Free And Clear
The Oprah Magazine|August 2019

O life coach Martha Beck to entrepreneur Heather Carter: If you want to get serious about your future, it’s time to lighten up.

Martha Beck
Free And Clear

AFTER BEING LAID OFF from her corporate job of 18 years, Heather Carter finally has the chance to be her own boss, but she’s finding entrepreneurship a challenge. She has a boundless appetite for new projects—curating community art shows, developing products that encourage kids to celebrate diversity—but that’s part of the problem: Her considerable enthusiasm makes it difficult to summon the steady, sustained focus she’ll need to turn one of her side hustles into a second career. Also, the 49-yearold admits, part of her misses the structure of her full-time job, when she had a regular schedule and a desk instead of a kitchen table covered in sticky notes. Life coach Martha Beck encouraged her new client to get some perspective—an eagle’s perspective, that is: Looking at the big picture of her life, like a bird flying above a landscape, will help her craft a mission statement, which will be the basis for her daily to-dos. Is Heather ready to soar? Let’s swoop in on their final session.

Martha Beck: Hi, Heather! Why don’t you fill me in on how you’re doing?

Heather Carter: I’ve made progress. I downloaded the Insight Timer app you mentioned, and I’ve been meditating. I can only manage five minutes in the morning and five in the evening, but it helps. And I asked a friend to help me start organizing my paperwork.

MB: Great!

HC: And I made a vision board for the art shows I’ve been working on. It has an image of Charles White, who’s been called the grandfather of many black artists, and a couple of his pieces, along with works from artists he’s influenced. I also found a great photo of Chance the Rapper, who has a nonprofit for young folks called SocialWorks. He has his hands in the air, like “We did it!” For me, that represents empowerment and celebration.

This story is from the August 2019 edition of The Oprah Magazine.

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This story is from the August 2019 edition of The Oprah Magazine.

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