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Stuck In A Career Rut?

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Feeling stuck in a career rut is common. When facing a big life changing decision or uncertain change, people can feel stuck in a career rut. Being made redundant with no obvious way forward  can make you feel very stuck. The feeling can be very dehabilitating – paralysing.

The good news is that being stuck in a career rut can be tackled, but it is hard to do by yourself as you are too close to yourself.

I find that when I’m feeling stuck and not taking action, there’s always a good reason. It’s just a question of working out what the reason is. And asking a question is a good way to pinpoint the reason. Here are 12 tips to help you when you feel stuck: 

12 simple tips to help address stuckness

1) Do tasks one at a time and clear away everything else from your desk and mind

2) Write tasks very clearly and specifically so you are left in no doubt about what you need to do

3) Keeping your final outcome in mind, identify the first step. Don’t worry about the 9th or 10th step until you’ve taken the first

4) Create a 1 page plan for projects especially a big project like a new career

5) Segment tasks to make them feel clearer and help you prioritise

6) Have a ‘stuckness audit’ with yourself, for a project or your company to identify the ‘don’t knows’

7) Identify the consequence of the stuckness and the benefits of taking action

8) Check in with yourself regularly and make time to ask yourself a self-reflective question

9) Get a career coach or mentor to help you see the wood for the trees. If you are standing in the middle of the trees, it is understandably hard to see the path out into the clearing.  

10) Speak the truth. Express what you see, feel or hear when you notice stuckness. Simply articulating it can help shift it

11) Acknowledge that stuckness and inaction is okay sometimes and it isn’t normal or realistic to have growth spurts all the time, otherwise it would be Spring all year round!

12) Think of someone who you admire. Look at the problem through their eyes. What would they do?

 ‘They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself’ Andy Warhol

If you found these tips useful, and feel stuck in a career rut, why not download our free report on Skills to give you new insights about how you could energise your career? Click on this link now:

http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/

How Do I Market What I Do? 10 Tips

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Many people find the prospect of marketing what they do scary and put it off, thinking of it as being pushy and selling to people, when in fact a lot of marketing is common sense and about finding out about people’s needs and being persistent. Here are 10 simple marketing tips to make marketing what you do easy.

 1.      Needs and wants – Marketing is about what your target audience want and need NOT all about what you can do. Start with your audience in mind.

2.      Differentiation/USP – get clear about what makes your company/service different or better than your competitors and then communicate it consistently.

3.      Verbal business card – have a distinctive and attention grabbing verbal business card as well as an impactful printed business card.

4.      Research – with new business ventures/new services, find about what people want; they are more likely to give you time. Then get back to them giving them what they told you they wanted.

5.      Testimonials – ask satisfied customers for written testimonials and use them in new business.

6.      Introductions – ask your contacts for introductions to people who might be interested in your services and follow them up. It is easier to open the door with a warm referral than a cold lead.

7.       Proactivity – be on the front foot (offensive marketing) rather than reactive (defensive marketing). We live in a fast changing world, so make sure you don’t get left behind.

8.      Network – keep in touch regularly with your contacts and be persistent. Set up a database which shows you who you’re due to contact and what their key needs are. Doing networking little and often ensures it happens

9.      Nurture key contacts – look after the key people who rate you and who are happy to sell on your behalf. You might never need to do any marketing!

10. PR – have a thought provoking point of view and write a letter or article for free PR. Newspapers and magazines welcome initiatives to appeal to their readers and it costs nothing but your time and thought.  

Hope these have been useful. Many people would rather stick pins in their eyes than market themselves, but Marketing in reality is different to what people think it is. Marketing is not sales! It is understanding people’s needs and working out how to help them and to make them aware that you are there.

If you are allergic to marketing what you do, you could be sabotaging your success which would be a shame. Get in touch by using this contact form  – click on the link, or call me 0845 22 55 010.

Look forward to hearing from you.  By the way, if you found these tips helpful, opt in for our FREE bulletins about Self promotion:

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Cheers

Rachel

Rachel Brushfield

Career strategist and coach

Personalised professional career empowerment 

Energise – The Talent Liberation Company

 Tel: + 44 (0) 845 22 55 010

Mobile: + 44 (0) 7973 911137 

E mail: rachel@liberateyourtalent.com

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What’s Your Best Strength?

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You’re blushing. What are you like! It’s ok to blow your own trumpet occasionally, it doesn’t mean you have an ego the size of Donald Trump. Us Brits are far too modest for our own good, it is important to  acknowledge yourself.

There is a lot to be said for doing work that plays to your strengths. One of my best strengths is spotting insights,  making connections and coming up with ideas. Just as well I’m in the right job then, isn’t it, as a career coach?

 I remember doing a course once and we all had to share something we were brilliant at. One person chose flirting. We had to ask each other questions about how we did what we were good at.  Very interesting exercise!

What are you really good at? Download our free report and find out:

 http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/

 

Jigsaw Puzzles For Grown Ups

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I love jigsaw puzzles. Not wooden ones mind you but people ones. What on earth is she on about I hear you cry. I love the jigsaw pierces that make up someone’s new career. You need to have all the pieces to create a picture of their future, you know what the pieces are but not what is on them at the outset.

You know there will be a certain number of pieces but you don’t know exactly how many as everyone is different.  First you create the border and then fill in the pieces, one by one. It is exciting seeing what picture emerges and it isn’t always what you think it might be when you start off.

The other day I even shocked myself when I came up with 21 career ideas for a client for how they could use their skills and interests, plus honour their values and motivations. They are now going great guns and their planning of their new business is getting off the ground really fast while they are working 4days a week – cunning plan.

If the only committee you are a member of is the escape committee, then read this inspiring example of a client who changed from & design and architecture to holidays around cheese.   

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1106787631322.html

 

Do You Love Your Job?

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You do? You’re kidding right? Oh you’re the one.

You see it’s a bit like relationships – there are lots of ‘all right ish’ ones but ones that are brilliant are as rare as a nesting osprey.

If you are a typical employee, if you have a job, you will be hanging onto to it for dear life like an aging footballer with a supermodel girlfriend.

 If you are fed up to the back teeth of your job, your boss or your employer, what can you do except grin and bear it? The behaviour of people who don’t like something but don’t know what to do about it easy to spot:

  1. You talk more behind your boss’ back than to their face
  2. You wake up on a Monday morning with lead weights in your shoes rather than a spring in your step
  3. Weekends and holidays feel like an oasis and you cling to them like a drowning man
  4. You get ill a lot because your body is being obliging to get you out of there
  5. You drink too much alcohol, shop to excess, eat comfort foot to excess and do drugs to distract yourself, or maybe all of them
  6. Soap opera storyline feel positively cheery compared to your lot

So what’s the alternative? Here are 3 options:

1)     Bump off your boss and steal their job

2)     Resign with no job to go to

3)     Download the Energise free report ‘Pain free career change’ as the first step to keep sane http://www.careerstrategies.co.uk/

Itchy Feet? Need New Career Ideas?

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I adore those moments of blinding insight. An oxymoron if ever I heard one. Moments of utter clarity about what someone REALLY wants to do. Most people fall into their career by accident and plod along, leading a half empty working life. Shame.

A client came to me looking for new career ideas. They knew they wanted a career change, they just weren’t sure what. My favourite challenge! I asked what she really loved doing. She replied: “I don’t know if it is significant but, when I was a teenager I used to babysit and I would clear out and tidy the cupboards. I absolutely loved it.” As she talked about it, she glowed with enthusiasm and her energy completely changed from 60 to 240 watts. The seed of a new business was sown.  

Bingo, or Bob’s your Uncle. Whoever Bob is. That wonderful moment that informs a new career. Utterly exciting. Hugely rewarding. New career ideas are hard to come up with on your own. You are too close to yourself. A career that fits you is like finding a partner with whom you are compatible. It has an unquantifiable large impact on your happiness and fulfilment.   

Here is an example of a career change http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1106375841019.html

Do you like something for free? Thought so.  If you have got itchy feet and could do with some new career ideas, why not download our free report, “Pain free career change“? Click on the link: http://www.careerstrategies.co.uk/

What’s Your Limiting Belief?

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A client of mine claimed to be ‘the world’s biggest procrastinator’. Quite a mean feat bearing in mind how common it is and the population scattered around the globe. I love limiting beliefs – they are fascinating. Beliefs drive behaviour and what we do and don’t do so have a huge impact in success, action and change.

Other common limiting beliefs are; ‘self-employment will be difficult’, ‘career change is hard’, ‘marketing is pushy’, ‘all public sector workers are institutionalised’, ‘women are bad drivers’ etc..  Most of the time limiting beliefs are irrational, created on a small shred of evidence, one comment or a snippet in the media.  They are really powerful, stopping people from doing what they want or creating bias and inequality.

Limiting beliefs can be about anything; money, relationships, work etc. One client had a belief that ‘money is misery’. They wanted more of it but were stopping themselves because of their limiting belief.  Beliefs can usually be spotted by generalisation such as all… or I must/should. What are yours? Have some fun noticing people’s beliefs wherever you are reading this.  Read this bulletin on ‘Mind reading’ when we create beliefs  about other people:  

 http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1103698726463.html

 

She Went With A Bang

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I fainted recently and hit my head. I’m hoping it will improve me. I have been thinking a lot recently about my brain wearing out with overuse. Not wise, as it will wear out even faster. Perhaps I could buy a new one or two brains for the price of one might be an idea too; come in handy in the future as we are living longer.

I fainted because I got up too quickly. More haste less speed is a quote that was created for a reason! Doing something too quickly is easy to do because there is so much to pack in, and this is magnified by social media. Responding in an argument, eating something hot too soon after it is taken out of the oven, giving someone feedback without thinking about the best way to express it is taken out of the oven all have consequences.

Wouldn’t it be brilliant if there was software that enabled humans to defrag their brains and refresh them?  We could erase negatives memories of redundancy, critical comments, bad bosses, broken relationships and stress. I am sure it won’t be too long before that innovation happens. Being replaced by robots is next. I’m off to search Google.

Does Size Matter?

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Size matters. Or does it? Isn’t it how you use it? I’ve been thinking about this a lot. The older I get, the bigger is my network. Throw in a dollop of Twitter followers, LinkedIn connections and Facebook ‘friends’ and the whole world could be my network. This is hugely exciting and absolutely paralysing overwhelming! I need a lie down.

 That clever chap Pareto said that 80% of your problems come from 20% of people, 80% of business come from 20% of your contacts. The key is working out the 20%. If your network is increasing fast, how can you keep up with who need to be culled, which contacts need to be nurtured and which is the 20% when it changes minute my minute.

 I think I shall go and live in a cave.      

 Does your career matter? If so, download our free report ‘Pain free career change’ and see if you need a career rethink.

http://www.careerstrategies.co.uk/

 

 

Tweet Tweet!

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I did a session explaining social media recently. Here’s my layman’s explanation of how Twitter works: I follow you so you will follow me.  I thank you for following me. I retweet your tweets in the hope that you’ll retweet mine so I get more followers. I suggest my followers follow you if you support me, especially on a Friday. Still with me?

I share my miscellaneous thoughts as ‘tweets.’  These are the random thoughts occupying my headspace in the hope that you will spread them around the world virally and a celebrity will become my Twitter friend. The 140 characters tweet limit stops me from being verbose and boring the pants off you. I hope that by not selling, we will have a connection and it will lead to business, but subtly.  You can de-follow me at any time but I won’t know, so my ego is undented. Feeling fog free now about how Twitter works?

I wonder if people will start speaking in 140 character sound bites? Parents of teenagers might say that is already the case.  Could save a lot of time and increase productivity. Twitter enables you to connect with anyone, is free and if managed is a great tool and is the modern way to connect and get a job. 

If you would like to understand more how Twitter works,  click on this link:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1103738068874.html

To follow us on Twitter, we are @talentliberator