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Does Passion Matter at Work?

February 3rd, 2010

This question caught my attention in U.S. News, “Does passion really matter at work?” What do you think? Well, it’s probably no surprise that the answer is, yes, it absolutely matters! It is not just fluff. Here are 3 reasons why passion is one of the best investments you can make in your career:

It helps you feel more confident. For too many people, work is about getting up in the morning and trying to be someone they’re not. Not only does that drain their energy, it also keeps them off balance. Think of someone standing on one leg with the other leg up in the air and their arms waving, trying to keep their balance. They’re deathly afraid that someone is going to come up and bump into them, because they’re already in danger of falling over. Trying to be who you’re not in your career is a little like that. You have to put extra effort into doing what doesn’t come naturally. Maintaining the façade keeps you off balance.

It’s an energy source. When you’re on fire about what you do, it energizes you, and you can put that energy back into your work. Instead of the energy drain your work actually becomes an energy gain. So not only are you getting energy from what you’re doing, you also aren’t having to dig into your energy reserves just to get through the day. When you’re aligned with what energizes you, it’s like having both feet solidly planted on the floor. The energy differential is huge in helping you feel confident about your work.

It feeds your persistence. The odds are good that, whatever your career path you are going to run into roadblocks and bumps along the way. When you’re doing something in pursuit of what energizes and inspires you, those roadblocks and bumps are a lot easier to take. Don’t get me wrong. They never become enjoyable, but their size relative to your objective is smaller.

I have suffered bumps and bruises in pursuit of something I didn’t really care about (my past career) while I’m in pursuit of something I am over the moon about (my current career), I have to tell you, the difference is night and day. In the path I love, persistence, confidence and energy come naturally as a daily part of the job.

- U.S. News article by: Curt Rosengren, career author

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How to Show Passion in an Interview

January 22nd, 2010

How can you show passion during your interview? In our workshops we talk about how personal stories help “prove” your passion. It might sound ordinary if you were to say, “I was passionate about creating a team environment in my last organization.” But communicating a story about a time you put your sweat and tears and overcame a specific challenge is a more authentic and interesting way to describe your important impact. With a specific story, a hiring manager might feel more confident that you would repeat a similar experience in their organization. Everyone has a story. Never say: “I just did my job; I didn’t do anything special.”

Your work history is unique to you. Try to focus on how you did your job effectively and what you have done differently than your colleagues. The specifics of the story are more important than the general information. In interviews, most people think they should talk about their skills in general terms, but it is the specific examples and facts behind those stories that prove your success. Interviewers are more likely to remember snippets of your personal story. Your descriptive story helps to develop rapport and prove the things you have achieved in your past positions.

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3 Ways to Get Your Ideal Career

January 12th, 2010

Why can some people get to their ideal career and others can’t? In many cases the successful people have
incorporated the following practices into their career game plan.

1) Stay focused on organizations you admire and jobs you really want. If the company or its product are appealing, you will be more likely to push to get it. Keep your eye on your top 10 companies and favorite 5 jobs. Stay focused on what you really want. Work hard to learn about people who work in the organization or who have a job to which you aspire. Once you find the people you can set up a brief meeting, shadow the person or try to begin with a temp, volunteer or seasonal position at the company. Don’t get lost in the details of looking at “any” company or job. Stay on target working to get inside and meet people who are in your top organizations and jobs.

2) Find comfort in change. That promotion, new assignment or job change looks attractive but the change will take you out of your comfort zone. You will lose the safety and security of knowing your routine. You have to let go of the unconscious fear that you are not totally prepared to handle the new responsibilities or have the skills to succeed in the job. Conquer this by getting excited about your new identity and creating a vision of yourself as successful in the new job. Reflect on the success you’ve had in your previous work. Recognize that you have the ability to learn the skills to meet the new challenges. Those who are able to seek out change will increase their chances of advancement.

3) Associate with supportive, ‘up-beat’ people. Stay around people who will spur you on and applaud your progress. Positive friends and colleagues who offer encouragement can really help keep you buoyed up if you’re struggling to stay motivated during a job search or business start up. Reduce contact with negative people in your life who bring you down by droning on about the rough economy, lack of opportunities and how you don’t stand a chance of finding employment. Pessimists can truly be harmful if you want to move forward. Instead think about the realistic optimists you know and actively work toward spending time with them. Optimism is contagious!

- Sunny K. Lurie, PhD.

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If You Believe It, You Can Achieve It

December 14th, 2009

For the New Year, the writer Jen Grisanti reminds us to find our passion and pursue it– a subject near and dear to my heart.

Jen says, for every writing career that I have helped launch, the writer had a clear vision of his/her own success. In the New Year, what do you want to achieve the most? Do you have clarity in your goals? Can you let go of the past and pursue your goals with renewed passion?

Debbie Robins a career author writes, “to help achieve your goal consider writing a Living Vision…Start by having a clear picture in your head of the biggest, boldest, most fulfilling life that you can imagine living. Now, write about who you are and what you’re doing in glorious detail. Do not describe how you got there. You are there!”

I remember doing a similar exercise with a Career Strategist coach. The beauty of the exercise lies in the relief you feel after imagining that you have achieved your greatest goal. During the coach’s session, she had us write down three of our immediate goals. My goals were 1) Creating a successful seminar career 2) Writing a book proposal and 3) Successfully hosting my first Writers Retreat in Hawaii. Since I didn’t have a lot of contacts in Hawaii, I knew the retreat would likely be the most challenging of my goals. However, by doing the exercise, I was able to visualize myself achieving all three goals. After several months of hard work and daily revisualization, I completed all three of my goals. My biggest break with the Hawaii retreat came when the local newspaper agreed to do a story on my event. You can do anything you set your mind to doing if you have clarity of goal and visualize your success.

So, how do you create a clear vision? In The Answer, John and Murray write, “Creating a clear vision is the first step to your success.”

They created what they refer to as the Five Musts:

You must find something that stirs your soul.
You must make a study of it and investigate new developments in it.
You must recondition your mind to believe that you can have it and achieve it.
You must understand how to make money at it.
You must take daily action.

For the New Year, I encourage everyone to create a clear vision, pursue it with a renewed passion, no matter what losses have happened along the way, and make that vision a reality. You CAN do it. We each have the potential to create the destiny we choose. – Jen Grisanti

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Quick Tip for an Interview

December 6th, 2009

For job interviewees: MAKE SURE THEY LIKE YOU. Make sure that by the time you leave the room, you’ve found a way to make the person like you. That’s it. Two arms, two legs and an MBA, being all fancy and important, are not going to get you there. Make that personal connection. Build instant intimacy.

This tip is brought to you by the master networker, Keith Ferrazzi.

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A Clever Interview Technique

November 20th, 2009

Other people’s clever ideas inspire me. In this case it was a guy looking for a tech job who wanted to be noticed above other talented pros looking at the same company. So what did he do? He wrote a song called, “Hire me Bazaarvoice!” and put the video on YouTube. Wouldn’t you know it – the video began circulating around the office at his target company. And voila, a few months later, Matt joined the team as an Implementation Engineer.

Now let’s back up and look at Matt’s process for getting the job. He says, “when I was thinking about applying for the job, I knew a lot of other really smart people who were also applying. I heard stories about the interview process being rigorous. I knew that in order to make it I had to do something to stand out from the crowd. I was messing around on the guitar one night, and half jokingly played a song about Bazaarvoice to my wife, and told her I was thinking of putting it on YouTube. Her response was surprisingly very positive and she encouraged me.”

“So I scoured the Bazaarvoice website and wrote lyrics about the products and specifically how I could be an asset to Bazaarvoice. The combination of the song, YouTube video, and my website, made all the difference in the world. When I created it I expected that the recruiter and hiring manager would get a laugh out of it, and that would be the extent of it. Little did I know that it would end up spreading around the entire company and going viral.”

Matt’s video was an attempt to show his passion about working for the company and the importance of word of mouth—and in his case spreading a message about why he would be a good fit for the job. His idea worked and it’s great inspiration to others. Companies in all industries appreciate creativity. So be bold, be innovative and most of all be passionate-it can really help you succeed.

Thank you to Heather Henry for her original interview with Matthew Price.

Tags: Interview
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The Struggle Behind Great Careers

September 25th, 2009

I see the world in terms of people’s work. Julia Child’s work revolved around food and cooking. As I watched her movie the other night I was touched by her passion she was able to turn into a remarkable career in her 40s. She’s a great example of how it is never too late to succeed with a passion. But behind the scenes of Julia’s career was not an easy road. She struggled to the top with years of hard work, educational challenges, huge disappointments and at times feeling her efforts were worthless because she would never achieve anything. If you look behind most great careers there is often pain and suffering. But how people get through the pain in their career is what matters most. What we see with Julia and many others who have had great careers is that passion and a dose of patience often help people persevere.

Julia Child

My career is no exception. I didn’t know exactly how I would do what I loved—helping people find their calling. I worked in the training industry, went to school for years, raised my kids and then finally said it’s time to pursue my passion. Then I had the challenge of figuring out “how” to do it. After more years of research and work I created a career launch workshop, and Fast Focus Careers was born. I love being an entrepreneur but struggles will always be part of owning a business. It began with finding ways to jump-start a new business, then the ongoing trial and errors of marketing strategies and now it’s surviving an economic down turn. Most days I use my creative energy and love it. But some days I lean on my smart colleagues for support. The message I gained from Julia Child is that real passion and patience will carry us through the pain we experience behind the scenes. Because for 99% of us it takes years to become an over night success.

- Sunny K. Lurie, Ph.D.

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Thinking About a New Career

September 13th, 2009

A low risk way to test a new career is try it on the side. Many people want to experiment before leaving their full time job. Even if you are busy, “side launching” is a viable and effective way to begin your new career or business. These ideas can help you get going:

1. Be disciplined and consistent about the hours you choose to work on your idea. Is it from 5 to 7am before your family life or other commitments begin — or are late evening hours better? Are you carving out time on the weekends? Be honest and clear with yourself about where to find pockets of time and make it a part of your routine; your road to success will be faster.

2. Decide whether and when to tell friends, colleagues and your boss. You may be surprised by their enthusiasm and support. When I knew I was leaving Key Bank to begin my own company, I told my manager several months ahead and they were supportive.

3. Determine benchmarks for yourself that indicate when you would consider making your side work a full time venture. What would you be willing to sacrifice for a time if it meant being able to devote more energy to your new career? Be realistic but also be willing to go for it! Thanks to Ladies Who Launch for these ideas.

-Sunny K. Lurie, Ph.D.

Tags: Add new tag, career change
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2 Must-Use Success Tips from…Weight Watchers!

August 28th, 2009

Yes Weight Watchers, a group that has helped individuals succeed for decades. Their effective methods have produced great results for thousands of people, and we believe these two powerful techniques grow careers.

1) Group motivation. The support of a caring group is huge. Have you ever seen how their positive motivation works? Rah, rah– just observe a Weight Watchers meeting. For your career, find a networking group, a professional association or a career support group with professionals you find stimulating. Don’t put off getting involved in group activities. Fast Focus Careers has a small career group to generate creative ideas and provide motivational pep talks, especially when people are emotionally drained.

2) Become accountable to someone. Weight Watchers calls them “weigh-ins,” we call them “realty-checks.” It’s all about being accountable to a concerned individual about your progress. Be sure the other person understands your goal and what actions you are trying to take to move forward. Such as meeting with a recruiter in your target industry or signing up for a class to complete a certification in your new field. It’s amazing how checking in with someone will give you a push to stay on course to achieve your goal. Whether you’re working on your career at 18 or 48, don’t go it alone.

- Sunny K. Lurie, Ph.D.

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3 Career Blunders to Avoid

August 4th, 2009

In this down economy these thoughts might strike a cord with you. But beware, these basic blunders may damage your career. Do you find yourself saying:

1- “I hope something will come along soon.” HOPING FOR FATE that a job will happen rarely brings employment. If you fall into this line of thinking you may mistakenly believe you can wait it out and something good will come to you. Do not allow your career to run on fate. You need a goal and a plan with tons of active networking focused on your target objective. Every now and then we get lucky, but don’t ever count on it.

2 - “I’ll take anything, even if it’s not what I like.” ANY JOB WILL DO may help pay the bills but it is only a short term fix. Do not use this as a strategy for career success. It often leads to frequent job-hopping and limited career growth. When you dislike your work it will probably show in your performance and right now, only those who excel receive promotions and pay increases.

3- “I have to stay in this job even though I hate it.” STAGNATING in a job should be unacceptable. Yes, work is hard to find but opportunities will become available. The ideal time to prepare for a better job /career is when you are unhappy or unemployed. Take time while you are working to come up with a new and satisfying direction. The worst damage you can do to your career is accepting misery. Happiness at work IS a choice – choose to make it happen!

Tags: Add new tag, Career advice, career change help
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