job search

by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

I live with four stubborn mules.  They also happen to be my husband and children.

(Whose idea was it to put a coach in the home of the UNCOACHABLES^TM?)

I have to use great skill to rally support for unpopular notions even if that notion is a vacation to Alaska rather than Disney World. (OK, my husband was with me on that one) Our family can’t even agree on a movie to watch or which restaurant to grab a quick meal at.  I have to find openings where there aren’t any and I have to be creative in my approach to each person and each issue.

What does all this have to do with you, the reader of a career transition blog?  A lot.

If you’re in a job search or researching a new idea for your next career move or you’re testing the feasibility of a business idea or anything that requires discipline and determination,  you have to do the same.  Find openings where there are none and approach each situation with creativity.

You need DOGGED DETERMINATION.

How do we develop determination and tenacity?

You have to REALLY want it—How can you be determined and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed if you don’t really want what you are after in the first place?  You have to want tenacity and you have to want what you are after.  REALLY want it.

Yes, we sometimes have to do things just out of need or responsibility, but finding something behind your quest that inspires you is essential to sticking with it.

Humans need a strong WHY to move forward.  Find your WHY, love your WHY, and commit to your WHY!

You have to narrow your focus—Throwing it out there and see what sticks isn’t the best strategy.  Even if you have several areas of interest, narrow it down to two or three until you feel you have exhausted every possibility.  Then, add another focus if needed.  Determination can’t be spread thin.  It needs a very distinct target.

Create daily accountability—Whether it’ll be a reward system you set up for yourself, work with a partner/buddy to keep pace with or you are one of the lucky ones who can keep promises to yourself really well, determination builds with the union of heart, mind and action.  What will you do today towards ‘the dream’?

Be creative and ignore the norm— Most people get very stymied by the lack of response to their conventional attempts at their goals.  No response from a resume or building a website and not getting very many visitors, for example.  Developing determination,  once at to this point, you have to ask “Got Dogg?!”

Determined people don’t stop at the norm.  They bust out and become creative about how to reach their audience whether that be the hiring entity or your audience who buys from you.

This is a tricky area.  How do you get creative and still stay within appropriate boundaries?  Showing up on a camel dressed in exotic garb may get you attention, but not the job.  However, doing such for your new Middle Eastern restaurant in town might bring you customers.  Regardless, the point is to find the openings and opportunities to do things differently and get used to sticking out.

As one of my advisors, Vince Poscente,  told me recently: “You have to do what your competition is not willing to do.”

You can build the determination muscle for yourself.  Practice and don’t give up.  In the meanwhile, I’ll be determined to keep negotiating with the Uncoachables^TM and look to where I am uncoachable myself.

Got Dogg?  You better!

 

by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

To quit or not to quit?  That is the question.

Maybe you’ve been thinking of quitting your job, quitting your current job search or giving up on your dream.  You probably feel bad just entertaining the thought.  If you feel bad about it, is that a sign that you stay put? How does somebody know if quitting is the right thing? It’s so hard!

There’s always the pros/cons list if you want to rely on logic.  But, you see, logic will likely be overrun by fear, so we have to rule that out.  We probably can’t trust your gut at this point either, because the jittery butterflies make it hard to get an accurate read.

Then, HOW DO YOU KNOW????

Imagine you are out shopping for a new suit or pair of shoes.  Would you make the purchase if the item did not fit you?  Probably not, unless of course, you were totally desperate and had no choice because you had an event in the morning and the stores are closing in five minutes.

If whatever you are considering quitting doesn’t ‘fit’ you anymore, you have to be honest with yourself.  Yes, there are consequences, and maybe you can have the suit altered or the shoes stretched, but pay close attention to how you feel.  Is the energy in your body shutting down and feeling like a ‘no’ when you think of staying with the current course?  Is your energy a ‘YES’ when you imagine yourself quitting and on to the next thing?

This can be a little confusing too, because newness is exciting.  The ‘Yes’ energy can’t always be trusted if you are one to chase after the nearest, new shiny object like a bee dances from flower to flower in the summer looking for pollen.  However, if you are honest with yourself, know that the ‘YES’ feeling (as scary as it may be) is not just the escape from the hard work of something, then you have your answer.  It’s time to move on.

If the thing you are considering quitting still has ‘YES’ in it, despite it’s challenges, you have to stay and recommit.

Change is hard any way you slice it.  Whether you have to recommit and stay or you are ready to quit and forge a new path, it won’t be all sunshine and rainbows.  But the idea has to give your body a ‘YES’ the way a metal detector would go BEEP when it’s hit upon a treasure.

I recently worked with an unemployed lawyer who was very unhappy with his line of work and who had a very clear idea of what else he’d like to do.  The internal battle was all about logic—where the money would come from, which he was more qualified to do, and which would be most easily accessible.  Logic was winning, but the energy (and therefore action) was very low when it came to the job search of new legal work.  The energy was very high for the new thing but fear stopped him.  The answer was clear, but this lawyer needed more time to think about what he already knew to be true.  That was very lawyerly of him.  But the coach had to bow out until the ‘YES’ led to action.

As the New Year approaches, don’t let the ‘YES’ sit in your body unattended.  Life will tell you if you are wrong.  Make a move and see how it ‘fits.’  We outgrow jobs and directions like we outgrow clothes and shoes whether it’s due to size, fit or style.  It’s OK to quit when it truly doesn’t fit.

What does a 12-year old’s summer job have to do with you?  It may reflect a critical point where you  have strayed from your Life Blueprint®*.  In considering what your next career move might be, it’s important to consider the critical pieces you left behind long ago that might come back into your life now for greater satisfaction with your work.

This twelve year old happens to be my son.  When Wyatt expressed concern this spring that his older brother and twin sister had ways to make money in the coming summer months and he did not, this mom/coach went to work.

What does Wyatt love?  Animals.  We checked out the local pet daycare center.  He wasn’t old enough to help out.  They suggested the shelter.  The shelter was not training new volunteers until the Fall.  And then it hit me.  We have many neighbors with small dogs, cats and other pets.  Pet Care by Wyatt was born.

Flyers, business cards, a matching daily report sheet for the pet owner post –care, one walk around the neighborhood, and he was in business.  Two customers so far and word of mouth is positive and growing.  No, you can’t find him on the Internet, yet but I have one happy kid who is making money and feeling pretty good about himself.

So back to you…..What are the parallel lessons ?

When different avenues are blocked; make your own way

If doors are closing on you in a job search or you have something that lights you up that you want to do but there are many obstacles, it is not necessarily a sign to give up.  It may just be an indication that you have to do what others are not willing to do.

You can make your own way.  Whether it’s starting a business, moonlighting or taking unconventional routes to meet the people you need to meet to who can get you where you want to go, you must do it.  It doesn’t matter how long it takes.  Keep the day job and make in-roads any way you can.  As Patti Danos, my first publicist used to say: “[Be] pleasantly persistent!”

Don’t ignore your daydreams

Part of what informed choosing Pet Care with my son was knowing how he dreams of having a dog or cat of his own.  It’s just not something our family can take on right now, but it was certainly what had to be listened to in creating this opportunity.

As I write this, there are two clients of mine setting up a time to meet.  One worked with me years ago, the other is doing so now.  They share a common daydream: Becoming a teacher—being someone who can share what they know and have a positive influence.  The former client is doing just that after years of hesitation and the current one is doing his research to decide if his daydream will take on more importance and become action towards this new destination he envisions.

Daydreams (and those at night, too) cannot be cast off as unrealistic as they may sound or as impossible to justify as they might appear.  They MUST be included in next steps if you are pondering them.  Only if you want to be happy, of course.

Get the word out

Procrastination, fear, embarrassment, uncertainty—all are reasons why people keep their ideas for new directions to themselves.  They are also the reasons why nothing is happening!

People are the cilia that move the cell along its path.  You need to be talking about what you are thinking of doing as a way to bring opportunity to you. No one can help you if they don’t know about what you are up to.  Networking your way to results can’t happen if you are not talking to anyone.

I understand that sometimes you can’t telegraph or announce your intentions or questions because it can jeopardize your safety net, but at some point, keeping quiet is keeping things from developing the way you want.

The beginning of the process is not the time to rent out a billboard in Times Square with a big announcement, but it is the process of talking to the right people (supportive, discreet, info-centric and resourceful for your area of interest) to move you along your path from inkling, to decision and on to action.

When you’re at action, you’ll catch up with my self-employed twelve-year-old.  We already envision a franchise.  What do you see?

* A Life Blueprint® is your undeniable preferences and talents that are seemingly part of your DNA.  They are the clues to what will bring you satisfaction in work and life.