A beam of light
- At January 07, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 49
Discouragement is something you will have to deal with in a difficult career situation. It may feel at times like the sun will never shine again.
Living in London, where it is often cloudy, G.K. Chesterton learned to see the beauty in the various shades of grey. But most would probably prefer to see a beam of light breaking through the haze.
If you have any connection to the Christian church, you know that being thankful is a command. It is sort of like being told, “Go sit on the beach.”
For our own negativity can make our situation more cloudy than it actually is. Choosing to be thankful can amount to a weekend getaway – a little escape from our bad attitudes.
So pick something that you can truly be thankful for and let your mind just dwell on that for a while.
May I suggest reflecting on the gift of life?
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.
Spinning your tires
- At January 06, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
In your career transition, being busy can make you feel important and give you a sense of accomplishment. The problem is that spinning around in circles, rushing here and there, does not necessarily accomplish much of anything.
“What he lacked in direction he made up for in speed” would not be a flattering saying to have carved on your tombstone.
Frantically firing off resumes, far and wide, for jobs you know little about and likely are not qualified to do is a waste of time.
Hastily committing yourself to a career path that requires a lengthy and expensive formal education is equally brilliant.
Take some time. Take a deep breath. Slow down. Focus. Think. What is the most important thing that I need to be doing right now? What type of information do I need in order to proceed to the next step in my career development? What is the shortest possible route to my destination?
If you find it difficult to stop haphazardly rushing around – addicted to the adrenalin rush or whatever – I leave you with this simple question:
“How’s that working for you?”
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.
A new direction
- At January 05, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
One main assumption at this blog, is that in order to chart a new career path you will need to get to know yourself better than you have before. This additional insight will then serve as the GPS signal that guides you towards a new destination.
Taking a trip can be a precarious experience; there is no guarantee that you will arrive safely or at all. Your odds of success improve remarkably, however, if are able to decide where you would like to attempt to go in the first place.
One way to work towards this greater self-understanding is to ask people you know how they would describe your strengths or core characteristics. Prepare to be surprised. While it is true that many times other people will not understand you, on occasion a friend may clearly see something significant you fail to perceive in yourself.
It may be something positive that could launch you in a new direction. At the same time, it could be something that amounts to unnecessary baggage in your life – something that is holding you back from fulfilling your potential.
You may discover that you have problems with your brain. The old grey matter has a way of feeding us negative messages about ourselves that are not true. A nasty comment was made way back in your childhood, and your brain just plays it over and over and over again – for the next twenty years.
Clearly identifying a marketable skill may allow you to step on the gas, as it were, and move towards a tangible career goal. At the same time, getting rid of the inner baggage in your life could amount to taking both of your feet off of the brake.
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.
Everything is temporary
- At January 04, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
“Everything is temporary.” That is what a friend said to me some time ago when I was complaining about my career situation. While I was hoping for supportive affirmation of my griping at the time, his comment put things in perspective.
Everything is this world is really much more temporary than we are often willing to admit. Career failure may seem like it will last forever, but it won’t. Dead end jobs will themselves come to an end, eventually. But even if your difficult career situation does not change any time soon, defining yourself based on what you do, or do not do, for a living is not such a bright idea after all. It is based on short-term thinking.
In a 24 hour day few people will spend more the 12 hours a day, each day of their life, at their job – very few. A 40 hour work week is fairly standard. But even if you work 80 hours per week on average, 88 hours remain. Factor in holidays, weekends, and then subtract the 25 years or so that you spend growing up, going to school, and in retirement. Does 4 hours/day on the job over a lifetime sound about right to you?
So why do we define ourselves based on something we are not doing most of the time? It is kind of like saying, “I ski therefore I am” and then spending very little time on the slopes.
A career is important. But it is much more important for some of us than it really should be.
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.
The rating game
If you want to be miserable, and desire to make your career quest endlessly complicated, just focus your attention on one thing: status. Always ask yourself, “What could I do today that would improve my standing in the rating game?”
Get into the polling business. Find out what you could do with your life that would impress the largest number of people. If the Mafia is admired in your circle of friends, then by all means consider a career with the mob. If the ministry is highly esteemed, then start packing your bags and preparing for a missionary career in a foreign land.
Making lots of money and being able to buy lots of things that will really impress lots of people… may turn out to rate the highest in the polls. In that case, you will certainly need to get out of the ministry and get into a mega-money-making career of some sort. Maybe you could move to China, join the communist party, and find a few thousand peasants you could exploit in your very own factory.
If fame is the main thing that matters in the latest polls, some type of music or media career might be right up your alley. Devote your life, every waking moment, to becoming the next Justin Bieber. Get into the yodeling business and attempt to win the next world championship. Campaign for a spot in the next “reality” television show. Oprah is retiring you know.
Completely disregarding what others think is not a good idea. But being controlled by what others think is a recipe for a career disaster. And the thing is, it is often very difficult to know what other people really think anyway.
It has been said before, but I’ll say it again: In your 20s you will tend to worry about what other people think about you. In your 40s you will tend not to really care that others think. And in your 60s you will realize that most people weren’t thinking about you at all.
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.
Blooming somewhere else
- At December 30, 2010
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
Trees have a simple life. They stay put in one place for long periods of time. Some of the redwood trees in California have been at their posts so-to-speak for hundreds of years.
Human beings, on the other hand, are much more complex. As you may have noticed, people are quite capable of moving around and making all sorts of decisions that can change their present situation. The problem is that this capability can, on occasion, translate into not doing much in the way of living where you actually are, hence the expression, “Bloom where you are planted.”
But words of wisdom need to be kept in context. For some types of trees simply cannot really flourish where they happen to be planted at the time; if they stay where they are, they will most likely wither and die. I planted thousands of trees in British Columbia over the years to pay for a college education. Returning to visit one plantation several years later, I was disappointed to discover that almost half of the trees had perished.
So keep in mind that you may need to do more to make the best of your present career situation, and you may also need to seriously consider moving on.
© Career & Life Direction 2010. All rights reserved.
On the outside
- At December 29, 2010
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
Feeling like you are looking in from the outside is a typical experience during a career transition. When you are committed to a specific career it is much easier to connect to a community. Of course, all sorts of other things can affect a sense of belonging: family, finances, language, culture, convictions, race, and location can play a large role as well.
But if you can say “I am a journalist” or “I am a pilot” or “I am a football player” you have another significant way of bonding with others. People often build relationships by exploring things they have in common. If you are unemployed, however, or struggling to embark on a new career you may experience a profound loss of purpose and community, something that is usually associated with retirement.
One useful strategy in life is to try to make the most out of your difficulties and disappointments. A man I met last summer put it this way: “Never waste a crisis.”
It is worth noting that John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress while in prison, and that the Good News, or Gospel, became widely known in part because the early Christians were forced out of Jerusalem. One man who forced them out, the apostle Paul, went on to write several famous letters in the New Testament from his own prison cell.
Ironically, feeling like an outsider can actually help you relate to a large swath of humanity at a much deeper level.
© Career & Life Direction 2010. All rights reserved.
Knowing your limits
- At December 28, 2010
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
Pushing yourself to fulfill your potential is all fine and good as long as you don’t pass out in the process. A career, or even the career searching process, can drain you dry if you let it. Keep in mind that you are a only a human being: you have limits just like everybody else.
Winston Churchill used to stay in bed late into the morning during the war, managing the British war effort from a position of repose. George Bush is famous for going to bed early during his entire presidency. Billy Graham once said that if he had do it all over again he would have preached fewer sermons.
Meanwhile, you may have worked yourself to the point of exhaustion, and pushed yourself – or let yourself be pushed – to the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Planting trees in the mountains of British Columbia was my standard summer job while going to college. I found it to be physically and relationally demanding. During this season of life total exhaustion forced me to face my limits on more than one occasion.
But one particularly refreshing day off stands out in my mind. I spent an entire afternoon by myself in the forest, paying close attention to the created world around me. The highlight of this time was when a large porcupine waddled right up to where I was quietly sitting, completely unaware of my presence.
Have you ever looked closely at a porcupine’s face for a long period of time? Have you recently done anything completely unproductive that you enjoy?
© Career & Life Direction 2010. All rights reserved.
Vocational despair
- At December 24, 2010
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
Comparing the vocational struggles of many in North America to the crushing circumstances faced by people in many communist countries is a bit of a stretch. Russia’s invasion of Lithuania at the end of WWII created incredible hardship and suffering, and puts the recent economic downturn in the free world in perspective.
It must be acknowledged, though, that the financial situation of many governments and individuals in the western world is very serious. Three words described the grinch who stole Christmas: stink, stank, and stunk. Meanwhile, one little word should figure prominently in every economic update in most of the so-called developed world: broke. Another stimulus package now just means more staggering debt that we will never be able to pay later.
Still, meditating on overwhelming problems that you can’t personally do much about is counterproductive. If you find yourself drifting toward vocational despair during these challenging economic times, realize that there are likely things that you can to to potentially change your situation.
If you have a “ho-hum” resume you could hire someone to help you write a “wow” resume for a small fee. If you feel all alone in your job search, and are in need of some encouragement and camaraderie, you could attempt to find and connect with other people in your situation. If you are at a loss as to what to do next, you could ask someone who knows your situation for advice. If you are in need of career counseling you may be able to find a community college nearby that offers such a service for free.
And you can always pray.
© Career & Life Direction 2010. All rights reserved.
A rocky road
- At December 21, 2010
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
Life can be difficult. So be prepared for external and internal problems even as you focus on finding a sustainable career that is a fit with who you are.
One of the worst things you can do at an emotional level is to expect everything to be easy. This is to think in a way that is inconsistent with reality. Seeking to create a custom or alternative “reality” especially when dealing with spiritual matters is all the rage now. But it isn’t particularly effective. Believing, for example, that there is no such thing as sin only amounts to living in denial and being unable to adequately deal with the evening news.
This world is not the way it is supposed to be.
One thing you may discover is that some employers are primarily concerned about meeting their own needs. If you haven’t felt used yet you likely will. At the same time, realize that your employer does not exist merely to pay you a wage. A tendency to take advantage can work both ways. Ideally, you will find yourself in a mutually beneficial relationship. But often you will need to work towards such an arrangement.
It is helpful to make a distinction between problems that you have to deal with and problems that could have been avoided. There is no point in making life unnecessarily difficult.
For the record, this was the last time we drove on such incredibly rocky roads in Kenya. It just wasn’t necessary.
© Career & Life Direction 2010. All rights reserved.