I’ve talked to a few people lately about career issues … it’s ranged from selecting options at high school, to people in their 20’s who aren’t sure they’re on the right career path … to people who think they are stuck in dead end jobs because they don’t know what they want to do.
Think about this : 40 is the new 30. ‘Middle age’ stretches into the 50s. People are getting married at 50, 60, and 70. If you’re 25 and unmarried it’s no longer unusual. People are having first children in their 40s and 50s. So why on earth do we think that people should know what their career path will be when they’re 21?
Realising what you want to do is a lot easier if you look back at the things you’ve enjoyed. A job/career doesn’t have to be a grind. Think of the things you enjoy and are happy about doing. Don’t think about money, or status, or who has the best parking space – think about what makes *you* happy.
The other thing to consider is that career paths are constantly changing and evolving. A lot of jobs around are thing that weren’t even heard of when I left school! (and I’m not that old, so sssh!) People are retraining, going on courses, seminars, upskilling and gaining new qualifications.
If you’re stuck in a job that you don’t like, sit down and think hard about what it is that’s upsetting you.
- it’s boring, my mind wanders, and I’m not learning anything
- there’s no one around my own age
- I don’t like the corporate culture
- I’m not making enough money and I feel undervalued
- I am sick of being stuck inside, I’d rather be out and about
- I prefer working with the elderly, they really interest me
- there’s too much pressure, I find it hard to switch off after work
- I want to be my own boss, I’m sick of management types telling me what to do, and I think I’m ready to take the plunge …
There can be a number of things that aren’t right for you. But don’t ever think you’re stuck there. There are a number of options you can take. The bad thing is that if you’re stuck in a job you don’t like, it messes with your self esteem. If you want to do something, break it down into little steps. Investigate re-training options, look at working part time in the field you think you might like, talk to other people who are doing jobs that you think are interesting. Make a list of the most improbably interesting jobs you can think of, think about being self employed.
To summarise – it’s never too late. You always have options.
There’s always something more interesting to do than writing a report, cleaning the bathroom, doing your GST or working overtime.
There’s always someone online searching for ways to motivate themselves to do the boring, the nasty, and the just plain old horrible jobs that they don’t want to.
What bores me might fascinate you, but that’s not the point!
1. Set yourself 15 minutes to work really hard on the boring job. Tell yourself you only have to do 15 minutes then you’re allowed to stop. Chances are you’ll be on a roll and will get a lot more achieved than you originally thought.
2. Get some company. It might be someone to come with you on the daily walk you know you should be doing. It might be a trainer once a week at the gym. It might be a mentor, or a coach, or your sister. Company makes things easier and you can both complain about the boring job at the same time 
3. Write about what’s going on. You can do this in a Word document and stash it somewhere secret on your hard drive. Or you can buy a gorgeous blank notebook and use that. But write about it – all the benefits of it, why it will make your life easier, why it might get you more money.
4. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Don’t be tempted to agree to a deadline you know will be impossible. Negotiate some extra time so you can do a really good job. When you finish earlier you’ll be proud of yourself, and the other stakeholders will be impressed
5. Break boring things into smaller tasks. It’s all very well to say ‘this house is a tip, I want it clean by tomorrow’. Come on, you know that’s not going to happen. Start with the area that annoys you the most. Start with the front entrance, or the kitchen. Start with your bedroom so you have somewhere nice to retreat to at the end of the day.
6. If you’re writing the boring report I mentioned earlier – or any piece of writing there are several tricks you can use. Firstly, look carefully at what is required. Don’t go off on tangents, stick to the subject. Less work, less stress and much more professional. Begin your document by working out a topic sentence for each part you need to address. Topic sentences are the beginnings of paragraphs, and they usually are an overview of what the paragraph will be about. This way you organise your thoughts, your document will be well organised, and you won’t forget to include essential points.
You can also turn your monitor light right down, and use a stream of consciousness method. You will obviously not be able to see what you’ve typed, and this will get the creativity going. This method will not give you a finished product, but if you type all your ideas completely randomly you will be able to organise them later into the broad idea of your document. This method will sometimes bring out points you hadn’t planned on adding, which can be interesting and useful for another perspective.
Don’t plan on perfection for the first draft. No one ever gets perfection the first time. Use the 15 minute method and just TYPE!
7. Make yourself a chart As I said before, break your goal down into parts, and give yourself a tick every time you complete a part. This will also help you sort out the specifics of what needs doing. You will be able to see at a glance where you are and what you need to work on next.
8. Ask for help if you’re stuck. It is much better to ask for help before a deadline, than to sheepishly admit that something hasn’t been done.
9. Think about your efficiency. If you’re trying to complete a task in a noisy room, or while kids are running around, or while the rest of the office is having Friday afternoon drinks – STOP. Think about what you need to work effectively and make sure you get it. Look at your timetable for the day and organise things to suit yourself as much as possible. You might need silence, or background noise, or a good supply of water. Make sure you get it.
10. Find a picture which illustrates your completed goal. If it’s a work thing you’re dealing with, focus on the pay rise, the holiday plans, the increased income. Even the compliment from your boss. If it’s a home thing, visualise the outcome. Look around online for your picture or even in magazines from your house. Make yourself a poster and put it somewhere you’ll see it every day. Look at it intently, focus on it, imagine yourself on a better path. Be determined to get there.
Because everyone deserves to have a happy life.
As we all know, life does not always give us what we want. The life we want requires effort, struggle, passion, frustration and that favorite word – motivation. You are improving yourself every time you struggle … it’s just hard to see sometimes. Think carefully about the big picture of how you want things to be, and the boring stuff won’t be so boring any more. It’s just one more step towards your goal.
Have you ever tried doing one of these?
You can use them for anything you like. They really help get your creativity going. They are great for people who visualise things in pictures, they are great for organising your thoughts, they are great for reminding yourself of things you’d possibly forgotten.
Use as many colours are you like. Scribble, use pictures instead of words, let yourself go off on tangents. You don’t have to finish it all at once, leave it for a while and come back to it.
Use mindmaps instead of notes for meetings, use them to find solutions to problems, use them to gather your ideas together.
Maybe I’ll do one and post it so you can see how messy my brain can get!
The truly peculiar thing about time management … is that there are 24 hours. Every day. No exceptions.
So why do some people get so much done? they write a chapter of their future best selling novel, they whip up a batch of scones for a fundraiser, they milk 400 cows twice a day, they deal with kids dropoffs and pickups, they have a sparkly floor, dinner isn’t late and they still get to watch some tv.
Other people are at work before everyone else, in a suit without any wrinkles. They have three meetings and a team breakfast, a meeting with their manager and their managers manager. They do lunch at that nice place in Ponsonby, then they clear up various emergencies while speaking nicely to clients on the phone. They drop off their dry cleaning, they go to the gym, they go out to dinner and then they walk the dog.
It makes me tired just typing it 
so what is the secret? we all get the 24 hours ….
and by the way I just had to do a tiny skite here, my idol sent me a text today to tell me I did 96% on my latest coaching exam
Filed under: Work and Motivation
Do you plan what you’re going to do each day?
I never used to be a fan of lists. I think this was because I liked ‘freedom’ and making a list would interrupt what I *really* wanted to do, it would make me feel pressured, and if I didn’t get everything done I’d feel bad. Weird reasons for not doing it?! Making lists can work. Just make sure you dont put undue pressure on yourself to complete it in one day, if that won’t work for you. Just the act of writing it down will consolidate it. If you look at the assortment of jobs you have to do, you can prioritise them. What absolutely needs doing today? what can safely be left until tomorrow? What will annoy you if it’s not finished by evening? You can also categorise things and plan it out so you’re not wasting time and energy rushing all over the place. You have to meet someone at a particular place. You look at what you’ve written and you see you also need to pick something up/drop drycleaning off/buy groceries, so you incorporate everything. You’re not wasting petrol or time, you plan it so you get these things done and get home again before the 5.00pm rush.
Sometimes when you’re lacking motivation it’s because it just all seems too much. Writing it down gets it in perspective. Many times it won’t look like such a burden or so impossible when it’s in a linear form. A rush of things to do all at once will immediately put the pressure on. Taking the time to organise it and put some structure into your day will be calming, and help your brain start to come up with ways to do things efficiently.
I use a couple of different strategies – I have a Palm which contains a LOT of information. It has yearly events, birthdays,contacts (all categorised so I can find things easily), and daily events colour categorised for each person in the family, and for business(es). It sounds over the top, but it makes me feel better when things are organised. I set the system up, so it works for me.
I also have a whiteboard, which has the day-to-day unexpected events on it. I use it to write notes to the kids for the next day (don’t forget dentist appointment etc), write phone numbers if I don’t already have them if the kids are going somewhere, an ongoing points system and also the jobs that the kids are scheduled to do. I use different colours, I draw pictures, I stick things up with magnets. Lots of my magnets are from trips so they bring back happy memories while I’m busy organising the rest of the household lol
Just some ideas, tell me what you think
dawn (at) mirrorconsulting.co.nz
Wow it is a beautiful morning – well, as beautiful as it can be at 5.25am
Today I have some questions for you, before I show you what I just found on the ‘net. It will keep you amused for hours, well, at least five minutes!
If you could have done two things differently in your life, what would they have been?
How would you describe your ‘perfect life?’
Are you living the life you really want?
Be brave, leave a comment or talk to me on yahoo messenger : coachdawn_newzealand
Here is the link I promised, enjoy! Visuwords
Hi there, did you miss me?
Back from Auckland now, it was lots of fun up there. I met some people I really liked, and caught up on some things that needed doing as well. Now I am at home sorting through debris from my old job and preparing for an upgrade to our office systems. This will happen on Monday and it is really exciting!
So anyway I am close by and you can find me on yahoo messenger: coachdawn_newzealand
Talk to you soon!
If there’s anyone in Auckland who would like an introductory session + another session *free*, drop me a line. I will be in Aks definitely the 7th and 8th of July, possibly a little longer. I will be roaming around between Mount Wellington and the CBD, so if you’ve a favorite cafe somewhere in that vicinity we could meet up
I will be up there again in the week beginning the 14th July, and we can arrange a time that suits you for the second session.
The only catch to this brilliant offer (no free set of steak knives though, unfortunately) is that you’ll be happy to write a blog post for me. No identifying details, no gory in depth analysis, no parading of your private stuff all over the Internet – just a post about what the coaching process was like for you.
You can contact me at coachdawn(underscore)newzealand(at)yahoo(dot) com
I’ll assume you know how to read my code
Go on! it’ll be fun! and we’ll get to drink some good coffee as a bonus!
As you all know by now, I’m generally fairly optimistic about life. I don’t walk around waiting for the sky to fall, or expecting awful things to happen on a daily basis. But I am amazed at how many people seem to live in a perpetual state of gloom!
I’m about to transition from a job I’ve had for six and a half years, to something new. It’s exciting, and I’m not worried about it at all. I’m looking forward to a change of environment, to meeting new people, to learning new skills. Even a different way of getting to work, possibly. But a couple of people have told me how nervous they would be, and wondered aloud if I’m doing the right thing, if I’m scared that it won’t work out?
Not at all. I can see they think I’m impossibly naïve. But I don’t want to spend time and energy worrying about something that’s going to happen. I think it’s all in my attitude. If you were at work, and a new person came in, would you be inclined to make their life any easier if they were scowling, grumpy, and gloomy about everything?
Nope, didn’t think so.
It is just as easy to imagine the best possible outcome, as it is to imagine doom and gloom. It might take a bit of practice – especially if you’ve been stuck in a negative mindset for a while.
Be prepared. You will be more prone to stress if your life is out of control, you can’t find your house key and the pantry is bare. Look at your organizational methods and see if there’s any tiny habit you can incorporate to make your life easier, and to make sure you’re prepared. It doesn’t have to be a huge step – just something small. I will give you a rather flippant sounding example! I usually keep the umbrellas hanging up in our garage, all ready to take in the car if I’m going out. Isn’t that organised? Isn’t that helpful? NO it certainly wasn’t. When I go to work in the morning I am not thinking about sensible things – I have a system for my laptop and my handbag, and somehow the umbrella got left along the way. So the other day the other half put the umbrella in the boot of the car.
Now, I never use an umbrella unless I’m at work, where I’m required to zoom between one building or another, or to be on duty. So keeping it in the car is the most sensible thing to do and doesn’t rely on me having the sense and foresight to grab it in the morning. It sounds like such a tiny thing, but I was so delighted to see it in the boot the other day when it was pouring and I was about to go on duty!
So if you think about things, and organise them in the ways that suit you, you’ll have less to stress about and more time to enjoy your life. Those little stupid things that crop up to annoy you will fade away.
Some more time and stress saving ideas, off the top of my head :
Keep a packet of baby wipes in the car for when people mess up (just the cheap ones in the big container are good).
Throw a sticking plaster or two in a spare pocket of your bag – good for blisters on heels or those savage paper cuts, lol.
If you’re taking medication keep a spare packet in your bag – if you forget in the morning you’ll still have some to take anyway.
Make sure you plug in your laptop when you’re working at home so the battery is charged when you go out – you won’t have to think about it.
Throw a couple of muesli bars in the bottom of your bag for days when you can’t get out for lunch.
Put a couple of those sticky hooks on the back of your kitchen cupboard, and *always* keep your keys there. They’re hidden from public view, but you always know where they are.
If you are given change when you’re out shopping, put it in the same pocket in the car every time, that way you’ll always have money for meters (unless you have kids like mine, who search the car for lolly money, grr).
Next time I’ll write about a cunning way I’ve found to get rid of housework …
I just have to make a point here, so bear with me. Normal transmission will be resumed tomorrow.
The way to keep people happy is NOT to force them into working 17 hours straight in a high stress environment, without even the chance to take a five minute break or have something to eat.
I don’t care if there is no one else that can do the job. I think it is terrible to take advantage of someone’s sense of responsibility like this. I think it is terrible that for months management has known that there is no one else who can fulfill this particular set of responsibilities, and yet they have done nothing about it.
I certainly would like to give you the name of this company, and a few more stories on the ways they fail their employees. In fact I am *itching* to.
Maybe tomorrow.
