Some Pieces of Practical and Spiritual Advice

You know some people may refer to me as the Poster Child for a positive unemployed person. Every time someone says “I admire you for your positive attitude”, I’m thinking they either really mean “are you nuts?”, or “you’ve started in on the wine at noon haven’t you?”, or maybe even “I want some of what you’re taking.” The truth is, I’m always doing things to improve my state of mind. You know; like going to the gym, meditation, positive affirmations and so on. I consider it part of the process of finding the job where I will be happy to end my career. There is something to this.

Something in a conversation yesterday reminded me of why I started thinking this way. Years ago I managed a department of 148 people that the company had decided to outsource. You can imagine how fearful it was to those individuals whose lives were seemingly no longer within their control. Sound familiar? At that time, having weekly and sometimes daily, “one-on-ones” with my teamleaders, I asked them to focus on each week or if necessary, each daily or hourly accomplishment. The reason for this is because if you look out ahead, fear tends to take over, especially if you can’t make yourself see a good future, but if you can focus on what you can accomplish in the here and now, you will be able to actually craft that future to your liking. You know what I’m talking about. Those inner dialogues that go like; “I’m going to lose my apartment”, or “I’m going to have to pull the kids from private school and with this scar them forever?” I think it’s really hard for anyone, maybe not those people that meditate two or three times a day, (but hey what’s with that anyway), to not view the future that way. By focusing my teamleaders in this manner, we were able to prepare our people to move on to other roles or to new careers and to grab back a sense of control.

Folks this is why I have my daily “to do” list. Through the years I’ve found that breaking down future goals into daily or hourly increments really helps. It helps you gain a sense of control of your life. I used this at work, when you’re looking at that annual objective and thinking “no way Jose” am I gonna meet that number. When you break it down to increments of what you have to accomplish each week/month to get to that goal, it becomes very possible. Same goes for the rest of your life. Heck I used it to quit smoking, and breaking up from a poisonous relationship (oh I know you all know what I mean). I used to tell myself originally, if you want a cigarette in an hour you can have one. Then when I got to that hour, would do it again. Gradually worked my way up to if I want one tomorrow I can have one etc. till finally wasn’t thinking about it.

Two reasons for the “to do” list; 1 it allows me to accomplish something every day and 2. it moves me toward my goal. I have a goal of applying for 10 jobs a week and often times I add attending two networking sessions, updating my resume, posting in this blog or just paying bills. It keeps me moving forward and focused. And, you know, I’ve had a heck of a lot of interviews for some really cool jobs. I know I haven’t landed yet, but I firmly believe it’s because I still haven’t found that job that meets my aspirations.

Oh, before I move on, for those of you who are meditating and using positive affirmations, I found this statement in Creative Visualization, by Shakti Gawane;

This, or something Better,
Now manifests for me
In totally satisfying and harmonious ways,
For the highest good of all concerned.

This purpose behind this phrase is so that you put out there that even though you are focused on those goals/affirmations, there may be something better for you or others that hasn’t come into your conscientiousness yet but something you would be open to.


Now for some more practical advice from the people in my Campaign Management Team; some books you might want to read:
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
How to Wow by Sharon Cole Jones
The Big Moo by Seth Godin

Of course it is time once again to update our resumes and re-post on the job boards. Think I’ll be doing mine on Sunday. I think the last time I did it was the beginning of January and I’ve had at least four companies call me unsolicited because of that. Woo Hoo! One more thing, please get yourself some business cards. You can go to http://www.vistaprint.com/ and get yourself some free business cards. You know all those networking meetings, or kids sporting events, or parties, or committee meetings you go to, doesn’t hurt to have a business card to hand out when you make those contacts.

Well that’s all for this week folks. I need to get back to the job boards and find that 10th job to apply to in order to meet my quota and check that off the list. Enjoy your week and hey if you want to think in the future to something good, hey summer’s coming!