Career Coaching
Lay the Foundation Before You Leap
The best time to be thinking about your next job is before you need it, while you are still employed.
Start now by exploring some of these ideas that will better prepare you for if and when the day comes to make a change.
7 Ways to Lay the Groundwork for Your Next Job (Even if You Don’t Know What it Is)
Making a Happy Change
If it’s time for a career change, here are some simple tips to help you slow down and take that next step intentionally. Rather than rushing or running away, take the time to get to know yourself, know what matters, and be mindful in your steps.
As this author expresses, this is ultimately about you, and when you tend to your true needs and desires, everyone benefits – family, friends, and coworkers.
“Schooled” – How A Recovering Perfectionist Found That Discomfort Really Does Equal Growth
There is so much I often write about ‘back to school’ season, but this year, I have a new take on it.
Over the last few weeks, I was ‘schooled.’ For only the second time in two decades, I went out for a local theatre opportunity to play a dream role. This past Sunday I ended a short three-show run as Adelaide in the musical Guys and Dolls, and it tested me… big time!
Snagging the role was a wonderful feeling and I enjoyed every moment of the whole process. Well, almost every moment… I wished we didn’t have to put on the show and we could have stayed in ‘play’ and discovery mode indefinitely. Getting ready to perform challenged my comfort zone. Anyone who has seen me speak or do theatre knows that I’m not afraid of being on stage. However, wanting to be the best I could be was an exercise in humility and perseverance. It was a tug between breakthroughs and disappointments.
I got schooled. Here’s how it went.
Language Arts– Luckily, this production was a ‘concert’ version. We were fully staged and choreographed but to keep costs down on sets (read none), to have script in hand. However, all songs were memorized. Damn! My mind which used to learn shows in ten days ‘back in the day’ struggled with that. Humble pie with a tough pill to swallow on the side. It was hard to accept that my dependable ability to memorize material was not so dependable anymore.
Math—When my oldest son was five and taking piano lessons, he would say “music is math, mom!” For community theatre, this show represented a high talent, highly professional group, many with degrees in pedagogy and vocal performance from prestigious schools. They came to the first rehearsal with their music learned! Ahhhh. I had to catch up on my ‘math’ and finding the time to study while keeping the rest of my life afloat was tough.
Social Studies—A small group of people gather with a common purpose. We are putting on a show. We go from strangers to friends over seven weeks to achieve a common goal. This one I could do!—easy class for me.
Gym-LEARNING DANCE STEPS. Developing MUSCLE MEMORY, practice practice practice. Just when I had one perfect execution, the next time would suck. Again, the inability to count on what was once a sure thing was upsetting.
Home Ec and Art—Almost as fun as learning and performing the role, was crafting costume pieces and personal props. I LOVE doing this. I can distract myself from other responsibilities for hours doing this. Pure joy.
Psychology—The horror of not being perfect. Despite studying with my voice teacher and having HUGE breakthroughs vocally on obstacles that have plagued me for thirty years, my goals for a perfect show every night were not reached. It became a lesson in hanging in there and giving it your all, despite setbacks and disappointments. I couldn’t give up midway because I didn’t hit that elusive perfection in one song. I found peace in thinking of Olympians who trained for years and could still have something go wrong in the critical moment when they were so close to the gold.
What happens when you get back to life after being schooled? You ask yourself: Was it worth it? Was there a gain? Were the lessons, mistakes and bumps worth the adventure?
Totally!
I set out to the get the role. I never thought about what I wanted out of it other than the joy of doing it. Once I started pressuring myself, I felt disappointed that I wasn’t flawless. I had a visceral experience of shifting in the understanding that you can still excel with imperfection and that it can be joyful.
What about you?
Happy Back to School!
“Reinvention” or Reintegration?
Many people are feeling a need or desire for a fresh start, thinking they need to “reinvent” their lives. As we know at Now What?®, the most successful “second acts” actually are not reinventions at all, but rather come from what this author describes as, “crafting a new idea that’s almost always deeply rooted in earlier chapters and activities.”
What might you draw from your past or from the essence of who you are to carry you into a brighter future?
Let Darkness Give Way to Light
There is so much darkness in our world right now: repeated loss of life to the ravages of terrorists or racial tensions, and the polarity of approaches to the political climate in the United States.
It’s not unusual for the events of the world to shuffle the balance of darkness and light within us.
Big disruptions cause big questions to arise.
Are you finding yourself questioning your own life as you move through the effects of consuming the news and social media?
Is the time focused on the mishaps, tragedies and angering differences ripping away at your sense of safety and order? I would expect that to be the case.
Times of uncertainty and chaos force us to get a grip on ourselves to stay sane. We need to get more specific about what works for us or not.
The negative is trying to find a release. And clearly, there is a lot of negative that’s been bottled up for a long time. It’s now making itself known, and the call is for us to counter it with all the goodness we can muster.
If your questioning is about your work and where you could find a better fit, take note of what it is, specifically, you can no longer contend with.
You’ve probably known for a while, but the darkness will find a crack to leak out of and then color everything you do.
Allow the dark to push you into the light. Let it force you to wrestle with what you would rather not contend with because it will get you to the other side (light).
It’s like hitting turbulence in a plane. It’ll rattle and bounce you around, but the pilot will find equilibrium and keep you going.
You’re the pilot, so be patient with yourself, moving away from what (or who) no longer serves you and pointing your face to any bit of positive news and hope you can find.
As humans, we need hope, and it has to start with each of us doing our part to emanate good stuff.
Does it stop the atrocities in the world? Does it fix any problem we face individually or collectively? Not immediately, but it puts us in a better state to make decisions and to brainstorm action.