How To Evaluate Your Career…

Stuck? Fed up? Not sure what to do? Pondering when to make the move? Having the toss up between career and entrepreneurship?

Embrace the conversation on evaluating your career and opportunities. In this interview, Kerry-Ann Reid-Brown and I share early career mistakes and how we do things differently because of what we learned from those mistakes. Listen as we shared laughter, regrets and key learnings on steps you can take to evaluate where your career is heading.

Want to know what to do with your career now? Let’s connect.

Cheers!

Disrupt Your Life!

Downsize! Disrupt your life. Empty nester or not. Things Disappear, they don’t make you happy. My love of transitions began when I entered midlife…a crisis that now ranges between 30 and 40 years old these days. It was a time of Awkward craziness for me. I was already ‘successful‘ as society defines it but I wanted more. I wanted a change but didn’t know what to do. From being in the middle of my kids…one a college student away from home, and the other in elementary school (talk about change right)!

But it turned out to be a great learning experience and continues to be.

So now I say make a change! Disrupt your life! Yea it’s scary but it will help you learn to live happy and more appreciative.

Are you ready? Just do it! Need help? Let’s connect!

Cheers!

Stress: 5 Things To Do When Things Converge…

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

A Family Cruise; a 21st Birthday getaway celebration; the Complication of a relative’s sudden brain surgery; overseas family rush in; pickups, accommodations, and much more in the midst of the busiest time at work resulting in late nights and early mornings. Whew!! Naturally an ensuing period of high stress.

So how can we manage it all when everything converge? It is then that we need to take a step back and breathe. Do other things. Here are 5.

5 Things To Manage Converging Stress

  1. Walk away. Relax.
  2. Sleep. It’s important to rest to improve your memory and quality of life
  3. Exercise. It increases your body’s metabolism
  4. Be careful of what Eat. Replace food such as caffeine, alcohol, sugar with fruits, and  vegetables to rid your body to regulate your stress hormone levels
  5. Learn to Say No

In our stressful world when things converge all at once like a world wind, it is important to take a step back and relax. Accept the help of others and ride the waves until things slow down.

Cheers!

The Ravishing Benefits of Going To The Beach…

Live near the beach? Grab your swimsuits and go enjoy the slow swooshing sound of the waves as they crash against the shore.

Anne Gherini shared in this INC article research about the benefits of going to the beach (as if we needed another reason …smile). From the points listed, here I share my top 3.

  • Listen to the crashing waves puts your brain at ease
  • Feel the sand between your toes as it stimulates your mind
  • Remove the Blues. Stare at the ocean and get to that relaxing meditative State.

In this world of mad rush, stress and strain, plan a trip or two to the beach for a quick getaway. Then bask in the Benefits to relax, unwind, reboot. Your Brain cells are sure to recharge pushing you further along the Skewed productivity chain.

Cheers!

Writing …

Good Writing is Rewriting ~Truman Capote

Laughter, tears, joys, exhilaration. These are some of the emotions felt as we write. But it’s in re-writing that we find the good.

Keep writing! ✍️

Cheers!

Writers Share Their Biggest Fears About Writing…

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“If the book is true, it will find an audience that is meant to read it.”
—Wally Lamb

Getting started, getting done, the book failing. Those were some of the comments to the question asked in a forum:

What is your one Biggest Fear when it comes to writing?

Here I  share Flaunted excerpts of the many who chimed in:

  • Getting stared
  • Blindness, Alzheimer’s, other
  • The fear of getting done and the book failing
  • Fear of being criticized rather than being critiqued
  • Getting half way through a second draft and realizing the story won’t work
  • Writers block
  • That I spend painful hours at the computer and produce garbage
  • Fear that my historical search won’t be accurate
  • Letting people read what I write
  • No one reading it. No one liking it
  • Finding a new idea
  • Not finishing
  • That they’ll just sit there forever never selling more than a few hundred copies and my life will be wasted with nothing to show for it
  • That I’m putting in a lot of work in with not a lot of return
  • No sales
  • Lost in back-story
  • Procrastination
  • That I am not any good

As a writer, do you share any of these fears? Any missing? Do share! We’d love to hear!

Cheers!

The Power of U-Turns…

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Strive and Reach for what you can Achieve

My eyes caught the attention of an article titled “Giving up”. It quickly sparked my interest because I usually steer away from ever giving up. In my youth I did track, and for all those athletes out there, you know just how much effort it takes to get in shape. To stick to your goal. To become fit and ready for that race. As I advanced into maturity, the same held true for me. It became the very grain of my existence. During college, and career advancement, I never gave up. Now as a consultant and coach, I Mentor and encourage entrepreneurs, managers, and employees, to stick to their goals, dreams, and aspirations.

That article reminded me of another I had read about success and fear. Both fear and the desire to give up intertwine and cripple us, often fueling negative thoughts and actions. There are many individuals who throw away their lives becoming lethargic, stuck, wasted, straying away from their goals, get into trouble, end up self-imprisoned, or worse. Not to mention those dying at age 25, yet buried at 75.

I say burst that Bubble! It is delightful to strive and reach for what you can achieve!

The Power Of U-Turns

Enter the power of U-Turns. U-Turns remind us to get up, dust off, find a mentor or support system, and get back on track.

The writer in  the first article “Giving up” concluded with a twist. He suggested being wise enough to know when to stop, refuel, and get back on track. So make that U-Turn today. Shake off that fear. Shake off the very thought of giving up…and as Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Apply it to yourself. Be your change today.

Need help? Let’s connect.

Cheers!

Career: When The Recruiter Calls… 7 Tips How To Evaluate…

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Success is where preparation meets opportunity. ~Bobby Unser

Align yourself with the right people. Be visible. Observe. Show up. Then you will be able to see and be seen. These simple insights will help propel you in the direction of recruiters on the hunt…and when they call, sure you will ponder if the opportunity is right.

If you have been with a company for three years or more, the decision may be easier especially if you are not seeing the light. But what if you have said ‘yes’ to another opportunity and have been on the job for less than a year, busy settling in, then a recruiter calls, how do you know if you should jump ship?

Recognizing The Right Opportunity

Here are a few 7 Questions to ask on how to evaluate an offer in order to make the right decision.

  1. Does the job fit into your long-term career goal?
  2. Consider the industry as well as the health of the company. Are they experiencing financial difficulties?
  3. Is the job high stressed with little or no work/life balance?
  4. Is the commute long and will make you miserable? Will it deplete your time, energy and resources?
  5. Does it involve travel? Often career seekers are happy at the thought of travel but will it be a weekly requirement? Will you have to be away from family?
  6. What about Benefits and Perks? Consider the options provided such as medical, 401K plan, pension plan, personal time off, tuition reimbursement and such?
  7. What about salary? Often job seekers are easily lured by higher salary but is there a plan for timely increases?

In summary, burst the Bubble. Know where you want to go. When you see the opportunity, you will recognize it. For example, getting a college degree must be done through knowing where you want to go and what you want to do. Once that’s done, you will be able to take the step to find the right opportunity. You can be assured that provided you made the right preparations, when you see it you will know it.

So don’t be Abrupt, evaluate well because at the end of the day, if you are not happy and hate getting up in the mornings to go to work, you’re sure to regret it.

Need help in making the decision or assessing an opportunity? Let’s connect.

Cheers!

It’s Time To Make That Move…

You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. ~Tagore

Career: The 7 Signs That Tells You When To Look For New Opportunities…

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We have all been there. Times when we feel we are at a crossroad and don’t know whether to stay with the company, or whether to go. It’s not an easy road. Certainly a time for deep reflection and analysis. But it can be done using helpful strategies.

7 Signs That Tells You When To Look for New Opportunities

Extracted from theMuse, here are my top 7 WHENs that you can use to know when it’s time to move on.

  1. When you are unhappy most of the day. What’s the point of being unhappy doing what you do?
  2. When the only way you can move up is when your boss retires. Oh well, need I say more?
  3. When you get passed over for a promotion more than once
  4. When your company is cutting back or your industry is shrinking. Astonished?Commonsense really…extinction is at hand. Be alert. Keep your eyes open.
  5. When the skills you have been hired to use for the job aren’t a fit
  6. When the environment is toxic and the outcomes are meaningless
  7. When you believe that you’re meant for bigger and better things

There you have it. The top signs that tells you when it’s time to move on. Do any of the 7 resonate? Can you suggest other signs? Do Share. We would love to hear.

Need help to make that change? Lets connect.

Cheers!