Posts Tagged with Career

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A Reminder To Dare Mighty Things

We all need people around us who are genuinely interested in our growth and progress.  They give you props when you’re on the right track, let you know when you’re slacking and freely share the resources they have in their toolbox. At the end of the day, the relationship is mutually beneficial as you support and push each other to overcome obstacles and do bigger things.

One of my good friends since college serves as one of those people in my life. He has seen the whole journey since then – the good, the bad and the ugly. A month or two ago, he passed along a quote he thought I would like.  He was right – it resonated with me as I read it.  Although I appreciated it, I didn’t do anything else with it at the time. It remained where it was as a long text.

I try to pay attention when the universe seems to be telling me something.  A couple weeks ago, I met someone who had a favorite quote listed on Facebook that looked familiar.

A great statement…this ones for me….does it speak to you? #TheodoreRooseveltQuotes #textgram

A post shared by Leterrion D Smith (@leterrion_a_blessed_gentleman) on

I liked the quote a lot and tried to remember where I saw it before.  This led me to dig up the quote my friend had shared with me.  I realized what I saw on Facebook was an excerpt of the full quote.

I’m never certain about the universe’s messages but this one aligned with my recent thoughts.  At the beginning of the year, the speaker at an event I attended talked about being in the stands vs. being on the court and in the game of life.  Whatever you want to pursue, you get a different experience if you approach it by being in the crowd as a bystander versus rolling up your sleeves and running plays on the court. Being in the stands is safer – you don’t have to worry about failing, losing or falling on your face in front of others.  Being on the court is more risky –  there’s a chance you will be defeated and you’ll have to decide if you want to continue or not. Despite the downside, there is also the possibility that you’ll win and achieve your pursuits.

The possibility of that favorable outcome makes it all worth it. No risk, no reward right? I prefer to be on the court – in any of my pursuits and in life. Even if I fail, there will be lessons that I can apply forward so that next time, I fail better and faster. I’ll put all the lessons in play until I win the game.

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What about you? How are you going through life and approaching your pursuits? Are you in the stands? Or are you getting on the court?

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Inspiration For Scanners, From Barbara Sher

A few months ago, I started researching resources about pursuing multiple interests, contrary to society’s expectation of choosing one thing.   I read numerous articles, research papers, watched videos and identified relevant books.  During this process, I discovered Barbara Sher and her work on the topic. I read about her books, visited her website and became inspired by her work; I instantly added her books to my Amazon shopping cart!

I highly recommend Barbara’s work! One book in particular, Refuse to Choose, resonated with me. Here is the description of it from Barbara’s website:

In the book Refuse To Chose: A Revolutionary Program For Doing Everything That You Love, Barbara identifies someone she calls The Scanner–someone who frequently has a multiplicity of interests, but finds it hard to create a successful life he or she loves because their passions and abilities are taking them in so many different directions. Contrary to popular wisdom, Sher tells Scanners that theirs is a unique ability, not a liability. She also states that they must do everything they love, not zero in on one pursuit at the expense of all others. With dozens of powerful techniques Sher has developed to free people from “goal paralysis,” readers will stop thinking of themselves as dabblers or dilettantes, and find innovative ways to live lives of variety, challenge, and joy.

I couldn’t get enough of Refuse to Choose once I started reading it! How did Barbara know my life so well?! It seemed like every other line explained a thought, challenge, or scenario I had experienced before. I read with a pencil in hand to note all the lines that resonated with me (I couldn’t use a highlighter or pen because I have this thing about keeping my books unmarked and an erasable pencil brought me a lot less stress).


I took the book everywhere, including on my trip to Cuba! I’ve since gifted and recommended it to friends who have multiple interests and aspire to do more in life. One of my friends said it was one of the best books he has read (and he reads a lot)! He became a believer too. We signed up for Barbara’s newsletter, and soon after, were notified that she had an upcoming book club for Refuse to Choose. We were super excited and signed up for that too! We were so moved that we emailed Barbara to share how meaningful her book has been.

Participating in the book club for the past few months has been a great experience. Refuse to Choose is dotted with exercises which I didn’t finish while reading the book. So I looked forward to doing them as part of the weekly book club assignments.  Overall, this committed time allowed me to reflect on my interests, skills, and truths. I wanted to realign myself and validate what I’ve presented as my truths – what I enjoy and what I aspire to do.

A few weeks ago, I received Barbara’s newsletter and noticed she had an upcoming telesummit, Dare to Soar.  I looked through the agenda which had some interesting topics and speakers.  I was particularly excited to see Barbara’s time slot!  What a pleasure it would be to hear from her real-time! I blocked off time on my calendar so I’d be available to participate.

I logged into the telesummit at the beginning and followed along throughout the day. Participants had an opportunity to chime in and ask the speakers questions, share stories and provide feedback on the activities.  Of course, I loved Barbara’s session and hearing her provide real-time advice to participants on their situations.  Everyone was excited to hear her voice and greet her.

A major highlight of the day was when I personally thanked Barbara for her body of work and let her know that she has been an inspiration. I told her about my journey with the Refuse to Choose book club and applying the lessons from her book. Her response was very warm – she thanked me and asked where my work can be found. I mentioned this site along with my Twitter account since I was tweeting about the Telesummit and using its hashtag. There were multiple contests during the day so I was thrilled to learn that I won a DVD of the WMHT Public Television show Refuse to Choose! with Barbara Sher and the hardcover edition of Barbara Sher’s book, I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was!  I received these a few days ago and can’t wait to dive in!

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Have you heard of Barbara Sher or read any of her book? How did her work inspire you? What were the key things that you learned? How did it change your outlook or life?  Share your thoughts and perspective below.  I’d love to hear from you!

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Your Ideal vs. Your Reality: Balancing the Two

As humans, we seek a higher purpose, meaning and guidance. What is the meaning of life? Who or what can show us the way? We like to know what the end game looks like and our role and purpose in the big picture.

Although there is no book with official steps on living life, society has established ideals which emphasize how things should be. As these translate into norms and are reinforced around us, they influence our vision for our path. Ultimately, we align our lives to meet society’s expectations. Looking around, and in my own life, examples of this are easy to find.

The Ideal.  Ideals are what we aspire to achieve in life and they drive us.  “If only I had _____, I would be (happier, more successful etc.).” There is always something out of reach that we seek and conclude will provide some type of satisfaction.  How do we come to this conclusion? We adopt what we hear and see around us, including what society deems “acceptable” or “right.”  For example, society’s path to a “good life” is a good education, a good job, a family and house with a white picket fence.  We hear this from family, teachers, guidance counselors, college professors, employers etc. If this idea is so pervasive, how can it not be true?  Once we subscribe to it ourselves, we adapt our own path based on decisions and actions that are confined to outside judgment, meeting other people’s expectations, seeking approval and keeping up appearances.

The Plan. In order to meet our ideals, we outline a plan to make it happen. We believe that if we take these steps, exactly as planned, we’ll get what we want. Again, society says this is the path everyone should take so why wouldn’t it work for you? This process gives our lives the meaning we incessantly crave. Each day, we wake up knowing our why. By taking each outlined step, we believe we’re working to achieve our ideals and our ultimate purpose. We’re convinced that we’ll get what we want and there’s rarely a thought that things won’t go as planned.

The Reality.  Meanwhile, life is happening and it has its own idea of how things will unfold.  This can manifest in a variety of ways: plans going awry, discovering considerations that weren’t included in the plan, unexpected issues showing up, factors that can’t be controlled for taking their own course, etc. These impediments throw off our plan and can postpone or permanently keep us from reaching our ideals.

 

 

Where does this leave us?  It creates a gap between the reality and the ideal. Society rarely prepares us for such disruptions. We’re left with a plan that is no longer effective since it doesn’t account for any of the curve balls. We no longer have the meaning our plan gave us, and we’re lost without clarity on how to navigate toward our ideals.

Since we didn’t account for things not going as planned, panic sets in. There is no way this can’t work! I can’t let it fail! Let me roll up my sleeves and fix it real-time. I’m going to focus on how I can get it back on track.  I can’t imagine it not working out as envisioned and planned. Any alternate solution is “bad.”

What manifests is intense focus to repair, fix, prevent, and control to get things “right” and reduce the probability of failure (think Six Sigma on steroids). Our reaction is in response to not reaching our personal plan, but more often than not, we act out of fear of failing in front of the world. Failure means we won’t achieve the ideals society says we should have; and we fear outside judgment, not meeting other people’s expectations, not obtaining approval and not being able to keep up appearances.

I’ve been down this path many times and after reflecting on a recent instance, I have some new insight on making it more manageable and less exasperating.

There is no tragedy, only the unavoidable. Everything has its reason for being: you only need to distinguish what is temporary from what is lasting. What is temporary?… The unavoidable… and what is lasting?… The lessons of the unavoidable.  — Paulo Coelho

Here’s how you can handle the gap between your ideals and your reality better:
  • Revisit your premise. Your premise for this entire undertaking is that you think this is what you should be doing, is right and will not lead to failure. And this is all attributed to the meaning assigned by society or you. Whose meaning is the truth or final? Arguably, neither is right, how things should be or will guarantee certain outcomes.  But you define the meaning and believe it to be true; the only reason it has power is because you give it power.  If this approach and belief system doesn’t serve you, you should stop subscribing to it.
  • Don’t label things good or bad. Whether something is good or bad is subjective and depends on who you ask. Would it be bad if half of all the money in the world disappeared?  Those with extravagant lifestyles would probably care, but those who already live modestly probably wouldn’t care as much. Let things be, without being good or bad.
  • Don’t add stress or pressure.  Even if the situation seems malleable, that doesn’t mean you need to add stress and pressure.  A rubber band is flexible, but if you continuously pull it or pull it too far, it will snap. Sometimes it is better to do nothing. Leave it alone. Don’t question or try to associate meaning. Give things space to breathe.
  • Accept the reality and what happened. What happened happened and it is in the past. Don’t obsess about it, be stuck in it or be held hostage by it.
  • Appreciate situations for what they are. Focus on the lessons the past gave you and be grateful for what you have today. You’re better positioned now due to your lessons and experience.
  • Embrace the power of now. Take advantage of the present and take action to create positive opportunities. Create your own life the way you want it to be today. Your life today is important and I’d argue more important than any ideal life you aspire to have.

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Do you come across gaps between your ideals and your reality? How do you balance the two? Have you tried any of the suggestions above? How have they worked for you? I’d love to hear your perspective!

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Success is at the Intersection of Your Skills

Change is happening at an unprecedented rate, leading to increased competition. I usually hear about the impact of this on companies, but it is worth paying attention to how it impacts people like you and I as well.

Why should this matter to you? The pace of technological change affects what we do and how we do it. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, 3D printing and other transformations lead to more automated and efficient processes which impacts the role that people play. New technologies result in less manual human input and enable remote work and teleconferencing with mobile and cloud technology. If workers don’t need to be local, the talent pool expands beyond geographical borders and global competition for talent increases.

This impacts all workers, including those in traditional careers, creatives and entrepreneurs.

So what can you do? If you live in an area susceptible to flood, it makes sense to get flood insurance.  If you’re investing in the market, it makes sense to diversify your portfolio. Similarly, I think you should be smart about how you plan and improve your chances of success.

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, one of the most popular and widely distributed comic strips, shared an approach that worked for him in an interview with Forbes:

The result is the Adams success formula: “Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success.” Adams says you can raise your market value by being “merely good—not extraordinary—at more than one skill.” Adams told me his career is an example of the success formula in action. “I’m a poor artist. Through brute force I brought myself up to mediocre. I’ve never taken a writing class, but I can write okay. If I have a party at my house, I’m not the funniest person in the room, but I’m a little bit funny, I can write a little bit, I can draw a little bit, and you put those three together and you’ve got Dilbert, a fairly powerful force.”  Adams says the addition of a little business knowledge (he has an MBA from Berkeley’s Haas School of Business) and the sum of his “average” talents makes him more valuable than any one skill alone.

This advice isn’t conventional. In fact, we live in a world that reveres choosing one thing to focus on and we’re expected to become an expert at it. But here, Adams promotes a different approach which works for those in traditional careers, for creatives and entrepreneurs.  This is especially helpful for multipotentialites (polymaths, scanners, renaissance souls) who have a variety of interests and want to combine them all to provide value.

I’ve used this approach myself.  I layered on skills, education and experience to help people and companies at the intersection of strategy, creativity, innovation and technology.  I’ve worked on projects for companies with a variety of goals from implementing new technology, improving customer experience, or developing talent and each requires a different combination of my skills.  So this approach has been valuable to me because:

  1. I have a variety of skills
  2. I can pivot as needed and leverage different combinations of my skills

To thrive, and not merely survive, you have to differentiate yourself and leverage your intersection with your unique combination of skills.

How can you get started with using this approach yourself? Here are the steps:

Do an inventory of your interests and skills. Look broadly at the things you’ve done. Inventory your professional experience, personal pursuits and hobbies and other experience you’ve gained from volunteering etc.  Also think about what friends, family, colleagues and clients come to you and pay you for. Make sure to also assess your interests; it is important to find alignment with what you do and what you like doing.

Invest in yourself and seek to improve. Once you identify your list of interest and skills, think of how you can improve them.  You don’t have to be an expert in each but improvement will help your positioning.  For example, if communication is on your list, seek public speaking opportunities to practice.  If you’re interested in a field, study it on your own, take online classes or enroll in a university program to solidify your knowledge.   Practice and experience are essential so find opportunities to put what you’ve learned in action.

Identify your unique intersection.  Now that you have your skills and invested in improving them, think about how you can bring them together and connect them.  Ultimately, your unique intersection doesn’t need to have all the skills you started with, just the relevant ones. For example, Jake Tapper found a way to combine journalism, cartoons and writing. You can combine interests and skills in real estate, wine and engineering to design wine tasting venues or sports, travel and hospitality to improve the lodging experience for traveling athletes.

Provide value. Use your intersection of skills and experience to do what you’re uniquely positioned to do better than anyone else.  Identify opportunities that require your combination of skills and allow you to use them to help others.  Pivot as you go by leveraging the right mix of your skills and experience for each opportunity. For example, a project to build a technology solution will require more technical skills while a project focused on brainstorming new products will require more creative skills.

To thrive, and not merely survive, you have to differentiate yourself and leverage your intersection with your unique combination of skills.

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Are you someone with multiple interests and intellectual pursuits? Have you figured out how to combine them to your advantage? Have you tried an approach similar to what is described above? How has it worked for you? I’d love to hear your perspective!

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