The Career You'll Love » learning

Keeping the saw sharp

Carl — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:18:09 +0000

If you have a job, you’re probably very busy. You’re now doing the work of three people, struggling to catch your breath.

The difficult part is to think about the long term. You not only need to be valued as a productive worker today, but also five years from now. Or ten.

Are you building that foundation for your future career?

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Regenerating your energy

Carl — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:10:26 +0000

We’re constantly going through cycles in our jobs, in our careers, and in our lives. And if you’re out hunting for a job, it’s tough to keep your energy up to do the draining work every day.

Be sure to give yourself a break. Just as your body needs its rest every night, your mental stamina will also go through normal ups and downs.

But there’s also some tricks and techniques to regenerating your energy when you need to. Try some of these out to see what works for you.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

The career you’ll love newsletter – 12 July 2010

Carl — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:32:39 +0000

The Career You’ll Love

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

Welcome to my new 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.

What’s not news?

We’re immersed in news, and it’s possible to lose yourself in newsfeeds of various sorts: TV, radio, newspaper, websites, RSS feeds, newsletters … Your days and weeks disappear as you attempt to “keep up on” current events.

This is giving you an entirely biased view of the world, because events are news precisely because they are unusual.

Sure, there was a tragic accident yesterday where a couple of people lost their lives. That’s sad. It’s regrettable. Then realize that the VAST majority of people live on without ever experiencing that of tragedy. Don’t become paralyzed by something that’s so unlikely to happen.

As a professional coach, I might long to become the next Marshall Goldsmith. But I also realize that many coaches are quite successful without ever reaching that level of fame. I can be at peace with the fact that my clients see wonderful changes in their lives, even though I’m relatively unknown. My efforts rarely make the newspapers.

Fame and notoriety aren’t the same as making a difference in the world. You get fame by being outrageous and exceptional, and sometimes that even becomes an obstacle. And those billions of parents who just do their best to raise their children in an environment of support and love? They’ll never make the news. They’re too ordinary.

This principle is also important when you’re looking for information about the world and people around you. If you focus on news sources, you’ll mostly hear about things which are exceptional – some positive, but mostly negative. If you want a balanced view, you either need to go to the source (like what a company has to report to the government) or seek out analysts which aren’t paid to create news.

Oops, I mean to report news. Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be much difference.

An important resource

I’ve found my local library to be a wonderful source for industry information. Let’s say that you’d like to find the largest companies in your particular field. This can be a frustrating exercise on the web, because there the information is skewed by who’s creating the most buzz. That’s useful to know, but that may have nothing to do with finding your next job.

There are lots of industry publications which do this kind of analysis, but you have to pay to get access to most of this information. The great news? It’s quite likely that your library has a subscription, and that you can get free access. A skilled librarian will even be able to show you how to navigate through the mountains of data you might encounter.

The web is great, it’s wonderful, it’s fun. But when you have to get down to serious work, remember that it gives you a biased and inaccurate view of the world.

Carl Dierschow is a Certified Leadership 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 leaders who are creating amazing teams. Find out more at www.Dierschow.com and www.PossibilitiesPartnership.com.

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 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

Picking the right mentors

Carl — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:59:40 +0000

You may have heard the advice that it’s good to have a coach or a mentor. But beyond that, it can be confusing. Why? What should I expect? Who should I approach?

To start with, let me explain the difference between a coaching and mentoring relationship. With a mentor, you’re looking to follow the path that someone else has successfully navigated, perhaps who can even open doors for you. A coach, on the other hand, focuses more on your specific goals, bringing out your best clarity and motivation from within yourself. Sometimes the two roles are combined to various degrees.

If you’re looking for a mentor, the keys are:

You’re looking to follow a path that others have taken successfully.
You have access to some people that can show you the way.

But given that each person’s journey on this planet is somewhat unique, you might argue that no one else has taken your specific path. If that’s really true, then go hook up with a coach who can help you to discover the new territory.

But for many people, there’s aspects of their life which are quite similar to others. Perhaps right now you’re just out of school, attempting to create a new career in the performing arts when times look bleak. Stated that way, there’s plenty of other people who have experienced the same thing, and some of them have succeeded despite the challenges.

Perhaps you’re also struggling to find the right balance between work, family, and spirituality. So look around: Are there any people who have the kind of balance that you’d like to have?

Perhaps you’d like to make a career change, into a new area in which you have less experience. Who has that experience, and has made the kind of jump that you’re looking for?

I’m sure you see, then, that the role of the mentor depends very much on where you are in your life right now. That will change in a few years, so perhaps you’ll be looking for mentoring in a different area then. So seek out someone different at that point.

How do you hook up with a mentor?

Identify the specific area you’re struggling with. At this point, you don’t have to have any idea what the solution might look like.
Look around for people who appear to have solved the problem in a way that you might like to copy. But you don’t have to assume that their solution is exactly right for you; that’s to be discovered.
Ask other friends and people you trust if they have ideas for who might be a good mentor. But stay focused on your area of struggle; being a friend isn’t the primary purpose of being mentored.
Ask a potential mentor for advice within the context of an ongoing relationship. They appreciate being recognized for their expertise, and usually feel indebted to help others who are struggling.
Set up an agreement including how and how often you’d like to meet, the length of the “engagement”, how much you’d like to be challenged and pushed, confidentiality, and what (if anything) you might have to offer in return.
Honor your agreement, and make sure to give your mentor thanks for the value they are giving to you.

Most mentor relationships aren’t paid, although there are some “barter” arrangements where expertise might be traded for expertise. And although you might well end up being a friend of your mentor for life, make sure to bring the formal mentoring relationship to a graceful and appreciative close when you’re feeling less need for the constant advice. It would be terrible for a valuable mentor to feel guilty about not having time to meet with you any more, especially after they’ve been of such great help for you.

Where would you need to be mentored at this point in your career?

Understanding dumb decisions

Carl — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:26:18 +0000

One of the most frustrating things about working for other people is figuring out why they do such dumb things. Incomprehensible decisions seem designed to make your life difficult and stop useful progress.

It might be something as large as relocation, reorganization, or laying people off – or as minor as requiring useless codes on your TPS reports.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Becoming world class

Carl — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:33:03 +0000

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success, he stated that to achieve mastery in an area, it generally takes about 10,000 hours of serious learning, practice, and skill development.

I think it’s a valid conclusion, but there’s more to the story.

If you want to be famous for something, to be at the forefront, you have to establish yourself as world class. You want to be one of the best violinists? 10,000 hours. You want to make a living as a pro golfer? 10,000 hours.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

You can’t manage time

Carl — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:18:14 +0000

When you think about it, “time management” is a ridiculous concept. Time always has been, and will continue to be, impossible to manage.

Each of us is given 24 hours a day, and that’s it.

Really, the choice is about how you manage your attention: where you place your focus, your energy, and your effort.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Tips on how to be motivated

Carl — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:27:34 +0000

No matter how much I know I need to do some things, it’s a pain. I have to wash the dishes, but nothing much is going to happen if I don’t do it right now. So maybe I’ll procrastinate for awhile, then a little longer. Pretty soon, it’s next week with a big pile of dishes in the sink.

There’s a number of great ways to get around these mental barriers:

Don’t mistake activity for achievement

Carl — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:48:51 +0000

You’re incredibly busy, I understand. You have more stuff to do than you’ve ever had before. Reading. Responding. Figuring out. Taking calls. Emailing. Before you know it, you’ve worked 10 hours today and you wonder what exactly you accomplished.

That’s the trap.

DOING STUFF is not the same as ACHIEVING SOMETHING. And most people who look at their lives discover that a lot of the stuff they’ve spent time on didn’t actually result in anything particularly useful.

Read the rest on my Workbloom blog»

Facing Obstacles by Building from Possibilities

Carl — Tue, 04 May 2010 02:34:39 +0000

For many years, I fell into a trap: Working on problems.

What’s wrong with that?

Well, think about this: A problem is something that’s defined by your situation, or by someone else. Working on that problem means that you’re trying to find a solution that is just defined by that problem, and doesn’t usually address anything deeper.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»