My Career Coach

 My career coach has become a kind of superhero to me; she is a fan of swift, decisive action.

"Once," she said, "I hired a tutor for my child. And the tutor had a nutty idea. My son had done well on the SAT, and his grades weren't quite as dazzling as the SAT score. But, instead of celebrating the SAT score, the tutor said that my son should write a letter of apology to Stanford. As in: I apologize that my grades aren't always fabulous. So I stared quietly at this tutor, for a minute. Then I fired him."

Later, she rolled her eyes at me. "You have sixty contacts on Linkedin. I want that number to reach three hundred. Or you can continue writing meek, solicitous emails to one contact per day--and see what comes of that...."

My career coach has a punch list attached to each email. "CLARIFY your goals. VISUALIZE the path forward. TAKE the first step." Even her blog title is a kind of mission statement: "TOWARD A MORE FULFILLING LIFE." She sighs heavily when I sign in to Zoom, as if to say, "Are you actually going to navigate this session while remaining supine--in your bedroom--in your bed?" (The answer is yes.) Finally, subtext becomes actual text: "I suggest that, next time, you find an office, and you bring a pen and a notebook, and you sit at a desk."

I try to express my gratitude, because I really am grateful. I offer book recommendations; I spend time on Linkedin, without retching. Baby steps....