Category: Improving Yourself

With the title of this article, there should be no surprise that I have been reading a book or two that echo the words of Charles Darwin. I have, but not a scholarly book. Still a significant book when we consider the topic of man and survival. Yes, I have been reading Tarzan of the Apes and the several that follow it. I read all the Tarzan books as a kid, but I am struck now with re-reading them (not all 26) as they were intended in 1912 onward. I am struck by Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ misconceptions and misinterpretations of the world from a current perspective, but at the same time look to the novels to see what relevance they have in today’s world. In all fairness, Burroughs was a reflection of the times as well and was writing what he knew to be the truths of his age.

I look at what I see and evaluate all kinds of performance, including literature, drama–and work results in today’s environment in terms of original intention. Hopefully, you’ll see the application this has for work performance.

As employers, we have a job to be done. We have expectations for the result (the original intention). What we have left is the performance. How is it different? Is it good or bad? Is it perfect? Can it be better? Can we train someone to do a better job than they are? Can we make them do it faster?

Here’s where we come back to Darwin and Burroughs. Do we want our people to be more creative in doing their job? Do we want them to adapt? Is this all part of the original intention? Are we trying to mold people to the work or work to the people? By not specifying what we want, are we setting them loose in the jungle and saying, survive? It happens all the time.

Burroughs’ Tarzan (please forget the ones in the movies) is set loose in the jungle as a baby and raised by apes, but it is his “superior” breeding and predisposition to be superior among his brethren in the world that makes him into an extremely adaptable superman. When confronted with all the dangers of this world, we find Man plus beast equals Man better than civilized man. How better: character. To the early 20th Century reader, this made perfect sense. After all, it is the civilized world with all its complexity that creates situations and temptations for Man to veer off the God-given right to be superior and become evil. Admirable character, inherited by birth, ruined by civilization. Some odd juxtaposition, but it makes sense knowing the time it supposedly took place. Modern audience’s love Tarzan’s struggle between civilization and the jungle, while audiences of that day in which it was written loved his character struggle between being a gentleman and being a beast. The savages have a simplistic code: fight to stay alive, fight for power, fight for the right to procreate. Character is simple, and the ability to survive depends on courage, strength and the ability to adapt.

We have just been hit with a double whammy of an economic situation. Employers are hesitant, trainers are, too, wondering how to approach those same employers and solicit work. For what it’s worth: we, too, need to keep it simple. Our ability to survive in this jungle economy is with courage, strength and our ability to adapt.

Tarzan seems to have a simple attitude toward others, trusting at first until there is reason to distrust, and by then we are thrust into another adventure. For us, we can’t afford to wait for another adventure. This is not a book of fiction so the survival factor is real.

This economic jungle has made us distrustful of everyone. Customer service is horrible as people expect the worse. Leadership is resigned. Management is waiting for the axes to fall. Training is falling on deaf ears. “Let’s wait until the economy is better,” companies are saying. That’s not the answer.

But we are crafty, we say, let’s get a jump. Let’s be ready for the prosperous times ahead by training our people and being on top of our game. That does sound good, doesn’t it? I won’t argue it. I hope it works.

Meanwhile, maybe Tarzan the Ape Man has an answer for us. I alluded to this in my last article, Training Character. What is the difference between the Ape Man and civilized Man? Moral character learned from both and an understanding that there are no shortcuts to character, no variations of what’s right and what’s wrong. To the savage, there is a choice of survival, and making the right choice is as important or more important than having the courage to fight. If you can’t adapt, you die.

We, too, must adapt or die. Maybe we’ll just stagnate. Is it worth the risk? Adapting doesn’t necessarily mean cutting jobs; perhaps, increasing them or changing them makes sense. Ask others for input, from inside the company and out. Maybe the people who have seen other companies in similar situations have also seen the solutions that made them succeed when others might fail.

Training can motivate at a time when we look loss in the face. Tarzan does something else we can admire; he doesn’t sit still. He is forever confronting and evaluating his jungle–even when it’s not his jungle. He is sniffing out dangers and opportunities to get what he needs to survive. He doesn’t wait unless he is sick or wounded and he has no choice. Don’t you.

Some trainers may take umbrage with this last thought. The training doesn’t have to be about change. I think it can be about anything. If not performance, why not professional development. When times are bad, people do think of themselves. Company loyalty is balanced only by how desperate someone feels for the security of his or her family. Offer them a chance to help, to be a force, to have courage and the will to fight for the company, they’ll be there if you think of them, too.

Show you have the character, and they’ll show you theirs. Positives have a way of making it to the market. If happy at work, feeling secure, employees will send those feelings to their neighbors and you will reach the markets. It won’t be long before you are out of the jungle.

This is yet another article where I have promoted ideas instead of process, methods and assessments. My next will definitely be more substantial. How about a list of definitions used in our training world? It always helps to speak the same language–especially when what we do is so universal. Just look at the front of this website and see the translation widget. Or a how-to? People are always looking for shortcuts with links. I’ll see what I can do.

Finally, I hope I haven’t misread the intention of the Tarzan books and haven’t bored you with my attempt to make connections. Think of any disaster, any life or death situation, character helped people survive. I love tales of survival because they are filled with courageous actions, perseverance, loyalty, integrity, and other ideas that make good people tough it out. Maybe I’m old fashioned but a business with a heart, with character, gets my vote every time. Especially when times are tough. Maybe I’m not alone.

However, I am alone in that this is a product of my mind and no one else–save Edgar Rice Burroughs and Charles Darwin. My other mutterings can be found on my Cave Man Training and Communication website, and you can even follow me on Twitter. For a look at the human side of training from my Cave Man perspective, please check out my book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development. Happy training.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

What do these people all have in common?

• Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times
• Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
• Abraham Lincoln lost six elections before being elected to office.
• Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because, he was told, he lacked creativity.
• Steven Spielberg applied to USC Cinema School twice and was turned down both times.
• When Thomas Edison was a child he was told by his teacher that was too stupid to learn anything.

It is that the all persevered until they succeeded. If they had a fear of failing again, they did not succumb but rather put any fear aside to reach their goals.

Fear of failure is the greatest single obstacle to success in life. But here’s the kicker, it’s not failure that holds us back – it’s the fear of failure -it’s the anticipation of failure. We may tell ourselves:: “If I do this and fail, I’ll look dumb; I’ll embarrass myself; I’ll disappoint; people will think I’m not competent or I’m a loser, etc.”

So how do we overcome the fear of failure?

At a recent career management workshop with a group of health care professionals, I asked them to look back over their professional and personal lives and focus on this: You failed at something and yet you got back on track and moved forward. What did you do to avoid getting stuck in the fear of future failure? Here are strategies that helped them. Perhaps they can help you as well.

• Take small steps – experiment in situations where you will succeed.
• Take a look at what you fear and why. Check it out – is it realistic?
• Explore you fantasy about the possibility of failure – what the worst thing that can happen?
• Think of time you have succeeded. How did you make that happen?
• Do things that will make you feel good about yourself and give you confidence.
• Build on the skills you already have and branch out into new areas.
• Share your fears with others and discover how they handled them.
• Imagine the worst failure and then realize all the plusses that can come out of it.
• Ask yourself if you like failure better than success. What’s got you hooked?
• Reward yourself when accomplish something small and then move on.

Career Success Tip:

Get back in the saddle. It’s hard to rebuild confidence after slipping up. But don’t let it stop you from ever taking risk again. We must look at failure as what it really is, a temporary setback and an opportunity to get it right the next time. Winners win more frequently than losers because they stay in the game.

Do you occasionally suffer from fear of failure? In what situations? How can you overcome it?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

Living purposefully is what I think of when I think of our next feature, David McNalley. He encourages leaders and individuals in his business and books to discover their brands and live purposefully. TransForm, a company founded by David McNalley, knows only purposeful individual and leaders build inspired organizations and iconic brands. He has many books and products that support the message of encouragement.

One book in which I was blessed to have a story published in, Even Eagle’s Need a Push, is full of encouraging stories to help all of us live aligned lives reaching our highest potential. At times we all need a push in our lives to help either get us on track, get us moving, get us soaring or even get us going in the right direction. Click on the banner below to see a short inspirational movie called The Push based on the book.

This message in his blog a few weeks back on living boldly speaks highly to his passion to help all of us soar in our lives.

My Third Lesson – Live Boldly

As a speech coach and trainer, I talk about knowing your audience, knowing your subject and knowing yourself. Audience feedback is very important, but I think my colleague, Vasco Gaspar, who writes on Communicating Effectively in My Bright Child, is right in that not everyone listens as well as they should; and that includes the trainer or speaker who should be well aware his trainees or audience could be faking it. After all they are supposed to be listening. For the trainees, it wouldn’t “look” good to their employers if they weren’t. So, maybe we, trainers and public speakers should pay particular attention?

We should also pay attention to our own listening abilities. So, it seems that this is a very good training topic. Often our trainees or our audiences look as though they are listening intently, but their minds are elsewhere. We do it, too. We put on the sincere face and nod appreciatively for a comment or a question, then go off on our own. Did we really listen? And I don’t mean just with our ears…or Gaspar thinks, and I agree.

He’s well qualified to talk about listening, having graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Coimbra (in Portugal) and has experience in Organizational Consulting, Training, Wellness and Innovation. He also studied more than a 100 authors of different fields and came up with ZorBuddha, a tool that is helping people in more than 45 countries to become more aware and positive. For more information about the author and his work, visit: http://zorbuddha.org/

As trainers, speakers and presenters, we should know better than anyone that we do not communicate with words only. That includes our audiences, too. Are we really listening to them as we present our material?

“We communicate in many different shapes and sizes – through gestures, glances, symbols, words, etc… Our society evolved because we were able to impart knowledge and create new one based on the existing one. Our education system is based on the assumption that information is being transmitted and, therefore, we learn to speak and to use language.”

Gaspar says there plenty of courses out there that “offer to train people to communicate in a better way but are generally focused only on the emitter of information and little or no responsibilities are assigned to the receiver.” Few, he says, focus on teaching us how to listen.

Would you believe we talk twice as much as we listen?

“Even in biological terms we have two ears and one mouth, but there are only few people who use these devices in that proportion.”Blank stares and distant looks give away that someone is not really listening to us but off in another world. Ever have someone in the audience say something totally off-the-wall and unrelated to what you were talking about. Not listening.

Gaspar says that’s because it “is related to the discrepancy between the verbal (or digital), dominated by the left side of our brain, and non-verbal language (or analog) decoded predominantly on the right side. Traditionally, women have a greater ability to repair these discrepancies, and are often said to be holding a 6th sense.”

Does that mean women listen better, or can fix it easier?

Of course the real question that comes to mind–is what to do about it? We need to recognize that there are those trainees who will be somewhere in outer space instead of with us. Naturally, we want to bring them home. We have ways, my friends, of holding their attention hostage–or do we? Perhaps, first, we have to listen better ourselves.

The first step, Gaspar says, “is to be aware of our need to talk. Before doing so, ask yourself if what you are about to say:

• Is really bringing value to the person or to the talk in general
• Or is it just your need for attention, to want to “show up”
• Or is it to cover the silence and the fear that it causes.”

He says that this is the time to listen. I never thought about it this way, but you have to “dominate” the will to speak. That’s a hard one isn’t it? But then, everyone wants to talk–even to “cover the silence.” Ever talk to someone who says, “I know what you mean,” and he or she does before you have finished. That person has been aware of the other signals you are sending and deduces where you are going. Or, the person who you are speaking with just looks blankly waiting or asking for verbal clarification when you think it should be obvious. Patiently you explain, while wondering why you have to.

It seems not all of us are wired to do more than just hear the words–that is to also listen recognizing tone, gestures and posture as communication devices; however for us trainers, speakers, and even actors, it is critical to reading our audience. Think about it. If you find you are not a good listener, and I don’t mean getting every detail or word that is spoken but the meaning–maybe there is room for improvement.

Gaspar also says it’s important to hear our own bodies. It’s all about neurons sending information to the brain.

“Did you know that we have in our intestines the equivalent amount of neurons that exist in the brain of a cat? And that our heart also has an independent network of neurons, sending information to the brain even more than they receive from it? It would be wise then, the next time when you feel some tightness in the stomach or a stab in the heart when you talk to someone, to ‘listen’ to the advice of your body as it may be giving you some kind of clue about the precious message from the other person.”

He says other indicators are related to the movement of blood. It’s that brain of ours telling us something is happening, sending the blood rushing and preparing our body for action. This should be a clue.

Know your audience, know your subject and know yourself. My mantra. Listening affects all three. We need to be aware of our audience and their ability or inability to listen to us and look for the signs. We won’t know our subject very well if we didn’t listen in preparing our presentation. And, if we know ourselves, we will feel, sense, see the signals and listen beyond the words.

“If you…really want to hear each other, then stop talking for a moment (even inside your brain), listen to his/her words, his/her tone of voice and to his/her body language and, above all, listen to YOURSELF. Be fully present to the other, giving him/her one of the most precious things that you have: your attention. Do not expect or look out for anything. Just listen, be totally present. This is how you will actually hear something new.”

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

I remind you that the comments (with the inspiration of Vasco Gaspar) are my own and not necessarily the opinion of The Free Management Library. Please take time to comment and let us know what you think. Don’t want to do it here, comment on my website, where I talk about topics other than training and development like communication and theatre. If you are in need of a training developer, designer or manager or just a trainer or a speaker, let me know. Be sure to check out my book, The Cave Man’s Guide to Training And Development now available. Happy training. And, please take my ideas with you.

As the pace of change in the workplace continues to increase, managing the many disruptions in our lives is one of the most important tasks in managing our careers.

The Challenge of Change
Although we don’t always like to admit it, we seek and want control. We use our past experiences to establish expectations about how things in our life are likely to happen. These expectations provide a sense of control, comfort and confidence.

Change is challenging precisely because it disrupts our expectations – it creates a new reality that doesn’t match the expectations we have created. This causes us to feel a loss of control – a loss of comfort – and a loss of confidence. Sometimes we adapt well and sometimes we don’t!

The Solution is Personal Resilience
Of all the factors that contribute to adapting to change, the single most important factor is resilience- the capacity to absorb high levels of change and maintain high levels of performance. When resilient people face, rather than ignore, the ambiguity and the anxiety around change, they tend to grow stronger from their experiences rather than feel depleted by them. They use their “change muscles” to stay focused, flexible and proactive!

10 Tips to Build Your Change Muscles

1. Recognize that change is here to stay.
2. Understand that loss of control is at the heart of change.
3. Reach out to others for resources, perspective and support.
4. Know your orientation to change. Is it danger or opportunity?
5. Become more conscious of your own response to change. Is it a fight or flight?
6. Know your quota for change before it becomes overwhelming. How much and what kind?
7. Expect the unexpected so that you are rarely surprised that you are surprised.
8. Be ready for resistance, whether change is viewed as positive or negative.
9. Hold your focus on long-term goals and priorities not short term hiccups.
10. Be open to getting new things done and getting things done in new ways.

Career Success Tip:

The payoff for increased resilience is strong for both organizations and individuals. Organizations benefit from being able to implement changes more quickly and effectively, which gives them a competitive advantage. Individuals benefit from being able to achieve their own goals in the midst of uncertainty with less wasted energy, leading to greater productivity and greater satisfaction.

What can you do right now to build your change muscles? What can you do right now to build your organization’s change muscles?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

In various Celtic traditions Aug. 1^st is celebrated as Lammas, a designation of the first harvest. This holiday marks the mid-point between the Summer Solstice and the Fall Equinox. Lammas is often symbolized by threshing wheat or baking loaves of bread.

This day is also the Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh and the medieval Anglo-Saxon Feast of the first fruit. This time was designated by Pope Gregory as the celebration of the Transfiguration of Christ on Aug. 6th (combining the pagan celebration of the wheat and making of bread to include the breaking of bread and communion in the Christian tradition).

For many of us in the northern hemisphere, this is the ‘heat of the summer’, a time for vacations and family gatherings. While many of us in industrial nations may not pay attention to harvest celebrations, it’s worth taking time to reflect on work and play.

Lammas rituals can take many forms, but the general theme is honoring what you have planted and now begin to harvest. Lammas represents a time for gathering up what you’ve planted in the spring or early summer that is now coming to fruition. This year Lammas has a keener significance for me as I just sold my house last week and have harvested the pay-off of my mortgage.

As I reflected on my home sale, I realized that it had been 9 months since I moved out of the house and stored most of my things, leaving only a few things over the winter for a house sitter to use. Of course the nine month period also had significance as it’s been a gestation period for me- to see what would be birthed in my new location. It’s felt like a long and challenging time to determine my next direction for work.

I’m keenly aware of the planting of seeds in my new location this spring (networking, sending out resumes, re-designing my website, joining various professional groups), the waiting (for emails and phone calls to be returned, for contracts to come together), the harvesting (of funds from my home sale, my website revision, and publishing my second book). I’m celebrating that harvest and long nine month gestation period by going to the beach.

What have you planted this year that you are seeing come to fruition?

What do you still want to plant so that you can harvest it later in the year?

How do you tend, water and nourish your work, your co-workers, your clients?

What have you harvested that you want to celebrate?

Now is a good time to take stock of how your year is unfolding, to examine what adjustments you need to make so that you can harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

• Do you want to work more on some things and less on others?
• Have you spent the time on the things that are important to you?
• How are you progressing on the goals you set at the beginning of the year?

May this season of mid-summer be a time for reflection, celebration, adjusting, and initial harvesting.

Blessed Be.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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I’m compelled to add a p.s. to one of the people I highlighted earlier, Immaculee Illibagiza. (If you haven’t read that one yet, please do for more context on her. Click here.)A few weeks ago I had the privilege of learning from and meeting her when I went on a retreat in MN. She is one of the most holiest and spiritual people I’ve met and was deeply touched by her presence. EVERYONE at the retreat felt the same way. Even world renown authors, like Wayne Dwyer, feels the same way. Here’s what he had to say about Immaculee in the forward of her first book Left to Tell.

“Immaculee not only writes about unconditional love and forgiveness, but she radiates it wherever she goes. She lives at an elevated level of spiritual consciousness, and by doing so, she raises the energy level of all those whom she encounters…including myself. The very first moment we met, I knew in an absolute flash of insight that I was in the presence of a uniquely Divine woman. In those few moments, I was captured.”

He goes on to share how he sought her out and did everything he could to make sure her book was published and promoted because he knew that the world needed to meet and learn from Immaculee. I feel so incredibly grateful that I am one of those people who have been graced by her holiness.

I wrote extensively about this experience called A Mini Pilgrimage with Massive Love and if any of you are interested in finding out more about it, please just contact me via email janae@findingit.com and I’ll be happy to share more with you about this spiritual journey. For now I’ll share with you a few excerpts from it.

Had my first experience of going on a pilgrimage, which I would categorize as one of the holiest experiences in my life (so far). Instead of flying to a far away land to visit the holy one, I traveled by car with my best friend, Julie, to a small town in Minnesota, Worthington. It took me 5½ hours to finally get to our destination, but it was worth it as we both understood more of our destiny. Here’s what happened and how it touched my life.

Teaching insights from Immaculee

• She asked God for signs and he gave it to her many times in the bathroom. She asked us if we ask God for enough signs in our lives.

• Genuine, sincere prayer from the heart has immense power for God to change our lives. She really started to ask God to help her understand the words of the prayers that she was praying and became so reverent with her prayers.

• “Pray and you’ll be touched in a way you understand it. The solution is hidden in prayer.” Immaculee demonstrated this with her next couple of stories about the power of prayer. One day she came face to face with a man from the other tribe who had killed many of her tribe after she was released from hiding. They both had weapons; him a machete and her faith. With a rosary clutched in her hand and unshakeable faith in her heart she prayed with all her might, calling on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to rid the evil within this man. Miraculously it happened.

• Gratitude, despite finding out that most of her family was killed, is what she thought of when she first emerged from hiding. “Something told her heart to be grateful.” To be grateful for the cool breeze, no longer in hiding, etc…

• Immaculee stressed the importance how everything in our lives is a gift to God. She asked us to consider what the relationship of God is in our heart. Every blessing that God gives you is available to you if you just ask.

Meeting Immaculee

Right now it was my will to go and personally meet Immaculee, the holiest person I’ve ever met in my life. Julie didn’t want to say anything and offered to go as my support. We went to a hallway in the church rectory waiting for our turn to meet up with Immaculee. As we waited, I prayed and asked God to guide our conversation. It was known that we all (5 of the nearly 300 who attended) would only have about 3, maybe 5 minutes with her and needed to respect that. As I stood there, it reminded me of the prime time special Beyond Belief that I had seen a few days before I left. It was about the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary and how people all over the world revered her and adored her. One part of the special was about a healer who they showed taking one woman among the thousands in a special room for healing. This is how I felt, one of the ones called to personally see and meet a holy one. I knew it was an once-in-a-lifetime honor.

We walked into a room as Immaculee sat on a chair. I sat next to her on the chair with Julie on the couch across from us. The first thing she said is that she loved my shirt (I knew it) and we hugged. She exuded such a loving presence that made me feel completely comfortable being with her. With my hands snuggled inside of her hands, we shared an intimate conversation about the letter I had written to her.

She has a deep love for the Blessed Mother Virgin Mary and the rosary, a means of praying to her. Our conversation ended with being blessed by Immaculee.

Before we left, even though they were knocking on the door for us to leave for the next person to see her, Immaculee embraced us in a hug and asked if the three of us could say a Hail Mary prayer together. The prayer seared our souls and we knew that we had been blessed greatly by the love of Mary through Immaculee’s love of her.

Trying to gain composure after we left, we went into a bathroom feeling overwhelmed with what we had experienced. Julie made the connection that we were in a bathroom that was about the size that Immaculee spent 91 days in. Now we were in a bathroom just after seeing her and feeling the hand of God touching us so lovingly through her. A bathroom experience we’ll never forget and a fun one to tell my boys (as this is where I send them if they have potty talk).

In her newest book Lady of Kibeho, she shared how her dad named her last name to be Illibagiza in Mary’s honor of blessing them with a healthy girl, which means “shining and beautiful in body and soul.” Immaculee was named for the blessed Mother’s immaculate heart. Julie and I kept commenting all weekend how beautiful she is and how her heart and soul illuminates pure love and light. We personally felt her shining soul and love with this meeting.

Again, if you are intrigued with my experience, just let me know by emailing me janae@findingit.com and I’ll share more with you.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.

I ran across a book some years ago by Bo Lozoff called “We’re all Doing Time”. Though written for prisoners to help them see how to use their jail time for spiritual growth, I found his book applied to many work situations. Far too many people feel trapped by their jobs, afraid to leave or take actions to shift their work. Bo encourages people to “live in the vast lane”.

Here are some ideas to live in the vast lane:

Think abundantly – Most people live smaller lives than they are capable of living. Getting into the Vast Lane requires a shift of thinking, knowing that there is more beauty, depth, and wonder that awaits you. You may be living small because you don’t believe you can live differently or are too afraid of losing something. Abundance consciousness affirms that there is a vast life awaiting you. Just like the river creatures I’ve written about before, the Current of Life delights to lift us free, to splash around the waves and bathe in the deep pools of life. Abundance consciousness may take some work to cultivate, especially for those of you who have been told not to stand out, to tow the line, or don’t rock the boat. What waves call you forward for more adventure?

Expand your Comfort Zone –We all have comfort zones where things are familiar, safe, secure. Yet the vast lane lies beyond that. It calls you to stretch yourself, to boldly go where you have not gone before. Examine those areas of your life you’d like to expand, reach further, explore- work, relationships, finances, family, diet. Most people never know where their edge is unless they push it. I encourage you to push your comfort zone just a little bit further than where it is now. Perhaps there is a co-worker you’d like to get to know better, some class you’ve been thinking of taking, some new project you’d like to lead, a new professional group you’d like to join. There are ample opportunities at work to expand your comfort zone. Give it a try.

Tune-in to your inner GPS – Most people stay in the slow comfort lane because of their peers or family. They worry what others will say or think. Have you had a yearning to try something new and it keeps coming into your awareness? What is your soul calling you to do at this point? If you aren’t sure what the Vast Lane is calling of you at this time- listen, observe, open up. You’ll get that cosmic nudge when the time is right to shift gears.

As you shift into the vast lane, all sorts of new opportunities open up for you. You’ll get an unexpected email or receive a Facebook/LinkedIn request you weren’t expecting. That is exactly what happened when I got asked to write this blog. I was wondering what my next steps were to share ideas on spirituality and work, and out of the blue I got a LinkedIn request to write this blog. Now we reach over 5,000 readers a week here.

For every positive action you take, the Universe responds with more opportunities. It is up to you to turbo charge your life.

Put on your seatbelt and enjoy the ride!

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” The paperback version is available on Amazon. NOW AVAILABLE!!! the pdf version of Path for Greatness is available for download from her website. ALSO, Linda’s new book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand” is now available on her website.

You know when you are in a job you like. You also know when the tasks you’re doing just aren’t right for you.

What lies behind our feelings of job satisfaction or job dis-satisfaction are our fundamental work interests: Those are the things we enjoy doing, whatever the industry or the job title. One of the ways to find career satisfaction is to identify your core interests and match your job to them.

Finding Your Core Interests

John Holland developed a popular theory of interest development based around these six personality types.

1. Realistic (R):
These are people who like well-ordered activities, or enjoy working with objects, tools, and machines. They tend to see themselves as mechanically or athletically talented and value concrete and tangible things.
2. Investigative (I):
Investigative people like activities that involve creative investigation of the world or nature. They tend to see themselves as highly intelligent and analytical and value scientific endeavors, research and precision.
3. Artistic (A):
Artistic people like unstructured activities, enjoy using their imagination and materials to create art and They tend to avoid “conventional” occupations or situations and value creativity and aesthetics.
4. Social (S):
Social people enjoy informing, training, developing, curing and enlightening others. They tend to perceive themselves as helpful, understanding and able to teach others and value people activities.
5. Enterprising (E):
These people enjoy reaching organizational goals or achieving economic gain. they tend to see themselves as aggressive, popular, great leaders and speakers and value political and economic achievement.
6. Conventional (C):
Conventional people enjoy manipulating data, record keeping, filing, reproducing materials, and organizing written or numerical data. They tend to see themselves as having clerical and numerical ability and value efficiency and practicality.

Use This Model To Help You:

• Choose a career that suits you.
  See Guide to Holland Codes and read the descriptions and find the one you most identify with. You can also take a free Holland Code Quiz

• Shape your existing job to increase your satisfaction.
  First look at the main tasks and responsibilities of your present job. List those responsibilities that are aligned with your personality type in one column and those that are not in another. Use this to decide whether your job is a a great fit, a good fit or a poor fit for you. If it’s not a a great, or at least a good match, talk with you boss and come up with ways to make it better. Usually most jobs have flexibility.

Career Success Tip

Remember this is a model – a useful way of understanding oneself – but it can’t possibly capture all of the complexities of an individual’s personality. Make sure that you interpret any conclusions with common sense. Also, as you develop in your career, you’ll need to extend your skills into new areas. In particular, as you take responsibility for people and move upwards, you’ll need to develop the social and enterprising abilities.

Ask Marcia if you want to know more about the Holland Codes and how to connect your career and your personality.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

Last week I wrote about healing and reconciliation. Though I hadn’t planned to write a follow-up blog, life had other plans. On Mon. my 16 year old cat died unexpectedly and it’s been a shock and loss. I’ve often thought that in our American culture grieving is highly under-rated. Other cultures understand the importance of allowing time to grieve, to move intentionally and mindfully through the range of emotions – sadness, anger, shock, turbulence, confusion etc.

It’s been said that we die a thousand little deaths throughout our life. In the workplace there are many ways people experience a death. While the obvious death we think of is when someone loses a job, there are other ways that death and grieving may be occurring in your workplace. Maybe your job or role has changed or you have been moved into an entirely different department. You may have experienced a death or ending with a favorite co-worker who has left, retired or let go. Your whole company may have merged or been bought by another company so your company as it was no longer exists. You or someone you know may own a company only to sell it or close it due to financial circumstances.

Others of you may have experienced a large project ending so your team has disbanded. The stages of a team involve forming, storming, norming and performing. Yet there is another stage that doesn’t get as much attention- mourning. Have you taken time as a team to acknowledge that the group that once was no longer exists? That may be a source of celebration and joy, but it may also involve some loss, sadness or uncertainty.

If you or someone you know has experienced any of these situations, mourning may be occurring, consciously or not. Give yourself permission to grieve. Find a time to acknowledge an ending and the resulting feelings that may emerge. Those feelings may come up in unexpected ways. Honor them as they emerge. Greet the sadness, confusion, anger as a friend- ‘Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again’…. That darkness or sadness is there as a reminder that someone or something was important to you. There is meaning underneath that sadness, it shows you that what once was in your life was precious and you cared about him/her/it. Better to acknowledge the underlying feelings than to stuff it or push it aside.

Once you’ve claimed and honored what you are feeling, you can let it go in the time and manner that works for you. Find some way to honor what was and say goodbye to it. Create whatever ritual or ceremony works for you to acknowledge all the feelings you have as you step through this time to face a new way of working.

Last week I attended the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra ritual in Washington DC. As part of that ceremony the monks created a beautiful, intricate sand mandala. I love the teachings of sand mandalas. Monks meticulously create a gorgeous piece of artwork over the course of several days. Then to symbolize the impermanence of life, at the end of their ceremonies, they sweep the sand into an urn and put it in a body of water. Life on the physical plane is finite and fragile. In the sweep of a brush, our life, our loved ones, the things that we hold dearly are gone. While we stay attached to the memories, the tangible physical form is gone, changed, transmuted to some other state.

The mandala, now gone from view, remains forever in the memory of all who entered its perfect realm. Though the philosophy of the Kalachakra is at the highest level of Buddhism anyone can use it at any time. This philosophy urges us to reach a splendid, pure inner world while still living in our imperfect, earthly one, using Kalachakra as a model. For example, a pure body comes from healthy eating and not smoking, drinking alcohol, or taking drugs. Pure speech means not gossiping or saying unkind things about others. A pure mind is trained away from angry, hateful and selfish thoughts. Once each of us purifies our body, speech and mind, we can find inner peace. (from http://www.buddhanet.net/kalini.htm)

Your life is filled with beginnings and endings. Samsara, the flow of life- birth, death, and re-birth- continues on. May your beginnings and endings be filled with grace, peace, and beauty.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon. Now available in pdf form from her website, Linda’s new book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand”