Archive for the ‘Career Coaching’ Category
Career Coaching – Is Your Career Having a Mid-Life Crisis?
Do you find yourself looking toward retirement with much more enthusiasm than you look at your job? Do you often feel like you are just putting in time until you can finally leave your career behind? If that is the case you may very well be suffering from a career mid-life crisis.
When you first embark on your career journey you are fresh-faced and innocent to the ways of the working world. You are idealistic and enthusiastic and excited about becoming a part of adult life. You are ready to change the world!
This zest for life can carry you through many years and, if you are lucky, will result in achieving many of your career goals as you begin climbing the career ladder. After a few years you remove your rose colored glasses, wake up to the real world and realize that your job choice may not have been as wonderful as you first thought. It is more difficult to get up everyday and go to work. Work has become boring and unfulfilling.
There is no passion or joy left in the workplace. You would like a divorce from your job but what alternatives do you really have? You have put a lot of time and energy into your career. Is it wise to just throw away the seniority and stability of your current employment?
Even if it was a wise choice; what’s next? How do you even begin to plan for a career change at this stage of your life? The first logical step would be to contact a certified career/life coach. A good coach will help you see your life more clearly. Maybe a small change in your personal life can have a significant enough impact on your existing career that it no longer seems in need of a change. Maybe your career really does need a switch up. A career coach can help you identify your dream job and guide you into a position to make it happen for you.
She will help you evaluate your existing skills. You would be surprised at just how many skills you have acquired that are easily transferrable into a new career. You may already be qualified for that dream job and she will help you not only find that job but coach you through negotiating the best possible salary with your potential employer.
Do you need to adjust your financial strategies to handle a career change? Your certified life coach can help you make those adjustments and help you make any necessary changes to your lifestyle in order to make your dream job a reality.
A good career coach will discuss your options and to help you understand whether a career change makes sense for you right now. She is the best investment you may make in the rest of your life.
Coaching for Life – Are You Single And Loving It?
You are a strong willed individual with a clear sense of independence. You are self confident and devoted to experiencing life on your own. You have made the decision that marriage is not one of your life goals and you celebrate that fact. So why can’t people be happy for you?
Unfortunately, people who have not made the same decisions as you cannot phathom wanting to go solo through life. They assume that you are single because the right person has not come into your life yet. They assume you are lonely. Quite simply, they just do not understand that you are single by choice. We all have heard the term “happily married” but how often have we heard she’s “happily single”? That is because the concept is so foreign to anyone on the outside.
One of the biggest obstacles that individuals who are committed to the single lifestyle face is not having a reliable person, who understands your situation, to go to for advice. You can’t turn to your parents because they are too busy still trying to find you “Mr. Right”. A life coach may very well be your best ally when it comes to making informed decisions that will effect your career, your finances and your personal growth.
Finding a certified life coach who specializes in coaching singles is not always easy though. This person will be your mentor who will guide you through all of the plans you have for your life so you need to be very sure that you choose wisely. She must specialize in helping individuals reach their goals, she can also be a great source to network with other people who, like you, are committed to the single lifestyle.
Have you found a certified career/life coach out there who is as happily single as you are? If so, she will be the best one to guide you. She is a rare find because she understands the difficulties you face as an unmarried person in a corporate world. She has faced the same situations you will encounter in your career and can help you deal with descrimination that singles often come up against in their corporate life.
So if marriage is not one of your life goals, celebrate it and rely on those who truly understand.
Career Coaching – Think It, See It, Be It – Visualizing Your Success
Visualization is a very important key to achieving success. If you have a vision of the goals you wish to attain they are more real and more attainable. It is a way to train and focus your thinking to be driven to succeed.
The first step in visualization is to seriously consider exactly what you want out of life. Maybe you want financial freedom. Maybe you aspire to make a difference in society. Perhaps you desire the prestige of being considered the best in your field. Whatever your passion is you need to clearly define it in your mind.
The next step is to find someone who, in your mind, represents your goals. You can learn how to be successful from studying others who have achieved what you desire. If possible, meet with that person. Explain to them that you consider them to be a role model of yours. You would be surprised to know that many people whom you hold in high regard are very willing to speak openly about how they got to where they are. People love to talk about their accomplishments, especially to an attentive audience. Learn as much as you can from this person.
If it is not possible to actually meet your mentor then study them intently. I don’t suggest becoming a stalker, but make note of who they keep company with. Read anything they may have written. Read any bios or profiles you can find on this person. Study their behaviors. Contact them by phone or mail to try to strike up a mentor/student relationship.
Keep a picture of this successful person visible, preferably in your closet or dressing room. Every day before leaving your home look in the mirror and imagine yourself as their equal. When faced with a challenge, think to yourself, “How would my mentor handle this situation?” By emulating a successful person’s behaviors you are training yourself to also become successful.
Studies have proven that extraordinary people all tend to have many things in common. They were not just born exceptional. They learned the behaviors necessary to succeed and they all have a vision. By studying and imitating you too will learn those patterns.
Now visualize yourself having attained your goals. What exactly does it look and feel like to have that financial freedom? What vision do you have of yourself having made a difference in society? How does it feel to be the best in your business?
You must first have a very clear vision of yourself as a successful person in order to achieve your goals in life. Once you have that vision, you are learning the behaviors, you can now go ahead and map out the plan that will make your visualization a reality.
Career Coaching – Fast Tracking Your Career One Step at a Time
Career Coaching – Time Management
If you are a career oriented individual setting goals should be a routine you are very familiar with. Reaching those goals is another matter. Time management is a challenge that many people struggle with.
You know the path you want to take. You know what you have to do to reach your ultimate destination in life. You just need to learn how to prioritize and focus on implementing the steps you have set out for yourself. There are not enough hours in the day to work on everything at once. Trying to do it all at one time will cause undue stress and will actually be counter-productive in the long run.
The old saying “The hurrier I go the behinder I get” applies when you have set a pace that is impossible to maintain over a long period of time. Be realistic in what you can comfortably accomplish. Remember that life is a journey and it should be a pleasant trip. I like to think of goals as ladders. If you have 5 ladders that you are trying to climb all at one time you will climb one or two rungs on the first one,hit a bit of resistance,jump off and climb one or two on the next. If you continue on this course of action you will never reach the top of any of those ladders. Instead you need to choose one ladder and climb it to the top before tackling the next one.
Take a good look at your ladders. Decide which ones require immediate action and which ones require ongoing attention. It is possible to tackle more than one at a time but only if they are related or do not conflict. For example, if one of your goals is to continue your education by taking a 10 week night class you could combine that with your goal of becoming more physically fit by walking at least part of the way to class. These two goals do not conflict and are very doable without causing more stress. I would, however, not consider adding a goal to attend a weekly networking event to the mix. This might interfere with the homework you may need to complete and create a feeling of being overworked.
Remember to keep your life in balance. You have to schedule in some downtime for relaxation and recreation. This is just as important to your success as hard work is. Maintaining relationships with friends and family, performing well at work and striving to improve yourself and your situation is a great balancing act that requires careful coordination. Do not allow your focus on one area to upset the balance of your life as a whole. If you are having difficulty managing your time or prioritizing your goals a life or career coach can help you achieve your goals while keeping your life in balance.
Setting Goals – Following the Road to Success
Career Coaching – Goal Setting
When setting goals, many people get so caught up with the final destination that they lose their focus on the road they need to take to get them there. Once they lose the road map, the destination seems to get further and further away and often times it feels like arriving at their goal has become an impossibility. This generally results in frustration and eventually giving up on their dreams altogether.
Instead, if they had only focused on the road map they would have progressed steadily toward reaching their ultimate destination one step at a time. This focus on smaller achievements not only will give you a greater sense of accomplishment to reinforce that you are on the right track, it is also a measurable means to evaluate your progress.
Here are a few tips to help you set and reach your goals:
- Set a daily plan of action. Do at least one thing every single day that will advance you toward your next goal. End your day by reading your goals and setting your plan of action for the next day. Put it on your night stand so it is the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you see at night.
- Give every goal a deadline. Unless you have a set date to reach each step you will have a tendency to procrastinate.
- Do a weekly, monthly and yearly evaluation of your progress. Were all of your goals met? If not, why and what can you do to change it?
- Make sure your goals are measurable. If your goal is to make more money, put a dollar amount to it. If your goal is to lose weight, specify how many pounds. Be very specific and make sure you can monitor your progress in a very real way.
- Hold yourself accountable. If you miss a goal do not find ways of blaming it on other people or circumstances. Instead, look to see why it was missed and how you can prevent yourself from being distracted from your goal in the future. If you did not get your plan for the day accomplished because a neighbor dropped in for an unexpected visit do not blame it on the neighbor. Recognize that you allowed yourself to be distracted. You could just as easily have told your friend that you are happy to see them but that you need to get 2 hours of work done that evening so you will need to cut the visit short and maybe make plans to get together at a later date.
- Forgive yourself. There will always be occasions when we do miss goals for one reason or another. Do not allow yourself to focus on the failure. Forgive yourself, put it behind you and focus on getting on track again.
Goal setting is the map to success. Without it you cannot possibly reach your full potential. Be realistic, be consistent and be proud of your achievements.
How Can Career Coaching Improve My Life?
Professional guidance and mentoring boosts self-esteem and provides personal encouragement, information and accountability in moving along the career path. In addition, career and life coaching adds value in various life domains – health, habits, grooming, demeanor, personal presentation, business etiquette, attire. All of these are crucial in advancing one’s career or transitioning to a different career field.
- help you explore and better define your professional competencies,
- address personal issues impacting your career,
- clearly identify your career objectives,
- discuss and resolve obstacles to employment and career success,
- guide you in developing both short-term and long-range career strategies,
- assist you in developing, executing and managing a successful job search campaign
- prepare you to competitively interview, negotiate compensation and evaluate offers.
In addition, many coaches offer services beyond the immediate job search and are available to support you throughout your career with ongoing guidance and support for long-term career planning, management and advancement.
Typically, clients are either in their early 20s looking to launch a career or fast-track their career; or they are in their 40s, 50s or early retirement years and they desire to transition to an entirely different career field. A common trait among Singles Career Coaching clients is that they have a vision they want to fulfill. Usually they want to achieve personal job satisfaction and also make an impact on the environment, on people or on the world. Commonly, to achieve their goals, they need: education, a structured plan, support and encouragement.
January, 2010
PWN International Conference ‘10
Sandra will be a presenter for the Conference at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky
(June 2009 issue, page 95)
