Often, people look to managers and mentors to guide their careers. Both are great resources for encouragement, feedback, and ideas. Yet, when it comes to our careers, we need to make sure we are in the driver’s seat. No one else knows what we are looking to achieve...
We see information all the time on investment portfolios. We are taught to invest for the future. Diversify our assets. Ensure we are financially prepared for the future. My Perspective I believe we should plan our income like our investments. Why not have an income...
We want our dream job. We go to college. Take the right classes. Start in the industry. Work toward that dream job. Chase the dream. Somewhere along the way, many realize the dream is elusive. I heard a quote recently that stuck: “Stop searching for your dream job and...
Recently there has been talk about a shift to focus on tasks over titles. If companies start hiring for tasks, they will need to find people to fit those tasks. In turn, individuals will need to highlight their skills for various tasks. I started to think about what...
When we talk about our careers, we are quick to note our footprints. We tell others about our degree. The college we attended. The companies we’ve worked for. The titles we’ve held. Awards won. Promotions achieved. Yet these are just the steps of our journey. What we...
Colleges have started creating classes based on Taylor Swift. Classes on her music, her writing, and her business acumen. From the creative to the scientific, her life has many lessons we can all draw from. There is one insight from her recent tour that I think we...
In 1963, psychologist Raymond Cattell introduced the concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence encompasses the ability to solve novel problems and adapt to new situations. Crystallized intelligence represents the knowledge and skills we...
Yesterday, we covered moments when nesting or un-nesting might happen. The life moments were easier to identify than the work moments. After a bit of research, I found that the term nesting is used in call centers. The nesting phase is the time...
Our work is an integral part of our daily lives. The career choices we make shape our attitude and impact our overall wellbeing. Over time, many of us can find ourselves in a job not quite sure how we got there. Today we explore the second dimension of wellbeing -...
Within a Deliotte report on the passion of the explorer, the chart below caught my attention: This made me think about people I know – some driven more by ambition, others by passion. Neither are “right” and most of us have a fair blend of both. With a little more...
Today, we build on yesterday’s post where Deloitte Research moved past employee engagement. We will cover the Passion of the Explorer. Here is the description from the report. When we talk about worker passion, passionate workers, or Explorers, what we mean is a...
Deloitte published a piece of research in 2013 that intrigued me. The three authors of the report – John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Tamara Samoylova – dove into employee engagement and concluded this: “While employee engagement was sufficient in a world of...
Work is full of planning and goal setting. Annual business plans. Monthly plans to meet sales goals. Weekly planning meetings. Daily to-do lists that tie to those goals and plans. Yet, we don’t typically have that same type of planning for our career and our life...
Gallup has focused on measuring employee engagement for over 20 years. Since 2009, engagement has been steadily rising through 2020. Then, the decline began. 2021 brought a drop from 36% to 34% and with the 2022 data the numbers are now down to 32%. This takes us back...
There are two distinctive camps when it comes to loving our work. Do what you love. OR Love what you do. Do what you love suggests we follow our passion. “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” - Confucius On the other side, loving...
Many articles have been written about soft skills and life skills that schools don’t teach. The skills can loosely be grouped into the categories below: Home Management – Personal finance, cooking, and cleaning Career as a Business – Job Hunting, Negotiating,...
In 2009, Paul Graham coined the difference between a maker and a manager schedule in a blog post. In the world of work, these schedules are quite distinct. The manager schedule is the more traditional schedule seen in corporate environments. Managers...
As we continue to see more hybrid professionals in the workplace, they will be creating careers that satisfy all their passions. Some of those may be passions described as more analytical or technical. Another side of their interests could be creative and...
I came across a note I had taken from a book or podcast that said this: “Paths (career/education) pull you back, while passions and purpose propel you forward.” Unknown The quote intrigued me and tied to the long-standing debate around following your passions. A...
Many individuals have multiple interests. Some they are trained on or went to school for, while others are learned through self-discovery. Personally, over the years, it has been difficult to sort out where to put my focus and understand the relationships between my...
Yesterday, we discussed how personal development can be thought of as a quest. Thinking deeper about this, the journey of life is full of quests. Living on our own. Raising babies….toddlers…teenagers…young adults. Navigating our careers. Starting a business....