On Being Fired

It is likely you may be fired at some point in the course of your career. This, of course, can come as a total shock but it is imperative to come to terms with such an experience so that you can recover quickly and be able to represent yourself well in upcoming job interviews. Spend some time processing what happened and practice verbalizing the lessons learned in a non-emotional way. Keep a positive attitude that you are preparing to go on to bigger and better things. The reality is that even to employers these days being fired isn’t necessarily a mark against you depending on how you recover. Remember many successful people have been fired at some point in their career before becoming a superstar.

Tagged with: • •

Filed under: Job Search

Goal Setting

We have all heard the statistics about setting goals. Those who write their goals down are more likely to reach them. For me, writing down main goals in several categories on an annual basis is the best way to go. I use the time around my birthday each year to inventory which goals were achieved and which were not, as well as to set goals for the next year. I pick the most important ones to me and break them down to smaller steps to be accomplished each month or quarter along the way to my next birthday.

Goal setting is a very personal thing, though. We all have to take time to learn what works best for us and stick to that. If a technique sounds good to you, try it for a month or so. Check your motivation and results at the end of the month to determine if that system is a keeper for you. Finding what works best is simply a trial and error exercise. The important thing is to keep trying.

When there is a goal you do not reach on a given year or time period that you established, it is time to reassess whether it’s important enough to keep it on the list for the next year. If it is important to you still, no harm done, you just guessed wrong about when you could get it accomplished. So put it on the list again and spend time reviewing the reasons why it is important to you still. Then try again. If the goal is no longer relevant or important to you then let it go without worrying about it any further. Turns out that goal was just not important in the grander scheme of things.

Living in the moment and being fully present is also an important idea to remember when goal setting. Sometimes it can be easy to be distracted with anticipating a future goal or accomplishment that must be achieved before you can move on. But, there is no need to be unhappy seeking a time in the future when all is accomplished. Even though it is important to outline goals and work towards accomplishments, it is also imperative to learn to enjoy the process!

Tagged with: • • • • •

Filed under: Mentoring

About Your Dream Job

Finding your dream job is a process not a destination. The key factor to start the journey is to define your dream job, yes, but also add “for now.” This is important for many reasons but mainly so that you can have some appreciation for where you are right now in the process. It is also important because you are continually learning more, acquiring new skills, and making new distinctions about whatever career you are pursuing so that your “dream job” is constantly evolving as you become more aware about yourself and the possibilities.

Tagged with: • • •

Filed under: Career Choice

Mentoring in Small Doses

The role of mentor doesn’t actually have to be formalized and stuffy. I imagine many successful people give mentoring on a regular basis to several different people but likely in small doses due to busy schedules. Often when someone is successful in their field they are passionate about what they do and love to share their expertise. The key then is to find the people who are where you want to be and get some time with them. Here is one way to do that.

First, outline or journal what your career will look like when you arrive at the “next level.” What will you be doing in your work? What experience & education will you have achieved? How are you impacting your industry?

Second, find people who are already doing what you outlined for your “next level” self. Look for them in writing and speaking that is going on in your industry and in professional associations associated with your industry, or attend a conference or training, and search for them on LinkedIn.

Third, start a dialog with those you identify. Ask the question, “what advice do you have for someone who is interested in doing what you are doing?” Ask also how they stay up-to-date in the field. Be sure to thank them for their time by writing them a thank you note or email or a quick follow up phone call or message later. Consider them a part of your professional network and send info their way when you see or hear about something they might like to know.

Finally, be open to reciprocate when someone approaches you with the same questions about how you got where you are.

Tagged with: • • •

Filed under: Mentoring

Career Bliss or Bust

Okay, so it doesn’t have to be total bliss but it should not be career hell either. I mean look at what often happens to people who stay in jobs they hate…stress and health issues, negative effect on relationships, and overall poor quality of life — what a bust!

But food does need to get to the table and sometimes despite all your best preparations and intentions, you don’t know that the job you just accepted is a buster until you are in it. From there you have a few options.

  • Assuming you are financially able, admit the mistake asap and get the heck out of dodge within the first few months on the job. Don’t do it more than once or you are demonstrating poor decision making skills but it is a once in a decade option if need be and it can become a “lessons learned” story.
  • Follow the advice of Eckert Tolle and learn to drop the emotion, frustration, anxiety, and anger around the situation and be fully conscious and egoless in the present moment. This approach will help you stay in the job you accepted and it will help you to make a smoother transition overall when the time comes.
  • Hang in at the job remembering to take care of yourself a bit more than usual on your time off. Give yourself plenty of opportunities for rejuvenating exercise and recreation. Also, give yourself permission to further explore your interests and be open and creative about possibilities for your next career move.

There is definitely something to be learned by studying those who find their success by following their bliss. I believe following your interests is so important because interests are often little taps from intuition pointing to flow experiences and other types of abundance.

Tagged with: • • • • •

Filed under: Career Development

Infopreneur Must Over-Deliver

I wrote previously about very high priced info products. My biggest question is how does the infopreneur over-deliver at those prices? It seems to me that over-delivering is such an important factor to an infopreneur’s reputation…an infopreneur that wants to sell more than one product anyway. I guess someone could consciously decide to be a one-hit wonder though especially with some of the huge product launches that some people like to talk about.

In fact, over-delivering is important for an infopreneur or careerillionaire really. The infopreneur who over-delivers sells more products and the careerillionaire who does is met with more opportunities.

Over-delivering begins with knowing precisely what you are offering and being able to appropriately communicate that to the potential client. There must also be some understanding of the client’s point-of-view too. All together, no easy task when you think about it and that is why over-delivering can have such a big impact.

Tagged with: •

Filed under: Entrepreneur

Career Myth Debunked

A widely held myth about careers is that there is a perfect one out there for everyone. That is not true because there are actually several careers out there that would be a good match for you! Isn’t that exciting news? I believe it is. For one thing, this point of view relieves the burden of continually seeking the perfect match in order to find career happiness. Instead you are free to focus on where you are currently in your journey allowing life and opportunity to unfold in ways more satisfying than you could have planned. I think this is primarily due to the enthusiasm that will shine through you when you give yourself permission to embrace your unique strengths and interests. That enthusiasm then serves as a strong attractor of people and circumstances to propel you on your way.

“When you follow your bliss…doors will open where you would have thought there would not be doors, and where there would not be a door for anyone else.” —Joseph Campbell

Tagged with: • • • • •

Filed under: Career Choice

Career vs Infopreneurial Blogging

I’m surprised how much forethought blogging actually takes. You have to decide a topic and a voice, which platform to use, what design and plugins to use, whether to have comments or not, and how often to post, to name a few. Plus there is a big learning curve to face. Then you have to find a balance between creating posts and checking stats and such…all potentially very time consuming (and addictive).

Blogging is certainly not for everyone. It is getting pretty popular though. Truthfully, I’m not sure if I am glad to be doing it yet or not. I’m sticking with it because I think it will pay off soon as I get faster at developing content and better at juggling it with my other projects. For me, the only downside has been the time commitment and the pressure to post. I’m not going too crazy about deadlines but I am striving to be consistent. The pluses for me have been that I enjoy learning about the technology and I now have a relevant reason to get my thoughts and ideas down on paper on a regular basis which really helps with my infopreneurial endeavors.

Yesterday, I saw a very good article about the benefits of building a content focused website rather than blogging. It was very convincing. From an infopreneurial standpoint it definitely makes more sense to think in terms of a content driven site rather than a blog mainly due to potentially improved page ranking to more easily connect to the intended target audience. Another reason is the higher level of control the infopreneur can have over their writing/production schedule with a content driven website. The big downside the infopreneurial blogger has to overcome is that the relationship building aspect of blogging is quite strained right from the start when you are so obviously trying to sell something. I mean it has to be done carefully because how many people would subscribe to a constant commercial? Here are a couple of infopreneurial website examples for you. The first is a content driven site, Love-of-Roses.com. This site is less than a year old from what I understand and has an awesome traffic ranking already. Next, here is one in the form of a blog, Seth Godin’s Blog. Seth has figured out the fine line that an infopreneurial blogger must manage to build traffic and sell his products and expertise.

Now, career blogging is a whole different story. I believe it to be a cutting edge career advancement technique. Your blog can become a showcase for your unique knowledge and skills. With small regular posts you can quickly build an impressive portfolio demonstrating more about your personality and quality of work while building your reputation at the same time. Plus, a blog can be an outstanding networking tool. This is just the kind of thing the blogosphere was meant for…sharing information, having a discussion, building relationships. Here is a fine example of a career blog to check out if you like the idea of blogging to advance your career – Publishing Careers by Lori Cates Hand. I love the way she has built the blog around the central theme of an informational interview for those interested in the industry. This instantly sets her up as an expert. It also leads to numerous ideas for topics to write about as she discusses her own career journey and daily activities. She also interviews others in the industry which greatly furthers her professional networking activities and exposure. Brilliant!

Tagged with: • • • • • •

Filed under: Job Search

Personal Mission Statement

Essentially a personal mission statement is about your big picture purpose in life. In 50 words or less, mission statements are concise guiding principles that you can refer to again and again to remind you of why you are doing what you are doing.

The mission statement touches on the idea of life’s purpose and why we are here. Most of us at one time or another have wondered along this train of thought, right? We feel we must be here for a reason, a higher purpose if you will.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could bring in money and be working on our purpose in life at the same time? You have probably seen people or known people who have found their mission in life. They are passionate about and proud of the work they do and seem to exude a special type of energy or joy.

Mission statements will evolve as you go through the stages of your life. In fact, it is interesting to save old mission statements as a record of how you have changed over the years. Maybe your mission statement will be essentially the same and only become better defined and distinguished. Or, maybe your mission statement will change dramatically. Either way is perfectly fine.

Tagged with: • • •

Filed under: Career Choice

Millionaire Blueprints

Millionaire Blueprints is one of my favorite reads. There are great stories in here to inspire entrepreneurs and people in traditional careers since the featured bios demonstrate a lot of creative thinking and persistence. You can also feel the passion of people in all kinds of businesses and careers which is very inspirational.

I think reading good stuff like this makes an abundance mindset more likely by helping to keep us more aware of opportunities all around us as well as our own potential based on our unique combination of personal strengths.

Tagged with: • • • • •

Filed under: Resources

 Page 13 of 15  « First  ... « 11  12  13  14  15 »