Here’s a list of 10 factors that psychologists correlate with job satisfaction. Which ones stand out as important to you? How does your current job or previous jobs you’ve held measure up when these factors are considered? Are there others you would add? Some that come to our mind are: Values (how your values line up with those of your employer), Passion (degree of interest in the work), Creative Expression (getting to put your own stamp on things), Purpose (whether the work is meaningful to you). While some of these may overlap with the list provided, it’s an interesting exercise to come up with your own unique job satisfaction barometer. What would yours look like?
Today’s Quote: Vision
“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs. “ Vance Havner
The Paralyzing Fear That Can Stop Your Transition in Its Tracks
By Jill Berquist, Now What?® A-Team Coach
Fear is the number one obstacle in a career transition. It comes in many forms and they are unique to you and your situation. That said, there is one particular fear that I have seen as one of the most pervasive and most impactful, when it comes to the fears that can bring several transitions to a dead halt. Simply put, it is when you say to yourself:
“What if I lose what I’ve worked so hard to establish?”
Fear that your transition will chisel into your long established identity or your earnings is incredibly real. Your status and reputation will likely carry weight for you personally, within your profession, family or in your community…or all of the above! And you’ve worked hard to get where you are. Making a change can absolutely force you to weigh in on tough status and salary questions. You will need to assess if you’ll be able to earn the same level of financial success you have established to this point or ultimately, decide whether it’s truly a deal-breaker if you do not.
To help get through this fear, do a soul-searching analysis of what you are willing to risk and for what gain. Specifically a few things to help mitigate this fear are to:
Do a money evaluation. Whether on your own or with the help from a financial advisor, calculate what you want or need to earn. Sometimes you find once you research the career you are contemplating, you can still get into your desired earning track. If you cannot, you may need to be creative with how you make your desired earnings happen, such as considering how you can earn additional income on the side, or rearranging your wealth management plan.
Keep your day job. When I was getting into coaching, I did it the following way. After some dabbling in it, I told my boss about my interest in coaching, and he agreed that it was okay for me to explore it, because as it turned out, he really wanted me to stay with the firm. I was supported in doing this, as long as there was no conflict of interest and I made sure there wasn’t. (This meant I couldn’t help our employees leave the company.) I began some training on the side and started coaching right away. It would then be a year and a half later before I left the firm. I left with a better foundation and less “neediness” in my energy. This is really important for starting any business or interviewing for a new job.
Consider compromising. That’s right. How are you willing to compromise for the career and life you really want? It may involve readjusting what you are willing to earn, leaving behind your old vision of yourself that may no longer work, or adjusting to the new level or role you are willing to work within, in exchange for the really “right” path. In the end, to claim some of these priceless life riches, it may be so much less of a compromise than you even think.
At the end of the day, you also have to ask yourself what will make you smile when you go to sleep at night and jump out of bed to start your day: Is it the lifestyle you have established, or the incredible life you get to live?
Today’s Quote: Belief in oneself
“Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture.” Lydia M. Child
Video Viernes-Housewife Realizes Childhood Dream
Your Life Blueprint® cannot be denied! Parents, please don’t clip your children’s wings!*
* Life Blueprint is the Now What?® term for your purpose, the essence of who you are.
WHAT MAKES LUCK FLOW?
by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang
It is often debated whether you can make your own luck or not. Personally, I find my luck-making skills to be seasonal but
fundamentally in place and ever-improving. However, through 20 years of clients and hundreds of Now What? ® Facilitator anecdotes, there is enough evidence to point to the circumstances that cause great luck to find you.
Skip Your Reasonable Ideas
Time after time, clients come to the career transition process with two versions of what they’d like to accomplish. One is the version they feel they likely have the power to make happen. The other, is the deepest truth about what they want.
“If I were to tell the truth….” is a statement I hear very often. Why wouldn’t you tell the truth? Why is it dismissed as a pipe dream? Those ‘impossible’ dreams hold the springboard to a new direction whether it’s a literal move to the dream or some interpretation of it.
Once the true desire is given air-time, it cannot be taken back, so action becomes inevitable. Small steps start to get promising results and the traction and speed often take off from there. Blocks seem to move away and your luck ‘magically’ changes. The truth WILL ‘set you free’!
Scare Yourself
The bigger the chances you take, the greater the ‘lucky’ things that begin to occur. Taking risks is a very big factor in shaking the trees and causing ripe fruit to fall into your life.
Michael, who had been out of work, had thought of calling an old boss, but talked himself out of it because their final encounter had not been the most stellar. He felt a nagging urge to call him but he was afraid to and did not feel it was appropriate to hope for a job by reaching out. With some encouragement, and a lot of butterflies, he gave his ex-boss a call. The boss was so glad to hear from Michael that he invited him in to see him. They met, found they both had felt bad about how things had been left earlier and Michael left with two strong leads for jobs at companies where his boss had contacts.
As ‘luck’ would have it, after several weeks, Michael’s old boss had an opening that was a better opportunity than the other two leads he had been pursuing.
Get Gracious
Wanting your luck to change is almost the worst way to get your luck to change. What I mean is that when you focus on what’s missing, what’s wrong, what’s hurting, it’s really hard to get results to the opposite effect.
The way to shifting results and changing your luck is getting in synch with what you have. Despite wanting better, being gracious about what you already have, will pave the way to better luck.
Think of it in dating terms: If you’re desperate, insecure and twisting yourself into a pretzel to make a match (any match!) your long term relationship wish will be bumpy. If you are comfortable with how you are and like your life the way it is, you will make a charming, interesting person to meet and your chances of a match go up. It’s the same in making a goal come to be.
Find the good in the ‘bad’ and you will navigate on a smoother road to better days.
Using your endless well of creativity (yes everyone has it), you can find a bridge between your current circumstance and the one you want to create. You can find a way to align the secret goal with the reasonable plan and come up with one luck-changing game for your life.
Let us know how we can help.