Tag Archives: motivation

Am I Drifting in My Career? 3 Ways to Know

Time moves very quickly in our busy professional and personal lives. And it’s easy to allow things to just happen because they seemed like a good idea at the time. But before we slip into the second half of this year, let’s step back and do a “career health checkup”.

Remembering that we each have unique needs, here are my 3 favorite ways to help us honestly assess if we are simply in “career drift” or actively creating the career and life we want at this time.

First, let’s start with engagement and that intuitive voice in your head that often asks questions (and challenges) you as you drive home from a typical work day. Questions like: “Where has the day gone?” or “Did I really get anything worthwhile done?” With an answer like: “It was just a day like any other day” followed by a deep sigh. Your intuition is telling you something you already know but may be reluctant to admit. . . . You really are not fully (or even semi) psychologically engaged in your work at this time.

Second, where is the genuine joy in your work? It’s a simple question. . . . “Do you enjoy your work most days?” Or do you find yourself dreaming about how things could be different? There may have been a passion you deeply enjoyed in the past and now you don’t even allow yourself to dream about it because “it’s simply not possible anymore”. Where is the joy?

Third, are you enthusiastic about your work? Or do you find yourself a bit sensitive and even defensive when others ask you about your current work? That’s a red flag that you are in career drift. And if you hear yourself justifying your choices with lots of “shoulds”, “its better in the long run” or all the reasons why it’s not as “bad as it could be,” then you are drifting for sure.

I hope these simple questions get you thinking as these delicious days of summer approach. If you need anything, always feel free to contact me!

And in the spirit of not letting life drift by . . . my twin sister and I are headed to Lima, Peru, for three weeks (6/4 – 6/25) to work with Global Volunteers, an international organization serving developing communities. We will be working in a very poor village up in the hills of Lima. This is our second international assignment and although this one will be quite challenging physically, it will no doubt be emotionally very rewarding as well. I’ll have lots of stories to share with you in July!

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Your Words Will Inspire Others to Take Action

It’s relatively easy to simply get up and speak in front of a group. But to design a meaningful message and then deliver it in a powerful way so that it has the impact you want is far more difficult.

I’ve been a master trainer for years and have learned a lot through my share of mistakes. I’m very comfortable now with my skills in knowing what will work or not with different kinds of audiences, in different venues and with different desired outcomes.

So if your goal is to inspire others to take some kind of action, then think carefully about these three “best practices” as you start to prepare. These three elements will give you an excellent framework for your 18-minute “TED-like” Talk. You will be pleasantly surprised at the impact you can have!

  • First, know what is important to your audience! What is meaningful to them?
  • Second, speak from your heart – your passion is what will engage your listeners.
  • Third, be clear about the action you want them to take and why.
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Talk Like Ted

Talk Like Ted: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds, by Carmine Gallo, St. Martin’s Press, New York, N.Y., 2014.

I’m an experienced public speaker, but when I was asked recently to give a “TED-like talk,” I was understandably a bit intimated. As luck would have it, I had picked up Gallo’s newest book in the Dallas airport just days before.

Gallo has written an excellent “how to” book on designing and delivering a powerful, engaging but succinct message in just 18 minutes. Gallo’s guidelines are based on his extensive research of the most popular TED presenters as well as studies of recent developments in neuroscience and communications. So with Gallo as my guide, I’m already working up my presentation to give at the Career Center at the Association of Talent Development (ATD) ICE annual conference to be held in Orlando, Florida in May. I’ll let you know how it goes!

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Figuring Out the Health of Your Organization

How healthy is your organization? … That’s a good question. Your company may be business “smart” in how it handles its finances, marketing, technology etc. but is it equally focused on maximizing the strengths, expertise and emotional intelligence of its employees?

And how can you tell that? Intuitively, people know if their organization is genuinely healthy in ways that really matter most to them. It’s actually pretty simple. Here are my favorite 5 ways to assess your own company’s health (or team). Many additional ways are described by Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business; he gives us a wealth of insights into this fascinating idea of organization health.

5 Things Easy to Observe:

  1. Relatively low employee turnover. People want to work for you!
  2. Employees genuinely speak well of you and the company out of your hearing.
  3. There is a positive energy in the air – very little drama or unproductive complaining.
  4. People show up and are engaged beyond their basic job descriptions.
  5. Leaders are involved and available at every level.

What rating would you give your own company? Your own team? Challenge yourself to improve!

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Inventory Your Successes from Last Year

This is a great reminder for all of us. It’s so easy to slip into thinking about everything that we didn’t do, couldn’t do, postponed doing etc. We often do that at night before going to bed. Instead of focusing on what we did accomplish during that day, we are busy thinking of all that we didn’t do. The result? We just feel more overwhelmed and exhausted.

So try this instead . . . do an “inventory” of your successes from last year. Start with flipping back through your paper or electronic calendar and start noting down all that you accomplished in both your professional and personal life. Now go to anyplace else that you write these things down. Ask colleagues, your spouse, your friends as well. Often their memories are much better than ours.

Make a HUGE list for 2014. If you are on a roll, go back another year and another year. You will be amazed that you actually have been very successful! Now give yourself a warm pat on your back, curl up next to your fluffy pillow and go right to sleep knowing that you have been very successful in the things that matter most to you at this time.

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