3 Ways to Get Your Ideal Career

January 12th, 2010

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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.

       

If You Believe It, You Can Achieve It

December 14th, 2009

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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:

  1. You must find something that stirs your soul.
  2. You must make a study of it and investigate new developments in it.
  3. You must recondition your mind to believe that you can have it and achieve it.
  4. You must understand how to make money at it.
  5. 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

       

Thinking About a New Career

September 13th, 2009

2178788631_4554876975-1A 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.

       


Dr. Sunny Lurie photos by Perkoski