No, really. How is it going? On a scale from “Calm waters, smooth sailing” to “Rough Chop” to “Gale” to “Tempest”, how effectively are you sailing through your week?

Chances are that most of you—most of the time—will say, “Gale,” “Tempest,” or “What word do you have for something worse than a tempest ‘cuz that’s where I am?”

We live every day with wave upon wave of tasks, competing priorities, and interruptions.

And that sucks. It feels bad, it saps our energy, and lowers our productivity. It’s also a downward spiral; the more storms we experience, the more behind we feel, the more we push, the less energy we have, the more we don’t get done, the more storms we have.

For those of you who manage a team, you’ll recognize that this is not just a personal issue; it affects teams and entire companies the same way.

GOOD NEWS: Two simple habits; you choose when to take them on.

(Of course there’s good news!)

What doesn’t work is trying to fight the storms by working harder, going numb, blaming, or hiding. There will always be new waves of tasks and interruptions and they’ll wear you down.

What DOES work is learning to surf these waves. And you are just two simple habits away from hangin’ ten.

If your frustration with the way things are is high enough, grab these two habits and run with them; they’ll change everything.

If you’re not ready, bookmark this post for a time when you are ready, when the way things are is no longer acceptable.

HABIT ONE: Plan-Do.

If you start your workday by diving in to your work, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Instead, invest a relatively minute amount of time to plan you day and your week. When you do, you’ll put yourself above the waves.

This type of planning gives you the proper perspective to know what your will work on given of all the things your could work on.  It also gives you the information you need to decide in the moment whether to allow this next interruption or that request.

Set aside time–maybe 40 minutes–before each work week (e.g. Friday night, Sunday night, or Monday morning) to review all your projects and commitments to know what you’ll select to work on and what goes to the back burner. Set aside 10 minutes or so before each work day (either that morning or the night before) to select what you’ll work on that day and adjust your weekly plan based on what’s happened.

Have with you the lists of your projects/commitments/appointments as you do this planning.

For more information about this habit, see this article in Fast Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/article/work-smart-how-to-avoid-the-busy-trap?partner=homepage_newsletter

For more help, email me with your questions or post a comment below.

HABIT TWO: Be here now

This habit is about changing your state of mind–your attitude–instantly and often as you can.

If you see this habit as less practical and even a waste of time, give me a moment to explain. It’s actually a surprisingly powerful and productive tool.

This is deep topic that we can spend our lifetimes learning about. For now, let the loosely constructed logic below point you in the right direction. If you’d like to learn more, email me. You can also skip this logic and go right to the practice that follows.

• Performance in our jobs and life comes only from action.
• Our state of mind affects our ability to perform, to act well.
• Without focus or training, our state of mind comes from our habitual thoughts and emotions.
• We build our habitual thinking and emotions from very early on life. They are there for what was a good reason.
• Some of these habitual thoughts and emotions are no longer useful; they really detract from our performance today.
• The thinking and emotions more in conflict with our performance today can be categorized as “regret about the past” or “worry about the future.”
• We may not think we are regretting or worrying. Typically we react to the word “regret” and “worry;” looking deeper, we see we indeed are expending too much time and energy on the past or the future.
• The best barometer for measuring whether we’re too focused on the past or future is how we physically feel. Tense, nervous, ill, numb, in pain, and excited are some of the usual signs.
• Regretting the past or worrying about the future pulls our focus from the ONLY PLACE EVER WE CAN PERFORM: here and now.
• We can tell we are in the here and now when the physical sensations disappear or diminish.
• We can’t force ourselves to be here and now. Forcing creates an ugly reaction of not-here-and-now.
• We can release ourselves by simply observing. Naming what we are thinking, feeling, doing drives a wonderful wedge between us and our habitual thinking.
• Regular observation gives us the ability to catch ourselves caught up in habitual thinking and emotions and release ourselves without much effort at all.
• Regular observation is like building a muscle. As we strengthen our observation muscle, we naturally have more energy and focus to act well, right here and now.

Practicing Habit Two

1. For the next 24 hours, notice your thinking and emotions. Just name them and go no further; resist the temptation to describe, evaluate, judge what you notice. One easy way: quietly say to yourself as often as you can today, “This is me thinking_______.” Or, “This is me feeling_______.” Or, “This is me______.” Examples: “This is me thinking this meeting is a waste of time.” “This is me reacting to my colleague’s comment.”
2. Extend this practice by making a commitment to it and using the habit builder to make it stick.

Post a comment below with your questions, observations, or improvements to these habits.

I remain committed to helping you do your good work.

–Michael

How long does it take…

• …to turn around the culture of an organization?
• …to find your ideal career?
• …to reform a criminal, change the dynamics in your family, turnaround a business, change a habit? achieve peace in the land,or have balance and satisfaction in your life?

Months? Years? Lifetimes? Strings of attempts ending in failure or at least less-than-hoped for results?

Perhaps. Or perhaps there’s a way to speed things up. Let’s first look at what blocks real, lasting change.

Why change fails or lags

Most change fails because we act at the wrong level. We work the symptoms, not the causes.  We get trapped, for instance, in the drama about things or by the discomfort of looking too deep.  This is true for us as individuals or in organizations.

Getting trapped like that not only delays change and presents hard work, it reinforces the belief that long and difficult is the way of things and that the next change will be long and difficult, too.  More insidiously, we can believe that there’s something deeply, fundamentally wrong with us or our organization.  Look closely, and you’ll see this belief hiding and driving people and organizations everywhere.

Real change is just one thought away.

Here’s how to make real, sustained change quickly.  It starts with just one thought.  Find the right thought at the right level, investigate its truth, and choose a thought that supports your goals.

We tend to start looking at the symptoms; these are our “first thoughts” about the situation.  To go deeper ask two sets of questions:

1. Where do you or your organization say, “That’s impossible.”?  These indicate you are bumping up against a too-limited view of the world and yourself/your organization in the world.
2. What question is too painful or sensitive to ask or answer?  These indicate the thought that you or your organization can’t handle reality.  This type of thinking block has power when you don’t investigate them.  They lead to avoidance and stagnation for fear of the consequences.  Far better to jump into the jaws of these questions to realize they are toothless and timid.

Once you’ve found the thought, ask yourself, “Is it true, 100% true?”  Typically it’s not.  Acknowledge your tendency/habit to think like this.  Then decide, “What thought would better support me or us?”

Career Example

Situation: A friend wants to change careers, doesn’t know what he wants, it tired of not knowing (and not having any income) and isn’t taking any action. He’s been struggling for more than a year.

First thoughts: “I am a procrastinator.”  “This is hard.”  “Maybe it’s not meant to be.”

Underlying thought: “I don’t act so others won’t criticize.  I’m afraid of criticism; others will say I can’t have what I want or that I’ve screwed it up.”

Is this true? Pausing here for a moment, he sees it’s not true.  Those he fears would criticize merely express their own lack of direction and certainty.

Better thought: “I see my tendency to avoid possible criticism.  I act anyway to discover my SweetSpot and bring it life in my work.”

Organizational Example

Situation: A company that has enjoyed a large, protected market is now facing stiff competition from new and powerful entrants.

First thoughts: “We can’t change our stripes fast enough to react to these guys.  Our way of doing business is so ingrained and the politics amongst the players inside [think along the lines of management-union divisions] are so bitter that we can only make cosmetic changes; we fiddle while Rome burns.”

Underlying thought: “We cannot change anything because the other party is so unreasonable and so greedy that they rather let the whole thing go to hell rather than change.”

Is it true? Reflecting on the fact that both groups have the same thought about each other, they agree that it might not be true.

Better thought: “Though we’ve fought each other for years, we see there’s probably common grounds for cooperation AND even a possibility that our current organization gives us unique power in the marketplace.”

What’s your thinking?  How long will it take you or your company to change?

Poets (and artists and designers) do their best work when they think poetically.  They reach into what appears to be nothing and bring back something helpful, beautiful, useful, unexpected, and valuable.

The bulk of our thinking is logical.  Logical thinking, too, is valuable.  With logical thinking, we can get things done.  And, we can accomplish so much more of our good work if we bring in more poetry.

Logical Thinking

Logical thinking is

• linear,
• deductive,
• reductive, and
• analytical.

It relies on distinguishing and labeling things, events, people, and concepts.  “Oh, that is a sales activity.  This is a marketing activity.” It gathers and processes facts.  It also uses experience and best practices to build upon prior logical thinking. “”To avoid undue risk from currency fluctuations, international companies should purchase currency futures.”  It works with and contributes to what’s known.  One of it’s main tools is language.  We see this in reading (this blog entry, for instance!), writing (this blog entry, again!), and the bulk of what seems to be happening between our ears.

This is all good.  We need logical thinking.  The problem is we seem to be addicted to it.  And that means we’re missing the huge benefits of poetic thinking.

You see, logical thinking is limited by it’s nature; it only works with what’s already know.  When we use logical thinking exclusively (or nearly exclusively), we will experience subtle or obvious signs of limitation in our work and lives.  This is true for us as individuals and for our organizations.  These signs include

• frustration,
• fear,
• worry,
• longing,
• guilt,
• struggle,
• uncertainty, and
• doubt.

Poetic Thinking, a.k.a. the taste of a strawberry

***WARNING TO YOUR LOGIC****

The part of you that does logical thinking–your logical mind–is fairly well convinced that it has everything it needs, thank you very much, to successfully steer you through life.

It doesn’t.

And that’s okay, really.

Just so you know, the chances are great that it will resist or at least kick up a fuss as you consider what follows.  The best thing to do is thank it for sharing its opinions, tell it everything is going to be okay, and kindly ask it to go wait in the hall until you’re done.

***END OF WARNING***

Oddly enough, poetic thinking includes logical thinking.  To this, it adds everything else.  (There, see?  It just happened.  Just ask it politely to calm down.  Tell it you’ll be with it in just a second.)

“Hey, Mike.  ‘Everything else’ seems to cover quite a lot,” you might say, “What do you mean by ‘everything else’?”

Well, I mean everything.  But my logical mind likes to think of the realm of poetic thinking as covering at least these three areas:

• The unknown. As logical thinking focuses on the known, poetic thinking starts with the vast amount that’s unknown.  Example: let’s look a the question, “How much will our business grow next year?”  Logical thinking’s approach to this question gathers facts and looks back at what’s known.  “We’ve grown on average X% each of the past 10 years and Y% in the past two years.  The market looks moderately healthy based on current sales, government numbers, and expert projections.  Therefore a reasonable growth percentage is Z%”  Poetic thinking adds to what’s known by asking things like, “What are we missing?  What’s possible?  What would we like the future to bring?”
• Creativity i.e. anything that hasn’t been created yet.   Logical thinking works with what is.  Poetic thinking pulls from the unknown and creates something new that logical thinking can then use.  Writers, likely including your favorite authors, will tell you they don’t know where their ideas or stories come from.  They appear to tap something beyond what they know or can figure out.  When people set out to find their or their organization’s SweetSpot, they are tapping into the place where the as-yet-uncreated–the unknown–is waiting. The “Eureka!” moment scientists experience when they discover the answer to a vexing problem illustrates this creativity.  It also hints at how to “do” poetic thinking.  More on this later.
• The Indescribable. You rely on poetic thinking more than you may be aware.  All words, all language, are mere pointers to what they represent.  The word “strawberry” is not a strawberry.  And words are insufficient to fully and accurately describe anything.  This is true for things we encounter day-to-day or for higher concepts like love, any experience, success, and humanity.  Try to use words to describe the taste of a strawberry and you’ll see what I mean.  Poetic thinking lets us be effective with the indescribable.

Ian Burgham, is a poet.  Watching him write and read his poetry is the best, most concrete example I know of this type of thinking.  He taps something mysterious.  We all will do more of our good work as we learn to apply this thinking more deliberately.

Poetic Thinking: the Ultimate “How-To” Guide

Of course, that subhead is silly.  By its nature, poetic thinking is too big, too unknown, too indescribable to capture and distill into an “ultimate guide.”  That doesn’t mean, though, that we can’t start using poetic thinking more deliberately.  In fact, we can use some of our good ol’ logical thinking, in the form of a list, to get a handle on it.

I suggest starting by applying it right away to something practical.  Here are steps you can take:

• Select something in your work, career, or organization where you right now experience any signs of limitation.  (See above for a sample list.)
• Acknowledge that there is a possibility that this experience comes in whole or in part from the limitations of logical thinking.
• Ask yourself (or, in a group, ask yourselves), if you are willing to tap the unknown, to use poetic thinking to augment your logical thinking.
• Set up.  Poetic thinking needs calm and a break from the intensity of logical thinking.  One example of this preparation is the scientist who struggles in the lab over a problem.  She has a “Eureka!” moment when she settles down with glass of wine at home that night.  In relaxing, she set up for poetic thinking.  You might try any of several things to let go of the problem and relax.  Meditation, exercise, yoga, prayer, reading, singing, dancing, ropes courses, hiking, breathing, and nature can all help.  You can also bring in someone as “poetic thinking partner;” a coach or facilitator whose presence and processes will prepare you.  Whether for yourself or your team(s), prepare to do poetic thinking.
• Allow. Now comes a leap of faith.  To “do” poetic thinking, you have to let it come your way, like an inspiration.  This can sound very foreign if you’re used to using mostly logical thinking.  You most likely have done this in the past and can use that experience to help you make this leap here.  When Sheila Doris, an interior designer, wants to apply poetic thinking elsewhere in her business, she recalls how easily it flows when she’s at the drawing board. If you’ve ever experienced what Abraham Maslow called peak experiences, use that to inspire this leap of faith.  Whether it comes during a conversation, journaling, or in a flash when you were otherwise engaged, poetic thinking will work when you allow it and not force it.  If you find your logical mind hasn’t (or those of your colleagues haven’t) given up trying to “figure it out,” you can ease back into this “allow” state with a quick acknowledgment.
• Act. Use logical thinking to act on the insights you get through poetic thinking.

Your thoughts, logical, poetic, or otherwise.

Give it a try!  Love to hear your thoughts.  Add a comment below to share your perspective.  For instance, I use the term ‘poetic thinking.’  There are lots of other words to describe what I mean.  How do you describe it?

Cheers!

“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character…” -Stephen R. Covey

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

You’ve been there before, I’m sure; we all have.   You want to make some sort of change and can’t seem to make it stick.

Whether it’s your New Year’s Day resolutions, your promise to listen more, or your new time-management regime, replacing old habits with new ones is tough.  And it can be discouraging: how much energy do you have to start a new exercise program the day after you’ve declared the last program a flop?

Can you ever teach old dogs new tricks?

Why is it so difficult to break a habit and put a new, more constructive one in its place?

Two reasons:

1. Habits, by design, resist change.  They are the original “set it and forget it” lifestyle aid.  And for good reason: habits keep you safe and sane.  You can appreciate how great it is that your habits resist change.  Without habits, you’d have to consciously think about everything.    Imagine what life would be like if you had to consciously think about everyday tasks such as walking, talking, driving a car, reading, typing, and remembering to say, “Please,” and “Thank You.”  All these habits made sense to you as you built them and they still serve a good purpose.
2. The typical methods for changing habits have a fatal flaw: they try to fight the old habit with “will power.”  Will power is just no match for a nicely entrenched habit.  In his book, The Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton says our habitual brain is more powerful than our conscious brain…more than a million times more powerful!   Your habits are going to win whenever you pick a fight with them.

Luckily, there is a method for building new habits that works.

Simply Observe

This method works because it refuses to fight.  It’s like a non-violent protest–a sit-in–or the quiet insistence of water eroding a mountain.

There are 5 steps or phases.  Though you start at Phase 1 and end at Phase 5, you rarely proceed linearly through.  You may find yourself at Phase 3, then back to Phase 1, and up to Phase 4 for a moment, and back to Phase 2.

The key tool you’ll use is observation.  Just watching.  Noting.  Without judgment, guilt, blame, or comment.  When you notice you are at Phase 2, simply say to yourself something like, “Oh, here I am at Phase 2.”

Below, I use the example of replacing the habit of reacting defensively when work is criticized with a habit of seeking to better understand and improve.  You, of course, can use this tool for any new habit you want to build.

The 5 Phases of Habit Building

1. Commit: Clearly describe and commit yourself to the new habit you want to build.  Describe both the old way you’ve done things in the past and the new way you intend to make into your habit.  Example: “My old way of reacting to apparent criticism of my work is to argue defensively.  My new way is to ask for clarification, confirming I understood what they meant, and request insights and suggestions from the Critic on making future work even better.”
2. Observe yourself having done it the old way long after you did it.  “Oh, all week I’ve been doing it the old way.  On Monday afternoon, all day Wednesday, and now, after this meeting, I notice that I’ve been reacting defensively.”  And that’s it.
3. Observe yourself having just done it the old way. “Hey!  That was me just having done it the old way.  I just had my ‘criticism of work’ button pushed.  And I reacted defensively.”
4. Observe yourself just about to do it the old way and then continuing to do it the old way.  “Yes, here it comes.  I can see myself facing a situation where I usually act in the old way, namely my work is about to be criticized.  — And, yes, there, I reacted the old way; I argued defensively.”
5. Observer yourself just about to do it the old way and instead opting for the new way.  “Yes, here it comes.  I can see my self facing that situation where I usually act in the old way, namely my work is about to be criticized. —- And now I am going to do it the new way.  I am going the start by clarifying my understanding of their point of view.”

Give it a go

Try this tool yourself.  Select a habit you’d like to build, use this approach, then come back and share your experiences.  What habit will you pick first?

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to the stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconsicous, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

And that is not a bad manifesto, I think.

• What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles. This perennial is popular for a very good reason: it gives practical, current, and hopeful advice and tools to find a job, change or grow your career, or start a business. Best part: the Flower, a powerful exercise for discovering your career passion, calling, or life’s work.
• Zen and the Art of Making a Living by Laurence Boldt. Pick up this book, scan it. Pause anywhere and dive in. You’ll come out with insights into most every aspect of your career development. Zen is deep and yin where Color is direct and yang. Use these two books together for best effect. Best part of Zen: the quotes from the world’s philosophers and leaders that invite needed personal reflection in uncovering mission, values, passions, skills, etc.

1. Get the context right – this stuff is hard but worth it. Your success as a leader depends on it. Havard Business School professor John Kotter, as quoted in Fast Company, says, “The central issue is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems. The core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people.”
2. Accept reality – if you know how difficult it is to change people’s behavior, you’ll put in the required effort to make change happen. You won’t over-optimistically assume that policy or charisma or any other point solution will handle things. And you won’t brush under the carpet the focus needed to affect change in people.
3. Understand behavior – study it, query it, confrm it. Make a study of people’s behaviors. There are patterns of behavior out there that you can see and decode. Use tools and methods like the DISC. You’ll be surprised how much you already know. Test your understanding by asking questions. “Has this person given up or am I seeing her quiet-and-committed style?” “How can I diffuse the beligerence of these aggressive types?” Get the input of others to validate you conclusions.
4. Actively influence and support behavior change – Communicate. OVERcommunicate! Communicating facts is okay; you’ll win when you address emotions. John Kotter says, “Behavior change happens mostly by speaking to people’s feelings.” And, from the article,
   • Re-define the context of change. People get stuck when they can’t see and break out of their old frames of reference. Give them a new one that’s simple, positive, and resonant.
   • Make bold changes. They’re scarier but they create success faster which supports further change.
   • Provide support. Use as your role definition the CEO in Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive.” His advice is to get your team solid, set the vision (“organizational clarity”). constantly re-inforce that vision, and build human systems (e.g. training, compensation, hiring) that support that vision.
5. Model change youself. The adage, “The fish rots from the head,” says it plainly. If you want to see change in your organization, open to changing yourself. I can’t emphasize this enough. As leader, people look to you for cues. Your organization is ever a reflection of your views and beliefs, stong or weak, positive or negative. It mirrors you. Here are some tips: Give up having to know it all. Give up having to look good. Question practices. Build strong personal habits. Hire a coach! Seek feedback. Surround yourself with people of high integrity. Develop your character. Redefine your role as enabler of others. Delegate well. Eliminate stress and build health. Adopt a practical task/action management system. And take everything a step at a time.

You see, you can affect change. You need to find and push on the right levers of vision, emotion, and integrity. I recommend you do this because the alternative isn’t so hot.

A great job is one that  suits you, rewards you, lets you offer your best to the world…and pays the bills!

There are many paths to landing a great job.  The one I’ve outlined works well and is more likely to get you a great job.

Slow down, avoid blasting out resumes.

Pause for moment.  Take a deep breath–or three.  If you are anxious to get started, worried about begin out of work or about making a transition to a new job, you’re going to want to jump in and get going.  I’m all for that.  Where you need caution is in the type of activity you choose to do.

Just like your Thanksgiving meal is 90% preparation and 10% eating, just as a good contractor wouldn’t start slapping together some 2x4s when someone asks for an addition to their house, your job search will be most successful when you spend the proper time up front and prepare.

Avoid the well-trod path

In general, this means not “sending out resumes.”  Though it seems like the most basic thing you can do to get into action and get a job, it’s actually not that productive.  Reason: it puts you in the position of a commodity and has you playing the wrong side of a numbers game.

Think about how many people are searching for jobs.  Think about how HR pros are inundated with applications for each job posting. Your application becomes one of dozens, hundreds, or thousands (!) they receive.

It’s not that this “sending out resumes” approach won’t work.  It  does work.  But if you want a job that suits you, rewards you completely, and meets your current needs–and if you want a process that doesn’t drain you–there are more powerful ways.

A path to partnering with your ideal employer

The best path is one that brings together you and your ideal employer.  One criteria for your ideal employer is that  they see you are uniquely qualified to help them solve the problems they have.   And they hire you because they know you will.  Another criteria is that they are offering you a great job: one that suits your needs (including paying the bills), rewards you, and lets you offer your best to the world.

Here’s how to find and land a great job with that ideal employer.  Please avoid the temptation to start the process at a watered-down version of step 5.  Don’t hop onto a job posting sites and send out resumes.  And please don’t, when you  get an interview, let it become a simple and deadening Q&A session. In this default version of an interview, the employer takes the role of evaluator  while the potential employee hopes they are somehow acceptable or are a fit.  Yelch!  Please, instead, follow these steps.

1. Specify the type of job you will find and land. This is critical.  And it involves more than selecting a job title like “manager of customer service.”  Your description of the type of job you will find and land must include your talents, your passions, your needs (e.g. income, hours, commute, responsibilities, etc.), and the needs you will fill for your employer.  This sense of the needs you will fill for your employer is also critical because it will inform all  your communications with them from resume to interview to onboarding.  I call this method “coming from your sweetspot.”  After you have your sweetspot, describe the type of job you will get by the accountabilities you’ll own, not just title.  And specify “by when” you will get the job.  This is your job goal.
2. Identify industries, types of companies, and specific companies that match–or will most most likely match–your sweetspot.  Here’s a good place to use job posting sites.  Not to find a job but to find companies.
3. Ask friends, family, and acquaintances for introductions to people in those industries and companies so you can learn more and find opportunities.  This is dramatically easier that you may fear.  You are not asking them to find you a job. You are asking them to help you learn more and to get what’s commonly called “information interviews.”  Share your sweetspot and goal with them and ask what other industries or companies they’d recommend you investigate.  This step can be a first, real stumbling block in this process and can make the “sending out resumes” strategy seem awfully attractive.  If you are getting stopped here, acknowledge it and get some support.  I am confident you can do this even if everything you know says you can’t.
4. Conduct information interviews to learn more about the challenges and opportunities they face. Share a summary of your sweetspot and job goal.  Get guidance on how your unique value-add (your sweetspot) might help. Get further guidance and introductions to others who may be able to help you or who you may help. Many information interviews yield more information interviews.  Some yield actual job opportunities.  Both are valuable.
5. Conduct formal processes whenever there’s an opportunity.  This involves following their HR-set processes while conducting meaningful conversations about their issues and how you might help them.  In the resume, cover letter, emails, and interviews, seek first to understand their needs then show how you can and are qualified to help.
6. Jointly decide if you and this company are a fit.
7. Negotiate.  Agree on hours, work locale, evaluation criteria, and on-boarding processes.
8. Jump in with both feet because this job will be so in line with you and your needs.

Step around your stumbling blocks

As you look at this approach. you might anticipate stumbling blocks–reasons why this process won’t work–in any step and at any time.  Seeing stumbling blocks don’t mean the process won’t work for you.  You just need a way around them and the way around them is simple.

1. Acknowledge it.  Say out loud whatever fear, uncertainty, or doubt pops up so you can hear yourself saying it.  Or you can write it down.  The idea is to get it out of your head.  For example, you might look at step 4 and say, “I don’t think I can call and ask people for their time.”  Acknowledging it begins to melt it.
2. Evaluate it.  Decide whether this stumbling block is getting you closer to your goal or not.  If it is, then work with it.  For example, you might say, “I don’t know enough people to make step 3 work.”  Working with it, you can build a strategy to get introduced to more people.  If, in working with it, you uncover more stumbling blocks, great!, and put those through this process, too.
3. Replace it.  If your stumbling block is not getting you closer to your goal, set it aside.  Thank it for coming and replace it with a statement that does get you closer to your goal.  For example, if you stumble on “I don;t know enough people”, you can set that aside and replace it with “I can connect with the people I do know and ask their help to meet more people.”
4. Coach it. Select someone to be a thinking partner who can coach you though this process.  Describe to this person the stumbling block and ask for their help to Acknowledge, Evaluate, and Replace it.

Get support.

Get the support you need to stay on track, work the details, keep your head clear, and productively engage those people in your network and potential employers.

Part of your success will come from being clear about your sweetspot and job goal.  Part will come from keeping your head clear and focused on progress.  And part will come from the deep partnerships you’ll enter with employers, friends, family, and other well-wishers.  In addition, should you choose, to a coach like me, your supporters include all these people.  Use us throughout the process.  Trust that our reward lies in your success.

Get going.

Now get started.  If you want help knowing what to do next, grab a copy of the Start Here workbook and do the exercises.  If I can help, contact me!