I am told often that one of the hardest questions people are asked when it comes to job search and career exploration is, “What is your passion?” When confronted with this question they say that they don’t have a passion or “I don’t know.” Too often, people who have not claimed a career such as firefighter, nurse, lawyer, or secretary fall into the misbelief that they must not have a passion. People are missing the fact that passion has to…
Over the past few months we have had several executives say (in almost these exact words), “I’m getting grief for not communicating effectively—but I don’t have time to explain every thought!” We are in a time where every person we talk with describes feeling frazzled, overwhelmed with demands, and say they barely have a minute to breathe, let alone pause to consider how to communicate with the people in their lives. We understand the sentiment—it can be a challenge to…
While personal talents and individual contribution are important in the new economy, the ability to engage collaboratively on a team and contribute to a successful team outcome is equally, if not more, important. In today’s economy sharing information in a team setting is vital to generating new ideas and solving complex problems. Organizations want to make the best use of their resources and so they are asking employees to not only do their individual jobs effectively but also to join…
Over the past few weeks we’ve been writing about pursuing work that you love, showing up effectively, and assessing what makes you unhappy in your work life. In this fourth and final post about creating a rich and satisfying work life, we want to get you thinking about how you get paid. Often when we ask this question, our coaching clients look at us like we’re a bit crazy. “What do you mean?” they ask, “Do you mean how often?…
Last week we talked about the importance of your Career Leadership to creating a life of meaning and satisfaction. This week, our Director of Career Services, Jill Banks, has developed a post to help you to understand and address some of your feelings about your work. Understanding What You Feel by Jill Banks The statistics are stunning – a recent Gallup poll reported that 70% of Americans range from feeling “blah” to totally hating their jobs. As coaches, a…
The past two weeks we have been talking about Jim Carrey’s commencement speech at Maharishi University of Management. During that speech, he made two statements that spoke to us and clearly to many of you (based on your notes to us): You can fail at what you don’t want to do so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love. AND The effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there…
Last week, we described Jim Carrey’s commencement speech at the Maharishi University. In that post, we described Mr. Carrey’s wise words for the Class of 2014, “Remember, you can fail at what you don’t want to do, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.” In that same speech, Mr. Carrey described the importance of being aware of how you show up in the world, saying: The effect you have on others is…
During this season of graduations, we were recently encouraged to watch a commencement speech by Jim Carrey. He was speaking at Maharishi University of Management and the audience of young people seemed absolutely thrilled to have him there. We watched the video expecting the typical Jim Carrey humor and little depth. Much to our surprise, we walked away with two thought-provoking nuggets that we will be speaking about this week and next week. Go Jim Carrey! In talking about his…
Since we’ve been talking about Emotional Drama and Emotional Data, we wanted to spend this week talking about one of the ways that we have defined adulthood over the years: Adulthood is the ability to hold two opposing ideas or feelings at the same time. The ability to hold two opposing ideas or feelings simultaneously is especially important when managing or leading others. In our work as coaches and consultants, we have seen that individuals who have the ability to…
My message today is a simple one. Test your assumptions before you take them in and operate as if they are fact. Human beings always make assumptions. That’s how we create order and logic in our world. Sometimes, however, the assumptions are not accurate and can hold us back from taking positive action. Below are a few of the assumptions that I hear most often from my clients who are looking for a job: There are no jobs. Everyone knows…