We all know online time is addictive. And … let’s face it … fun. Social media. Google search. Wandering down an internet rabbit hole and finding all kinds of interesting things you never knew existed. But too much time online at work is NOT a great job skill. Unless you are doing your actual job, of course.

I know that escaping into your computer or mobile device can often feel like it’s the one thing keeping you sane in your job. Been there. Done that. And to a point a little escape time is good. But I just want you to know that there can also be downsides that are hurting you.

Lots of time online? Why it matters.

[Read more…]

So much of what we do in our careers centers around expectations, attitude, mindset, and perspective. And all this rises right to the top when you’re starting an entry level job. But while you’ll need patience, strategy, and determination to succeed, they’re not always the first things that come to mind. Not even close!

Whether you’re new to the job scene or starting a fresh career, you want to be recognized for who you really are. And not for the menial tasks (or so they often feel) you’ll need to handle. But that can take time. And you need to know how to approach things in the meantime.

My first entry level job mistakes

[Read more…]

Looking to change something about the kind of work you do? Let’s say you love your career, but not your job. Or you’ve never found a job you love. Or you realize the job scene is changing as a whole — and you want to make sure you’re still marketable. One possible solution is creating a specialized career niche for yourself.

Niche careers let you target what you can offer an employer — and what you really want to do for a living. The Cambridge Dictionary defines niche as “a job or position that is very suitable for someone, especially one that they like: [Example] He has carved / made a niche for himself as a financial advisor.”

How much to specialize niche career?

It’s up to you. Just like products in a supermarket, careers can be kept to the general (ice cream) or somewhat specialized (vanilla ice cream) or whittled way down to the very rare and specific (coffee ice cream with marshmallows, chocolate chips, and swirls of burnt caramel.)

But there’s a trade-off: the number of actual jobs you’ll qualify for. You’ll find a lot more job listings under general categories. But you’ll also have a lot more competition with perhaps not enough to differentiate you.

Now if you are great at your niche, an employer (with the help of a recruiter) may actually come looking for you. Or at least when you see the keywords and key phrases describing what they’re looking for in a candidate, you’ll have your well-honed niche skills to get you to the front of the “yes” pile.

Also, the more expert you become, while the total number of jobs may be less, your chances of getting those jobs may increase. But you better keep those skills sharp and updated.

And you also need to take into account whether you want to be be seen as a specialist to the extent you might not be seen as someone who can take on a less niched, wider scope role in the company.

Finding specialty you’d enjoy

[Read more…]

First, let me say that I’m a big believer in thinking positively. Seeing yourself succeeding. Believing that there’s always a way — even if not exactly as you first imagined. But that often gets muddled with the idea of negative thinking always being bad. And defining “negative” thinking as anything not immediately seen as positive!

How some define negative thinking

[Read more…]

Career change fear is normal. It’s partly about fear of the unknown. And about making mistakes. But also a deeper fear that you won’t be enough, no matter how hard you try.  And that dreams are just that — silly fantasies best left unexplored.

More often than not, our fears are the biggest obstacle to change of any kind. And it leaves us afraid to even take that first step. But sometimes just understanding and recognizing the roadblocks can help them seem smaller — and less daunting. It may make it easier to at least put one toe in the water. And then the next.

Often, the simple act of giving yourself the permission to say “let’s try” can set real change in motion. Or at least give yourself a chance to grow and explore new things. And maybe even see what’s behind the next door you never before imagined,

Even if you don’t ever reach your original goal, the act of trying and seeing where that leads is a pretty cool thing. And that alone can help you go further the next time.

So let’s try to understand what’s really going on. And look at some steps you can take to help.

Basic career change fears

[Read more…]

This really is about your career goals — and career change. But first a slight detour to one of my favorite films, What About Bob?

It’s a Bill Murray comedy that uses the idea of taking small steps to help create change. In the film, the therapist,  Dr. Leo Marvin (played by Richard Dreyfuss), writes a “groundbreaking” book called “Baby Steps”. While the laughs and sweetness of this film are only enhanced by the questionable real-life skills of Dr. Marvin, his book turns out to be a wonderful revelation for us all.

Feels too big? Think smaller!

Basically, it tells us not to let the immensity of a situation overwhelm us. Often, just thinking about goals that seem too big stops us in our tracks. But the book suggests we can get past any physical or (often more daunting) mental roadblocks by breaking down what feels BIG into smaller, manageable steps — baby steps.

Using baby steps, Bob manages to experience a lot of new things. (I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it.) And in career goals too, baby steps can play a major role. Maybe even bridging the difference between a life of “I could have” vs a life of “I did it!”

Career goals the baby step way

[Read more…]

Action. Taking real action. It’s the one thing we have control of during tough times. And by moving forward and learning new skills — or whatever else might open up new doors for yourself — you are choosing to let yourself hope.

You are also providing a practical (and hopefully engaging) diversion that will aim your thoughts in a more positive and useful direction. Tough times let our minds wander. And dwell on things like past failures or the vast, oh-so-scary unknown.

Not only wasted effort, but this can lead to reinforcing and adding to the darkest parts. And by giving starring roles to fear and dread, you wind up underplaying all that you still do have and can rely upon.

Why learn new skills in tough times?

[Read more…]

Sometimes I like to go back and look at posts I’ve written over the years. One of my favorite posts is about something I call job morphing, a way to open up new possibilities. And it’s based on real-life job & career changes I made happen in my own life.

Job morphing is a way of taking a work situation — any work situation — and not just accepting, but instead finding those tiny bits of straw you can spin into something much better … full-blown career gold. In effect, it’s a self-steered path toward job and career change from the inside.

While you might take a quick look at this list (edited down from the original post) and only see random bits of straw, I assure you that making these into habits can bring all kinds of new opportunities into your work life. [Read more…]

Are you looking to career coach yourself? Not a bad idea. While there’s a lot to be gained by working with another person, no reason you can’t get started on your own.

Self-coaching might even make any future coaching relationship easier, as you begin to get to know aspects of you that may be in hiding. And at the very least, you’ll have a fun ride — in a very familiar amusement park.

It’s serious but don’t take it serious

Perhaps even the thought that you can career coach yourself feels too overwhelming. Or just not the right idea for you. But why not at least give it a try? As a very centered and caring Chinese doctor once said to me “It’s serious, but don’t take it serious.”

For those of you as grammatically geeky as I am, yes it should be “seriously”. But that’s exactly the point … loosen up and have fun exploring. This isn’t the time yet to let “I could never do that” be your guiding force. Just let the ideas flow as you open up to new thoughts — and potential new paths!

Career coaching yourself starts here

[Read more…]

If you’re not good at what you love, do you stop yourself from doing it? A friend recently asked for help with something I had almost no expertise in. Luckily, the person understood that and asked me to help anyway. And I loved doing it. I mean really LOVED it.

I would go to sleep thinking about the project and wake up ready and eager to try new ideas. Despite my normal slow-to-wake morning mode. Believe me … although I love the freedom of consulting, most jobs do not get my juices flowing this way.

We have to be practical, right?

Since this was a limited-time project and I really wasn’t very good at it (although I gave my all), I guess I can just store it as a good memory and get on with the work I really know how to do … business process analysis and project management. (Did I just put you to sleep?)

Well, not so fast. Here’s a little career secret … I had absolutely no idea how to do most of the stuff I’m good at now. At least not when I started. Sure, I had some natural abilities that helped me muddle through.

But there were many times when I was up against the unknown and just had to learn the hard way … sink or swim. And I didn’t always swim. But I oh how learned to doggy paddle and then learned from each failure!

So what is “practical”?

While I’m not suggesting we drop the work that pays the rent or feeds our children, there is a part of us that needs to be fed too. Yet here I am now, face to face with a new thing I actually love doing.

And rather than seeing it as a gift, I started looking at all the obstacles. How wonderful it felt doing it. How heavy it felt in my mind afterward, when the old fear & self-doubt programming wheels started turning.

Old internal programming at work

How often do we get offered a first-hand chance to find a new love? Even if you’re not good at what you love, shoving it away makes no sense. We do that all too often not to feel the tug.

But there are ways you can embrace these things that call, and find a way to bring it into your life. Even if the shape is a little different than originally imagined. So what makes us keep our distance?

Bet you can relate to the “obstacles”

• I’ll never be an expert at this and since so many others are, why bother.
• I’m too old to take on a major learning project. (As if I haven’t taken on at least 4 or 5  jobs/projects in just the last few years that plunged me into totally new worlds!)
• I can’t make a living at it. (Well, not yet. Duh. You have to learn how to do it well. And anyway … so what?)
• Even if I get good at the skills, maybe my ideas aren’t worthwhile. (Oh pullease! How can you know if you never try?)

Our good old friend awareness

Luckily I have reached a point where, even if I start playing old programming like this, I am aware enough to catch myself doing it. That alone is a big help. Probably the most important skill I’ve picked up in the last few years.

And so, I am starting to look at how to take my newly realized passion and bring it into my life in some way on a more regular basis. Already researching books and online resources as well as checking out classes at a local continuing ed program.

But I’m also looking at what aspects of this newfound love might be brought into other things I already do.  And with some extra time and focus (and a little creative job morphing), this could add more joy to my regular work (or play).

Deciding to take on something new

I’ve read time and again that the people who succeed big are the ones willing to put in long hours and keep going, no matter how many times they get it wrong at first. Bill Gates comes to mind.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success, he says it takes some combination of circumstance / opportunity — and about 10,000 hours — to master a skill. This is best if started young according to Gladwell. But it’s never too late to learn new things at whatever level of achievement we reach.)

So does that mean you can simply practice acting for 10,000 hours, for instance, and wind up winning an Oscar? Or write for 10,000 hours and get a Pulitzer Prize? Well … probably not. Although someone somewhere will do just that.

But even if  you don’t achieve the soaring heights of those definitions of success, you do get better and better. And that in itself can feel darn good. Also. that level of commitment and dedication to something you care deeply about can also translate to other areas of your life, including your career.

And benefits don’t stop there

Each time you watch yourself succeed by improving (to whatever extent) based solely on YOUR efforts and determination, you learn to believe in yourself more — and are less likely to shy away from trying new things that add to your life. Now that’s success we all can aim for!

As for all those nasty little negative programs that run in our heads to “protect” us (i.e., keep us from taking on things with unknown outcomes), we can still, at any age, decide to take on something new (and help change that programming).

Using the internet, libraries, friends, someone in the field you dare to ask for advice, formal training, good old trial and error (whatever the method), we can simply learn a skill to the best of our ability — which is all anyone can ever do. And that’s certainly good enough if it’s something we truly love.

After all, if the very least that happens is we get to spend time immersed in something wonderful … well, that’s a net gain any way I look at it!

“It’s never too late to be

what you might have been.” – George Eliot

About the author…

Ronnie Ann, founder of Work To the Wise and Work Coach Cafe, bases her real-world advice on her many years as an organizational consultant where she helped interview and hire people, added to a certificate from NYU in Career Planning & Development, as well as her many adventures as a serial job seeker.