Helene Lerner's Blog, page 125

No Complaining Challenge -- Day 6

Join us in pledging not to complain during the first week of January.

No Complaining Challenge Day 6. Be of service. When you come from this place, it is easier to overlook minor irritations. Your commitment to making a difference in your life and the lives of others is strong.

 

Try It Differently to Stand Out

In my last blog, I introduced six powerful skills for career success. Experiencing Doing is the first skill. This means amassing as many experiences as possible and broadening your array of interests and exposures through activities.  This exposes you to new learning, potential interests and passions, and people who might have something to teach you.  Author Barbara Sher once wrote, "You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you."

When I started out in my career, I wanted to be a corporate trainer – one who designed and delivered training in management, leadership and communications.  In my second job as a training and development professional for RCA, Missile and Surface Radar, I became a sponge for any experience I could get – taking on anything new. I learned statistics (something I thought I would hate) and research in the area of organization development – which opened my eyes to another career direction.  This led me to get a masters and a doctorate degree, and took me on a new journey that I appreciate every day.

What this can mean for you? This attitude towards your career will bring you countless opportunities to grow, show others that you are open to new ideas and learning new skills, and the joy of living the spirit of adventure.

Here are three tips – great for the start of our new year:

Start with a beginner’s mind. A beginners mind is a concept in Zen Buddhism that refers to having an attitude of openness and eagerness, as well as a lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would. Adopting a beginner’s mind means taking a step back to focus on what you can learn from others.

“In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.” ~ Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Ask plenty of questions out of pure curiosity to gain others’ perspectives and open doors.  While you may worry that asking questions can cause others to think you don’t know what you are doing, people actually feel honored to be asked for their thoughts, opinions and experiences. A well-framed question impresses others. Prepare some in advance.

Stop, look ahead, focus, and write yourself a quick note. STOP for a few minutes, before you answer one more email. LOOK AHEAD at the upcoming 12 months. FOCUS on the opportunities that will deliver the impact, the career fulfillment and the wealth that will make 2014 a success. Before you get distracted, WRITE A QUICK NOTE to yourself so your focus is in clear sight. Read more on this here.

–Andrea Zintz, Career Coach

Take it Off and Keep It Off

I have been maintaining over a 50-pound weight loss for 40 years. Because I was able to do that I wanted to give back to others what I have learned, and that has been the basis of my work.

The truth is that there is no simple way to do this. You may think--what's the right "diet" for me? Well, I had tried many different ones, and nothing worked for the long-haul.

What made all the difference was when I reached out for help and found of group of people who were trying to overcome eating destructively.  With their help, I was able to look at the reasons why I had been eating compulsively. If I can do it, so can you.  But it takes commitment and work. 

And if you fall off the wagon, get right back on, and start again.

I support you to do that.

 

No Complaining Challege Day Five

Day 5 of the No Complaining Challenge.Today, use your words to change the conversations around you. Make them positive and productive.

No Complaining Challenge Day Four

No Complaining Challenge Day 4. Today it's about the Power of Intention. What do you want to bring into your life this year? Claim it and have the intention to take the actions needed to make it happen.

No Complaining Challenge Day 3

Join us in pledging not to complain for the first week of January.

Day 3 of the NO COMPLAINING CHALLENGE. See today as special. This is your opportunity to make a difference. You are powerful and know what's needed. Take a step outside your comfort zone.

Why You Need Inner Strength

This time of year, many of us are thinking about what we want to accomplish in the year to come. Working toward those goals isn't always easy and often requires significant inner strength. So we wanted to share this video to encourage you.

Video Editor--Dominique Guerra

No Complaining Challenge -- Day 2

Join us in pledging not to complain for the first week of January!

No Complaining Challenge Day 2--turn a negative thought into a positive one. When you feel self-critical or the desire to criticize someone else, STOP. Replace that thought with one that is more affirming. Are you with us? Like you did yesterday, let us know you've joined on Facebook.

Six Activities Successful People Do Regularly

When I was doing research for my doctoral dissertation, I was curious about how successful women built their careers in large corporations when so many seemingly insurmountable obstacles obscured the path. Adele Scheele, in her own doctoral research, conducted a study of successful career navigators and hit upon six powerful activities that reliably generated success. 

She found that successful men and women cycled these six activities throughout life to create breadth in experiences, find personal meaning and satisfaction, build networks, generate credibility, collaborate and partner with others, use relationships to achieve goals, and become thought leaders and mentors/sponsors to others.

Here are the six powerful career skills for success:

Experience Doing: Amassing as many experiences as possible – broadening your array of interests and exposures through activities.

Risk Linking: Getting outside of your comfort zone to network with others.

Exhibit Mastery: Demonstrating one specific talent or strength that is of service or value to the organization and can be applied in a variety of areas.

Show Belonging: Showing others in the organization that you are a member of the team who can be counted on to contribute to the common good and/or interests.

Use Catapulting: Taking action to use your network of relationships to further your goals and/or those of the organization.

Magnify Accomplishing: There are many roads to demonstrating your accomplishments. By taking an officer role in a non-profit or trade organization, writing/publishing, making presentations, teaching; in essence letting the broader society know what you’ve done.

During this month, I will expand on each one of these six important areas for career success with examples of each.

–Andrea Zintz, Career Coach

Join Our No Complaining Challenge Today!

Join our No Complaining Challenge! Align with us for the first week of the new year to commit to not voice any complaints. Let's see what happens as a result. If you are willing to do this, please let us know by joining the conversation on our Facebook page. Today is the first day of the challenge and it's about the power of words--use them wisely to affirm yourself and others. Are you with us?