Category: Improving Yourself

Every profession or specialty has its own terminology. So does career management. How familiar are you with these latest career terms?

1. Career Activist:
Someone who is proactive in planning, evaluating, directing, and controlling his or her career rather than simply reacting as situations arise. A career activist has an enduring interest in understanding and achieving his or her full career potential, while maximizing career marketability. See Career Entrepreneur.

Are you taking charge of your career or just reacting to what’s happening out there?

2. Career Branding:
Branding is your reputation. Branding is about building a name for yourself, showcasing what sets you apart from your competition and describing the added value you bring to an employer. It define who you are, how you are different and why you should be sought out.

Do you have a brand? If so, what it is? Is that how you want to be seen by others?

3. Career Design:
The continuous process of evaluating your current lifestyle, likes/dislikes, passions, skills, personality, dream job, current job and career path to make possible corrections and improvements. Think of career design as building bridges from your current job/career to your next job/career.

When was the last time you evaluated your current job or career path? Is it time to make some changes?

4. Career Vision Statement:
A set of career goals that you set for the long-term, typically five years or more. Its purpose is to give you a clear direction for the future. It enables you to evaluate and decide on potential career opportunities or chart a new course when we’re at a career crossroads.

Do you have a career vision for your career? If so, what is it? If not, are you ready to create one?

5. Culture Fit:
The culture of an organization is the collection of beliefs, expectations, and values that sets the norms (rules of conduct) of acceptable behavior for employees. It’s important to understand the culture of an organization before accepting a job and for succeeding in that job.

Can you define the culture in which you work? Are you a good fit for it? Is it a good fit for you?

6. Portfolio Career:
A career path where, instead of having a series of full time jobs with advancement, you have multiple work experiences (including part-time and temporary jobs, freelancing, and self-employment) that create an expertise in a specific functional area or specialty. Portfolio careers offer more flexibility, variety, and freedom, but also require organizational skills as well as risk tolerance.

Could you thrive in a portfolio career? Or would a more traditional career path fit you better?

7. Re-careering:
The realization, usually in mid-career, that one’s job or career path is no longer bringing personal or professional fulfillment. Many, who want to find the spark again, are looking into these options: Going back to school for additional degrees or specific training; Moving into a new career entirely; or becoming entrepreneurs by starting a new business or buying a franchise. See Career Change.

Are you in mid-career looking for a new challenge or wanting to get the juices flowing again? If so, what options might work for you?

Career Success Tip

Don’t be a modern day Rip Van Winkle, waking up to a world you no longer know. Successful career management requires that you stay in tune with the changing workplace so that you will be better able to anticipate and prepare for the changes in a planned, constructive manner.

Readers, what other career related terms are you reading about or being talked about? I will compile a list a then post them.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

Yes, this is the Linda who co-hosts this blog with me. What a wonderful opportunity for me to share with you more about Linda’s philosophy and work around spirituality.

A few months back I interviewed Linda as one of the gratitude experts for Project GratOtude. This interview shares a lot of her mindset and work she’s done around spirituality, including:

• the importance of integrity, purpose and passion
• living in alignment with who you really are and bringing this out to the world
• a couple of great spiritual analogies using a plant/flower and hose
• appreciative inquiry and gratitude
• staying open to the flow of life
• transformational empowerment, and how critical faith, commitment and gratitude are to this process
• how each of us are “divine blessings” and “light beings” to the world

We encourage you to take some extra time (it lasts about an hour) and enjoy our interview as I gleam spiritual gems from Linda’s vast experience and passion around spirituality!

Click here to listen.

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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’d like to draw upon the teachings of H.H. the Dalai Lama from his book, “The Compassionate Life” for ideas that we can use at work and in our daily life. The Dalai Lama defines compassion as the wish for another human being to be free from suffering. Love is a desire for others to have happiness. According to the Dalai Lama, compassion and love give rise to hope, courage, determination, and inner strength.

Who can argue with wanting compassion and love in one’s life and in one’s work? Yet think about the last time you got angry when a stupid decision was made at work. Ever felt frustrated when people seem more concerned about their personal agendas or pet projects than doing the right thing? Do you get annoyed at incompetent people who don’t seem to care about doing a good job? According to the Dalai Lama, the greatest hindrances to compassion and love are anger and hatred.

Here’s a guided imagery to connect with compassion and love and shift from anger and frustration with someone at work or in a business encounter.

Bring to mind a person or situation where you got angry, impatient, frustrated or seriously annoyed. Get a clear picture of the people in this situation and what they were doing that really bothered you…..

Now think of each person when they aren’t at work. Connect with them as another human being.

Picture them as a fellow human being with a family, pets, children, brothers and sisters… just like you

Think of them working to support their family and wanting to live happily…. just like you

Imagine them working as best they know how to work ….. just like you

Think of them having life challenges, fears, worries, insecurities….. just like you

Picture them trying to do their best with what they know to do…. just like you

Know they desire happiness and want to be free from suffering… just like you

Breathe deeply as you picture them with their family or neighbors enjoying life and being happy. Feel the wave of compassion in your body as you connect with your desire for their happiness.

When you find yourself getting angry, impatient or frustrated with someone’s behavior, thank them for helping you develop more compassion and loving kindness. Remember- Compassion is the wish for another human being to be free from suffering. Love is a desire for others to have happiness.

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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 NEW!!! 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.

Do you “work to live or live to work”?

In a recent Leading News, e-newsletter, from Marshall Goldsmith, the premier executive coach, asked that question. Why? Because if you figured how time you spent at work – approximately one-third of our waking hours – then you realize that your job has a significant impact on your life.

He created an exercise to help people evaluate their job satisfaction and, mostly importantly, their career choice. There are three categories and you are to estimate the percentage of your job that falls within each category.

You Try It.

The first category is “play.” This is job content that is fun and what you would tend to do regardless of whether or not you were compensated for it. We have all seen people readily agree to do a task that was beyond the job description. Why? Because it was a task they viewed as fun, as an outlet for untapped creativity or a channel for self-development. If I tell myself, “I’m going to play,” then there is no resistance or creative avoidance.

The second category is “work.” This is job content that is not play. It’s work. This is an activity that, although not fun, you would agree to do for reasonable compensation.

The third category is “misery.” Job content in this category is not only not play, but it is drudgery, and at times pure h-ell. And we can find all times of creative reasons to avoid and procrastinate.

How do you see the composition of your work experience concerning activities that are categorized as play, work, and misery? Do you need to write yourself a new job description?

Here are the typical survey results among professionals:

• 15 percent of what professionals do is considered play;
• 75 percent of what professionals do is considered work;
• 10 percent of what professionals do is considered misery.

Career Success Tip:

Most professional jobs can be molded or shaped to allow for individual situations or for one’s growth and development needs. Think about ways to add things to your job that will allow you to play more or take some things out that will allow you to be more satisfied. Then go to your boss and make a case for it – not that it will make you happier but that it can add to your productivity.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

In order for other people to grow deeper on their own spiritual path, I believe that we learn from others who have walked that path before us. Who I’m highlighting for E is Dr. Robert Emmons, whom many refer to as one of “the gratitude experts.” As a professor at the University of California, Davis, in the positive psychology movement, Dr. Emmons has researched the field of gratitude extensively. I refer to his book Thanks: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make you Happier as my “gratitude bible” because it covers the study of gratitude from a vast perspective as well as being validated through scholarly research.

Through Dr. Emmons work on gratitude, I’ve grown deeper on my spiritual path. While I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with him as a student of gratitude, I don’t know personally what his spiritual practices are. However, in order to write such an incredible, life-changing work, I can only assume that he lives a grateful, inspired life. Here’s how his work around gratitude has helped me grow spirituality and I hope will impact you as well.

Appreciate life more fully

After reading his book, I realized the scientific data behind the importance of gratitude. Practicing and living it has multiple benefits for all of us not only emotionally and socially, but also physically and spirituality. This is when I decided to commit to embracing gratitude as one of my spiritual practices. When we can view the sacred working in our everyday lives and acknowledge it with grace and thanksgiving that is when we can experience life at a deeper place. We can appreciate life more fully as we know that God is working in us to grow more spirituality.

Thank God often

There is a chapter called Thanks Be to God: Gratitude and the Human Spirit. In this section he shares the deep historical roots regarding the tradition of giving thanks. “Where one finds religion, one finds gratitude. As long as people have believed in God, they have sought ways to express gratitude and thanksgiving to this God, the ultimate giver.” Gratitude is a universal commonality or underlying thread that all of the major world religions embrace.

Thanking God is core to each faith for us to grown in holiness in whatever path we are taking. In fact in the word thanks is mentioned in the bible over 150 times. Many of these verses I’ve now used for guidance. Like, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you…. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Make gratitude vows

He suggests many ways that we can embrace gratitude as a way of life. One such way, for those of us who are spiritually inclined, is the concept of making gratitude vows. This idea touched my heart and I knew exactly this is what I needed to do. I shared how to make vows in my Project GratOtude movement and will do so with you as well. He refers to gratitude vows as as a pledge or an oath to practice and live out gratitude. Making a vow is public commitment that you make before others. He says, “For those spiritually inclined, making a vow to God is serious business. If we made a vow to others and forgot about it, we’d be off the hook. but God’s hook is deeper. God does not forget. A vow to God carries greater moral weight and authority than a vow to a mere human.”

I had a transforming experience of making gratitude vows to, for and with God. It is because of these vows that I made 2 1/2 years ago that Project GratOtude exists today. Two vows I made were to be “the great example” of gratitude and to “Return IT Backward” to those influential people in her life who have effected her work, like Oprah and Dr. Emmons.

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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.

Most organizations have a Board of Directors. Carter McNamara, coordinator for this blog site, writes that some common responsibilities of Boards include:

• Determine the Organization’s Mission and Purpose
• Support the Executive and Review her Performance
• Ensure Effective Organizational Planning
• Ensure Adequate Resources
• Determine the Organization’s Services and Programs

What if you had a Spiritual Board of Directors that provided oversight of your mission, supported you in obtaining resources, helped you plan and manage how you offer yourself in service to others- all doing this with respect to how you are staying connected to your Higher Power?

Some of you may work with an executive coach or a job/life coach. They can be enormously helpful in keeping you moving towards your goals, helping you sort out difficult decisions, or providing guidance on a new path you may be embarking on. They may not be seasoned or experienced in helping you connect your work or life goals with your inspirational Source, your faith, or your alignment with your spiritual center.

According to Liz Budd Ellmann, Executive Director, Spiritual Directors International, spiritual direction helps us learn how to live in peace, with compassion, promoting justice, as humble servants of that which lies beyond all names. Spiritual direction exists in a context that emphasizes growing closer to God (or the holy, mystical, transcendence).

If you are yearning to merge the world of your work with the world of your spirit or Sacred Oneness- How about having a whole team to support your spiritual journey through your work?

Working with a Spiritual Board of Directors

How much more effective could you be with a whole team of guides to support your life purpose? There are people and beings who are there to assist you in your major life decisions, life transitions, work challenges or even daily quandries of where to put your energy and time. I’ve worked with such a Board the last few months and I’ve been amazed at how much more clear I’ve been able to see choices and how much easier opportunities and “coincidences” have happened. Your Spiritual Board is there to make those connections and synchronicities happen for you. They are there to guide and support you in fulfilling your life purpose, sharing your gifts with the world, so that you can fully live the wonderful glorious being you were meant to be.

These guides will help you stay in alignment with your larger life purpose. Find time each day to connect with their energy and their wisdom. Intentionally draw that closer to you. Align your consciousness with their life message and teaching. They are guides who can assist you in your waking, conscious state or in your dream time. Your job is to call upon them for guidance, support, inspiration and clarity.

Choosing Your Spiritual Board of Directors

Your Spiritual Board of Directors will be unique to you. They will be people, past and present, who have a perspective to share with you. By their life example, their actions and teaching, they guide you more clearly on how to use your gifts, in large and small ways, to fulfill your life purpose. Choose people you admire or from whom you wish to receive guidance. Read about them and what they’ve accomplished or how they lived their life. You may know them personally or simply be drawn to what you know about them from history books or contemporary writing.

Think of the sages, heroes and sheroes, whose wisdom speaks to you deeply. Some of you may already have gurus who support your life path. They will help you find more clear and direct ways to bring your talents, ideas, intuition, wisdom and energy to reach your goals and support the healing and transformation of the planet. Find ways to connect with them, learn from them, meditate on them.

Say Yes! to the numerous ways life is asking you to contribute your talents, ideas and energy.

Say Yes! to the opportunities and support being offered to you daily.

Say Yes! to showing up as the best you can offer the world, spiritually aligned with the Source of your being.

You are being called at this time to step more fully into Who You Are. Your Spiritual Board of Directors is there to assist you in doing that.

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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 and from her website. Also available on her website- selected chapters from her new book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand”.

For more information on working with a Spiritual Director, go to: http://www.sdiworld.org/what_is_spiritual_direction2.html

Since being promoted into the new position as manager of operations, I have detected an aloofness from my team. I feel like an outsider.

Congratulations on your promotion. I know that there will be a lot of challenges associated with your new job. One of them are the feelings of unfriendliness you have detected from your old teammates. Put yourself in your co-workers shoes.

They are wondering: What kind of leader will you be? What changes are going to be made? What are your expectations? Are you going to be a tough or easy boss? Will you continue to go out with them or are you going to get uppity and forget about them? How are you going to deal with them when they make a mistake, come in late or get chewed out by a customer?

You and your teammates are dealing with a change, and there are a lot of elements that are unknown right now. These include things like how you should handle your new responsibilities, what effect these tasks will have on the team, and what expectations people should have about your leadership style.

How to manage former teammates:

• Begin with a team meeting to acknowledge the change in the working relationship.
• Be upfront with the issue of uncertainty. Provide as much information as you can.
• Reinforce your team’s value to the organization. Help them realize their importance.
• Capitalize on the knowledge you have of your team’s strengths when planning new initiatives.
• Offer your support to the team. Investigate how much support–and what type of support–is needed.
• Don’t over-commit in your new role by making unrealistic promises either to your staff or your boss.
• Allow time to adjust. Your actions will go far in winning your team’s trust and respect and lessening feelings of leaving them behind in the long run.

Career Success Tip:

You are now managing people who you have worked with. This puts them and you in a situation of uncertainty. You want to maintain their friendships but now you’re their boss. You have the responsibility of managing, and even evaluating, their performance. Shoot for respect, not popularity. You can get both.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

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A few weeks ago I had the privilege of listening to Deepak Chopra speak in person at an inspiring minds series held just outside of Minneapolis. While he was speaking one of the things that really struck me was how brilliant his mind is. He’s one of those few people who are the leading edge thinkers in both the fields of science and spirituality.

He’s written so many books that go deep into spirituality, the one that I would like to share with you is The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams. He looks at the physical laws of the universe to explain these principles because “the physical laws of the universe are actually this whole process of divinity in motion, or consciousness in motion. When we understand these laws and apply them in our lives, anything we want can be created like the fulfillment of our deepest desires.”

1. The Law of Pure Potentiality. He explains we are made up of pure consciousness, which is our spiritual essence, and this is the field of all possibilities. When we can tap into the true self, our soul or spirit, and just be is when we can access this field of infinite intelligence. Meditation is a great way we can do this.
2. The Law of Giving. In our willingness to give what it is we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives. For example if you want to receive more love, you must learn how to give more love. Gratefully receiving gifts from others and then gratefully giving gifts to others is another example of how this law operates.
3. The Law of Karma. We’ve often heard of this law as what we sow is what we reap. Every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind. So when we are making choices in our lives, we need to think about what kind of effect or consequence will this action I’m taking make.
4. The Law of Least Effort. It states, “and when we harness the forces of harmony, joy and love, we create success and good fortune with effortless ease.” This is about the principle of harmony and love. Using nature as an analogy, grass doesn’t try to grow, it grows effortlessly. So when our actions are motivated by love, it multiples to others in effortless ways. So accepting and taking responsibility with a loving response for each moment will bring you effortless results.
5. The Law of Intention and Desire. According to Chopra, intention is the real power behind desire. Intention combined with detachment leads to “life-centered, present-moment awareness.” This is about accepting the present while at the same time intending the future.
6. The Law of Detachment. Ironically in order to acquire what we want in life we have to learn how to let go and surrender that very thing. You’re not giving up your intentions or desires, you are just detaching from the result. It’s when you step out into the unknown is when you can step into the magic of life.
7. The Law of Dharma or Purpose of Life. The question here to ask is what am I to give others and how to best serve humanity. He believes that we are all born with a unique purpose, something that we are better than anyone in the world, are our jobs should be to discover that. “Each of us is here to discover our higher self or our spiritual self.” Once we do that we can express our divinity by serving humanity.

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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.

What’s the best way to find out about a career? Talk with those who do the work.

In workshops, I ask people how did they get into the work they’re doing today.

Some said: I just fell into it; I knew a company was hiring and thought it would be cool to work there; I needed a job and this offered the most money. Then I ask are you satisfied? Many say no. They now wish they were in another career field.

Recently a survey revealed that almost half of college-educated workers between the ages of 25 and 50 polled said they would choose a different major if they could do it over. The majority of college graduates will have switched careers at least once, and about one in five expect to switch in the future.

How do you make sure you’re not jumping from the frying pan into the fire?

The key is information interviewing. It’s a networking approach which allows you to:

• Gain first-hand, current information from professionals in the fields or careers you are considering
• Expand your knowledge of the job market in the field(s) you want to explore
• Target positions that best fit your particular mix of interests and skills
• Clarify what jobs are really like before you commit yourself
• Evaluate organizations that could be a good match
• Investigate career options – explore different career fields.

20 Questions

Don’t change careers until you know what you’re getting into. By asking questions of people who do the work, you will get the the reality, not some idealized version. Here are some sample questions to ask.

• On a typical day in this position, what do you do?
• What training or education is required for this type of work?
• What personal qualities or abilities are important to being successful in this job?
• What part of this job do you find most satisfying? Most challenging?
• How did you get your job?
• What opportunities for advancement are there in this field?
• What entry-level jobs are best for learning as much as possible?
• What are the salary ranges for various levels in this field?
• How do you see jobs in this field changing in the future?
• Is there a demand for people in this career?
• What special advice would you give a person entering this field?
• What types of training do companies offer persons entering this field?
• What are the basic prerequisites for jobs in this field?
• Which professional journals and organizations would help me learn more about this field?
• What do you think of the experience I’ve had so far in terms of entering this field?
• From your perspective, what are the problems you see working in this field?
• If you could do things all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? Why? What would you change?
• With the information you have about my education, skills, and experience, what other fields or jobs would you suggest I research further?
• What do you think of my resume? Do you see any problem Who do you know that I should talk to next? When I call him/her, may I use your name?

Career Success Tip

Information interviewing means meeting with people to ask for information, not a job. It is the career changer’s equivalent of market research. It helps you learn about career fields and job functions that fit your talents. It also helps you evaluate organizations that could be a good match for you. Readers, has information interviewing helped you either in job search or career change? Tell me how!

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

I recently posted a blog called “Lessons from the River Creatures.”

The posting was inspired by a parable about letting go of things you cling to so that you can reach your dreams or live more authentically. I want to continue on this theme as it relates to work situations where you may need to speak up or show up more authentically. Authenticity requires some level of vulnerability, perhaps not doing what the other River Creatures are doing. Faith will help you move through those vulnerable times.

For some of you, speaking your truth at work may be challenging. It may be difficult to raise concerns you have about how work is getting done. You may need to confront someone on behaviors that are toxic or unproductive. You may need to ask questions or challenge the prevailing view to find another way to accomplish your project. Perhaps you are called to be the lone dissenter on a popular proposal.

Think of a situation at work where you need to stretch yourself to speak up or show up in a way that is more in alignment with your values, beliefs or purpose. What will help you navigate effectively through the white water of that situation?

Showing up authentically, standing up for values that are in alignment with your own (or holding a company up to the values that they espouse) may require you to stretch your comfort zone. Doing this with tact, grace, clarity, respect, and understanding requires finesse. It may also require vulnerability to put yourself out on a limb or step into unfamiliar territory. Faith helps you have the confidence to do this. As one minister friend likes to say “I can either think my problems are bigger than God, or that God is bigger than my problems”.

Speaking your truth and being authentic at work may mean you practice behaviors you aren’t used to doing, such as constructively confronting someone. It can feel vulnerable and scary pushing your comfort zone. You may experience a void as you let go of old ways of doing things. This void is simply space for new energy, new behaviors, or new relationships to form.

Letting go and not clinging to what you have done in the past means being open to what will come next. This is where faith comes in. One definition of faith that I really like is – ‘going to the edge of what you know, and taking one more step.’ Faith is essential for letting go of the things you cling to, releasing the old patterns. You can call on angels or spirit guides to assist you, or seek consultation from a trusted adviser. Use whatever tools or approaches help build your faith as you venture into the vulnerable void.

Remember, the River delights to set us free, if only we dare let go.

Claiming the fullness of Who You Are, speaking your truth and showing up authentically creates healthy, more productive and rewarding work experiences. Do you want to stay clinging on the side of the river, enduring whatever stress or forces are pushing up against you? Or do you want to set yourself free and work more joyfully? The choice and Current awaits you.

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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 NEW!!! 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.