The following video is from 2010 and is an important reminder as you choose a mentor(s).
The Power of a Video Resume
In the market we find ourselves in, I think it wise to stand out from the herd. One excellent way is through the medium of video. In this post I'm specifically thinking of the video resume.
Video resumes are not new. That said, I think video can be intimidating for many. This article from Eugen Lim is a great start as you consider this approach. I like Eugene's insights because she has experience on her side. Not in years, but in, she's learning and about to embark on what many are in the midst of.
Enjoy the video and I hope it helps you get to that desired place-may it be Epic.
7 Things Your Manager Wants You To Know
I spoke with a friend yesterday about the role of her manager in her job. He's an advocate for her and a buffer. The buffer part was what struck me. He's a buffer between my friend and senior management. Sadly, senior management in this organization is living in an alternative reality, so they need someone who is deft at translating this reality into real world application. This happens a lot in the corporate world.
This post is not a defense of the middle-manager, nor is it a rant about how bad they sometimes can be. In the spirit of balance I want you to consider 7 things your manager wants you to know:
- Your manager is afraid. In many ways this makes them like everybody else, with one huge exception. Your manager has power and influence over the work of human beings.
- Your manager thought they wanted the job when it was offered. Many managers are conflicted. The organization dressed everything up well, put on the nicest face, but decided to let themselves go after the honeymoon. Now your manager sees themselves as stuck.
- Your manager wants to do the right thing. She realizes she can't please everyone. She knows that making a decsion swiftly and resolutely is sometimes needed, even if you don't see it or understand it.
- Your manager wants ongoing learning and growth. But it's very difficult when profit tries to push an unseen opportunity out the door. Or worse, the organization doesn't care about learning and growth.
- Your manager has been a bully all their life and has no intention of stopping. Unless, of course, someone decides to push back. He believes the organization is weak for not putting a halt to his behavior.
- Your manager is intimidated by people who are smarter and wiser. They see vulnerability (being ok with not being the crown jewel in the room) as something to be avoided.
- Your manager feels like their life is ebbing away. The other parts of life are demanding much from her, just like the organization. In many ways she wonders where is the life she dreamed of.
How Meaningful Work Can Create Havoc
Some would say that meaningful work stands in direct opposition to the structure of many organizations-specifically large organizations. I would say it can create havoc. And that might be a good thing.
I know you might be thinking havoc brings destruction and loss. Correct. But the main point is found in how humans are wired versus the often insane motivations of the organization or business model. It seems to me we're seeing the unraveling that is inevitable when the goals of the company run counter to basic human wiring.
We're talking the desire for meaning and meaningful work. Not dreaming with no action, but the core of who we are.
I've talked to many a pragmatists who've told me to be realistic and not get lost in all of the soft stuff. Most of the time these folks are just not willing to see what is very difficult to face. In other words, the train wreck we're grappling with in so many parts of the world. The damage is so evident and many are not quite sure what to do.
I saw this coming over ten years ago, some of you even further back. Now we have a hunger to get life right. In many ways, we want a place where well-being is balanced and intact. Though we're struggling with the aftermath of years of neglect-individually and corporately. It's as if we got drunk on profit, competition and the desire to succeed. And in-turn, we wounded (sometimes mortally) the very group that makes all of the right form of the latter possible.
People.
On Second Acts and Encores
A wise friend once told me a long time ago that my life would be made up of multiple lifetimes. I think I just nodded and went on.
Welcome to the future.
It's very clear that most people look into their personal crystal ball and define what they see accordingly. The future. In my case I saw one long run on Broadway. It was uninterrupted by life or the circumstances therein. No shock here, but things often changed and I became good at navigating. Sometimes the navigating was done by the stars.
In our time we are a culture of second acts and encores. Reinvention is the norm. At first glance for some this brings sadness. Many were counting on things playing out as one show, one performance. But reality set in and we were told the curtain was coming down. We looked over our shoulder and saw someone younger, prettier and certainly cheaper lying in wait. It was the end.
Or was it?
When our eyes are opened and things are clear we can understand a forgotten truth. The truth of second acts and encores. We are continually experiencing them. And it is a good thing. Call it the width of life and not just the length. Those that have decided that security and stability are to be worshiped will not understand this. I recommend you expect and embrace your second acts and encores. Savor the opportunity to fashion a wonderful ending or a song concluding the performance. Just don't linger too long over the empty auditorium. This will take a little getting used to.
I have had friends, family, money, jobs, business ideas, and more that lasted for only a time. Some ended sooner than I would have liked, others seemed to drone on and on. But all were a part of forming the painting that is my life. It is a strange dichotomy that we crave things that will ultimately hold us back, while rejecting the things that open up doors to our dreams. I fear less and my grip is now a little less firm because I want what's to come to just come and set me forward to the next act. Is the alternative really a better option?
Here are some things you should consider for the road ahead:
- Second acts and encores are happening whether you participate or not. Everyone gets the chance to perform or leave the audience wondering what's wrong.
- Since the second acts and encores are in motion, why not prepare? Have a song list, rehearse how you will exit.
- Don't romanticize your past. It wasn't as great as you think it was.
- If you're a rugged individualist, "self-made", a do it on my own type, then stop. Life was not meant to be a solo journey.
- Embrace your sadness as you would your happiness.
Did You Mean My Life?-Update 2011
Wanted to revisit this post for personal clarity and encouragement for you. Enjoy!
As I've watched my life twist and turn since I began Epic Living, I haven't always embraced the idea of where it was leading. Maybe because of the surprises (good and bad) that have come my way.
Ryan Bettencourt of Learn From My Life relayed a story to me, on the radio show, about Daniel Pink. Daniel made it clear that life was not linear. Instinctively, we would agree with him. Who has had a life that lived straight? Not me.
This past weekend the difference between my work and my life was illustrated vividly.
I met people at a picnic that seemed to know me even though we'd never met. Call it destiny or serendipity, but it was clear I was meant to connect. God is a wonderful writer. So many of my experiences being honed to manifest something beautiful. As mentioned before, I couldn't have predicted or scripted such encounters.
OK, I know I'm being vague/cryptic. The people I met were a part of an organization that I've agreed to help on a long term basis. Obviously, I will reveal more at a later date. But this post is not about me. It's about you and your life.
If you spend your time (who knows how much you've been given) working on work, more than likely your life will evaporate. Many are doing this now and fooling themselves into believing that a promotion or the number of direct reports validates. It doesn't. A simple deception that occurs with every tick of the clock. By the way many employers are complicit here.
In the movie A Good Year, Russell Crowe's character Max is asked by the CEO what would he choose. He said; "What'll it be Max, the money or your life?" You could intertwine money and work on that statement. Check out the movie and you'll know what I mean.
The following are some things to swallow regarding life and work:
- Valuing life first will lead to success beyond your wildest dreams
- Valuing life leads to redefining success.
- Seeing work as a tool to find a great life is a wise approach.
- Your employer will eventually struggle to remember you.
- Those who love you are screaming (most of the time silently) for your attention.
Embracing Career at the Expense of Life
8 Areas For Your Attention And Commitment
What if you gave five minutes to your 8 key areas of life today?
It's 1:12 PM EST where I'm at, so for those of my subscribers in Europe and Asia you should apply this on your next day. But for the rest of us, we can fit this in today.
We're talking 5 minutes. A total of 40 minutes out of 24 hours.
Here are the areas:
- Body
- Mind
- Spirit
- Money
- Career
- Learning
- Family
- Social
I fully understand that your career is getting 8 or more hours of your attention, but the point is not perfection or equal distribution of time. The point is attention and commitment to your whole life. I'm recommending starting small in-order to find great. I believe with some effort and desire you might find out how precious your life really is.
Leave a comment and let the community know how your experiment went.
Career Fear Factor
"You are caught by what you are running from." – Sam Keen
Does losing your job or not finding a job scare you? For many, the answer would be yes. Now if it’s just a passing thought don’t pass out. I'm speaking of preoccupation and consistent fear. Most people have, at one time or another, considered the reality. In 2011 the reality of this type of change is real-for better or worse. But do you manage your career and life around that fear?
I’ve seen leaders make decisions because they were calculating the most foreboding scenarios. The great fear of job loss controls their every move. This motivation produces mediocre results, and even worse, an absence of credibility with those that follow. And since leaders who hold high positions of power are human, they lead by fear and hope for the best. Sadly, many leaders and managers infect the very people they're supposed to help. So what was once a singular issue is now organizational.
Human beings are skilled at setting up their own kingdoms…complete with impregnable walls and barbed wire fences. We think we're in control. The higher an individual climbs in their respective organization, the more tempting it will become to try to control everything. That’s why organizations are “certifiable” for not catching their people early in the process. For example, teaching them about holistic leadership and the danger fear-based living presents.
If you desire something great (something that leaves you, your family, other people, and your health intact) from a career, then you’re gonna have to risk. Maybe even risk that very career you're hold onto so tightly. I'm a much better human being, leader, entrepreneur because of the risks I've taken. The risks have not always worked out in my favor, but there is no way I would have become what I am without those risks.
Better to get ahead of your fears, before they claim you.
The Career Divorce
First, this is not a post on marriage. But it might help your marriage/relationship.
Have you ever considered filing for divorce, from your career in this context? I don't mean resigning or changing employers. Though that could be a good thing. But I'm speaking of putting your career back to its rightful place. The ending of allowing this segment to dominate the others.
What if your career can only be great when it stays its proper size/dimension?
What I'm advocating is counter-culture and is very difficult to pull off-especially in places where work is an altar to be worshiped at. The secret is to get the "divorce thing" early or get hurt. I didn't get it early and I got hurt. My hope is I'm catching you at that early stage or in the midst of your hurting.
Here are some things to consider regarding your career's place in your wheel of life:
- Very rarely will you find an employer that REALLY wants you to have life-balance. Though it flies in the face of proven research, employers are still drunk on profit-first. Nothing wrong with profit, but getting drunk can and does kill. Given this, why not stop being in awe and work on becoming irreplaceable. That way, you won't fall into the trap of being in a slave/slave-master relationship with your employer. You really are helping the organization when you have this mind-set.
- Start practicing total life management. We can help here. I have found that way too many people feel they can leave parts of their lives on auto pilot. It's not a case that people want to do this, they're either afraid or unsure of where to turn. I wrote this piece last week about our issues around trust. Think of it like your car; all cylinders need to be working properly and together to get you to where you want to go.
- Small is a very big word. Start small and end great. Set small goals, conduct small expeiments, find celebration and victory in the small things. What you're actually doing is moving yourself toward your "big" thing. Most confuse thinking big with the process of getting there.
- It's not too late for a turn-around. Unless, you don't think you're worth it. Which would be crazy to think considering your DNA. This is very important if you're further along in the race. See #3 for further encouragement.
- At some point, sooner or later, your life will have the final say. Listen to your life.