The Reinvention Coach

An easy way to reach your reinvention goals…

Interested in reinventing your career (or your life!) and looking for an easy, step-by-step plan to make it happen?  Look no further—our new teleclass, A Four Step Plan for Achieving Your Reinvention Goals is the answer!  This class will show you a simple way to make even your biggest goals happen, AND these tools are guaranteed to work—even for the busiest people!

In this information-packed 75 minute session, here’s what you’ll learn:

• Strategies for identifying your reinvention goals
• How to harness the power of ‘cumulative effect’
• Tactics for making progress every day—in an easy way!
• Tips for coaching yourself through the hurdles

Now’s here’s a secret—I’m writing this class because I plan to add this content into my upcoming book!  Because of that, I’ve decided to offer this teleclass for $29, a huge savings on the price of our regular courses (yes, it’s true—you get to learn an easy way to achieve your reinvention goals for only $29!).  Because of that, though, I am limiting participation to 25 people—no more!  Our classes always sell out quickly, so if you want join in I’d recommend signing up here right away!

If you’re one of the ‘lucky 25’, you’ll also receive the following special bonuses: 

• A downloadable MP3 recording of the class—you can listen to it on your iPod, or burn it to CD and listen in your car!
• A Reinvention Goals Workbook that you can use to craft your personal Four-Step Plan. 

The teleclass will take place on Wednesday, April 11^th at 9pm Eastern.  You’ll dial-in to a conference call from the comfort of your own home.  If you can’t make it to the call, you can still sign up for the class and listen to the recording at a later time—so no excuses!  You’ll learn some really valuable information.  You’ll be on the road to a new life….

Questions?  Email us here.  Ready to sign up?  Click here.

Two-Tiered To-Do Lists

A few weeks ago I wrote about The Parking Lot, a time-management technique I recommended to one of my clients that would help her minimize distractions so that she could focus on her most critical tasks.  The other part of the equation, however, was determining WHICH daily tasks she should focus on.  For this, I advised her to start using the Two-Tiered To-Do List.

This technique is very simple—you break your to-do list into two parts.  The top holds your critical daily tasks (the ‘must-do’ list), while the second half contains the balance of your to-do items for the day.  But here’s the key that makes this strategy work:  although you can have as many items as you like on the lower half of your list, there can only be four items—maximum!—on the top half of your list.

Reducing your core list to four items helps you avoid the trap of the endless to-do list by forcing you to choose your top priorities for the day.  Minimizing your must-do list also allows you time to handle those unexpected but important interruptions that may come up during the day (remember that unimportant mental interruptions go into The Parking Lot, and unimportant physical interruptions—i.e. non-critical emails & voicemails—are to be handled at a later point).

How do you choose the four items that go on the top of your list?  The best way to do so is by asking yourself this question:  “At the end of the day, what four things can I accomplish that will make me feel like this has been a really good and productive day?”  Choose only those tasks that if completed, would make you feel like it didn’t matter that you hadn’t gotten to the rest of your list—because chances are, you won’t!  Also make sure that at least one or two of those top items are specifically related to your long-term goals, whether they are reinvention-related, business-driven or a personal desire.  By doing this you assure that your daily to-dos are helping you make progress towards having the life you want! 

What's your reinvention style?

There’s lots of advice given about how to go about reinventing your career.  We’ve all read books that tell us that we must go to five networking events a week, introduce ourselves to at least 10 people, and collect a minimum of 20 business cards. But what if you’re a shy person? This method of networking would fill you with dread and stop you from pursuing contacts that can actually help you.

Although reinventing your career means that you will regularly be outside your comfort zone, if you tailor your reinvention strategy to play to your strengths you’ll be much more successful. In other words, although you must execute certain tasks (i.e. networking) to effectively reinvent your career, HOW you do those tasks should be compatible with your natural style.

When it comes to career reinvention planning, there are three main areas in which you must identify your style:

1. Identify your learning style.

Do you learn things visually or by talking them through, by writing them down or by doing, or a combination of several?  Identify this and customize your reinvention plan accordingly. For example, if you learn visually you may begin the Research & Development part of your career plan by reading magazines or books. If you learn best by hearing and talking things through, perhaps you’ll seek out contacts to talk to or brainstorm with a trusted friend. If you prefer to write things down, you may make lots of lists; make sure you carry note cards with you to catch any ideas, thoughts and information. If you learn best by doing, seek chances to ‘apprentice’ in your target role or field, perhaps by volunteering.

2. Identify your personal interaction style.

If given a choice, would you rather work by yourself on things, with a partner, or in a group? Identifying how you prefer to interact with people when accomplishing tasks can forestall a lot of frustration and wasted effort. For example, if you like to work in teams, when executing the HR portion of your plan you’d be best served by assembling a group around you for support. It can be a paid or unpaid networking group such as the Five o’clock Club, your ‘advisory board, or your reinvention support group.

3. Identify your primary motivation style.

Accountability and reward are two means of motivation, and both must be present in your launch strategy.  However, identify the one you naturally respond to and build more of it into your plan. For example, more accountability could mean weekly updates to your reinvention group about your progress. More rewards could mean arranging an ongoing treat for yourself tied to your daily goals.

Be aware that fear can also be used as a motivation tool, but oftentimes it is used negatively. If you tend to use fear to get yourself going, it is important to switch to a positive framework. You do this by focusing on what you do want, rather than on what you don’t want. Our minds create what we focus on, so make sure to put your attention and energy on the thing you want to have happen!

This piece was excerpted from our Career Reinvention BootCamp eCourse, which is a self-study version of our popular BootCamp seminar. 

Test driving your new career...

When it comes to certain purchases—cars, for example, or software—one of the best ways to know if you’ll be happy is to ‘try before you buy’.  When it comes to career reinvention, that same principle holds true!  The challenge is to find a way to explore a new industry without the commitment of leaving your old field.

In BootCamp, I often suggest that people use volunteerism as a way of exploring a new career.  But if you have a really demanding schedule that doesn’t allow for a consistent after-work commitment, you may want to check out Vocation Vacations.

Vocation Vacations allows you to live out your career reinvention fantasy by shadowing someone already in the field.  By doing so you’ll get a chance to explore the reality behind the myth, learning first-hand about the rewards—and the challenges—of your target career.

At two to three days, Vocation Vacations offers exposure to a dream career for a minimal time commitment.  While not a substitute for volunteering (where you have the opportunity to build skills and meet contacts that will help you transition to your new field), it can provide a useful first-look and a basis for further exploration.

Creating a vision for your new career

One of the first challenges people face when reinventing their career is coming up with an idea of what they’d like to do.  Typical career counseling generally suggests starting off by analyzing your skill set and matching them to a list of potential occupations.  Although this strategy may be useful for new grads, it is less effective for those who have a lot of experience under their belts.

Why is this?  Once you’ve been in the work force for a while, the above equation misses critical factor in career success-- your life!  As time passes life’s complexities increase, and as a result there can be a mis-match between your job and what you need (or want) for your life.  This causes a significant amount of unhappiness; much of career satisfaction is directly tied to how well a job helps you create the life you want to live.

You may have heard the saying: ‘If you can see it, you can be it’.  This is the principle to employ when creating a vision for your new career—you must see it before you can make it real.  But don’t get stressed out if you don’t know exactly what you want to do—many people who have successfully reinvented themselves started without knowing that.  But what everyone knows at the start—including you!-- is the kind of life they dream of living.

This means that when you seek to reinvent your career, the best place to start is by first coming up with a vision for your ‘ideal life’ (once you’ve done so, you brainstorm ideas for the kinds of careers that can deliver it!).  The best way to start creating a life vision is by imagining a picture of your ideal day.  You wake up in the morning—where are you?  What does the room look like?  Who’s with you?  Visualize all these details and make them real.  Continue on in your mind, creating a picture of this day, including your surroundings, who you’re with and what you do.  But don’t panic—you don’t need to know specifics!  Just come up with a general idea of what you’d enjoy (i.e. being in a small office interacting with a team or alone in your home office typing on your computer).

By designing a picture of your ideal day, you can begin to seek the kind of work that turns that vision into reality!  In our classes I recommend that people write down their visions; you can also create a ‘vision book’ with pictures, words and phrases that represent your ideal day and life.

Don’t be afraid to stretch yourself and create a picture that seems almost scary in its possibility to make you happy.  Your ideal day (and life!) should speak to your heart, excite you, make you thrilled and a little bit scared, and bring you a sense of fulfillment.  If it doesn’t, then dream bigger!  As Les Brown says: “If you shoot for the moon and miss, at least you’ll land among the stars!”

Last chance to register for NYC BootCamp!

If you've been thinking about signing up for our New York City session of Career Reinvention BootCamp that starts this Saturday (March 10, 2007), you have one last chance.  But don't delay!  There are only two spots left and we won't be offering this class again in NYC until the end of the year.  That's a long time to wait to reinvent your career!

Click here to register; if you have questions, email us call (800) 928-1874.

See you in BootCamp!

Reinvention Book Pick: Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters

Clients and students often ask me to recommend books, so as a periodic feature in our blog newsletter I will let you know about ones I’ve found that will be helpful to you as you reinvent your career.  This week’s book pick is Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters, by Jay Conrad Levinson and David E. Perry.  Part of the popular ‘Guerilla Marketing’ series, this book provides lots of creative and useful strategies for conducting an effective job search campaign in today’s marketplace. 

What I like about this book is that it approaches career search from a marketing perspective.  Career reinvention is even more so based on marketing fundamentals, since a successful reinvention is fundamentally influenced by how effectively you:

1. Identify your target market (your dream career, and who has the ‘yes’ power to give you a job in it)
2. Repackage your background (identify the skills and talents that will help you succeed in your new role)
3. Tell your story (let the target hiring manager know how you can help them accomplish their goals)

The tagline of the book is ‘400 Unconventional Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Landing Your Dream Job’ and, true to its word, the book is packed with suggestions on all aspects of effective career search including public relations, research, logistics, and networking.  Although there are many interesting ideas and suggestions, not everything may be applicable to your particular career reinvention.  My recommendation is to approach this book as a buffet rather than a four-course meal—look at all the offerings, and take only the items you want!

The Parking Lot

Last week, a former client came back for more coaching.  Our last contact, this past fall, had been a celebration; due to her hard work (and our work together!), she’d landed her dream job.  Now—six months in to her new position, and loving it—she wanted a few ‘tune-up’ sessions to further polish her skills and set some new goals.

The skills piece was her more immediate concern since her new role—head of sales, member of the executive team—forced her to stretch in new ways.  She’d come from marketing, and she’d realized that being sales meant she needed to be much more proactive about following up with prospects (in her previous job, vendors had pursued her).  Another new responsibility included managing a team of sales people, which multiplied the number of details she needed to track.

As a result, she found herself overwhelmed.  Fearful of forgetting an essential task, she would handle a to-do item as soon as it popped in to her head.  By the end of the day she often found that while many things had gotten done, her top priorities remained unfinished.  She was in motion, accomplishing tasks, but not seeing results that counted.  She needed a technique that would help manage the mental chatter of her to-do list, so I suggested she use one of my favorite techniques: ‘The Parking Lot’. 

The process is simple:  take a blank sheet of paper and write on the top in big black letters ‘Parking Lot’.  Make sure this piece of paper stays within reach all day (including during lunch!).  When a to-do pops into mind, park it in ‘the lot’; in other words, write it on that sheet of paper. 

Now here’s the key:  don’t DO the task in that moment, just write it down.  The parking lot is the home—outside of your mind—for all those random thoughts about what you need to accomplish.  At the end of the day, sort through the items in ‘the lot’ and work them into your daily or weekly to-do list.

Why does this technique work?  What happens is this: when you don’t write down a ‘to-do’, it stays in your mind.  The worry that you might possibly forget it distracts you from your immediate task.  Eventually the mental chatter gets so loud that you interrupt what you’re doing to complete the to-do, just to have a moment of peace.  This provides a moment of instant gratification but ultimately causes more stress, since taking time to handle that to-do means less time for essential tasks!

'The Parking Lot' alleviates anxiety since once an item is parked, it is moved from your mental storehouse.  Your mind can now rest since it knows that task resides in a safe place and won’t be forgotten, which frees up mental energy—and time!—to focus on your top priorities.

I gave my client a weekly coaching request to begin using ‘The Parking Lot’ to manage her daily workflow, and encourage you to try it too!  Let me know your results....