Life Is Not A Multiple Choice Test

Are you one of those people that treat life as a multiple choice test?  Do you navigate your life by picking from a pre-existing list of answers; maybe you pick the best answer, even if it is not the best answer for you; or, maybe you just guess the answer, and hope it will work out.

Back in school I think I preferred multiple choice tests, because there was the understanding one of the answers was going to be the right answer. Life is not a multiple-choice test, and there is no assurance the options you are selecting from has the right answer.

Human beings are creators, the mind thinks in pictures. Anything that has ever come to fruition in the world has been a thought, or an idea in someone’s mind first. Why not leverage that part of yourself and create the career and life you want.

You can think of your life as the essay portion of the test, or even an art project. Come up with a visual, or an idea, then sketch it out or write out the narrative. You don’t need the whole picture to begin. Start with what you do know; What do you want your surroundings to look like? Where do you work? What are the people you work with like? What are your feeling? What are you experiencing?

Play with this and have fun. Remember, this is a creative project, use your innate power to create. Think of it as a continuous work in progress, a first draft, an outline, you can come back and revise it, any time.

Hug A Tree Approach To Success

The strategy to bring out our best is not always what is most obvious.   The common approach is to work harder and longer, until you are worn out for the day, week, decade, or your life.

If you could reduce stress, improve performance, and concentrate better from a single activity,  Would that give you enough icentive to get your butt out of your office?    If you are the boss and realized that you could reduce employee stress,  improve thinking, and maybe even impact performance, would you bringyourself to encourage them to for wa lk in the park?

Researchers at the University of Michigan have found that contact with nature, from passive views of nature through windows to walking in an outdoor setting, leads to an increased ability to concentrate on tasks requiring high mental effort.

Nature provides a constant source of energy . Whenever we safely make contact with beauty in nature, these attractions trigger our brain to release Dopamine, a neurotransmitter that produces good feelings that we seek.

Nature can reduce feelings of overwhelm. Studies reveal that through consciously making connection with natural areas, humans have been observed to reverse challenging personal situations (stress, overwhelm, depression and mental confusion.)

Nature can provide stress relief. Research at NASA shows that long distant views – even painted views in photographs and posters – induce a sense of “mental tranquility,” a natural calming down of the mind.  Spending even a few minutes in your favorite place on the earth can help to ease the intensity of daily stresses of life. The smells, sounds, colors and textures that surround you in nature have been known to relax the nervous system.  The mind slows down so that you can start to access parts of your connection to your inner spirit that you cannot access when there are high levels of stress and tension in your body. The scent of the dirt, the colors of the sky, and the aromas of the plants increase your sensory awareness and heighten your perceptions.

By spending time in your favorite spot in nature, solutions may arise that were not there before, or you may just feel a few moments of peace . Now are you willing to get your butt out of your chair?

Be Inspired

FOUR QUESTIONS TO CONNECT WITH WHAT INSPIRES YOU

Some time ago I read that if two people are up for a job promotion, with one of the candidates being slightly more qualified, and the other candidate more enthusiastic, 80% of the time the more enthusiastic person gets the promotion.

I could never quite label it as such, but during my time in corporate America, this is what I witnessed. As I spoke with clients, and current, and former colleagues, the majority all seem to agree that this is true.

I wanted to learn a little more about why this may be and started with a bit of research into the word enthusiasm, whose greek origins mean the God within. Some of the older defintions of enthusiasm are to be inspired. A little more obvious, the defintion of inspired is the spirit within or to breathe life into. The words have very similar meanings.

Everyone loves to be around inspiring people, and it stands to reason the most inspiring people are inspired by something or someone themselves.   Inspiring people are energizing, creative, and often just being around them elicits a sense of urgency about being one’s best, fulfilling your purpose, using your talents.

This notion of feeling inspired was a catalyst in my becoming a coach.  I didn’t want to settle for just okay, cool, or good.  I know I am in the right profession because I feel inspired ever day to be a better coach,  I , to expand my knowledge, so I can help people get out of their professional suffering and find their own inspiration.  It is a natural energy that comes to me, not one that I have to force.   This doesn’t mean it is without challenges, however, I hardly ever feel like I am working.  Tuesday or Saturday, it’s all the same to me.

When one embarks on the path of seeking work they feel passionate about or that has meaning, it is easy to approach it as if it is a secret the universe is keeping from you. It is much simpler than that, here are some tips questions and thoughts to open it up for you.

First, for simplicity’s sake, let’s talk about inspired as when you feel most alive.  When it feels like energy is surging through you, and you want to be your best.

Who is a person living or dead,  that when you read about or come in contact with, you start to think and feel you want to be your best,  or want to go out in the world and do great things?

Most people recognize the profundity of coming across inspiring people.   Some of the most inspiring people I have encountered, I never even met in person.  I have read or watched a story about them, came across something they created or had been told about them. In some cases they have been activists, entertainers, writers, coaches, entrepreneurs, young, old, male, females, from all races.   I am sure there are many more for me to meet.

One quality they all seem to share is that they are committed to something bigger than themselves, which manifest in many different ways.  At times it has been a musician, actor, or other entertainer, who clearly has made the committment to practicing their craft, which is evident by their masterful performance.  I have been inspired by reading something, it could be the author, subject, or excellence of the writing that inspires.  Social and community activists that have risked their lives, and safety for causes they believe in are very inspiring.

What are the topics that inspire you? This is not about altruism, it is not about judgement, there is no right answer.  I am constantly inspired by other entrepreneurs and business people for their courage, determination and creativity.  Their ability to take an idea, and manifest a business out of nothing.  I have always always loved personal development, and spiritual topics.  It was the recognition I could get paid for working with these subjects, that clinched my decision to become a coach.

What are the activities that when you are engaged in them, you feel most alive? When is it that you feel truly connected with the present moment?  Are you playing an instrument? Writing? Sharing? Teaching? Talking? Painting? Healing? Comforting? Nurturing? Walking? Exercising? Cooking?

Writing this piece about inspiration and inspiring people is inspiring for me.  The notion, that it might serve as one small step in a journey that helps someone else find their inspiration gets my juices flowing.  What could be a better mission, than helping individuals discover and connect with their own inspiration?  After all the world definitely could use more inspired people.

Where do you feel your best? Is it in a museum? Which museum?  Is it in nature, the woods, beach, or snow capped mountains?  Is it the bustling energy of a major city, or the cracking of ocean waves? Go wherever it is you feel most inspired, and think about what/who else inspires you?

It’s easy to understand why enthusiastic people get hired.   Inspiration is the fuel for greatness, it is energy and committment that cannot be bought.  It is contagious you cannot force yourself or someone else to be inspired, but you can inspire them.

Keep an eye out, as we delve more into inspiration in moving forward, with more discussion, and profiles and interviews with truly inspiring people.

Please post who/what/where inspires you here.  We want to know.

Strategies To Help You Get The Job You Want

Ten Surefire Strategies To Help You Get The Job You Want

1. You need to know who you are to know what you want. Do some introspective work; discover your personal values, your innate talents and strengths. Perhaps you have taken certain assessments in the past such as Meyers Briggs or Disc. A book that I use with all of my clients is called Strengthsfinder 2.0. The idea is to uncover the qualities and assets which you are not only good at, but also like to use.
2. You need to know what you want to get what you want. Getting clear on who you are will put you in a better place from which to discover what it is you want. As a rule of thumb, we tend to like to do things we will naturally be good at. There are many assessments, books, and methods that can support you on this journey. Ultimately it is a journey of experimentation and trying things on for size. You can take a look at the books page on my website for some ideas.
3. There are four basic strategies to get jobs. Networking, direct contact, recruiters, and responding to ads. Just responding to ads on the internet is not looking for a job. Recruiters and job postings combined, are responsible for filling only 25% of all positions. So it stands to reason, it would be wise to not spend more than 25% of your job search time on these methods.
4. Get over your aversion to Networking. We are talking about building relationships with like-minded people. This will be vital to your long-term career success, you can do it now, or find out you should have later. Stop thinking about it in terms of wanting something, and start looking at all you can offer. Not only in terms of what you bring to a job but all of the other talents and resources you possess.
5. Prepare for the interview. Most people don’t, you will gain an immediate advantage. Know the company, the department, their challenges and opportunities. Be able to articulate: What you bring to the game – what you can do for the prospective employer. How will you demonstrate your claims in a credible and powerful way?
6. Use the interview for multiple purposes. During the interview investigate what challenges is the company and your would-be manager are facing. You want to collect information, so you can write more than a thank you letter. This will be an opportunity to differentiate yourself, by offering solutions and proposals on issues which came up in the interview.
7. Address anything that might present a concern, or reservation about hiring you. Do this even if the employer does not bring it up. The question will still be lingering in their mind. You may lack the amount of experience, not have managed the number of people you would be here, or not know some technical issue. If it is there, they are thinking about it. Ease their anxiety about the potential objection; show them what they are getting.
8. Differentiate yourself. Take it for granted that every candidate interviewed is going to possess the minimum tangible requirements to fill the job. How will you differentiate yourself? How are you going to communicate the added value you are bringing? Get them excited by other skills you’d bring to the organization. Other problems you can help solve, other opportunities you can help them take advantage of.
9. Show them you are an expert. This is a huge mistake many people make. They are afraid they are going to limit their opportunities , so they try to present themselves with broad experience. Most organizations are looking to hire experts not generalists, and experts are valued more. It is only in select industries or departments that there are needs for generalists. The more you can demonstrate your expertise, the more attractive you will be as a candidate.
10. Write much more than a thank you letter. Use the information you gathered during the interview as an opportunity to continue the interview. Show them you understand the challenges. You can even go as far to offer specific solutions and ideas which address these challenges, write a proposal if you want. Going the extra mile like this, is where you can stand out.

Choose Career Freedom

“No one is coming to solve life’s problems for you.  If you do not do something different, nothing is going to get better.  Happy people are typically pro-active.  They do not passively wait for someone else to do something.  They take initiative in the pursuit of whatever is important to them.  They do not wait for the world or someone else to make them happy, which they know is impossible.” –Nathaniel Branden

Professional Freedom is based on recognizing the choices we have and taking responsibility for them.  Not making a choice is still a choice.  

You may hate your job, you are still choosing to get up and go to your place of work every day.  You might be saying at this moment, “he doesn’t understand, I have to pay the bills, or keep a roof over my head.   I do understand, you are actually choosing to earn money over not showing up for a job you don’t like   There is no judgement in this choice, it sounds like a responsible one.  It is not a circumstance that is happening independently,  it is a choice you are making.  When you don’t own the choices in your life, you start to consider yourself  a victim, and it becomes easy to blame other people, or circumstances for your situation.  This kind of thinking is disempowering, it is giving away your freedom, and will keep you stagnant for a long time.  

Commuters generally take the same route to work every day.  You have probably found the timeliest route and it has become a habit.  You are choosing to use that route every day. We can choose how to respond to someone who cuts us off in traffic, says something we disagree with, or doesn’t do their job.  How and whether you respond is up to you.  If someone does something you don’t like, you choose how to react or respond, how long you want to hang on to it, and how much energy you want to give to it.    Three is no rule, or law of the universe that even says you have to give it a second thought.  It is actually when our emotions run high that we have the opportunity to be our strongest.  This is when the urge to say or do something feels so compelling, it almost doesn’t feel like a choice.  Sometimes our reaction is so quick, the choice may even be just below our consciousness.  You can still bring awareness to it, and decide how you want to proceed.  

Are you expecting your company or boss to look after you, because you have been so loyal and done such a great job?  There isn’t any person or organization that will look out for your interests better than you can. At any moment you can choose to start taking care of yourself, taking responsibility for your life, and your choices.  This is where you stop blaming others in your past or your present; you recognize a white knight or fairy godmother is not coming to rescue you.  You present situation is the result of choices you made, you can also make choices that will change your current circumstances if they are not to your liking.  

This is when a person grows up.  It is a scary prospect to take responsibility for one’s life, career, and especially of your dreams.  There isn’t anyone that can make your dreams happen for you, there isn’t any other person that is concerned with doing this.  Even if there were, the most empowering thing you can do for yourself is to act is if there weren’t, and go out and make them happen yourself.  Who knows whether they will happen.  Taking responsibility for them, what needs to be done, will in itself be transformative.

Go out and try it for a day, week, month, year.  Just take responsibility for your choices, your life, and your dreams. Let us know what happens.

Resume Writing for C.E.O.’s

This New York Times article highlights the challenges senior executives face when looking for new work. Through highlighting the relationship between a laid off CEO and his Career Coach, they highlight some vital points senior executives should implement when seeking new employment. These include structure of a resume, and just how important networking is. Not networking in the sense of handing out business cards, instead initiating contact with people you know and don’t know to discuss ideas, and your plan.

Here are some excerpts with a link to the full story below.

“We try to work on it a little every day,” Mr. Redmond said. “Three contacts today, three tomorrow. At the end of month we have 60 people thinking about this guy who can bring all this knowledge to a growing industry.”

………executives …typically..find new positions in seven to nine months, although in a recession that could be a year. Full Article

Keep The Faith!

What do these 10 Time Magazine covers have in common?

They are all from the 70’s. More good times to come.

Don’t Watch This Video

Don’t watch this video now. Save it for when you feel like you can’t get out of bed in the morning to start your day.

Meet Nick Vujicic:

Is your job stressful?

Citing an American Psychological Association(APA) study, Medical News Today reports three-fourths of Americans say they are stressed about work & money; one-third of Americans are living with extreme stress, and the most commonly cited source of stress— mentioned by 74 percent of respondents — was work.

If you are think you are one of these people with a high degree of stress and poor quality of life due to work, take notice! companies large and small are recognizing that happy & healthy employees affect the bottom line in a positive way.

This month the APA recognized five organizations for their comprehensive efforts to promote employee health and well-being while improving performance. Companies presented with the American Psychological Association’s 2008 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award (PHWA) were Arkansas Educational Television Network, Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples de Puerto Rico, Nike Tennessee, Porter Keadle Moore (Georgia) and Westminster Savings Credit Union (British Columbia).

If you run a company or own a business and believe that it wouldn’t be practical for you to implement this, listen to what these organizations report: A turnover rate of 11 percent compared to the national average of 40 percent according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Surveys completed by employees of the winning organizations showed overall well-being and job satisfaction for employees to be significantly greater compared to national averages.

According to the APA report; at Westminster Savings Credit Union, high employee satisfaction and low turnover means that two thirds of WSCU’s openings are filled internally, lowering administrative costs. Increased productivity is another benefit for the organizations. In 2007, Nike Tennessee increased productivity by 51 percent, while reducing injury rates by almost 30 percent. And at Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples, an insurance company in Puerto Rico, employee loyalty is high with a 15-year average length of service and a turnover rate of less than two percent.”

In a New York Times article published this week on the same subject, they point out that “48 percent of the employers in the survey said stress created by long hours and limited resources was affecting business performance, but only 5 percent said they were taking strong action to address those areas.”

The Times highlights some well know organizations that are showing initiative in this area as well. They include:

GlaxoSmithKline has program called “Team Resilience” which combines things like health assessments, discussion groups and follow-up evaluations to deal with workplace stress.

PricewaterhouseCoopers also addresses stress in multiple ways. For example, in annual surveys, employees asked for more coaching and opportunities to connect with more experienced colleagues — and got them.

On TalentManagement.com, Workplace Options, a provider of work-life employee benefits, reports that a recent poll of more than 700 working adults found 76 percent believe it is important that companies offer employees wellness programs to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The U.S. Surgeon General states that 50 percent of this year’s high-cost employees in terms of health care were not in that category last year, and more than 87 percent of health care claims costs are due to an individual’s lifestyle, according to a study by Indiana University. To combat these trends, it is important for companies to consider adopting wellness initiatives that incorporate coaching for maximum results.

Predominantly from the viewpoint of Corporate Wellness, Talent Mangement cites the benefits of coporate wellness programs and coaching. “According to recent studies, pairing personalized coaching with employee wellness initiatives leads to higher success rates.”

What i think is evident is that employers are starting to realize that a happy healthy employee performs better. In order to affect this employers are recognizing that they must look at the employee in terms of their whole life, and how they can help them maintain a quality life.

TED

TED started as an invitation only conference in the 1980’s; bringing together the most innovative minds from Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It continues today, with selected guests invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less. While these talks were initially only heard by those in attendance, the evolution of the web sparked the creation of Ted Talks, a video archive of these presentations. They have graciously made them available to the public.

These speakers are not just leaders in their fields, they are the trailblazers knocking down the walls of conformity. They are using their position, gifts, talent, resources and knowledge to make the world a better place.

The talks are classified in categories that you don’t ordinarily see on other sites. They include “most jaw-dropping” which is led by Blaise Aguera Y Arcas, co-creator of Photosynth a monumental piece of software capable of assembling statis photos into a synergy of zoomable navigatable spaces.

Deborah Scranton who tops the “most courageous” category shows clips and discusses her film “The War Tapes” which documents putting cameras in the hands of a unit of The New Hampshire National Guard for one year while in Iraq

The “most inspiring” category includes Richard St. John who spent more than a decade researching the secrets of success — and distilling them into 8 words, 3 minutes and one successful book; Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky and Rich: Spike’s Guide to Success

Other recognizable names who’s presentations are archived include Richard Branson, Bono, Jeff Bezos, and Television prodcuer JJ Abrams who is responsible for such shows as Lost and Alias.

There is a dose of inspiration here for anyone and everyone.