Imagine being a ‘piano prodigy’. Now, imagine what would happen to your life if your right hand suddenly seized up and you could no longer play.

What then?

Yet, that is what happened to Leon Fleisher in 1964. This story in the Calgary Herald, March 18, 2010 recounts how the course of his live was inexorably changed by, what was years later, diagnosed as a ‘focal dystonia’.

After 2 years of a “deep funk”, Fleisher one day woke to the realization that he was “more than a 2 handed pianist”.

With that realization, his whole creative approach changed, Fleisher says,

“I threw myself into teaching, I began to investigate the left hand (piano) literature, and I started conducting.”

And, last week, at the age of 82, he appeared in Calgary where he performsed Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos in F Major (K. 242) and also conducted the Calgary Philharmonic.

What most intrigued me about this story is that a very, very similar thing happened to me.

Over the course of several years, from 1976 to 1978, my right hand began to seize up. Eventually it became so claw-like that I could no longer write. One day, in utter frustration, I picked up a pen and began to write … with my left hand.

I was happily surprised that not only could I write but the writing flowed easily, freely, and best of all was readable! I was delighted to be able to be able to resume writing reports and hand printing Fortran programs onto coding sheets which were passed on to key punch operators.

I had little inkling then that shift of handedness would we lead to such a Sinister outcome.

Why Sinister? Well, sinister is simply the Latin word for Left. While Dexter, my favorite serial killer, is Latin for Right. So, you ask, what was the Sinister outcome for me.

What I didn’t realize in 1978 was that the switch to using my left hand would lead to entire shift in the course and direction of my career. Up until then I had always envisioned climbing the rungs of the professional IT ladder until I reached the pinnacle: Systems Advisor.

Yet, 1 morning in 1980 I quite literally woke with this thought in my head, “I don’t want to be a systems professional any more!”

In fact, over the preceding 2 years I had already begun moving toward my eventual, largely unconscious, goal – “Teacher”. In Summer 1978, I happily assumed the mantle of lead instructor/facilitator of the department’s newest program, “Structured Systems Analysis”.

But, that fateful day in 1980 my shift in career focus suddenly became conscious: I wanted to shift from the so-called Hard Sciences to the so-called Soft Sciences. A shift from dealing with technology, data, and systems to people, information, and systems.

What intrigues me about Fleisher’s story is that shifted from the role of ‘technician’ to the role of teacher and conductor. My parallel shift was also to that of teacher and facilitator.

I became intrigued by a ‘people systems’ project being carried out in our department with the goal of fostering employment equity for the large numbers of women entering our department. So, I asked the woman leading the OD intervention how I might “get your job?”

I am ever grateful that Tamara Weir-Bryan was kind enough to explain how I might go about steering my career in a bold new direction.

However, little did Tammy and I realize that doing so would lead me to a life crisis of epic proportions and a brutal departure from the womb of the corporation.

To be confinued…

Copyright 2010 Lyle T. Lachmuth, All Rights Reserved

I concur.

Her solution: Empty the brain by writing down ALL those ideas flooding through your head.

Then sort them by: HELL YES! HELL NO! Maybe!

I’m doing mine.

DO Yours.

Unfortunately, pain intervened, my unpredictable, seldom welcomed, ‘friend’.

So, I am attending Live Via Video, thanks to my trusty ThinkPad, high speed internet, and spiffy new video technology.

From time to time today, I’ll chime in here with random thoughts — which by the way are the nature of most of my thoughts — and, inspirations.

I know Andrea and her guest presenters, plus the “Spirit” of Thomas Leonard will have lots of great ideas.

Shows how to be an artist .. of ANY kind! And, the value of persistence!

I’ve read hundreds of books, scoured countless blogs, and read lord know how many articles about career development and the lives of artists, writers, and other creatives.

Do you fit firmly on the Artistic corner of John Holland’s career model? Artistic types are also called Creators, because we take IDEAS and INFORMATION and create something new and orginal from them. We are described as, “Non-conforming, original, independent, chaotic, creative“, people who occupy careers as writers, painters, sculptors, and the like. The total opposite of the folks like Bankers, Accountants, and Police officers who live on the total opposite side of the Holland Code Hexagon.

People like YOU and me.

People who don’t fit in a round hole cause we is star shaped! We have multiple talents and draw inspiration from eclectic sources.

Way back in 2006 my favorite career coach, Barbra Sher, wrote her groundbreaking book for eclectic creatives, called “Refuse to Choose”. She coined the term “Scanners” to describe people, like herself, who didn’t do sequential, one off, careers.

While I loved the book and it’s advice, I didn’t like the term SCANNER.

Then inspiration struck.

I’ve long been a fan of Diana Gabaldon, author of the outstanding Outlander series. Diana writes looooong, descriptive novels that are really stories. Delicious stories!

Anyone who has read Gabaldon will know that books stores and some people struggled to categorize her first book, Outlander, and many of the followup novels. What Genre were they? Were they Romance novels. Well, yes, but more than that: after all Claire Beauchamp, the novel’s chief protagonist was a Time Traveller, so maybe they were SciFi? Or, were they historical, because after all, Claire traveled back in time and wed a young Scot, James Fraser. Oh, and naughty lady that she is (as seen by some), she was married to Frank Randall, scholar and descendant of Jonathan Randall, Jamie’s nemesis.

What’s even funnier, at least to me, is that in England her novel was retitled and given the punny name, Cross Stitch, to play on the idea of a stitch in time. And, there in jolly old England some of the bookstores placed the book in the Sewing section!

As I thought about Diana’s books the phrase Genre Buster popped into my head. Yep, Diana is  a Genre Buster(TM), no question. And, a very wonderful writer too.

So, I began using the term Genre Busters(TM) to describe the eclectic creatives I coached and trained.

So, are you a Genre Buster?

If you are, then join me every 2nd Friday for Genre Busters(TM) interviews on BlogTalk Radio … soon to be every Friday at 11:00 a.m. Mountain time.

This week I rebooted the interview series, with a particular focus on writers and authors, over at BlogTalk Radio. My plan is to offer these interviews three times a month. Sign up for notifications here.

Yesterday’s interview was with James Palmer, professional writer, science fiction novelist, and Dadpreneur! James and I talked a bit about his career and what it takes to succeed as a working writer. Our interview focused on some key ideas form his NEW ebook: Social Media for Writers: How to Market Yourself and Your Book Using Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Podcasting, and Other Social Networks and Media.

Simply click on the player button in the visual following, LISTEN with pleasure, and learn. Listen for James’ special offer, near the end of the radio show.

Thanks for listening. And, remember to SIGN UP for updates here.

At 1 level it is very hard to believe that we are reaching the end of the 1st decade of the 21st century!

WOW! Where did the Tempus Fugit? (Latin 4 “Time Flees“)

It has been a challenging and rewarding 10 years for me. When this decade began:I didn’t have Fibromyalgia. My coaching business had a different name  (“Turning Point Strategies”) and somewhat different client base. And, I was debt free.

Since then the world has changed markedly (Think 9/11!) and so has my life: I’ve suffered from Fibromyalgia for 8 years. I made a good living but often hated what I did to earn the money.

Now: I’ have a 1-year old grandson. I KNOW my true mission but in the course of that journey I’ve acquired a huge debt load. And, I’ve ended my marriage. But, enough whinging.

I’m a bit anal about words … but then so are most of my writer clients, colleagues, and friends! So, before I enumerate my Top 5 List, I want to riff about the word: Learning.

Since 1971, I’ve educated, coached, counselled, and trained thousands of professionals (and others) in my various professional and personal roles (Church Elder, IT professional, Corporate Training Manager, Change Management Consultant, HRD Training Consultant, and Unsticking(TM) Coach.

For me, Learning is only and truly demonstrated by changed behaviour. The problem with our Education system is that we acquire tons of information — much of it useless! And …

I’ve experienced many painful Life Lessons this decade. I could probably write a book about them. WAIT A MINUTE! I am writing a book (watch for the announcement of the release of my newest book, “Beyond The Pain”). So, finally, rant over: Here are my (current) 5 Most Important Lessons Learned This Decade!

1. Wellness Is EVERYTHING I’ve spent 14 of the last 24 months in bed, in excruciating pain, yearning to die. I’ve had several visits to the ER due to Kidney stones. And, I’ve had 1 Near Death Experience thanks to a Morphine Overdose. It sure hasn’t been boring! Extreme, Chronic pain Sucketh … but, when I ‘listen’ to it I learn lots. I’ve LEARNED: When you and I are ill, DISeased, and unwell life is hard. But, ill health and pain can be great mentors. It IS true “That which does not kill you, makes you stronger!” I am currently busy writing about all that I have learned from experiencing 3 different chronic ‘illnesses’. My goal is to publish my book “Beyond The Pain”, which will detail these Life Lessons, in February 2010.

• Relationships Are Mirrors I have a handful of real close friends, 2 ex-wives, 2 children, 1 grandson, 1 son-in-law, 2 siblings, and many, many ‘friends’ on the Net. As I ponder the relationships that have brought me joy vs. those that have gifted me with pain I’ve come to realize that my relationships act as mirrors that reflect what’s going on inside me. My friends, real and virtual, by and large bring me pleasure and joy. My family the same, especially my grand baby, brings me immense joy — i.e. when they don’t annoy me But, my 2 marriages have brought both immense joy and immense pain. Why? I’ve LEARNED: that these closest of all relationships have most mirrored the inner conflict I have experienced all my adult life. I’ve never been what you might call a content person. I’m driven, moody, creative, loving and BiPolar! Trust me, it ain’t easy being me — or, living with me! And, as I’ve struggled with my own identity and moods; I”ve also struggled in my intimate relationships. My dislike of parts of myself, have been mirrored back to me by my lovers. And, my good parts have also been reflected back to me — those parts that Carl Jung called “The Gold in our Shadow”. But, it is the not-so-nice parts that, when reflected back, have hurt the most. And, even though I have flaws it not just my flaws that have destroyed my intimate relationships … I have learned that it ain’t all my fault.

• Money Isn’t Important … But it is NECESSARY!   Ever since my first divorce, when I learned (painfully) that all my hours of late work and stress at my job, translated into a pittance of a settlement — money and it’s pursuit has been an extremely low priority. I’ve said, millions of times, that “money isn’t important to me!” And, it hasn’t been. I’ve LEARNED: that damn, it sure comes in handy when y’all want to travel, buy books, or pay the rent. SO, in 2010 I’m changing my mantra. Not sure today what the money mantra will be, but it will be much more balanced approach.

• Sex Is Vital to Health   Years ago I developed a 4-factor model of Stress Management. I helped my clients learn to better manage stress by employing strategies that focused on changes in the Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, and Spiritual aspects of their lives; to pursue healing in each and all of these arenas. It has only been in the last 10-years, as I’ve undergone intensive therapy for childhood sexual abuse, that I’ve become convinced that Sexual Healing (Thanks Marvin Gaye) is just as vital a part of our Holistic Wellness. I’ve LEARNED: that Freeing your sexual energy and expression is vital to freeing your creativity! To that end, I am learning Tantra from a Tantric Coach. Watch your Inbox for details of you can buy her CD.

• I’m OK With Quirks    In the 80s, Transactional Analysis, or TA as it was called, was the way of explaining human interaction. In fact, even in the corporation I worked in, it was used to help Supervisor better understand and communicate with their peers and employees. One of the most famous books about TA was called I’m Ok, You’re OK! One of the things the author taught was that we all have ‘warts” and he used to say, “I’m OK, You’re OK with Warts!’ Well, I kinda prefer the word Quirks. I’ve LEARNED: I’m OK with my Quirks. I’m OK with You’re Quirks. And, I don’t really care whether or not you’re OK with my Quirks

SO, that’s it!  The Big 5!!

What Lessons did You learn?? Please share your big lessons by commenting on this post.

And, Do have a great 2010!!!

My best series is …. Ta da …. Gabaldon’s Outlander! After all not only is she THE BEST story teller it is her approach to writing that created the NAME I use to characterize my clients …

“Genre Busters!”

What’s your Top 10 of the Past 10?

Here’s what my client Steve said,

“One thing I might say (from my perspective) is that the money AIN’T easy… (If this is easy, I hate to think what hard money would be like :-0 )  and it’s not that I dislike the work itself — I quite like it.   It’s the people and the politics that make me insane. But your point is definitely well taken. “

When I used the term “Easy Money” I did not intend to infer that actually earning the money was EASY!

Let me be crystal clear! “Easy Money” is often the hardest, riskiest money to earn. It’s not “Easy Money” because of the ease with which it’s earned! It’s “Easy Money” because it’s so damn easy to continue to obtain work/employment with the same client or in the same occupational area.

In the interests of client confidentiality, let’s use my example again,  my contract work as a “Change Management” Resource, to explore what I mean.

By the Spring of 2006, I’d been employed on a contract basis for 3 years. And, I worked damn hard for the money I earned — try doing 200+ Privacy Impact Assessments some time and see how good you are at making privacy policies interesting and important to Physicians and Clinic Managers who just want to do their jobs.

I was ‘easy’ to just keep renewing my contract. I was ‘easy’ to sit back and wait for my Change Management Advisor to parcel out assignments (no marketing, no selling). I was ‘easy’ to just keep on keeping on.

Ah! But what wasn’t ‘easy’.

The dis-ease being created by doing work that did not feed my soul, in a toxic work environment.

And, that IS so often the situation I find my clients in.

YES, in their case (as it is with Steve) the work itself may be rewarding, fulfilling, engaging, and nurturing BUT — and this IS important — there is something about the work environment that is TOXIC and ultimately destructive to their body, mind, soul, and spirit!

And, that is why we need to be careful about “Easy Money”!

Where?

Doing a ‘job’ I hated, working a contract I loathed: justified by “the money”.

When I turned 60, after spending 4 months in severe pain from my Fibromyalgia, I promised myself, “I’m not going to do work I don’t want to do. And, I’m not going to work with people I don’t want to work with!”

At the time I was working a lucrative contract as a Change Implementation Consultant. The money was great. The work was easy. But …

I wasn’t happy.

The work had become repetitive, repetitive, repetitive. And, what was worse is we were discovering that our boss’s new boss was a slimy, manipulative SOB. Long on promises; short on delivery; amazingly adept at ’slipping a knife in your back’.

Then 1 day, as I left a clinic, that little voice inside said, “Ya gotta quit this Lyle. It’s destroying your soul.”

This time I listened … 8 months previously when the same little voice told me to quit, I kept going. 1 and 1/2  months after that my Fibro kicked in: with a vengance!

So, I planned my “Exit Strategy”: subtly turning down contract assignments so I could ensure I had all my contract work complete, INVOICED, and PAID by March 31st (end of the government’s fiscal year). And, my clear intention was to simply not renew my contract when it came up for renewal April 1st.The idea was to leave quietly.

Didn’t work out that way; and the story of the ending is a fun one to be told some other time, so I can get back to the point of this post.

Lately in my coaching I’ve had several clients who are quite literally suffering illnesses, clearly connected to doing ’soul-sucking’ work and who are staying cause “the money’s easy.”

What’s been coming to my mind as I’ve thought about thier dilemmas is a visual from a Miami Vice episode: we see a man sling a bag of drugs into his Porshe; then we seem him driving the rain slicked streets of Miami to a ‘meet’, and in the background we hear the plaintive words of Glen Frey’s “Smuggler’s Blues”, “… the lure of easy money”, as the guy gets a bullet (or six) in the head.

Ya see the problem with ‘easy money’ is … well, that’s it’s alledgedly easy. There is no apparent cost. I say apparent because there IS a cost — hoo boy is there a cost!

The problem is that the cost of doing easy-money work often arrives later: in the form of physical, mental, &/or emotional problems.

Again, I know. I sometimes feel like I’m the “Poster Boy” for stupid moves.

It’s taken being gifted with not 1 but TWO chronic illnesses for me to wake up and smell the mocha cappachino. And, to really grok this 1 simple fact:

Doing work that isn’t your ‘God-given Work’ is going to kill you … sooner or later!

It’s short term gain for long term pain. It’s ‘pay me now, or pay me later.’

It’s your choice: take the easy money and wither your soul, sicken your spirit, and die. Or, take the ‘narrow road’, nurture your soul, foster your courage, sieze the day, and follow your Bliss!