how close am I to overmedicating on self-help?

Very.

I'm attending this class here at SIPA called "Women in Power." The professor, Carolyn Buck-Luce, is an amazing and influential woman who brings in some of her most influential friends to tell us their stories and give us advice. Through this class, I've become acutely aware of "CSR-speak," this entirely new language comprised of cute alliterations, metaphors, and catch-phrases meant to get you thinking about an issue in a new light. It's like three months of Tuesdays with Morrie. Allow me to illustrate:

1. The Goldilocks Syndrome - describing how the reality for women is that they're either too much of this, or not enough of that.

2. The Career Labyrinth - rather than facing a Career Ladder, the path of ambition for women is shaped more like a labyrinth where they face walls and turns and have to navigate without knowing which direction they're going in.

3. On-Ramps and Off-Ramps - women, driving in the fast lane of their careers, can suddenly head toward an off-ramp and get off track.

This morning, I find myself clicking onto the website of an Ariane de Bonvoism. She talks about the first thirty days as the most critical for affecting any change. Whether you want to master use of an ipod, or change your career, or learn how to play guitar hero. Thirty days. It's like the female version of Tony Robbins, minus the weight loss success story and the aerobics-instructor microphone strapped to his head. I should add her onto twitter.