Not so dedicated to your career? Well now's the time to reassess and choose

This is for everyone but I will focus this for the majority of my friends with whom I have consulted with (as consultants for organisations) over the past eight years. This is for this bunch of people who are extremely talented but for one reason or another fell into a job that though it paid well, gave you some street cred and provided international travel came no where near to fulfilling them personally or professionally. Day after day it was simply a matter of going through the motions and pretending this was the life they wanted.

When I say going through the motions I will state that there were times when we had to work extremely hard. That's a given. However, and this is the consultancy and financial sector world over, there are many people who get paid well to actually do very little. Not only very little but nothing of any importance; not personally fulfilling, not helping society and not changing society. The money was great for the effort but looking back the money wasn't that great...particularly when it meant driving yourself into a career that you didn't really want, all the while making it more difficult to turn back and make that critical change. I speak to many of these people today and not many have moved out of that old way of life and they are hating it or worst still, resigned to their fate.

So in the face of current economic challenges I'm writing this for my friends above encouraging them to change careers - this is the time to make that switch, the easy times in financial services is over and it is time to take control of your life. You may have been made redundant, hoping to be or one of those unfortunates still in that thing you call a job. However regardless of your position you must move....OR commit 100% to your job.

I say that the option of not really trying in a career you don't like is no longer an option. There is no more easy street or automatic promotions and if you don't work hard and achieve you will move backwards. More importantly you will find yourself thinking yourself more and more worthless as time passes you by. If you're not prepared to go for that dream career then at least achieve in your current career - or something. Choose something, but at least put some effort into it. Achieve some good things and perhaps your career won't look so wasted.

But please, either change careers or commit and achieve - these are the only choices.

When do you make your best or most 'life changing' decisions?

The focus of this question, is in part, due to the fact that many of us are facing some difficult decisions over the next few months because of the challenges presented by the current economic state. I got to thinking the other day what drove a lot of my decision making and came up with the fact that making decisions are meant to benefit yourself - the challenge being whether that benefit is in the short, medium or long term. Short term gain for long term gain is something I do believe in if a decision is made with only the short term being the main focus.

Decision making is a cognitive process that the brain manages and the final decision is based on a variety of underlying factors. Personal values, motivations, your sense of expected rewards (and your valuation of them), emotions, past experiences, consideration of what your friends and family would expect....the underlying components are many. Many of these decisions are not 'life changing' simply because the human being is a creature of habit. It can be difficult to make decisions when you don't 'have to', even if you know making a change would be the best medium to long term decision.

Take for example the situation that many professionals are facing today. You may have been made redundant or there is a good chance of redundancy - what do you do? If you've always wanted to change jobs or get out and start a business then perhaps there is no better time. Sure things are dire now but when is there a 'best time' to make this change. The decision to make this change is more easy for the person who is out of a job then for the person who still has a job. They might have the same goals to start a business but for the person with a job, they might most probably think they are one of the 'lucky ones' to still have employment. They will think it is better to keep their job and plan to leave in a few years when they are more financially secure. On the other hand those who have been made redundant either have the choice to follow their dreams or look for new work.

What I want to emphasize is that when 'forced' to make a decision, there is perhaps a better chance of making it a life changing one. In the example above being forced to choose between job and new business does not mean you have a choice to remain with the status quo - you need a new job or need to start a business. There is no going back. Either path is new. So consider your own situation now and consider what decisions you can make today that might most impact your life...in a positive way and whether your current situation is holding you back. Might be worthwhile to consider what decision you would take if you were forced to change what you were currently were doing - would you try and revert to what you were doing or start out new.

Why being 'defined or labelled' by your career reduces life options

'You are what you do' is a commonly used term that I have read and heard many times when it comes to analyzing your behaviour, motivations and plans for achieving goals. Now there is no doubt that this is a pertinent and relevant observation...actions speak louder than words and often in this society of ours you are judged based on the actions you take. Not at all unfair considering that there are few better ways in which the wider world can understand and make a decision on you as an individual. However at this stage you might want to ask yourself 'what drives the behaviours that make me act the way I do?'.

Many of us identify with the career we have at any particular time and this identification includes the conceptual boundary of the behaviours that are appropriate for that career label. Whether you are in sports, advertising, accounting, construction, music etc....there is a preconceived notion of what is acceptable for an 'athlete', 'advertising exec', 'accountant', 'construction worker', 'rock musician' etc. You know when thinking these words an image comes into your head of what 'that person would or should be like'. When it comes to your own career, if you see yourself as 'your job role' then both consciously and unconsciously your behaviours will mirror this image; consciously because of the environment you are in at work and unconsciously because of your inner perception of this label.


What I am saying is that this 'label'; the identification of yourself as your career role e.g. accountant, athlete, doctor, teacher, psychologist will begin to narrow your options as to how you think and behave because you are conditioning yourself to think and behave along the lines of a image that is attached to your career. You may say this is crazy, but after a period of time it will be a difficult habit to break. Why else are huge career changes to difficult to make; in reality they are quite easy but the change in behaviours is difficult to assimilate in reality. There is also the danger of identifying with a career that is actually not 'you' - it was meant to be a part of your life but not control it. There are many examples of people realizing after 20 years that there job means nothing and that they feel trapped in their career - but do not know what to do. This is because they confused their identity with their career image.

What you need to do is not label yourself as your career; instead see yourself as a person with numerous skills and multiple levels of personality - which you are applying only a selection of to a particular career role at only this point in time. Be aware of how to apply your skills and personality to many challenges in life and never think that once you are on a path that you cannot choose another direction. This is something I undertake with my clients and whilst not always easy to control, because your options become limitless, the danger is that you narrow your options so much that in the future you literally become stuck in your life.

Are you achieving your professional goals or just going through the motions?

Many of us are guilty of setting goals that we have no chance of achieving. Why do we do this? It's because there is nothing of substance underlying the goals, just passing interests. Because they do not represent something you care about and is of no importance to you or your principles, your subconscious will soon pass them over and move onto something else. However you feel principled to have these 'goals' so you will continue to have them and fail.

I believe because our society, in general, is brought up to fear failure we limit ourselves when it comes to achieving our maxiumum results and performing at our maximum potential in life. For many of our our goals are either not realistic (can blame this if we fail), too easy (highest chance of not failing), not timely (can always point to achieving something in the future) or not important to our lives (you and others will forget you have these goals). In my experience within the white collar world there are those of us that demand more from ourselves everyday and those who simply go through the motions. The first group are driven, have clearly set objectives that relate to their life principles, are organized, are prepared to sacrifice but most important clear their life of useless clutter. They are also top of their game. The second group believe that by getting a job in the white collar world they have achieved something big - their professional lives are controlled by others, they do not truly know what they want, sacrifice little because life is 'pretty good' and completely fall in a pattern of behaviour. Their skill levels are very similar in ten years time because of this. Then times change, as we have seen recently with recent financial and economic upheaval and many of this second group are left stranded - the first group may also go through some difficulty but will always succeed in a fight.

I've studied the existence of both these types of professionals over the past few years and have concluded that the first group is distinct because they (1) know themselves and have a clear reason(s) for what they want (2) are prepared to sacrifice (3) push themselves to be the best in their field and take the steps to ensure their performance is always high (4) do not take failure lightly and will push through adversity (5) have a plan that includes goals and action steps (6) always look to better themselves (7) they have done the research and know what is takes to achieve and (8) manage their time effectively.

I'm undertaking some work for an organization now that at the moment has no real measure of performance or productivity of the company or the indvidual staff - yet management thinks by simply going through the motions of the past ten years everything will be okay. This falls into the second group I was talking about above - thinking they are good enough as professionals because they have certain experience and a qualification. Well wake up guys...times change and skill and knowledge requirements change if you want to achieve in your profession. Fighting a battle with weapons and information of 100 years ago is not going to help you today no matter how strong you were back then. It doesn't matter how hard you work if you do not know what you need to achieve and do not therefore have the skills or knowledge required.

If you don't know (what you need to) and you don't do (what you need to) then you will never achieve.

Look, I'm not talking about earning millions and millions here - my message is about unlocking your potential and to stop wasting our time on this planet. The bottom line is why do something if you don't want to do it at your maximum potential? If you don't then maybe it's time to move onto something else.

How to effectively achieve goals and enjoy the experience

What would you say creates more pleasure - achieving goals or knowing you are on the right path to achieve your goals through undertaking the required actions? From what I have studied it takes shape in two forms; the first being the initial pleasure in the moment of achievement but then there is a subsequent feeling of emptiness if there are no future goals to move onto. Likewise working towards a goal can be immensely satisfying and rewarding over a period of time, but only if you know you are moving towards the goal you truly want.

What I wanted to write about today wasn't about ensuring your stated goals are truly the ones you want, rather I wanted to explore what was required to achieve your goals more efficiently. But also as important, and often ignored, was how to enjoy the journey of achieving the goals and minimizing any stress involved in the process.

When it comes to setting and achieving goals, the majority of us think of something we would like to achieve because of a reason important to us at a point in time. The majority of us don't consider a range of goals or even where a particular goal fits in with their overall life plan...if they have a life plan at all that is! A goal is something in the future and the primary weakness in goal setting today, whether wealth creation, health, business or career is that not enough thought and analysis is put into what is required to achieve the goal. That is, what steps or actions must be undertaken, in a somewhat predetermined order, to achieve your stated objective.

People are generally good at planning or action but not both and this is why goal setting and achievement is always an area we can improve. But the first point I want to make it that time must be allocated to planning the actions and steps necessary to achieve any potential goals.

Time management is also crucial in achieving goals...not much point in setting a goal for the next year that will take an average of 4 hours a day to achieve if you only have 2 hours available. Thus you must know your schedule, be strict in what you do and don't think more inputs to a goal will get you there faster. Often less is more and it is important to minimize the tasks required - performing only what is necessary. But more important is ensuring you act on your plan once you have cleared your schedule accordingly. This is where tools such as neuro linguistic programming (NLP)are useful where old habits and perceptions need to be broken and new ones re-established.

Lastly, goals are often achieved to gain a positive experience or to lose a negative experience. Either way not achieving a goal should not be an option but so many of us set goals that are not achieved. Worst still this becomes a habit and leads to underachievement and future stress due to the fact that you recognize you are not achieving what you want. The solution...don't focus on the goal, just focus on the actions you have identified you must undertake. If it helps create personal principles underlying these eg wanting to get to work early could be attached to a principle around starting the day fresh and wanting to maximise each hour of your life for personal development...something like that but it must work for you. The benefit is that you are more likely to respect yourself for undertaking these actions and not be tempted to continually change or adjust the goal because you are focused on the actions. Focusing on the goal, particularly one in the far future, will lead you to change more often as you become impatient and if you don't achieve then your stress levels and life enjoyment will suffer.

Life decisions based around the 'status quo' will fail in today's world

Why have I chosen to write about the above subject today? I see a lot of people who are walking around at the moment kind of stunned and shocked with the multiple stress of losing wealth, job security, political instability and the fact that they suddenly realize they have no clear life direction or purpose. The question is what can you do to adapt and what does a changing society mean for you personally?

Well first of all stop thinking that life will just 'work out' even if you make little effort or do not think about your actions. In the past society was more stable and changed at a slower rate - people lived by different principles. Now everyone wants more, more is expected of us, consumerism is becoming more of a lifestyle where we either work or spend and entrepreneurs are always looking for the next thing as humans' attention span is now so short. Unfortunately there are also limited resources so those who do not go and get will end up with nothing.

You might say great wealth or job satisfaction is not important, you would rather live an easy life. Well get real...with technology, investment trends, globalization, political disputes changing ever so quickly there is no way anyone's life cannot not be impacted by social changes occurring. The need to adapt is just as necessary now as it was for the caveman when fighting for his life in the wild. Our 'wild' is now the urban jungle and the dinosaurs are everyone else trying to succeed. The survival of the fittest rings true and if you don't realize this now then good luck.

However if you do realize you must adapt with change then your next step is to focus on how much you need to change and in what areas. Whether it be new skills for a career, changing your investment structure, changing your perceptions of the world, fitness and mental agility your plan must be clear and focused. Society, as it was in the past, will not automatically take care of you, your employer will not guarantee you a job for life, your wife will not guarantee a relationship for life...it is time to accept that the direction your life takes is in your hands and your hands only.

Go see a business or personal performance coach, look at tools such as neurolinguistic programming to put the changes into effect. But more importantly act today.

How to achieve higher levels of performance - Part 1

For many people what I am about to say is not new and a principle they live by on an everyday basis. However for many it is something either not known, not recognized or just ignored. What I am talking about is the concept of blocking out emotion and old mental anchors when it comes to breaking through new barriers to achieve new goals.

I would consider myself as intelligent as the next person so of course I would say I understand what I am talking about today. But do I follow this principle day in, day out? No. Do I think what held me back from achieving certain goals, blaming everything but myself? Yes. If this is you and you want to stop the frustration when this occurs by not making it occur then keep on reading. Otherwise feel free to continue with the old habits.

I am not sure why but on the rowing machine at the gym yesterday I was putting in quite an effort and the body and mind was becoming weaker as time went on. But I had said I wanted to hit certain numbers on the rower and unless I upped the pace I wouldn't make it. At one point I thought (well the instinctual self or Id part of who I am)'who cares, I'm still getting a good workout' but the Rational or Ego self and Internalized/Ego Ideal self said 'no way, you need this to improve plus you already said you were going to do it. If you don't you'll continue to make average okay to achieve'.

Very good you may say but what next. Then I determined a purpose and defined the principles for what I was about to do over the next five or so minutes; better health, keep word to self, achieve goal, feel better - this created a value framework which I could operate within and move forward, rather than perform an action 'out of habit'. When the going gets tough, the principle of instinctual self will look to protect you and make it okay not to follow through unless you have a stronger underlying principle that supercedes. This is a key factor in achieving new goals or targets.

So I had resolve, princples and purpose but still some pain and exhaustion. Well I looked deep down and asked myself 'how did I truly feel'. The answer was actually not bad...my brain had created a upper limit based on past exercise and it was sending me a message that I was nearing this threshold. However what the brain knew was not what my body was capable was - in fact no where near it. The pain was not real, the state of exhaustion was not real. It was all a mental perception based on past experiences and performance. Therefore the trick was to focus on the actual task of rowing along with the breathing etc and believe it or not the physiological change improved my emotional or mental state.

Therefore in finishing off what allowed me to achieve this task, better than I had before was; define your goal clearly and necessary action, establish principles and purpose for goal - including keeping your word to yourself and thirdly, be task oriented and do not let old barriers determine your emotional state and thus your physiological or mental performance. Focus on doing and you'll find your emotional state switches and supports you.

Assess your life's purpose

A major source of stress in society today comes from sources that when broken down in more detail do not deserve the importance attached to them. Stress is also caused by the feeling that you are not living a life of meaning or there is no purpose to what you do - combined with the fact that you do nothing to change this.

Look at society today, how complicated and meaningless it has become for many - focus on making money, getting to top of career for nothing more than to say you were the boss, becoming fit just to look good and better than the rest of society....truly meaningless in that you have added nothing to the human race and when you are dead what good is your money, your fitness or your career. Now I'm not saying there isn't good in these things; you need to make money for your family, achieve in your career for personal growth and be fit/take care of yourself to ensure a healthy life. However we need to truly assess what the purpose is of each thing we do and make it count.

How many of us live a life of excess and consider the less fortunate simply a topic of conversation. That the phrase 'social enterprise' sounds great but that is it. Could you honestly assess any meaningful contribution you have made to society in the past year, three years, 10 years? Do you accept life for what it is and focus solely on yourself? It is obvious we as a race are looking for more - online dating trying to find the perfect solemate, online personalities and avatars to live a life you dream of but do not have in person. The fact it is becoming 'fashionable' to give your time to charities through social enterprise activities. The evidence is there that our society wishes for a more meaningful and exciting existence but struggle to live it in the real world.

My advice is take a look at your life and look beyond the next promotion, pay rise etc and consider one thing you can do for someone else or for society's benefit. From a psychological stand point personal growth and development is one of the underlying needs of humans, though many of us do not openly recognize it as such, therefore by undertaking deeds to benefit others you will also benefit yourself and add some real purpose to your existence.