Dream Job Coaching

Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali and Florence Griffith Joyner all had it in common. Shaquille O’Neal, Mark McGwire and Venus Williams have it in common today. They all had a drive for results. And they all used coaches.

But why would anybody want a career coach? Aren’t careers something we’re supposed to understand how to navigate from point A to point B? Isn’t this inherent knowledge we are just born with? Why would anyone need a coach to show you how to do something you already know how to do?

The answer is because you don’t know how to do this already without a lot of unnecessary mistakes and backtracking. Sure you can go through the motions, and actually have some successes. To get there you need an inordinate about of drive, self-discipline and a very thick skin. You’ll also need a lot of extra time, probably years.

I’ll be the first one to say that it’s a lot easier to just sit back and watch time tick. Plenty of people do it. Don’t ask them if they’re satisfied though. Sadly, they prefer to not think about it. Or they may launch into a sermon about the toil of life. Believe me, I’ve heard them all.

When I left my project management job in Hong Kong, I spent a good six months trying to find a job that I actually loved. To save money, a friend literally let me rent out a closet in his apartment. It was 2 feet by 2 feet, 4 * feet high and pitch black. I had to buy a bed a five year old would sleep on that I had to fold in half in order to shut the door. My family and close friends stopped believing in me, which made me stop believing in myself. They thought it was ridiculous that I was searching for a job that I loved. They told me things like:

• Take any job, just get a job.
• Why are you being so picky?
• Why don’t you just lower your expectations?
• Why don’t you give up finding a job you’re going to love?
• That’s not going to happen.

I wish I had known the “me” I am today back then. If I find a career coach back then, it would have saved me years of needless pain and sadness that I don’t wish on anyone. I would have found fulfillment in my career so much faster with the help of a great coach. The good news is, that the techniques I use today are founded on all the things I found that did and did not work over those years. I believe that coaching is my gift. That part of me is what makes me successful at helping my clients find their unique gifts.

So, what makes a great coach? A great coach is able ascertain the difference between coaching for instruction versus coaching for performance. Both are necessary components, but, like a strategic game, must be used at the right time for most effectiveness.

You’ll find a career coach also has these qualities:

• Able to give clarification about what you’re really looking for in a career
• Act as a sounding board to your loftiest goals and dreams
• Unearth what it takes in your life to find fulfillment
• Help you identify what is holding you back from where you want to be
• Able to ascertain and handle each client’s unique needs
• Accelerate progress
• Possess exceptional people and motivational skills
• Inspire
• Identify and appeal to the core values of the client
• Realistically streamline a plan for success

“There are high spots in all our lives,” wrote George Matthew Adams, “and most of them come about through encouragement from someone else. Encouragement is like oxygen for the soul.”

With recent unemployment figures registering at the highest jobless rate in nearly five years, there are sure to be more and more souls gasping for air in self defeat. Many people now are faced with making a career change after forty. How can we help our friends and family members avoid gloomily succumbing to the depression of temporary joblessness and uncertainty?

A reader of this very newsletter relays the following true story. “A friend mine who is a high-level corporate tech writer was laid off over a month ago and still can’t find a job. The staff jobs he would usually apply for have dried up at the big corporations, Internet start-ups with similar positions have shut down and, as a result, the few contracting positions that remain have more applicants than they ever did before. Here is someone who had to beat the job offers off with a stick as little as 9 months ago and now, maybe for the first time in his life, he has to face…Competition!”

As a coach, who sees many clients making a career change after forty, I see the leaders, parents, teachers and friends knowing how to create an environment that brings out the best in others. For example, take into the consideration the success of Jean Nidetch, founder of Weight Watchers.

When asked how she had been able to help so many members around the world, Nidetch shared how she began her passion for encouraging people as a teenager. Often while walking through the park she would encounter mothers chatting while their toddlers sat on swings with no one to push them. “I’d give them a push,” she said. “And you know what happens when you push a kid on a swing? Pretty soon he’s pumping doing it himself. That’s what my role in life is-I’m there to give others a push.”

Here’s a few suggestions to help you initiate a similar “OPERATION PUSH” for any present or past colleague who needs a strong dose of encouragement right now. Begin each day by asking yourself these three questions:

1. What can I do today to express faith in people?
2. How can I foster courage in people to do their best?
3. What specific actions can I take to recognize people for who they are and what they can achieve?

When we eliminate unrealistic expectations, allow for failure without punishment and show appreciation for people’s efforts, a strong foundation is laid for them to excel even in the most difficult of circumstances. Many individuals have gone further in their life than they ever dreamed just because someone else told them they believed they could.

Whoever you are, wherever you might be, there are talents to be uncovered in those around you. I encourage you to give encouragement to the talents you see in others. Compliment them, assure them and stimulate them to make the best possible use of their unemployment to achieve the best potential use of their abilities.

In his book Perceiving, Behaving and Becoming, Carl Rogers offers the following truth, “The degree to which I can create relationships which facilitate the growth of others as separate persons is a measure of the growth I have achieved in myself.”

Relationships provide a marvelous opportunity to give others a push, help them grow, provide encouragement and enhance the quality of their lives. And, in return, when the chips are down for us we will experience the same.

Are you wondering, “Is now a good time to change my career, to a job I can be more passionate about?”

Maybe it’s soaring to the stars as an astronaut or saving the lives of animals as a veterinarian? How about tracking down clues as a private investigator or directing a Hollywood mystery about one? Or maybe not so dramatic, but no less ambitious, exploring a new job opportunity within the company you’re already employed with?

No matter what you want to accomplish or where you wish to fulfill your life’s work you may have no idea of how to begin or what to do in order to make your dream job a reality.

My client asked me, “How do I change my career and find my dream job?” Perhaps the best way to help you explore the possibilities and pitfalls or to ignite and generate the enthusiastic fuel necessary to bring your dream job into fruition and practicality is to seek out a mentor.

Naturally, this process begins by finding someone who does the work you want to do. However, don’t just settle for a person who is doing what you want to do, most importantly, make sure they are truly passionate about the work they are doing.

In my coaching experience, I have come across clients who have succeeded in identifying individuals who do the type of work they are looking for, but absolutely hate it. Thus, by following their negative example they wind up thinking they would despise their potential dream job just as much.

It stands to reason that the only way to properly complete this assignment, is to find someone who is truly in love with his or her job because only they are capable of conveying the true essence of their passions–and in the process giving you the information and inspiration essential to keep your dreams alive.

Just like reviewing applicants for a vacant position, the most logical way to select the most qualified potential mentor candidate is to conduct an interview. So, of course, in order to make the most of your time with them, you’ll have to come up with some valid questions to ask such as:

What personally led you into this field?

What kind of qualifications do companies look for when filling this position?

What are your major responsibilities?

• Is there a solid future and potential for advancement in this particular occupation?
• What do you most enjoy about what you do and the company you work for?
• What are the major problem areas that constantly need attention in this type of work?
• What resources are available to help you get the job done?
• How many hours to do you generally work in one week?
• If you could do anything differently to advance to this level faster what would you do?

As you interview them, chances are you’ll find a part of yourself in the advice they give which in turn could be the spark that burns the dream even clearer in your mind’s eye, than you could ever have imagined by yourself. Also, it’s possible they found their job in an unconventional manner and counseling with them can help you understand how this process worked so you can replicate this procedure in order to accelerate your own career transition within your company or to a totally different job outside of it.

Finally, having a personally fulfilled mentor gives you, not just the advantage of moral support to sustain your dream, but the hope to realize it is truly possible to do what this person is doing. At the very least, this exercise may help to give you even more ideas to reshape your job to incorporate more of the qualities you crave.

But its up to you to make it happen. Start right now:

1. List three people who have jobs you might like along with their individual job titles.
2. List any qualities or activities about their jobs you like?
3. Finally, come up with creative ways to incorporate these qualities/activities into the job you already have.

Not only will this increase your positive view of yourself and your capabilities, but it could also increase your profile within in the company and pave the way for a promotion when the opportunity presents itself.

Why put it off any longer? Take an action step in the positive direction by sending this article to some potential mentor candidates right now and then begin to interview all interested candidates ASAP! If you are waiting for a mentor to find you, chances are you’ll be waiting for a very long time and postponing a future with unlimited potential.

How can you become a free agent in today’s Information Technologies workplace? A free agent has power, great freedom, and is in charge of his/her career. Many people think of free agency as existing only in the sports world, but it’s becoming one of the strongest ways to protect yourself against the corporate concept of the 90’s, that people are expendable. With more mergers and acquisitions in the 90’s than the 80’s, companies can’t promise you’ll be a lifelong employee anymore.

If the company has to cut, they will cut people, no matter how great you are. Companies are saying, we do not have a commitment to keep people employed. We only have a commitment to keep them employable.

So yes, you are expendable in the company where you work! However, where you want to work and what you want to do are fully in your control. You can take the power back from the company controlling you and your life so you are in control over what you most want. Those who’ve are successful IT career changers have unleashed the power of free agency.

You can become a free agent inside your current organization, or outside of it, by creating the job you ultimately want. How do you stay employable and become a free agent within the company you work? The best way is to know the skills, values, abilities, talents, gifts, passions, interests and tool sets that make you unique and powerful and leverage them in your current work situation. You’ll be recognized for these skill sets and rewarded financially. Thus, you’ll stay employed by the company.

A similar process occurs when understanding how to create the job you want? Begin by getting to know who you truly are. The best way is the same as above when you wanted to become a free agent within the company you worked (interests, skills, passions, etc.). You begin to touch the freedom of free agency, once you know what you want. You have the power. You have the control. When you know what you want, you’ll attract people who do the work that you most want to do. Your dream job will become a reality.

To be a successful IT career changers, take time this week and write on a piece of paper what your skills, values, abilities, talents, gifts, passions, interests and tool sets are. As you write down your list, become clear on how you are utilizing these assets in your current work situation. If they aren’t being utilized at your work, make changes so that the real you will become a part of your job. Don’t waste your talents just because your environment hasn’t become aware of them. Make your potential or current employer aware and be proactive.

Patanjali in 1st-3rd Century B.C. said, “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”

The other day a client was talking to me about pursuing his dream job. He asked for motivation for career change when the economy is so horrible.

My advice was fairly simple: Don’t Quit Your Paying Job!

Let’s get one thing straight, there’s nothing wrong with pursuing your dream job on one hand and having a supplemental job that employs the skills you already have to pay the bills on the other. The trick is not hating the job that brings home the bacon, but finding fulfillment in it by realizing that the income it provides is the means to the end for securing your dream job. Which brings us to the following integral reasons for establishing a long-term plan for success that can help you have the motivation for career change later when you are ready

1. Don’t try to build your dream career without a plan. If you told a contractor that you wanted to build a house, the first thing they would ask for would be for the blueprint. Lumber and concrete are no good unless you have a plan to put them together. The same goes for your ambition and innate abilities without any sense of direction.
2. A plan provides a clear picture of where you are and where you are going.
   In a little league baseball game, a boy got a hit, ran to first base, on to second, then hesitated and yelled to his coach, “Where is third base?” During this brief moment of confusion the shortstop tagged him out.
   When searching for your dream job, you must have a carefully thought out plan covering all your bases and, in most cases, a supplementary income to take you all the way to “home plate” or you will you get lost along the way.
3. A plan keeps you moving in the right direction. Suppose you were on a nonstop flight to the Orient and heard this announcement: “Ladies and gentleman, this is your Captain speaking. We’re traveling west across the Pacific Ocean. In a few hours, you will be able to look down and see land. When that happens, we’re going to start looking for a big city with an airport. If we find one before our fuel runs out we’ll land. Then we’ll figure out where we are and decide where we want to go next. In the meantime folks, just sit back, relax and enjoy your trip.
   If you find this scenario tremendously unnerving how can you even imagine “taking off” in search of your dream career without first conducting a “flight check” by planning ahead?
4. We can lose it all by prematurely deviating from the plans that have got us where we are so far. In the first century B.C., the gladiator Spartacus led a rebellion in the city of Capua to gain freedom for himself and other slaves under the dominion of the Roman Empire. At first his rag-tag army was invincible whenever Spartacus guided them into battle. His plan was to fight their way northward into the Alps and then escape back into their individual homelands. The plan would have worked, but the slaves overconfident from past successes, refused to continue their retreat homeward and insisted that Spartacus stand and fight against the entire Roman Empire. As result most of the rebel army, including Spartacus was destroyed and the few remaining survivors were returned to captivity.

As you can see when the stakes are high (i.e. your income, health insurance, standard of living, food supply, rent or mortgage payment, etc.) there is absolutely no substitute for advanced planning. As minister Robert Schuller once said, “Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”

Legendary storyteller Mark Twain told about a man who died and met Saint Peter at the pearly gates. Immediately realizing that Saint Peter was a wise and knowledgeable individual, he inquired, “Saint Peter, I have been interested in military history for many years. Tell me who was the greatest general of all time?”

Saint Peter quickly responded, “Oh that’s a simple question. It’s that man right over there.”

“You must be mistaken,” responded the man, now very perplexed. “I knew that man on earth and he was just a common laborer.”

“That’s right my friend,” assured Saint Peter. “He would have been the greatest general of all time, if he had been a general.”

Beware of giving yourself a similar “general court martial” by shortchanging your potential. All of us are created with the equal ability to become unequal. Those who stand out from the crowd like Pope John Paul XXIII or the Apostle Peter have learned that all development is self-development.

Remember, growth is an individual project and the crowd will eventually stand back to let a real winner shine through.

Think it’s not practical to begin following your passions due to the “cost of living?” Then let me start off by encouraging you to honestly “count up the costs” of not trying.

Recently, the field of teaching has come under fire as an underpaid income bracket not worth the trouble of pursuing. By studying the latest compensation data it becomes clear that this unfounded stereotype is simply not the case for almost anyone earning a paycheck.

The Cato Institute’s, a Washington D.C.-based public policy think tank, recently released best seller It’s Getting Better All The Time reports that the average hourly compensation for a full-time worker is about 20% higher today than it was in the so-called “good old days” of the 1950s. Furthermore, when you take into account the value of fringe benefits to workers, including employer-provided or mandated medical insurance, pensions, increased vacation time and holidays, as well as unemployment insurance, average worker compensation has risen by more than 50% since 1950. Non-cash income has also increased from 5% to 19% of worker compensation between 1950 and 1995.

These numbers apply to virtually every occupation across the board. Teachers, service workers, steel workers, secretaries, and factory workers, to name just a few, all fare substantially better than their counterparts did just a few short decades ago.

But beyond mere economic arguments, with any particular passion or career choice there is no need to get pigeonholed into one specific vocation. For example, regarding the specialty of teaching, there are numerous roles of employment that utilize the skills and talents of standard K-12 teachers that equate to even higher incomes.

The key component here is conducting the necessary research to acquire an understanding of what higher paying employment opportunities exist for those with an educational background or finding another specialty that involves teaching, such as a corporate trainer or the “Executive Learning Director” for a non-profit organization. Thus, those who want to teach and make a Fortune 500 executive salary can find a way to earn a living that fits their lifestyle and still get the fulfillment of doing the work they truly enjoy!

But even more costly than a less desirable paycheck, is letting the potential lack thereof block the pursuit of your passions in the first place. You’ll find best career advice in this story:

Three men were riding on horseback in the Colorado Rockies one moonlit night. As they made their way along the base of the mountain, a voice thundered down from the heavens, commanding them to stop and dismount.

After they immediately followed the instruction, the voice continued, “Go to the riverbed and pick up some pebbles. Put them in your backpacks, but do not look at them until morning.”

Upon completing their strange task, the men began to mount up only to hear the voice again, “This will be both the happiest and saddest day of your lives.” With that final thought engrained clearly into their minds, the men went on their way.

As the dawn of the new day began to brighten the eastern sky, the riders reached into their saddlebags. To their amazement, the pebbles had turned to gold. As they celebrated their new wealth, one of the men stopped and exclaimed, “Wait! Now I know what the voice meant when it said this would be both the happiest and saddest day of our lives. Yes, we have gold, but think how rich we would be had we picked up more pebbles.”

So often people go through life and at some point realize “there could have been more.” Because they failed to take advantage of the opportunities around them, they stripped themselves of unfound treasure.

If you want to find best career advice, here are some questions I would ask my clients: as you pursue your dream job or endeavor to find even more ways to love the job you already have, are you filling your saddlebag with every possibility and every opportunity that comes your way? Or are your unfounded fears of a limited income actually limiting your chances to fulfill your destiny?

Don’t wake up one morning to lament, “This is both the happiest and saddest day of my life.” Instead of pigeonholing your dreams, do whatever it takes to explore the realm of endless opportunities today.

“That flower is a formation. If you look deeply into the flower you see the sunshine. Without sunshine there would be no flower. There is a cloud in it, there are the minerals in the earth, the compost, the gardener, many elements have come together to make the flower manifest…

Yet all flowers become garbage. That is the meaning of impermanence: all flowers have to become garbage. If you practice Buddhist meditation, you find out about very interesting things–like about the garbage.

Although garbage stinks, although garbage is not pleasant to hold in your hand, if you know how to take care of the garbage, you will transform it back into flowers. You know gardeners don’t throw away garbage. They preserve the garbage and take care of the garbage, and in just a few months the garbage becomes compost. They can use that compost to grow lettuce, tomatoes, and flowers. We have to say that organic gardeners are capable of seeing flowers in garbage, seeing cucumbers in garbage.

If you see things like that, you will understand that the garbage is capable of becoming a flower, and the flower can become garbage. Thanks to the flowers there is garbage, because if you keep flowers for three weeks they become garbage, and thanks to the garbage there will be flowers.”

Thich Nhat Hanh is a poet, Zen master, and peacemaker. He was nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Nobel Peace Price. He is Author of more than thirty-five books.

The New Year is traditionally the time of year when we all set goals and motivate ourselves to achieve them. A lot of people want to find a job coach during this period. It is also the time of year when the best laid plans can go awry and the best intentions can get derailed. Why is this? We try to take on the world – we are going to lose weight, then get our dream job, dream house, dream spouse, and more! Don’t get me wrong, having these goals is great! Reach for the stars! Want it all!

Let’s make sure that you achieve those goals, though. How to do that? Break things down into achievable steps so you can see immediate results that will continue to inspire and motivate you and keep you on track. Whether you find a job coach or just need motivation, here are some tips:

• Begin with the end in mind. Pick the top 3 things that you want to accomplish in the coming year. Consider such areas as spirit, family, friends, work, health, prosperity and more.
• From those top 3 desired accomplishments, choose a goal to achieve in the next 3 months.
• In order to progress towards that goal, pick an action step related to your goal that you can achieve in the month of January.
• Set a smaller goal related to that action step that is easily completed during the first week of January and do it.

You’ve taken a year-long goal and broken it down to its smallest steps. That first step in the first week of January will create momentum that will enable you to continue to follow through. This process will keep you on track to achieve all your yearly goals.

For example, losing 50 lbs can seem somewhat daunting. But losing 10 lbs in 3 months is easier to grasp. Choosing to make healthier eating choices in January is easier still. Choosing to buy a low-fat cookbook and plan a meal from it is something you can do tonight! And it’ll help you to get on the path you want and stay on it until that large goal of 50 lbs is achieved.

Jackie Robinson made history when he became the first black baseball player to break into the major leagues by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. Branch Rickey, owner of the Dodgers at that time, told Robinson, “It’ll be tough. You’re going to take abuse you never dreamed of. But if you’re willing to try, I’ll back you all the way.”

And Rickey was right. Jackie was abused verbally (not to mention physically by runners coming into second base). Racial slurs from the crowd and members of his own team, as well as from opponents, were standard fare.

One day, Robinson was having it particularly tough. He had booted two ground balls, and the boos were cascading over the diamond. In full view of thousands of spectators, Pee Wee Reese, the team captain and Dodger shortstop, walked over and put his arm around Jackie right in the middle of the game.

“That may have saved my career,” Robinson reflected later. “Pee Wee made me feel that I belonged.”

Which employees at your job can you reach out and touch today so they feel like they are a part of the team?