Next Chapter New Life

2012-01-29T11:27:00.001-08:00

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2012-01-17T16:51:00.001-08:00

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2012-01-07T14:00:00.001-08:00

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2011-12-05T15:13:00.001-08:00

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2011-11-20T15:52:00.001-08:00

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2011-11-17T14:36:00.001-08:00

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2011-11-12T11:44:00.001-08:00

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Careers: 4 Things That Will Derail Your Job Search Before You Even Get Started

2010-03-08T15:12:00.001-08:00

Getting job clarity is one of the simplest concepts in job search, yet one of the hardest steps to take. When I say job clarity, I mean the 2-3 specific jobs a person is pursuing in their quest to find a new job. It does sound simple, but my observation is that in reality, a job seeker is often troubled about clarity. I have seen people realize that due to their background and desires, they could head in a number of different directions – all valid, all confused. One of the first questions I ask a person who seems to be struggling with their job search is what specific jobs they are pursuing. The answers I get range from an industry they want to focus on like "finance and banking" to something that resembles a word jumble. An industry is not a job title, nor is a word jumble. I know right then that their struggle in the job search is not a bad resume' or work experience, it has to do with the fact that they haven't focused on what they are in search of. It's like saying they'll find my home somewhere in the Northwest. It's a direction, but so loose they really can't begin an effective search. The chances of someone finding my home are almost zero. Your chances of finding a job without knowing what you are in search of might be about the same.

An effective job search entails a great strategic plan, but you can't begin to form a plan, if you aren't clear on what your goal or job is. As a result, a job seeker will end up jumping after every tip, every lead and many ads, because they all seem like something they could do. This lack of clarity drifts into the resume' they develop, which without an understanding of what the job is, also lacks a clear message to anyone who receives it. When they speak to any of their network, the network walks away confused about what kind of help they can offer. In other words, any effort expended on the job search can often be ineffective and really a waste of time until the job seeker can zero in on a couple of jobs/titles they can focus on and believe in.

So what lends to this lack of clarity and what can a person do to clear up the muddy waters?

Too many jobs on the radar. This is an issue I see a great deal. When a person is looking for a job and has had years of experience, they may look at BOTH the array of work they have done PLUS the array of work they could do. It's wonderful to have so many transferable skills. It allows you to pursue a wide variety of positions with the belief you will be successful, because you have done that work before. The problem is that this often creates a lack focus and direction.

Solution: If you are lucky enough to be in this situation – congratulations! But, you need to make some choices. I have seen people avoid making a choice because they either thought it would reduce their chances of landing a job or they were interested in pursuing them all. You have to decide which 2 or 3 job titles you will enjoy the most, be the most competitive for and are perhaps the most abundant for you to pursue. You have to narrow down your choices. Once you've made your decision, you need to be convinced that your choices are right and move forward with confidence.

Changing career focus. I've seen people use a change of job as a platform for making anywhere from a major career change to simply applying their work in a new industry. Certainly, if your situation and background call for that kind of shift, I say: Go for it! However, I have seen people let that shift confuse them or make them unclear about what that next career is. If you aren't clear about what you're looking for, imagine how unclear the universe of hiring managers is about where you belong.

Solution: Before you step into the job search, you need to explore your options, as well as yourself. If you're doing a "slight shift", you should be able to find job titles fairly quickly with some research. If you're doing a wholesale career change, you have a whole self-examination process to go through to discover what you want to do when you grow up. Treat yourself like a research project. Go to work exploring your values, skills and passions and research where those can be applied. You do not make a major career change by launching a job search; if you do, you may not like the results.

Mistake an industry for a job. This one I find fascinating. I can't figure out what the internal process must be, but I have had people answer the question of "What kind of job are you looking for?" with things like "investments" or "banking" or "green technology". Even after additional probing they are unwavering in their responses. An industry is not a job or a career – it's a business classification.

Solution: You need to test yourself in this area. You could be what I call "tone deaf" to what you are thinking (and saying) around a job. You might think you're crystal clear, but in fact, you aren't at all. It's also important to understand that if you are looking for a job, you need to be clear with your network and hiring managers. Find a trusted person with a critical ear who will give you some good honest feedback. Tell them what you're looking for, and then ask them if you might be talking about an industry or a real job.

You may be holding on to the past. For people that have been laid off or are facing the end of some dream career, you may lack clarity, because you're looking backward not forward. You haven't come to grips with the fact that your circumstances are now causing you to look for a job. You may be reluctantly trudging through the acts of looking for a job. You might be thinking you have to go do "X" because that's all you can do. There are a variety of reactions when people are in this state of transition. If you think you might fall into this situation, you might lack clarity, because you can't "see" yourself in that next job.

Solution: Normally, transition has its own timeline, but you may not. If you can afford to simply give yourself a space of time to allow your previous work life to end, it will free you up to think more clearly about your next job. If your circumstances simply won't allow you to move through your transition at your own pace, then I suggest you consider a coach or someone who can help you process the endings. This can open up the possibilities for finding your dream in the next thing you do.

I heard a quote that I think applies here: "When you are clear, what you want will show up in your life, and only to the extent you are clear". Chris and Janet Attwood. I think this summarizes it best. To maximize your job search, to make everything you do count, you have to get clear about the job you're pursuing.

Want to reprint this article? You can reprint this article as long as you use the following: Dorothy Tannahill-Moran is a Career Coach and expert on helping her clients achieve their goals. Want to discover specific career change strategies that get results? Discover how to by claiming your FREE gift, Career Makeover Toolkit at:

http://CareerMakeoverToolKitShouldIstayorShouldIGo.com/

Career Change: 2 Strategies for getting off your “buts”

2010-02-16T16:31:00.001-08:00

I hear countless comments from people saying they want to change careers, BUT, but, but, but. They make up some reason for not changing. Among these reasons are: I'm too old – I'll have to take a pay cut – I don't want to make the effort – I don't know what I'd do. Essentially, I think it boils down to fear of change or no effort to change, probably both.

There is a big portion of the workforce truly unhappy this morning as they drive to work. They don't like their jobs, but they keep on doing the same thing day after day, year after year. They are doing nothing to change the situation. It's really unfortunate, because their lives don't have to be like that. Change can be made and while it does take an effort, it's not that big of a hill to climb. Let's look at two strategies a person can pursue.

Strategy #1: Decide if you can get happy where you are or if it's time to go (no improvement in sight)

There are about sixteen factors that play into our satisfaction of our work situation. It's little wonder we can get grumpy about work. However, only the top few are really the deal breakers. The number one issue to work satisfaction is the relationship with the boss. After that, the top issues are (in no particular order): - work environment – work associates - job content. Notice I didn't mention pay. Salary is somewhere around 5 or 6, depending on which survey you read.

You have to spend some time really analyzing your situation and determine what the real issue(s) is for you. Once you have identified the issues, you need to do some problem solving to determine what actions you can take to improve those issues. The actions must be ones you have control over, not silly things like a personality transplant for your boss. Once you have developed an action plan, before doing anything else, ask yourself these questions: If I take these actions, will I be happier than I am now? Will I be happy enough to sustain me in this position for x years? If you think there is a possibility for improvement, then systematically pursue those actions. You have nothing to lose and you stand to gain greater happiness right where you are right now. If not, then go no further. It's time to leave and move on to the next strategy.

If you do decide to make it better, you may want to consult your library on things you can do that will help you further solve some of these issues. There are books written on every single work issue you can come up with. Once you have taken these actions, allow time to make those actions take hold. At some point (you decide when) reevaluate your situation to see if you're feeling better in your job. Many times the simple act of taking action is enough to really improve your situation. If not, it was worth the effort to see if things could improve. Then you can make the decision to move on knowing you did your best.

Strategy #2: Identify and Research your "buts" for making a career change

Stop making excuses and identify the issues that are keeping you from making a career change. You need to stop telling the stories and start doing some work. The person who is reluctant to make a career change sometimes has to address the issues or concerns first. With this strategy, you need to self examine what you really think the barriers are to a career change. Then go do some research to find out if you're all wet or if you really have an issue worth hitting the pause button for.

My observation is that most of the time people come up with barriers without really knowing FOR A FACT that they really have an issue. Go get the facts. I also know that once you know the facts, you can devise an approach that will help you should you decide to move forward changing careers. I'd like to give you a personal illustration. Early in my professional life I decided that I was going to change careers. I was pretty sure I'd have to take a pay cut, because I was getting paid fairly high for the work I was doing. I devised a plan to pay off 100% of all debts I had. My thinking was that if I did have to take a pay cut, then I wouldn't have to be so concerned with the pay: and I could focus on a great position in a company with upward potential. I knew if I had almost no bills, I could take a substantial pay cut and be okay. I devised a strategy to address the issue. It took me about a year to put it all in place, but it was well worth the planning and effort.

I would also point out that taking that first little action will help you build momentum. You don't need to be a fireball of career ambition. You simply need to put one foot in front of the other long enough to systematically confirm that a change of careers is what you need. If you are the kind of person that does best with a work-out buddy, you might want to do the same in this part of your life. Identify a trusted person who will hold you accountable to your own happiness. Motivation is not created from a bolt of lightning. It is created by the act of doing. So do yourself a favor. If you know you can't make yourself happy where you are, start moving today. Even small steps forward are better than no steps at all. Eventually you will make that career change.

You work so much and for so long in your lifetime that you deserve to be happy in doing it!

Dorothy Tannahill-Moran is a Career Coach and expert on helping her clients. Want to discover a specific career change strategy that gets results? Discover how to by claiming your FREE gift, Career Makeover Toolkit at: http://CareerMakeoverToolKitShouldISstayorShouldIGo.com/

CAREERS: Four reasons you might be bummed if you aren’t working.

2010-01-30T10:01:00.001-08:00

What do the following people have in common?

Retired engineer
Laid off project manager
Stay at home parent
Newly graduated student
Trailing spouse to a military soldier
Injured and recovered worker
Out of work actor

These people have much more in common than you probably realize. The commonality is what they are missing. All of these people are missing the many benefits we get from working. Of course, we all know that they are missing the paycheck, but there are other aspects to work that most of us take for granted, until we no longer have them. When you are in the work trenches it's kind of hard to think you would miss anything. You probably think the idea of not working sounds like a dream, and it can be, but not without recognizing what things you are missing and taking action to replace them.

When you look at the stories of these various people, you will often find a theme of depression, feeling down, deflated and being adrift. These people may also share their commonality with retired individuals, who have one of the highest rates of depression than any other demographic. The key reason: They have failed to replace those important aspects, the good things they got from working, also known as "workplace assets".

Let's look at these four workplace assets and what you can do if any of them are missing in your life.

Structure – Our work effectively manages our time and drives our decisions about our daily priorities. We know what time we have to get up. We know when we'll perform various work tasks throughout the day. We probably have our non-work activities scheduled, too. This is a form of tension and accountability that motivates us. Without the structure that work provides, we are left kind of rambling around day to day with only the occasional appointment to interrupt the vast feeling of having nothing important to do. I often hear people talk about "filling their day". We are easily bored, so when left to our own devises, we will fill our day, but often with mundane tasks that are not very fulfilling.
Solution: Create a schedule for yourself and stick to it. Take the must-have activities, things you know you need to do each day or week, and determine exactly when you will perform them. If an item is on your calendar, you are more likely to keep that appointment. If you've been meaning to work out and just haven't started, consider adding those kinds of activities for your calendar.
Social Contact – For most of us, work provides the main part of our social fabric. We become attached to people we work with for a variety of reasons. We have a shared set of circumstances with these people. We also see them daily (or frequently) and, therefore, get to know them well enough to form relationships. Even if you aren't fond of most of the people you work with, the fact that you are interacting with others is an important nurturing act. We need other people. It's that simple. When you aren't working you lose a big (and for some people all) part of the social aspect of your life.
Solution: Maintain relationships with past co-workers, beef up your existing relationships or make new friends. Sometimes when we lose the commonality of a shared work place, it can be hard to keep relationships going. It's important that you recognize that many people simply can't put in additional time and energy to see people outside of work. It's not a reflection on your adequacy as a friend. You also need a bit of a variety to your roster of friends. Rarely will one person fulfill all your needs, so you may want to find settings where you share common interests with others with whom you may form new friendships.
Purpose – Bottom line, your work gives you purpose. You have somewhere to be and something to do. You are contributing at some level and that gives you purpose. Perhaps you may feel that your life purpose is to serve at a different level, but you are still contributing yourself in a specific way. Your contribution gives you a sense of personal self worth and identity. When those things are gone, there is a sense of loss and lack of purpose.
Solution: Try volunteering. If you are unemployed, you can seek volunteer work that will give you experience, thereby enhancing your resume for getting the job you really want. Also, non-profit organizations always have more need than money, so they will welcome you with open arms. If your situation doesn't support a volunteer situation, then find your purpose by helping someone in some way. When you give of yourself, you add a great deal of meaning to your life.
Money – It's obvious, but worth mentioning. When you encounter a loss of income, some serious budgeting may be needed. If you are able to plan for your situation, it allows you to save money to cover your needs. If your situation hasn't allowed you to plan, you may be reacting legitimately to a lack of funds.
Solution: If there is any possibility that you may lose your job, consider paying off some bills now and cutting back on expenses. If you don't already have a savings account with enough funds to cover 3 months of living expenses, then start one now. If you are already in an income loss situation, research all of your income producing options, including unemployment benefits, community program benefits (like food banks), or even a part time job to help make ends meet. If you are lucky enough to have your financial situation covered, good for you. You can focus on the other three assets.

Of the four work assets, the lack of money is probably the one we understand the most. We know that it can put serious stress on us which can truly create depression. The other three work assets are less obvious, but the loss of any one of them can contribute to making your life a less than positive experience. The idea of not working is great until you're facing these losses. We are, by nature, social and creative creatures that function best when we have structure to keep us focused, people to be around, and activities to give us purpose.

Career Development – When is it time to go? 5 make-or-break factors

2010-01-11T16:24:00.001-08:00

If you're sitting in your office bored, ticked off or feeling down you may be thinking it's time to go. BUT, you're not sure. You are rationalizing staying because there is one more great thing you can contribute or you feel obligated in some way. We all go through this kind of mental tug-of-war at one time or another. Knowing when it's the right time to give yourself permission to move on is one of those big life changers and with it comes anxiety.

There are some indicators of satisfaction that you can examine that will help you make that decision. Let's review some of them to help you move that decision making along.

1. Salary – I'm almost embarrassed to mention money. Not because "it shouldn't matter", it's because I know it isn't one of the top 3 issues. I mention it first because everyone does and I want to get it out of the way. What you are paid as it turns out are not the top 3-5 satisfiers for your career. It is something, however. If it is out of line or doesn't pay the bills it is a big DISsatisfier and you do need to move on. If your pay is appropriate for the job you do, area you live in and meets most of your need, then you're probably doing fine and this isn't a big enough deal to make you leave.

2. Boss – This one is the big one. The person that you immediately report to is the number one top item that will make work life great or bad. You don't have to love this person or even be buddies but you do need to respect this person and feel that it's mutual. Also, you need to be realistic about this person. Bosses will never be perfect. They are like the rest of us; they have bad hair days and also have their own quirks. The question you need to ask yourself is: "Can I be successful doing work with this person in the picture?"

3. Job Content – This is all about the kind of work you perform. You need to feel like you have the skills, talents and background to perform the job. At the same time you should feel like you can make a contribution and grow. Job growth is not necessarily about being promoted. It is learning new tasks, taking on new responsibilities and making new contributions. The content of your job should be something that continuously stimulates and interests you. If you have reached a point where everything is pretty much the same, you need to move on before it impacts your self esteem.

4. Work environment – This is both the physical space you do the work in and what is in the environment such as people, building and location. You can have a great job, great boss but have to commute 2 hours each way. Your life is potentially impacted too significantly. You may like the job but the environment you are in is too toxic because of interoffice relations. The people you work with could be your source of dissatisfaction and you may not even realize it. We form friendships and alliances with the people we spend so much time working with. At the same time they may feel freedom in complaining and pointing out all the things that are bad. This will have a negative impact on you. You need to examine this situation and determine what you can control and what you can't. At the same time, you need to determine if you were to design the perfect work environment, would it be like this?

5. Something else – If all the stars are aligned and the items listed above are all working well enough for you, you may be tugged by "something else". The something else could be a lifelong dream of being a nurse or something completely different than what you're doing today. The something else could be a deep desire to move and live somewhere other than where you are today. It's ok to give yourself permission to move toward something as opposed to away from your current career. This category of "something else" may turn out to be your calling

Life is too short to spend too much time working at a job situation you don't love and doesn't nurture your soul. Your career should feel shamefully fun and more like an avocation. Making a decision like this can be tough but it is not a sign that you're doing the wrong thing. It's tough because it is a big part of how you spend your life. It's tough because you want to make sure you enjoy the next thing. It's tough because it's a change.

Dorothy Tannahill-Moran is a Career Coach and expert on helping her clients. Want to discover specific career change strategies that gets results? Discover how to by claiming your FREE gift, Career Makeover Toolkit at: http://CareerMakeoverToolKitShouldIStayorShouldIGo.com/

Career Makeover Club starting soon

2010-01-07T07:02:00.001-08:00

CAREER MAKEOVER CLUB

I'm starting a virtual Career Makeover Club beginning the last week of January. I am keeping two possible days and times open right now, pending input on the most workable times for those interested. I am offering the club beginning January 26 either at 5:30 pm pst or January 28 at 10am pst.

Who should be a member?

If you are unemployed and uninspired about your job prospects
If you are looking for a job but don't know where to start
Hate looking for a job
Feel like you're all alone
Need help to get you going and keep you going
Can't afford to hire a career coach or counselor

What is the Career Makeover Club?

This is a group of people organized and coordinated by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran, Your Career Change Agent
The CMC is designed to provide a support structure, job search education, resource sharing, inspiration and momentum for your job search. You don't have to "go-it-alone".
CMC will meet weekly for 8 weeks, over the phone. Each session has a specific agenda for education and discussion. In addition, a private online forum is available exclusively for this group to provide group updates, progress reports, wins and timely resources sharing

What is the cost?

The club cost is a fraction of what it would be if you hired a career coach. The cost is $25 per meeting either paid in advance or a payment schedule of 2 payments with the first half paid prior to the first club meeting and the second installment by week 4.

What if I'm interested?

You need to let me know now! I am limiting membership to ensure adequate coaching coverage. Contact me: dorothy@nextchapternewlife.com

Career Change: Feeling queasy about changing? 5 ways to confirm you’ve made the right decision

2010-01-06T13:50:00.001-08:00

You made a decision to change careers but you're feeling REALLY uneasy. You can't tell if you're coming down with the flu or if that sinking feeling is your decision. Big decisions are always kind of gut wrenching but there are some things you can do to test your situation.

Did you make this decision for the right reasons? Making a career decision is a big life changer and it requires some quality think time from you. If you have made this decision quickly because you had a fight with the boss or got a bad assignment, you do want to slow things down and think through the situation. We all have work we don't always love to do every day. We all have days that you can't stand the boss. Of course you don't want to do something you hate or work with bad people but the question(s) is: How long is this situation apt to continue? Can you work on your relationships? What can you do to make this better? If you have made the decision in haste put the actions on hold. Pick a point out in the future to revisit the decision. Allow time to present the potential of improvement. If it doesn't, then move on.
Transitions always have a level of anxiety. Even when we have wonderful things like marriage, there is still transition that goes with it. Like it or not in those quiet moments with ourselves we all question our decisions. It's not unusual to feel some concern about your career decision. The way to sort through this is to use some cold, cool logic. Sit down with your concerns and list them out. Examine them for reality. Do you have "what if" issues? Fine, build a solution for your various "what-ifs". Once you have listed your issues you will need to problem solve and possibly do some research. Go find the answers to your issues. My observation is that sometimes we do have true concerns but don't do anything to address them. We tend to just pile the issues up like fire wood.
Circumstances have forced a career change. If you have become unemployed and are using this time to change careers, I say: Go for it! It doesn't mean you are off the hook for doing your due diligence for researching your options. You always have to do your research work when making a career change. You can't go to a catalogue and point to a new career; it requires self examination and work. If you're unemployed, it's an opportunity.
You might not be done with your previous career. I believe every career has a cycle:
1. First cycle: you are in growth mode
2. Second cycle: you hit a career high point
3. Third cycle: you are in decline
If you're in stage two, you probably need to continue in that career until you have hit stage three. If this is your situation you have a good reason to push back on the decision. The work still holds some juice for you and you have more contributions to make. To leave it prematurely will be leaving something undone in your life.
What if I hate the work? I'm giving this "what if" question its own focus. I think one of the biggest concerns people have with changing careers is the unknown. The biggest unknown is the work itself. All the other unknowns might be: - not knowing if you will like the boss, the environment and a list of many new things you will face. There are two ways to answer this question. 1: If you have done your homework on your career selection you should have knowledge about the nature of the work and its appeal to your values. If you have done that work and are solid about that aspect then 2: get over yourself. You're starting to sound like a kid whose parents are about to move. Of course there are unknowns. Everything will be different and you will adjust. Attitude is the most important quality you can have when making a big career change.

The bottom-line to this situation is that if you have done your work to make this decision, then most likely you are facing some natural transition reactions. If they are transition reactions then they will pass. You can sort through them to help the process along and while doing that look at what you're doing as an adventure.

Goals for 2010? Make them SMART goals.

2010-01-03T08:51:00.001-08:00

This time of year cause many of us to think about making resolutions or goals for the coming year. I do hear some people being very cynical about resolutions or goals because "they don't do them". How sad. I don't know what my life would be like if I didn't have a couple of goals to work toward. They help get me up in the morning. I know that there is the occasional goal that doesn't get done for a variety of reasons but for the most part my goals are met. Let me share a goal secret with you.

If you haven't heard of SMART goals, I'd like to introduce them to you. Having SMART goals is the first step toward really getting things accomplished in both your personal and business life. SMART is an acronym for:

S = Specific. In order to have a goal that you can achieve you have to be specific about what you want to get done. I have found that no matter if you are looking for a job or fitness changes if you can't be specific; you probably won't get anything done. Let me give you an example of specific: EX #1: I want to lose weight. EX #2: I want to lose 10 pounds. Big difference don't you think?

M = Measurable. If you can't actually measure your progress and know what you will accomplish, again, you probably won't. The example up above is very measureable. You may have goals that you think can't be measured. You have to be thinking of the outcome. Let's say your goal was to reduce your stress. To measure the reduction, you might give yourself a scale of 1 to 10. Your goal is to reduce your stress for month end close from a 10 to a 5. Since it is your scale, you can define it because it is relevant to what's important to your experience.

A = Achievable. Sometimes people identify goals that are unrealistic and unachievable for a variety of reasons. You have to do a sanity check and if you think you can't objectively figure this out, ask someone. If you have identified a goal that isn't realistic you are setting yourself up for goal failure. Examples that come to mind are those silly goals you often hear at beauty pageants like: "Solve world peace". Are you kidding me?

R = Resonant. Your goal has got to be something that gets you excited and interested. One goal I took for a few years was to learn to play golf. I kept doing nothing and rolling it forward to the next year. After doing that a few times, I sat back and examined what was going on. I really didn't want to learn to play golf. I wanted to do it to have something to do with my husband. I scratched it off my list. It wasn't resonant. It was a good idea but it held no juice for me. I found other things we could both enjoy.

T = Timed. A timed goal is one that has a date for the goal to be accomplished. As a coach, I'm constantly asking my clients "when will that be done?" A great way you can stay accountable is to know when to be to your goal. If your goal can be finished at any time, there is no motivation to start. If you don't start you never finish. It's just that simple.

None of the elements of a SMART goal are difficult to include when setting goals. The final step for making and achieving goals is to write them down. If you write them down you not only have something to remind you but it builds in a level of commitment to yourself. One other step toward success with your goals is to tell people about them. Like writing down your goals when you share your goals with others it affirms your commitment. If you are a resolution or goal cynic, try SMART goals and make this year a great year for getting all kinds of things accomplished.

Career Change – Step 1 isn’t updating your resume’

2009-12-29T09:31:00.001-08:00

I can't count the number of times I've heard people talk about "updating their resume" when thinking about making a career change. If you are one of those people out there putting the polish on your resume' as you are about to launch a job search for a new career- STOP. Your resume' is not the place where you start your work on a career change. If you are simply looking for the same or similar position in another company, go ahead. There is a big difference between looking for a job and making a career change. Sure, at some point the process is the same and you will need to have a spiffy resume' but it's not the place to get started in making a career shift.

When contemplating a career shift, you are in need of something that looks like a research project. You need to do the work to help point you in a different direction. Picking a career is as hard to do at 40 as it is at 18. The world is your oyster which is a great thing but how do you find the one with the pearl? The good news is: if you are older than 18 you have more work and life experience that will give you important insight into the process and decision making.

So, where do you start? There are multiple actions you can take initially and they primarily involve self examination. Among the first steps:

Tests or assessments – These are good to give you more information about yourself. These assessments will give you insight on things like interests, strengths and work orientation. If you pursue these, you have to know up front that they alone will not give you the "One Big Answer" about your future career. In fact, they may in many ways tell you things you already know about yourself. So why take them? Because it will give you a starting place, it will help distill down information about you that you need to have as you embark on making a decision about a career. With any research project, you collect data from numerous sources to help create the conclusion. Among but not limited on assessments: Meyers-Briggs, Strength Finder, VISTA cards, Color Q and Holland. Many of these are in books and online.
Self assessment – This is where you really self examine. What kinds of things do you like to do? Where do you currently excel? What do you gravitate to outside of your current job? What did you dream of doing when you were younger? Are there people you know who have fun sounding jobs? Are there causes you believe in?
More self assessment – Start looking for feedback. When your performance has been assessed, what strengths and weakness to you exhibit? If you were to ask a circle of friends and relatives, what kind of work do they think you would be good at? You'd be surprised at how insightful this exercise can be. They aren't encumbered with your history yet they know you and often have some great suggestions based on what they know about you.
Job search – many libraries and websites have all kinds of job titles. Some titles will make almost no sense but most of them will. Start looking these over to see what might jump out at you as something interesting. You can also go to job search websites and get vast amount of job titles and job content to help in this step. What is it about the ones you selected that sound worthwhile?
Compile and research – with your mounting list of insights you can now start synthesizing into some logical groupings. These groupings are becoming what will ultimately be your new career because the baseline is from things in your research that have attracted you in some way. Don't worry about "real" titles, but put logical elements together. You want to avoid putting basketball and surgery together, it makes no sense. You could put problem solving, math skills and detail orientation together. An important action in this step is to eliminate things. If you naturally are interested in specific job titles or elements, then focus on those. Your goal in this step is to create groupings or jobs that will become your future career.
Network and research – With your newly minted jobs (mind you that you may still not have official job titles), you now need to talk to people and do more research to finalize on what you are looking for. In this last and final step before working on your resume', you need to understand where this work is, titles it might be called, and any further qualifications you might need to land a job. You will know when this step is completed when you have a clear picture on what career you want to pursue. The other great thing about this step is it has just given you great input on where to start your job search, once you are ready to get started.

Hopefully, you see that when making a career change, you need to do some heavy lifting to move you toward something meaningful. It is way more than simply updating your resume'. Many people don't know what steps to take and muddle their way through life not happy with their career/job. The actions aren't hard or difficult and the outcome is well worth the effort.

A career change can be an exciting and fun step to take. Most people have more than 2 or 3 careers in their lifetime. Since you spend so much time in your life working, it's worth the time and effort to find something you will love.

Yes, I am from Kansas. Confessions of Dorothy

2009-12-19T13:35:00.001-08:00

For some of you reading this blog, you already know that fact but for others of you, this may be news. As I grew up, there was the acknowledgement that there was Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and she was from Kansas. That was about it. No big deal. Then I left Kansas. (Oh Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!)

For the first several years after I moved to Oregon, I had countless reactions when people found out about this factoid. I was gifted with t-shirts with Oz related graphics along with countless paraphernalia. My personal favorite was the day I was in the neighboring engineering group at work. They had what amounted to a Burma Shave series of signs: 1- Oh Toto! I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore! 2- If Dorothy isn't in Kansas, where is she? 3- Alive and well in marketing, one aisle over. I even had a group give me a "Witch-be-gone" kit which consisted of a spray water bottle, ruby slippers and instructions for knocking off a witch. I can soundly say that when many people make this connection, they have found countless minutes (which has turned into years) of joy and laughter. It pleases me to be the source of fun, even if I didn't invent it myself.

So, you may wonder, how did I end up with that name? Many people speculated that I was named after Judy Garland's character in the movie. That is not the case. My sister named me. When my mother went to the hospital to hatch me, my sister Jane stayed with my aunt and uncle. This would be: Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Gene. Ahhh, you're starting to get it. My mother had picked out the name Jean but couldn't figure out a second one to go with it. When Jane showed up at the hospital to check me out, my mother asked her what name she thought would go well with "Jean". Instant answer (as only a 5 year old does) "Dorothy-Gene". This was her affectionate moniker for the seamless team that was my aunt and uncle. Rolls right off the tongue, don't you think? I am named after my aunt AND my uncle. The Wizard of Oz simply wasn't given a thought.

Despite the origins of my name, I finally figured out how to get people to remember me. It only took 50+ years. Now when I introduce myself, I follow it up at some point with: And Yes, I was born and raised in Kansas. Yes, I have ruby slippers and Yes, my husband thinks he's Toto.

I love the association because I have found many lessons in the story. The lessons: - Have a path and a goal – Love your friends – Love your family – Strive to continuously improve yourself – Be hopeful – Sing and skip – Know you are capable of doing more than you realize – When you've been through a tornado, braid your hair. I am Dorothy from Kansas and I continously live in the land of Ahhhhssss.

PS: I don't think it would have gone quite as well if I had been named Scarlet O'Hara, do you?

Life Lesson: Eliminate barriers for your life dream

2009-12-05T12:27:00.001-08:00

An important life skill you need to maintain or develop is how to eliminate barriers to your life dreams. As I see it, there are two primary reasons to do this: 1- You are as empowered as you allow yourself to be. Empowerment allows a person to remain victim-free and confident that no matter what, you can move forward. 2- It keeps you introspective and in a problem solving mode. Introspective simply means you think about your own actions (or non-actions) and their impact on your life and others. I combine introspection with problem solving here because it is a skill that you need your entire life. Chances are with being introspective; you will need to create solutions so you can move forward with your life.

What are the barriers you might face with regard to pursuing your dreams? We produce most of our barriers. As you have heard, we can be our own worst enemy and this is certainly one way we do it. We don't always realize it since it can be so much of who we are. If our dream is to help feed people in an impoverished country, we may have a voice inside telling us we can't do it. That voice can rationalize multiple fairly logical sounding reasons. That voice more often than not, is the barrier I'm talking about. The voice is your more primal, survivor instinct telling you not to jump over a cliff. It stands to reason then, that if the voice is right about the cliff, it must be right about the dream. Not so.

I do acknowledge that there are other possible barriers that get created along the path to your dream. The same skills and outlook are needed no matter where the barrier comes from. I've seen people have issues crop up not of their own creation and allow that issue to totally derail them. I'm always sad to see this happen for the person, especially when I know it doesn't have to stop them. It's times like this where having a finely honed problem solving skill ready to pull out is great so you can look for alternative solutions. There are very few things presented to us in life that only have one path forward. In fact, if you were to give 10 people the same goal, chances are very high that you would get 10 different paths to that goal.

Are you stuck going forward on your dream? Not sure how to get from here to there? Time to open up your personal tool kit, gather your resources and get going. You can eliminate barriers by going around them, over them, through them or another way. Let me know how it goes.

Career Change – Are you afraid to move in this economy?

2009-12-05T12:23:00.001-08:00

The buzz right now is that everyone is holding on to their current jobs with a death grip due to the grim economy. The overarching belief is that there are no jobs out there and for the ones that do exist, there are too many people applying. Let's say some of that is true. What is also true is that there are job openings. People move, get promoted or something continues to pull people out of their jobs every day. There are jobs. Maybe not as many and maybe the competition for the ones that come available are stiff BUT there are jobs that need to be filled. One thing is also true; you won't get any of them if you don't try.

If you have arrived at a point where you think it is time to make your next strategic career move, you should not let the state of the economy stop you. Don't create barriers where there are none. The challenge will be greater than in previous years but if you're prepared for those challenges, go for it. Let's look at what some of these challenges might be:

Job Posting Site– You hear stories of 200 people applying for one job at a local nursery for a nursery stock tender. In this environment, you can count on stiff competition for any posted job. The key here is "posted job". While it is one way to find out what openings exist, you and millions are looking at that same posting. Looking for a job this way is the lowest priority in a job search because it is the way millions of others are searching and applying. It is hard to land a new position this way due to the volume of other applicants and it is hard to stand out in a big crowd. It can be done and you should pursue it, you just need to calibrate your expectations appropriately.

Recruiters- You also need some insight into the life of a recruiter. They receive thousands of resumes each day. They will often use their computer software to sort out all kinds of criteria to help narrow down the huge pile that has come in. This is a buyer's market also. They don't need to talk to you, give informational interviews or much of anything they used to do a few years ago. Right now, they want to process the paper as quickly as possible, narrow it down to a few that look hot and screen them. With tight budgets, geographic consideration is also a big selection criterion. They may not want to fly applicants or relocate new hires, so be aware that geography is now playing a role in how an applicant is being screened.

The perfect match – Because the use of resume' handling software has become so prevalent these days, there is such a thing as the perfect match. If a hiring manager has determined 9 key skills and experience, the software will prioritize the resume's that have the highest number of matches. With a large volume, it is now possible to have resume' selected that hit 100% of the criteria, thus leaving out perfectly good candidates who are "close".

This is starting to sounds like an increasingly impossible set of barriers. This environment is challenging for sure but not impossible if your plan takes these things into account. Let's look at the key actions a person can take.

Make use of your contact and network – More than 80% of all job openings never make it to any kind of posting. Only the seriously hard to fill positions go out publicly for the most part. That means you must find those positions through the use of "who you know". This has been and continues to be the number one way to find an ideal spot. It's good because to some degree, it's prescreened for you. Your network will be reluctant to send you into a snakepit workplace. They would have to face you later and simply don't want to feel guilty. Also, they will refer when they feel confident with both sides, you and the other being a good fit. Don't feel bad if some people you know simply don't refer, they probably are the same ones that don't fix up their friends with blind dates. Some people just don't want to do it. BUT, some do!

Expand your network – if a career move is on the horizon, it's time to cast the net a bit broader. Figure out some groups you can hook up with that will be rich in potential job contacts. Look in Meetup on the internet, tons of great groups. Also, look into social networking like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, easy and convenient.

Look in unique places- on an airplane, coffee shop or church.

Plan your resume' – It is no longer possible to have just one all purpose resume'. Because of resume' search software, you must create resume's rich in key words. So if there is a few different related positions, create a different one for each position.

Set your expectations – Once you make a decision to move, it is a bit like stopping a freight train. You want to move right now. In this environment, you need to be a marathon runner. You need to pace yourself and set your expectations appropriately that this will take a while. You need to plan for a few dips and bumps which means you need to push through them and keep your eye on the goal.

Don't let the economic environment stop you from pursuing your dream job. There are millions of jobs and people are hiring every day. Your job is to understand the hiring situation, put your plan together and start working on it, today.

Mid Life Renewal played out on TV

2009-10-23T14:47:00.001-07:00

If anyone has been watching the TV program "Numb3rs" this season and probably the last two, there has been a significant life change going on for one of the support players. Don't worry, you don't have to have watched it to understand the observations I'm about to make.

The quick back drop. Dr. Larry Fleinhardt is a professor and friend to the key character who shares in his math genius. The key character's math skills are the heart of the program premise. Larry is brilliant and also very introspective about his place in the universe. He is single and solidly in his middle age. A couple of seasons ago, he applied for and joined in one of the space shuttle missions. It was the first in a series of surprising actions by this character. Prior to his space shuttle assignment, he gave up his place to live and began living in the basement of the university. When he returned, he was a changed person. Larry went off to live in a Buddhist temple with total silence. Next, he was been selected to work in Switzerland on the super collider, looking for the "God molecule". He has now resigned this prestigious role and has tenured his resignation as professor, only he is still showing up at work. In the meantime, Larry has decided to scorn technology and speaks of the pureness of a simple life. The last we saw of Larry he was driving to Las Vegas with tickets to 5 possible destinations in search of his own meaning. Clearly, Larry is making a substantial mid life renewal.

I thought looking at what is going on with Larry was a great way to illustrate what happens to many of us at one point or another in our life. Usually that point is in our mid life, give or take a decade. So, what is going on with Larry (or us)?

Larry has had a great career. He has earned a lot of visibility, credibility and notoriety. He is a rock star of mathematicians. Larry (or us) is starting the process of shifting who he is. He is going through an internal change and transition. As a result, he is rethinking everything in his life. While he loves his friends and appreciates his own contribution, he is now realizing there are other things, other experiences or points of view he wants to have. His big issue is, he just doesn't know what that is. He has been experimenting with the possibilities such as going to space. When he returns, he isn't prepared for the huge transition of moving back to his previous existence, it's disappointing and somewhat pointless. He thought he would find the answers "out there". The good news with Larry is he has been patient with himself. He is experimenting with his life and willing to accept whatever outcome. He will find his answer because he is open, patient and optimistic that his answer exists.

I should point out that Larry is also very uncomfortable with the space he is in. All transition comes with the inevitable discomfort of confusion and disenfranchisement. When you don't know who you are it drains your confidence and clarity. All too often, we try to shake this feeling off by destructive means like drugs, alcohol or instant gratification. Even if we don't react that way, we tend to be inpatient with ourselves and try to ignore this important passage in our lives. This is analogous to the birthing process. It's not a piece of cake for mother or child. The end result, however, is well worth the discomfort.

Why does this take place? There is never one simple answer to something as complex as we are. Among the catalyst are "completions". All careers have a peak and a person realizes they are done. They have nothing more to contribute. When children leave the nest, it signifies a completion of parenting. Life events like divorce and death will sometimes set a person into a rethink mode. In addition to completions are emotionally stirring events like having a religious experience or falling in love. All of these things plus our maturity and insight go into the mix of what sets us into redefining who we are.

What lesson have we learned from Larry? As I see it they are: 1- be patient with yourself, know you will be uncomfortable for a while 2- try and experiment with new things, you never know what new passion you will discover 3- be self accepting, even when you change everyday 4- maintain a sense of humor 5- don't eliminate your friends, even if you have to lose contact for a while.

My pearl of wisdom: Be a Larry when the time comes. Quote from Larry to a friend: "You could move in with me but I don't live anywhere."

Personal Change: Does Logic Play a role?

2009-09-17T10:14:00.001-07:00

It is important to look at the role logic plays in making personal change. If you look around you for a moment, you see TV, signs, articles and people flinging logic around with the clear intent of making someone change something. You can see it in anti-smoking campaigns. Those guys are spending the millions they were forced to spend on anti-smoking when they lost the various class action lawsuits. They wouldn't be spending millions if it didn't work, right? Not really. Smoking rates are going up, not down.

If logic worked to make us make change, we would all be non-smoking, slim and fit darlings already. Yet, I find it fascinating how many of us think that if we can just get this serious nugget of logic in front of the unknowing or uneducated that miraculously, they will see the beauty of that pure logic and change. You can also see this working with people that have the most to lose: death threats from heart disease. I recently read that close to 70% of people with serious heart disease ignore the lifestyle counseling from their own doctors. They know they have to eat right, exercise, lose weight and shape up or die, but that huge group ignore the counseling. They keep doing all the things that got them knocking on death's door and you would think that would be enough to inspire anyone to straighten up. Logic, while beautiful, is not enough to make most of us change anything.

Why do we keep shoveling out logic like a cure for the common cold? There are numerous things that go into that mix. Key among them is: we lack the skills to infuse motivation to change in others or ourselves. Making a change, whether it is flossing your teeth or changing jobs, has its challenges. Notice I said challenges. Making change is not impossible but it is a process that follows known characteristics and if you don't understand the process, you're left to "logic it out". For some reason, there is little education done on this subject and change happens our entire life. I liken it to ignoring the obvious. For the most part, we are left on our own to muddle through making changes, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Understand that logic does have its place with making a change. It is not the thing that will emotionally move you forward or cause you to take action. Logic's role is in the process of change, the thing that helps you plan, sort out issues and clear your mind. Logic, when left on its own won't motivate you.

Where does this revelation leave us? First, stop trying to use logic to convince others to change. We aren't prone to taking advice to begin with and logic really doesn't do the trick. Besides, if you're trying to change someone else, you're probably irritating. Second, there is information in the form of books, workshops and classes on making and mastering change and then of course, there is the occasional expert on change (ahem, cough) you can work with.

Personal Change Resistance: It’s getting a bad rap

2009-08-23T14:21:00.001-07:00

There is an interesting myth that our culture supports; that we resist change. It's interesting but it's also untrue. You may be sitting there thinking "is she out of her mind?" Let me quickly show you my point. You have been making change your whole life. You changed from a child to an adult, you changed schools, moved, and changed friends. The list goes on. As an adult, you have even more change happening to you, some of it you caused and some of it "happened" to you. As you know, change is the only constant in our life, so it washes over us all the time. Change happens.

This leaves us to ponder the questions: If we have so much change happening to us, why do we think we resist it? Why are some changes so hard to make or accept? These are all good questions. Let's examine what change resistance is.

Our tendency is to turn our behavior into a habit. As humans, we benefit greatly from habits. It means we can perform numerous tasks with very little conscious effort. In other words, we don't have to think about things too much. The best illustration of this is when you drive home and suddenly realize you don't remember most of the drive. The drive home is a habit. You don't have to think about how to operate the car or what streets you have to turn on. These habits allow us to more or less go on auto-pilot mentally which reduces the amount of energy we spend on the various tasks of living. If you have ever had a day filled with learning something new, you know just how exhausting that can be. That is how each day of your life would be if you didn't have habits to help you.

An important thing to also understand about a habit is that it takes at least 21 days of repeated behavior to either make or break a habit. Three weeks doesn't sound like much until you try doing it. That means if you want to start exercising regularly, you're looking at about a month before it STARTs to become a habit. If you have ever been to a gym at the first of the year, you would notice a huge influx of people. By February about half of those same people are there. So changing or substituting a behavior means you have to know up front, it will take a while before it becomes routine and therefore easier to do consistently.

A strange aspect to habits is the unconscious aspect to it. That means that we aren't thinking too much about what we're doing, so if it turns out you're a jerk, you probably don't notice it. That's nice for you, not so nice for those around you. That means if you have had a deep and meaningful conversation with your spouse about some crummy behavior, there are worlds of issues creating the "resistance". First, they probably have no idea what the issue is. Second, even if you get them to agree to change, they have to figure out what to substitute. Third, if they figure out a suitable substitute the challenge will be for them to continue to do it long enough to create a new habit or behavior. Real change is possible, but it has its challenges. Let me tell you the refreshing part of this. Most of the people you run into that are jerks (including your boss), don't really realize it. That means, they aren't acting like a jerk to make your life horrible, they are simply doing things unconsciously. The refreshing part of this: it's not about you.

Now that you understand the role habit plays, let's look at how it makes you feel. Because a habit allows you to unconsciously conduct a large part of your life, it allows you to feel comfortable. We are creatures of comfort and we will go to great lengths to maintain that comfort. That means that if we can avoid having to do things consciously, we will. We will only voluntarily make changes when a situation has gotten to a point where we are uncomfortable enough with whatever the issue is, that we then take action. You can logic your way to thinking about a change but if you don't feel uncomfortable enough, you won't make the change. You can look at the no smoking movement. We are putting out all kinds of information about why you shouldn't smoke. Pure logic. The smoking rate continues to grow. If logic worked, none of us would be smoking, overweight or out of shape. Some of us are left to conclude, then, that if we "know" something and don't make a change that we must be resistant. Logic alone won't make most of us uncomfortable.

Change happens to us and is something we do to ourselves all the time for the rest of our lives. We really aren't resistant to it; we tend to avoid paying attention to it. We're dealing with habits, which are hard to change. There is a big difference between being resistant to something and simply breaking a habit. Being resistant is largely an attitude. You can modify your attitude much easier than modifying a habit. Lest I depress you, let me leave you with a few quick thoughts. Breaking a habit or making a change, is a process, so it can be done. You will need to do some planning and set your expectations about the amount of time it might take. Also, we tend to not retain or internalize how to apply one change to others in our life but the minute we do, we become its master.

Discover your passion through your natural creativity

2009-07-24T11:15:00.001-07:00

We often find our passions through our creative instincts. We all have them, you know. As children we dance to our own beat, sing our own songs, build our own play worlds, and draw our own designs in the sand. As adults we can recapture those creative instincts by relaxing our minds to new possibilities.

I love to play the "what if I could" game. It allows me the freedom to think without limits. What if I could write a book? What if I could have a million dollars? Maybe if I wrote a book, I'd have a million dollars. What if I could plan a vacation or host a dinner party? What if I could fix a car or fix a computer or raise my own vegetables? What if I could manage a household or manage a group of employees? What if I could help the elderly or tutor children?

Of course, the answer to all of my "what if I coulds" are a resounding "yes". I can do pretty much anything, if I decide it is important enough to me. Whatever I decide to do always takes some level of creativity on my part. To think and to act is by nature using creativity. The more we think and act, the more creative we become. So if you ever think you have no creativity, just recall a time when you thought of something and you did it. We all have. We are all creative. We are humans, the only species given the creative ability to build a wonderful life beyond the drive for food and shelter.

Now get out there, no matter how old, how rich, or how fit you are, and play the "what if I could" game. Dare to show off your creativity. Dare to follow your passion.

Love and Joy, Ruth Colter

NOTE FROM DOROTHY: I wanted to let the blog readers know that from time to time, I will be posting articles written by people other than myself but the content reflects what is consistent with Next Chapter New Life direction. Enjoy.

How do I know if I’m ready to retire?

2009-06-19T07:32:00.001-07:00

This question isn't really about the financial aspects as much as it's about the emotional or personal side of this equation. It's not the side that gets talked about too much, but retirement is much more than a question of money.

Clearly, you need to ensure you do have a financial plan for the day you decide to take the retirement plunge. Assuming you have some idea of the financial situation in your life, let's look at the other, more personal side.

The quick answer to the question is: Not if you don't have a plan for the personal side of your life. Many people mistakenly think that the day of not working will be a glorious day. What's not to like about not working? Actually, plenty. Up to this point in your life, your work has been the one, if not the primary source, of meaning and purpose. If you unplug from something that vital in your life, you have virtually unplugged yourself from life support. I'm not saying you have to keep working, but I am saying that you can only play so much golf and watch just so much daytime TV before you start feeling totally worthless about yourself.

There is not one aspect of your life that is not impacted or affected by retirement. It's a huge social impact as it will impact your relationships with friends from work and probably your spouse or significant other, family and other non work friends. It impacts how you define yourself and how you find meaning. It means that you need to find something to spark your interest and imagination. You may expand doing some of the things you only got to do periodically when you worked. You will also find new things to do (hopefully). Your financial situation may be such that you need to continue to bring in some income for a while, so what might that work be? Even if the finances aren't an issue, you may decide to work but in a different setting. Many people heading into retirement think about moving to be closer to family or in a geography that better suits them. Then there's the issue of your health and fitness. You might have ignored that while working, but your excuse will be going away. You have to work at staying healthy as you age. Are you getting the drift yet? There are a lot of things to think about. There are things you need to spend time thinking and planning for. This isn't a 2 week vacation. This is probably 30 years (give or take a bit). 30 years of your life is well worth the effort.

If you're sitting there doing a self assessment and you've come to the conclusion that all your ducks are in order both financially and in your personal life, then the answer is: don't wait. This will be the first time in your life that you have the freedom to really choose what kind of life you really want to have. So, don't delay, your life is waiting for you.

FREE assessment – Overwhelmed with too many issues? Not sure what to tackle first?

You may feel like a deer in the headlights, stuck, frozen and not moving forward. Many of us get to a point in our life where we know there is something more but are unclear how to get the answer. Take the free NEW LIFE assessment and get answers. Once you have taken this assessment, I will meet with you to review your results and advise you on next steps. It's your life, take charge of it.

Dorothy Tannahill-Moran
Life Coach and Change Agent
http://www.nextchapternewlife.com

Click here for the NEW LIFE assessment http://www.ChangeWorksSystem.com/mydashboard/tabid/55/ctl/campaignoptin/mid/362/practcampaignguid/b50ac3cb-72e6-49ef-86d8-8ccd8b69fce4/default.aspx

8 CRITICAL SKILLS FOR THE 2ND HALF OF LIFE

2009-05-26T15:43:00.001-07:00

Too many people are simply bored with their life. The boredom can create a downward spiral. The spiral can include depression, listlessness, hopelessness and many other negative feelings. Perhaps the biggest issue for a person in this situation is a sense that they don't know what to do and so they do nothing. I call this the "deer in the headlights" effect. When faced with life (as in your life) too many people stop in their tracks, frozen with fear of making that first step.

I'd like to present 8 critical skills that you need to develop now and keep finely tuned. These skills will help you avoid the negative spiral and keep you out of the traffic.

Skill #1: Dream about the future

You don't need to sleep in order to dream. Spend time thinking BIG about your future life. If you have an unfulfilled dream from childhood, re-examine it as a place to start. What exists in your mind but is so exciting it scares you?

Skill #2: Eliminate barriers for your life dream

More than likely, you're your own barrier. What is holding you back? I know of a thirty something that regrets not going to college. She thinks she's too old to do it now. That is the kind of barrier I'm talking about. I have a friend that at 50+ is the "old man" in his political science department. He's getting his Doctorate. No barrier there.

Skill #3: Attain purpose and meaning

Over 40 sometime, we start seeking purpose in new ways. Earlier in life, purpose was creating and establishing elements of life such as: spouse, children, house and career. Now that many of those are in place the purpose shifts. Purpose can be found in giving yourself and surrounding yourself with those things that nurture you. Explore. Find your purpose.

Skills #4 Empowered to choose life direction

Our future is more than the circumstances of our past. There are only 2 things you don't have a choice over: death and taxes. Like the gal previously mentioned, she can choose what comes next. It's your life, take charge of it.

Skill #5: Continuously learn new things

The benefits of learning are numerous. The primary benefit for you will be all the new opportunities that will open up. The possibilities are unlimited. You could learn a new skill, about new places, interests or attitudes. Basically, you will continue to grow. If you aren't growing, you aren't thriving.

Skill #6: Recognize what's possible

Somewhere in our life we start shrinking the possibilities. Remember when you thought you could do pretty much anything? I went to a lecture by Dr. Wayne Dwyer and listened to a young man play improvisational drums. He had no hands. He didn't let that fact shrink him. He looked AND FOUND what was possible.

Skill #7: Learn from mistakes

Failure is a good thing IF you learn something in the process. It's also good because it means you are striving toward something important. Failure can also be an attitude. I've read that Thomas Edison "failed" 10,000 times. He never considered himself a failure. He looked at these results as 10,000 chances to improve his work. If you haven't failed recently, give it a try.

Skill #8: Cultivate meaningful relationships of trust and respect.

We find nourishment from others in our life. We are social creatures that need to give and receive of ourselves to others. Think of this concept like fabric. Fabric has many threads, going in different directions. The sum of the parts is stronger than any one thread.

How developed are these skills for you? It's easier to stay excited about your life than to pull yourself out of the ho-hums. Make this easy on yourself- get these skills and keep them tuned like an expensive sports car.

Bored with life? No direction? Want something better? Take the free NEW LIFE assessment and get some answers.

Click here for the: NEW LIFE assessment

Midlife Personal Change – coming at you bigger and faster

2009-04-28T10:07:00.001-07:00

Yuk! We seem to hate change. We avoid it and at least hope we go through it super fast. I think of this like swallowing cough syrup. If you do it quickly it won't be as bad. I would hope you could think of it as a fact of life and something to build a skill for.

I'd like to adjust your thinking about change especially if you are in your middle years of life. As we know, change is the only constant we have in life. Despite this fact of life, we do little to understand it or to pass on any wisdom about the process. By the time we hit our middle years, the changes we tend to go through start coming at us faster than earlier in our life. They also tend to be more impactful.

Let's look at what is taking place in our middle years. By this point in our life, we have hit most of the major milestones such as going to school, launching a career, getting married, having kids and buying a house. There tends to be an order to how these things take place in our life. At some point, after all these events have taken place, you get hit with a new wave of events like divorce, empty nest, career completion (more on that later), death of loved ones, moving of you or loved ones, retirement, health issues, aging and loss of various bodily functions like your eyesight. This list could be thought of negatively. It doesn't have to be.

Just to make things more complicated in this timeframe we often express our lack of wisdom on change or inability to manage the process of one change, by creating more changes. An example of this is evident at the completion of our career. We start getting restless with our work; need to make a change, so we get divorced. This is the description of misdirected transition management. When we start getting those first internal signals of dissatisfaction, we get dissatisfied with many things all at once. What is prompting the issue becomes blurry. Instead of working through the process, or examining ourselves, we can focus our transition efforts on the wrong thing. We make the wrong change, the issue remains.

I'd like to hit the pause button for a moment on the term "career completion". Careers are taken for granted. We give great consideration and discussion to launching a career. We might have more than one in our life time, but we don't talk too much about the process for when one comes to completion. Our process in not deliberate or well thought out, we just let it happen. We might get laid off and use that to restart a new one or we might stick it out much longer than we should. While I think our professional athletes get paid way too much, I admire the deliberation and forethought that goes into their thought process for completion of their careers. We hear "I want to go out on top". Why don't the rest of us do that? When we don't give career completion any advanced thought, there comes a point for most of us where we do become dissatisfied with what our work is. It happens because we have mastered it and have got out of it about all we can.

The transition around work is not to be underestimated. Work, for most of us, is the thing that gives our life meaning and purpose, even if it is to simply pay the rent. We have an internal need to feel productive. I really think it's almost instinctive. Because of the huge role it plays in our life, we hold on to it in ways that drive and define the rest of our lives whether or not it's a negative role. It may sound like I'm undervaluing the role of our relationships I'm not. I am trying to help you understand that our work can drive us a great deal. When our regard for our work changes, it will impact the rest of our lives.

There are three major things you can do to help yourself manage your transition.

Simply understand and acknowledge the emotional readjustment that comes with change. It's uncomfortable for a while. Being creatures of comfort, we try to avoid being uncomfortable. Don't avoid it, be with it. This feeling will go away, it will flit in and out of your days until eventually it goes away entirely. The discomfort can also take many forms. You can feel uncertain about your decision, you may question your judgment, you may feel sad, and you may also feel excited. The discomfort has two sides to it. Also, don't rush it. You will go through it now or later, but you will go through it. Best to do it now.
Learn from your transitions and use your wisdom going forward. Ask yourself the good questions: what did I do that worked well the last time? What didn't work and I should avoid? What are some positive, productive actions I can take to smooth this transition? When will I take that action? Process the change, talk to trusted people.
Sit down and think through some actions you can take that will help ease your transition. Taking action will not only help you but it will provide some control over your situation. Make sure the action is useful and related to the change taking place.

Change and transition that goes with it can present you with unbelievable opportunities. Change will happen with or without your permission. You have a choice about how you will react to it. You can choose to resist it and make it your enemy. You can make change a companion that is gifting you. Look forward to what it has to offer. Learn from the process, become skillful.

Midlife crisis – Is it real? Am I having one?

2009-03-23T15:31:00.001-07:00

Once you hear the term "midlife crisis" it conjures up an image of a pot bellied, middle aged man with a new red sports car and a young blonde babe next to him, with whom he's having an affair. There are other back stories to that image like the fact that he's bored with life and has spent the last six months embarrassing his kids with his attempts at appearing cool and dressing like them. We've all heard about these kinds of things and to some degree, we've seen bits and pieces of it with people that we know. So, it must be real, right?

I personally have a problem (not a big one) with that term. It's cliché and it almost pokes fun at a phenomenon that occurs to all of us to varying degrees. The phenomena I'm talking about is that, at midlife, we make some changes. We've been doing that almost every decade but this one is different. The change is all encompassing as it hits all of our life. It makes us rethink the meaning of our work, the meaning of our life, and the value system we thought we had. We question our relationships, and we start, for the first time in our lives, to seriously think about how we to spend the rest of our life. It's a mid life change for sure. I'm not sure it's has to be a crisis. There are several experts that have studied the various changes we go through and the majorities talk about them in time periods closely aligned to decades. Obviously, as the imperfect creatures that we are, this is very approximate. We all differ.

The 20's is the first real decade of being an adult. We may have been finishing college, but were definitely launching what would turn out to be our first career or profession. That may make it sound like we all did the choosing. In many cases, "work happened" and it turned into a career, such that it is. We were busy discovering what being a "non kid" is like. We discovered numerous things and as a result were often very idealistic during this time. As we neared the end of this decade, our thoughts turned to love.

In our 30's, the reality of life set in. We have fell in love, got married, bought a house, had kids and acquired possessions. In this decade, we hit full speed on everything including our careers. With that we may have developed a keen sense of ambition and were often willing to do what it takes to get ahead.

In our 40's and starting into our 50's life takes a breather. This becomes a catalyst for rethinking our lives. At this point, a number of things that we were so driven to accomplish we have accomplished. The kids are leaving home, the house is almost paid for, you hate your boss or your job, and what you haven't yet bought you don't care to get anymore. The things that were once important to you, no longer are. It doesn't mean they never were important; it's just that they aren't now. It's just that you aren't who you used to be. For the first time in your life, you have actually looked to the future and you can actually see the end in sight. You have now solidly arrived at this midlife rethink, but you really don't know what to think. You can't figure out what is important. With this, my friend, the anxiety builds. This is not a pleasant experience because we are creatures of comfort. We will do almost anything to avoid discomfort. Introspective and creative people will take pause and use this confusing time to really ask themselves the tough questions about what is now important and what will give them new purpose going forward. The less introspective they will try to dump this discomfort like a bad date. What they don't know is that this is an internal process and only they can discover the answers. The answers are not new material possessions, new family, or a big bottle of scotch. This person is developing their own garden variety midlife crisis. It's a crisis. That confusion, the need to figure out what's important, will loom indefinitely until they answer the questions.

The moral to this little ditty is that if you are 39 and counting, you must carry the knowledge that this might happen to you. If you are 40+, you may already be there. Whenever it happens to you, you must relish this time as an opportunity to contemplate what your life ahead will be. Sure, it's hard work to figure out what you want to do when you grow up. It was when you were 18, and things haven't changed. But now, with experience and some maturity, you've got more in your toolkit to answer those questions. You must also acknowledge that this won't be comforting to you until you figure it out, but you will. Once you do pure excitement awaits you. You have to learn and grow. Read. Talk to people. Find your passion. Your passion won't find you.

I can’t retire since: I have no friends outside of work. What will I do when I retire?

2009-02-17T09:36:00.001-08:00

Working does bring with it a multitude of benefits aside from a paycheck and health insurance. Our work environment brings with it what I call "automatic friends". These are people that you see almost every day and with whom you have numerous things in common. The biggest is the business you work for. These friends supply numerous things in that setting such as: observations, and someone who looks forward to your arrival. Work friends can become so important to some of us that the environment can become "like a family". It's little wonder that retiring could totally mess up such a good thing.

When you are considering retirement, there are a number of life aspects like friendships, you need to think and plan on. The concern about losing this nurturing support system is a very real issue. It's an even bigger issue if you haven't put very much effort into making friendships outside of the work environment. Even if you have, it is still an aspect that will significantly change once you have given yourself the pink slip.

Many times people considering retirement or leaving a work situation mistakenly think that the friendship will just continue. The mistake is not the intent; it's not understanding the complexities that will ensure the relationship is maintained. Let's examine the various elements that must be considered.

We often underestimate or don't even acknowledge the increase in time and effort required. When you work together, you don't have to make time in anyone's schedule – you're both already at work. You may not even "socialize" that much but simply the time spent interacting is conducive to building and expanding your regard for another person.
We may miss the commonality that work created. There is an adage: We have friends for a reason, a season or a lifetime. Most friends fall into one of those categories. If the reason we formed our friendship was our work environment, what happens to the relationship when the one thing you had in common – isn't? Many times, people will put in an effort to maintain the friendship but over time it withers because the foundation that drew you together is now gone.
When we work together, the work situation may cause you to not fully "see" the other person's character or personality. In other words, if you are in a funky work situation and you both help reinforce each other negatively, you certainly feel supported. What if the basic content of this person is negative anyway? Once the work situation is subtracted from your interactions, you may discover a fundamental aspect that is not so appealing.
The other person may simply not be interested in pursuing a friendship outside of work.

These considerations are not insurmountable but do require some advanced thought and planning. If you are within a horizon for leaving your work place, now is the time to start changing the context of your work relationships. You can initiate activities outside of the work environment to either replace what you have in common, or minimally, to test how well you relate to each other without work as a backdrop. If you spend time complaining about the boss, make a pact to go an extended period of time not complaining. This will not only make you feel better (because you aren't reinforcing something negative) but it will open up the relationship to better observe each other's real personalities. You could discover you have nothing to talk about. This is much better to understand now than after you leave.

While you are in the midst of reorienting your work friendships, it's advisable to simultaneously work on cultivating friendships outside of work. Again, this will require some thought, time and effort. Friendships are formed because you share interests, hobbies or philosophies. The best way to discover those potential buddies is to become involved in groups that align with your interests. As a working person you may not think that you can afford the time for this kind of diversion. If you are going to supplant your automatic work friends with new ones you will be better off starting the process before you leave.

There are numerous other actions you can think of to leverage the work friends you've made as well as making new friendships outside of the work environment. You may have a very real concern about the impact on your work friendships. The point to this is that you will be far better off thinking through this issue and working on it than just letting it happen or avoiding taking the next step.

THE CHANGE YOU ARE MAKING IS REALLY ABOUT SOCIAL CHANGE

2009-01-08T12:03:00.001-08:00

No wonder we find making changes so hard. Of all the possible changes you can think of, all affect some aspect of your social life. Our social life is not only important to us it is a vital part of who we are. I'm sure someone reading this might pooh-pooh that idea. Think about it for a minute. Unless you live in a mountain cave and come in contact with absolutely no one, you have social contact and most likely some of those contacts have meaning to your life.

Let's look at some various examples of what I mean about changing your social life. I tried to think of the most self focused change that can be made,, that had the least to do with someone else. I thought of plastic surgery. If you think about the context for doing plastic surgery, it does come across as a very "me" focused change. The doctor doing the surgery will interview you about your motivations. Key to the discussion is the notion that you aren't doing it to please someone else, but rather to feel better about yourself.

I hope you have the picture now. Assuming that is all true, chances are very high that people you come in contact with will possibly react to you differently afterward. Your friends and family will have their reactions to it. You will sport a new attitude about yourself and your interactions with others. Summary: you thought you were changing your body but you have also changed your social life, at least to some degree.

Now, plastic surgery is not something most of us can't relate to but I wanted to make a point about change and its social aspects. In our lifetime, most of us will go through common changes like getting married, having kids, changing jobs, moving, and retiring. All are changes that have positive attributes and all are changes that will remold the social fabric of your life. Certainly there are other "less positive" changes that will thrust social changes upon you such as: divorce, illness and death. Let me take one of these examples and expand on it again so you can relate to it more deeply.

You are making a job change. The list of concerns are numerous, even if you are making the change for good reasons like pay, job advancement, training or experience. Among the concerns you might have are:

will I like my new boss (social)
I will miss the friends I have at my current job (social)
will I like the people I work with at the new job (social)
can I perform my new job (not social)
I will be in a learning curve and feel uncomfortable (not social)
my routine will have to change (may be social as it might impact home life and after work activities).

In this situation, the motivation for making a job change could be social or purely objective like more pay. No matter the motivations your social life will change.

The place of work presents to all of us what I call "automatic friends". These people automatically share several common experiences. They are working for the same company and therefore impacted by the company's situation. They are doing similar or related work and probably work for the same boss. You eat together and over time you learn about each other lives. You also probably know that without the context of work, you probably would never see most of these people no matter how fond you might be of them. Yet without them in your life, they would be missed. You may also feel a sense of disloyalty for leaving them. There is another aspect not to be missed about the social aspect of change. I call it "tribal mentality".

Since I've made my point about change being social change, you then have to understand that you are a part of a group or a system. In this last example the group or system is the work group. When even one person within a system makes a change it becomes a change for everyone. As humans we don't really like change because it represents some level of discomfort. We will do almost anything to avoid being uncomfortable. The individuals in the "tribe" may be outwardly supportive but inwardly they are demanding that life remain the same. They have a habit and you're part of it. They will continue with the habit as long as they can. If you maintain contact with them after you leave, chances are they will see you as the person they knew in the old setting. They may attempt to interact with you as they did previously, yet it will be odd and out of place. Their behavior may cause you to question the decision to change. They will do everything they can to have you stay the same, not because it's in your best interest but because it's in theirs. Now, multiply that times the number of people in your group and you have "tribal mentality". It's definitely one big contributor to why change is hard to make. It's because we are but a thread in the social fabric of our life. It doesn't mean it can't be done. It does mean you have to understand it will be part of what will make it tough.

My hope in pointing this out to you is to help you understand that there are real but subjective elements to every change you go through. The best help with this aspect is simply to be educated. Knowing that these situations will occur and are very natural can be good to help you slog through. That knowledge won't necessarily make it go away or create less anxiety but will help you self manage your reaction to it. You must keep your eye on the goal. On the other side of change can be a new and exciting life.

Retire? I have to keep working since: I don’t know what to do

2008-12-05T19:06:00.001-08:00

Really? If your kids were saying the second half of that sentence you'd give them a bad time about finding something fun to do. You'd send them to their room to find a game or outside to enjoy nature. Its time to do that for yourself.

Yet,I totally understand where you're coming from. I spent years working 60 hour weeks and traveling almost weekly. Work and life balance had no meaning to me. How can you balance something completely weighted on one side with nothing on the other? I found three day holiday weekends a struggle. I could fill up two days easily with the various catch up chores of life, but if you added another day, I was toast. When I retired at 49, I had numerous people predict I'd be back in a year. They knew I loved my work and they also knew I didn't really have too much else going on in my life. Huhh. Little did they know!!

There are a few things you need to calibrate to help you with this problem. 1- You need to redefine retirement 2 – You need to discover the world of a million possibilities 3- You can't just sit on your duff and expect a solution to fall out of the sky. So, my friend, lets take each point here and more fully explain my message.

Redefine retirement. In past times, retirement meant stopping working, going home and stopping being a viable contributor. People in that group, no matter their background or intelligence, became marginalized, less valuable. In a large part, they contributed to that image. But your retirement means one primary thing: the freedom to do what you want, however you want to do it. Oh man, that's huge. Never in your life have you had an opportunity like this. As a kid, you had to finish school. If you went to college, you had to get the degree. As a worker, you had to support yourself and probably a family with all the trimmings. But now, no prescription, no recipe, no counselor pointing out colleges. It's just you. That means if you want to work but just not full time, you can. Or if you want to be a bass fishing guide four months out of the year, you can do that too. If you want to finally volunteer overseas, go for it. And if you need some income, just not as much as you're making now, then start thinking outside of the box. If you could do whatever you wanted to do, what would it be? As an adult, we learn by doing, so you may not have all the answers before you give yourself the pink slip. The main point is to start thinking, make a plan. If you need to adjust the plan, adjust it and keep doing things until that AHA! Moment takes place and you realize you have stumbled on to your own version of heaven.

Discover the world of a million possibilities. Has your dream muscle withered away? Remember when you were young and ridiculous? You had a million dreams, one day you were going to publish a book, the next day you were going to be a police officer. Each dream was exciting, filled with infinite possibility. You need to get back into the dream gym and start working out dude, you're getting flabby.

Two things to do: 1- Here's an exercise. Think back to the time when you were truly excited about something you were planning to do. How did that feel? What was it about the plan that got you charged up? List the characteristics of that experience. Was it a new job assignment where you got to travel? Was it when you moved to another state, that you had always loved? Were you going to be able to work with your sibling? Now are the juices flowing? What other kinds of things would get you going? Add these items to the list. 2-Here's another exercise, do it,,you aren't tired yet!! Take the thread of even the tiniest item of interest and start researching it. Go out on the Internet and Google it to see what it brings up. See what other things are related it to. Go expose yourself to these things. Sign up for a class, or go talk to someone who does these things and find out what they like. It's almost shocking to see how much is out there for us to do. If you are sitting out there saying you aren't really interested in anything,,that just won't do. There are things in your life that interest you. I have a friend who said that to me a few years ago. She was a gal who loved fine jewelry, she now makes jewelry. You simply have to look at what you do as a place to start.

Wheww! Are you working up a sweat? You have much more to do, but I leave you with an expansion of my last point.

Your future won't fall into your lap out of the sky. You must take responsibility for your future. Only you can decide to make your life exciting or ho-hum. Even not making a decision, is a decision. Pick a time each week, an hour or an amount you know you can consistently devote. Put that time on your calendar. Make your future a priority, keep your appointments. Take that time and start mapping out your future. Do your researches, make those calls, enroll in a class, meet with a coach, start day dreaming, but whatever you do, take action.

In summary, just know that working is fine when you are ready to retire. But continue to work because you love it, not because you don't have something else to do.

I hate my job …Am I too old to change careers?

2008-11-01T15:15:00.001-07:00

Even though you will live to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 90-100 years of age, spending a major amount of your time doing something you hate is way too much time lost. The quick answer is, No, you aren't too old to change careers.

A myth that has and does exist in our society is that "older" people aren't wanted in the business setting. We cost too much, we're too out of date and we are just: out of it. I have never believed this and now that I'm in the group we're talking about, I still don't believe it. If you are one of those unfortunate people that does believe this, I ask you now to work on getting rid of that unhelpful line of thinking. What you think can manifest itself in your life. If you don't believe me, read Dr. Dwayne Dyer's book The Power of Intention. He basically outlines for you that your thinking almost literally programs you to accomplish whatever those thoughts are. Call it the power of positive thinking, call it whatever you want but by this time in your life, you have heard this message in one form or another – you will get further in life by a good, positive attitude than a negative one. So, first thing is to change your thought patterns, by whatever means you can muster.

The next thing to know is that you need to start working on your escape plan. Time to do something you love, not just like. Figuring this out will be heavy lifting, so know that up front. But, don't chicken out, you don't just have wonderful things magically appear; you must work on yourself if you're going to make great things happen.

If you're sitting there not knowing where to turn and what to do, my first advice to you is to start by doing an analysis of yourself. I would develop a list of all of the kind of work you have experience with. Don't make this a general description like "computer programmer", really list the work like coding, coordinating meetings, inspecting equipment, creating tests, etc. Once you have that list (which you can continue to add to over time), make two columns, one column labeled as "work I like" and the other "work I never want to do again". Then check each item in one column or the other. Add work elements to the list you might not have ever done, but would like to such as "healing arts, working with children, artistic" (these go into the "work I like") Look at the "Work I like" very critically and start thinking outside the box. What kind of work does this suggest? Next, do a work environment list and evaluate it. By work environment, I'm talking about things like what work situations have you worked best in. It can cover things like travel, work teams, or solo projects. You have to figure out what it is that just doesn't work for you at this point, and what you think would work for you.

You now need to kick into research mode. Go to the library and check out several books on job search, retooling yourself and all other related topics. There are loads of these kinds of books. Most of them have exercises like I mentioned and many others that will help you start arriving at some actions and conclusions. I also wouldn't be shy of considering seriously retooling yourself by going back to school. If you have always thought teaching was great, then get your teaching credential. Go talk to people in the professions that hold interest for you, learn more about the work (and in the process you might make a great future contact) The bottom-line is that you have to work at getting new work. You need to treat this one like it is a job in itself. The reward will be worth the effort.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't toss in a few pearls of wisdom on how you're feeling about now. If you are one of these people, you probably haven't taken that next big step because of your own fears. That's normal. Change can be such a frightening thing that it will cause us to stop dead in our tracks, looking like a deer in the headlights. It's too hard to move, yet it's too hard to stay. At least with staying where you are, you know the terrain. You might not like it, but it has a comforting feeling of familiarity to it. Yuk!! Change for pity sakes. I must now quote a former boss of mine: "You must always make fear and anxiety your friend, because the minute you lose them and get comfortable, you will be too afraid to move forward."

So, there you have it. Don't stay at a job or job situation you can't stand and just know that you can recreate yourself at any age. Colonel Sanders didn't start his empire until he was well into his 60's.

Introducing Next Chapter, New Life

2008-10-29T18:59:00.001-07:00

Hi, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Dorothy Tannahill Moran and I am now open for business as a life coach focusing on changes in your life and retirement readiness.

So what, pray tell, is that all about? My aim is to help people go through the process of defining their goals and actions around major changes and transition they are making in their life. Facing transition can be a daunting task. It's uncomfortable and can be frightening. At the same time, it can be exciting. No matter what reactions it might invoke in you, just know that I'm here to help you navigate the murky waters and help you along the way.

To many people, it doesn't make sense that making a change can be so difficult to do. Change is hard, if it was easy, we would all lose weight, stop smoking, exercise and quit that dreaded job. As humans, we are constantly seeking to get comfortable with our surroundings and situations. When we move into a new place, we work hard to unpack, put everything away and find the new favorite spot to sit. We're seeking comfort. It's one thing to make a change; it's totally different to experience the transition that comes with it. It's the transition that we are avoiding.

So, what is transition and why do we avoid it? Change is an action or event. Examples of this: you move to a new place, you get a new job. Transition is the emotional and mental "reorganization" that you always go through when you make a change, no matter how big or small the change might be. The process is inevitable and not always pleasant. You can feel insecure about your decision or even your own capabilities. You might feel sad about the lose of your previous life and all that went with it.

Let me illustrate what I'm saying with this example. Almost all of us at one time or another has either had a bad job situation and if you haven't you know of someone who has. Despite how bad the various aspects were, you might of "hung in there" hoping it would improve. You might have gone through a stage of wanting to leave but feeling hopeless about what else you might do, or that you really had to stay because you had one more thing to accomplish or felt disloyal to the people that have become your friends. I could fill a page with the various stories we tell ourselves. At the end of the day, being in a miserable situation is at least something we are familiar with and know what to expect. A new job would mean all kinds of other stories. You would no longer know your job; you'd be in a learning curve. You wouldn't have friends surrounding you anymore. You don't know if the new boss is good or bad. There might be other bigger ego feeding things like, people not treating you like the alpha dog you were. Again, the stories about "the new thing" are numerous. As you examine these less-than-positive stories, this is the partial list that makes up transition. These are emotional-mental issues. They aren't always comfortable. BUT, the rewards of making a change can be huge, so we make these changes with the full knowledge that once we make the change and slog our way through the transition, that life will be much better.

People that write about transition often say that you can't speed up transition because it is about an emotional process and that happens at its own rate. I believe this concept in part. I have found it comforting to understand the process and to know that taking action to move myself forward helps immensely. Over the course of my life as an operations manager for a high tech firm, change was a constant. I have dealt with change and transition for over 21 years for myself and hundreds of people in my organizations. I have found that the combination of transition process knowledge and action plans is good, effective approaches.

Enter, Next Chapter, New Life. I purposely picked that name because each of us will face finishing the chapter we're in and moving on to the next one. As humans, we are in a constant state of change. It is my purpose to help you define that next chapter in such a way that you'll be excited about your life to come.