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What you’re missing in your job is purpose.

If your company were operating with a clear and present purpose, then you would be telling me how soul-satisfying your work is. You would be bragging on your participation in something bigger than yourself. You would be talking about how meaningful your work is. You wouldn’t be describing a hamster wheel and expressing the need to bail.

Of course you feel the need to bail!

In fact, Sue, you could serve as the poster girl for the 21st-century employee; there has to be a purpose to the work and organization.

“Yours is a common problem these days,” says Haley Rushing. “It’s a horrible state of business when people think they need to leave their passions at home.”

Haley is Chief Purposologist at Austin’s famed marketing/advertising firm, GSD&M Idea City.

You read right. Chief Purposologist. She’s the only one in the world, and she’s the co-author (with Roy M. Spence, Jr.) of the recently released It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For.

Haley is passionate about her own work and her purpose: helping organizations fulfill their purpose. “I want my kids to live in a world where organizations are doing the right thing. The sustainability of the planet is determined by the decisions that businesses make. In some small way, I hope I can help transform the consciousness of business leaders to create value where everyone wins.”

Luckily, Haley found a company whose purpose aligned with her personal purpose before she nearly abandoned the marketing profession. GSD&M offered her the opportunity to use her insights into consumer motivation in a responsible, rather than exploitative, way.

“It’s hard to put kids and family on hold. If I weren’t doing something I believe in, I’d be miserable.” Employers, she says, need to “recognize that if they want people to show up for work enthusiastic and engaged, they need to give them something to be genuinely enthusiastic about—something they can believe in.”

The biggest lesson she’s learned?

“Choose your clients [or employer] wisely. You only have so much time and talent to give in this world. Don’t squander it working with people who aren’t as passionate and committed as you are. Look at every potential relationship as an opportunity for both parties to grow. Every one of my great clients has taught me as much as I’ve taught them. We get better together. So if something about a client [or employer] doesn’t feel right to you, listen to your instincts. There are too many amazing people and cool companies in the world to waste time working for those that don’t get it—and won’t ever get it.”

She could be speaking directly to you, Sue: “Listen to your instincts.” Sounds like you already know it’s time to move on. You present pretty strong evidence that your current workplace isn’t ever going to challenge you, develop you, or fulfill you. In the short term, you feel dissatisfied. In the long run, you’ll feel suffocated.

What to do? First, get clear about your own purpose, then find a compatible employer.

Haley offers this advice for women like you who are seeking a purpose-driven workplace: “Ask! If you’re wondering whether or not a company has a purpose, ask them. There is a lot of power in the question: ‘What’s your fundamental purpose in the world?’ or ‘What difference are you trying to make?’ If their answer begins and ends with ‘make money, increase revenue, maximize profit for shareholders,’ that’s a good indication that the organization isn’t purpose-driven. On the other hand, if they come to life and begin to tell you about the values that shape their culture and the difference they’re trying to make, listen up. This may be your opportunity to take up residence working for the ‘good guys.’

“The good news is that while purpose-driven organizations may have been the exception in the past, there are more and more emerging on the scene every day. You can often spot them by the enthusiasm and engagement of their employees if you interact with them as a customer. They may be the retailers that still see a steady stream of customers, while their competitors are hanging up their ‘going out of business’ sign.”

Ann Daly PhD is a life coach, keynote speaker, and author of A Year of Clarity: The Monthly Guide for Women. She helps women get clear about what they want and how to get it. Subscribe to her blog at: www.anndaly.com.

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         Most importantly, you cannot develop your own sense of style if you follow the trends. Following a trend never gives your sense of style a chance to evolve and never makes it necessary for you to explore the under the radar possibilities.

          Keep in mind when purchasing an important piece what it looks like on you. Chandelier earrings are lovely, but they may not look good on you, or fit your lifestyle.

         Also be careful with trends in jewelry. When you purchase a piece that is marking an important occasion, like an anniversary, you don’t want to find yourself picking up the latest fashion magazine six months later only to find that your beautiful new piece is suddenly so ‘over.’

          When adding pieces to your collection, buy pieces that go together. This is not to say that you have to get the earrings that exactly match the necklace (although that is nice) but buy pieces that have the same weight and style and have the same metal and stone colors. When most women look in their closet, they will often see a lot of a few colors. We usually choose the colors we think we look best in. Jewelry is the same way – the right colored stone can be very flattering, and the wrong one not so much so. Choosing a piece that suits your skin tone, your face shape, your personality and your lifestyle insures that you will wear it often. And when you wear a piece of jewelry often, it becomes a part of your story, your legacy.

          Most of all, I truly think you should love the piece – does it exhilarate you, make you smile, intrigue and capture you? If the piece does these things, it is speaking to you and you will enjoy it for years to come. The right piece of jewelry will tell a bit about you and it can also send your love into the future.

Dreamt of a career as a writer, getting a Ph.D., designing your own home, but never been able to take the steps needed to make it happen? Silverman, a psychologist and brain researcher who serves as therapist to many celebrities in his New York City practice, lays out in his first book a three-step process to help the reader break down fears and barriers to achieving their dreams. Backed up by scientific research, clinical experience and success with countless clients, Silverman’s book reads like a kind but challenging personal guide that helps you identify your fears and goals, along with showing you how to combat what might be holding you back from success. This book is a good information source and toolkit for getting serious about your dreams.

My father was a clipper. Mostly book reviews. He underlined his favorite passages with a colored felt-tip pen, in a neat wavy line that tossed the wordsup off the page.In my senior year of college, just after New Year’s, he sent me a clipping from his diocesan weekly newspaper entitled “Climbing Mountains.” He had photocopied it, and inscribed it at the top:“To ANN, I think you will reach your impossible dream. Dad”I mounted and framed that page, in an inexpensive metal frame that I ordered from a catalog and assembled myself. A quarter-century later, it remains on display in my office. My father has pas sed on, but his message remains in my heart.

Back then, I aspired to the New York Times and the New Yorker. (I achieved the former, and still don’t rule out the latter.) My path took its twists and turns, ultimately through graduate school and into academia. By 40 I found myself bored and restless—
itching for something bigger.

Today, a few years after ditching my life as a tenured university professor, I find myself back at beginner’s mind. Once again
I find myself standing at the foot of that mountain.I could have coasted in my university job. Some urged me to do so. My new husband certainly wasn’t encouraging any rash moves.

But I craved a different life. I felt increasingly suffocated by the old one. I guess reinventing myself as a life coach and speaker after more than 20 years in academia was something of an “impossible dream.” The thing is, I wasn’t so much focused on the end game. I was interested in the challenge. What I wanted most was to figure out what more there was to me, in me. If I stayed where I was, I would never know. My greatest desire has always been the desire to know–not just about the world around me, but about my own capabilities. When my father told me I could do anything I put my mind to, what exactly could that encompass? When he predicted that I would be the first
woman president, what was he seeing that I didn’t?

Most of the time my clients start the coaching process with a goal in mind. They want to make a decision, or make a plan. They want to decide upon a dream to pursue. And most of the time that turns out to be a pretext for the real work: to find out, what kind of stuff am I made of? The journey isn’t an ascent up a mountain in front of us. It’s a descent into our own depths. We just use the experience of the mountain as the crucible within which to test our depths, and to expand. To become who we are.

The descent isn’t easy. It reminds us that we have learned to get along, chosen to ignore our longings, settled for playing it safe. That’s where dreams help. Dreams provide the opportunity for you to project yourself beyond the old boundaries. Dreams are the existential equivalent of “Outward Bound.” Instead of hiking through the wilderness with a compass and a can of sterno, you explore your own unknown territory.

It’s what religious orders would call “the dark night of the soul.” When I decided to quit, I imagined every awful scenario of failure until I got down to the bottom of it. Suppose I couldn’t make a living? Would I regret quitting? Quite simply, I decided I’d rather start over at McDonald’s or as a secretary. I could imagine it, I could deal with it, I could begin anew. I love do-overs. A friend in the midst of a breakup once asked me about any upside of my divorce. And I told him without missing a beat: it’s a gift we get so rarely in life, an honest-to-goodness do-over!

I love being a life coach because I feel alive in the regenerative muck of our depths. I love the essential work of being human. As far back as high school, I chose Tennyson’s “Ulysses” and Dylan’s “Do Not Go Gentle” as my poems to read in the oral interpretation competition. For many adult years I was stymied by the choice. I didn’t remember being a depressed teenager.

I wasn’t depressed. I was longing to chart my own unknown territory. Tennyson provided my mantra: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

March and April are particularly busy months in Austin. SXSW pervades the town with music, film and interactive conference and events. You can support your favorite organization at galas and parties (Lifestyle p. 26), art receptions (Lifestyle p. 28), runs (Calendar p. 12), and celebrity golf tournaments (Lifestyle p. 39). Step back from your busy lifestyle and treat yourself to the dessert of your dreams – Chocolate Lava Cake (Lifestyle p. 36). Fields of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush dotting Austin’s highway medians on warm spring days always make me want to push the winter clothes into the back of the closet and buy a new outfit that says ‘Spring has Sprung.’ See what’s haute for spring on page 32 of Lifestyle. Forget adding the oven to your to do list of spring cleaning…think about creating the kitchen of your dreams complete with the latest in kitchen design. (Home p. 30)

Each issue we will be adding features to enhance your 360 Austin Lifestyle. This issue see What’s New & Noteworthy on page 25 of Lifestyle as well as A Day at the Spa (Lifestyle p. 42), featuring A Spa for the Soul. With many openings and events to choose from each night of the year in Austin, I can only ‘dream’ of attending all of them. Send your insider hot tips and recommendations to me, editor@ youraustinlifestyle.com

Victor Hugo once said,”There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” Here in Austin the future should be bright for we are a city of dreams and dreamers. Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Austin is the place to do it. Let me know how you are living your dream!

Deborah Hamilton-Lynne ,
Editor

A:There’s a lot of information—and misinformation—going around about the upcoming “digital TV transition”. So let’s set the record straight.

First, a brief synopsis of what’s going on. For the last 70-something years, TV signals have been broadcast in an analog fashion using the NTSC standard, which takes a lot of radio frequency (RF) bandwidth. During television’s infancy, there was almost unlimited bandwidth, so this wasn’t a problem. But as new RF-based electronics like CB radios, walkie-talkies, portable phones, cell phones, Bluetooth devices, wireless networks, satellite TV and even the new digital TV channels, have been added over the years, this bandwidth has become, shall we say, constrained.

With digital television using the new ATSC standard though, the same, and in fact much more, information can be sent in a fraction of the bandwidth the analog equivalent would take. So the government wants to reclaim some of the bandwidth currently allocated to analog television so that it can relicense the frequencies.

They’ve hired Bob Barker to remind you that, along with helping to control the pet population by spaying or neutering your pet, February 17, 2009 is the end of the line for analog broadcasts.

I stress the word “broadcast”, though, because this is where people are getting confused. Just because the airwaves are no longer carrying analog TV signals, this does NOT mean that your old television is useless. Probably 99% of the readership of this magazine has either cable through Time Warner, satellite through DirecTV® or Dish Network®, or IP-based TV through AT&T’s U-verse®. And for all TVs hooked up to any of these subscription-based services, you’ll continue to be able to watch TV. Even on the TVs that are hooked up to basic cable without a converter box, at least for now, you’re good to go.

The issue for most of us arises with the TVs we watch in the garage, or in the kitchen, where we didn’t think to put in a cable or internet outlet. And that’s where the government has your back, Kwan. If you go to www.dtv2009.gov/ApplyCoupon.aspx, they will send you $40-off coupons for up to two analog TVs you own. Using this coupon, you can purchase an “ATSC Converter”, which usually costs around $60 before coupon. It will use your trusty rabbit ear antennas to tune in the “new-TV-ese” and, well, convert it, to “old-TV-ese”. It takes about a month for the coupon to arrive, and it’s only good for three months, so you’ll want to get going on that.

Tom Wilkinson is a home theater enthusiast, and is owner of Xpress Home Theaters. You can reach him at tom@xpresshometheaters.com or at 512.217.6668.

Your ACCA contractor of choice is the professional who understands the building science of your home and applies the design principles contained in the ACCA design manuals and practices.

Winter Humidification
Relative humidity (RH) is the percent of moisture in the air compared to the maximum amount of moisture this air can hold at the same condition. Warm air will hold more moisture than cold air, and as cold ventilation air mechanically or naturally (by infiltration) enters your home, it can be drier than the driest desert and seriously lower the humidity levels in your home. The psychrometrics of air show us that at 70 degrees F air can hold about 12 times as much moisture as 10 degrees F air, and when 10 degrees F outside air is heated to 70 degrees F the humidity level goes from 70 percent to 7 percent. Normal household functions (such as cooking, showering and laundry) also have an impact on the relative humidity within your home and hence on your comfort.

The effects of bacteria, viruses, fungi, respiratory infections, allergic rhinitis and asthma, and ozone production can be minimized by higher humidity levels. Studies have shown that wintertime operation at 68 degrees F / 60 percent RH provides the same level of occupant comfort as does 72 degrees F / 30 percent RH; so lower utility bills also results with the addition of moisture to your home.

Automatic, computer-controlled humidifiers can control the right humidity levels in your home, providing enough moisture for a healthy comfortable home within the limits to prevent window and cold surface condensation.

1. Get In Shape:
It doesn’t matter if you have lost your job recently or if you are safe and secure. The New Year is a great time to look back at your previous year, evaluate wins and losses and get your resume in shape. Having a strategically-written resume is essential to being prepared when opportunity knocks. So, give your brain and typing fingers a workout and get your job tools fit.

2. Become More Flexible:
Today’s job market is an opportunity for you to take a take a leap in a new, growing industry such as government, technology, health care or education. If your current industry isn’t looking like it has a bright future, be flexible. Some strategic planning can help you market your talents to a new area. Take time to examine your transferable skills and match them with available opportunities.

3. Train to Build Strength:
Professional development is the fuel for advancing your career. Look online for workshops, conferences and continuing education classes to help you strengthen your weaker areas. If you’re looking to make an industry or career transition, examine job descriptions to see what competency gaps you may need to fill with formal training. Professional development is also an amazing way to inspire you. If you’ve felt a general loss of excitement, a workshop presenting new ideas can give you a tremendous boost.

4. Connect with People:
Here at the Ginac Group, we can’t emphasize this enough. Building and maintaining your network is the best way to find out about career opportunities. Some statistics show that nearly 60% of available jobs are not posted online. The only way to find out about these is through people you know. Your network can be made up of friends, former and current work colleagues, your family and even your dentist. Take stock of who you know and connect with them this year to keep your relationship from dissolving.

5. Reduce Stress:
The New Year is also a good time to examine if your job is working for you. Is the level of stress you’re feeling the right amount for you? Do you have the kind of work/life balance you want? If you’re stressed and unhappy with your job, you should consider talking to a professional career consultant to see what other options are available. A Professional Career Architect, like the ones employed at our firm, can make sure you make a seamless transition into a more fulfilling career.

Your ACCA contractor of choice is the professional who udnerstands the building science of your home and applies the design principles contained in the ACCA design manuals and practices.

Winter Humidifcation

Relative Humidity (RH) is the percent of moisture in the air compared to the maximum amount of moisture this air can hold at the same condition. Warm air will hold more moisture than cold air, and as cold ventilation air mechanically or naturally (by infiltration) enters your home , it can be drier than the driest desert and seriously lower the humidity levels in your home. The psychrometrics of air show us that at 70 degrees F air can hold 12 times as much moisture as 10 degrees F air, and when 10 degrees F outside air is heated to 70 degrees F the humidity level goes from 70 percent to 7 percent. Normal household functions (such as cooking, showering and laundry) also have an impact on the relative humidity within your home and hence on your comfort. 

The effects of bacteria, viruses, fungi, respiratory infections, allergic rhinitis and asthma and ozone production can be minimized by higher humidity levels. Studies have shown that wintertime operation at 68 degrees F / 60 percent RH provides the same level of occupant comfort as does 72 degrees F / 30 percent RH; so lower utility bills also result with the addition of moisture to your home.

Austomatic, computer controlled humidifiers can control the right humidity levels in your home, providing enough moisture for a healthy comfortable home within the limits to prevent window and cold surface condensation.