The Career You'll Love

In a way, today’s rainy weather reflects and reinforces my internal mood.

But here’s the thing:  That rain is so welcome, because it’s finally going to kick off the spring growth!  And it’s a welcome break from the unseasonable heat and dryness we’ve been having for many weeks.

I try to look at disappointments in my business in a similar light.  First, any failure is always an opportunity to learn and grow.  And, in fact, I AM learning from these experiences.  Every interaction I have with someone, no matter the outcome, is a chance for me to learn what works and what doesn’t.

Second, these “failures” are laying a basis for future success.  In the same way that rain nourishes the soil, a proposal which results in a NO is still advancing the relationship.  It’s not uncommon for me to give a proposal to someone, then have me contact me months later for another discussion which is more likely to result in success.

And I have to remember my long term goal:  To build a thriving coaching business which makes deep and lasting improvements for my clients.

When that happens, and it does, it makes all the struggles worthwhile.

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

(more…)

But here’s the thing:  Humans are made to strive.  (more…)

The Career You’ll Love

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

Asking for help

I’ve noticed a curious thing about asking for favors.

You’d think that the difficulty of getting someone to give you something would directly relate to how valuable it is.  If I ask for a dollar, you might give it to me.  But ten dollars?  That should be about ten times harder.

If that’s the case, though, I should never be able to convince you to help me with something that will take many hours of work on your part.  You’re very busy – everybody’s busy – so what would cause you to just give me a lot of your time?

What’s going on here, it appears, is a much more complex transaction.

There’s a lot of value you might receive from giving me some of your time:

• You might have some fun
• You could learn something
• You might have the satisfaction of knowing you made a difference
• Your social standing could improve

These are often the reasons people contribute to charitable causes or join groups.  Especially when you aren’t getting paid for your contribution, it’s clear that these other factors are what drives you to engage and help out.

What do we do with this knowledge?

A particular case I run into constantly is this:  John would like to learn something from Jane, but is reluctant to ask for her time.  He fears that he might look foolish, and is worried that Jane will see it as an imposition.

And in fact, she might, if John approaches it the wrong way.  “I’d like to schedule a two hour meeting with you” seems difficult for a busy person.  Why?  Because it hasn’t conveyed that Jane is going to get anything useful out of it – perhaps it will just be a boring waste of time.

If John really values Jane’s knowledge, he should let her know.  Here’s some useful phrases that he might weave into a question:

• “I really think I could learn something from you…”
• “I’m looking to learn from experts in this area…”
• “I want to get my career moving faster, so I’d like to ask your help…”
• “I’d really appreciate if you could mentor me…”
• “I’d be so grateful if you’d help me learn more about this…”

Each of these, to varying degrees, conveys a sense of gratitude to Jane:  She’s going to end up feeling good about having helped John’s career.

John will end up receiving priceless knowledge, and in the same way, Jane will receive priceless satisfaction.

That’s much easier, in fact, than trying to get a stranger to give you $10.

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.

© 2011 Possibilities Partnership LLC

The Career You’ll Love

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

A little experiment

Two weeks ago, I offered each of you a challenge:

I have a request for each of you receiving this newsletter today:  Please tell me one thing that gives you inspiration.  I’ll pull those together and share them with the rest of the group in the next newsletter two weeks from now.

What a wonderful response!  Within a couple of days, I had a number of powerful testimonies in my inbox.  Here’s the first:

Thanks for all your emails which I love reading and which inspire me. Sorry if that sounds silly, but yes, you do inspire me. I suppose the other thing that regularly inspires me is learning how to do something new, or learning how something works.

Starting out my career, I was all about figuring things out.  You might not know this, but I now have a business objective to be constantly learning and growing.  I run my own business, so I get to do strange things like that!

The second and third popped in a little later:

I get inspiration from knowing that the work I do brings value to my organization, our clients and to me personally.

and

Having someone recognize my contributions inspires me!

How fantastic is that?  I love it when people figure out that the value of their work is measured by how it helps others.  But let’s not forget that each of us has an inherent worth as well, something that can’t be measured by what you DO – just by who you ARE.

The next message came from a person who has had a lot of personal turmoil – huge, life-challenging issues.  Yet her faith and philosophy gives her strength: “There are lots of things to be grateful for in the past and the present.”  She offers some valuable advice for all of us:

At the end of the day we all have a limited period of time on the planet, let’s get on and use our lives effectively. That includes the job we do. Let’s not waste precious time. You may be familiar with the quote from St Paul about throwing off everything that slows you down and running the race you have been given – well that’s where I am now and I’m also thinking about the crowd of witnesses who watch from the stands and cheer us on. Let’s get running!!

This has meant a great deal to me, and I offer it as powerful advice for all of us.

Finally, I got a Facebook post from my daughter:

You inspire me, Dad, by how hard you work and everything you do.

That just blows me away – it’s hard to find the words.

Now, why did I do this?  Honestly, part of it was a need to get some feedback from the readers of this newsletter, to get a sense of whether people are getting value from this after 18 months.

But more important, this shows us the value of giving something a try.  I’ve often used the word “experiment” for this, because it gives you the freedom to accept the outcome.  Whether it fails, succeeds, or goes off in some unexpected direction, you’re always learning and growing.

Thank you all, for helping me with this little experiment!

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.

© 2011 Possibilities Partnership LLC

The Career You’ll Love

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

Mentally disconnected

Right now, I’m seeing a big gap in the employment marketplace – but probably not what you think.  I’m seeing a rapidly growing number of advertised jobs (in October?  Go figure!) with a huge number of people still out of work.

Here’s the actual gap:  Many, many people aren’t actually looking for work – at least not as diligently as they once were.

(more…)