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Know Thyself: Launch a Business Doing What You Love
June 18, 2010
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“Julie and Julia” and your career -Part One
June 17, 2010
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Know Thyself: and Then Forget What You Know
June 15, 2010
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Know Thyself: Feeling Gracious? Or is It Something Else?
June 11, 2010
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Know Thyself: Emotional Intelligence and Your Viability as a Job Candidate.
June 8, 2010
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Know Thyself: Put Your Best You Forward.
June 4, 2010
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Back to Work: Five Ways to Stay Motivated
January 5, 2009 | Author: Jessica Howard | Filed under: Career Change, Job Hunting, Layoffs, Moving Up, Setting Goals
Five days into 2009, the parties are over and the Christmas tree is waiting to be trashed. It’s also January, the annual, month-long equivalent of Monday.
As we head back to work or back to the job of finding work, here are five reasons to feel motivated:
1. Attitude Is Everything
Career transition consultant Billie Sucher writes a funny anecdote about recently greeting a store clerk with “Happy Holidays!”. The clerk’s response was “Whatever.” Even if we would never respond in such a way, the story is a great reminder about how our behavior at work affects others, and is part of our performance and success. As Sucher writes: “Whether you have a job, or you don’t have a job, there is at least one thing in your life that you have absolute and complete control over and that one thing is your attitude.”
2. Fears Can Become Strengths
If you’ve got 17 minutes, watch this short video called How to Feel Like the Incredible Hulk by Timothy Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Workweek. He explains how he conquered fears of swimming, learning languages (he now knows several) and ballroom dancing. The interesting point is that Ferriss purposely pushed himself out of his comfort zone to learn these skills and found approaches that helped him master them.
3. You’re Not Alone
Anyone on the job hunt, or in career-transition mode, will find a sense of camaraderie in the Wall Street Journal’s Laid Off and Looking Blog. Eight out-of-work professionals take turns writing about the issues they’re facing, like recharging stale networks or re-learning how to introduce themselves.
4. Growth Feels Good
Personal Branding blogger Dan Schawbel interviewed Gretchen Rubin, who runs The Happiness Project and writes for the Huffington Post, about finding happiness in 2009. She makes a great point about creating an “atmosphere of growth”:
“We’re all happier when something in our life is changing for the better: we’re learning something new (taking a Photoshop class, working on our golf game); we’re helping something grow (a child, a business, a garden), we’re improving something flawed (cleaning a messy closet, volunteering to help an organization get its books in order), we see positive change in our life (getting a raise, getting out of debt, starting a new relationship, healing a rift) … There are many ways to foster “an atmosphere of growth.” Make sure your life includes this aspect somewhere. It helps bring you enthusiasm and energy – without it, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, trapped, cramped, stagnant.”
5. Subtract, Rather Than Add
All the air time given to New Year’s Resolutions can make it feel like we’re just adding more to our existing to-do list. Ashley Acker at WorkStyle Design has a better way to look at it: She suggests 15 Things to Quit Doing in 2009. Some of the suggestions are “Stop running ineffective meetings” and “Stop being busy rather than productive.”
Related Posts
In 2009, Resolve to Do Less But Achieve More
7 Reasons to Stay Up in a Down Economy
The Best Gift: Knowing Your Strengths and How to Use Them
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