“CHAPTER XXII — CONCERNING THE SECRETARIES OF PRINCES

The choice of servants is of no little importance to a prince, and they are good or not according to the discrimination of the prince. And the first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around him; and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise, because he has known how to recognize the capable and to keep them faithful. But when they are otherwise one cannot form a good opinion of him, for the prime error which he made was in choosing them.” – Niccolo Machiavelli

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Even as far back as the Renaissance — and probably before — people have known that good people attract other good people while evil, avaricious, greedy, mean people attract those with the same failures and vices. You can be, and will be, judged by the company you keep, but few people seem to understand or remember this very useful part of human nature. Worse still, even when people understand that the company they keep is damaging their career and life, they remain in their company simply because leaving it — quitting a job, finding another, moving schools or homes — is simply too much trouble. This column is a reminder that the damage you do to your career by associating with the wrong people is far worse than the inconvenience you will face in trying to change it.

When my wife and I hold our annual parties, one comment we hear again and again, is about the friendliness of the people we attract to us. No matter how old or young, what they do for a living, how rich or poor they are, our friends all have a certain quality that makes it fun to be around them and share their lives and engage in conversation about the world and our place in it. Over our 26+ years together, my wife and I have often commented on how lucky we are to have found such a wide variety of amazing friends. Then again, perhaps it isn’t just an accident that this happens.

We, like I would advise you, are very careful to bring a particular type of person into our lives and into the life of our son. Like us, they should be marginally optimistic. They should love a good conversation, regardless of what the topic might be or where it might go. They should be as comfortable grabbing a quick bite at Henry’s Tacos as they are attending a concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA. They should have hobbies and interests that they like sharing with others like our friends who belong to the local geology club, are docents at the LA Zoo, share the archery field with us or those who get a kick out of camping at the beach.

Why do we look for people like this? Because they are the people we are ourselves — or least, strive to be. We look at our friends and hope that others see us in the same light. Our friends are a reflection of ourselves and over the years this has proven to be a very good thing. We have developed many deep and long standing relationships based on our underlying — even unspoken — methods.

Now, take a look at your friends, your co-workers, your business partners. These people are a reflection of you, your dreams, your values. Do you see in them what you would most like to see in yourself? If not, why not? If you are surrounded by those who skirt the law, take advantage of others only to better themselves, or abuse those around them, why are you there? Surely you must know that when seen from outside, these people reflect directly on you. You become one of them, whether you like it or not.

Surround yourself with those people you respect and you will find the respect of others. Find those people that are successful without being evil and you will find the same path for yourself. Seek out those people who reflect the “better angels of your nature” and you will find long term abiding friendships that accurately reflect who you are and what you want out of life.

***

Your career depends on the company you keep – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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Recorded at Tuesdays with Transitioners in Northridge, California. (http://tuesdayswithtransitioners.ning.com)

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Funerals have a way of sharpening your perspective on everything. The father of friend died unexpectedly this week. He had also become our friend over the years, helping us with legal and corporate issues in our small company. I also worked for him, providing computer assistance. As I talked with his wife after the services, she related how I would need to stop by soon to help her sort out all the information that was stored in their computers and help her put things in order. What’s even more striking is, this is not the first time I have had this discussion with someone.

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While we often talk about having one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that combine to create the whole. It is often said you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole. Cultivating Your Career Reputations examines each of these reputations in detail and helps you find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation can grow

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Working in high-tech often means working very closely with people and developing relationships that go far beyond the usual situation of employer and employee. Over the course of your career, many people will become family. You need to be prepared for the eventualities of life, in both your own life and the lives of those around you.

As we grow older, we all prepare for the day when we die. We create our wills, buy insurance, and create Trusts, all in an effort to make it easier for our family and friends when we pass. In addition to all the usual arrangements, though, all of us need to consider the new, computerized world in which we live. In the past, our children may have sorted through paper documentation, but now, more and more, of our lives are bound up in our computers, our email and many other personal and business-related documents.

Computer issues might seem a shallow thought compared to the other issues surrounding a funeral, but in today’s world, it is very important. In the last 2 years, I have faced this issue with several clients and, as I work with many older people in my consulting work, I am sure to face it more as the years pass. To that end, I am developing plans for all of my clients that can help make computer issues less of a concern when the time comes.

First, every member of the family should have some concept of where family data is stored, passwords needed for access and backups in the event that anything happens to the family home. Too often, I find myself digging for passwords or even attempting to crack passwords in an effort to access data. Data could be scattered among several directories or even several computers. None of us likes to think about death, but I try to keep, in the back of mind, the old adage, “I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.” We never know what is coming and the only way to insure that our families can continue with as little trouble as possible is to prepare today.

Next, insure that backups of data, even if they are relatively old, are placed in several locations. Family members should share backups with other family members and friends. You may never need this information, but if you do, it will be extremely important to access it easily.

Clean out your paper files and label everything religiously. It should be obvious where to find a variety of information no matter who might be searching. If your son or daughter can’t find the deeds to property, life insurance policies and more, get to work today. They won’t need further difficulties at an already difficult time.

Have I prepared enough myself? Probably not, but each passing funeral brings more urgency to the task. My own wife jokes of how she will have to call in a close friend to sort out my hard drive when I am gone. In making my own preparations, though, I can learn to develop systems and advice for my clients.

As I see others struggle through their times of loss, and how our computerized lives can make it more difficult, I am re-dedicating myself to removing as many obstacles as I can, both for my clients and myself. I hope you will use these guidelines as a start for your own preparations. No matter what your age, you need to consider how your high-tech work impacts those around you at one of the most stressful times in their lives.

***

Archive: A Death in the Family is a post from Career Opportunities

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Telling the truth, especially in situations that require it, is important to every career. The truth can be hard. It can be dangerous to your job. It can also raise you above others who have decided to ignore the problems that are right before them. Sure, we all tell little white lies to smooth our interactions with others, but in the end, the truth is usually the most powerful tool we own.

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The scary part is that we humans have a great ability for ignoring the truth even when faced with it. Worse still is our ability to lie to ourselves. Most of us are great at ignoring the truth in our lives, our relationships and our work. We can go through great gyrations to ignore that one, large, inconvenient truth and when we do so we damage everything around us. This is why it is so important to learn to tell ourselves the little truths we face every day. In our hearts and minds we often see things exactly as they are. When that happens we need to acknowledge those truths, not ignore them.

What sort of little truths do we face in our career each day? Sometimes we can know in our hearts that we are not that good at our job. Maybe we lack skills. Maybe we lack training. Maybe we lack the right environment. Some people will lie to themselves and think they are doing a great job, even though evidence to the contrary is right in front of them.

It is far better for you to acknowledge your limitations and then work to remove them rather than trying to hide them from yourself and others. This doesn’t mean you have to go around the office explaining to your manager and co-workers just how lame you are at your job. You only need to tell yourself this little truth — acknowledge it fully — and then figure out some way to improve your work. This is where the power of little truths can be deeply felt and used.

Perhaps you know that one of your teammates, your manager, your CEO, simply isn’t up to the job they have been given. Maybe some form of substance abuse is involved. Maybe they are involved in illegal business practices. You can lie to yourself — and them — and explain it all away. It isn’t embezzlement. It’s just creative accounting. No one will find out those parts are sub-standard. What does it matter? Maybe Bob is just having some health problems. He can’t possibly be doing drugs in the bathroom.

Lies like these are convenient to you. They let you get through the day with less worry and anxiety. They can also lead to your greatest and easiest downfall. Each of them could bring your job, your company and your career to an end with a short, sharp, shock. While these truths are often the hardest to face, they are also the most important. If someone is embezzling, you want to make it very clear that you had nothing to do with it and, more importantly, brought it to the attention of someone in charge. This is the clearest way of protecting yourself from prosecution, even if it does mean the end of your job.

If someone is abusing drugs, and you do nothing, you are enabling their abuse. You may even be enabling their death if the situation is serious enough. You can try small interventions first, but in the most dangerous cases you may have to face the issue head on. It could be that your co-worker is endangering your life and the lives of your co-workers. To stand by and do nothing is facilitating your own injury and perhaps death. In a situation like this, you should see how important the little truths can be. If ignored long enough, by enough people, these truths can turn into dramatic situations.

What are some truths that you need to tell yourself right now? What have you been ignoring in hopes that it might just go away? Who is in danger because of your willful ignorance? Yourself? Those around you? What are you going to do about it? Are you going to ignore these little truths and let them get worse until a crisis occurs or are you going to face them — in large ways and small — and seek a solution that benefits everyone. I hope you can see the paths that the truth puts before you. It should shine clear and bright if you only make the effort and have the courage to see it.

***

The little truths we need to tell ourselves – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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Can’t see the video above? Watch “Production, Promotion and Proactivity in Your Career” on YouTube

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Can’t see the video above, watch “Career Tip – Stop adversarial hiring practices” on my YouTube channel.

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Visibility and Your Career was presented at LaidOffCampLA on May 1, 2009.

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Given my focus on computer consulting and writing, it always seems to amaze people when I tell them that my college degree is actually unrelated to either of these areas. I graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in — theater! That’s right, I did every possible job in the theater during my time in college. I was an actor, a dancer, a singer, lighting operator, stage manager and more. I think I spent more time in the theater than I spent in the classroom during my college years and even though I do not work in professional theatre now, I think that that time has had a direct and significant impact on my life and career ever since.

Now available from Douglas E. Welch and Amazon.com

Cultivating Your Career Opportunities by Douglas E. Welch

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While we often talk about having one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that combine to create the whole. It is often said you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole. Cultivating Your Career Reputations examines each of these reputations in detail and helps you find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation can grow

Buy Now

So much of your career — especially at the beginning — is about how you present yourself to others. If you present a confident, intelligent air, people will think of you as confident and intelligent. If, on the other hand, you enter the office for an interview staring at your shoes and mumbling, you set the wrong expectations from the start. No matter what you may be feeling — fear, anxiety, lack of confidence — you can and should “act” like you are fearless, calm and full of confidence.

Acting taught me how important it is to stand up straight and speak clearly so that the person in the last row can hear you. It taught me how to look someone in the eye and actually listen to them, as if I was hearing the lines for the very first time. Stage management taught me the importance of organization, working with others and managing them. I never realized how important this would be to my career outside of the theater.

Acting the part

Presenting yourself well isn’t about any sense of arrogance or excessive ego or pretense. Rather it is about presenting the best image of yourself possible. You shouldn’t necessarily believe that you are the perfect candidate for a job, but you can act like you think the perfect candidate would act. You can present your credentials and experience in the best light possible, even if you are just getting started in your career. You can give yourself every advantage in the interview process.

Later in your career, you will also see when acting the part can make a significant difference. There are days when the thought of training another person or troubleshooting another computer wears me down. Still, when I meet the client, I know that I need to “act” like the confident and friendly computer consultant that I am. What’s odd is that after a while, I find that I am no longer acting the part, but I have moved my thinking and my actions into a better place. Before I know it, I am no longer acting, I am simply working at my best.

There are many other areas when “acting the part” is especially important. Through the years in your career you will be asked to present on some idea, topic or project, though many people greatly fear public speaking. You see them every day literally shaking as they try to announce some new project or initiative at their company.

If you act the part it becomes much easier, and much more engaging, when you speak in public. I think this is one of the biggest advantages my theater experience has given me. I can stand up in front of people and talk on any number of topics off the top of my head without suffering the fear and anxiety that most people experience. This single ability has greatly helped me to stay employed, develop organizations and lead people for over 25 years. To be able to speak clearly in a situation where others would be fearful is greatly respected by others. It gives you an immediate advantage. You are seen as someone who has conquered a fear that most people have themselves and that raises the esteem of others. They can see that they would be scared in such a situation, so when you are not scared, they respect you all the more for that.

So, should all of you head over to the local acting school? Well, I certainly don’t think it would hurt, if my career is any indication. We can all use a bit of help in learning how to present ourselves better and communicate our ideas more clearly. Another option would be to find your local Toastmasters chapter. They approach public speaking a bit differently, but the results are much the same — presenting yourself well in public.

Communication is one of the most important aspects of any career and any skills that help you communicate more clearly would certainly be an advantage. “Acting the part” could be one way to raise yourself above the average careerist and give you one more important advantage in building the career that you deserve.

***

Acting and your career – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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After listening to this episode — Fighting The Corporate Anitbodies — I had to pass it on to you. This podcast comes from McKinney’s  new book, Beyond the Obvious, which includes many of the ideas he has discussed in his podcast over the years.

When we are trying to innovate, there are many different types of corporate “antibodies” that use their tried and true methods to prevent that innovation from happening. McKinney gives us some methods for counteracting these antibodies and, hopefully, move our innovations forward.

I hope you enjoy this podcast. Please share your comments and questions in the comments area. I think this is a great topic of conversation for career builders of all types.

Fighting the Corporate Antibodies by Phil McKinney

The antagonist of the innovator is the corporate antibody.

Download audio file (KI_2012_02_Fighting_The_Corporate_Antibodies.mp3)

Much like antibodies in our immune system attack and destroy foreign objects that might harm the body, “antibodies” in your organization identify and neutralize forces that threaten to destabilize a company. And in much the same way as antibodies can damage the very thing they seek to protect — for instance when they cause the body to reject a transplanted organ — corporate antibodies can stunt a company’s growth (and not address the innovators dilemma) when the shut down the fresh ideas and unconventional thinkers it so badly needs.

Some of the types of corporate antibodies are:

• The Ego Antibody

• The Fatigued Antibody

• The No-Risk Antibody

• The Comfort Antibody

Antibodies are the roadblock to innovation.

So how do you fight the corporate antibodies? Listen to the podcast …

Note: This podcast presents the highlights from Chapter 3 from the book, Beyond The Obvious.

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“That’s not the way we do things here. That will never work in our industry. It wasn’t invented here so it can’t be any good. Things will never change around here.”

How often do you hear phrases like this around your own workplace? If it is like most companies, you probably hear it quite often. Maybe it isn’t laid out so clearly or obviously, but it can be seen the in the action (and inaction) of management and therefore in employees. In the worst cases, it is something that is felt rather than spoken aloud. It is an undercurrent which no one can seem to escape. Instead of changing with the times — or economic necessity — companies plod along as they always have until the time when they —  seemingly suddenly — go out of business. Often afterwards people will stand around and wonder , “What went wrong?” “How could this have happened to us?”

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The answer, of course, is quite simple. Like many companies, they kept returning to the same well for ideas even though they knew that that well was running dry. They couldn’t conceive of a time when they would be out of great ideas, so they felt that the collapse happened suddenly when, in reality, it had been in process for years. If they had been paying attention and not wallowing in denial, they would have understood the importance of looking outside their own industry, their own experiences, their own store of knowledge for great ideas.

Often when I am talking with owners of small companies or employees of large corporations, I am met with the inability for them to see outside their own business or industry. They immerse themselves in white papers, reports and surveys detailing how everyone in their industry is performing and the methods they are using. While there is certainly something to be gained from knowing the “state of the industry” it can also be stifling if that is the only information you consider. As we have seen in the past several decades, it isn’t just individual companies that can go down the wrong business path, but entire industries. In these cases, looking at and following industry standards could be the worst thing you could continue to do. You are no longer thinking for yourself, you are simply following other companies down the road to ruin.

I have seen this demonstrated in conference and conventions I have attended over the years. When the conference is narrowly focused, “groupthink” seems to set in, with people simply agreeing with those around them or thinking the same old thoughts. For me, wide-ranging conferences like TED (and even more so, unconferences like BarCamp) always leave me overflowing with new ideas and thoughts, due to the energy that occurs when unlike ideas bump up against each other.

This scenario is why it is so important to look beyond your own industry, your own market, your own area of expertise for great ideas. You never know where the next great idea is coming from, so you must always keep your attention tuned for anything you might apply in unique ways in your own business. Maybe a new theory in process management has changed the textile industry. You might not be able to apply that theory in exactly the same way, but I can almost guarantee that you can find something within the new theory that applies directly to your own business. Has the banking industry figured out a new way to fund capital expenditures? Maybe you could use some version of that, too. Has a regional theater developed a new experience for their audience that is boosting attendance and revenue? How can you adapt that to dazzle your own customers.

Too often, I hear businesses and organizations talking about sharing information among their own, narrow, industry. They create a consortium or conference dedicated to their very specific market. In my eyes, this is exactly the wrong direction. For me, great new ideas spring up when unlike entities rub against one another. It is when you have the artist talking to the programmer talking to the banker, talking to the business owner talking to the teenager that sparks begin to fly. Out of such interactions come the great new ideas we all need today. I know that when I am talking with someone with a different life experience, a different life focus, a different expertise, it often generates many new thoughts and ideas in my own mind.

This process can seem quite random at times, — and it often is — but that is exactly what makes it so powerful. These random interactions cause new ideas to rub up against each other and spin off entirely new thoughts you would never have developed on your own. There is only so much you can do as you sit alone in your office. You can only dream up so many ideas. You need new input — new experiences, new thoughts, new technologies, new people — to give more fuel to your creative fire. In fact, your mind often gives you clear notice when it needs more input. You can feel stagnated, tired, burn out. You have used up all your internal creativity and need to go find some new input, some new fuel to get it burning again. Go to an art gallery. Listen to music. Go to a local technology meetup on a topic entirely outside your area of expertise. Get together with friends who work outside your industry. Do whatever it takes to spark new thoughts and actions.

You should see the concept of “Not invented here” as a clear sign of something you need to investigate. Instead of dismissing the idea as something unusable and unimportant, dig in and see what it might have to offer you. In today’s world, “Not invented here”, might just mean something even better.

***

Look outside your industry for great new ideas – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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The color red means something very special to human beings. It means danger, warning… it means to get your attention. We use red cards in soccer to denote a flagrant foul, red lights at intersections, railroad crossing and for the lights on our fire trucks. Red grabs our vision and our attention when we need it most. That said, many of us are ignoring the red flags that appear in our job search and career. Whether out of ignorance, fear or desperation, we don’t see the warning signs that should let us know, clearly, when a job, career or self-worth is in danger. If you continue to ignore these red flags, I can guarantee that you will suffer the, often harsh, consequences and find yourself wondering where it all went wrong. How much better it would be to recognize these red flags and avoid these bad situations before they do you harm.

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Go with your gut

The truth is, red flags of warning pop up in our life all the time. You notice someone driving erratically and you avoid them by choosing another way to work. Someone shows up at your door selling magazines, but something doesn’t feel quite right so you don’t open the door. An email arrives claiming a friend is stuck at Heathrow Airport without their wallet, but you check in with them before acting.

We are often following our gut in these situations. We can feel when something is not quite right. Still, in many cases, we ignore that feeling and act anyway. I know I have done it and I am sure it has happened to you as well. We ignore the red flag and we pay for it. I am asking you to trust your intuition more in general, but also especially when it comes to career choices. When we are participating in a job interview, contemplating job offers or developing our overall career, we have to take special notice when our intuition is sending us signals.

Passwords

The most recent red flag moment for careers appeared in the mainstream news over the last few weeks. It seems that there were companies requiring job candidates to give them their Facebook and other social media passwords so that the company could see what they were posting. While I am more than happy to let companies view anything I post publicly on the Internet, I am vehemently opposed to handing over my private password to anyone who asks. In fact, merely being asked for such information throws up a huge red flag in my mind. Why do they need it? What are they fishing for? What will they do with the password? Doesn’t this also violate the privacy of everyone of my online friends?

(You can find my comments and links to news and opinion stories regarding this password issue on the web site in a post entitled “Companies should never ask for your social media login info”)

Just say no!

When confronted with a choice like this my advice is to leave the interview as quickly and politely as possible and consider yourself lucky you discovered this issue BEFORE you started working there. A company has no right to ask you for this information and you should feel no obligation to comply. You will feel pressure, sometimes great pressure to comply. They may tell you that you cannot be considered for the job unless you provide the information. I liken this to nothing short of employment extortion.  Invasive policies like this — or asking for other prohibited information — has no place in any company. Even worse, it probably points to other bad policies that exist at the company, which you may only learn of once you start work. Don’t let them pressure you into doing something your gut, and your mind, knows is wrong.

Don’t ignore the red flags that are often waving right in front of your face. Not every company has practices that raise red flags. Go out and find another, better, place to work.  If you found this job, this opportunity, you can find another. You have the skills and knowledge you need. Find a company that respects that. Don’t be so desperate that you take whatever scraps are thrown your way. If you do, you are damaging your potential earnings, your resume and the complete career that you are trying to build. Red flags are there for a reason and they should be heeded when they arise. It is an important part of building the career you deserve.

***

Beware the red flags in your job search and career – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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What type of job or career are you looking for? I often talk to people who have no idea. They seem sure that they want something else, but they have not done the hard thinking about what the “else” might be. If you truly want to escape a job or career you hate, you need to think about what you might like to do, what skills you will need, if you will be required to move and a host of other issues before you can hope to make any progress. We all need a  goal before we can set our path to get there.

Career Compass: Finding Your Career North by Douglas E. Welch

5100 Words

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What do you want, like and dislike?

First, you need to clearly investigate what you like and dislike about your current work or your overall career. In my eBook, “Career Compass: Finding Your Career North” I lay out how you might start to think about this. There are four areas where your current work might fall — Work you do today but don’t enjoy, work you don’t do today and don’t enjoy, work you do today and enjoy and work you don’t do but think you would enjoy.

If you take each aspect of your work — daily tasks, management, rewards, environment — and start plotting them into each of these quadrants, you might just discover something important. Often the reason we dislike a job is not about the whole job but rather about certain aspects of the job. There are also tasks that you would like to do as part of your job that you aren’t allowed to do or that aren’t seen as important.

You might find that you can alter your current job or career to match your needs without changing everything. You might find that you could transition to a job within your current company that better fits your wants, needs and desires. You can’t do this, though, unless you truly and deeply know what you want and need to be more fulfilled in your work life.

You can buy “Career Compass”, a 5100 word Amazon Kindle book using this link for $2.99.  It is readable on almost any device including your computer, iPhone/iPad, and Android phones and tablets using the free Kindle Software.

Small, defined, steps

Once you have a better idea about what you want out of your job and career you need to start plotting small, defined steps to develop that career. Maybe you need to do some research into the types of companies and organizations that could use your skills in new ways. Perhaps you need to get some more training or a certificate in a particular area of study. It is always a good idea to talk with someone who is currently working in your area of interest and see what they can tell you about the good and bad of their work. It is often hard to get a clear picture of a job from the outside. There are always those little quirks and problems that often only insiders know and understand.

Line up these small, defined, steps in your to-do list and start thinking about them every day. Make them part of your daily actions and thinking. Post them in a place where you can see them every day. Job and career changes don’t just happen. They require attention and work. That said, by breaking them down into small tasks, you can often accomplish much without feeling overburdened. Before too long you will start to see movement in your search

Even more, when we start taking action on our goals, opportunities often present themselves. Perhaps we ignored those opportunities in the past because we weren’t focused on the change we wanted to create or perhaps your action and initiative has caught the eye of someone who is looking for someone just like you. Action begets action, so get started today.

Have you really thought about what you want out of your job and career? Have you thought about what particular parts of your job you love or hate? Can this thought and knowledge lead you to the career you deserve? I think so. We have the ability to change our minds and our lives if we only listen to ourselves. Don’t feel trapped in your current position. Start taking those small steps today that can build the career you deserve in the future.

***

What are you looking for? – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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While it may seem a bit rude to say, we all do stupid things. It is a fact of human nature that there will be times when we do something that makes no sense at all. I do it. You do it. We all do it. That said, stupid things aren’t always simply stupid. Often we are just distracted, upset or angry and this leads us to do stupid things. Most importantly, once we recognize that we are all capable of doing stupid things, we can work harder to minimize those occurrences. This is how we learn and grow.

Social Media Self Preservation: Taking advantage of social media without losing your mind

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Why we do “stupid things”

As you might realize based on the introduction, many of the stupid things we do aren’t really stupid at all. Truly stupid things would be those actions taken out of ignorance or lack of thought about the consequences. Sure, there might be a few of those things in your day, but for the average person, these are few and far between. It is far more likely that we do stupid things out of inattention, distraction or anger than actual stupidity.

It is easy to become distracted. How many of us have left our coffee cup, briefcase or other object on top of the car and then started to drive away? We weren’t being stupid. Something else was taking our full attention and we simply didn’t have the mental space for the smaller item. I think this is one of my own biggest reasons for doing stupid things. I become so focused on something else — usually something unimportant — I leave something where it shouldn’t be or forget to do something important.

We can get distracted for any number of reasons. Perhaps we are trying to juggle too many items. Maybe someone else is trying to talk to us about one thing when we should be actively concentrating on another. Perhaps we are worried or scared or not feeling well. Each of us has our own distractions and you will need to notice and learn from your own distraction triggers if you want to reduce the amount of stupid things you do.

The next most common reason we do stupid things is out of anger. We all have stories of friends who kicked the flat tire, punched a wall or did something else injurious because we were angry. Anger short circuits our thought processes and leads us to do things we might never do otherwise — slam doors, throw things, shout loudly and angrily. We almost always regret doing these actions moments later, but when we allow ourselves to be taken by the moment, we can do some amazingly stupid things. This is why the “count to 10” rule is so often advised when we are feeling angry. Simply counting to 10 can help us overcome the urge to lash out and let our thinking catch up to our actions.

How to do fewer stupid things

First, you must realize that all of us will do something stupid nearly every day. As I mentioned, it is simply part of the human condition. Our goal is not to try and eliminate ALL the stupid things we do, but rather do as few stupid things as possible. Trying to eliminate them all would probably cause you to go mad and, in some cases, insure that you do nothing at all, out of fear of making a mistake. You don’t want to drive yourself to inaction while trying to drive yourself away from distraction. You still have to live within the everyday world. Rather, you want to use a few simple tools to help you reduce the amount of stupid things to a low enough level that they really don’t have a major impact on your life.

First, you need to begin to better understand what distracts you and when you are most likely to be distracted. For some of us it is in the morning confusion and rush. For others, it might be in the car in traffic. For still others, it could be later in the evening when you are trying to get something accomplished. Think back over the last few weeks and try to remember when you did something stupid. Were you being distracted by something? Can you remember the situation or source of the distraction? How could you avoid such distractions in the future? Identifying those moments and bringing yourself back to focus can go a long way towards reducing your stupid things.

Next, learning to understand and control your anger is also extremely important. Some of us are more prone to it than others. I am pretty level headed at most times, but certain things can set me off into a downward anger spiral. It is very important for me to be aware of these triggers and do everything I can to avoid them, or minimize them when they occur. If you have similar feelings, paying more attention to this could greatly improve your work and your life. Sure, there are some things that will make you angry and some things that should make you angry, but you can’t let those feelings run away with you all the time.

We all do stupid things. That is simply part of being a human being. You shouldn’t hate yourself for them. What you can and should do is learn from your stupid moments and reduce their occurrence as much as you can. Even moving from two stupid things per day to one could make your life and your career much, much better.

***

We all do stupid things – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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Would you get an RFID chip implanted in your arm so you could access the company data center? Would you take a test that asks deeply personal questions with no perception of anonymity? Would you take a lie detector test? How about a drug test? If any of these scenarios sound frightening to you, you should start thinking about your response now, because everyone will be facing these decisions sooner than we might like. Is any job worth sacrificing your privacy?

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New from Career Opportunities Author, Douglas E Welch

Career Compass: Finding Your Career North

5,100 Words

Imagine if when you were born you were given a magical compass to lead you through your life. It would always show you the way. It would show you the right answers on tests, lead you to the right college and to the right course of study at that college. It would lead to your first job, your first (and maybe last) love and always show the path ahead. This isn’t some idle fantasy. We each have a compass to show us the way, if only we would take it out of our pocket and use it. This compass, of course, is our desire. Instead of a needle, it is a feeling, a pull, a tension — in some cases, an overwhelming flood of feeling that says “Yes, this is the way — this is the one — this is where you need to go!”

 

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In an odd moment of synchronicity I came across mentions of two of these issues this week and it reminded me of my own brushes with controversial techniques to try and divine who is a good employee. After a humiliating experience with a lie detector test when I applied for my first job, I will never take another lie detector test again. I have been exposed to company surveys where the proctor made obvious attempts to skew the results. I have taken the Meyers-Briggs Personality Profile Test. Still, more and more companies are trying to find the “magic bullet” that will solve all their employee problems and you will be faced with ever more intrusive methods.

Just say no!

So, how do you protect yourself against invasive tactics such as these? First, learn to say “No,” quickly and assuredly. You may decide later that the results will be protected or anonymized properly and change your mind, but your first response at any sign of concern should always be “No.” If you are feeling uncomfortable, this is a sign to beware. It is also a sign that others around are probably also uncomfortable. In some cases, you might not have enough information about the test or survey. In others, the questions being asked might seem too personal or outside the bounds of what any company should need to know.

There are good reasons for saying “No.” Once you have completed a test or survey, it is too late to withdraw that information. Regardless of whether you contest the results or the entire testing program later, you have offered up information that can never be regained. By refusing to take the test, you are protecting yourself in many different ways.

How are they being used?

In the case of one company, managers were “asked” to take the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Test. This test is usually given to people to detect mental illnesses and direct their treatment. It asks extremely personal questions about all aspects of a person’s life, including sex, religion, bodily functions and more. Despite the fact that some states have outlawed its use outside of the medical environment, some companies are still giving it to their employees. In most cases, companies can’t ask you about religion, martial status and race in job interviews, why should questions that are even more private be allowed after you are employed. (See Career-Op: Can you ask me that?, July 23, 1999, (http://welchwrite.com/dewelch/ce/ce990723.html) for more on that issue.)

I cannot imagine a worse situation to place yourself than providing deeply personal information to your employer. The mind boggles at the ways you could be abused and manipulated by unscrupulous management. Of course, you must be ready to accept the consequences of refusing. Companies may fire you or threaten you with dismissal. They may try to convince you of the test’s worth using specious arguments or even outright lies. Regardless of the consequences, though, you must stand your ground wherever and whenever possible. Otherwise, you must understand that this particular company will now have a certain amount of control over you that they might not have had before.

As for requiring RFID implants or other surgical alterations for employees, this is almost too repugnant to even consider. Violating human rights is bad enough, but violating the human body, for non-medical reasons, is inconceivable. I believe that this initial news story was more of a publicity stunt than anything else, but this doesn’t mean that some company won’t make a genuine attempt to enforce it in the near future.

There are lines to be drawn today in employee/employer relationships. Lines that we never thought would be crossed except in science fiction stories. Like science fiction, though, what were once just stories are becoming reality every day. While we have seen and enjoyed the benefits of the “good ideas” of science fiction such as space flight and computers, we must guard against those repugnant ideas that demean everyone involved. Just because something can be done, does not mean that it should be done. If you and other employees don’t draw a line in the sand, companies will increasingly overstep their bounds with impunity. Companies may be seeking out ways to find the “perfect” employee, but what they are really doing is finding new and innovative ways to violate basic human rights in the search for higher profitability.

Question of the week: Where do you draw the line on invasive employer behavior?

***

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How do you see the world? Do you see it like everyone else, or are your friends and family constantly telling you that you see the world in odd, different or even weird ways? Can you see danger where others see none — opportunity where others see only risk — something new where others see only the usual? If so, you have a big advantage in your life and your career.

Social Media Self Preservation: Taking advantage of social media without losing your mind

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The ability to see in new and different ways has many advantages. First, it allows you to break out of any rut you might find yourself in. Where others might plod along in the same job year after year, once you sense your dissatisfaction, you’ll start looking for new opportunities right away. Others might feel trapped in their jobs, but you can see that there are always new opportunities out there just waiting to be discovered. While others might think that this is all there is to their lives, you can see that it can, and should be, better.

So why don’t others see the world as you do? What has happened in their lives to convince them that life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” as Thomas Hobbes wrote? For me, I see one overriding factor — cynicism.

While the original meaning of cynicism had many good traits, according to Dictionary.com, it’s curren  meanings include:like or characteristic of a cynic;  distrusting or disparaging the motives of others.showing contempt for accepted standards of honesty or morality by one’s actions, especially by actions that exploit the scruples of others.bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic.

It is this distrust, this pessimism, this disbelief that leads others to stop looking for new opportunities. They start to see the world only as a dangerous place where everyone is out for their own good and nothing else. Since they have difficulty trusting others, they also have difficulty working with others, either one on one or in groups. This further isolates them and deepens their cynicism. Eventually, they have dug themselves such a deep hole they might not ever climb out.

For your own self preservation, learn to identify deep cynicism and, more importantly, learn how to avoid it. It is a trap in every sense of the word. It deludes us and traps us in a dark world of our own design. If you begin to feel trapped, you are . If you start to feel fearful and distrustful of others, it will only grow, if you let it. If you think that everyone is out to take direct and purposeful advantage of you, you will find those that will.

Cynicism is a large and important sign that you need to do something new, something active, something — else. Use this red flag of warning as a sign that you need to do some deep and hard thinking. You may need to get away for a while. You may need to find new people to engage with. You might need to change your location, your job, some of your friends. You need to do anything that shakes off cynicism and lets you see the world in new ways again.

If you are struggling with cynicism, it might seem hard to escape its grip, but we all have the power to do it. All we need is to see the light that surrounds us and focus less of the dark. There are people out there willing to help you. There are new opportunities waiting to be found. You are not trapped unless you believe you are. Remember what it is like to see the world differently and then see it that way again.You owe it to yourself and everyone around you to see, and be, the very best person that you can be. Imagine how the world would change if more people had the strength and support to stand up, break free of cynicism and do what they most desire.

Starting tomorrow morning, wake up and ask yourself “What does the world look like today?” Does it look the same as it always has or do you see something new on the horizon. Is it  another in the salt mines like the donkey boys from Pinocchio or is it “the beginning of a beautiful friendship?” Greet tomorrow like a good friend, and seek out the best friends you have around you. Sure, there are troubles in the world, but it is also filled with many who are eager to help you and work with you to make the world a better place.

***

Cynicism is a trap in your life and career – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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“Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Alice in Wonderland.

The truth is, as Lewis Carol seemed to know, we often need to believe a great many impossible things every day of our life. Doctors once thought that disease was caused by “bad air” or lack of morality – astronomers thought the Earth was the center of the universe and scientists thought heavier objects fell faster than lighter ones. Knowledge is never static, but always in a state of becoming. Once you understand that, you can begin to explore what “impossible things” you need to be believing today.

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Cultivating Your Career Reputations

11,000 Words

While we often talk about one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that make up the whole. This book will focus on the combination of reputations that make up your one, overarching, Reputation. By examining each of these reputations in detail, I hope you will find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation grows.

Why break your Reputation down into its constituent parts? It is often said that you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project and achieve the desired result. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole.

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Question everything

If you really want to get your thought processes moving, questioning the “truths” of our time is a great way to start. Maybe viruses and spyware are a good thing. Perhaps managing spam email isn’t the best idea. Maybe faster isn’t better. The mind reels at the possibilities. The truth is, you never know what wrongheaded ideas you might be carrying around until someone points them out. Why not discover them yourself?

Start boosting your thinking today by questioning everything. Question whether the sky is blue or the Intel Core Duo chip is really what companies need. Question whether a GUI is really an improvement over a command-line interface. Question whether technology helps or hurts society. The more sacred the idea, the more profane your thoughts should be.

The goal of this exercise is to get you thinking beyond your average, everyday thoughts. Too often, we simply accept the “truths” of life without ever wondering if they really are true anymore. It can be mind-bending, but in an incredible useful way. Imagine how doctors felt when presented with the microbial theory of disease after hundreds of years controlling the bodily “humors.” What might have astronomers been thinking when a solar-centered universe solved all the problems of how the heaven’s moved? Remember, someone once thought that 64KB would be more than enough memory for any computer.

Maybe, maybe not

There are several ways of applying the concept of “impossible” things to your work and career. Do you often hear management or your co-workers explaining, “it has to be that way” or “we’ve always done it like that.” This is a clear sign that some deeper thinking needs to be done. Is there a form that everyone hates, but can’t seem to stop using? Why? Would the company fall apart? Dig deeper. Is this form still necessary or is it only an unconscious ritual from a long gone process?

Is your company expending tens of thousands of dollars on technology that really isn’t needed? Could entire servers be replaced by a simple, new procedure? Are you trying to automate your way out of a problem when human nature is really the culprit? You may laugh, but I can imagine that every one of you has faced just such a problem in your career. As high-tech workers we often believe in the ability of technology to solve any problem. We throw hardware and software at a problem when training, hiring and firing would be a better response. Perhaps we should be questioning this concept most of all.

If you want your career to flourish, you need to engage in a little impossible thinking. Too many ideas we carry with us today are out-dated, unconscious beliefs that may have served us well in the past, but now limit our thinking, our creativity and our productivity. Be like the Red Queen and start each morning by believing a few impossible things, or, at least, thinking about them. I am sure you will find that what you might think a fanciful exercise will become one of the most important aspects of your work. The greatest leaps in human history have come from those who dare to think the impossible and then find out they were true all along. What new horizons might you discover in your life and your career?

Question of the Week: What impossible things can you believe today about your life and your career?

***

Archive: Believing impossible things is a post from Career Opportunities

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“Where can I learn about X?” “How to do I do this in Word/Excel/Powerpoint?” “Can I find out more about Y?” These are questions I hear from people almost everyday. There is a great need for learning, for education, even if the current educational system is under attack from all sides. Blame it on the bad economy and the need to re-learn, re-train, re-invigorate your career, but learning — and its more formal cousin — education have never been more important to you, your life and your career.

Listen to this Podcast

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Cultivating Your Career Reputations

11,000 Words

While we often talk about one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that make up the whole. This book will focus on the combination of reputations that make up your one, overarching, Reputation. By examining each of these reputations in detail, I hope you will find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation grows.

Why break your Reputation down into its constituent parts? It is often said that you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project and achieve the desired result. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole.

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When I talk about learning and education, I am not necessarily telling you to go back to school or college. In my own life, I see education as something I do every day in every way. In recent years, I have watched my wife return to college and achieve her Masters and Doctorate degrees. I am amazed at how much work and dedication she put into the process, but I also realized that that path was not for me.

Instead, I am a self-directed learner. I follow whatever topic strikes my interest, often going “down the rabbit hole” on a particular topic and totally immersing myself in it. This works for me. It keeps me learning and allows me to see connections between what may otherwise seem to be totally unrelated areas of knowledge. The best part, though, is that it has never been easier in the history of man to be a self-directed learner. The Internet has brought  a wealth of information directly to our homes, computers and hands. Never before have we been able to access so much information so quickly and easily.

My Method

One important method I use to engage in lifetime learning is stopping. Whenever I am confronted with a word or topic I do not know, I stop, immediately and look it up. Maybe the word bifurcation pops up in a newspaper story or I see mention of the Teapot Dome scandal in something I am reading. For me, it is important that I stop and take a moment to learn a bit more before I move on with my reading or work. It may sound like an interruption in your work or day, but this style of “just-in-time” learning has helped me greatly over the years.

A few resources

So, where do I turn when I want to learn something new? Below are a few resources to start your own journey. These are my “go to” sources whenever any topic piques my interest.

Wikipedia

I know, I know. You hear all sorts of disparaging things about Wikipedia, but the truth is that it is a great source to start your learning. Wikipedia offers an overview of nearly any particular topic or area and might even include enough detail to answer your question. Sure, the more controversial topics can be a little contentious, but for your average areas of interest, it is a great place to start.

YouTube

I often hear that the joke that “everything is on YouTube” , but in some ways this is almost true. Want to learn how to format columns in MS Word? Done. See an old silent movie that is difficult to find otherwise? Done. Want to see a lecture on DNA/RNA replication? Done! Sure, the quality may vary from video to video and you might have to search for a while until you find the exact information you are looking for, but there is a host of great information to be found there.

New Learning Sites

Lately there have been an explosion of web sites dedicated to learning. Recently I was using Khan Academey’s algebra lessons to help my son, and I have watched videos on many topics there as well. Even established colleges are getting into the act including computer science classes  and more from Stanford University and MIT. Sites like Code Academy are enticing everyone to learn a little bit about the programming that surrounds our lives today. Finally, iTunes U is back in the news after Apple’s recent announcement about electronic textbooks. Revisiting iTunes U recently, I was amazed at the breadth of content available there. It isn’t all just computer science. There are classes on creative writing, art, history and just about any topic you can imagine.

In 2012 you truly have no reason or excuse to avoid learning something new every day. Sometimes you will be learning it for your career and sometimes you will be learning just because you want to learn. Regardless of the reason, lifetime learning will continue to be one of the largest factors in your success. Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep applying what you learn and your are on a clear path to the career you deserve.

***

Lifetime learning enhances your life and career – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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Two week’s ago I called for “A Year of Action!” So now, what… I am guessing that is what many of you are thinking. You understand that action is important, but you are having trouble figuring out your next (or first) step. No need to fear. I have a host of action items for you. Hopefully one or more of them will spur you into action. As you might imagine, these have been my own action items over the last several years.

Listen to this Podcast

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Cultivating Your Career Reputations

11,000 Words

While we often talk about one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that make up the whole. This book will focus on the combination of reputations that make up your one, overarching, Reputation. By examining each of these reputations in detail, I hope you will find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation grows.

Why break your Reputation down into its constituent parts? It is often said that you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project and achieve the desired result. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole.

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Start a blog

We all have something unique to say. We all have unique experiences that make us an expert in something – cooking, computing, crafting, cars. You have heard me say before that an important part of any career is telling people “what you do and how well you do it.” Guess what? A blog is the #1 best way to share that expertise with others. Using Blogger.com or WordPress.com, you can have your blog online in about 5 minutes. Then you have a place to start showing people what you have to offer. Post your special ideas, your special knowledge, your special experiences and people will find you.

Publish a book!

Write a blog long enough and you are sure to have enough content for a book.   Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing makes it easy for anyone to produce an ebook that can be read on nearly any device – Kindle, Mac, PC, Android, iPhone, iPad and more. Why not take advantage of that? Do you have a piece of writing, long or short that you would like to share with the world? Get it into the Kindle Store and then start telling your friends, family and whoever else will listen. You don’t have to charge for the book. You can give it away as a freebie to introduce your writing to people, as a reward for reading your blog or as an incentive to sign up for your mailing list. You can also just do it for the fun of it. Heck, you never know, you might even make some money at it.

Take Photographs

Ever been on a photowalk? Think of it as a hike where the object is not miles travelled, but images captured. You, your friends, or even strangers, gather somewhere and start taking pictures. This can be an urban setting or out in the country, something traditionally picturesque or gritty, it doesn’t really matter.

The goal of a photowalk is to set aside an hour or so to “see” again. Photography forces us to slow down and pay attention to what is right in front of us. The    effects of this “seeing” spill over into other aspects of our lives. It shows how we can can pay more attention to everything we do — how to be present in the moment — instead of letting our mind dance over all the coulda, woulda, shoulda, thoughts in our heads.  And you can post your photos on your new blog!

Make Music

Over the years, music has become a passive activity. We sit and listen to others make music or their recordings instead of making music ourselves. A century ago, most everyone could play an instrument, sing a song or play the spoons along with others. I think that this is something that is greatly missing in today’s world. Making music feeds our analytical mind through the skill of reading music and discovering the mathematical patterns within, but it also feeds the soul. Making music is as different from listening to music as cooking is to watching a cooking show. Find a way to play music, by yourself or, even better, with others. It can open your mind in some amazing ways.

Make Money

Money is not the root of all evil. The actual quote is “The Love of Money is the root of all evil.” Money is important, but you may be ignoring ways of making money outside your regular job. I mentioned publishing a book above, but there are other ways, too. Maybe there is a product you can make and sell on eBay or Etsy.com? How about consulting with others about an area of your expertise? Maybe you could hold a class for your co-workers or the interested parents at your child’s school. There is a host of ways to make  some money and you might even find these tasks more rewarding, both personally and financially, than your current job. It doesn’t happen for everyone, but it is a possibility worth pursuing in the new year.
These are but a few action items that can jumpstart your year. Choose one of them, or any that jumped to mind while you read or listened to this column. Remember, the point is to take action — any action — to get you moving and keep you moving towards your career and life goals. Even the smallest step can get you started.

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Action Items – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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As I have over the last several years, I am choosing a theme for this year. In the past I have selected the words Visibility and Leadership as my annual watchwords. This year, though, it is time for a Year of Action. If you want to build the career you deserve, it is going to require a lot of action on your part — probably more action than you have ever accomplished previously in your life. For all of us, this should make for a very exciting 2012.

Listen to this Podcast

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Cultivating Your Career Reputations

11,000 Words

While we often talk about one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that make up the whole. This book will focus on the combination of reputations that make up your one, overarching, Reputation. By examining each of these reputations in detail, I hope you will find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation grows.

Why break your Reputation down into its constituent parts? It is often said that you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project and achieve the desired result. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole.

---

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Why is action so important? Action breaks through the inertia that often holds us back – “objects at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force”. This inertia freezes us in place, stuck, while the world speeds by us. Even worse, it is far too easy not to take action. All we have to do is sit there and the world will gladly move around us. Still, we can break free if we take even one, small, seemingly unimportant action. This movement frees us from the mire and gives us the advantage of the other side of inertia — “objects in motion will remain in motion.” Allowing even the smallest action to get the ball rolling and get us moving again.

Am I suggesting that you act out, on anything, without thinking about it or planning it? Yes!. The fact is, over-planning, over-thinking, over-fearing are just a symptom of inertia and therefore some of our biggest enemies. It is far more likely for us to be stuck in inertia than stuck by taking too many actions. Sure, you can move into an area where you are taking too many wild actions, but I have found this to be very, very rare. More often I see people stuck by the side of the road thinking about what their next action might be.

Standing still is easy. We can find hundreds of reasons why we shouldn’t do something with very little effort. What we need, though, is the one reason FOR doing something that allows us to take action and move forward. There is another name for this syndrome — analysis paralysis. We are figuratively paralyzed by the number of choices we have or, we are too afraid to act because we never think we have enough information to make a decision. For someone like you or I, this is career death. The world will speed by us and we will find ourselves so far behind we might never catch up.

What I suggest, as I often do, is a sense of balance. Balance your actions with your planning. Taking a lot of action requires a lot of planning, too. If you balance your action with your planning you will be much less likely to get stuck. You will always have the ball rolling even if you are not exactly sure which way it is headed. This can mean that you will sometimes be acting on an idea, a hunch, a gut feeling. You might feel you haven’t planned enough. That is okay. It is often in these unplanned actions that we find our greatest triumphs. We can’t always predict where our lives and careers are headed, so throwing in a bit of randomness might just expose us to something amazing and beyond our dreams.

How do you see if you are truly stuck? One easy method is to note how much you talk about actions and compare that to how often you actually take action? The Texans have a phrase for someone who talks big but doesn’t have much to show for it — “all hat and no cattle.” These people are pretending to be cowboys without the requisite cows. If you are honest with yourself, it is pretty easy to see when you are stuck in this cycle. It is just as easy to see when you are moving out of it. Make something happen, anything, and other things will begin to happen for you. Even a small movement from you can get the world turning again in your favor, if you let it.

Finally, your worst enemy in your action battle, other than yourself, are those people around you who are stuck themselves. Writers who are stuck hate writers who are working. Artists who are stuck hate other artists who are being productive. Even worse, they will do anything to make those writers and artists as unproductive as they are. They will attack you, your work and your actions. They will spread their pessimism and try to control you. Put as much distance between them and yourself as possible. Take your actions no matter what anyone might say and carefully consider the source of demeaning and angry words. They might just be jealous that they can’t be as productive as you are.

Starting today, think of ways of taking action this year. It doesn’t matter if these actions are big, small or in-between. It is the ACT OF TAKING ACTION that is most important. Some days you will find that taking the simple action of going for a walk might be the most productive, and healthful, thing you do all day. In that small action, though, are the seeds for more action, more movement, more opportunity and more success. Embrace action and all that it can do for you this year.

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A Year of Action – Podcast is a post from Career Opportunities

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Listen to this Podcast

The trouble with resolutions is they are a waffling way to approach change. There is already an assumed “try” in them and I think this is what allows us to abandon them so easily. There is also a bit too much thought and too little action involved in resolutions. We think and think on what we want to accomplish, but unless we take some direct action towards our goals they will always remain dreams.

Let’s look at how we could better form some resolutions that might actually lead to change in the New Year. Here is a big one that is on many people’s lists including my own — I resolve to lose weight. While that is a fine and admirable goal, I think it would be better to create some action items towards that goal.

1. I will walk 2 miles every day
2. I will eat 1 portion at meals instead of 2
3. I will stop eating fast food as a convenience

Here are direct, actionable items that can be reviewed and monitored each and every day. Ben Franklin kept a checklist of actions he wanted to take or avoid and then reviewed them at the end of each day, noting his success or failure. I used an online tracking tool, Joe’s Goals, (http://www.joesgoals.com/) for a while and this might be a good place to start. Constant, daily review of your action items is a great way of “doing” instead of just “trying.”

One important reminder, though. Your daily review is not designed to beat you up about not achieving your action items. We all slack on occasion. Life intervenes and takes us away from our goals. Take each day as it comes. Take pride on those days you do well, but only use the bad days to remind you to do better tomorrow. Change isn’t about guilt. Change is about accomplishment. Don’t let your action items and goal tracking be another guilt-inducing, mind-weighing stress creator in your life. That is counter productive and can be worse than doing nothing at all.

So, sit down today and start creating your own action items. Remember, action is the key word here. Each item should be phrased as actively as possible. I will do…, I will NOT do. I find that phrasing things in the positive also helps. Avoid too many NOTs. They create negative thoughts that are also counterproductive to achieving your goals. Try to keep things as positive as possible. Point out the behaviors you want to achieve rather than those you want to avoid.

As we launch in to the New Year, let’s all determine to pursue our lives actively. Let’s not “try” this year, let’s “do” as much as possible. I think you will find that this mindset will help you pursue change more directly and therefore the changes will last longer than any previous year.

Sharing your action items can help, too. Post your action items as comments to the blog or on the Career Opportunities Facebook Page. Let me know what changes you are going to accomplish in 2011. I am sure everyone would be interested in hearing them and maybe adopting a few of them as their own.

Wishing you great success in building the career you deserve in 2011…now let’s get started!

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Archive: Don’t make resolutions, make action items is a post from Career Opportunities

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