Shepherd, and loving it. It’s so much about the ways that we cut off from the wisdom of our bodies, and live in our minds, not ever stopping to question that practice, just blindly accepting it. His message resonates so much for me. Like Philip Shepherd. I am committed to reawakening people to the innate intelligence of the body. It is a wisdom we know well before we are verbal, the way that newborn babies instinctively turn to hear their mother’s voice, even before they have full sight. Or the way an infant knows to cry to get attention, and an attuned mother can differentiate between the sounds of hunger, pain, and frustration.

This understanding of the wisdom of the body is getting more attention, and I am delighted. Shepherd apparently has attracted the attention of Eve Ensler, author, actress, and activist. This TEDWomen video shares her experience of awakening to her own inner wisdom, where realizes she is not just a floating head.

I love this line from her video: “For a long time, there was me, and my body. Me was composed of stories, of cravings, of strivings, of desires of the future. Me was trying not to be an outcome of my violent past, but the separation that had already occurred between me and my body was a pretty significant outcome. Me was always trying to become something, somebody. Me only existed in the trying. My body was often in the way. Me was a floating head.”

What about you? Are you just a floating head? Do you listen to your mind and ignore your body? Or diminish it’s messages?

We all need help shifting from head to whole self, so please share your experience of feeling more in your head…or more in your body…or somewhere between.

My own story of moving from floating head to being an embodied, vibrant, connected person is this: I had a wake up call to my body in the mid 1990s. About three years into my time in management consulting, I was involved in a car accident. As I drove home from San Francisco International Airport, while returning from a client engagement in Southern California, I was rear-ended by a drunk driver. Although the accident was not serious, I started getting painful migraine headaches immediately afterwards. My doctor wanted to run tests, but I would not allow it. I was determined to show how tough I could be. Even though I was completely stressed out by the nature of the work and the 80 to 100 hour work weeks, and even though I had fantasies about quitting the consulting firm, I was not going to let headaches keep me from working on what I thought was an extremely important client project! Then, two weeks after the car accident, I passed out in front of a group of clients. I literally fainted in front of them from the pain, and the project team took me to the hospital to check my health.

Clearly, I had not been listening to my body. I ignored the migraine symptoms, continuing to push through them so that I could work. I pretended I was fine. Fortunately, the managing partner of my office insisted that I follow my doctor’s orders to take a month off from work to relax and recuperate.

Deep down, I felt conflict. I wanted to demonstrate to my project team that I was as strong as everyone else, and that I fit into the culture, by continuing to work. But I also wished I could simply find work that was more fun, or that I could even stop working for a period. I lost consciousness, but that experience of fainting make me conscious of my need for work that fit me better. I moved into a role within the HR structure, running a global training operation, and loved it.

After starting a new educational program and running it for two years, I felt an impulse to take charge of my career direction, and have been incredibly proactive about seeking out new vistas that draw me in, that pull my energy, that beckon my involvement. They have included counseling, coaching, and teaching, in many ways, including online, in person, and one-on-one.

When this smart sensing capability expanded within me, I could feel my way through uncertainty, navigating more assuredly, more enthusiastically. No longer did I wait for anyone to direct me. I became more and more attuned to the innate intelligence within me, my inner guidance system. And now, I am fortunate enough to teach others to do the same for themselves. I’m not their director, I’m merely there to help guide them to their own wisdom, a boundless capacity.

Where are you residing? In your head? Your heart? Your gut? Your whole self, from head to toe?

Take a stand, and share your tale of learning to inhabit more of your head. Because certainly, we could all use more encouragement to find our whole wisdom.

With heartful appreciation,

I don’t want to be called a “career coach” anymore. I’m moving in a new direction

And I’d love to hear from you about this new direction. I thought I’d share with you, candidly, about where I’ve been, where I’m heading, and how it impacts you and your work.

For at least the last year, I felt like something was missing in my career. I sensed the impact the work I was doing with individuals in career reinvention and said, “Hmm, something feels stuck, blocked, unexpressed in me.” I felt heavy, burdened. But I also noticed something churning inside of me, cooking, baking, percolating.

Now, I’m able to articulate that element that I’ve been so hungry to share. You see, when I went back to school for a PhD in Somatic Psychology (that’s also known as “mind/body psychology”)  in 2001, my intention was to support busy mid- to senior-level professionals to be more present, more alive, more vibrant in their work, especially in the face of rapid change and uncertainty. I knew that the principles I was learning in school could help make change smoother, easier to navigate.

I was (and still am) 100% convinced that simple practices could help professionals avoid getting stuck in their head. Heck, I’d been one of those people who could never seem to shut off my mind. As a result, my body was suffering from the tension of working long hours, pushing and pushing to get through projects, barely allowing myself to rest, recover, and renew. I started to push my way through tasks, but exhausted myself. Can you relate?

Once I learned how to really pay attention to both my head and my body, I became more resilient, productive, creative, clear-headed, and confident.

And I knew I could teach people — like you — to live with these positive qualities in your working life.

But honestly, I had been coaching people in career change as a part-time job while I earned my PhD, and somehow, it became my full-time job.

Until now.

After a decade of helping people navigate their individual career transitions, I’m boldly following my original intention:

To support companies to thrive by teaching their employees powerful practices that bring out more of their potential. And in the process, I’ll be helping professionals (maybe even you?) truly come alive in their work.

With so much turmoil in the business world (heck, the world in general) now is the moment to launch this new direction. Wouldn’t you agree? I’m excited to help motivated up-and-coming professionals navigate change and uncertainty so they move to the next level of performance. I’ll be focusing on coaching high-potential current and future leaders to cultivate greater
* resilience
* focus
* decision making capabilities
* presence
* confidence

Your wisdom isn’t just in your head

You know, your wisdom comes not just from your brains, but really from your whole body.  It’s like your body acts as a monitoring or navigational device. Your senses give you information to help you find your way, especially when the road ahead is foggy or bumpy. If you pay attention, you sense the signals….”more this way…less of that…I like this…I don’t care for that”

But many of us have learned to ignore the messages of our bodies, especially at work, because our culture treats the mind as if it is superior to the body (oh, and your body does so much more than carry your brain around!)

When you leave out the information you’re getting from your senses, you are only using part of your capabilities and potential.

Get wiser with a radical idea: SmartSensing

But instead of cutting off your sense, you can learn to pay attention to your senses, trust them, and act on them That’s what I would call SmartSensing. Essentially, you make smarter choices and take wiser actions when you complement your thoughts and ideas with your sensory information.

This SmartSensing is a radical idea. It’s like overriding what most of us learn at school, in our families, and at work. We learn to ignore our body’s messages. Like when you get a headache, do you pop an aspirin? Or do you ask what’s burdening your mind and how you might alleviate it? Or it’s like meeting two prospective new employees. When you meet the first one, you get a knot in your stomach, and when you meet the second candidate, you feel light and bubbly. Do you run to take an antacid after you meet the first one? Or do you stop and ask, “What is my body telling me?”

We often dismiss the subtle signals our bodies give us. And we also miss the chance to make small changes with our bodies that open up whole new mental vistas.

Try this out, for example: When you’re stressed out, you can shake your body while you imagine your tension dropping away. With practice, you can feel a sense of relief, so that you can get back to whatever you were doing before you got stressed out. So the next time an angry colleague or a frustrated customer yells at you, try shaking off and getting back to equilibrium.

Your amazing body is not just a monitor. It’s an amazing adaptive, self-adjusting system. And you become most effective when you allow your mind work collaborate with your senses.

My new work will help you move to higher levels of performance. And a big part of what I’ll be teaching (in my coaching, workshops, retreats, and even on the Work from Within blog and newsletter) are perspectives and practices that will help you to listen to, trust, and act on the messages of your amazing monitoring and adjustment mechanism – your body. The ability to create ease, well-being, and amazing levels of performance – it’s all in your hands (and in your heart, your gut, and your whole body).

In the coming months, I’ll be letting you know about the coaching, workshops, and customized events I’ll be offering to companies, especially those who want their people to stay resilient in the face of major change. Oh, and companies who actively support their high potential current and future leaders in navigating to the next level. (If you want the early scoop for you or your company, just get in contact)

So, what do you think? How might SmartSensing help you at work? What can you imagine in terms of your emotional flexibility, your resilience, your confidence…if you listened to your body?

I look forward to supporting you to work from within the amazing Smart sensing mechanism of your whole self.

Moving with you into the future,
Susan

PS – I’m still taking on a few career reinvention clients over the next two to three months, as I transition into this new work. So if you’ve been thinking of working together, please don’t procrastinate. Get in touch now. You can reach me via email at SBernstein@WorkFromWithin.com or by phone at (415) 508-8250.

PPS – FYI, Somatic Psychology is also known as Mind-Body Psychology, and is a discipline that looks at reuniting mind and body for greater energy, aliveness, and well-being, physically, emotionally, and mentally.

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

For many people, this expression is true, with one important modification. I think the word “eventually” needs to be added to the end of that sentence.

But what do you do if “eventually” feels like “forever”?

I want to tell you about a little-known and little-discussed way to address the issue of earning less than you’d like, especially when you feel like you’ve tried everything. The suggestion I have is not a get-rich-quick scheme, nor is it a panacea. But it’s super practical, and I have seen it work.

I’ll start with Jillian’s story  (I’ve changed her name and a few of the details to protect her privacy).

Jillian said: “I really need help. I’ve been trying and trying to make money doing what I love. I really believed that I was offering something worthwhile by helping people manage the ups and downs of managing depression. I’m a therapist by training, but I don’t like sitting with one client after another. My real love is writing and teaching. I developed a website full of ideas to help people cope with this difficult challenge. I’ve taught a few teleclasses. I even wrote a few ebooks, based on my experience counseling people through the hardship of depression. I really care about being of service.

“I’ve invested at least four years working on this business. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on professional support (like a business coach, a web designer, a graphic designer, a virtual assistant, and so on) to make this a viable business, but I just have not been financially successful. I earn just enough money to scrape by. No extra money for vacations, for buying a cute piece of clothing, for having a little fun going to the movies with friends. This deprivation is starving me.

“It’s time for me to make a living ! I’ve been divorced for 9 years.  My previous background was as a marketing exeutive and I was never cut out for it.

“I have two adult kids now, ages 19 and 24, and am committed to getting the youngest through college with no debt and also to raising my two dogs, who do help make me happy. I live pretty far from any family and I’ve found it challenging to make close friends.

“I’ve read a ton of self help books, done loads of exercises to help me figure out the work I love and how to manage my finances. I’ve even meditated for many years.  I hope you’ll understand this:  I thought I was listening to God/The Universe (or some form of higher guidance) when I designed my work, thinking it fit me from the inside out.

“I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything I know to make money. I am feeling angry, upset, and disillusioned.

“I want to be of service and support my family and I just don’t know how.”

Wow, what do you do in a situation like this? Jillian tried all kinds of practical steps to make her business viable.

My insight: It sounds like the key issue Jillian was facing had to do with money, not business or therapy skills. My suspicion was that she was holding herself back with some attitudes and behaviors of underearning. In other words, not living up to her financial potential, which could be limitless.

My recommendation:  I asked Jillian to check out Underearners Anonymous.

Underearners Anonymous (UA) is a Twelve Step fellowship of men and women who have come together to help themselves and one another recover from underearning. Underearning is many things, not all of which are about money. While the most visible consequence is the inability to provide for one’s needs, including future needs, underearning is also about the inability to fully acknowledge and express our capabilities and competencies. It is about underachieving, or under-being, no matter how much money we make.

The tools of UA include, and reinforce, the tried and true tools of recovery provided by the Twelve Steps (like in Alcoholics Anonymous and other similar “Anonymous” programs). Members of UA also utilize additional tools – both individually and with partners – to support taking action that will create lives that are full, prosperous, and grounded in serenity.

Once Jillian started attending UA meetings, she began to realize that one of the biggest blocks to her success was the shame she carried about underearning.

Unfortunately, shaming ourselves does not create an incentive for us to improve our circumstances. Shame may make us work harder on the outside, rather than looking inside to enhance how we treat ourselves. Shame is paralyzing.

Once she began attending Underearners Anonymous meetings (they offer both in person meetings and telephone meetings), Jillian released the shame she had been feeling about her financial situation. She had the courage to see the difficult ways she treated herself. With the help of others in her meetings, she began to feel better about herself and found UA to be a supportive fellowship with a structure and practices to help her regain a sense of her own value. Slowly but surely, she’s been feeling better about herself. In tandem, her earning has been steadily increasing.

So if you’ve been doing the work you truly love, but the money is just not following, I encourage you to check out Underearners Anonymous. The people who are part of this totally volunteer organization may just be the way for you to make a positive change.

Committed to your abundance,

PS – If you’re not doing what you love, let’s change that, soon! Join me January 13-15, 2012, for the “Crafting Careers That Truly Fit” workshop, where you can plan your career future in a hot tub on the Pacific Ocean. And if you register by January 1, 2012, you’ll get $325 in bonus goodies from me! So check out the workshop, now!

If you’re looking for a self-paced, home-study way to improve your career, I’ve got some great digital downloads to help you. These audios and ebooks are full of exercises and guidance to help you find your way through job search, interviewing, and building your confidence .

My gift to you is the biggest savings of the year!

Take 30% off any digital download product in the Work from Within store. That includes:

• The Job Seeker’s Confidence Kit audio and workbook
• The Interviewing Authentically workbook
• How to Make a Meaningful Career Change audio and handout
• How to Create Work That Fits You audio and workbook
• The new Conversations That Create Kick-Ass Confidence package

These are just a few of the career-boosting resources in the Work from Within store.

To get your savings on career-boosting products, simply enter NEWYEAR2012 in the coupon code field at checkout from the Work from Within store, then click “Apply” to get your discount. You’ve only got until December 31 to use the discount, so hurry!

Happy New Year!

Friday night, I attended the San Francisco Time Bank’s event at the Happiness Institute to hear Charles Eistenstein, author of Sacred Economics. After his Charles’ talk, the Time Bank had a holiday fair, and I was a “vendor,” where I offered free 10 minute “speed coaching” sessions.  I’ve done these zippy, to-the-point, high-energy coaching sessions before, for organizations like BrazenCareerist, and always loved offering this.

During one of the sessions, I met with a young woman in her 20s, Janna (I’m changing her name to keep confidentiality), who told me, “I like to do so many things. My boyfriend only likes one. He’s on my case to figure out what to call myself, what to do for a career.”

Janna went on to describe interests in non-violent communication, babies, birthing, political activism, the environment, interpersonal communication, and a host of other fascinating subjects. “The problem is, I don’t know what to be.”

People who have a bunch of interests and talents naturally get frustrated trying to cram them all under one title. It’s problematic to find the one job that will encompass all their talents.

Personally, I find that artificial cramming to be futile. Impossible. Stupid, even.

Most of us grew up with parents who had just one job. Engineer. Chef. Marketing manager. Postal carrier. Actress. Painter. Architect. Accountant. Designer. Finance director. You get the idea.

“So, my boyfriend upset with me, because he does just one thing. He’s a biologist. Me, I don’t know what I am. I have so many interests! What am I supposed to do?” asked Janna.

Ah, this so-called “problem” is not actually a problem, but a remnant of a former way of working. No longer do we need to be saddled with just one title. We’re living in the era of variety. When we can do a bunch of different activities, for which we may be paid varying amounts, in varying ways. You might call it a “portfolio career,” a “slash career” (I’d say, “I’m a coach, slash author, slash performance artist, slash speaker”), or you could say you’ve got “multiple streams of income.” For example, I helped a PR executive reinvent herself, and now she performs in community theater, does voiceovers, and plans events. All have different audiences and different ways she gets paid. But she’s no bound by just one title.

It’s time to unlock yourself from having just ONE thing you do. It can be helpful to find a unifying theme in all that you do. Like Janna might say she’s “all about birthing new ideas and perspectives.” I even suggested to Janna that she starts a public blog to talk about all the things she’s doing, and to find her “tribe” of people who resonate with what she’s doing, what she’s thinking, and what she’s creating. The blog, at least initially, would be more for her than for her audience, so she can start to find her perspective, her descriptors, and what matters to her. It’s a public way of finding her direction. You, too, can try it out.

Janna looked at me quizzically and asked, “But what about my boyfriend? What do I tell him, since he’s so sure I need to find the ONE thing I do. He’s got that, and I don’t.”

Janna loved my guidance, which emerged on the fly, and I wanted to share it with you:

“Think of your interests as though you’re on the playground. You like to play in the sandbox, but also speed down the slide, fly through the air on the swings, and balance on the teeter totter. Your boyfriend likes the jungle gym. That’s fine. You have a diversity of interests, and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. In fact, I invite you to cultivate those interests, and find the overarching principle that unites your diverse talents and areas of curiosity.”
Oooh, that “playground” metaphor gave Janna a lot of freedom to “play” with her interests. She need not criticize her boyfriend for loving his biology. He probably finds that to be a big enough playground for himself, at least for now.

What about YOUR playground?

Is your playground filled with a bunch of different activities? If so, what unites them? Or is your playground a single activity? And what keeps it interesting for you?

Click on “comments” above and share about YOUR playground. Why? So we can all see the variety of ways we play in our work. So we can change the paradigm, and open up and validate our amazing playgrounds. Especially for those of us with a ton of interests.

Looking forward to seeing your seesaws and swings,

Don’t know what’s on your playground yet? Let’s get you clear about your career. Join me for the Crafting Careers That Truly Fit workshop! Plus other fun goodies to help you boost your confidence. Click here for the details on this January 13-15 workshop..

The New Year is nearly upon us. It’s a time when you may start to wonder  “what’s next?” or “what do I want to change or improve?”

It’s also a time to think about planning your career future. And I’ve got a fantastic way for you to to do that!

Join me for the workshop “Crafting Careers That Truly Fit”  I’m teaching from January 13-15, 2012, at the gorgeous Esalen Institute, in Big Sur, California. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. And they serve fantastic gourmet food. And the rugged mountains and ocean. And morning movement classes that might include yoga, dance, tai chi, or something else fun that weekend. And an Art Barn full of art supplies you can play with. And fantastic, interesting, open-hearted people. And for an extra fee, you can book a divine massage.

Oh, and of course, there are the hot tubs…right on the Pacific Ocean. Imagine relaxing and unwinding and listening to the ocean and sensing your new direction. Aaah, what ease. (I should insert a caveat that I don’t teach the workshop in the hot tub, but you’re welcome to use the hot tub any time between workshop sessions, like in the morning before breakfast, or after dinner.

Personally, I think it’s the most ideal, idyllic, relaxing, supportive place in the whole world to consider your career change. And I’ve designed the workshop so you don’t get stuck in your head. In fact, this is a great chance to listen to the quiet wisdom of your body, the messages you may have been hiding from yourself that you really want to hear. Unless you can be quiet and free of distractions, it’s hard to listen within, so this is your opportunity.

(Please note, the video has an error…the deadline for early registration to get your $325 in bonuses is January 1, NOT January 10. Yes, I’m fallible.)

So, let me share with you about what you’ll learn and discover in this interactive workshop:

• You’ll illuminate what’s important in your future career
• You’ll replace ill-fitting social norms about “work” with visions of what you truly desire
• You’ll brainstorm ways to create meaningful work
• You’ll get clear about your next steps to pursue work that truly fits you.

Register by January 1st, and you will receive a FREE 60-minute coaching session with me after the workshop. You can use the session up until February 15th, 2012. If you had to pay for this out of pocket, it would cost you $325, so think of it either as a $325 discount, or a great added value. Most importantly, I trust that this session will help you to accelerate what you discover during the workshop, so that you’ll be able to make your next career move with more calm, clarity, and courage.

To get this great bonus, you’ll need to register with Esalen no later than January 1st, 2012, by calling 831-667-3000, so take action now. You’ll be glad you’ve done this for your career, your sanity, your body, your mind, and your spirit!

Oh, so how do you get the free coaching session? All you need to do to get that benefit is to email a note to tell me that you’ve paid for the workshop through the Esalen Institute. Drop a  me a note at info @ workfromwithin.com by January 10, 2012 to get this wonderful bonus.  To register for the workshop, simply go to this link for workshop details, and you can either register online, or you can can call the Esalen Institute at 831-667-3000 from 9 am – 7 pm Pacific Time Monday through Friday, or 9 am to 5 pm Saturday & Sunday. Or click here for more contact information at Esalen.

Let’s kick your career into high gear in the New Year!