Never confuse motion with action. Benjamin Franklin

This quote appears in the book I’m finishing called Breathing through Career Transition, a how to job search book combined with stress reduction strategies using Mindfulness to build resilience.   

 How often do you hear yourself and others say, “Oh I’m so busy!”  (In Franklin’s day, the word motion described similar busy-ness).  I often hear a pause and then a supportive duplication, “Busy, busy”.  This is not quite hyperbole, as I listen to the to-do list of others and hear that there is indeed no time left in the day.  The word is a descriptor we all use to emphasize our modern sense of being overwhelmed. It is seemingly universal.  We are busy with the onslaught of our fast moving days.

 How do you move from busy-ness  to  action?  Through intention and organization.

When I coach others who are seeking employment, the emphasis is on organization.  Job seekers need to organize mentally first.  That is the intention part of the formula. 

Preparation starts with spending time with yourself to imagine and strategize what is the next job or career move.  Next, organize your materials, your ideas, your way of presenting yourself . 

 Nothing speaks louder in a negative sense than disorganized material or a fumbled introduction that stems from the distractions of busy-ness. 

 In a real life scenario, working with someone developing a marketing plan recently, I asked what the strategy was, and the response:  “Whoever will bite is the strategy.”   This line of thinking  proved disastrous, and the product was later shelved.

Action is fuelled by intention.  It is a closed loop, organizing and intention build on each other.

What do you want to accomplish?  That’s the easy part, for the job seeker, it is an offer for employment, (the End Goal). 

Here is an exercise to get you started.  Write End Goal at the top of your page.  At the bottom of the page write Current Reality. 

Ask yourself, what do I know to be currently true, what do I have in place right now?   Here are some ideas:  you have motivation to find new employment (laid off), you hava notion of the type of job offer you want, you have support of friends and family.  Perhaps you have a resume started, and an office set up. 

Other pieces that build your foundation:  Do you have a computer or space at the library you’ve staked out for research and sending in resumes?  Have you developed a “reason for leaving” your last company that you can easily discuss without emotion when networking?  Do you have your elevator speech that describes you and your work experience?   Do you have a dedicated phone and office supplies?  Have you organized a  binder to keep your research, network contacts and meetings, ads you are applying to, all together?  Have you determined who to call, where to meet them?

For all the pieces you have in place, list them at the bottom of the page, under Current Reality.  Consider this your solid support, your grounding. 

If you find that some of these questions are on a to-do list, place them in the middle of the page under a heading, Preliminary Goals.  To get to the top of the page, the End Goal, (a job offer), you need to do the organizing first.

With this exercise and new perspective, you will see the action rather than the motion (busy-ness) as you moved toward the End Goal of a new job offer.

relevance

When I was a recruiting manager years ago, resumes were essentially similar to a job description.  Responsible for they would say.  There would be lists of job duties that only implied the work involved.  In the interview, the recruiter would have to ask questions to ferret out what the interviewee actually did with those job duties, as that was not evident. 

Today resumes speak to not only what you did,  but how you made the job your own, given the job duties the company assigned you.  Two people doing the same job bring uniquely different skills and abilities to that same job.  What excited Sally about what she did is based on her skills and interests.  Sam’s abilities doing that same job might create such different accomplishments that you wouldn’t know they shared the same job. 

Years ago, when resumes just listed job duties, Sally and Sam could have shared the same resume, as well as the job.  

So again, a resume is all about you.  It’s about your strengths and accomplishments.  A resume is your personal branding; it’s your marketing tool.  And with all the conveniences of Word, you can adjust or change the bullets to tailor what you convey to suit the job you are applying for. 

Any accomplishment that is quantifiable with $dollars is a great idea, provided you frame it within some context.  Saying you saved the company a large amount of money is only mildly interesting.  What is far more relevant is to tell the story in an accomplishment statement.  If you saved the company money in a bad economy where the company has lost $xx or 30% of the employees, and you did it by thinking outside the box, that’s the story.  And it is significant. 

Tailor what you write about your work experience to what you want to do.   This isn’t to say that  you make things up.  I’m saying  everything you have done in your job history doesn’t need to be  in your resume.  If you didn’t like certain aspects of jobs in the past, my suggestion is that you not highlight work you’d rather not repeat.  Can you reframe what you did or emphasize the parts of your job that you did enjoy?

And it is reasonable to have a number of bullet accomplishment statements to draw from, so that you can focus your resume to what you know about the job you are applying for.  Three to five bullets that convey your strengths in each job you’ve held are sufficient.  But you can develop more statements as back up or for different types of jobs you are considering. 

A very useful by product of re-working your resume to show accomplishments is that the process helps you to re-frame your ability to talk about yourself. 

Writing accomplishment statements builds confidence and helps you figure out what is essential about you.  You are developing relevant information that can be conveyed within the context of the company and job you seek.  

So take a look at your resume with a keen eye, to determine if you are presenting yourself in a way that your significance stands out.

its a full moon, right?

Yesterday, I told a friend, it took a cupcake to settle down. If truth be told, two were required to pull mind and body back out of the trenches. It was  one of those days, not to be repeated for a while I hope.  That might give me enough time to recall what it is I know about stress reduction, mindfulness, and keeping balanced.

That was yesterday; today swimming seemed the better approach.  So, I’m back to breathing: long, slow deep steady. 

Take time for yourself, gather internal resources.  Cupcakes offer something fun, satisfying, but  they are  just gone in a second. 

Keep breathing.

beginner’s mind

I’ve just completed writing  a book.  The theme is partnering with you for success.  Success, that is, in navigating the job market to receive the offers that you seek. 

 Writing a book has been in the back of my mind for years, prompted by people saying to me, “Where’s the book?  You should write a book!“  But yet, it was not the first thing I thought of when I wanted to be creative, or spend a lot of time on a project.  It just  baffled me when people would ask that question.  My thought was, there are a stupendous number of books being written, what on earth could I say that would be different?

 That went on for about 20 years. 

Then one day I changed my tune.  I changed my way of thinking and arrived at a point of view that was open to the possibility.  I basically said, ‘what the heck?!” 

There is a term for this new direction of thought. Beginner’s Mind. 

 Think about the first time you dived into something you had an inkling to try.  You might have thought, ok, I’m just going to do it.  I’m going to figure it out, give it a go, and just do it. The beginner has no idea of the pitfalls,  the time it takes, the difficulties, the pull that says, “Stop, there are too many obstacles.  Don’t even try.” 

When we are beginners, we just have a little fear.  That’s because we don’t see the big picture, we have no experience with  all the things that can go wrong.  The tunnel is dark, we don’t know what lays ahead.  

 But once that big toe gets dipped into the pond, there is the capacity to enjoy the feel, the juiciness of the water.  It’s the point where the fear isn’t such a big thing. 

That is all it takes to get started, when you have Beginner’s Mind.  Getting over a little fear. There is a freshness, -a golly gee whiz, look what I’m doing- feeling that emerges.  Call it naïve, call it simplicity, but when I started writing that book, I didn’t have a clue what the pitfalls might be. 

 Staying present to the moment, the writing, the doing of it, helped to keep  tension low and restlessness at bay.

 Think about Beginner’s Mind the next time your own mental attitude balks and tries to find a reason not to embark on something creative or necessary. 

 Beginner’s Mind:  with fresh eyes and an open attitude you can begin anything.

seeing the forest and the tree

Have you ever heard of the Proactive Department?  I hadn’t.  It is a great departmental name, implying great service.  But I am imagining what the department is charged with, rather than knowing for certain.  

The client who’s resume proclaimed he worked for the Proactive department was looking just at the tree, when there is a forest out there.    My professional opinion was, he needed a serious resume rewrite.

A resume is your marketing product.  It is composed of facts and information that conveys  what you achieved given the job duties you were assigned.  It tells a story of your skills,  experience and your successes. It should use terms that are commonly understood by the reader.  

My client was actually surprised when I asked what his department did.   He had worked at the company so long, he was not aware that that was a company specific title.  He assumed other companies used the same department name.

Realizing that a department name or term is unique to the company or your field of work is a great step toward relating to the outside world  

If your resume uses terms that others will not understand, let go of hugging just your tree, your job, your way of doing things.   Start to identify a bigger broader picture of how to talk about your work.

Take a walk in the forest.

Step back from what you do and where you have worked.  Expand your way of thinking, beyond your employer’s terminology and ways of doing things. As a job seeker, consider the bigger picture and translate the unique terms that are familiar to you to your new audience.

Your priority is to market your skills and talents.  Think about common language, descriptive words that are more generic and easily understood.  In your resume and in networking you will want to explain to others the internal workings of your job and your company.

If you are coming up for air after years with the same company, how do you determine what other companies want and how they describe their work?   Read.  Read a lot.  Read local newspapers; read online.  Go to the bookstore or library and research your field or the field you’d like to enter.  You will begin to have a broader picture and that translates into more applicable ways of referencing your skills and work experience.

If there is a company you have identified, research their inner workings, so that you can relate what you do and know to their way of doing things.   Try to find others who work at that company through your network.  Ask good questions so that you’ve got a way of merging your ideas with their corporate culture.

See the tree and the forest, by relating your past experience to the companies you are targeting.

reality check: time to reboot?

We’re retooling these days.  With career searches proving that the big corporations aren’t the employer of choice if they don’t have the jobs available, we’re beginning to seriously consider alternatives. We’re beginning to begin again.

I’ve been gathering data as news articles inform on this topic.  Here’s a bit of what I’ve heard.

NPR radio:  One-third of the US working population today work “gigs”, meaning they work part time, adjunct, less than 40 hours at a job.  Gig is a term that comes from musicians working a job/gig here and there.  A significant number of us are employed in one or several gigs.

NY Times today:  A huge segment of our population, 12.4 million people  work for companies with less than 10 employees.  That’s about 11% of the businesses out there.

Here’s the really interesting part:  the NY Times article today reported on the growing number of former job searchers turned creative entrepreneurs who are developing new business ideas and giving it a go.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/technology/start-ups/14startup.html?ref=business

At some point in a job search that’s stymied, people begin to realize they have energy and talent and an itch to work at something that satisfies them.  For those with severance to back them up for a period of time this is a unique time of opportunity.  The article highlights several with a range of ideas from the unconventional young man who is building fish tanks for jelly fish, a high ticket item that is beginning to take off, to two who are writing portable language translation pieces for world travelers, to several who are starting web based businesses.

From my vantage point, I see the economic events as a  perfect storm that will engender growth and development in new areas, addressing the ecological and business issues we face today.  Just as the food industry and beverage industry have taken off with wine shops and restaurants to satisfy the dining tastes of everyone, there is a coming boon of ideas and talent in fields that are important to survival as well as living a good life.

We are a planet made up of creative people.  We are only limited by the factors that make us think we can’t do it, we aren’t good enough, smart enough, etc.  The days of large corporations taking care of us are waning, and the first to make use of their education and talents will reap the benefits.

So take a reality check of where you are now, if in a job search, or just  where you are in your life.  What’s holding you back from actualizing what feels juicy and interesting, the idea that just won’t go away as you think of what you’d like to be doing and earning money at the same time. 

Do you have the drive and fortitude?  Do you have financial support to see you through?  How could you merge with several others, forming your own company of 10, to birth your dream into reality? 

Isn’t that the creative story of the internet? 

We have the ability to change and merge and begin again, with fresh eyes, fresh ideas, to create and employ and feel satisfaction for a days work well done.

transitioning

I’m working in my third career these days.   It is a progression that makes sense; I’m utilizing experience from past fields of work every day.  I changed industries, I changed work locations, I changed what and how I present.   But there is underneath the many changes I’m adapting to, a certainty of purpose. 

What is the purpose in your life?  

For all the years I’ve been working I see a theme.   Simply put, I assist people who are in transition.   That is, I point the way, offer new ways of viewing the situation.  And then stand back. 

Someone asked me the other day if I like to help people solve their problems.  My response:  Well, No, that’s not it really. 

This one thing I know for sure.  The ahas (moments of insight) that emerge from you are so much more meaningful than any advice I could give.  For each of us there is a certain sanctity to our own inner workings.  The wisdom is within.  What comes from personal struggle, thought, moments of clarity are at the deepest level for each of us, our true guiding principles.   

An old friend, retired from being President of a company and now an Executive Coach, told me he asks clients what their world view is  based on.  Its a great question.  In this new mixed up world of today where notions of stable career, banks, government  no longer work, what is your world view? 

And what is your view of how you will live in the uncertain world of today?

My job is to consult with people who have been layed off from their jobs.  There are countless people out there giving practical career advice on this topic.  But few address the process of internal change that transpires. 

A layoff is a huge pause in a life.  It is a time of major change.  It is also a time of waiting.  That is, waiting for whatever is the next step.  All the while the doing of it is going on;  the seeking, interviewing etc.  There is a very real and necessary initial period of pausing, experiencing the emotions and memories, letting go of what no longer exists.  A term from psychology is this is a period of dis-identifying from the job and all that it entailed. 

As I observe people in transition, something interesting  begins to happen.  As they move through the steps and the waiting, I hear a questioning of  the initial desire to jump back into the same job somewhere else.  As they slow down from the pace of the worklife left behind, they begin to pay attention, to listen to themselves, the words they use, the ideas that emerge.  There  is new awareness of who they are, now, in present time. 

A sense of self continues without the job, so identity must be something other (more constant) than the job title and duties that no longer exist. This is when I hear people talk about purpose, passion, a curiosity to expand their sense of self in work and service.  Something new bubbles to the surface.

It is awesome to observe heightened awareness contribute to conscious decision making, as step by step they begin to move through the waiting, and walk into what lays ahead.

driving in a snowstorm; incremental shifts

Ohio usually is an ok place to be through the winter months, but driving home from consulting in Cincinnati has recently been a test of nerves and driving skills. 

If you live in northern climes, you know the drill when driving home. Winter daylight descends early, temperatures drop fast.  Snow squalls and freezing rain demand the driver’s attention, even while energy lags at day’s end.    

A few night’s ago, I unknowingly drove into a snowfall that had been going on all day.   The road northward became messy and dangerous.  Trucks slowed, turning into the right lane, while the foolhardy plowed onward at high speeds.  As nightfall took hold it was more difficult to see what lay ahead.  Snow blowing across the highway was mesmerizing and made me drowsy.

I was afraid, driving into that storm. It took 2.5 hours to cover a 45 minute span of highway.  I was tired, my breathing shallow, a sure sign of stress. My back was tight, my right leg cramping from tension.  Despite being tired and fearful, I had no choice but to keep driving toward home. 

Driving in a snowstorm offers a great metaphor: Mindfulness in action.  We’ve all been there.  There was no choice, but to hang in, stay focused.  I had no option but to continue driving despite conditions within and without.  The only choice was to  stay present to what was happening;  holding, observing gently, the internal condition, all the while doing what was needed. 

Mindfulness is not tuning out or numbing down the negatives.  Its multi-tasking at its best.  Aware of anxiety, emotions, what’s happening in the external surroundings, and all the while, doing what’s needed. 

Being present to what is happening creates incremental shifts;  held tension can melt into a sense of spaciousness. I breathed deeply; internal stressors slowed somewhat.  I consciously relaxed muscles where tension held tightly, while keeping both eyes on the road.  (Breathing truly helps here).

It goes on all day long, every day, we are tense and reactive, we humans.  But there are moments when we feel this presence, a sense of being fully alive such as, driving in snowstorms, athletics, heightened moments of clarity.  These are all situations when we are engaged in a way that is solidly present and aware.

Once I reached the city limits traffic increased, and everyone slowed so much that speed was no longer a danger.  The drive continued, at a slow but steady pace.

With practice, those incremental shifts of awareness becomes simply the way it is. That experience of being present during heightened moments flows into the normal, mundane moments.  Mindfulness prevails as  authenticity.  And life takes on more focus; emotional intelligence grows (self awareness, empathy, attuned relationships, motivation).  

Mindfulness;  being in the middle of what is, and that is, constant change.

about those new years’ resolutions

OK, so here we go again, another year, another opportunity to set the record straight, move into new territory, finally do those things you think its time to do.  Like:  lose weight, read more, learn more, be friendlier/happier, cook like they do on the Food Network, get organized, start that new business, write the book that languishes within.  And so on.

First, I’d like to say that the entire natural world of the northern hemisphere  takes a completely opposite position.  Its winter, and cold.  Nature’s wise  response to  plummeting temps is to rest, to hibernate, to go deeply within.  Its frozen out there and the light shines but a few hours a day. 

From a Nature standpoint, the idea of major change in January is counter-intuitive. 

Perhaps this is why New Year’s resolutions often fall untended and undeveloped?  After all, we are a part of the natural world.  Nature bursts forth in Spring, not Winter; more about that as we move toward warming trends.

But if you are feeling focused and activated despite what’s happening in the natural world, here is my take on why resolutions fail.  We make the list, we have the greatest of good intentions, and yet…something, someone comes between our goal and the activation of it.  Why is this repeated year after year despite due diligence and the most positive intentions?

Its those pesky attachments. 

We are more attached to the way things are, than we are to the way we want them to be.  The glue that keeps us from moving toward the goal is that it is simply easier to keep things on more familiar turf.  Think of having a rubber band tied to your waist, as you set those goals.  You want to move forward, but without this awareness, we constantly get pulled back toward the familiar.  

In some ways we are all addicted to the way it is.  The understanding that attachments hold us back, can be the beginning of true impetus forward.

What’s a person to do?  Shedding habits and conditiond responses begins with awareness of behavior and our familiar patterns of doing and being.  Then with open eyes and gentle attitude (no use getting judgmental), we can release the attachments, (where we’re stuck) and focus on the steps toward the goal. 

Get into the habit of your new goal.  Its not an idea, its a behavior, a way of being, its experiential.  Consider change to be a practice.

1.  Make a vision board with words and pictures that encapsulate your goals.  Put it where you can look at it, invisioning your intentions.  Remind yourself in many ways. 

2.  What present time situations/people/things are you attached to that are impeding your goal?  Making a list and keeping that close improves self awareness of what it is you want to release.

3.  Move into your new reality by finding people to support you.

4.  Use a calendar to map your path.  Behavioral scientists say it takes 21 days of repetition to begin to imprint change.

5.  Take it in increments.  Don’t resolve to lose 40 pounds.  Focus on 10 pounds in a given time frame.  Then move closer to your goal.  If its a book you want to write, start with a blog, or Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages, writing at the same time, same amount (3 pages) every day. 

The one thing I know for certain is, winter always turns into spring.  This is Nature’s period of dynamic new growth.  With Nature’s potential supporting you, by spring, this year will be your year of change.

Photo by Sharon Growick

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a Being list: mindfulness amidst busy-ness and cranky people

The cars are moving faster out there, you can almost perceive the increased activity level as people gear up for this time of year.  We all seem to have plenty to do, with Thanksgiving and then the big push for the holiday season.  The to-do list looms large, the pace can be overwhelming.  So…. another list? you ask.  Is that really going to help the situation?  

OK, how about a list that offers suggestions for simply Be-ing.  Think of it as your rowboat in the sea of activity swirling around and through you. 

My Being list offers two opportunities:  its a way of re-framing the idea that a frantic pace is necessary.  And following it can provide a pause in your day that allows awareness to bubble up.  Personal insight is the best possible method for resilience, no matter what is in the mix.  Here’s my list:

1. Breathe.  Take every advantage of a moment or situation to consciously Exhale: long, slow, steady.  Then take an in-breath.  This is a calmative.  You don’t have to buy anything, boil anything, you can do it when no one is looking.  All day long.  I guarantee the inhalation will be deeper and slower than the breath before.   Deep exhalations allow a momentary pause.  The next breath in becomes more conscious. 

When you do this, the mind may not be geared for sudden relaxation, but the body is.  Slow deep breathing helps to unplug the cascade of hormones and bio chemicals speeding through your body when you are stressed. So with new insight, spend some time breathing.  You’ll feel better, and you will have given the internal stress mechanisms time to calm a bit.

2.  Observe how often you don’t breathe.   One sure sign of being stressed is shallow breathing or holding your breath.  Go on, count how often you hold your breath.  You’ll be amazed to learn that like everyone else, you do it all day long.  Especially when stressed. 

3. Happy People don’t watch (much) TV.  This past Sunday’s New York Times ran an article entitled, What Happy People Don’t Do.  After a 35 year longitudinal study of 45,000 Americans, the results are in.  Happy people do watch TV, they just watch less than unhappy people.  We might draw many conclusions about why TV watching and unhappy people go together.  But instead, let’s just try turning off TV and then observe what happens internally to stress levels.  Less TV may help with trying out my Being list.

4. Pause to connect.  Gratitude, Lovingkindness, Smiling.  We tend to think of these as activities directed outward, toward another.  How about pausing today to shift your focus inward.  Take time upon waking, while in the shower, or eating a meal to silently extend gentleness and kindness to yourself. 

I teach a practice that comes from Chinese Qigong called Smiling to the Organs.  The instructions are to imagine something or someone you hold dear, a newborn baby, a beloved pet, and to notice  how you soften at the thought.  Then breathing, imagine sending that same feeling of goodwil toward your heart.  Smiling, gently.  After a few moments, move your focus to your lungs, while continuing to send sensations of good cheer.  Refocus attention then to each organ: liver and gallbladder; spleen and stomach; large intestine and small; kidneys and bladder.  Smiling, as you send the intention of gentleness, kindness toward each organ.  Don’t forget to breathe.

The process works on several levels and generally calms anxiety, while stimulating the organs.  From Traditional Chinese medical theory we know that energy follows intent.  And I’m pretty certain that it has something to do with quantum physics too.  Sending positive intention toward each organ is a good thing. 

The exercise can be done anywhere; my personal favorite is while commuting on a bus or train.  Try sending yourself good feelings, taking a few minutes to connect the parts that make the whole of you.  Smiling, to your organs.

Then with a renewed sense of wholeness and connection of mind and body and spirit, you can take care of that to-do list.

mindfulness in the news

From time to time it seems worthwhile to include a newsarticle that presents in broad fashion the concepts I use in teaching and coaching.  Our local Columbus Dispatch ran this article recently. It came from The McClatchy Newspapers, written by Howard Cohen and reported by Marsha Halper in the Miami Herald.

Mindfulness touted as calming influence

Our worries. They’re crescendoing like the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth: bailouts, buyouts. Recession, depression.

Enter the meditative practice of mindfulness. Born of Buddhist roots, it’s increasingly recognized as a measure to calm the mind’s chatter and elevate the brain’s thinking and organizational processes.

“The uncertainty of tomorrow creates a lot of the angst or discomfort,” says Scott Rogers, director of the Institute for Mindfulness Studies in Miami Beach. “People are looking more and more to bring a little bit of ‘ahhh.’ Not just stress reduction but allowance and acceptance.”

Mindfulness is built around the premise of disengaging from overly emotional responses and extraneous thoughts that clutter the mind’s ability to think clearly.

There is a growing body of evidence that this type of mental discipline and meditative practice can carve new pathways in the brain. It’s a concept called neuroplasticity, and it’s just the opposite of what scientists had thought for years — that the brain’s nerve cells were set in childhood and didn’t change. Research has shown otherwise.

Mindful LIfe/Mindful Work teaching Mindfulness as an anchor.  For being in the middle of what is, and that is, constant change.

 

acceptance

I gave a presentation yesterday to a group at Ohio State University.  While it wasn’t about this topic, I touched on the concept of Acceptance.  Its not a word we use often; it might bring up for you competing ideas, such as: action is better than non-action, never give up, be pro-active, its not the American way. This may be a bit of what comes to mind when I mention acceptance.  \ 

Here is what I’m saying.  Acceptance is a moment of being present, of being conscious. It is stopping long enough to be aware of  what is happening. Right now.  Without reaction, without charging, forging, or stampeding ahead.  Acceptance is being aware of me in this moment.  Its about also being aware of my surroundings, able to sense the mood or environment that I’m in.  Acceptance means my blinders are off, the filters are tuned to low.  Acceptance is a momentary ability to see things Just As They Are. 

 

Acceptance that I’m speaking about comes  with a little work on me.  So that I’m aware of my habits of thinking and doing and my own conditioned responses.  It means being aware of my own reactivity, and most importantly, learning to let it go. 

 

Emotional Intelligence factors of Self Awareness and Social Awareness are at play here.  The good news is, they can be cultivated.  Maturation is part of it,  but we don’t have to wait for all life’s lessons.  Mindful awareness is a simple approach with enormous benefits.

 

Acceptance is Clear Vison, Clarity, Awareness.  In the moment.  Then, with fresh eyes, its time to act.