Tag: Clarity
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Is It Flying Or Is It Just Me?
The last few years have felt like they’ve been speeding by and this one is on steroids compared to them. I feel catapulted i
nto outer space by the speed at which time flies. Oddly, the feeling bookends the individual days that seem to have plenty of time in them.The push and pull, pulse-racing and deep breathing seems to be the ying and yang of recent times and I think it reflects what happens for the clients I work with on their careers. The rhythm of life and business don’t have a steady pace. It ebbs and flows and so does your career search or your ability to move ahead.
Can you harness that or control it? The key is to be ready for it and expect it. Circumstances don’t stay good or bad. Things are always in flux.
The way to deal with it is to create conditions you can control. You can control (or at least plan) a structure within which to work on the changes you want to create. Be consistent in those actions. For example, if you are looking into what you might do next or you are sending out resumes, keep doing the research and wallpapering the internet with your resume no matter what. Repetition is key.
I’ve recently started to step up my exercise regime after a long streak of doing minor amounts of physical activity due mostly to back issues. I hate working out so much it was easy to let the smallest amount of pain keep me from trying. However, the middle-age spare tire has been growing and the lazy streak had to stop. I’ve had to get back up to speed slowly—first taking restorative yoga classes and aerial yoga which is very easy on the body. Finally, it was time to take an intermediate level class. After the first one, I couldn’t walk for five days. Once I could walk, I came back every other day. My level of fitness is increasing. Weight loss will come but consistency is going to be the most important factor. I’m not back to doing a headstand or handstand. I am not back to full flexibility but I know it will come if I keep up consistent action. I know that they gym with weights and cardio will interest me again as I keep feeling better and wanting to build strength further and further.
Here is what I want you to take away from this. Consistent action. We can’t wait to see success. We have to just keep building and stop measuring the results.
Obviously, you are not going to persist if something is not working at all but with steady, consistent work peppered with the occasional burst of high-intensity creativity and action will get results. Just don’t give up. I’m saying that to myself too.
I worked with Scott in the last year on figuring out what he wanted to do with his life. We succeeded at gaining clarity on what his next career move needed to include to gain the satisfaction he was missing. When we parted ways, his job was to keep networking to make his way into a new field. What transpired over consistent action and time (less then four months) was that he was approached by a vendor he worked with through his job to lead their $800 million company. Scott’s story will appear in the updated and revised anniversary edition of Now What? coming out March 2015 so stay tuned for details.
Be consistent. Keep on your career quest. I’ll keep going to the (yoga) mat. Time won’t stand still for us but we will be less at the effect of it if we stay the course.
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Performing With Purpose
by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang
Why do you do what you do?
Have you asked yourself that lately? Does it matter? If you want to wake up full of energy, ready to tackle your day and excited about
what’s waiting in the office, than yes, it matters.Knowing why you do what you do and what it is that you uniquely contribute brings great satisfaction, clarity and direction. It also helps you feel that you are ‘on purpose’.
Ennui and frustration set in when there is no growth, no challenge and no meaning. Don’t let that happen to you.
The WHY?
Why do what you do? For yourself? For your family? To further a cause or a mission? To move the world to a better place? To amass wealth?
The ‘why’ is a great motivator. You’ve heard the expression ‘keep your eye on the prize’. The ‘why’ is the prize.
Some people do things to make others proud or to provide or to cause change. Others do things to appease, please or assuage guilt. Others still act out of revenge, envy or to prove something.
Whatever works for you will be fuel for your dreams, you’ll use, but it might be worth erring to the side of the more loving qualities if it’s purpose and meaning you want as the core of why you perform.
The WHO
Completing the picture of performing with purpose is understanding that what you do is not going to make you happy unless you can truly express who you are through it.
Each of us serves a function for the people we come across in our work and in our lives. Our choice becomes if we want to serve that function in a positive way or in a way that leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths. In other words, do you leave people better off or worse off after dealing with you over the course of a day?
Performing with purpose means seeking out opportunities to share that ‘magic dust’ that you exude and making it more and more a
part of your daily existence. How do you figure out what that is? Start asking people. Yes, seriously. Start asking people you trust and what positive effect, if any, you have on them. See where the answers start sounding the same and you will find critical mass building towards understanding your purpose.
Years ago, I worked with a very successful woman in telecom sales who was not having a very positive effect on the people around her. When made aware of her impact, she wanted to change. She wanted to leave people feeling better after being in contact with her. She made it her business to be encouraging and curious about other people. She continued to be successful in her sales numbers, but she also started being tapped for her marketing ideas. Within a few months, she made a full change to the marketing function and within a couple of years, her focus on performing with purpose led her to enter training and development and eventually getting trained as a certified coach. None of these changes were part of any career plan, but rather a plan to live from a sense of purpose. Her career path took her beyond any one she had dreamed for herself.
She had to figure it out for herself, but you can ask the people in your life and start doing more of what’s working. Performing with purpose will be satisfying, meaningful, fun and reap surprising rewards.
So what will it be? “Magic Dust” or everyday grind? Your choice.
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Do You Know the Value of Your Own Stock?
by Ginny Kravitz, Deputy Editor
Bird in the Hand
After a 22-year career with the company, Rose became part of a downsizing. Though her severance package was fairly
generous, she was very anxious about finding a job, as she was a single mother with the pressures of a high mortgage in California. After two months, Rose was offered a position with the same company in a different department. Though she was overqualified and the salary was less than what she had been earning previously, she accepted the offer. Her family’s and friends’ nervousness about her situation reverberated through the phone lines with a loud and clear message: YOU BETTER TAKE IT. Rose took their advice but inside her spirits sunk with the unmistakable feeling of taking “multiple steps backwards”.The day after Rose accepted the offer, she was contacted to interview for a dream job to which she had applied, also with the same company. In this role Rose would be able to make a bigger impact, there was room for advancement, and the money was better, too.
The Twist: Rose would have to decline the first offer in order to interview for her dream job.
The Dilemma: Accept the bird in the hand or take a risk and go for the dream job.Chips on the Table
Once again Rose was under significant pressure from her family and friends to take the first job. I told her that no one would fault her for going with the bird in the hand. It was a valid choice. Only you know what is right for you. What’s important is that you understand the reasons for choosing A or B and are at peace with your decision.
Neither Rose’s family nor I as her coach knew the right answer for Rose. Only she could know that. What I did know is that it was essential for Rose to define the why behind her choices and to come to terms with her own risk tolerance. What was she willing to risk and what was she not willing to risk?“
Do whatever you have to do to hear your deep truth.” That was my coaching request of Rose. This is what she did in response: wrote down the pros and cons, limited exposure to people who were worried about her, noticed fears for what they were, gave herself some time to be quiet and pray, went for walks to move her body, and slept on it one more night.
Clarity came in the morning. Rose woke up feeling calm and ready to take the risk. She would decline the first offer and go for the second. The change in Rose’s voice was palpable. She was emboldened and enlivened to decline the offer and demonstrate confidence in herself by going for it. It was as if she were saying, “I know you can’t guarantee me the job but I’m confident in my abilities and I know what I’m worth.” This action made quite a statement that was not lost on the hiring manager. Rose’s chips were on the table. She had stated her worth. Now the real test would come.
Continue reading here.
