The Career You'll Love » change

Too much planning?

Carl — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:16:55 +0000

The Career You’ll Love

Sponsored by Carl Dierschow’s career blog at www.Dierschow.com

Welcome to my career tips newsletter! I encourage you to pass this to anyone who might have an interest in revitalizing their career – instructions for subscribing are at the bottom.

Too much planning?

I tend to put a lot of trust into planning. It gives me comfort that I’ve prepared for contingencies, that I know how things are going to happen, that I’ve avoided risks.

But … I’ve also learned that there’s such a thing as too much planning.

The first problem is that planning can be a way to avoid doing. I’m in the little cocoon of my plans – nothing can go wrong at this point. So the more time I spend in creating and refining plans, there’s no risk. Unfortunately, delaying is usually the risk I’m taking – but that’s not apparent.

The second problem is that not everything can be planned. Especially when you’re doing something new, something creative: Any plans are based on a poor understanding. A house of cards.

The third problem is that planning can take away the joy of experience and surprise. The best vacations I’ve had were where we had entire days which were unplanned, and therefore could be spent on … anything! If we want to go sit on the beach for an afternoon, that’s just fine, because there’s no plans. Want to eat dinner at 10:00? No problem.

Of course, I’m not comfortable with jumping past the planning stages in much of my work. The challenge is to find the right balance.

The most powerful example came when I joined up with Small Fish at the end of 2010. We were warned that there would be a certain comfort in creating lists, in planning activities, and in writing blog posts. But because our task was to get out there and sell our services, there was nothing to compare with getting out there and having actual conversations with potential clients.

And it’s made a world of difference: I now have clients.

Carl Dierschow is a Certified Small Fish Business Coach and author of the career management guide, Mondays Stink! 23 Secrets to Rediscover Delight and Fulfillment in Your Work. He is a career coach for those going through interesting transitions, and works with small business owners who need to create breakthroughs in achieving their business goals. Find out more at www.Dierschow.com and www.SmallFish.us.

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

Connect with Carl on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to newsletter@Dierschow.com

A peaceful 2012?

Carl — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:00:39 +0000

The Career You’ll Love

Sponsored by Carl Dierschow’s career blog at www.Dierschow.com

Welcome to my career tips newsletter! I encourage you to pass this to anyone who might have an interest in revitalizing their career – instructions for subscribing are at the bottom.

A peaceful 2012?

This is the beginning of the International Hour for Peace. I don’t know how widespread this is – Google is surprisingly unhelpful – but it’s a good time to think about how we’re each helping to bring peace into the world.

We all agree: There’s too much conflict in the world, too much jockeying for position, too much greed and corruption.

But here’s the thing: Humans are made to strive. Each of us has ambitions to become more, to achieve, to develop, to grow. It seems to be that instinct which causes us to want to get more at the expense of others. It’s a win-lose game, ultimately ending up as lose-lose when those others start reacting to what I’ve done to them.

In my mind, this is one of the basic challenges we’ve been given in this life. We’re meant to learn how to grow and achieve while helping others to do the same.

Easy? No. But life is not easy.

I find it interesting, too, that generally other people will respond in kind. When I help others to achieve, they’ll help me – often more generously than I ever would have expected. Call it karma if you like; it doesn’t really matter.

So here’s the challenge I give you, and myself, for 2012: Let’s work on how to learn, grow, and achieve, while helping others to do the same. Never at the expense of others, but in aid of others.

I don’t generally make New Year’s Resolutions – I find it a bit artificial and pointless. Instead, let’s work together to make 2012 a year where we at least can bring peace and collaboration to our little corners of the planet.

It’s hard to know how to bring peace to 7 billion people in the world. But to the fifty people I’ll affect most this next year? I’ll give it a shot.

Do you want to help?

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

Connect with Carl on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to newsletter@Dierschow.com

Making the commitment

Carl — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:38:15 +0000

The Career You’ll Love

Sponsored by Carl Dierschow’s career blog at www.Dierschow.com

Welcome to my career tips newsletter! I encourage you to pass this to anyone who might have an interest in revitalizing their career – instructions for subscribing are at the bottom.

Making the commitment

I was speaking with a friend recently who is wanting to build a group around a particular topic of interest. It’s been difficult to get it launched, to get a wide range of people excited to join him.

His goal is to get this group running by the end of October. To himself, he’s been thinking about it as “I want to have this group running by the end of the month.” To others who might be candidates to join the group, it’s been a bit like “I would like you to join this new group, I want to have our first meeting by the end of the month.”

That might be one of the problems with getting people to join.

I asked him what would be different if he went ahead and scheduled the date and time, and reserved the meeting venue. What he ends up with is a MUCH more powerful and compelling message.

For himself, the goal now shifts to “I’m having the meeting on that specific day. I’d better make sure we have enough people and that it’s a great first meeting!”

For others, the message is now “This group is meeting on that specific day. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a fantastic opportunity, so you’d better let me know by the end of this week if you want me to reserve your place!”

You can see that he’s now moved from INTENTION to ACTION, from HOPING to DOING. Likewise, his contacts will sense that:

Yes, this is real – it has a time, date, and venue
There’s a firm deadline for me to take action
There’s more energy behind what’s being offered, because there’s a concrete plan

Of course, putting this stake in the ground is a bit scary. What happens if he sets the meeting but nobody shows up? Will this crush his spirit?

But he’s searching for people who want to take action, who want to get compelling value from working together. When they sense his commitment is not complete, they’re going to be reluctant to jump on board.

Where does this apply in your life and career? What would happen if you just gathered your courage, and moved something important from being an INTENTION to being in ACTION?

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

Connect with Carl on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to newsletter@Dierschow.com

Dealing with the fears

Carl — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:51:20 +0000

The Career You’ll Love

Sponsored by Carl Dierschow’s career blog at www.Dierschow.com

Welcome to my career tips newsletter! I encourage you to pass this to anyone who might have an interest in revitalizing their career – instructions for subscribing are at the bottom.

Dealing with the fears

Making career decisions is scary! You’re dealing with life-changing decisions, impacts on your family, people who can affect your life direction in deep ways, ….

Calm down for a moment.

It’s OK to be stressed, that’s understandable. But there’s different ways of handling stress. Many people start by moving into a position of fear – the animal fight or flight response.

Think of fears as the compilation of your life’s learning. When we were cavemen, we had good reason to be fearful when we heard growling in a cave. You could end up as that bear’s lunch, so running away was the best option. Over time all animals, ourselves included, have developed the ability to sense dangerous situations and respond quickly. That’s fear.

Something strange has happened, though. Researchers have established that socially uncomfortable situations create the same physical responses as when people are physically in danger.

That means that your response to being embarrassed in grade school is very similar to that fear of the bear in the cave.

I find this very strange, but it’s true.

It also means that your imagined fears can be much larger than the actual reality. Let’s say that I’m thinking of giving up a well-paying career as a doctor to take up social work. That’s a huge change, so a wide array of doubts will start popping up:

I won’t have the income and lifestyle that I’ve become accustomed to.
People will think I’m crazy.
I won’t know what I’m doing, at least initially.

These are the logical thoughts, but they quickly spawn some emotional reactions:

My family won’t love me anymore, they’ll leave me and I’ll be alone for the rest of my life.
People will ostracize and shun me, I’ll be embarrassed and ridiculed.
I won’t have the skills to make it in this new career, I’ll be a failure and never make a living doing anything.

You can see that I’ve deliberately overstated each of these to make a point. But our fears really do go this deep, and can be even more irrational than what I’ve stated here. Here’s an example:

If I do this, people will think I’m crazy.
Then what? They’ll laugh at me.
Then what? They won’t take me seriously.
Then what? I won’t have any friends.
Then what? I’ll die an old and bitter man.

See how this goes downhill quickly? But it’s what’s going on at the emotional level.

How do we deal with this?

First, recognize what’s going on: Your emotions are magnifying things out of proportion, because people are resistant to change.

Second, develop counterbalancing alternative scenarios:

If I do this, people will think I’m courageous.
Then what? They’ll be impressed by my decision to focus on something I love.
Then what? They may be inspired to go for great goals.
Then what? They may want to help and support me.
Then what? I’ll have lots of interesting friends.

If I do this, people will be surprised.
Then what? They’ll be interested in what I’m doing.
Then what? They will want to help me succeed.
Then what? I’ll be known for starting something much bigger than myself.
Then what? I’ll be famous and travel the world.

Now that you have some comparison points, you can start thinking through which are more likely. And it may well impact how you make your choices: In this case, maybe I’ll want to work hard on gathering supporters around me and inspiring people.

The others who still think I’m crazy? Well, when I have supporters, who cares?

Just a note: This is surprisingly similar to the situation I’ve experienced over the last decade. Yes, a lot of people have pointed out how difficult it is to succeed as a coach. But in trade, I’m doing something important and I have a lot of people supporting me. And my business is zooming forward!

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

Connect with Carl on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to newsletter@Dierschow.com

How to design a fantastic informational interview

Carl — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:24:38 +0000

Do you like interviews? Me neither.

So it’s rather unfortunate that this technique is called “informational interviewing,” because that can leave you with a rather unpleasant image. It sounds almost like you’re going through the pain of an interview, but with no useful result.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

What the heck is a career plan?

Carl — Thu, 19 May 2011 03:06:39 +0000

You might have heard of the concept of a “career plan” – something that you put in place to help figure out what steps you’ll take to achieve your long term career goals.

I don’t know about you, but it sure sounds scary to me. I’m supposed to figure out where my career will be 40 years from now? Give me a break!

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

A Springtime Attitude

Carl — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 01:57:45 +0000

The Career You’ll Love

Sponsored by Carl Dierschow’s career blog at www.Dierschow.com

Welcome to my career tips newsletter! I encourage you to pass this to anyone who might have an interest in revitalizing their career – instructions for subscribing are at the bottom.

A Springtime Attitude

Here at the foot of the Rockies in Colorado, spring is definitely arriving. We need more rainfall, to be sure, but the trees and flowers are budding. It’s so nice to be able to let the breeze flow through our house during the day.

This helps me to realize that there is a time for rebirth – not only in nature, but in my work, family, and spiritual life as well. It’s time to take advantage of this and change my attitude.

The first thing I’ll do is put away things that aren’t going to serve me during the warmer months. That means the snow shovels and winter clothes, of course. But in my career, I also notice that there’s some activities which were once useful but not so much anymore. Perhaps it’s some groups I’ve been involved with on a regular basis, or sources of information (looked at what’s clogging the inbox?) that aren’t so interesting anymore. It’s time to retire those with grace, and gratitude for how well they served me in the past. But then move on.

The next thing I’ll do is some house cleaning, removing the dust and grime and organizing things anew. In my career, I see that there’s skills which have been a bit ignored, so maybe it’s time to brush those up. My time and e-mail management tools have not been working as well for me, so it’s time to figure out how to really make those perform well again.

Finally, moving into the new season means that I’ll be doing different activities than I did during the winter. This is time to shift the balance a little, so that I can spend time with my family and get a bit of relaxation. In my career, it’s time to realize that relaxation and rejuvenation are important – not just escaping from work, but maybe looking also at HOW I do my work.

What are the opportunities you’re seeing to inject some spring into your career?

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

Connect with Carl on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to newsletter@Dierschow.com

What If You’re Pursuing Several Different Career Paths in Your Job Search?

Carl — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:21:06 +0000

Back in 2009, I was pursuing two radically different career options, and I talked with a lot of others who were in similar situations. It’s very common for someone who is making a career switch, where you have a foot in the old market as well as the new.

Part of this is relatively easy:

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Helping others to save face

Carl — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 21:21:39 +0000

Everybody screws up. Guaranteed.

Worse than making a mistake, though, is when others use that to their advantage – to try to establish social superiority, to “make you learn,” to get something out of you.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Habits are created and un-created

Carl — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 01:47:27 +0000

I’ve been thinking about how people get addicted to their habits. Some addictions are tough to break because of physical dependency. But most are more benign, and become the habits that run 95% of your day.

What’s interesting is that we may keep these habits, even when they don’t serve us anymore.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»