Toluu : Escape from Cubicle Nation

Escape from Cubicle Nation

How to go from corporate prisoner to thriving entrepreneur - by Pamela Slim

Are creative people doomed to scraping out a miserable existance?Today

I love creative, complex, funny people.

When I see a photo or video or clever ditty or hear great music or read a deep, insightful essay it makes my heart expand.

This is the case with supremely talented fine artists or wacky creative geniuses like Hugh McLeod, who did the above gapingvoid cartoon.

Or ZeFrank, whose mind I love so much I would marry it if I could.

If you have 18 minutes, watch his TED talk:

(link here if you can't see video - it has a teeny bit of profanity so if you are at work, take note)

A client, whom I won't name to maintain his privacy, told me that he was a musician. He wanted to explore making a living by his art, but was unsure if he could do it. By the way he described it, I

Overwhelmed with possibilities when plotting your career? Try this approachJanuary 5

Having a gigantic selection of career possibilities is a good thing, right?

Not so much if you have a huge desire to make a change in your life and feel overwhelmed by choices.

It reminds me of my single days, when I didn't have my handsome, warm husband at home. In any social situation, there would always be that nagging question in the back of my mind: Will "he" come swaggering in the door today? Could this guy be "The One?" How will I know? What if he is not and I miss out on "The Real One?"

In that kind of context, possibilities are kind of exhausting.

What should you do?

The same is true for people who feel paralyzed trying to figure out the next step in their career.

Should you quit your job, make a dramatic exit a la Jerry Maguire, read your manifesto to the entire office, take your fish and figure out next steps later?
Should you start a small business on the side?
Should you sign up for the MLM business your brother-in-law has been pes

Great way to start the new year: set up a personal board of directorsJanuary 2

I may have set a new record for the shortest time from concept to production for a podcast: 20 minutes ago, I shared on Twitter that my best friend, Desiree Adaway, set up a personal board of directors last year and just sent me her annual report.

Desiree is the Senior Director of Volunteer Mobilization for Habitat for Humanity, and at the end of 2007 felt the need to get expert advice and insight from people she trusted and admired. So following Jim Collin's advice, she set up her own board.

Many people were interested in hearing her story, so I called her up and recorded a podcast on the spot. It is about 16 minutes - listen here. I hope you enjoy our conversation in which we cover:

What is a personal board of directors
How to choose good members
How to make sure the relationship is mutually beneficial
How to get the most out of the mentoring relationship

Desiree and I learned of the concept from Jim Collins in Good to Great. Here are a few articles which expand on the topic:

BusinessWeek:

Learn to tune OUT to tune IN to great progress in 2009December 31 2008

About halfway through writing my book this year, I hit the wall.

I looked at the volume of online notes, stacks and stacks of resource books and hundreds of pages of blog posts and I froze. The task of writing a book felt too enormous to accomplish, and I got completely overwhelmed.

So I gathered my wits about me and came up with a stunning, well-researched and strategic productivity plan:

I made a list of the titles of the sixteen chapters, taped it to my computer monitor, and used a highlighter to cross off each one as I finished.

I know, my tactics are not exactly earth-shattering.

But this exceptionally simple tactic totally changed the way I thought about writing the book. Instead of holding the structure of all of the chapters in my mind at the same time, I gave myself permission to only focus on the chapter right in front of me. And if that became overwhelming, I only worried about completing one sub-topic.

This really reduced a lot of anxiety in the writing process, and allowed me to crank

Join the free Escape from Cubicle Nation newsletter!December 31 2008