Cool movie by Dr. Jim Bright at The Factory Podcast on chaos and careers.
Archive for 'flow'
There is definitely something to be learned by studying those who find their success by following their bliss. Here are some things that characterize those kinds of people.
- They have a zest for their work which fuels their zest for life.
- Most of the time they are happy and energetic and generally a breath of fresh air.
- They seem above the fray and are usually relaxed and composed.
- They are proud of their contributions and move along with confidence and ease.
- They will talk to anyone about what they do for a living with pride and enthusiasm.
How can anyone have that?
It begins with knowing it is possible, and believing you can tap into that kind of abundance. Then move to some visualization…see yourself in those shoes and feel it in your body as if you were already there!
- Imagine that others find you joyful to be around and that even complete strangers will support you in your goals.
- Be cognizant of when you are in a zone, when things are coming easily. These “flow” experiences are major hints that you are on the right track and they will help you identify your passion. Appreciate that feeling as often as you can. In fact, appreciate all good feelings you notice no matter what observation brings them!
- Look for people who are in a groove, study their success, and imagine how you would feel if you had results like them. Focus on the pieces that feel good to you and be inspired to your next action steps then enjoy and appreciate your progress as you go on your way.
Step #1 Pay attention to what you’re focusing on.
This step alone can do wonders for you almost immediately. First understand that what you focus on affects your emotional state, or how you feel.
If what you’re thinking about makes you feel bad it affects your energy level in a bad way. If you’re thinking about something that makes you feel bad you will quickly start to feel stressed or tired or just generally have a bad attitude.
On the other hand, if what you’re thinking about makes you feel good it affects your energy level in a good way. It doesn’t really matter if what you’re thinking about it is true or not what matters is if it helps you feel good.
So use this to enhance your career. For example if thinking about the weekend or free time makes you feel good then don’t wait until Friday to daydream about the weekend. But if thinking about the weekend makes you feel bad because you want it to be the weekend now or it makes you yearn for the weekend, then avoid thoughts about the weekend choosing to focus on something to make you feel good instead.
Here is another example. On a recent episode of Dancing with the Stars, Olympian Evan Lysacek was being coached by his dancing pro Anna Trebunskaya. Evan is a top notch technician but was not good at showing emotion in his dancing. Anna asked him, “What makes you happy?” Evan mumbled something about cars and then said, as his face lit up, “my baby nephew!”
He then proceeded to show cute little videos of his nephew on his phone to his coach smiling & laughing the whole time. Anna capitalized on that reaction and brought it to his attention. Long story short, he danced like a whole new man in that week’s competition. Even more importantly, he now knows a trick (shall we say, a Jedi mind trick?) for something to focus on when he notices he is not feeling as happy as he could.
Step #2 Use your strengths in your career.
Strengths as related to careers are activities that you enjoy doing, that you do well, and that you don’t mind doing repeatedly. This new hot philosophy on strengths was developed by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton in the book, “Now, Discover Your Strengths.”
They promote the idea that we can be happier in our careers by focusing on strengths instead of trying to improve weaknesses. In fact, they say that one can advance further and faster in skill attainment by practicing and developing one’s strengths rather than one’s weaknesses (for example, their idea that you can work everyday to improve a weaknesses and achieve only lackluster results). The book is a little long winded because of all the theory and development talk, but when you buy the book you get an assessment code to enter online to take the assessment. The more recent version is StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. The book is much more of a friendly, quick reference which also includes an assessment.
Step #3 Be selfish.
No, I don’t mean selfish in a bad way. It is simply that factoring in everyone else’s opinion of what you should be doing in your work, (or for that matter what anyone thinks about the work you do) is exhausting and fruitless…so be selfish! After all, YOU are the one putting in the time and attention to whatever you choose for your career, and you are the one noticing everyday how you feel about your career (see step #1). So be selfish, and take charge of your career development to make sure your work is life-enhancing.
How long would it take you to gather up all the information you need to fill out a complete professional history for a job or school application? Would you be able to get your hands on all the data you’d need? Despite the best of intentions and filing efforts, most people struggle to pull together their career and educational histories.
If you’ve ever scrambled to find papers and wracked your brain to piece together dates you’ve held jobs or received educational certifications, then you know what a headache it is to have disorganized professional records.
If you’ve ever agonized over writing a resume because you can’t remember what you accomplished in past positions, then you know the feeling of missing – or almost missing – a deadline to apply for a position.
Or, if you’ve ever not gotten the raise or promotion you were hoping for because you didn’t have your thoughts put together well enough to build your case, then you know firsthand that disorganization can lead to missed opportunities.
Weekly career tracking is important for several reasons.
- Investing the time to do it now and as you go along will save you time in the long run.
- Details are much easier to record while fresh in your mind rather than having to hunt for them later.
- Knowing the specifics and being able to speak confidently about them will help your confidence and credibility when applying, networking, and interviewing.
- If you ever get stuck in a career rut where you don’t know what to do next, you can get ideas by easily taking an inventory of what you have done previously.
- Someday you might need a school or college transcript to apply for a job or educational opportunity, and now you will have the details of how to do it at your fingertips.
- Tracking attendance to conferences and membership in professional associations will ensure you get the most benefit for your time and money spent.
If you haven’t kept up with these details so far, then you’ll have a good bit of extra work to get started, but once you’ve established a baseline record, keeping it up to date will be a piece of cake.
When you take ownership of your career materials and records, you take ownership of your career direction. Career tracking is meant to help you secure the most satisfying, rewarding, and—if you desire—money-making opportunities at any moment in time.
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.
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
Careerillionaires have a zest for their work which feeds their zest for life. Most of the time they are happy and energetic and generally a breath of fresh air. They seem above the fray and are usually relaxed and composed. They are proud of their contributions and move along with confidence and ease. They will talk to anyone about what they do for a living with pride and enthusiasm.
How can anyone have that?
It begins with knowing it is possible, and believing you can tap into that kind of abundance. See yourself in those shoes. Imagine that others find you joyful to be around and that even complete strangers will support you in your goals. Be cognizant of when you are in a zone, when things are coming easily. These “flow” experiences are major hints that you are on the right track and they will help you identify your passion.
Most importantly, live in the present moment, the now. Sure, set goals and spend a small amount of time periodically thinking about what you want to get done and what you desire to achieve in the short and long term. But then get to work doing what can be done right now.
Go and see!
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