Two Parts to Success
Sep 3rd
“The first part of success is get-to-it-ivness. The second part is stick-to-it-iveness.” — Orison Swett Marden
Right here is a lesson in success. While you need a vision for what will be, if you never get to it, it will remain just that… a vision.
Bob Jenkins (aka Bob the Teacher) has a motto “Take Action, Revise Later”. (He has a blog post on it with an excerpt from his upcoming book of the same name if you would like to read more about it.) I like this because it embodies a principle that most of us need to heed.
Far too many of us (including myself) have great plans, dreams, or visions but then never see them become reality because we don’t get to it. We keep trying to perfect the plan or attract the resources or find another excuse not to act.
Instead, we need to take action, as imperfect as it will be, and move forward. Once we have experience from acting, then we can revise. In fact, we will have a better result if we act and then revise. We will learn things from the acting that we would never know to incorporate ahead of time… even if people told us More >
New Header Graphic – What do you Think?
Aug 31st
I have just put up a new header graphic for the blog. What you think?
I would love to have your feedback on this.
Do you like it? What does it say to you?
I am redoing the newsletter and it will share a look and feel with this blog (especially since they are named the same– because they are are complementary to each other.) I am also looking to echo the theme on my website.
So… I would really like to know what you think of it.
Please post comments here or on the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/simmons.solutions) – whichever you find easiest to do.
Thanks. I appreciate you and you thoughts.
Your Dream Job Ingredients
Aug 27th
In an earlier series of posts (see below for links) I talked about your dream job and some of the things you want to do in order to find it and land it. One of the things I never said was what your dream job is (or should be). Obviously, I can’t tell you what your ideal job (also known as a dream job) should be. In fact, no one can… except you.
What I can do, however, is tell you what a dream job is made of and you can use that to develop your own specifications.
Your ideal job (dream job) should encompass several things about you.
- What you love
- What you are (both personality and talents)
- Your mission
Why those? Because all three of these contribute to your enjoyment, your sense of accomplishment, and your ability to excel.
Let’s take a look at each of those a bit more.
What you love
If you are doing something you love, it doesn’t seem like work. Nobody minds expending energy on things they love to do. When was the last you told someone “I’m playing too hard. I really have to quit playing so much, it’s not leaving me any time for work.”?
I’ve never heard it, either. And More >
Try a Little Kindness-To Yourself
Aug 24th
We all learned in kindergarten that it is important to be kind. And most of us have learned that lesson, especially with our friends. But have we learned that lesson with ourselves?
Sadly, most of us haven’t. Far too often we berate ourselves, run ourselves down, and are far more critical of ourselves than we are of other people… even our enemies.
And our internal talk is even worse.
As a couple of therapists I know have said, “Be careful what you say to yourself. You are listening.”
How can you be successful if the person you listen to most is running you down and criticizing everything you do? By listening to that kind of talk, you doom yourself to failure. And when it comes, that inner voice says, “See? I told you so.”
Take a moment throughout your day and listen to what you are telling yourself. Make a special effort to notice what you are saying… and how you are saying it.
Would you say those things to your best friend? I’ll bet not. I’ll bet you would be much kinder to your friend.
It is time for you to be your own best friend. (If you can’t be a friend to yourself, what kind More >
More Voices for Doing What You Love
Aug 19th
Have you heard me say this before… find what you love (what you are built for) and then build your business or your career on that? I have several posts on this blog related to aspects of that.
Some of the posts are about particular aspects of it–from finding your strengths (we tend to love the things that we do well “naturally”) to discovering your mission. If you haven’t seen those, I encourage you to look them up.
I return to this theme periodically because of what it will do for you. I am writing this post on my birthday… a day that I had deliberately set aside to be a holiday for me. And, here I am writing this post. Why? Because I read a post from Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins and it got me all fired up to share this with you.
You see, I love what I do… helping others develop their potential and live fulfilling lives. And I know that you can’t live a fulfilling life if you are locked in a job or business that sucks the life from your soul. So, one of the first things you need to do is start transitioning to something you love doing.
I More >
Independent, Dependent, or a Third Way?
Aug 16th
Many years ago, as a radical youth, I subscribed to The Mother Earth News. While I never was very good at gardening or at getting “back to the land”, I enjoyed learning about it. In fact, I think I enjoyed fantasizing about it. And, like most fantasies, the dreaming was much more enjoyable than the doing.
One of the most valuable lessons I learned from it was the difference between being independent and being self-reliant.
At the time, I thought that Independence was The Best Thing. Independence lets you do what you want. It puts you in control of your destiny. It allows you to Be Yourself. It gives you control.
(By the way, every one of us wants to control our own destiny. We want our freedom and our independence. It is part of how we are wired. Even people who don’t know how to take care of themselves, still want their independence and control of their lives.)
But, over time, I learned that independence also means Going It Alone. It means having to do EVERYTHING yourself… even the things you aren’t good at or don’t want to do. It makes a lot of extra work for yourself and results in a very More >
Your Dream Job Success Strategy – Part 2
Aug 6th
In my post Your Dream Job Success Strategy – Part1, we listed these components of a strategy to find and land your dream job:
- Identify the gap between the skills and talents you have… and those the dream job requires.
- Determine what jobs will fill the gap… and if there is an optimal order to pursuing the jobs (so you can acquire the skills and develop your talents.)
- Start your search for the first intermediate job.
- Package yourself appropriately in your job search.
We explored the first two in that post. In this one we will cover the next two.
Start your search
Having identified your most likely job and best-chance industry for that first stepping-stone job, start actually looking. This can be difficult to do. Most often, the issue is not about knowing what you need to do, as much as finding the inner resources to do it.
But, just to make sure, let’s cover the what you need to be doing. Get your resume out there. Tell people what (specifically) you are looking for. Ask them to ask their circle of friends and acquaintances to be on the lookout for you (network). Apply for appropriate jobs. Keep looking. Be persistent. Go to networking meetings.
Make sure you More >
Your Dream Job Success Strategy – Part 1
Aug 4th
In my post Dream Job Help – Get a Strategy, I talked about the likelihood that you aren’t ready for your dream job, yet. I also mentioned that you may need a First Aid job so that you can pursue your Dream Job… or at least the stepping stones to that job. And I promised that we would talk about components of a successful strategy and then some tips to implementing it.
Some of the components of a successful strategy in pursuing your dream job?
- Identify the gap between the skills and talents you have… and those the dream job requires.
- Determine what jobs will fill the gap… and if there is an optimal order to pursuing the jobs (so you can acquire the skills and develop your talents.)
- Start your search for the first intermediate job.
- Package yourself appropriately in your job search.
Each one of those could easily be the subject of its own post (or many posts)… and might be, one day. But for today, let’s just cover it at a high level.
Identify the skills gap
For this you need to be able to know what your skills and talents are. There are exercises and assessments that can help you discover these if you More >
Dream Job Help – Get a Strategy
Aug 2nd
In my post, Looking for that Dream Job? Here’s Help, we defined what your dream job is. We looked at the different aspects of it (what the work is like, where it can be found, who it done with, and (implied) what it takes to do the job.) If you didn’t list what it takes to do the job, then write that down, too. You will need it as you map out your strategy to achieve it.
Review the list. Do you already have everything you need to successfully do that dream job if it was offered to you today? If the answer is yes, then your strategy is to find the job and land it.
If you don’t have all the skills and strengths to successfully do your dream job, then your strategy is to set up a path that will both lead you to the dream job and equip you to do it. That path may take more than one intermediate job in order to acquire all the skills needed for that dream job.
May I be frank, here? Very few people actually have the skills and strengths required for their dream job. The younger or less experienced you are, the greater the More >
Feedback Time – What is your Challenge?
Aug 11th
Posted by John in Getting Help
No comments
Today, I would like to ask you for feedback. What is your biggest challenge in achieving success? (Remember, we are using your definition of success and your challenge may be any area of your life you choose — career, business, financial, relationships, parenting, friendship, personal mastery, whatever.)
Please answer with as long or as short an answer as you feel comfortable with. (Use the comments box.)
Your answers will help guide the future posts on this blog.
Thank you for helping me understand your special challenges.
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