Waiting For The Perfect Job

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cool seat

We just returned from a week on the island of Oahu.  Hubby had a business trip and timing was perfect for me to take vacation.  Hawaii was everything I imagined it would be: sunshine, beautiful beaches, warm temperatures and scenery that could take your breath away.  And it was great to escape the early blast of cold, rainy weather at home. 

There’s an area along the north shore of Oahu called the Banzai Pipeline.  It’s where the biggest waves are; perfect for hard-core professional surfers.  So Hubby and I decided to check it out.

Timing is everything, and we were lucky. Waves were in the medium to high range by island standards.  The water was comfortable and the sun was shining.  There were a lot of surfers waiting to catch the big one. We had to fight for positioning, it was so crowded.

OK, so we were fighting for a position on the beach to watch the pros.  I hate to disappoint, but Hubby and I are professional surfboard watchers, not competitors.  Truth be told, we hate getting sand in our suits and the salt water burns our eyes, not to mention we are both afraid of sharks.  But if looking cool while watching from the comfort of a beach chair was part of the competition, then we would have national ranking.

We were mesmerized by the patience of the surfers.  Once out in the water, they all sat in a line on their boards, watching the water toward the horizon.  So much time passed I thought they were looking for Captain Jack Sparrow, or perhaps they had simply forgotten why they were there.

Every once in a while some – not all – of the surfers would turn their boards toward shore and start to paddle as a wave magically appeared just behind them.   A few of these would actually ride the wave in while the rest let it pass.   Apparently there’s some sort of pecking order when it comes to who gets to ride the wave, since not everyone rode at the same time.

And most simply sat; scanning the horizon and waiting.

Hubby and I wondered why the surfers weren’t taking the opportunity to ride the mediocre to good waves as they came.  It appeared they were waiting for the “perfect” wave; the one that would take them into the record books; the one they would talk about long after their surfing days were over.

That logic seemed flawed to us.  Shouldn’t they have tried to ride the waves that were coming, to get experience so they were ready for the “big one”?  Some of the surfers spent more time waiting than actually riding, which means they weren’t really surfing.  They were sitting, just like me and Hubby.

This “surfer logic” is similar to what I’ve seen when it comes to job searches.  Many of us are like surfers, waiting for the perfect job to come along before submitting our resume.  And this line of thinking is flawed.

First, we could wait for weeks or months or even longer before seeing a job that meets our “perfect” criteria.  Second, there will always be tons of other candidates waiting for that same opportunity, which means we may not get an interview.  Third, if we get an interview, we may not get an offer.

Even if we make it through the interview process and get an offer, there’s another thing to consider:  the job opportunity that we’ve been waiting for patiently, the one we’ve identified as the ”big one”, may turn out to be a huge disappointment.  Instead of the “big one” it may be the “dud”.

As much as I would love to sit and wait for the perfect job, it’s in my best interest to try for those that at least look promising.  Even if I don’t get an offer or if I decide to turn something down, I’ve gotten more experience under my belt so I’m ready when the right one comes along.

Note that I said “right one”, not “perfect one”.   There are good things about every job and the experience gained is invaluable.

The surfers we were watching were pros; they had perfected their skill to know exactly which wave to catch to get a winning score.  In the real world of desk jobs and cubicles, most of us are still working on our careers and sometimes need to take a less-than-perfect job to get additional experience.  Even those of us who are seasoned veterans know the importance of constantly adding new skills to our resume to stay marketable.

I’m sure the surfers we saw would tell job seekers to “Go for it, man” and “Hang loose”.   Translation: Submit your resume; what have you got to lose?

A Phone Call Changes Everything

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Phone

It’s usually not a good thing when the phone rings before 8:00 am.  Mom sounded nervous, telling me she didn’t feel well.  Hubby and I raced her to the doctor, and then to the ER.  Losing feeling and movement in any part of your body is not good.

Tests were started in the ER and when it was determined her condition was stable, we transferred to a room and waited while they took more tests.  And waited, and waited….

The waiting seemed so long.  My only solace was texting Hubby who had gone to work, or watching TV, scrolling through Facebook or playing solitaire.  I had rushed out of the house that morning with just my handbag and phone; thank goodness I had a charger with me.

The good news is that her hand showed improvement within hours.  Bad news is that this happened on a Friday and weekends are definitely not a good time to be in a hospital – ask anyone who’s been there.  Skeleton staff makes it almost impossible to get tests done and read.   Not sure why they don’t have a full team that works weekends too.  Illness doesn’t take a holiday.

More good news; mom is improving and is now at our house.  Her hand, while not 100%, continues to show signs of improvement.  Tests revealed no major issues.  This was clearly a fluke, and she was lucky.

I had lots of time to think during those days in the hospital.  Too much time, in fact.  Thinking about mom, wondering how I’m going to help her without taking independence away; how am I going to “not worry” about her?  It’s sobering to realize that her life – my life – changed with one phone call.

What I didn’t think about during this time was work.  Funny how that happens.  I had worked late for three nights leading up to this, completely stressed-out about things. While I was sitting in the hospital, I honestly couldn’t tell you what I had been working on that week or why it had seemed so important.

A phone call, that’s all it took to get perspective.  Suddenly I would have given anything to simply be stressed out from work.  That would be easy.  Sitting in a hospital with your loved one is not.

There’s not even any hospital drama or shenanigans like you see on Grey’s Anatomy.  At least that would have been a distraction!  Where’s a hot doctor when you need one? And the Grey’s Anatomy hospital seems to be fully staffed every day and at all hours.  Hardly real-life.

So what’s my point?  I guess I don’t really have a fun business story today.  Except to say that wherever you are in your career – happy with work, not happy, laid off and looking – remember to keep work in perspective.  It’s important, but other things are more important.

One phone call is all it takes to change your life in an instant.  And trust me, you won’t care anymore about work, the stress, the pay, the coworkers, the clients – anything.

If U Cn Rd This Msg U R Old

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MP900390573[1]

I was just told by a team member that I’m old.   Not in so many words, but the underlying message was there. No doubt about it.

It happened during an IM-Skype conversation at work, which seems ridiculous to me since we sit about ten feet away.  Not sure why we Skype instead of walking over to chat in person.  It’s the culture of the organization and of course I want to fit in, so I Skype away like everyone else.

Something of importance to this story is that I happen to be a bit more “mature” than many of the employees, and definitely older than this team member.

This particular conversation was nothing special; a mixture of work and side comments when suddenly it turned on me.  She had misspelled a word and was trying to explain herself.  I’ll let you take a look:

Her – oops; im terrible at typing

Me – typing or spelling?

Her – it’s because Im too dependent on spell check

Me – you youngsters! How about a dictionary?

Her – I know; it’s pathetic

To which I typed a humorous response in what I thought was “IM-approved” lingo:

“u r rt, oldr peeps r so annoying”

Her reply?

“Ha! My aunt texts like that – it’s hilarious!”

What?!  Did she just call me out as being “uncool”?  I think it’s worse than that; she thinks I’m old!

Augh!  I don’t want to be hilarious like her aunt, who’s got to be way older than I am.  More importantly, I don’t want to appear “old”.  Hmph.  Just when I think I’ve become an accepted member of the team, and now they think I’m old.

But I can’t be that old.  Not only am I on Skype but my Twitter feed is pinging away with new followers and my latest Pinterest board is on fire. Geez.

If the ability to spell without spellcheck makes me old, then I guess I am. I just never realized that spelling was “old school”.

Bt u cn rd this txt, cnt u?

Ha! You’re old too.

Career Do-Overs

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Success and Failure Road Sign with dramatic clouds and sky.

Recently I was a panel member for a discussion with graduate business students.  These discussions are always interesting – I’m just as interested in the answers from the other panel members as the students.

This discussion topic was something I had not talked about before with a group.  The question posed: “What has been your biggest career mistake?”

Wow! I asked the moderator how much time we had.  Speaking for myself, I knew that it could take a while to sort out all of the mistakes I’ve made throughout my career.

Luckily we had been given warning of the topic.  All four panel members, including myself, had a written list of career mistakes we wanted to share.

One by one, we told of our mistakes, our embarrassments, our failures.  We each had, at one time or another, wished for a career “do-over” – one of those things where you say, “If I had a chance to do it over, I would….”

Note that this was not a sad or depressing conversation.  We were all smiling and sometimes laughing.  It’s always easier to laugh at your own mistakes after the fact, when time has passed and we are wiser.

The most amazing thing to me is that all four of us had pretty much made the same mistakes, and we had the same messages for the students.

Learn to manage people.  This is not something that is taught in school, nor is there much training once you get into the real world.  Managing people is critical to your success at work.  Note that this includes managing your relationships with co-workers, as well as “managing up” – making sure you are communicating effectively with your boss.

Managing your boss means communicating on a regular basis to let him know what you are doing, what you need and to clarify what you believe his expectations are.  One panel member described a boss who was so poor at communicating his direction that she learned how to break it down for him and would list out exactly what she thought she heard.  He appreciated her efforts, and although it took a bit of effort on her part it helped her succeed.

Think long-term, not short-term, when it comes to job opportunities.  One panel member shared how he had a long-term goal for himself in terms of advancement.  His company offered him an opportunity that, in his mind, was a lower title and on the surface appeared to be a backward move.  He thought that accepting the opportunity would make it appear that he had been demoted, so he let his ego think for him and he declined the offer.  

Looking back, he now realizes that he missed an opportunity to learn a new part of the business and that accepting the “lower” job would have allowed him to achieve his career goal about five years sooner.   Lesson here: don’t be so focused on the short-term; step back and look at what the long-term implications might be.

The world is very small.  And guess what? It’s even smaller in your field of work. As we’ve advanced in our careers and built our professional networks, it’s become crystal clear that there are fewer than six degrees of separation between you and your next opportunity.

One panel member explained that in her field it’s not uncommon for people to leave or get laid-off, go to other jobs, and then a few years later come back to the same company.   At her new company she now is working with some of the same people she met years ago at a different company.  This is a classic example of “never burn bridges”.  You never know who you might end up working with again.

Make mistakes!  Know that you are going to make mistakes – we all do at some point.  The key to making mistakes at work and surviving is to learn from them and not to repeat them.  It’s also important to own your mistakes – accept responsibility and offer a solution to make it right.  When you make a mistake, alert the boss.  While this may sound counter-intuitive, it’s a critical part of “managing up”. Make your boss aware of the situation so he can be part of the solution.

These are all great tips and I thank my panelist-friends for sharing. But I haven’t told you about my mistake.   Here goes:  Early in my career I had a friend call with a lead on a job at a start-up firm.  I wasn’t making much money at the time but rationalized it away with the prestige my job offered.  Not to mention business trips overseas which, I argued at the time, could be considered part of my salary.

Instead of at least listening to what the new company had to offer, I didn’t even apply or try to talk to them.   Whether I would have accepted a job at the start-up is beside the point.  I turned them down before they even made me an offer.   The regret-filled “would-have”, “could-have” and “should-have” questions have followed me throughout my career.

Since that fateful mistake, I have made myself open to opportunities, even just talking and listening.  I don’t have to accept but at least I don’t turn a job down before they make me an offer.

What was this start-up that still has me thinking, “What if?”  Dell Computers.  It would have been a chance to get in on the ground floor, complete with stock options.

Now I think you can understand the impact of my mistake.  At least my retirement plan and bank account do.

Love Me; Love My Personality

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Box with a Hamburger and French Fries

My first job outside of babysitting was at McDonalds.  It was a dream job for me at that time in my life – a teenager working at a fast-food restaurant, with free meals.  Heaven!

My biggest challenge at this job, aside from the fact that I was not even five feet tall and looked like I was twelve, was that I was shy and unsure of myself. McDonalds needed outgoing and confident. 

In an attempt to mold me into the model employee, the manager had me stand a good distance back from the register watching for the front door to open.  As soon as a customer set one foot in the door, I had to shout, “Welcome to McDonalds! May I take your order?” 

While no one was particularly upset with this aggressive approach, I did encounter a few snickers as customers were hoping to actually get inside before being pressured into making a burger decision that could affect the rest of their day.

At my first job out of grad school, I had to learn to become even more decisive and assertive as I took charge of my department.

Neither of these jobs really changed my personality – I actually already had it in me; I just needed the confidence to find my voice.

And find my voice I did.  As I gained experience and matured, my personality came out of its shell.  Gone is the girl who was too shy to say much in the halls at high school, letting others take the lead;  she’s been replaced with a woman who is not afraid to introduce herself to strangers, state her opinions, take charge and make decisions.

Those who know me now think I’ve always been this way, shouting hamburger greetings to customers before they step in the door.

My confident and assertive personality characteristics have served me well in life as well as my career.  In fact it’s one of the reasons I am hired.

Yet there are times when I feel pressure to modify my personality – especially at work – in an attempt to match the expectations of others.  Those around me want my personality and all that comes with it; they just want it to appear only when it serves them best.

I’ve got to say that this doesn’t work for me.  And believe me, I’ve tried.  It’s as though what makes me “me” is valued only as long as it can be tweaked

In this day and age it seems like everyone wants a lukewarm personality; one that’s neither hot nor cold, but watered down.  More passive than assertive; one that’s always trying to say or do or be what others expect of them.

That’s like walking on eggshells to me, trying to figure out the right words for fear of being received the wrong way.   The result?  At best, unclear communications; at worst, employees who are afraid of being themselves and showing their true personality.

Why can’t we just be ourselves, with the personality package that the employer wanted in the first place? You know, “Love me, love my personality”?

I started noticing this trend some years ago and hoped it was just the company I was at or possibly a phase.  Unfortunately it’s becoming the norm.

Not sure if it’s the result of the millennial generation who never heard the word “no”, with every person receiving praise and a trophy no matter how poorly they performed, or if it’s just our culture evolving because we are too afraid to say what we mean (in an appropriate tone, of course) for fear of being politically “incorrect”.

Whatever it is, I long for the days of direct communication without fear.  How great would it be to know that it’s okay to be stern, happy, serious, excited, frustrated, and even, if the situation warrants, mad, at the office?  

Like my first job at McDonald’s, it’s time to remove the gloves and allow everyone to show off their true personalities.

Maybe we’d rediscover clear communication if we were allowed to express ourselves.  Wouldn’t that be something?

Never Give Up: A Lesson From Animal House

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Stressed

One of my favorite movies of all time is Animal House.  I have watched this movie so many times that I can recite almost the entire movie from memory.

It’s one of those all-too-rare films that figured out the right formula of cast, story and inappropriateness to make a truly funny movie that is as relevant today as it was the day it opened at the box office.  Anyone who has been to college can relate to the antics of the Delta House fraternity brothers simply trying to have as much fun as possible while getting an education.

Okay, they weren’t really trying too hard on the academic front, but that’s why it’s so funny. 

The late John Belushi played a lead character named Bluto who lived college on the edge, not a care in the world, sort of rabble-rouser who was always at the center of trouble – usually as a leader.   The group wreaks so much havoc on campus that eventually the fraternity is stripped of its association with the university.  Reality comes crashing down on Bluto and his pals as university officials take possession of everything in the fraternity house.

Sitting in an empty frat house, everyone is completely down in the dumps as they realize that the partying is over.  While the fraternity members are lamenting their fate saying, “It’s over; there’s nothing else we can do”, Bluto, in a rare moment of true leadership, stands up to give an incorrect yet invigorating speech.

“Over? It’s not over!  Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

His well-intentioned speech is so passionate that the entire fraternity is energized into action, taking control of what they can.  The message was: Never Give Up.

We won’t go into the chaos that ensued due to this passion.  Rent the movie to see for yourself.

I was thinking about Bluto’s speech recently.  Overwhelmed with so much to do – career, writing, mentoring and family – it was like I hit a road block and could not figure out how to manage everything.  Everything was caving in on me with no escape.  So intense were my feelings that I could not think of a solution to turn things around.   It felt like I was sitting in the ill-fated Delta House; with no solution as to how to get out of the mess.

How many of us experience similar feelings throughout our career?  In speaking with friends and colleagues, it seems like this is more common that we’d like to believe.

Sometimes we feel trapped in a job, with no way out.  Other times we can’t figure out how to find the positive in a situation.  Many times we become mired in negativity; paralyzed and unable to think or move.   We think that there is no viable solution.  So we sit and do nothing; thinking  it’s over.

But it’s not over.  (This is where the “Germans bombing Pearl Harbor” speech comes in) We should never give up.

It’s easy to get lost when we are so close to the problem, isn’t it?  Sometimes what we need is a great impassioned speech – or maybe a swift kick in the rear – to help get us back on track.  We can either do it ourselves by taking two giant steps back from the situation to think about whatever the real problem is, or we can enlist the help of a friend who is objective enough to help point us in the right direction.

Hubby did this for me as we walked the dog.  Close enough to care about me but objective enough to not get caught up in the details; he was able to look at the problem differently than I had been.  And it was immensely helpful.

Just like Bluto’s plea in Animal House, Hubby’s speech was passionate, offering a unique plan of action that I had not thought of myself.   He reminded me to never give up; that it’s not “over”.

And luckily, Hubby knows his history, so I didn’t have to listen to a well-intentioned but incorrect history lesson.   Although such a speech would have made me laugh.

Time to Leave

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Woman Having Birthday at Work

Hubby and I love parties!  Friends, music, eating and entertainment all in one place.  And we are sticklers for party etiquette.  We try to arrive slightly after the start time to allow the host time to be ready.  And our goal is to leave the party while we – and the host – are still having a good time.  No one wants to be “that person”; the one who’s the last to leave, over-staying their welcome and still partying while the hosts have changed into pajamas and turned out the lights.

It’s relatively easy to know when to leave a party since they have a definite beginning and end.  A job, on the other hand, is a different story.

How do you know when it’s time to move on to the next opportunity?  Is it a certain number of years, or the desire for a promotion; the need for more money or simply boredom?  A shorter commute, perhaps?

All of those are valid reasons.  It’s really a personal decision, and each of us needs to determine what suits our needs, wants and desires.   Here are a few to get you started.

You Know It’s Time To Leave Your Job When:

  • The first thing you do Monday morning is program your Outlook calendar to countdown the days, hours, minutes and seconds until 5:00 pm Friday
  • You’ve been at the company for so long and lived through so many RIFs that everything has come full-circle: the people who were laid-off in the first round have returned as the newest hires
  • Before you get your first morning cup of coffee you’re planning where to go for lunch
  • Looking back at the original office directory, you are the only one on the list that’s still with the company
  • You know the entire cafeteria menu by heart, including prices and the staff know exactly what you will order without asking
  • Although an early adopter of LinkedIn, your profile has cobwebs due to lack of updates
  • The company loyalty program is named after you [the annual company loyalty award is named after you]
  • The new CEO asks for the company history and they call you

While these are great signs, sometimes the decision to leave is not that simple.  What if they don’t fit your particular situation?  In that case, take time – away from work – to clear your head and consider how you feel about your current job.  Ask yourself what you like about the company and the things that drive you crazy.  Most importantly, determine if you like the actual work.  Sometimes the work is great; it’s simply the environment that’s making you cray-cray.

Whatever the reason, just remember to leave the party while you’re still having fun and before anyone puts on their pj’s.   Now that would be awkward.

Fainting Is Not An Option

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interview pic

As a PR person, I’m no stranger to media interviews.  Sometimes I have the benefit of knowing the questions in advance and can carefully prepare my response.  Many times, though, I only have a high-level overview of what we will discuss.

Such was the situation with a recent radio interview I did.  I was told the host wanted to discuss job searches. 

That was it.  All the information I was given ahead of time: the job search.  Okay, I did get the time of the interview and the name of the host as well as the name of the show. But nothing more.

Job searches, lay-offs, reinventing yourself, interviewing tips. Talk about wide-open!  My mind raced with the different directions this conversation could go.

Normally I’m pretty cool under media interview pressure.  This time I was a giant bundle of sweat. Thank goodness we were not on Skype where they could see me.  Why was I so nervous? This time, it was personal – it was about me, my experience and my book.  The pressure I felt to “get it right” was overwhelming.

It might have helped to do the interview in-person instead of over the phone.  But the show was three states away so the phone was our best option.

Did I mention this was live?  No do-over if I messed up.

Yes, I had prepared.  In fact my Girl Scout instincts kicked into high-gear and I probably over-prepared. I tried to imagine possible questions and developed answers just in case, even typing them out so I could have them in front of me.   Information about the interviewer, recent government job statistics and my resume were at my finger tips, held in place by sticky notes with reminders to mention my name, my book and my website.

And like any good Girl Scout, I had emergency s’mores on hand just in case.

Secretly I wondered if the radio host had sticky notes about me in front of her.  Now that would have made me feel a bit better!  But listening to the earlier part of her show, it sounded like she was cool as a cucumber.

I knew I had only one shot at getting this right.  All I could think of when the interview started was, “Breathe – fainting is not an option!”

Being prepared was definitely a necessity.  The time and energy I spent preparing was key to making the interview sound easy, almost un-rehearsed.  I knew the key points I wanted to get across above all else: my name, my book and my website.

My preparation for the radio interview was really no different than preparing for a job interview.  We all should know our resumes like the back of our hand, have some career highlights to share and have questions to ask the interviewer. Above all, we should know exactly what key points we want to get across in order to leave a great impression.

The radio interview went very well.  My four-legged executive assistant managed to be quiet and the doorbell didn’t ring.  I remembered my key points. And no, I did not faint.

I rewarded myself by eating the emergency s’mores.  Now that’s success!

The Girl And The New Job Decision

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Decision pic

I had a big decision to make.  The magnitude of this decision weighed heavily on me, my head spinning as I ran through the options in my mind.

This seemed to be a great time to enlist the advice of trusted friends.  So I took a poll.

Do I cut my hair short, or continue to let it grow?

Yes, this was a major decision. To cut my hair or not.  After all, it takes a super long time to grow it out. Clearly this was a first-world problem, but it was important to me nonetheless.

To be clear, when it comes to my hair I’m not afraid of change. I’ve had it so long I could sit on it and so short it was almost a buzz-cut, and everything in between.

After all, it’s just hair and it does grow back.  I become very courageous in the stylist’s chair, proclaiming, “Do whatever you want!”  Most of the time, I’m lucky and walk out of the salon with an uber-stylish new ‘do.

Yet we all know that one miss-snip of the shears and we can be left with a hot mess.  And having bad hair is a downer every second of every day until it grows out.

This time I was on the fence with my decision, having spent the last year growing my hair.  It was time for a consultation. Not sure why I felt the need to get a focus group together for something as simple as a haircut.

Clearly my mind had been playing tricks on me, confusing my work projects with personal projects.

In the end, the decision was mine.  Didn’t matter what the focus group said; it’s my hair and I had to feel good about it.  Besides, there was no clear consensus among focus group participants. Shocker.

The problem with involving too many people in the decision process is just that we all have different opinions.  It may be that we really don’t want to hear the opinions of others; we may simply want validation for a decision that we’ve already made in our head.

Same thing is true for a new job decision.  We need to decide for ourselves what is best for us.

It’s okay to have a trusted advisor or two to provide an outside, objective opinion and strategic counsel.  We don’t want to make a job decision that’s based on emotion; sometimes we get so fired up about a job that we’re too close to the situation to be objective.

But the advisor’s job should be simply to provide a sounding board.  No interjecting their own biases as if they were the ones standing in your shoes.

Don’t get me wrong; friends want to help and think they have our best interests in mind.  Yet they don’t really know everything about our situation.

I’ve made this mistake before, consulting others about a new job decision.

Once, when I had to make a difficult decision to leave one job in pursuit of something totally different, a former colleague offered unsolicited advice about my decision.  And it was not pretty. This person said I was making a mistake, along with some other opinions about my career.

While I understood why my colleague would consider it a mistake for her family and financial situation, she failed to understand that my situation was very different from hers.

That was pretty much a “friend fail”, in my mind.  Note that this “advice” didn’t help me, nor did I change my mind.  It momentarily caused me to question myself – which is never good – yet ultimately it was a good lesson. It reminded me that it’s my life and my career, and I have to live with the results.

Just like my hair.  Which I did cut short, by the way.  And I’m loving it.

Three Basic Steps to Career Reinvention

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your career

Just read an article in the paper that talked about reinventing yourself in your career.  It was one of those employment advice columns, and the person asking the question basically stated that it’s not only difficult to start over when you are over forty, but it’s ridiculous.

I know what you’re thinking; someone actually reads a real newspaper?   Now that’s ridiculous.

Seriously, as someone who has reinvented herself several times during the course of my career, I think statements like this are ridiculous.  In my opinion, the person writing the question seems to be enjoying a pity-party. Hope they are having fun.

Let me share some of the different points brought up in the question:

–  Motivational speakers talk as if it’s “nothing” to follow your passion

–  Workers who were raised to follow the career paths they were told to follow or do what their parents did with jobs that offered security above everything else now find their long-term security threatened

–  When you’ve got umpteen years in the same field, no matter what kind, it’s not easy to reinvent yourself

–  How does one even find their passion to begin with

As a motivational speaker myself, not only am I offended but I would never say it’s “nothing” to follow your dreams.  After all, this is my passion, and I figured out how to do it.

Anything worth having takes energy, time and determination.  For me, even college took everything I had to make it to graduation.  But if you’re not willing to put in the effort, you’re going to be stuck in the same place.

Career reinvention at any age can be difficult, yet it’s definitely possible.  When it comes down to it, there are three basic steps:

  1. Figure out what it is you want to do.
  2. Figure out how to do it
  3. Just do it

Sounds too simple, right? 

You’re thinking, “I just wasted time to read a bunch of crazy talk”. Let me assure you that I have not lost my mind and I’m not just making this stuff up.  I’ve reinvented myself at least three times during my career; here are the biggies:

–          Engineering to retail buying

–          Retail buying to marketing

–          Marketing to public relations

–          Public relations to author and speaker

And this doesn’t count all the minor reinventions within each of those careers.

I get it. Really, I do.  It’s hard.  I can hear you saying, “But you don’t understand; you’re not in my shoes”. I agree – I’m not in your shoes.

Here’s a look at my shoes:  Hubby and I were both laid-off within one year.  Both of us are considered to be “older” workers – you know, in a “protected class” in HR terms.  We have a mortgage and other expenses, and neither of us comes from a wealthy family who could possibly lend a financial hand.

Guess what?  Both of us found ways to make money at jobs we enjoyed. I discovered a new passion and found employment that leveraged not only this passion but my career experience.

So how is it possible to successfully reinvent yourself in your career?  It’s a bit different for everyone but here are some key points that I’ve learned about this process.

  • You have to be open to new opportunities as they present themselves.  Don’t “pooh-pooh” something without hearing more about it.
  • You have to be willing to be uncomfortable.  Trying something new brings a certain level of discomfort.  Embrace it.
  • You may have to be willing to accept a lower title and/or less money.  We all have to start somewhere.
  • You may have to work at something that’s not your dream job while you figure out how to pursue your passion.
  • Don’t have a passion yet?  Take up a hobby, enroll in a class, do volunteer work or take a part-time job in a field of interest to see if anything clicks.
  • Listen to yourself and try not to be influenced by well-meaning friends and family. This is your career; not theirs.

Again, I’m not saying that it’s easy to reinvent yourself.  If finding a new career opportunity or discovering your passion was as simple as donning ruby red slippers, clicking your heels and stating, “Find my passion; find my passion”, don’t you think everyone would be doing it?

But I can say with absolute certainty that it’s possible.  And the rewards are great.

I’m sure I’ll be revisiting this topic again here on my blog.  Stay tuned. As usual, I’ve got lots to say.