Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Category: Working Matters

  • Loving Monday: Who’s It For?

    loving_mondayNothing like a brief vacation with the family to raise deeper questions.

    Life on the blog has been quiet this past week because I am enjoying my family on a California road trip.

    Away from schedules and deadlines and expectations and demands, my heart and mind free up in refreshing ways.

    Present with the people who are most important to me, I am reminded that one of the reasons I work has to do with their well-being. One of the reasons I take a job that is a crazy mix of positives and negatives is their provision.

    Vacations are good for perspective resets.

    Do you need a perspective reset? Are you caught up in a whirlwind of activity and feel like you’re losing sight of what it’s all for?

    Try taking a break.

    Get away for a weekend. Go away for a week! Whether brief or extended, step away. Spend some focused time with the people who are most important to you.

    It will recharge and refocus your work. I’m certainly benefiting from mine!

    Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.

  • Karl Shares Six Words… #31


    Suppressing her joy guarding fragile egos.


    Karl Edwards

  • Quote to Consider: My Soul’s Deepest Cry

    quote-to-consider“I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.”

    William Blake

  • Karl Shares Six Words… #30


    His fake promises reassured no one.


    Karl Edwards

  • Loving Monday: Fighting June Gloom

    loving_mondayJune gloom is what we here in Southern California call the coastal phenomenon of having our mornings blanketed in clouds and fog. They eventually burn off about midday to unleash the sun’s warm glory that we love so much.

    But until then it is chilly and grey.

    If it were winter, then we’d probably not give the cloud cover another thought.

    But at the beginning of summer?! Right on the heels of a beautiful spring?! It depressing. It shouldn’t be.

    Ever come to work ready to dive in and find an unexpected mess waiting for you? It’s depressing. It shouldn’t be.

    It’s also partially a matter of perspective.

    We expect it to be summer and the cloud cover becomes an unwelcome intruder.

    We expect things to run smoothly or pick up where (more…)

  • Quote to Consider: The Chief Requirement of Life

    quote-to-consider“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

    Charles Kingsley

  • Karl Shares Six Words… #29


    When words don’t come, she yells.


    Karl Edwards

  • Loving Monday: Choosing Self-Confidence When Struggling

    loving_mondayNothing beats a vote of confidence in yourself.

    Sure the confidence of others is impactful and inspiring, but it pales in comparison to the lift and strength and sheer power of believing in oneself.

    My reflections today are not the frothy overflow of a series of easy successes. (If I hear one more consultant talk about where they are vacationing, I’m going to scream.)

    On the contrary, these thoughts arise from having to reach deep into the well of courage, character and inner strength when instead of riding on the crest of the wave I feel like I’m being crushed underneath it.

    The problem with relying on others to undergird one’s confidence is that it risks assuming that their estimation of you matters more than your own.

    The thinking goes something like this: While believing in oneself is “nice”, it’s others’ positive opinions that truly validate your value, competence, or performance.

    Do you see the irony? While receiving a feel-good of sorts from the positive feedback, you have inadvertently ceded authority of your own worth to others. A small emotional lift at an exorbitant personal cost.

    In tough times, when reality seems to conspire against you and confidence flags, it’s important to find ways to assert, nurture, and/or muster a word of confidence to yourself before turning to others.

    When turning to others (of course we need a supportive network of friends and colleagues), you want their support to build and corroborate your confidence, not replace or overrule yours.

    The distinction may seem subtle, but it is significant.

    Give yourself the gift of a vote of confidence today!

    On your side,

    – Karl Edwards

    Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.

  • Quote to Consider: Real Friends or Ideal Friends?

    quote-to-consider“How often we find ourselves turning our backs on our actual friends, that we may go and meet their ideal cousins.”

    Henry David Thoreau

  • Karl Shares Six Words… #28


    Pink slips misplaced in men’s room.


    Karl Edwards