Now What?® Coaching

Author: Laura Berman Fortgang

  • Eight Ways to Beat Hibernation

    by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

    In the United States, we have a ridiculous ritual on February 2nd where we wait for a groundhog, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to see (or not) its shadow as an indication to how soon spring will come.  This year, he did not see his shadow and the prediction that spring will come early was announced.  Now, granted this is a large country, but in my part of it, the Northeast, we’ve had a blizzard, grey days and significant cold ever since the pronouncement was made.

    It’s dark, gloomy and great fuel for a good case of SAD  (seasonal affective disorder). What does that have to do with career transition?  It could be used as an excuse to not take any action during the last doldrums of winter.  That would be a dreadful waste of time.  So despite any tendency to hibernate, here are eight things you can do to be productive.

    Organize—Straighten up, create systems, create a productive working environment, get things in working order. If you’ve been staring at a mess for months, it may be time to call in some help — professional or not.

    Upgrade—Eliminate problems by upgrading equipment if possible.  Upgrade your own behavior, if need be.  Pick one thing or behavior to upgrade and do it.

    Resume Work—This is a perfect time to work on your resume or your bio if you are a business owner or biz owner to be.  Take quiet time, champion yourself and check in with someone who can advise or give you help.

    Network—Work against the sluggish winter mood by connecting with people.  Make coffee and lunch dates for business purposes and a little socializing wouldn’t hurt either.  Take advantage of inexpensive networking events, too, if you have some in your area.

    Take class—Wake up your brain by learning something new.  Whether it’s related to your current or future career track isn’t a must.  Just take anything that interests you and engages you.

    Prune—Let go of things and people! Let go of clothes you’ll never wear again.  Take people off your email list who you truly have no intention of connecting with. Throw out broken or useless things you keep around. 

    Focus—Take one aspect of your job search, research, business building or career exploration and focus on it.  Try for a short period to not be concerned about multiple strategies.  Just one angle to focus on will help stop any overwhelm and give you some momentum to launch into spring with.

    Plan—Pull out a calendar and plot a plan for your success.  Put it on your calendar when you’ll land that job. Yes, the exact date. Or put down the day you get your first paycheck in your new home based business.  And then, from that date, work backwards and plan what has to happen in order to get the desired result.

    So if you are feeling the snail-like effect of the winter hump, know that you can do less and honor your body’s pace but multiply your productivity moving forward with these few simple strategies.

    Let me know when spring hits where you are.  I’m ready!!

  • Today’s Quote: Seeds of Victory

    “The seeds of great victory lie in minor triumphs.”  Toyotomi Hideyoshi

  • Preparing For Your Interview

    Here are some helpful tips for answering interview questions that can be tricky.

    “7 Common Job Interview Questions That Can Trick You.”

     

  • Today’s Quote: Test Your Mission

    “Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.” Richard Bach　

  • A Perfect Partner, A Perfect Career – How lessons in love help our search for meaning

    By Jill Berquist, Now What? A-Team

    Recently Ginny Kravitz joined me on a community call to discuss tips for the pursuit of  meaning and happiness in work, life and love.  We  came up with some interesting ideas about the quest for meaning in relationships and in work.  And for our purposes, this quest need not only be in a new relationship or new career, you might be seeking this where you already are.  In other words, you can want more in your exiting partnership or current role as well.  Here are some of the parallels we saw:

    • Begin with awareness, desire, and a mindset of optimism.  In either quest, whether in love or work, start by making room for the journey.  Acknowledge to yourself that you have a desire for something more. It’s important to believe, with a positive view, that something worth pursuing exists.  Without this, and with human nature’s way to resist change, you’ll likely never seek more at all.  And wanting more doesn’t mean that you aren’t grateful for what you have.  Years ago someone told me to do a dialogue with my husband each night for a week, with this model: “What three things I love about you are:  fill in the blank.   The three things I am still learning to love about you are: fill in the blank.  It was a way to state what I was grateful for while still expressing my needs.  That balance worked well.  In your existing career role, acknowledge what works well, that is, the aspects you would want, even if elsewhere, and also note how it can be better.  If you are wanting more, assume better is something you can achieve, and it’s worth the pursuit.
    • Check if you are too picky vs. picky enough. What might surprise you is that Ginny and I agreed that many people we coach on career transition are not picky enough.  We help them make lists and prioritize their wants and needs, and yet sometimes they don’t believe it’s okay to want all that they do.  It’s not about helping them expect perfection, (see next bullet!), it is about designing the ideal, believing you deserve it, and then staying open to the way in which it shows up.  Like anything you want to attain, in love or in relationships you do best when you do have the design.  Once you do that, you’ll be able to know you have found it when you see it.
    • Nothing is perfect.  Perfection is a myth and I’m not sure I’d want it. The truth is, life is not one flat line of emotional experience anyway. If it were, you’d never really truly be happy. To experience happiness and meaning you must have a relative point of comparison. To experience high, you must know low. Relationships and careers are full of a wide range of emotional states – from interest and allure, to boredom and frustration, and back to happiness or excitement again.  Personally, I don’t believe there is only one career that will provide meaning, nor only one person who can make you happy. That said, if you are lucky to find either of these, I would suggest holding on for a while.
    • Love at first sight is a snap judgment.  In career searching and dating, we put so much pressure on ourselves that things be as we hope. And what if the situation does not map right up to our lists, ideal profile, or priorities?  We want answers.  In the Harvard Business Review article, Finding the Job of Your Life by Gianpiero Petriglieri, (the article that got Ginny and I talking about this topic to begin with), Petriglieri references a first date. He notes that at that moment we rarely ask ourselves “is he or she the one?”  He says we are more likely to ask “is this going any further?” As you explore options for work, whether interviews or projects, with each step, check your lists (and your intuition!) and you’ll know if it’s worth going to the next.  In relationships or work, each step reveals more about what you want, and helps you make a bigger decision, when it’s time.

    Whether you’re in the quest for meaning in work or in love, the bottom line is that the journey is a daily one.  More realistically, a moment to moment one.  And when we finally realize the journey for meaning is just that, a journey, not a result,  filled with a broad range of emotions and experiences, we free ourselves up to an even greater level of happiness. This Valentine’s Day, I toast to meaning in all areas of your life. At least for the moment. And may that moment also be filled with a scrumptious bite of chocolate.

     

  • Today’s Quote: Believer in Luck

    “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it.” Thomas Jefferson