Think As Inc

CHANGE YOUR MIND

The phrase, “I’ve changed my mind”, is so common that it sounds easy to do.  In fact, our opinions and beliefs are so deeply embedded that changing our minds is rather difficult.  That’s not necessarily bad, since you might not want to be fickle about big choices in life — your significant other, your career, your life goals.  Or do you?  When you review the big choices you’ve made, do they still make sense?

What are your life goals right now?  Goals change.  In college, these might be self-exploration and intellectual challenge.  Later, these might be work/ family balance and financial security.  Motivations change.  In college, the environment is goal-oriented – towards graduation, towards that first job.  Later, there is less external motivation.  You may be so involved in day-to-day living that longer-term goals are ignored.  Motivation must come internally.

What is your career plan right now?  A career is not a random series of jobs, but rather a planned series of professional achievements.  If you have a job right now, what is your current job contributing to your career?  If it’s x, then focus on x.  If it’s nothing, then change your job or change jobs.  If you don’t have a job right now, how do you plan to forward your career?  The focus is not the next job, but rather the next stage in your career, whether that be a job, an entrepreneurial venture, or some time off.

Who shares your joy with you?  Whether it is family or friends, life is not just about achieving goals and career progress, but also about sharing joy.  Write a love letter to your spouse.  See those old friends.  Out of habit, your mind might take your loved ones for granted.  So, change your mind, and actively express your affection.

THE SIX-STEP JOB SEARCH

There are six steps to the effective job search:

Define what you want; 

Create your marketing campaign;

Research your targets;

Network your way into your targets;

Keep motivated and organized; and

Close the offer.

These steps are sequential but also concurrent, and this is not a contradiction.

If you don’t know what you want, you can’t create relevant materials (i.e., resume, cover letter, and other business communication).  If you don’t have your materials ready, you risk researching and networking your way into someone actually showing interest in you, only to have no materials to present.  If you don’t research your targets, you can’t effectively network into them.  If you don’t network (i.e., get out there among potential employers), you won’t need to stay motivated and organized.  If you don’t stay motivated and organized, you risk blowing the offer.

However, the job search is not a linear process.  Opportunities arise unexpectedly, or circumstances change.  You may get to the offer stage, only to realize that you don’t want this particular job (maybe the competitive office environment made you realize you’d prefer a friendlier place).  Therefore, closing the offer (step six) actually helps you define what you want (step one).  Similarly, in the course of research and networking, you might realize that your resume is not as targeted as it can be.  Steps three and four help you refine step two. 

You need to observe the sequence of an effective job search because you need to be as prepared as you can be.  However, you also may need to do the steps concurrently or even out of sequence because you want to be flexible and opportunistic and in tune to how your individual search progresses.  In any case, by minding the above steps, you will be well-positioned for any job search.

REMEMBER MISS TEXAS

Now that the economy is improving, we might be more confident in our career prospects.  Confidence is always good up to a point:

I saw a Junior Miss pageant, where there was a clear frontrunner in Miss Texas.  She had the highest scores from the preliminaries, the semifinals, and most of the finals.  But in the last competition, the evening gowns, she slipped down the stairs, and ended up fourth runner-up.  Miss Texas exemplifies what happens to a lot of candidates, who master the job search basics, but forget how beauty pageants, I mean jobs, are actually won.  You need to pass the preliminaries (the resume screen) to get to the semifinals (the general interviews) to get to the finals (the subsequent interviews).  And, you need to win each round on its merits.  A superior resume won’t compensate for blowing the interview.  High initial scores won’t compensate for careening down the stairs.  As in beauty pageants, your scores get wiped out with each subsequent round.

Thus, nailing the job means that you must always be at your best.  The proper steps to a job search are sequential because one prepares you for the next.  But each has its unique significance and challenges, and you must master them all.  You must have good strategy, powerful marketing, thorough research, polished interviewing skills, organized follow-up, and the ability to close the deal.  You must have all these skills all the time because you will frequently be at different stages with each target company in your job search.  Effective job search basics rely on effective juggling basics:  focus, concentration, and discipline.  You cannot get sloppy.

You might overhear from the CEO’s assistant that you’re the one!  You might be wined and dined at company-paid meals.  You might be negotiating salary.  Until you are through the door on the first day of your new job, you are Miss Texas.  Watch your step.

FOCUS ON THE UPSIDE

The all-time strikeout leader in baseball is Reggie Jackson, followed by Babe Ruth.  Neither player is remembered as a strikeout leader.  Still, people hear stories of great success coming only after great struggle, and this is not enough to encourage them to go after their dreams.  The potential downside of failure often greatly outweighs the potential upside from success.  Here are some tips to focus on the upside, so you do go for your dreams:

Confront the downside.  What are the specific consequences of failure to meet this goal?  How much money will you lose?  How much time will you have invested?  How much notoriety will this bring?  Really visualize for yourself the worst possible downside, and make specific plans on how to mitigate the consequences.

Confront the upside.  What are the tangible effects of success at this goal?  Express it in pictures that you hang on your wall.  Write it down in a journal that you read regularly.  Tell friends what it means to you.  Keep your upside in your sight, your mind, and your words, and it will seem more reachable.

Replace one fear with another.  At some point, we need to just take our shot.  You may never get over your fear of failure, but you could replace it with a greater fear of never knowing.  Think about what it would mean for you to never know what happened if you tried.  The prospect of living with a what-if is not very appealing.  Focus on the regret, remorse, disappointment, shame, sadness, etc. of not even trying, and you may find these feelings worse than any downside from failure.

Reggie Jackson wouldn’t be a Hall of Famer, baseball icon, and candy bar, without also being the strikeout leader.  Putting himself in the game meant downside, but also great upside.  If you never take your shot, nothing will change.  Is the life you have now exactly the way that you want it to be?  If not, take aim.

PUTTING THE SPRING BACK INTO YOUR JOB

There is a spring in our step when we walk with enthusiasm, excitement and energy.  Much of spring cleaning is de-cluttering, planting new flowers, out with the old and in with the new.  It is about refreshing our environment and putting the spring back into our homes.  In our jobs, we should also take a refreshed look at what we do.  The monotony of many jobs makes it easy to get into a rut.  As the seasons change, identify ways to put the spring back into your job.

BRING SOMETHING NEW TO YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE.  Move the furniture, hang a new poster, or use a different mug.  These visual cues can be an inspiration and a reminder that we can change things.

PLANT THE SEEDS FOR FUTURE GROWTH.  Take advantage of your company’s training offerings.  Read career development and business books.  Pursue subjects outside your work that support your whole life – personal finance, fitness, arts.

ADJUST YOUR ATTITUDE.  Sometimes, we get our spring from waking up on the right side of the bed or buying a winning raffle ticket.  Ideally, we consciously decide to focus on the positive and attract good fortune.  The energy that puts a spring in our step also puts a spring in our jobs.  We all like to work with people who are energetic and excited to be there.

Spring cleaning gets its namesake, not just from the time of year it occurs, but also from the result we want.  In our jobs, that spring could mean the difference between loving our work and tolerating it.  It could mean the difference between moving forward and staying put.  Putting the spring back into our jobs could mean a season of change, growth and renewal.

PLAYING A COMPLETE GAME

Great offense still needs defense.  Defense keeps the offense in the game.  Likewise, great defense needs offense to win.  Thus, career and life planning requires attention to the complete game.  In both spheres, the complete game means maintaining what you have while striving for more. 

Maintain an inventory of what you have that is meaningful to you, and protect these things.  In your career, identify what skills and work situations interest you.  Keep these in your current job by honing these skills and putting yourself in the optimal situations (e.g., volunteering for suitable projects).  In your life, check your balance.  Are there areas that you have been neglecting (career, family, friends, community, your health)?  What can you do now when there is no crisis on hand to build a stronger foundation?

However, you can’t just focus on keeping what you have.  Not only does this prevent you from taking advantage of good opportunities, but it doesn’t prevent bad things from happening.  You might be doing a fine job in your current position, but your position might still go away.  Therefore, you need to take the offensive and strive for more.  This includes networking, keeping abreast of industry trends, and adding to your skill set, even when you aren’t actively looking for a job.  This includes making life improvements before crisis hits.  Is there a relationship that needs tending?  Is there a problem in the community where you can help?

A complete game is balanced.  Too much offense might mean uncalculated risks that can knock you out of your game (think the entrepreneur going after every idea who burns out of capital before the winner pays off).  Too much defense might mean too little risk (think the indifferent employee clinging to the status quo who is unexpectedly downsized).  Taking no risk is not the same as having no risk.  There is always risk, so think defense and play offense to reach your goals.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM A DOWN MARKET

This difficult labor market gave ample opportunity to learn how to manage your career more effectively.  The lessons so obvious in a down market also apply as times improve: 

Network, network, network.  In a down market, everyone knows networking is key.  Because fewer positions are advertised, those with inside connections learn of opportunities faster, respond faster and thus have better chances.  As the market improves, remember to maintain and expand your network.  The best time to network is when you don’t need to.

Everyone is self-employed.  In a down market, everyone knows there is no job security.  If you don’t contribute to your firm in a meaningful way, your job is in jeopardy.  In this way, people are really self-employed, and their “employer” is merely their client.  As the market improves, remember that you are self-employed.  Your boss is merely one client.  Keep your client happy, and keep yourself marketable for new “clients” as well.

Experience and work ethic count.  This down market followed an incredibly generous up market where relatively inexperienced people were thrown lots of money and lots of responsibility quickly.  Now, companies are again interested in people with real experience and demonstrated diligence and follow-through.  As the market improves, remember to manage your career for the long haul and not just for the next big title or raise.  A well-planned and well executed career path is attractive in any economy.

PLAYING OFFENSE

The job market is picking up, and more people are actively looking rather than focusing on just keeping their job.  Times like this make clear the necessity of offense.  Good defense may contribute to a win, but even if a team keeps its opponents from scoring, it still has to itself score in order to win.  Thus, success should focus on winning (i.e., offense), not just not losing.

In baseball, you see a lack of offense when a pitcher doesn’t use his best pitch because the hitter might hit it (thus causing a loss), instead of using his best pitch to get the hitter out (thus sealing a win). 

In job searches, you see a lack of offense when people focus foremost on what’s available – what industries are hiring, what jobs are suitable to their skills.  Playing offense requires that you focus foremost on what you want and then focus on getting it.  It’s a risk if your desired industry is not hiring or if you need to augment current skills.  But the win is getting what you want and not just settling.

In careers, you see a lack of offense when people decline challenges – e.g., turn down a high visibility project, postpone a job switch.  Playing offense requires that you take shots at your goals.

In life, you see a lack of offense when people do not follow their dreams.  You may want a different life – a different career, more family time, new friends, a new location.  Playing offense requires that you move in the direction of your dreams.  If everything remains status quo, you may protect yourself against failure, but you also preclude yourself from success.

DON’T GIVE UP

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." -- Annie Dillard, Pulitzer Prize winner

On January 1, we were pumped, inspired, and motivated to have a super new year.  As the days pass, our resolve may wane.  The exercise routine becomes tiring.  Those networking goals become tedious.  That research into your dream career can wait.  If you miss a day or days or weeks, just start over.  If February or March or even April has to reset your clock back to January 1, then so be it.  Just don’t give up.

Our goals are made up of small steps over a big period of time.  Like the quote says, our days add up to our lives.  It may not seem like you’re doing much each day, but it adds up over time.  Skipping a day might not seem like a big deal, but that adds up too.  Motivation doesn’t just come like a bolt of lightning.  Motivation is fed by action — persistent activity, discipline, small steps each day.

Don’t beat yourself up over missing a small period of time (or even the first weeks of this year if that’s your case).  Get back on track, and when you look back over a longer time period (say, a few weeks), you’ll have a more realistic view of your progress.  Maybe you exercised half of those days.  That’s great!  Now shoot for three quarters of the days over the next period.  Maybe you had just one networking lunch.  That’s a start!  Now shoot for two, and you’ll have doubled your result.

Don’t give in to the temptation to quit just because you don’t stay perfectly on track.  The path to success is never linear.  Expect some bumps, plateaus and ruts along the way.  Just keep moving and eventually you will pass them by.  Just don’t give up.

CHANGE YOUR HABITS

Biting your nails, arriving late to appointments, and overeating are obvious bad habits.  However, there are some habits, which are not bad outright, but which over time might have negative consequences.  If you have a habit of seeing the same friends, that is not bad, but it likely means your network is limited and like-minded.  If you take the same route to work each day, you may miss a better view or a more efficient way to go.  Even good tendencies can lead to bad habits, if you allow yourself to fall into a rut and be blinded to new possibilities.

Because ruts are unconscious, you need to make a conscious effort to break them.  Look at your career over time, and see if any patterns emerge.  Is there a recurring reason for your job dissatisfaction?  Are you stuck with projects you don’t like?  These patterns exist because you are doing something to perpetuate them.  Your bad habit might be not speaking up, waiting to be assigned rather than volunteering, or simply going from job to job without a clear sense of overall career. 

Whatever you identify as the problem, think about ways to change this.  If your problem is bad projects, find ways to transition to better ones.  This means delegating the bad projects or at least minimizing your time spent on these, identifying the better projects, and ensuring that you get these better projects.  How do you get the plum assignments?  Find out how they’re assigned.  Then, move out of your comfort zone to get them. 

Your comfort zone is a bad habit if it keeps you from what you want.  There is nothing wrong with being comfortable, if it also means satisfied and content.  We all know people who are never satisfied, and that’s not a better alternative.  However, if your comfort zone keeps you settling for less than your ideal, then comfort is a habit worth changing.