I love being a career and personal coach and writing my Psychology Today blog: How to Do Life.
My latest books, are "The Best of Marty Nemko" (3rd ed), Modern Fables, Poems Practical, and Careers for Dummies..
Some of my best recent work is linked to on this blog, but my older writings and the archive of my KALW (NPR-San Francisco) radio show are free on www.martynemko.com.
If you would rather email me than post your comments on this blog, my email address is mnemko@comcast.net.
Business Insider interviewed me about what I thought about the deified "work-life balance" The article came out today and I was surprised and, I must admit, flattered to see that my opinion was the only one cited. Perhaps because it is contrary to conventional wisdom.
Update: I'm amazed and delighted that it's gotten 35,000 hits and 1,400 Facebook Likes.
If your networking efforts have yielded little benefit to you, it's tempting to forgo it. Especially if you're job hunting, you could reasonably fear that by the time networking pays off in a job offer, you'll be homeless
My USNews.com article today presents a way to make networking more likely to pay off fast, perhaps in just a few minutes.
What was amazing to me is that they recorded five hours of interview with me about higher education's deceptive practices and about alternatives to college. During those five hours, I made a total of three jokes. All three made it into the segment.
Of course, I don't mind at all. The creators of The Daily Show are masters at making serious messages funny without trivializing them.
My AOL post today ostensibly is tough-love career advice for Millennials.
Actually, it's far more broadly applicable. It reflects my growing recognition, after a quarter century as a career counselor, that it's foolish to spend too much time trying to pick the perfect career.
After just modest exploration, pick something, commit to becoming expert at it, and then make peace with it, recognizing that career contentment is far more likely to occur from tailoring and accessorizing a given career and then staying with it than from waiting for a more perfect career. Also, all ethically done work is worthy work. I'd go as far as saying that all ethically done work is sacred.
Indeed, some of society's least respected work--for example, ditchdigging--in my mind is more worthy of respect than are the famous entertainers so many people idolize.
Rarely have I had as much fun on my radio show as yesterday. I got to piano-accompany the two fabulous stars of Funny Girl, which opens this Friday at the Napa Valley Opera House. HERE is the video of Taylor Bartolucci singing I'm the Greatest Star.
And HERE is the video of Taylor and James Sasser doing the duet, I Want to Be Seen With You.
Oh, I might mention that my wife Barbara Nemko will be playing the comic relief role in Funny Girl: Sarah Straykosh, a busybody force of nature from Brooklyn.
And for the hour before the show on Friday, Saturday, and the following Saturday, I'll be playing Broadway show medleys on the piano as well as accompanying the winners of the I'm the Greatest Future Star competition.
I've heard reports from rehearsals that the show is going to be wonderful. One insider said, "This is going to be the best show seen in Napa, ever." For tickets and information, click HERE.
Update: The first weekend nearly sold out its 1,500 seats, closing night this Sunday is sold out, and only a few dozen of the 1,000 Friday and Saturday night tickets remain. And the reviews have been fabulous. For example, KCRB said, "Easily one of the best, most memorable shows of the year." The Benicia Herald called it a "stellar production...a hard act to follow." The Napa Register called it "impeccably performed by all 19 actors (and) Bartolucci
delivers the consummate Brice."
My radio show focuses on career issues so the bulk of the hour was spent asking Taylor and James as well as Funny Girl's excellent director, Barry Martin about the art of trying to make money in theatre. HERE is the link to the entire show, which is archived on the National Public Radio website.
Many people spend decades trying to choose a career. I believe this article's approach, though quick, enables you to choose more wisely than do most people.
I am of the belief that self-confidence,
beyond a bare minimum, is more likely to abet complacency and even narcissism than to make people more productive.
Most highly productive people often worry they're not good enough--That's part of what drives them to keep striving. From George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to most of the many highly accomplished
people I know, they're all driven by moderate insecurity and feelings of unworthiness. I hypothesize that lower achievers are too unintelligent or defended to feel that worry, that insecurity.
I believe that self-esteem programs do more harm than good. Enduring self-esteem comes only from ongoing accomplishment, not by virtue of being human, of a particular background, etc.
When I write and speak, in my professional as well as personal life, I often worry if it's good enough. More broadly, I worry whether, en toto, my life's contributions are valuable enough. I'm not worried into anxiety or depression but just enough that the worry, borne of only moderate self-confidence, does help me be my best self.
