Habit of Thought

Is Career Specialization Dead?

As children, most of us were interminably asked by adults what we wanted to be when we grew up.

By the end of high school, having some idea of your "final answer" to that question was required by parents and guidance counselors in order to steer you to an appropriate college and degree.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you how much the world has changed, even in just the last five to ten years. I feel very lucky that late in college I fell in love with computers. Information technology gave me a wonderful career at a time when other fields came and went.

All Career Eggs in One Basket?

Can anyone truly afford to roll the dice on one type of career any more? Professions such as attorneys, accountants, physicians, nurses, and information technology experts will be in considerable demand for the foreseeable future. Of course, those careers require a significant, up-front investment in education plus an ongoing commitment to professional development. You had better like what you are doing; the costs to switch to something else from one of these fields is considerable.

For everyone else, having your own plan for your future is not a luxury but a necessity. In an interesting twist on this topic, Penelope Trunk, an influential career advisor, suggests that you can make your life more stable by changing jobs frequently.

Looking for Stability in All the Wrong Places

Even if your chosen specialty survives technological change, economic uncertainty, and business failures, long-term careers within one company are a thing of the past as are the benefits that made them palatable such as orderly promotions and pension plans.

Penelope offers five ways to use frequent job changes to build stability in your life:

1. Build up a strong skill set quickly.
2. Get good at making transitions.
3. Make the most of the in-between-jobs time.
4. Get out of paying your dues.
5. Keep your finances in order.

Her best advice? "The best financial security today is to have great job hunting skills that never stop. Go to the best job, do it until you find another best job. This is the kind of person who will always be able to get money when they need it."

 

Do Your Habits Work for You or Against You?

You run your world through habits.

A habit is an acquired pattern of behavior that often occurs automatically and subconsciously, that is, without conscious thought. Frankly, if we didn't have habits, we would never get anything done. If, every morning, I had to think through all I need to do to prepare for my day, it would drive me crazy. 

Habits actually start with thoughts.

How many times did your parents have to remind you to brush your teeth before it became something you did without being told? Eventually, brushing your teeth became automatic and part of your daily routine. Doing it over and over moved the action from your conscious control to being controlled by your subconscious.

Your starter set of habits came through your upbringing. 

Your parents' mission during your entire childhood and adolescence was to instill the habits they believed would make you successful as an adult. For example, good personal hygiene and proper etiquette significantly affect your interactions with others, not to mention make you pleasant to be around.

We also have habits in how we think.

Habits of thought are called attitudes. Again, our original set came from early influences such as parents and family, school and friends. They taught us how to habitually think about people who are different from us, whether in skin color, gender, race, age, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. We absorbed their attitudes about work, love, marriage, kids, family, politics.

Life changes.

Getting a job, getting married, buying a house come with new necessary habits of thought and action. Our bosses, colleagues, clients, and competition inspire, train, or even insist on new attitudes and behaviors.

Some of our habits still come in handy. Some don’t, yet we continue to do them anyway. And all the while, the world around us is dramatically changing.

Some questions for your habits of thought and actions:

• What are your habits?
• How old are your habits?
• Are they yours by choice, influence, training or coercion? Does that matter?
• Do yours work for or against you? 

10 Reasons Why You Don't Need a Coach

I'm often asked what coaching does for people. The coach's favorite answer is, it depends. It entirely depends on what the person being coached (PBC) wants or needs. The outcomes vary tremendously from PBC to PBC. (I will address what coaching does for companies in a separate post.)

I find a good way to answer the question of what coaching does for people is to describe situations I've encountered where the person didn't need a coach. The list below, in no particular order, contains a sampling of reasons why they didn't.

Time Management

1. You manage how you spend your time by managing your goals and priorities, not by how much you can cram into a given day. You have a system of some kind in place to handle all the incoming stuff yet retain peace of mind.

Physical Health

2. You are physically healthy. You have daily routines for exercise, sleep, and diet that increase your capacity and restore it.

Social Life

3. Your social life is in good order. You connect with people in a meaningful way regularly. You have a good support system of people you love spending time with, who have your back, who push you when you need it, who leave you feeling happier and more alive after spending time with them.

Family Life

4. Your family life works for you. Baggage from the past rarely influences your outlook, relationships or responses today. Family needs are one of the big rocks that go on your calendar and spending list first.

Personal and Professional Development

5. You believe in and routinely engage in some sort of personal and professional development through regular reading, additional education, hobbies, conferences, seminars, or a mentor. If your employer doesn't pay for these things, you invest in them yourself at an affordable level.

Productivity

6. Your home, your office, your workspace, your car, your garage: anywhere you spend a lot of time is organized to meet your needs. You can lay your hands on important paperwork in a matter of minutes. Clutter is managed and purged regularly.

Career

7. You have a handle on your career. You stay up with trends in your field, your industry, your customer base. You watch for the effects of technology in your work and take every opportunity for training that comes your way. You take full responsibility for improving your current skills and learning new ones. You also routinely work to improve your people skills--listening, communication, managing, delegating--as well as any technical skills involved.

Finances

8. Your finances are solid. Will, health proxy, living will are in place. Short- and long-term savings and investments are in progress. You have a good credit rating. Your life, health and belongings are protected at the right level by insurance. How you manage your money works for you.

Leadership

9. You regularly apply your leadership skills in your life and work, regardless of your level or title in a company or your role in your family. You understand leadership is a life skill, not something you only do at your job. You think strategically, respond with emotional intelligence, understand your role, and fulfill your responsibilities.

Values

10. You know what your values, ethics and beliefs are. You make virtually all of your daily choices and decisions in accordance with what's important to you and what brings meaning to your life. You know how to quickly assess requests for your time, money, or energy before saying "yes." You know how to say "no" gracefully.

Perfection Is Not the Goal, Progress Is

This list doesn't mean a meaningful life is possible only if all 10 things (or others you can think of) are in place. For many people, getting one or two of those things in order is enough.

How about you? Are the blessings you already have in your life enough to keep body, soul, and mind together and functioning?