Now What?® Coaching

Tag: career transition

  • The Holiday Secret Sauce

    I’ve written before about being Jewish and why I love Christmas. This past Saturday, when I went to yoga for the first time in awhile, I heard something from the teacher’s dharma talk that gave me new insight into the ‘Secret Sauce’ that makes the holiday season so special.

    This may seem obvious, but stay with me. The Secret Sauce is wonder. Yes, wonder! xl_6202_secret-sauce-finedininglovers

    Obvious in some ways: Kids remind us of the bright-eyed innocence we once possessed, the lights and sights (New York City at Christmastime, a snow covered field) and the glitter and majesty of gifts, parties, and religious rites.

    But it’s more than that. Wonder is a state of full presence. It’s a state of connection to our greatest capacity for love and compassion.

    As Jesse Prinz, a professor of philosophy at the City University of New York, said, we might feel a physical sensation like the swelling of our heart when we are in a state of wonder. Cognitively, we cannot connect what we are experiencing to something we already know or it wouldn’t be wonder.

    Even if we’ve seen something before, if we feel wonder, we are seeing it in a new way or as if we were seeing it for the first time. We might even gasp and utter the word “Wow!” as we process what we see and feel.

    The heightened expectation, even in the face of an event we anticipate annually, puts us in a state of wonder. For there to be wonder, there must be a lack of certainty. We can’t be ‘in’ wonder if we know what is going to happen.

    It’s like my yoga class itself. I go to class with a reasonable expectation of what will transpire. We’ll sit on our mats, wait for the teacher to begin, spend some time centering and reflecting, warm up our bodies, then move in to increasingly difficult movements until we hit a high point and start slowing down.

    Finally, we get to stretch and then lie down in savasana (dead man’s pose—my favorite —who doesn’t love lying down to nap while exercising!?) I know what’s going to happen. But I don’t really .

    I have to be fully in the present to be in the poses. The endorphins kick in as the work gets harder. Fully present to breath and movement, and soon, I’m in wonder.

    Wonder at the simplicity that is also difficult and the collective breath that moves the whole room to a place of greeting the divine within us and each other (although late comers to class asking me to move my mat so they can find a place pisses me the hell off—divine evolution is clearly a work in progress!)

    Consider this, if you will. We do this thing called the holidays every year. We basically know what to expect and yet it induces wonder. We must surrender a lot of ‘reality’ to feel the magic.

    This can also be a sad time of year for so many. If the ‘secret sauce’ is wonder and not dependent on family (which most people complain about anyway!), can we create that magic for ourselves? How do we take a melancholy time and turn it into wonder?

    As I said, it requires surrendering reality and getting in touch with the love, the discovery, the newness of right now whether it’s fully desirable or not. It’s not easy but it is in our sphere of influence.

    As we enter the final days of this year, consider how you could launch in to 2016 with wonder and do things differently than you’ve ever done before? How might you change things up to allow a state of wonder to guide you?

    Ponder that with a hot chocolate or hot toddy. I’ll see you on the other side of the holiday season.

    happy_holidays

  • Do You Believe? [Video]

    I promised you the third installment and here it is: Video THREE is about the third block to clarity: BELIEFS

    “But I can’t make a change right now.”

    We’ve heard it all.

    You can’t make a change because of the money, the mortgage, the college, the debt, the _______________. We don’t doubt there’s truth to that, but we also know there’s a way to get past all those obstacles.

    Our third and final video walks you through the third block to clarity- beliefs.
    Watch to understand how to get to the other side of the blocks and then JOIN Laura for a chance to do the WHOLE Now What?® Program with her guidance at a fraction of the cost of one-on-one coaching.

    One lucky participant will also win a private coaching engagement with Laura. Your registration is your entry ticket to answers and to the GRAND PRIZE.

    Thank you for taking part in the 10th Anniversary celebration of Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction!

    Please comment below.

  • The “I Don’t Know Syndrome” [Video]

    Are you craving a radical change?……

    When you feel lost and unsure about everything except your own anxiety, it is hard to articulate anything positive or hopeful for your future. It’s at that point that people tell me:

    I don’t know what I want!

    I empathize with that feeling and the resonance of truth it has for the person who’s suffering but I also know it’s not true. Not really. The “I don’t know” syndrome is really just a reflection of deep fear that keeps us paralyzed.

    This video, the first in a three-part series, will walk you through the ‘first block to clarity’ that we encounter when we work with people on career transition issues.

    Watch to learn how to turn your list of complaints and problems into a clear list of what you want! Understand why you can’t name it now, but how you will be able to in just a couple of minutes post-viewing.

    Please comment on this blog or send me an email at lbf@nowwhatcoaching.com to let me know your thoughts.

    Name it! Get clear!

    All best
    LAURA SIGN 2014

  • 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!!

  • 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.

     

  • What Would Your Story Say?

    Today’s article includes 11 examples of career transition.  In each story, we learn what motivated the person to make a change, how they did it, and what makes the new career satisfying.  After skimming through these stories, try this for a fun exercise:  Think of a field you might be interested in pursuing and then imagine yourself having made the change.  If an article was being written about you as the career transitioner, what would it say under each of these headings:  

    • Why I did it
    • How I did it
    • Why I love it

    Writing about yourself, as if the change already occurred, is bound to spark some insights and may very well inspire you to take action.  Try it and let us know how it goes!

    “I have the best job in America!”