Archive for September, 2010
How to Find Career Fulfillment
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Joe Wilner of Shake off the Grind.
We all want that “job” where we jump out of bed for in the morning, and feel excited and energized about the day ahead of us. Though, the majority of people are not happy in their job. They have reached an impasse, feel stuck, and are no longer gaining growth from their career experience.
Reaching an impasse can be a very beneficial moment in someone’s life though. It’s an important part of personal and professional growth. It signals that it’s time to start looking deeper at how we want to spend our time, and what type of professional endeavor and lifestyle will provide satisfaction and fulfillment.
Many people feel that finding career fulfillment is a lofty and idealistic dream. It’s easy to have doubts once we’re habitually conditioned to a certain lifestyle and daily routine, but I truly believe that people can find work that’s inspiring, purposeful, and ultimately fulfilling.
As long as you love the process and experience of what you’re doing, true career fulfillment can be obtained. If you have positive well-being and your values are met, then you’re on the right path.
So, what will provide you career fulfillment? Below are a few guidelines to consider.
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Working Hard Behind the Scenes – Fear, Tantrums, and Porcupines
How much does your fear hold you back from doing work you love?
Building a business is not easy. There is crying, yelling, fighting with your arch nemesis, losing your superpowers, gaining them back again, more yelling, wanting to throw in the towel, feeling like you are on top of the world, and knowing everything that you do is worth your efforts.
I’ve been working hard behind the Work Happy Now scenes.
I want to help you with the resistance that you have in starting your own business or taking your business to the next level. Nathan Hangen and I have created an e-course that helps people do just that.
We’re calling it Fear to Fuel – Stop Resisting and Start Creating.
Too often we procrastinate on stuff that really lights our fires because we are afraid of failing at something we truly care about.
Building Interest
Right now we are building interest by releasing 1 part of 9 PDF modules as a free preview. We plan to release an audio interview by a best-selling author by mid-week, and at the end of the week we’ll make the PDF action worksheet ready for you.
Click here to sign up so you can get access to all the free content. After Friday we will be pulling the information down because we want people to buy the e-course.
What’s Inside
The e-course is filled with great stuff to help you leverage your superpowers so you can do more of the stuff you love to do.
Interviews
We interviewed 14 creative experts and asked them tough questions about what they did right and wrong as they built their businesses.
The list is truly amazing. We have Tony Hsieh the CEO of Zappos, Hugh Macleod the amazing cartoonist at Gaping Void, and Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project to name a few.
Action Sheets
Each interview comes along with an action sheet that highlights the interview. After you are done listening to the MP3, you can answer some tough questions to help you break through your procrastination.
9 PDF Modules
We created 9 PDF modules that will take you step by step through your fear, teach you how to know where it’s coming from, give you strategies on how to friend your fear, and then help you learn to use your fear to fuel you into action.
Marketing Module
Finally, we created a marketing module. Nathan and I talked about what very few others do – that there is no magic formula for success. It takes a lot of hard work, connecting with the right people and showing up every day. Once people know that they can trust you, that’s when the magic happens. They will tell everyone they know that you are awesome.
Where Porcupines Come In to Play
We picked the topic of fear because it dominates so many of our decisions. Think about the last crappy job you stayed at. Why did you stay?
Because you were afraid of finding a crappier job.
Because you would lose your health insurance.
Because you were afraid of change.
All valid arguments, but so very weak at the same time. Your fear holds you back from doing work that you love.
It’s like hugging a porcupine. You think you can do it gently enough that it won’t prick you. Each time you hug that porcupine, a loose quill jabs you. You pick the porcupine up the next day hoping for better results.
You keep showing up at your job because you’re hoping that one day you will stop being pricked and start being appreciated.
Your fear is holding you back. You aren’t creating something that excites you. Then this course is for you.
Partnership
I partnered with Nathan Hangen because we’ve both struggled with fear and found different ways to use that fear to fuel our businesses. We try something, fail try something else and succeed. Then repeat the things that worked.
We’ve tried so many angles that we know what works best for us. Each failure helps us gain clarity.
Right Now
We are giving away a small piece of the course for free, so we can show you how valuable the whole Fear to Fuel package is. Click here to sign up and you’ll get access to each new part that is released. The first part will be released today. The next 2 parts will be released later this week.
As always if you have any questions, just let me know and I’ll be glad to help.
* No extra links today because that’s how important Fear to Fuel is to me.
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How to Deal with the Daily Grind Between Now and the Holiday Season
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Eileen Habelow of Randstad
Labor Day has come and gone and so has summer vacation. If you’re like most full-time employees you won’t have another break until Thanksgiving or perhaps even Christmas, and the thought of that three month stretch could be just short of terrifying.
But I have good news. The beginning of fall can feel like just that – a new beginning. Randstad’s latest Work Monitor survey shows that 73 percent of employees believe they perform noticeably better at work after they’ve had a few days off. That means even a short break such as long fall weekend could give you the jump start you need to stay motivated until the holidays, as long as you start it off right.
For generations people of all ages have struggled with the “back-to-school” grind that comes with fall, so why not adopt a few best practices that have worked for hundreds of people (regardless of age) around this time every year? Dive into a new “school” year armed with a few old-school habits.
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Join the Leveraging Your Superpowers E-Course
*Quick note: If you are already signed up for my e-course and newsletter you can move on to the next most important email or blog post in your inbox.
For those of you who aren’t on the Work Happy Now newsletter list I bet you are asking yourself…
Why should you join the Work Happy Now newsletter and e-course?
Well, I’m glad you are curious. You get 10 amazing lessons on leveraging your superpowers, increasing your happiness, and improving your productivity. I wish I would have had this e-course available for free 5 years ago. I would have been all over it. I would have had an easier time enjoying my work.
Also…
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Your Attitude and How it Affects Your Career
Have you ever noticed how positive people are more resilient?
Lately I’ve been thinking about the importance of attitude. Back in 2009, I put myself on a no complaining diet for 30 days. It was a tough and enlightening experience. I realized how much I complained and that I needed to do something to change.
After looking back on my career, I realized how much my complaining has affected my productivity. Whenever I complained, I would wreck my confidence. I used to get so down on myself that I couldn’t do any meaningful work. I thought it was just the way I worked. I did busy work that didn’t challenge me or demand me to be creative.
At one point my complaining was so bad that I caught myself complaining about gifts that I received from generous friends and family. It was a splash of cold water down my back. I was sabotaging my own happiness.
I knew it wasn’t helping my career or my personal life, so I vowed to make some changes.
That’s when I put myself on the no complaining diet. It was one of the best 30 day trials I’ve ever experimented with.
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15 Reasons to read the Communicatrix Blog
Colleen Wainright of the Communicatrix is one of my favorite bloggers out in the world. She brings a dynamic personality that keeps me wanting more.
I believe that every person in the world should read her blog and here is why:
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21 Reasons a Smart Small Business Coach is Worth the Money
A few of my friends asked me if a small business coach is worth the money. They knew my answer would be a resounding yes, but wanted to rile me up a little bit. Hey, what are friends for?
I began to talk about all the successes that I have had with coaching clients. I could see their eyes begin to glaze over.
It’s like reading people’s testimonials. Of course they are going to put the best ones up on their website. You don’t get to read about the failures.
I’ve had plenty of failures. It comes with the territory. I can’t help everyone; that would mean I was superman. I have superpowers, but I can’t fly faster than a speeding bullet.
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What Would You do Differently in Your Career?
Every career is filled with moments that we wish we could have done differently. It’s natural. We get smarter and look back and shake our heads at some of our decisions.
If you would have known this one thing when you were first starting, you could have saved youself a lot of pain and time.
My question to you is…
What is that one thing you would have done differently at the start of your career?
I’m asking because I want you to help someone who may currently be in the same position you were in last year, five or twenty years ago. You have a chance to save them a lot of time and pain. So share in the comments section and let’s help someone avoid the pain that we wished we could have avoided.
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