studying? what studying?

Mikaela Carlen for Velvet

the Happiness Project

via Pinterest

I am finally in the midst of finals and have put away the stress of juggling part time work, a full load of classes and interviewing and networking to land the ideal job.  It feels good to have won that uphill battle and start the new war of acing my finals and really wrapping up the semester with a bang.

As the warmth of Thanksgiving has passed and the coziness of Christmas music and lights is starting to blanket the cities, I have really been thinking about how extremely fortunate to be exactly where I am at this point in my life.  Although I sometimes feel as though I have been running around like a headless turkey trying to survive each semester (not only to stay alive but to lay out the rest of my future), I have gone to bed each night feeling blessed in so many ways.  I do feel that I am where I want to be career-wise because of all the energy I put into planning and implementing.  But where have all the years gone?  1% of the time, I make plans with all the ambition and enthusiasm of an uninhibited child and then I spend  98% of the time implementing those plans inhibited by the pressures of life. . . holding my breath, trying not to sink, swimming for my life until I finally reach the next island . . . all so I can catch my breath for air and spend the remainder of that 1% celebrating on that island; all this so I can start over and plan how to get to next island.  What happens in the end is I have managed to "travel the world" yet I have lost my youth along the way.  Yes, the cliche "it's the journey not the destination" is what I'm getting at.  So my point is this:  This new year, I plan to learn how to old my breath underwater and enjoy the view :)

I stumbled across this website: http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/ via Forbes Woman and ordered the book and the journal so I can start this growing process.  THIS is the manifestation of my attempt at implementing a resolution of building myself personally and spiritually.

I have 2.5 weeks before the semester is over and I am 83% of the way through law school!  Then comes a wonderful month long of doing anything I want!  No work, no school, no anything!  I really plan to soak up this me-time!

Winter Break Plan
1.  Read more
2.  Blog often
3.  Bikram Yoga                              
4.  Bar Prep Plan
5.  Mini Getaway with the BF
6.  Plan Graduation Vacation
7. (@12/10) Remodel Vanity and Office area

I'll add on to the list as it comes to me. . .
Nonetheless, what comes after this wonderful break is 2012 : the end of my professional student life and the beginning of my professional career!

A.  (Jan-May) Final Semester + Graduation!
B.  (Jun-Jul) Excruciating Pain of Studying for the Bar + Taking the Bar!
C.  (Aug-Sept) Vacation + Lazing around in Freedom
D.  (October-...) Start of my Career!

I can see all this just flash before my eyes!  Next thing you know I'll have a list of things to do before I turn 30!  I am slowly blossoming out of my cocoon.  However, this coming year I plan to be mindful of each day because "the days are long, but the years are short."

...And that is how I landed THE Job

As you may know I have been debating between two job options.  One with the prestige but not the people and job opportunity that I wanted.  The other without the prestige but the job position that I wanted.  I have been talking to god-knows-how-many people in this process and collecting stacks of business cards and sending tons of thank you emails.  A manager in my department suggested I discuss my dilemma with a past colleague/friend, who was kind enough to meet with me and chat.  We eventually decided for me to meet with him near his work (a Big 4 that I did interview with in LA but was still waiting for an offer but I ruled them out merely because of location and because I could not specialize) and at 7:30am at a cafe.

11/22/11 7:00am @ Il Fornaio cafe . . .
Waiting for my fate to walk through the door...

Okay, so think about it- my time is spread thin from work and school.  Now I have to consider waking up at 5am to drive 1.5 hours to meet a stranger in Irvine who would give me "mere advice" and drive 2 hours to get to LA to make it into work on time.
Yes, I decided to make my life harder and go.  I was thinking of this as "networking."  After all he was an International Tax Senior Manager - you never know of the possibilities.
We met and talked and an hour later he decides to show me the office to meet with some people who could also give me "advice." Five hours and a stack of business cards later . . . I came back into an office and he tells me "Natalie, I pulled some strings and I'm going to extend you an offer right now to work with us."
WHAT?!  WOW!  I never felt such a surge of relief, such a sense of gratitude that with patience, perseverance and luck I would land the job that embodied everything on my list.  I did not have to choose between what my heart was telling me and what my mind was telling me.  I was able to have both!  The people were wonderful; the office was the nicest office I have seen and the location was prime; the pay was great; the prestige was there; the opportunity to be in International Tax was there.  It was all there waiting for me at 7:30am - I just had to show up and be myself and grab it.
This Thanksgiving I am so thankful for everything that has gone down lately.  I have grown so much merely going through this job search and meticulously asking questions every step of the way to make sure I would be making an informed decision.  After so much discomfort and uncertainty of each company that gave me an offer, I felt like I finally went to an oracle and told him my problems and exactly what I wanted in my career just to find he would resolve my problems and put me in the right path.  All I had to do was ask.  I have started the next chapter in my career, all to begin in October 2012.  Now, I need to refocus the next months on school and close this great chapter in my life.

#fail

I always get embarrassed by the dumbest things that makes me feel like the dumbest person in class . . . 

I need to get over that and not strive for perfection all the time!  

Live without fail is not living at all! 

Burnout by 30

Audrey a Roma exhibit

"One reason that women are burning out early in their careers is that they have simply reached their breaking point after spending their childhoods developing well-rounded resumes. . . These women worked like crazy in school, and in college, and then they get into the workforce and they are exhausted . . .

Many also didn’t think of their lives beyond landing the initial first job . . . They need to learn life is a marathon, not a sprint . . .

They expected things to be better now that they’ve arrived and made it.  But instead they are starting over on the bottom rung and still striving.  You can’t see the end of the tunnel because they are so many twists and turns.  It’s impossible to see what life will be like in 20 years these days.  It’s hard to look just 3-4 years in the future.   They don’t know what they are striving for, which makes it really hard to move forward . . .

Millennial women are tapping into their Type-A personalities to combat this fatigue. . .  It’s important to analyze what is causing the dissatisfaction . . .  The old adage, ‘Out of the frying pan and into the kettle’ is filled with wisdom: often we leave a job because of unhappiness and in our zeal to get away, we fall right back into the same traps, the same situations.” 

Forbes Article: "Why Millennial Women are Burning Out at Work by 30"  http://www.forbes.com/sites/larissafaw/2011/11/11/why-millennial-women-are-burning-out-at-work-by-30/

I have some time to learn from these women's mistake.  I have barely set foot in Corporate America and am already starting to feel burned-out myself . . . This is a marathon, not a sprint.  There was no solution in this article and that worries me.
Love,
Nat

Mind over Matter

I have so much I want to discuss because there has been so much going on in my head.  Of the 4 firms I have applied to, I have gotten 2 offers so far and no rejections!  That is great news because those were the 2 firms I really wanted for different reasons.  I have been pulled in different directions by the people of each firm who want me to be a part of their team and now I have to make the final decision of where I truly believe is the best place to launch my career.  Big decision.  

via weheartit.com

I have made a pros and cons list of both places and am gravitating more and more towards one firm.  I have chosen (1) firm prestige, (2) location, (3) a once-in-a-lifetime mentor and (4) money and competition over (1) nice people, (2) work/life balance, (3) the opportunity of working in international tax (the group I want), and (4) a senior title.  I'm going with what logically makes sense. . . not what emotionally feels right.  It was a hard decision, but an important decision to be made this point in my life.  I am taking a high risk and hoping for a high return, rather than a low risk for a low return.  

I have been extremely stressed because I have been talking to so many people in the industry, all at the expense of schoolwork.  I never knew I had it in me to have meetings, lunch, or dinner with high-powered partners and random professionals to discuss career advice with them.  I never knew I had it in me to be this poise and personable person that these professionals would praise and want to work with.  Once I stopped making excuses to get out of my comfort circle, I entered a whole new world that I thought I would be so intimidated by.  I feel all this networking and taking chances has paid off and now I need to refocus on my looming finals.     

Asides from all that, I have managed to squeeze my first Bikram Yoga class a couple of days ago and concluded I definitely need this in my life.  As fate would have it, I had stumbled across this great Groupon deal for 60 days of hot yoga for $25.  Although I did faint the first half hour of class, I came back into the hot war zone and finished like a soldier.  Everything in my life has been happening for a reason and although I have been feeling extremely down and tired lately each morning and night, I feel like I am in a great place and this can help change that.

To sum it all up. . .

Career-growth-wise, I have found:

• a well-paying job at a great firm with the perfect female mentor to start a long-term relationship with, to mold me into the career woman that she is and more.    
• the guts to network with strangers to open a myriad of opportunities I never knew were available (I literally have a stack of business cards) and 
• a great website (Forbes Women) to give me daily doses of inspirations

Personal-growth-wise, I have found:

• Bikram Yoga. . . the beginning of a journey through my mind and body to find balance through all this madness I'm experiencing and
• blogging. . . the continuation of, of course.

There really has been rhyme and reason through all this chaos and I am embracing it every step of the way.  Time for round 2 of yoga class.  This time I will not faint.

                  

Love,

Nat