Now What?® Coaching

from Laura Berman Fortgang

career transition

What’s Energy Got To Do With It?

By on

by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

Feeling stuck stinks.  Nothing’s working. Everything weighs heavily on you and clarity just doesn’t want to come.  As the anxiety grows and  you try harder to make decisions or force answers, the worse things seem to get.  So what do you do?

Here’s what I’d ask you to do.  I’d ask you to take your mind off a problem that has no solution yet.  I’d suggest that you do something that will increase your energy.  Have some fun, exercise, pamper yourself in some way or do something just because you enjoy it.  I’ll expect one of two reactions:  Relief or more anxiety assuming you would feel hugely irresponsible not continuing to beat your head against the wall.

Let me explain what’s at work here.  When your body is stressed and constricted, there is no flow.  What does that mean?  Your energy is being consumed by stress and not being free to draw your interest to places that will make a difference to your career transition.  Your energy is blocked.

It comes down to an energetic equation.  What multiplies your energy and what subtracts it?  In other words, what energizes you and what drains you?  Worry and struggle drain you.  Creative, athletic, connective, loving, educational, or nurturing activities expand you and likely give you energy.  As counter-intuitive as it seems to take your focus off of your dilemma before it is solved, it is exactly what can lead to the breakthrough you seek.

The end of the year is here.  Time to unplug. It’s not a race to the finish line.  If clarity is not yours yet, absorb the slower pace of the next several days if possible and use them to slow down, observe, be more mindful and look for clues.  If you do know what’s next, set the stage for crossing over into another year by getting things in order so you can take action as soon as everyone is back at their desks.  In either case, enjoy!

Happy Holidays and to ALL a very productive and meaningful 2012.

“The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.” Tony Robbins

Think Outside of the Box

By on

To beat the odds in this job market, it takes thinking outside of the box, innovating past conventional job search methods and being open to every lead and inkling.

Read this Twitter story for some ideas that you may not have thought of implementing to your career transition. (job or own business alike)

“How to Tweet Your Way to a New Job.”

 

SUSPENDED REALITY

By on

by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

THERE COMES A TIME, in almost every career transition, when clarity comes and a sense of determination kicks in despite every logical  reason for it not to.  There comes a suspended reality where you almost can’t believe you are moving forward in this new chosen direction yet there is no turning back.  A cocoon of reason disintegrates and transforms into a new being that can take flight.  It is in this suspended reality that courage comes and doors begin to open without logical explanation as to why. 

In the movie, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, the hero must step out into an infinite abyss to get help to his ailing father.  With each step out into the nothingness, a rock floor would appear to catch him and allow forward motion towards his goal.  That same suspended reality is what it feels like to follow a new direction for your life and career that you know is right but have no evidence or indication of getting the result you want.

How do you do it?

Up The Faith

When you operate in space without a net, where most people in your life think you’ve lost your marbles, you have to believe in your self and the goodness of life in general to make it work.  It’s not the time to be a realist.  It’s a time to be naïve and assume that everyone and everything will work in your favor.  It often will when you become a self-contained, pressurized bottle full of faith.

Follow The Breadcrumbs

When you are researching a new field, trying to find a job or pursuing a specific goal in your new direction, every lead is a hot one.  Being in the gap between now and future busyness in your new career, you have the luxury of time.  You cannot afford to ignore any possibility that can take you in your new direction.  Talking to one person can lead to the next person and so on.  You will be amazed at the path that gets laid out in front of you as you diligently walk through every open door. 

Keep a Solid Home Base

All this is not to say you should abandon all reason.  What allows you to move forward with blind faith and curious tenacity is having a solid home base to operate from.  You’ll need at least one person who believes in you when the rest of your posse thinks you’re nuts.  If possible, keeping your day job will help too even though you’ll have less time for fact-finding.  And if you are in between things, it’s OK, you can still have a solid base. Decide what you can invest in yourself financially and give yourself the time to make the transition.  If that is not in the cards, a solid base is harder, but not impossible.  It’ll then be built on the faith we talked about above and involving others so you can move along more quickly.  Ask, ask, ask—for help, support—whatever you need. Create a base of emotional support no matter which level of financial cushion you can operate from.

A recent client made a decision to act on a long-time hunch that it was time to move on from his current job. Despite the uncertainty of the economy and the ‘sure thing’ that his position was after 20 years with the company, he knew he had to do it.  He got on the phone and explored every hint, tip or lead that was given to him.  Despite his family’s fears that he was blowing a good thing, he persevered, went on interviews, visited other folks that had moved on from his company years before and went to industry events to meet new people to talk to.  He did find a new job that he was happy with and six months later, learned that his former company was making layoffs in the department he had been a part of!

Acting on a hunch will usually lead you to enter a suspended reality.  That’s what we at Now What?® Coaching are here for.  Meet our facilitators.

BORROW FROM THE PAST TO CATAPULT YOUR FUTURE

By on

by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

For at least two years, I have been seeing a pattern in career transition clients that has confirmed a theory that I have relied on for a long time. It seemed that every time a client was really at a standstill in the progress of their career or even their job search, the key to reclaiming momentum and positive results was to pick up a piece of their past passions and add it to the current mix.  Reinventing by including a forgotten piece of a person, seemed to unlock the doors to luck and results.

Recently, I could even add myself to the list of anecdotal evidence.

This year started with a slow drag.  A long time employee had to leave suddenly and one of my children had to spend time in the hospital (all is fine).  It was not the momentum I had anticipated.  Once I finally surrendered to the inevitable pace, I had some time to think and I recognized that I wanted to have a lot more fun with my work.  A series of ah-ha’s finally coalesced to one big volcanic flash of understanding.  I needed to bring a huge piece of my past that had been put aside happily for seventeen years into the present.

You see, at the top of the year I had also treated myself to performing in my first musical in almost twenty years. It was more fun than should have been legal, and although I never consciously thought I missed performing because speaking fills that need for me, I realized I had left way too much of that part of me behind.

The ah-ha then was that I needed to include this in my plans moving forward. I did that by creating three new keynote speeches that included theatre within them instead of my normal, expert-based talks which always included humor but I did not ‘act’ in them.  Within days, I wrote a blog post based on one of them.  In less than 24 hours, I was asked to speak the following week on the topic and two more bookings of the other new keynotes followed.  In a month’s time, two former speaking clients came to me to book me for events, one of them choosing one of these new topics.  The speed and momentum at which this all occurred was monumental.

The doors flying open and the ‘yes’s’ that have ensued are too numerous to list here, but suffice it to say, it has been a welcome infusion of energy, satisfaction and money. Certainly, I also interpret it as a sign to keep moving forward with this new direction.

This is what I know to be true for many of our Now What? clients.  Reinvention today is not about pulling a new idea of the sky, but rather, about folding a forgotten piece into a new form that matches who you are today.  You must identify what that is and engage it now.  Let us know if we can help.

STRETCH TO REACH YOUR DREAMS

By on

by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

It’s that time of year, resolutions and new goals being set to make a leap into a new annum.  A time of reflection and renewed hope.  Nothing new to the person in career  transition .  Renewing hope is a daily, if not weekly occurrence in that case.

 As Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, once said, “Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy”.  That statement encapsulates why most people give up on their resolutions and why career transitions can grow hopeless and come to a standstill.  Hoping is not enough. Hope and faith are important elements but they have to be backed up with action.  A LOT of action!

This economic climate can make you want to give up but that does not serve anyone. In fact, now is the time to get outrageous and become so intense in your desire for what you want to achieve that you are willing to do whatever it takes.  Calling people you don’t know.  Sending out more resumes than you thought possible.  Putting yourself in opportunity’s way by creating your own way of doing things.  Trying something entirely new because you can and because it just may work out better than more traditional venues for success.  These times are calling for a big stretch.

Here comes the other potential pitfall. Earlier it was not taking enough action, and now as your willingness to do so is hopefully growing, you have to watch for the deflating possibility of not seeing results.  At least not right away.  If something is not moving in your world despite all your efforts, you need to understand that there is much you cannot see or fathom.  How many drops of water does it take to turn a dry riverbed back into a rushing force of liquid and momentum?  How much digging does it take before you hit gold?  You may quit too early and never know if you stop believing. 

It’s appropriate to take a break and see what the wind whispers as a new strategy.  It’s OK to change direction or to let your dream change form, but .  Stretching to reach your dreams means taking the bigger action and continuing to take them battling any notion that nothing is happening even if the evidence is not immediate.

Energy moves and so keep moving your world by taking smart action.  You are sending a ripple out and you will cause change.  Think of where you’d like to be in December of 2011.  Work your way backward to today envision each milestone you had to hit to be where you want to be at this time next year.  NOW, plan your first step of 2011.  It will be bigger than you’d logically would have come up with. 

Be renewed, be refreshed and keep on reaching for your career dreams.

Based on Chapter 12 of “Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction”, “Following Your Life Blueprint®”.

Internships as a Way to Career Transition

By on

According to a recent CareerBuilder survey, there has been an increase in experienced candidates applying for internships. Along with volunteering, internships and other apprenticeship opportunities can be a viable way to gain experience during your career transition. Equally important, they will expand your network at the same time. Check out this article for some good examples and resources. 

“Lessons From A 60-Year-Old Intern.”