Forward this email
to a colleague

Sign me up!

Update my subscription info

Unsubscribe

Shary Raske

Welcome to our Courageous Change newsletter! Enjoy reading, and feel free to forward this to friends, family, and colleagues or anyone who is job searching. 

November 2008    

The Fear Factor – When Making a Change in Challenging Economic Times
We have a new president-elect.  Never has there been a time where optimism and difficulty have intersected with such power and calling.  Some of you are facing a career change on top of all these political and economic changes.  I wanted to tell you a story that pulls together how to make change and fear work together.

Earlier this year I went to The Crossings in Austin, Texas; a conference center and health spa.  One of the programs they offered was learning how to do a backwards flip off a flying trapeze!  Several of the women in my group signed up for the course.  First was the ground work.  The instructors walked the group through warm up exercises and the basic moves.  One of the first things I noticed was that some of the participants anticipated when to move and ended up hanging in the wind.  The instructor said, “Listen to my command and don’t make a change until I tell you.”  Wise advice in an economic down turn.  The second thing I noticed was how participants converted their fear into the very energy they needed to move forward.  I was particularly impressed with a woman who had fallen a few years ago from a hotel balcony and had barely survived.  She decided to face her fear of heights and get that horrible experience behind her.  Was she afraid?  Yes!  Did that stop her? No!  Then I watched her succeed and then climb to the top of the perch and do it again!!  Courage is not the absence of fear.  Instead, courage is taking planned action with fear as a trusted companion.  Without a plan, taking action with fear often results in incapacitating panic.

I work with professionals who are ramping up to make a career transition.  How do they put one step in front of the other in tough economic times?  Here are some guidelines:

1. Build up four months of net disposal income before you make a move.  If you lost your job tomorrow, how would you survive?  I am not talking about taking money out of your retirement where you’d have to pay a penalty.  I’m talking about money market accounts and savings.  Professionals who have this safety net have more options and more time.

2. Ask yourself, “Is taking no action going to cause me greater pain than the fear of moving forward?”  If you are currently unemployed the answer is always, “Yes”.

3. Ask yourself, “Is now the time?  Am I mentally and emotionally ready?”  If not, what do you need to do to become ready?  Do you have a comprehensive career action plan?

4. Focus on what you can control.  You can’t control what is happening in the economy, but you can control how you react to it. 
There are opportunities that are usually recession-proof.  Do you know what they are?

5. Befriend fear, but don’t let fear have the last word.

6. Dream and write down on paper your ideal state.  Imagine already being there, and then take the incremental steps to bring your dream to life.

7. When all else fails, listen to the instructor!

You Want to Job Interview Better?  Leave your bitterness or any other negative emotion at home.  In the absence of information, we tend to assume the worst.  If you’ve received several rejections, sometimes career changers fill in the blanks:  I’m too old.  I’m too fat.  No one will ever hire me.  If you are defensive or angry, no amount of acting on your part will cover it up.  Find the constructive ways you have self-soothed or calmed your self in the past. Maybe it’s deep breathing.  Maybe it’s deliberately looking for something beautiful.  Maybe it’s calling an encouraging friend.  One person I know pretended his negative energy was like a naughty child and imagined that he had called a babysitter until the interview was over!  Whatever that is for you, manage your negative emotions or they will manage you. 

Want to be a Better Speaker / Communicator?  Experiment with NOT memorizing!  Instead create an outline of your key points and what stories you want to tell to support those points and then walk and talk what you want to say several times.  You may not say the exact same thing each time you practice, but you’ll have the basics down and you won’t sound rehearsed.   This works well in job interviewing, too.

One Secret for a Successful Career Transition
One of the secrets of a successful career transition is getting a good night’s sleep over and over again.  If you show up haggard and sleep deprived, you will have less concentration.  Chronic sleep deprivation will effect the brain the same way being legally drunk does.  Yes, you can function, but often with a lot of mistakes and do-overs.

Do you know someone whose career needs CPR?  No, I do not mean resuscitation, although sometimes it feels that way!!  I work with career changers who want to get to where they want to be without making costly and time consuming mistakes!  If you know someone who is unhappy about their career, refer them to me!  A Career Planning Readiness meeting may be just the thing to get back on track.   Find out how Shary Raske, Career Strategist, can help. Available nationally by tele-coaching or one-on-one in the St. Louis region.  Call today for details (314) 560-1088.