Now What?® Coaching

from Laura Berman Fortgang

Laura Berman Fortgang

CUT OUT THE MIDDLE STEP

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by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

Four years ago, at a bookstore event, a woman asked a question about a career strategy she was hatching.  Her goal was to become a global director for the multinational company she worked for.  Her question was about her next move to attain an interim position that would get her to her goal.  Immediately, I realized she did not want that interim step but it was what she thought was necessary to get what she wanted. I recommended just going for what she really wanted instead.

I never heard from her again until a few weeks ago. She told me she had been holding that global director position since shortly after she asked that question.

Another woman had come to get some short-term coaching to confirm she had made the right career choice for herself. She was in a pharmacist’s training school.  Once we got to work it was clear that being a pharmacist was not what the woman wanted at all!  She chose that field because she felt it had job security and she could build a good financial future for herself. The truth was she was miserable and hated every minute of it.  She wanted a strong financial future, not a pharmacist’s life.

Both these women and countless others, male and female, mistakenly put a middle step between where they are and where they want to go.  Every path we take in life has its stepping stones.  No one is going to get a driver’s license and then fly an airplane.  You’d need flying lessons and getting the required hours before getting in the air.  However, there are other life steps or career steps that are not necessary but rather, mere creations of our own mistaken rules for accomplishment.

If you hear yourself thinking:  “ I need to do x to get y” think again.  Take out the ‘x’ and re-examine your strategy.  The truth is “I want Y”. The question is ‘how do I get that?’.  That is what should form your strategy.

Life will tell you if there is indeed an interim step you need, you don’t need to make more work for yourself. Take out the middle step and see how you springboard into opportunity.

REINVENTION: LESS ABOUT ADDITION AND MORE ABOUT SUBTRACTION

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by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang

We are clearly in the Age of Reinvention. So many industries are doing complete makeovers of themselves and some are even disappearing.  The result: Those wanting to stay or become employed have to reinvent right alongside this trend or be closed out or left behind.

Publishing, automotive, retail, advertising, manufacturing.  These are just a few of the sectors that are being rethought completely. So, whether you are an executive or a line worker, things are changing and so must you.

The tendency is to think you must be more or do more or add a missing skill or edge to keep yourself in the running in this job market.  In some cases, that is true. Maybe there is a degree or a certification that has to happen, but the truth is, the next step for most people who need to reinvent is to subtract something from their approach.  It’s not about adding. It’s about subtracting!  Subtracting what’s in the way of what really lights you up. Maybe it’s even more accurate to say, while you do your math, reinvention is about borrowing….from the past.

The reinvention formula seems to be, based on our collective research and experience at Now What?® Coaching, as follows:

The PRESENT-THE DEAD WEIGHT + SOME Marginalized Passion,talent or wish from the past= NEW MOMENTUM/ANSWER TO REINVENTION

Becoming a chef after years of ignoring that passion as an unhappy lawyer ,opening a chocolate shop after being laid off from a ‘secure’ government job  or performing in a musical after being away from it for 17 years to find that the next step is to bring more performance nuance to my speeches.  (YES, my own current reinvention)

These are all examples of listening to the stirrings inside you that have been set aside in the name of logic, conventional wisdom and security.  Those are what need to be subtracted to finally add opportunity, momentum, satisfaction and maybe even joy to your life.  And these will go far to create financial opportunities as well.

Make 2011 the year of your reinvention. Let us know how we can help.

STRETCH TO REACH YOUR DREAMS

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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®”.

Put Yourself in Opportunity’s Way

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Can you cause things to occur?  Can you make luck happen? 

It can feel like the odds are stacked up against you in the current economic climate and job market. In our work at Now What?® Coaching, we’ve found that once you tap into what you really want to do (despite logic or how improbable it is) the roadblocks melt away one by one as you persevere to beat the odds.  We find you CAN create your own luck.

What does it take?  Perseverance, blocking out naysayers, following your intuition against the odds and taking risks. BIG risks.

I saw the movie, SECRETARIAT, last night.  Even though I knew the outcome of the horse’s history, I still found myself completely intrigued and committed to championing the main (human) character, Penny Tweedy.  Penny was a housewife who had not been involved with her family’s horse farm for many years. When her mother died and her father was no longer able to take care of things, she stepped in.  It was her intuition, research, and tenacity that sired the success of her racehorse, Secretariat.

All the odds were stacked against Penny.  She had little experience, she was a woman at a time where ridiculing her publicly was still an acceptable tactic for her male opponents, her own husband and brother were her biggest naysayers, she did not have the money to do what she wanted to do and she was operating on her 20-year memory of her MBA studies (not mentioned in the movie), her gut and her spiritual connection to her horse.

She and her horse accomplished the impossible according to conventional wisdom.  To Penny, it was always possible and it is that conviction that is required to beat the odds. Odds, which in Secretariat’s case, were never repeated, by the way. (no horse has ever beat those times)

Putting yourself in opportunity’s way, in the most basic terms, means getting yourself out there.  Talking to people, operating like you are already successful (despite your fear and feelings of being an impostor), taking chances by asking for what you want and stretching beyond your comfort zone.

What happens when you do that is that you are putting a stake in the ground.  You are telegraphing to the ‘ethers’ and to the people in your life that you are serious and that your intention is to set the course to this particular thing happening.  When you cut off all other options, you operate differently.  You can’t afford to let fear stop you.  Life will tell you quickly if you’re wrong, but in my experience, by the time you get to this point, you are on to something that is very right for you.  Obstacles are still likely, but they increase determination instead of the opposite.

Do it.  Put yourself in opportunity’s way. Push through and watch the tides turn in your direction.  It’s not forcing results at any cost, but rather re-educating the universe, yourself and those around you as to what you are willing to have in your life. OPPortunity is UP to YOU.

Based on Chapter 10 of “Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction”, “Put Yourself in Opportunity’s Way”.  More on this topic in Laura’s upcoming “The Prosperity Plan” (January 2011)

Now What? Q &A: Your Money or Your Life?

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Today’s question came from a caller from Alabama during a recent Community Call and is answered by: Laura Berman Fortgang.  

Question:

I’m in the process of training for a new field but I’m also concerned about my retirement.  Should I just be thinking of my nest egg instead of changing careers?

Answer:

My father was a first generation American and the first to go to college in his family.  He became an engineer and spent 32 years with the same company, only to be fired 18 months short of retirement.  Over the years it was clear that he hated his work and I begged him to change jobs.  But he felt he had to stay and put the kids through school.  So I understand the issues you’re raising about financial planning.  It’s certainly not about just throwing caution to the wind, yet sometimes you have to put your soul ahead of your wallet.  Who knows how long you’ll be working?  And the truth is we don’t know how long we are going to live, either.  It’s a matter of balance.  You are saying you have 20 years until retirement but maybe you’ll be working even longer, so try out a few things and give yourself some time.  Experiment, moonlight, volunteer, and see if you strike upon a passion while also looking at whether that passion can make you money.  People are being forced to reinvent and that sometimes includes a bit of their past that was previously overlooked up until now.  It may mean taking chances.  Did you see the story we ran about the laid off autoworker who turned professional bowler?  It’s possible to merge the things you naturally enjoy with your livelihood if you remain open to how that might happen.

Now What? Q &A – The Golden Thread in your Life Story

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Today’s question came from a caller from Philadelphia during a recent Community Call and is answered by: Laura Berman Fortgang.  

Question:

I’ve been working in the HR field since graduating college and have been at my current company for eleven years.  Recently a boss whom I considered a toxic influence has moved on and things are a better, more status quo.  I’m trying to figure out a good transition job to see if I can still enjoy HR before deciding if I want to step out of the field entirely.  I’m working with the Now What book but I’m struggling with the Life Story exercise.  I’m stuck in the analysis of it and can’t find what you call the Golden Thread.                                                                                       

Answer:

Your life story is what formed you and there are themes there.  You’re probably working way too hard at analyzing the story and it would be helpful to have someone else look at it.  For instance:

  • What were the things you excelled at in grade school and high school?  
  • What did you get accolades for in your younger years?
  • What were your dreams when you were younger?

In answering Laura’s questions, these are some of the things that were mentioned:  traveling, going to new places and having new experiences, discussing things, and asking questions.

Laura: All the things you’ve mentioned have the theme of discovery in them.  You like exploring and digging for answers like an archaeologist.  This is a “golden thread” for you and one of the overriding themes in your story.  Traveling might be a good way to get back in touch with that part of you and take some time to remember that feeling you are looking for in work – that discovery sense.  Even if it’s not far away travel, it will be good for you.  So this is one of the clues your life story is showing you.  As you consider your options, look at them with the frame of:  Where can I tap into this discovery mode?

Our caller was instantly lit up and encouraged.  She had never noticed the theme in all the things she liked to do.  She saw how that was missing in her work and why she’d grown restless.