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Subject: News from Career Crossroads
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| Career Crossroads Newsletter
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September, 2008
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Hello Readers,
Recently I've
had an extraordinary amount of "stuff" on my plate... so
much so that I've found myself falling into a pattern
familiar to lots of us .... procrastinating.
Advice such as "just do it" or "try harder"
just increased my anxiety. Sound familiar? I
know procrastination can rear it's ugly head during
times of career transitions and job searches, so I've
decided to devote two issues to giving you
strategies and techniques to help you avoid this stumbling
block and move forward toward your goals.
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Stop Procrastinating
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You know you've got to leave your job,
make a career change, or begin expanding
your networking connections. You realize the
positive benefits of any of these choices, but you're not
doing them. Why? Psychologists say procrastination
is often used to keep us from facing our fear of success,
or delaying a fear of failure. Conflict arises when
a career move can result in a mixed blessing. Sylvia,
a recently divorced client, wanted to return to school but
was uncomfortable with the reaction of her friends and family.
Money was tight and she was afraid of how this might
be perceived. Procrastination became a convenient way
for Sylvia to remain ambivilent. Jack had prospered
in his Operations management career even though it didn't
suit his strengths or interests. However, he was
very concerned about how successful he'd be if he made a
career switch. He felt as though he were on a high beam.
The higher he went, the more frightened he was his next
move could bring failure. How do we break these
cycles? Try these for the next week .....
1. Become aware of what you've been avoiding
by making a list. There's nothing like black &
white to reveal where you're spending your time
and energy.
2. Keep an inventory for 3 days. Observe where
your time is going. Know how and when you procrastinate,
without judging or analyzing your behavior. What are
you doing when you're being productive. How is that
different from the times when you're busy but not productive.
Total the times spent on each activity. This will reveal
areas where you want to make changes, eliminate activities,
or simply start earlier in the day. After examining
how you spend your time, you can see more clearly your weak
spots in the day that encourage procrastination.
3. Keep a procrastination log. Set
up columns noting the date & time, the activity, your
thoughts, justification, attempted solution, and resultant
thoughts. Let's say you need to schedule a networking
meeting. Your thought is "I have to but I don't want
to". Your justification is "I'm too anxious".
Your attempted solution is to walk the dog. Your resultant
thought is "Feel more anxious; feel bad about myself".
By evaluating your patterns for a few days, you'll be
alerted to the your inner dialog and show where
it's hindering your progress.
Again, try these for the next several days and see if
you don't begin to break the procrastination cycle!
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Upcoming Workshop
12 Biggest Mistakes Job & Career Changers Make
and How to Avoid Them
Santa Rosa Junior College
Saturday, October 25
9a - 12p
for further information call:
707 527-4372
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Success Story
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Susan,
Until I decided to seek your assistance, my job search
was going nowhere. I was working hard but didn't really
know why I wasn't getting results. Very shortly after
we began working together, I learned where I'd been off
base and where I'd been wasting time. Some of
your suggestions about my presentation of myself really
raised my confidence level. In addition, learning
how to reach key decision makers was pivotal for me.
I never would have suspected just a few short months
ago I'd be interviewing for a job I wanted.
Again, Susan, thank you so much for all your capable assistance
to my transition.
Sincerely,
Daniel H., Program Mgr.
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Career Action Plan
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If your career search isn't yielding
results, your focus is unclear, or you don't know your value
in the job market, don't put off scheduling a Career Action
Planning (CAP) session. This initial
session gets to the heart of any career problem, identifies
what's working for you, what
needs attention, and establishes your next steps.
In addition you'll receive:
* "The 12 Biggest Mistakes
Job and Career Changers Make and How to Avoid Them"
* An audiotaped summary of
session results
* Written summary of session
* 45-minute RECAP session
For more
information, call ...
707 542-2420
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| Save 20% |
If you are interested in a Career Action Plan (CAP) session, either
for yourself or a friend, please mention you saw this offer on my newsletter
to receive a 20% discount.
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| Offer Expires: October 30, 2008 |
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