On a limb with Claudia

“If you knew how much work went into it, you would not call it genius.”
~ Michelangelo

I’ve been a fan of Michelangelo for a very long time. When I had a chance to go to Italy, I traveled from place to place in order to see his work. While all of his work is amazing, I found his unfinished work to be compelling.

These two statues in particular look almost as if they could shrug, and the rock would leave their shoulders. Even in this uncompleted state, the figures look as if they were real and only needed to shed their stone prisons.

At the time, just a few days after a hard won college degree, I felt like these beings – stuck in stone, ready to shrug off the granite that keep me from being who and what I am. Now, I see them differently.

Having worked to write, I’ve come to see a story, like a sculpture has an innate quality and beauty all its own. My job as novelist is to uncover the stories beauty. I call this ‘telling the story well.’

My favorite Michelangelo sculpture is the Pieta below.

Yes, it’s Mary.

Yes, it’s Jesus.

Yes, it’s something that was commissioned by a Pope and is a story that was told over and over and over and over again.

Standing in front of the statue, I was struck dumb. I stood there for… I’m not sure how long. Hours, I think. I was finally nudged along my way by security.

What struck me?

Mary’s sorrow and resignation. The defeat in both of their postures. This wasn’t a woman holding a deity.  This is a statue of a mother – flesh and blood, real and breathing – who’d lost her precious son. Her sorrow is not for the loss of a great being to the world. Her sorrow and resignation is for the simple, human loss of her son.

Standing in front of this statue, I felt as if Michelangelo had stretched through time and touched me.

“Remember, we’re all human,” I heard.

“Remember, we all die,” I heard.

And, as if broadcast loud and clear, I saw and heard:

“Love is all that matters.”

When I read this quote: “If you knew how much work went into it, you would not call it genius,” I realize something significant.

We are born with gifts, but it’s through our work that we hone our gifts.

Work hard, my friends. You never know who’s heart and mind you will touch with your work. You never know when you might touch the heart of someone and inspire them to spread your message.

Continue Reading

In the middle of the chaos of finishing the third Alex the Fey book, I received this fortune. Wow, talk about the right words at the right time.

Darren Hardy says we have a Microwave mentality. We all expect everything to happen overnight. We’ve forgotten the real key to making things happen – hard work.

Honestly, I needed to see this. I needed the reminder that it will take more time and more hard work to get where I want to go. There’s no express ride to success.

At the same time, Michael Bungay Stanier suggested I take a look at Chris Brogan’s video series on Overnight Success. If you can, follow the link. It’s helpful to see other people bust their asses to get their dream. At least it’s helpful for me.

There’s only one way to get where we’re going – time, hard work, and a belief that we will get there. Let’s get going!

Happy Monday!

Continue Reading

This happens every time. I’m in the middle of the ocean of a goal and I get injured.

Here are the conditions:

1. I’ve been working on a goal for a while – six months or maybe more than a year.

2. I’m not at my goal. I’m not sure my goal is in sight.

3. I’m inpatient and frustrated with myself and my progress.

My response to these condition? Well, hell, what’s my response to everything?

I look for better information and I work harder.

And life’s response to my usual response?

I get injured. Go me!

This year was the year I was going to get back in shape. I’ve been working with Dax Moy since the beginning of the year. I’ve been frustrated because I haven’t lost weight in the way some of his clients have.

Almost at the same moment my frustration peaked, he launched a more intensive program. Our training cranked up a notch.

In my impatience, I was ready to take on his increased intensity.  Result? I’ve strained my right bicep tendon and strained my wrist. Moreover, I’ve activated an old neck-spine injury.

Now, in the middle of the ‘get in shape’ sea, I’m injured. My first response? Work harder (of course). That’s how I sprained my wrist. In an effort to protect my shoulder doing a bajillion pushups, I injured my wrist.

Now, because I’m right handed, I’m off almost everything. No gardening, no painting the house, no home remodel. And no workouts for at least two weeks, probably longer. I’ve even had to switch my mouse to my left hand.

I now have the frustration and impatience of not reaching my goal combined with an injury.

I wish I could say that this was the first time I’ve been in this position. It’s not. In fact, it’s not even the first time I’ve been in this position with this very same issue.

So what’s the lesson here? Being in the middle has more to do with impatience than anything else. Maybe the skill I need to learn is how to deal with my impatience.

Off to learn more and work harder… Some things never change.

Continue Reading

“The only place where success comes before work
is in the dictionary.”
–Donald Kendall

Happy Monday! Good luck this week!

Continue Reading

When I graduated from college, the US was in a recession. No one could even get interviewed for a job. When you were interviewed, you sat next to a guy who had ten or fifteen years of experience.  No one could get work.

Most of us went back to working at our pre-college or ‘just-until-I-graduate’ jobs. 

What did I do? I got a job working half time in an AIDS/Hepatitis lab. They were willing to take me on because I was willing to work 40 hours for 20 hours of pay. I supplemented my income by cocktail waitressing at night. It wasn’t fun or easy. Frankly, it sucked.

Within three months, they hired me full time.

This experience is a landmark in my life. It taught me to be resourceful, scour the landscape for opportunity and whenever possible work for myself.

A lot of people in my age bracket learned the same lesson. We’ve been laid off over and over again. D. was laid off from his first job before he even started. He now holds the household record of four lay offs to my three.

We’ve seen our ‘retirement’ accounts tank so many times it’s hard to even muster a ‘shoot’ about it. I don’t know anyone my age who plans on ever retiring. I don’t.  

This article, Back to the Garage, speaks to the opportunity available in this type of economy. Lots of fabulous companies started in the garages and basements of their innovators.  (Can you say Jobs? Gates? Wozniak?)

Before you shake your head and say, ‘That works for you because you’re (special, rich, stupid, lucky, or whatever)’, stop and think for a moment. 

 If you never retire, you better like what you do. What would you like to do for a living?

And what would it take to do it?

The limits don’t apply any more. Now is a perfect time to start a small company, go back to school, learn a trade, focus on your art, or whatever it is that drives you.

Just go for it!

Continue Reading