Archive for 'purpose'

Book Review: Creating Careers With Confidence

book cover of Creating Careers with ConfidenceThis book is on my list of all-time favorite career books. It is an important and inspirational self-help career discovery workbook. “Creating Careers with Confidence” by Edward Anthony Colozzi will help you answer the question “What career is right for me?”

Dr. Colozzi walks you through a process that is grounded in career development theory. It is very insightful and lots of fun! His caring, creative, and intuitive style oozes through the page when he encourages you to trust yourself in self-assessment as he simplifies decades of complex career research to make it inspiring and practical.

The most exciting part about doing the exercises in Dr. Colozzi’s book is that you end up with a list of occupations that are a good fit with a thorough understanding of why. Also, you will have a step-by-step guide to occupational research. Even more impressive is that you will have a decision making process at your finger tips as he spends a whole chapter on “key concepts for making successful career-life decisions.”

There is a strong emphasis in this book on career-life roles. This is so important in combination with personal values. Without considering this aspect, all your career plans are more likely to get blown out the window as you enter different life stages. Dr. Colozzi also does a phenomenal job presenting stress tips and exercises which can help enable a higher quality of life.

His personal mission is worth noting as it influences every enthusiastic word he writes in the book, “I have devoted my life to dealing with people’s innate need to discover their callings and to be paid adequately for contributing their gifts in ways that provide meaning and purpose, to achieve more balance across life roles, and to learn how to believe in themselves again.”

The book is available at Amazon.com. You can learn more from Dr. Colozzi’s website CreatingCareersWithConfidence.com and find him on Twitter.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of “Creating Careers with Confidence” by Edward Anthony Colozzi. I received no other compensation for this review.

Tap into Your Power

Video inspired by this narrative written by Barbara Zarrella and reprinted here with permission.

Power
Just saying the word emits force. The emphasis on the first syllable, the way your mouth has to round out to form the word, the way the air pushes the word out into sound.

Power is everywhere. Consider the commercial airliner. Remember the thrust that pushes you into your seat on take-off. Think of how many people are riding with you. This huge craft can be lifted into the air by a single person! That’s power.

Power
Coveted since the beginning of time. Two generals standing in a battlefield posturing. One points to one of his men and requests that he fight and defend though it may mean certain death. That soldier runs brave and mighty to fulfill that task. The other general retreats. That’s power.

Power
Nature at her best. See the dark clouds, smell the cool dampness in the breeze. Take mental inventory of loved ones. Are they home? Safe? Check around the estate. Pick up, put away, tie down, close up. The soft dance of raindrops begin followed by battering hail, then the sound of a train. All of a sudden it is quiet and sunny as if nothing happened. The splinters and broken glass prove the devastation. That’s power.

Power
The miracle of new life. The anticipation of a new human being forming in the womb. Old life is changing forever. So many goals, so many plans, so many decisions, so many surprises. How could such a tiny creature hold our entire soul in its grasp? Nothing can match the power of a child standing with open arms looking at you. A tiny voice says “up”. That’s power.

These Are Good Ideas

There comes a point in unemployment where there is time to spare. Here is a list of Inspiring Productivity Ideas for you to consider if you find yourself unemployed and feeling a little bored or lost.

One Way To Get Out of a Rut

image of the Earth in a woman's hands

Volunteering provides many benefits to the volunteer in addition to the organization and individuals receiving the help. And it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Just an hour a week or a Saturday every three months can do wonders for example. Here are some benefits to the volunteer.

  • You improve your problem solving skills.
  • You can increase your personal network.
  • You help strengthen your community and set an example.
  • You can use volunteer time to increase your skill level.
  • Volunteering can help you heal and/or stay healthy.
  • You get really good at noticing the bright side of things.
  • You gain a sense of achievement that increases your own self-confidence.

Networking Is More Than Talking

 

career networkingPerson-to-person job searching is the hands-down preferred method. It’s just that most people think networking works all by itself. They’ll go to association meetings and ask about vacancies or openings. They’ll collect business cards and wish they had some realistic good reason to talk to those people. They’ll haphazardly pass out resumes. They hope they’ll be remembered when a vacancy or opening turns up.

To avoid this random, billiard-ball-style networking, you need a written and re-searched plan of whom you want to talk to, how you can make or save them a bundle, what’s going on in their industry that you can key into, and a thought-out rationale and method to get in to see them face to face. You need a clear agenda for each meeting including knowing how to ask for further contacts to continue your networking plan.

Consider this too, poor networking is worse than no networking. Meeting people is one thing; making the correct impression is another. That you can meet a lot of people and have them talk with you doesn’t mean you’re getting closer to a new job. If people aren’t impressed, if they think you’re too arrogant, too pushy, too meek, too timid, too uninformed, not committed enough, too confused, too anything, all that a hundred networking contacts will do is generate a hundred poor impressions.

So, be thoughtful in creating your network and tapping into it for job search help. Most importantly, study success and know what you want.

Careerillionaire Lifestyle

Many people say they want to take part in the finer things in life but of course there are always trade-offs. Unless you hit the lottery you will have to give up something or many things to achieve a more exquisite lifestyle. You may also have to be very self-motivated to work and accomplish. Of course, knowing and serving your higher purpose can effortlessly fuel the required work effort if your career and purpose are intertwined well.

Another option for a satisfying and purpose filled lifestyle is to move towards a more simple and cost effective way of living. This lifestyle is gaining momentum in some parts of the country as some strive to get back to a more simple way of being. It is a choice rooted in the idea of  stepping away from the hustle and bustle to live a more authentic existence.

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.