CAREER COACHING WITH DANNA = CLEAR, CALM, CONFIDENT

Danna Lewis is a woman of many talents. I remember the first time Danna and I met. We were at a Harmonia concert and I found her very intriguing. It was as if we were two white tigers doing a dance, sussing each other out for about an hour before we jumped into an upbeat intriguing conversation that began our decade-long friendship. One thing I enjoy about Danna is her curiosity towards learning and her effortless ability to tell the truest stories about herself and others. This ability allows her deeper access in healing, intellectual and creative pursuits. She holds a wisdom that allows her to skillfully guide others with subtle energy work as well as strongly reinforced maps of action. Danna, whose focus once was her corporate job, dog, marriage, and house, now lives in San Anselmo and awakens to the sunrise, rolling hills, and the misty tree-filled Ross Valley views. Living in such a beautiful, nature-filled space has been a huge blessing in her life, giving her a new creative perspective. By subtracting the buzz of the city, and allowing the quiet to inspire her, she is able to focus on her soul desires.

Her coaching last year shifted to what the world was calling for which was “more jobs.” This allowed her to help those in need of career coaching, resume building, mapping out action steps to get to a soul desire. Last year she literally career coached over one hundred people individually through a customized program. The job market is in a continuing state of change, moving from huge layoffs early in the pandemic to now the 'Big Resignation'. For better or worse, the pandemic has shifted our priorities, simplified what is true for many people, and has shown us and our companies what we can accomplish from home. It has also imposed new policies. Danna believes, instead of changing with it, if you get underneath all of it to find out what is true for you, you can make a shift and come at your job search with those new pieces in mind. Her clients find they are able to make choices that are more deeply soul-satisfying. She believes this result is born from the work of getting underneath the personal old judgments and allowing the change to come from a love of self and life and not from a place of fear or judgment.

Danna is deeply concerned about the current state of panic and fear that is invoked through our over-saturation of media and the outside world. Her work is always focused on the whole person. She uses practical tools to meet people where they are and collaborate with them in a way that will move them forward in a more holistically functioning way. She does this by focusing on eliminating fear and allowing her clients to see with a clearer perspective. Once the fear is not clouding the pathways, her clients are able to make big movements and reach their goals more quickly and with ease. This is quantum physics, a neuroscience fundamental approach. You place your attention on something and your energy follows. She wants people, and especially her clients, to be putting their attention on what is possible and what they would like to have in their life and career.

Through a combination of physical artifacts and experimentalism and an up-leveling of soft skills, including emotional EQ, she is able to make big shifts for her clients.

Tangible artifacts include a job vision, value proposition, a refreshed (or new) resume, an updated LinkedIn, and key success stories. This comes from experiential wisdom that comes from exercises to help to clarify a job vision, identification of key strengths, craft, and the practice of smart stories. Key conversations include speaking about best practices and knowledge around networking as well as assistance in applying, interviewing, and onboarding for jobs. Clients repeatedly use three words when describing how they feel after coaching; Clear, Calm, Confident.

I asked Danna if she could give our readers a trick or useful, simple exercise that would increase productivity. This is an exercise that she felt would be most relevant to share:

“Pay attention to your energy flows and instead of pushing through or making yourself feel wrong for not being like someone else or for not being how you actually want to be. Embrace it. Take control of your calendar as best as you can and always put your self-care on your calendar first no matter what. Enlist support from friends, spouses, and partners, but take care of yourself first. Also, take cues from your energy flows to schedule meetings, creative time, and administrative time. Whenever possible block out ("chunk") the space on your calendar to reflect that. Working with our energy flows is generative in nature. Working against them can actually take up and expend even more energy resulting in fatigue and burnout.”

Danna is offering a complimentary 30 min introductory coaching session. If you're interested in booking a session or signing up for Danna's program you can email Danna at: danna@dannalewis.com

And last, but not least, this article wouldn’t feel complete if I didn’t advise you to purchase Danna’s book. It is an uplifting and emotional read that allows you to celebrate men and life from the eyes of Danna and her inspiring path. You can purchase The Indisputable Gift of Men on www.dannalewis.com/giftofmenbook.I know you will enjoy having this wonderful book as a part of your home library as much as I do.