Happy New Year!
Is 2026 the right time to change your life?
Congratulations if it is
It is exciting to start work on a new goal
It can be scary too
After all, change involves handling the unknown
Taking small steps helps
So does getting the support you need
Feel free to leave a Like / Comment and follow the link and learn more about getting started
This is a special time of year.
We can take time to enjoy a meal.
We can give presents to people we care about.
We can think warmly about loved ones who are no longer here.
We can even do some future planning.
If that sounds like a good idea feel free to visit the link and start future planning for a happier new year.
https://buymeacoffee.com/RogerD/e/363791
Music – Lift by Starluxe
Here’s a YouTube short which is a reminder, that our #communication skills are valuable in solving others’ problems
It doesn’t matter whether we polished those skills through a career, or during a demanding time we were doing unpaid work as a #carer
Either way, we can use the STAR model to help us spotlight our #skills
I’ve created a PDF summarising these points which you can find by following the link below
Personal development matters after an event like National Careers Week.
Planning the next steps after #NCW2024 means taking stock, working out what can be done straight away to make an impact and scheduling time to move toward change.
Here’s a reminder of what all that means.
Stay tuned.
In a few days you’ll be able to have access to more insights, to help your journey toward a better job.
Some people inherit their opportunities and other people spend a long time creating their chances.
If you are over 50 years of age it will be harder to get employers’ attention, as they prioritise attracting recent graduates.
The video should help you think about how to market yourself when the competition may be 20 years your junior.
Feel free to leave a Like and Comment about your approach to older workers..
An Interview Can Bring You Closer To Your Goal – Picture Credit Pexels Dot Com
It’s that time of year. The time when you start thinking about your next goal.
Maybe your heart is set on getting a new job, or starting a college course. Assuming your initial application has been successful and you have been chosen for interview the tricky part is ahead. 30 minutes marketing yourself to someone else.
So, your interview clothes are pressed.
Your shoes are clean.
You’ve practised smiling and shaking hands at the same time.
What’s your next step toward your goal?
How Do You Market Yourself?
Just recently I helped some interviewees practice their self-marketing skills. The candidates turned up looking like they wanted to impress (professionally dressed, heads up, smiling).
They were prepared, as they knew how the interview helped them toward their ultimate goal.
Each candidate brought a different set of skills and experiences to their interview too. They told their stories well. The ability to respond thoughtfully to three basic questions really let some interviewees shine
Preparing Your Answers
Here are the questions. What answers would you give? Feel free to Leave A Reply, Like and Share
First, What Attracted You To Apply For This Job / Course?
This open question allows you to start showing the interviewer why they should consider you an ideal fit for their opportunity.
You can use examples which show the strengths you have which make you perfectly suited to be a good performer if you join the organisation quite quickly and a great one in the longer term.
When you are presenting your examples use the STAR method to explain your Situation the Task you tackled, the Action you took and the great Results you produced. Extra credit if you describe the obstacles you overcame and the lessons you learned.
2. What Qualities Do You Bring To The Team?
More often than not you will be involved with other people in a business-as-usual or project team. How have you worked with others to solve problems? What skills do you bring to a team? If you have led a team, how have you motivated others? Use the STAR process to tell your story.
3. What Is The First Thing You Do When Your Plans Don’t Work Out?
Here’s your chance to shine. Everyone knows that plans don’t always work out. If you have a good example of how you handled a problem which came up out of the blue, use it. It is important to spotlight what you did in the situation though, even if others were involved. The interviewer will want to know about the difference you made to the end result.
Your Preparation, Evidence And Answers Matter
If you have thoughtful answers to these questions (and you tell your story well) you will stand out in the interviewers mind. If she or he has seen five or six candidates you want to be the first person they think about when they imagine selecting a new team member. Good preparation and presentation will help you stand out.
What Is Your Next Move?
So, good luck if you are a starting out, or moving on in your career. Use the comment section to say how you prepare for interviews where you are marketing yourself to strangers. You can be sure others will appreciate what you have to say.
Finally, thanks for reading. Feel free to Like and Share these ideas if you found them helpful.
What Will Motivate You Tomorrow? – Picture From Unsplash.com From Mayur Gala
The biopic documenting the life of Apple Founder Steve Jobs will be on screens soon. There are plenty of lessons to take from his innovative approach to life. I like the ones which flow from the memorable commencement speech he gave at Stanford University 10 years ago. That speech included these lines:
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
I think there are a couple of key ideas in this section of the speech
There is an extra bit of pathos in those words, since Steve Jobs knew his time was limited. He was living with cancer as he spoke (he died in October 2011).
Which 4 Letter Word Is More Important For You?
Is it Need? (meaning your wisdom and inner voice tell you something is necessary)?
Is it Love? (your overwhelming interest and pleasure in something)?
Will Need Or Love Drive You Forward Next Year?
Sometimes we can get so busy with life we lose sight of our driving force.
As far as I can tell Steve Jobs was driven by his love of a challenge and a desire to innovate. What’s true for you?
The people I have coached enjoy reconnecting with their motivation to be happier in themselves as well as more productive team players. Handy attributes to have, especially during tough economic times, when they focus is producing more, quicker and with less resources.
So, which principle – need or love – will help you with your goals next year? Use the Reply space to share your thinking with this community.
Extra Help On Offer
Would you appreciate some extra help working out which of your priorities to pay attention to? Then there is a free download available via this link (just fill in your name and email details then hit the blue button on the left hand side of the page)
https://experienceyourlife.coachesconsole.com/
How Do You Link Boldness And Creativity?
Leonard Nimoy was much more than ‘the actor who played Mr Spock in the Star Trek franchise’. He inspired thousands of engineers, scientists and artists over several decades too.
Those people wanted to do more than live the 9 to 5 life. They wanted to chase bigger and bolder ideas. That’s quite a legacy.
Here are a couple of lessons I’ve taken away from his story.
Do You Have Unlikely Goals?
Apparently Mr Nimoy senior didn’t want his son to be an actor. Leonard decided acting was something he was going to do, however unlikely that goal seemed.
He trained, he persevered, set and reached incredible goals as an
– Iconic Actor
– Successful Director
– Celebrated Photographer
Do You Want To Confront Your Fears?
With roles on several 1960s TV show Leonard Nimoy was offered the choice of playing a half-human, half-alien character on an innovative science-fiction piece pitched as Wagon Train in space. He spent time weighing up his choices.
Part of his reasoning process, which led him to finally say ‘Yes’ involved him asking and answering the question
“Will you choose to do something which scares you”?
He made the decision to live boldly of course, which was the right decision as it turns out.
When The President Appreciates You
Leonard Nimoy’s achievements have had a profound impact on others – when Rolling Stone Obituary quotes the President of The United States, who has acknowledged you as a
“…lifelong lover of the arts and humanities, a supporter of the sciences, [someone] generous with his talent and his time…”
you have probably made a significant cultural impact (here’s the article http://bit.ly/Rolling_Stone_Covers_Tributes_To_Leonard_Nimoy from which you can measure the man’s achievement)
What Will You Take From Leonard Nimoy’s Story?
Here’s a YouTube 25 minute conversation where Leonard Nimoy discusses his life and career with Pharrell Williams – it is full of details you probably didn’t know about the man and his many careers – it indicates how courage played a part in his creative process
http://bit.ly/Leonard_Nimoy_Pharrell_Williams
Living Life Boldly Involves Making A Contribution
There’s a line from the interview which strikes me as important.
In living a full life and achieving success in several fields Leonard Nimoy was concerned with
“Making A Contribution…Having Something To Offer”
His focus was the service he provided to others. He wasn’t hung up with being a TV or Film Star.
His contribution helped inspire science-minded people to pursue their careers. He even got the nerdy, outsider, kids like me feel they had something to contribute. That’s impressive.
What Triggers Your Inspiration?
Thanks to Star Trek re-runs Leonard Nimoy will be challenging people to do more with their lives forever.
What – or who – is it that inspires you when you are ready to get going on a new project? How bold or courageous do you need to feel to get going?
I’d be interested to see what you think in the Comments below, or have your say on Twitter @RogerD_Said
Thanks for reading this far. If you enjoyed this post feel free to share it with others – Trekkers or not – who might appreciate reading it too.
Progress Involves Setting Goals Taking Action And Achieving Great Results
It was great to start a conversation about goals, actions and achievements at a workshop last week.
Speaking with a roomful of people – on 28 January – about how to #SetGoalsAndTakeAction caused me to think about the benefits you get from pursuing your dreams.
If you are in the right frame of mind to change your life you can have a brilliant year. Positive thinking will open your mind to the key messages from inspiring live speakers, or writers appearing across social media.
If you are on the lookout for inspiring, motivating and action-oriented content you might want to search out material offering these outcomes:
Effective Content Offers These 3 Outcomes
What Can You Do To Promote Useful Content?
If you see a presentation or a post which combines those 3 elements you will probably want to add your comment, or share your experience with other people in your network, so they can benefit from it too.
Your commentary or authentic word of mouth recommendation is very valuable and can make an idea get the attention it deserves.
In other words your Facebook ‘Like’ or Twitter ReTweet can spread the word far and wide.
What Is Your Next Step?
Thank you for reading this post. Would you like to help continue this conversation?
What is the most effective content you have encountered recently? What made it work so well for you? Say a few words in the Comment section below or Tweet @RogerD_Said
If you found this post useful feel free to share it with others. I’m on YouTube so you can suggest topics for me to comment on http://bit.ly/Experience_Your_Life_Intro Either way keep an eye out for future posts that help you achieve a more successful 2015.
Where Will Your Next Step Take You? – Photo Credit smswigart via Morguefile.com
If you read billboards, or advertising on public transport, you will already know this is your year to:
No pressure then if your work or life goals are smaller in scale. How often does the big vision you have of a personal project stay in your head? Taking the first steps towards turning your mental vision into the real-world outcome you want can be hard.
If your vision is a bit more modest you could take inspiration from the historic achievement of Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson who scaled El Capitan this week. They have been working toward that outcome for years. Naturally they believe Teamwork and Persistence pay off in the end.
Here’s a link http://bit.ly/Inspiratonal_El_Capitan to the BBC coverage of the story. For me this is Kevin’s killer quote
He said the experience of scaling a peak by a route no one had taken before
“recalibrates your perception of what you can do and what’s possible”
3 Ways People Can Do More Than They Thought Possible
In the real world people get by with what they can achieve. With a little inspiration they can achieve more.
Understand the nature of the person whose problem you are trying to solve – I was on the receiving end of an email a while ago from someone with whom I was collaborating on a project.
Their email was a bit of a rant over several topics on the edge of our project. Luckily I read and remembered something from Dale Carnegie’s classic book How To Win Friends And Influence People.
Carnegie quotes what the founder of the car making company Henry Ford said about understanding others:
“If there is any one secret of success it lies in the ability to ‘get’ the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”
With that thought as my inspiration I made time to make a phone call. I really listened to what my friend was saying. I understood that the rant was actually about fears that their voice was generally going unheard.
A phone call and some deep listening took the heat out of the situation. By understanding what was underneath the rant I was able to move the relationship forward. Good news for the project too, since there were no serious disagreements festering under the surface.
Practice to improve your skills – most people don’t have special powers. Initially we make do with our natural abilities. Then we grow. There are ways to work with what you have got to improve.
The late Arthur Ashe is someone I quote often. He was action oriented. The quote I will use in a goal-setting workshop later in January goes like this:
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can”.
When was the last time everything was 100% perfect in your life? All of the elements are not perfect in the project I just mentioned. But they can be made to work together with some effort. Is waiting for the perfect moment keeping you from achieving more success?
Collaborate with others who can help you improve your performance –
Henry Ford also believed that
“The accumulation of great fortunes calls for POWER and POWER is acquired through highly organised and intelligently directed specialist knowledge. But that knowledge does not necessarily have to be in the possession of the man who accumulates the fortune”.
In other words, you can spend time trying to be a specialist in several areas. Or you can offer your skills to a group of people who have other skills you can draw on. Who will you work with this week?
What Will You Do This Week To Redefine The Word ‘Possible’?
Hopefully you are inspired to start making a difference in your own life. The Pareto Principle suggests 80% of your results can come from just 20% of your efforts. It is surprising where small initial steps, in line with your values, can take you. What ‘impossible’ outcome will you achieve this month?
As I mentioned above, I will discuss these ideas with people coming to my goal setting workshop on 28 January – details here http://bit.ly/Set_Goals_Take_Action – so expect to hear more about the benefits of taking action over the coming weeks.
Meanwhile I would love to hear about what you are going to accomplish in 2015. Share your plans here in the comment section, on Twitter @RogerD_Said or have your say on LinkedIn if you would prefer.
Experience Your Life 