“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
- Steve Jobs

I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. In this book, the authors outline a system to meet goals in any area of life –from how to loose weight, how to better your finances, how to stop addictions, how to change relationships. They even talk about how to further your career. The strategies and tactics they outline are derived from research at the Change Anything Labs in Utah. They also have a membership website to provide resources and tools for you to use as scientist and subject in the process of customizing a unique approach to changing your habits in a way that gives you the results you want.

By reading this book, you will learn why willpower in and of itself is not enough to mount a successful change effort in most cases. The authors explain that if you are relying on willpower alone, you are blind and outnumbered! Most importantly, they provide lots of ideas and options for you to become aware of your own crucial moments and corresponding vital behaviors. You’ll also learn about the six sources of influence and how to leverage them toward your cause. It’s particularly enticing that their research shows that successful changers often experience improvements in another area of concern for themselves as they go through the process of meeting goals in their main area of focus.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of “Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. I received no other compensation for this review.

• Ever notice that often you’re trained to do tasks that aren’t on the job description?

• It seems that often one only gets “meets expectations” for doing what is outlined in the job description on annual reviews.

• One thing that is kind of neat is that often the highest praise and potential for advancement comes when taking charge of something that is not on the job description.

Morale of the story: Don’t take a job description too literally —and use that to your advantage to customize a job to best match your strengths.

1. Skill Identification is a process that expands client’s personal skill vocabulary and effects and builds a positive change in self-confidence.
2. Explore both old jobs and new options. “New career direction.”
3. Development of different career options through a method/process that opens doors of opportunity that otherwise would be overlooked or discarded.
4. Personalized training and individual attention to those things that will set you apart from all other candidates.
5. Developing a clear self-presentation and unique marketing materials as well as learning key job searching tools.
6. Campaign focused mainly on personal one-on- one informational contacts where the jobs are in the making. When there is a vacancy or posted opening, “client usually gets an interview.”
7. In addition to posting a LinkedIn & Facebook profiles, all kinds of e-media are explored to build visibility and credibility in your chosen market.
8. Three-stage controlled networking campaign. Adeptly using internet for background research to locate, and connect with “countless” contacts.
9. Dual-approach to get interviews from employer-
identified ads: applying through personnel and
 approaching Hiring Decision Maker(s) directly.
10. Primary interview training: Referral Interviews, which build connections to the hiring decision makers. without waiting for “openings.” These interviews also train candidates for actual job interviews.
11. Step-by-step coaching to handling salary negotiations/questions given at the beginning of the search. Coaching at time of the offer generally increases comp package by 10% and more.
12. Client continues to build visibility and credibility in his/her chosen field. 5-year goals established as well as the development of your network “Power Team” that has been built to advance your career now and in the future.

As soon as I read this post by Seth Godin, I thought about Norm Peterson’s line (title of post above) from the old TV show, Cheers…with just a slight adjustment, of course. Seems a lot of folks are feeling the same way about resumes. It really does stink to get a pile of resumes in that do nothing but list job responsibilities, and I know that usually people hate writing them as much as others hate to read the average resume. Seth has a good point though because extraordinary people are moving more towards a portfolio rather than just a resume. Yes it is true, they very well might have a blog, an electronic or hard copy portfolio, an outstanding reputation, or a network of people that propels them forward…or all the above.

I personally love to see people get a job without a resume because that means they are using job hunt and career management strategies that have a higher chance of success rather than just sending a blind resume to some giant job board somewhere. It is much more likely that the offer they get is for a wonderful job that they will be well suited for too.

Even so resumes are still relevant and usually necessary even if only asked to submit one “for the file” after being hired. And, frankly, writing a resume right can be an excellent exercise in formulating the marketing message for your personal brand.

Here are a few “beyond the basics” guidelines to make your resume writing exercise more fruitful from a personal marketing message development standpoint and to help you end up with a resume that stands above the crowd.

1. Customize a resume for each position you apply for after learning what you can about the company and position. The best way to manage this is to create a master resume file. Include in it every bullet point you develop and don’t worry about the length of the document. When you need to customize a new resume, open your master resume file and do a “save as” to rename the file appropriate to who the new resume is for or what the position title is (i.e. 2008-02-06 Acme Sales Rep). Then update the objective and delete bullets points that are not relevant to the position being sure to save the new file as you go tweaking along.
2. When writing bullet points, don’t tell me what you did on the job; instead tell me how you made things better while you were there. What where you especially known for? How did you help save the company time or money? How did you help the company make money? How did you increase client satisfaction or help to find new clients? How did you contribute to tracking the details or insuring follow through of processes?
3. Always write in terms of results on a resume. Give me the bullet point listing your accomplished results then be prepared to give me the full power story once you have intrigued me into inviting you to an interview.

When I started my blog I felt the need to combine two ideas that, at first glance, are not connected at all – being an infopreneur and being a careerillionaire (especially since I played a part in making this one up). Actually the two ideas are connected inside me though since an infopreneurial component is part of how I am attaining my careerillionaire status. And I that is really what I want this blog to be about…inspiring others to the careerillionaire lifestyle of customizing their career in a way that encourages their own thriving (aka optimal growth & development).

Sure choosing a career and the world of work on a day-to-day basis is often much more practical than that. And of course, survival needs must be met first. But once a person has gained confidence in their own money making ability they will often begin to assess their comfort and happiness level in the opportunity they have landed. When they decide they want to strive for more, the quest begins.