The Career You'll Love » learning

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

If the job’s posted, it’s too late!

Carl — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:09:59 +0000

You’ve heard this advice before: If you wait until a job opening is posted, it’s too late!

How frustrating! You’re following the rules, and I’m saying that there’s no possible way to win. What – you’re supposed to break the rules and sprinkle magic dust in order to find a job?

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Asking for help

Carl — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:51:18 +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.

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.

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

10 ways to improve your career over the holidays

Carl — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:37:51 +0000

Whew! It looks like we may actually survive to the end of 2011 – and it’s been a brutal year. If you’re lucky enough to have a job, you’ve probably worried about whether you’d keep it.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

A little experiment

Carl — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:25:23 +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 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.

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

Mentally disconnected!

Carl — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:14:18 +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.

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.

It’s a lack of inspiration. After you’ve been bashing your head against this problem for so long, you just get worn out.

But it’s not just those out of work. If you have a job right now, or are creating you own business, count yourself lucky. But are you inspired? Are you bringing your best to your work?

This became clear to me today, because I had a couple of different discussions where we talked about that loss of momentum. And I see it in the larger society as well – people increasingly disconnected from government action, moving away from organizations and companies.

I’m not going to fix all of society, at least not this week. Instead, I’ll work on myself and the people I’m close with. Let’s see what we can do about our own personal inspiration and engagement.

Are you up for the challenge?

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 the heck is a QR code?

Carl — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:59:43 +0000

No doubt you’ve seen these little graphics popping up all over the place. These are called “QR codes”, or “Quick Response codes.” They started becoming popular in Japan about a decade ago, with the advent of smart phones.

Who cares?

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Spending money to make money

Carl — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:51:17 +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.

Spending money to make money

Now that I’ve moved out of the corporate world and am running my own business, I’ve experienced a huge mindset shift. Quite simply, I now look at my life decisions – not just business – in a Return On Investment (ROI) frame.

Growing up, my schooling and activities were paid for by my parents. When I got to college, they helped me out with the first year and a half, and I paid for the rest.

But I wasn’t thinking of this as an investment of my money that would give me great returns – I wasn’t that sophisticated. To be honest, I went through college because it was expected, because I was good at it, and I looked forward to the kind of work that would give me after I graduated.

When I moved into the corporate world, any work-related expenses were generally paid by my employer. If my boss said we could afford it, great, and if not, I’d get annoyed but would comply with the constraints.

This is a dangerous mindset. You’re giving up responsibility for key decisions to other people.

When it came to personal expenses, I adopted a frugal savings philosophy taught to me by my parents, and combined with a great-paying job, we’ve done very well. I was never challenged very deeply.

Then I lost my job.

It was hard to know how to make decisions in this environment. With no income, everything was more than I could afford. So I had to switch to a different way of thinking about it: What would give me the greatest return on what I spent?

Here’s an example: I recently signed up to have a booth at a local business expo. $400. I need to have a big sign that will make a professional impression, $325. Other bits of necessary marketing paraphernalia, another $100 or so. All things considered, this is actually quite cheap – it would have been trivial for me to spend $3000 on this.

But here’s the return:

I’m making a significant impression with my target clientele that I’ve had some trouble reaching.
It looks professional and substantial, reinforcing the value I provide to clients.
If I sign just one new client out of this, I’ll pay for this entire investment in just the first month.

Of course, I have to make sure I’m not kidding myself about getting a client. But I’ve done my homework and I’d say the probability is well over 50%.

In the past, what would have held me back from this?

This is something new I’ve never done before.
There’s a risk associated with getting the return, it’s not a sure thing.
I’d be looking for other authorities to make the decision to spend money.

Here’s the challenge I’ll give to you, then: When you’re working on your next job change or career transition, what’s it worth to YOU? Not to your current employer. Not to your future employer. To you.

If you’re going to get value – in having a better life, achieving your goals, increasing your possibilities – then go ahead and spend the money and time. Don’t look for permission or help from your boss. OK, go ahead and ask for some assistance, that might help. But don’t let that hold you up.

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

The Best Ways to Become Independent

Carl — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:37:06 +0000

This time of year, we in the US are celebrating our independence. It’s a big deal, and has become a core part of our national psyche.

In our personal lives, a few of us strive to be truly independent. But most of us really just want to be able to CHOOSE when and where to be dependent on others, to develop the give-and-take of trusting relationships that help us to advance toward our goals and dreams.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»