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For this post, I’m drawing on my training and certification as a personal life coach, although I don’t coach for a living any more. I’m a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), credentialled by the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) and completed about 300 hours of training and supervision. One of the core concepts in my training was to help clients find the “compelling way” in the process of clarifying their values. Living your values is the foundation of having a fulfilling life. Fulfillment is not something that you have to wait for, something that has to be delayed until you reach a goal. Instead, you can make the path towards the goal fulfilling in itself, because you know you’re moving closer to what you ultimately want.

Writing Your Blog: Do It or Lose It

For example, I have a goal of building my consulting practice. Blogging is one of a variety of ways to share things I’ve learned as I’ve worked on projects for clients. But for the past several months, I’ve let my blog languish. I told myself it didn’t really matter that much, and that I was too busy with client work to take the time to write blog entries faithfully. The downside of my neglect is that there’s now a gap and that I’ve  lost continuity and connection with regular readers. In addition, I lost the rhythm of writing regularly.

The thing is, I love to write. But that requires goals,  ideas, and a sense of direction. And every time I’ve sat down to write a blog entry, I’ve simply lost steam. Pfffffft.  In client work, writer’s block has never been an issue. If I’m stuck it’s almost always because I don’t have enough information on the topic, the goal or some other aspect of the project. For this blog, I wrote an entry a few weeks ago, and came up short on ideas and energy after that. Until today.

Finding the Compelling Way to Keep on Writing

Today didn’t just spring up out of the blue, though. Instead, I’m finding a Compelling Way for myself. The values that I’m focused on are learning, communicating, and connecting with people. Business is a wonderful way to do that, as well as to express my talents and generate money to fund other things I value and enjoy.

 As I see these words on the screen, they look so simple-minded. But sometimes simplicity is the key.

So I returned to my learning process, and was browsing Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability this morning. I was reading the Top 10 Information Architecture Mistakes, where Nielson mentions the need for consistent global (sitewide) navigation on every page (it’s usually the links you see in the bar at the very top of a page). It was then that I realized that although the site I was putting the finishing touches on meets that requirement, it needed local navigation on every page–a way for visitors who arrived directly at a lowerl-level page from Google to know where that page fits in the overall structure of the site. So I went through the site and added breadcrumb navigation to every page.

A Passion for Learning, Teaching and Communicating

And I think my inner logjam is clearing out. Because I’m excited about how much such a simple thing has improved the site, in the absence of side-rail links. And as I sat down to blog about the usefulness of breadcrumb navigation, my enthusiasm for this blog has returned. For me, the compelling way is to learn and share, using my ability to write.  

What’s Your Compelling Way?

When you’re feeling stuck and your energy for something is at a low point, consider what might be a compelling way for you. What is fulfilling for you? What could draw you to the path that will take you to your goal?

(FYI–here’s the breadcrumb nav before and after)

Without breadcrumb navigation, you don't know where you are

Breadcrumb navigation (enlarged) shows you where page is in relation to whole site

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