Are You Prepared For That Decision That Will Ruin Your Life?

What's riskier? Staying in a job you're not growing in, or quitting your job and starting all over? James Altucher asked one of the most brilliant questions: "How many people can make a major decision that will ruin your life?" If all it takes is one person to say "You're fired" or "Our entire department is getting laid off" or "Amazon just bought our competitor, we're screwed," then who's at risk more? The person who didn't take any risks with their career and was relying on permission from other people to learn new skills and move up the corporate ladder? Or the person that said to themselves, "I've seen this story before. It doesn't end well. Why don't I pack my bags, get my life together, try some new things and see what sticks." It's impossible to live life without risk. If you're avoiding it, you're asking for a miserable, unfulfilled life. "It is in the presence of danger that we are gifted with the strong incentive for action, dedication and surpassing oneself" ~ Anne Dufourmantelle (To the people who have a spouse, children, mortgage, etc - Risk is not saying YOLO and missing your child's tuition payments. Risk is understanding that the best way to take care of your family is to make sure you're prepared when that 1 person makes a decision to ruin your life.

5 Signs Of Career Burntout

The new year is an ideal time to stop and reflect. Another year has passed, and we don’t get all that many of them — maybe eighty-five, if we are lucky. 

We have to take the passage of time seriously, and the new year reminds us of that.

If your job is not lighting your flame anymore, you might be burned out. You might be done with this particular job or with your current career path.

For years the traditional advice given to people experiencing career burnout was “take a vacation.”

Vacations are great. They are essential, but vacations don’t cure burnout. 

In fact, some time away from the job may be just the nudge you need to conclude that another year at the same job would only beat you further into the ground.

Here are five signs that you are burning out and that something has to change.

1.     You Don’t Care Anymore

It’s not your fault if you wake up one morning realizing that you don’t give a hoot about your goals at work or the company’s mission, either. 

It doesn’t mean that you work for evil people or that you’re not a serious person yourself.

Energy ebbs and flows. Sometimes we get incredibly excited about a new adventure, but then after a certain point we’ve sucked all the juice out of the new experience. 

There isn’t any juice left in it, and there’s nothing new for you to learn.

When you realize that you’re trying to care about your work and failing, you’re burned out.

2.     You Don’t See Interesting Challenges Ahead

Our client Rita worked in the same job for eleven years. “I never thought about whether I was learning and growing on the job,” she said. “I was happy to keep the same job for so long!”

One day there were layoffs in Rita’s department. She kept her job but she got the work of two other people added to her former workload. “That’s when I said ‘I don’t have it in me to keep doing this,” Rita told us.

“My manager tried to convince me that I’d learn all kinds of new things by taking on the work of my two former co-workers, but none of it was interesting.”

Rita gave notice at her job before she started job-hunting. “I was too depleted to work and job-hunt at the same time,” she said. She quit her full-time job and took a part-time job at her daughter’s school.

“Instantly my income was cut by more than fifty percent, so then I had to get serious about my job search,” she said. She did. She shifted her branding and focused her job search on a completely new career path, one that interested her for years. Rita got a job in a new field where she learns something important and new every day.

“My biggest challenge now is to stop beating up on myself when I realize that I stayed at my old job at least five years too long,” Rita said.

“Not in the slightest!” we said. “It only seems that way. None of that time was wasted. Everything happens when it should.”

3.     Small Annoyances Irritate You More Than They Should

You’ll know you’re burned out on the job when little obstacles drive you crazy and make you angrier and more frustrated than they normally would.

Your body is telling you that you’re done. When you work in a job that grows your flame, you have more than enough mojo to sail over small obstacles that show up in your path.

Peter experienced this phenomenon when he took his third job in a row in a software start-up. 

People who had worked with Peter at his first two start-ups thought highly enough of him to recommend him for open positions at their new firms.

Peter took his third start-up job in a row and immediately knew that he didn’t have the heart to get excited about another under-the-radar software venture.

“Too many hours, too much posturing, too much crazy CEO energy – I couldn’t do it,” he said.

“I went to work in that third start-up and every time I turned a corner in the office or overhead a snippet of conversation, I had a feeling of deja vu. 

Tiny things started to get under my skin. 

They couldn’t decide on my title, for one thing. I thought that was ridiculous. You’ve got eight employees, and you’re stressing about my job title?”

Peter quit his third start-up job after a month and got a consulting business card. “I’d rather stumble and fall in a new adventure than go through the motions in a job I could do in my sleep,” he said.

4.     You Can’t Focus

The fun of a job that speaks to you is that you’re operating at all three levels of altitude at once: the cloud level where you set your vision, the hilltop level where you plan your strategy, and the ground level where you take care of daily tasks and fire-fighting.

When you are immersed in your job, you find yourself strategizing your work for months or even years ahead, but you’re also solving immediate problems on the ground every day.

It’s hard to operate at three levels of altitude simultaneously. 

It requires a big investment of mental and emotional energy.

It only comes together when you’re pumped about what you’re doing — when it feels like you own the company, even if you work for somebody else.

When you lose focus, you can’t keep the thread. You can’t remember how your long-term plans and near-term plans intersect. 

The job stops feeling like a grand adventure and feels like a job again — just a place to push the work off your desk and then go home to sleep.

When you look at the clock in your office, see that it’s two p.m. and wonder “How will I make it through to quitting time?” you are burned out – no question.

5.     You Can’t Pull Yourself Out Of It

Most of us are more change-averse than we care to admit. If we can avoid changing jobs, we will — even when the job we’ve got becomes boring or downright grueling.

When you’re burned out, your mojo tank is nearly empty. You can’t see a way to improve your situation. 

You take a vacation in hopes your mojo will come back and while you’re on vacation, you feel better — but the minute you’re back at your desk, the familiar gray cloud hangs over you again.

You can’t think creatively about your situation, because your fuel tank has nothing in it. 

Your job only takes mental and emotional energy from you, without giving you anything back.

If you spend your time at work thinking ahead to your next vacation, you’re burned out. 

That’s an unhealthy state for your brain and body, as well as for your resume. 

The only thing you have to market to future employers and clients is your incredible achievements at each job you take, including the job you’ve got now.

Once you realize you’ve reached the point of no return with respect to your job, a weight may be lifted from your shoulders. 

Your situation is not dire, but it is clear that you and the job are no longer well-suited to one another.

You can take your time. You can spend your commuting time or your exercise-bike time or any part of your day thinking about what you’ll do next. 

The minute you commit to stepping up from your mojo-depleted state into a new job that grows your flame, you’ll feel a little bit better.

The more clearly you see where your path lies, the more your mojo will grow. You can take time re-writing your resume and building your target employer list. 

Ignore well-meaning friends and family members who say “You’re just burned out — you don’t need to change jobs! Just plan a vacation.”

Vacations are awesome, but you shouldn’t return from a vacation dreading going back into work upon your return. 

Burnout is a signal from Mother Nature that your job has given you all the good stuff it had to give. 

The next step is up and away. 

Your path is up to you and it’s right in front of you, waiting for you to take a step.

Original Article:     Burnt Out

How To Lead When You Aren't The Leader

I was recently coaching a group of young professionals who work for one of my clients in New Jersey. I was helping them analyze their 360Reach personal brand survey reports (disclosure: 360Reach is a product of my company, Reach Personal Branding) so they could understand how they are perceived by those around them.

Many in the group saw themselves as leaders, yet their external feedback clearly classified them as “doers.”

One of the participants asked, “How can you be seen as a leader when you don’t have a leadership title?”

The results of our discussion were eye-opening.

Leadership is an attitude, not a title.

Here are seven leadership characteristics that you can adopt even if you just joined the workforce or are an individual contributor.

1. Take Carefully Calculated Risks

Doers go along with what’s said and accomplish tasks. Leaders are willing to take on the hard problems – those that most people avoid. They are willing to speak out rather than go along with something they feel will be a mistake. They see the big-picture implications of what they are doing and seek to understand its impact. This means being strategic and looking at all sides of an issue and the consequences of various actions. Sometimes it means questioning authority – in a positive and respectful way – or bringing up important issues that are seemingly unrelated to the task at hand.

2. Acknowledge Others

Leaders don’t wait to receive gratitude; they freely bestow it upon others – thanking their peers, subordinates and managers. They publicly express appreciation, and they recognize others for their contributions. You don’t need a management title to give kudos to your peers. Being willing to share praise and spread the spirit of positivity will make you stand out. You’ll be acknowledged as someone who sees the importance of positive feedback in motivating and engaging others.

3. Initiate

Leaders are proactive and self motivated, and they do things without being asked or told. By maintaining a perspective on the ultimate mission, they identify needs, and they act to fulfill these needs without waiting for management direction. They don’t like the status quo. They pursue best processes, innovate and make recommendations that have an impact beyond the scope of their role.

4. Exude Optimism

Leaders stay above the fray and don’t get mired in blame, negativity or office gossip. They remain focused on what’s important and wear their can-do attitude proudly. Positivity is attractive – and it’s differentiating in some corporate environments. Smile, exude your can-do attitude, surround yourself with other positive people and steer clear of Debbie Downer.

5. Think Outside The Hierarchy

Leaders think beyond their role, function and department. They have a keen interest in what’s happening in product development even if they work in finance. They engage with others throughout the organization. They volunteer to be part of multi-disciplinary teams. You can put this approach into action by offering to contribute to a corporate-wide initiative, or better yet, by identifying an initiative – something that will be valuable to the company – and taking the lead role. I spoke with one self-described newbie who offered to lead a “go-green” initiative – first for her team, then for her department, then for the office, then for the entire organization. She quickly became known as a leader.

6. Demonstrate Leadership Outside Your Job

Leadership skills are useful well beyond the typical 9-5 workplace (not that 9-5 describes the workday of today any more!). Take on leadership roles in professional associations and causes. Volunteer to lead the next team outing or event. Hone and demonstrate your leadership skills through your commitment to a social cause that moves you. Leadership is not needed just in traditional work environments.

7. Mentor Others And Reverse-Mentor Superiors

You don’t need a long title to make a difference in the professional lives of others. Provide a training course, coach your peers or lead a lunch “n” learn. If your company has a mentoring program, let HR know you are interested in serving. If there isn’t one, start one (either officially or unofficially). Reverse mentoring is another visible, practical way to show your leadership skills to someone senior to you.  For example, if you are an expert in social media, and you know that the leaders in your organization are clueless when it comes to social media, offer to support them. It’s a powerful way to get on the radar of leaders.

True leadership is not about rank or job titles. It’s an attitude. It’s way of doing what you do. Having a perspective that extends way beyond the list of tasks on your daily do-list will help you demonstrate your leadership even if you don’t have the title.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2015/07/08/how-to-lead-when-you-arent-the-leader

How To Stop Office Gossip In Three Steps

Gossip not only kills morale; it kills the bottom line.

No matter its delivery—an eye roll, whispered caution about a supervisor’s temper, old-fashioned talking behind someone’s back—gossip in any form is a symptom of a large and damaging problem.

If your employees are too uncomfortable to discuss their gripes directly with leadership, your organization lacks a culture of open communication.

Take the example of a hotel chain my team and I recently advised.

Thanks to a CEO with a well-meaning but aggressive personality, the business suffered from gossip at the highest level.

Most of the senior executives felt intimidated and held back by the CEO’s abrasive management style.

They feared harsh criticism, possibly in a public forum—which meant addressing the issue directly felt too risky.

Instead, they did what countless employees across the world do: commiserated amongst each other, further perpetuating their case that the CEO was the "bad guy" and the executives his poor victims.

This cycle kept repeating itself and led to a low level of senior collaboration, low morale, and multiple costly failures from a highly competent and capable team.

Truly great cultures and successful, ongoing employee engagement requires one thing above all others: truth.

My colleagues and I advise clients to declare their workplaces gossip-free zones. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.

The absence of gossip also means the absence of rivalries, hidden agendas, and withholding information.

It’s simply the best way to create teams that hum and a thriving culture.

In the spirit of open communication, here are three tips to get you started.

STEP 1: CREATE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT TO VENT

Even though gossip never ultimately resolves issues, it’s often seen as a safer way to be heard and validated.

Your job as a leader is to make it safe for people to get real and to have frank, open conversations with the colleague who is responsible for an upset, rather than just vent about it to a colleague.

We lead clients through "empty the bucket" sessions that get the real conversations out there.

These sessions free up time, emotional space, and productivity—they show people in the company at all levels the path to the end of back-channel gossip and they set the foundation of truth, trust, and open communication.

The key to these sessions is creating an environment where truth telling feels safe. This includes:

Be appreciative of the courage it takes to divulge one’s messy truth.

Listen generously, with empathy and without agenda.

Don’t add opinions or suggestions now. Your job is to give the person the chance to unpack their thoughts fully—even once you think you "get it."

When someone shares something vulnerable, that information can’t be used against the person. Period.

At the end of the session, allow the talker to be quiet and reflect. When it seems like the talker may be done, offer authentic thanks and ask, "Is there anything else?"

Once established in a culture, empty-the-bucket sessions happen spontaneously and are used to uncover and address the real conversations and the issues impacting performance that are challenging and sticky to address.

These conversations leave people aligned, connected, and ready to move forward in partnership.

STEP 2: SET AN EXAMPLE FROM THE TOP

It’s important to create a self-reinforcing culture that starts with clear expectations and training, and weaves throughout the entire company.

Hold every person accountable—and that means everyone. One or two high-performing or very senior individuals given a free pass on a no-gossip policy contaminates the entire effort.

Leaders, in particular, undermine their own efforts more than they realize.

All the Tequila Fridays in the world are meaningless if transparency isn’t modeled from the top down.

We worked with an executive at a lifestyle company who felt the impact of colleagues talking about her without addressing the problem with her directly.

During a meeting, she noticed the most barely detectable eye roll exchanged between her CEO and COO.

She realized the subliminal message was about her—and, in an instant, went from loving her job to the verge of quitting.

An incident as seemingly minor as this one can extinguish all the magic and promise of culture-building efforts. It erodes trust.

Successful leaders serve as examples of truth telling, even if that requires challenging conversations.

They don’t bad-mouth others behind their backs.

They let everyone around them know where they stand and they tackle issues directly—even the seemingly undiscussable ones.

This is the only way to build a foundation of trust.

STEP 3: TAKE ACTION ON FEEDBACK

If you’ve already completed the first two steps, you’re probably feeling pretty good about your organization’s commitment to open communication.

But don’t enter your company into any "best places to work" competitions just yet.

For long-term success, you must genuinely consider and do something about the feedback all that openness has wrought.

One client, a large retailer, invested significant time and money into a robust employee engagement program.

They encouraged managers and vice presidents to start paying more attention to how their teams were feeling, and to truly listen to subordinates’ complaints and concerns.

But the entire initiative rang hollow—and low engagement scores prevailed—because until recently the managers themselves didn’t feel heard or valued by their supervisors.

They felt their feedback was met with denial by the company’s most senior team.

Even worse, they sensed that managers who dared to communicate challenging or unpopular notions faced consequences like fewer opportunities for advancement.

This perception of the company culture as a suppressive one was so woven throughout the company that it self-perpetuated many times over.

Nearly everyone at corporate headquarters gossiped about this perception—everyone, that is, except the people whose actions created the environment in the first place.

The senior executives, much like the hotel CEO, were unable to confront or even recognize their part in the problem.

Empty-the-bucket sessions and gossip-free policies set the stage for open, truthful communication.

But they’ll only succeed if leaders continue to embrace and listen to negative, uncomfortable feedback long after the initial session ends.

And, unless you act on the feedback, all your engagement efforts will be nothing more than (very expensive) icing slapped on top of a mud pie.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3046098/three-steps-to-end-office-gossip

Three Steps To Writing Your Professional WILL

Fact: I am a huge fan of the television series NCIS.

In a recent episode, one of the characters unearthed an “I WILL” list she wrote when she was a young child.

It contained the kinds of dreams you’d expect a young girl to have: “I WILL be a ballerina, ride a horse, live in a castle, have a boy and a girl…”

It got me thinking, “How long has it been since I last wrote down my hopes and dreams? When was the last time I allowed myself to take a step back and dream big?”

Even though the year is almost 6 months old but I urge you to write your own professional WILL.

Consider it your professional bucket list.

Fill it with what leadership expert Jim Collins calls your Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals (BHAGs).

They should be long-term, visionary goals that you want to accomplish over the course of your career.

Follow these three steps to write an effective WILL.

1.      Reflect

What would you like to accomplish in your professional life over the next 10 or more years?

For instance, you may wish to make a major career transition or perhaps you aspire to become a CEO one day.

Close your eyes and tap into your childhood dreams.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

While those fantasies may not make sense today, they could give you clues as to what professional accomplishments you would find most fulfilling.

Need more help? Click on the following link to access more job-goal exercises.

2.      Write

You are ten times more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. [TWEET] 

Once you’ve brainstormed your WILL, document it.

When you successfully achieve this goal, what will that look like?

What will be the outcome?

Go through this process for every item on your list.

Post a copy of your WILL someplace you’ll see it on a regular basis, such as the sun visor in your car or a wall in your home office.

Better yet, enter your WILL into your phone using an app like Evernote so you have the list with you at all times.

3.      Plan

The beauty behind the WILL is that you’re not expected to accomplish these goals any time soon.

You have loads of time to acquire the appropriate skill sets, make the right connections, and gather whatever other resources are necessary to help you succeed.

Consider which of your dreams you’re likely to tackle first and decide on an action plan for the year.

For instance, this might be your year to research what it will take to become a New York Times best-selling author so you can create smaller milestones to meet that goal over the next five years.

I’ve shared some of my WILL in the image above.

What will you accomplish in your career?

http://info.theladders.com/career-advice/long-term-goal-planning

10 Quick Ways To Supercharge Your Career

Truth be told, you’re making it hard for others to support your career. 

At least that’s the case if you are skipping any of the ten basic principles on this list.

In the spirit of full disclosure, not every item on this list is easy to implement, but each is easier to live with than the frustration of watching your talents go underutilized:

1. Kindness first. 

The first thing you do, every day, should be to help a few other people.

Do this without fail; put it on your calendar. Introduce others.

Promote the best work of your colleagues and/or clients.

Help those on the margins, not just the already rich and powerful.

This habit will not only make you feel better, but it also will shift the way that others perceive you.

2. Admit weakness. 

Hands down, the best thing a capable professional can do is to openly admit where they are weak.

Why?

Because this gives your colleagues an opportunity to help you, which makes them feel more capable and appreciated.

3. Be both confident and competent. 

Confidence without competence makes you little more than an empty suit.

Competence without confidence is a tragic waste of your gifts.

To enjoy long-term success, work to balance these two essential elements.

It’s not easy, but getting the balance right will make an enormous difference to your career.

4. Be superficial occasionally. 

Did you crop your spouse out of your LinkedIn LNKD -0.66% photo?

Does your Twitter TWTR -0.43% image look like you were on the lam from the law?

Do you cut your own hair?

Much as I love the idea of living in a meritocracy, the truth is that we all make snap judgments based on appearances. Invest some time and money in looking your best.

5. Don’t wait for the title.

If you want a promotion, act like you already have it.

Do more than is expected of you, even if it means working nights and weekends.

6. Simplify your goals. 

Nine out of ten professionals I meet can’t explain simply what they want next in their career. If you can’t understand what you want next, no one else can, either.

Keep stripping away bits and pieces until you are able to explain what you want, even to a seven-year-old.

7. Be authentic. 

Don’t pretend to be someone else, and don’t pretend to care when you don’t.

Be 100% honest.

Be 100% yourself.

Most importantly, if you say you are going to do something, do it.

8. Connect proactively. 

The world never stops, and you can’t ever settle for the people you already know.

Never stop reaching out to dynamic people with interests that could overlap with your own.

Avoid getting stuck in a box; even if you are 72, reach out proactively to 23-year-

olds who have energy and ideas.

9. Change your own damn career. 

People always wait too long for external forces to change their status.

You have the ability to change your fate, as long as you are willing to pay the price to get what you want.

10. Proof your own work. If you rely on others – subordinates, assistants, etc. – to catch your errors, you will get soft and dependent. Personally make sure your work is perfect.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucekasanoff/2015/01/20/10-quick-ways-to-supercharge-your-career