Cars and Careers: Both Need Maintenance

I don't know about you, but I dread taking my car for service. I don't know very much about how a car works, besides the basics like fuel makes it move. So, I feel open to being taken advantage of at the mechanic shop. However, experts tell us that if we want high engine performance, we must do preventive maintenance. It's the same for your career. Just as routine service is key to keeping your car in great running condition, continual maintenance is key to a rewarding career.

Careers must be maintained. Here are three tips on getting better mileage in your career.

1. Choose the right octane. How can you tell if you're using the right octane level? Listen to your engine. Do you feel productive and fulfilled in your work? Hmm. The knocking and rattling you hear coming from your engine may be the sound that your career doesn't fit anymore. If you're bored with what you've been doing, have no growth opportunities, or are on a sinking ship, perhaps it's time to take some small steps toward a new career. Honest self-evaluation is a good starting point. Next, begin exploring the possibilities. Finally, decide on a career path that is right for you and start taking action.
   
   
2. Keep tires inflated to proper levels. Under-inflated tires lower your gas mileage, and an outdated resume decreases your success in the job search market. Apply these up-to-date resume techniques to improve your career economy and efficiency:
   
   • Eliminate the "References Available Upon Request" line. There is no need to state the obvious and you'll save valuable space.
     
   • Delete the confining and general objective statement at the top of your resume and replace it with a qualifications summary that tells the reader at a glance who you are and what you have to offer.
     
   • Don't list every job you ever held and give each equal importance. Instead, present the experience that is relevant to the job you're applying for. Highlight current skills and recent experience that relates to what you want next. Focus on accomplishments not responsibilities. Show the reader how you match the requirements of the job.
   
   
3. Change your air filter. Air is just as crucial as fuel when it comes to powering the engine. Replacing a clogged air filter improves acceleration time. Likewise, constantly updating your skill set is critical to how far you go and how quickly you get there. Never stop educating yourself. If you don't have the skills to move ahead, you'll get left behind. What new skills have you developed in the last six months? What have you done to expand the scope of your job duties. Stay on the cutting-edge of whatever you do so you don't lose your competitive advantage.
   

Career success requires regular maintenance, but don't rely on someone else to take care of your career. Take charge of it yourself. Maintaining your career ensures you stay challenged, current, and competitive.

Job Search is a Lonely Job

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent in August, nearly 15 million people. Yet, so many feel like they are all alone in their joblessness. And, it is easy to become isolated in the process: sitting at a computer screen filling out application after application, facing the letdown of rejection, or (and equally devastating) never hearing a word back from your attempts.

It may be lonely at the top, but the loneliness of unemployment is real as well. Here are three suggestions for battling loneliness while looking for work.

1. Find a support group. Job search is something you should never tackle on your own. And, your working friends (although they mean well) can not understand your situation and are sometimes no help at all. So, join a supportive group that will keep you encouraged and hold you accountable. Not only will they pick you up when you're feeling low, but you will be available to do the same for someone else (hence, taking the focus off of you which is always helpful).
   
   
2. Get out of the house. Change your scenery and change your mood. Try job search in a different location: the library, a FREE hotspot, the park, even a friend's house. Changing your routine can renew your energy, creativity, and focus.
   
   
3. Don't spend all your time looking for work. Job seekers need a life too. Develop a job search schedule and make sure you plan regular breaks from your job search activities. Volunteer. Catch a movie. Do something fun. Laugh. Take a class. Take a walk. Dance. You've heard the saying: All work and no play makes Jack a boring, cranky, sad, discouraged, stressed, pessimistic, apathetic, cold, angry, exhausted, ... boy. Well, you get my point. Let's just say, Jack's attitude certainly isn't going to attract any good job prospects.

When you're trying to find a job, you need someone in your corner. Consider hiring a career coach to help you create and implement a successful job search strategy. If you could do it on our own, God wouldn't have created the rest of us.

In the Dallas, Texas area? Attend this powerful workshop: How to Stand Out in a Tight Job Market and Land Your Dream Job. You'll get help with your resume, job search, but most importantly, you'll connect with people who will partner with you to succeed.

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

Our biggest obstacles are not always outside of us. Sometimes our biggest enemy is the person staring back at us in the mirror -- Y-O-U.

Here are three ways we sabotage our own efforts:

1. Incomplete-ism. Is your list of incompletes longer than your list of completes? If the answer is yes, "Houston, we've got a problem." Multitasking, perpetual brainstorming, and treating everything with the same importance can keep us from completing anything. Define the tasks that are most important for you to complete right now and work on each task, one at a time. It's when we try to accomplish three or four tasks at once that nothing gets completed.
   
   
2. Perfectionism. The Ready-Aim-Aim-Aim... and never Firing approach. Sometimes we spend too much time in planning, preparing, conceptualizing and then revising, tweaking, modifying -- simply trying to avoid failure. Fear of failure limits your level of success. Go ahead... Fail! It's in the doing (the Firing) that we learn how to be successful. Practice the Ready-Fire-Aim approach. Sometimes the best way to succeed is to jump in and do it. You can always make adjustments. And, you'll move closer to your goals and get more done.
   
   
3. Self-criticism. Do you understand the words that are coming out of your mouth? Negative self-talk holds us back from accomplishing more. Thoughts like, "I'm not worthy." "I'm not good at this." "I can't do it." Don't underestimate the excellence within you. The truth is: You are unique. You have special gifts, talents, abilities that enable you to accomplish great things. You are valuable. You provide comfort, laughter, wisdom, assurance, and help to many people. And, you can do it. You are the Little Engine That Could. Say it, "I know I can. I know I can."

Could you be the reason that you are not moving further ahead?

All of us need help accomplishing our goals. Getting help doesn't make us less successful, but it gives us the power to be more successful. Having a personal coach will help you identify and overcome the barriers holding you back. Schedule your FREE jump-start session today.

I See Increase All Around Me

Vision is the capacity to see things as they could be. Hollywood writes about vision. The young boy, Cole, in the movie "The Sixth Sense" had the vision to see dead people. Whoopi Goldberg's character, Oda Mae Brown, had the vision to see Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) in "Ghost." The news media paints a bleak picture with very little news and increasingly more speculation and commentary. If you watch enough of it, you will develop the vision to see loss and despair for your future.

Vickie Yohe put the Prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10) to song on her album, "He's Been Faithful." The song is called "Increase Me" and I love it! I've chosen the song as my anthem for 2009. I play it over and over. The lyrics encourage me to have a vision beyond my current circumstances. Instead of seeing joblessness and an economy in peril, I choose to see no limits, no boundaries, only increase all around me. (Listen to audio clip.)

What is your vision? What is it that you want in life? Without vision you will drift and stumble or go nowhere at all. Look inside to find your vision. Ask yourself these questions from Gary Collins book, Christian Coaching:

1. What really moves me?
2. What makes me cry?
3. What brings a glow of joy into my life?
4. What arouses my enthusiasm?
5. What do I hope my life will look like in five years?
   

Don't get so bogged down with the present that you ignore your future and don't let the media dictate how you see life. Develop a personal vision. While others are focused on an economic depression, you will see increase all around you.