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| Supersonic Eye Openers to Sharpen Your Type A Smarts |
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Finding the Sweet Spot of Meaningful Work
Do you want your work to be more meaningful and fulfilling? Are you ready to stop wishing and start investigating? Here’s your own Career Satisfaction Investigation (CSI) kit.
Answer the questions in the order in which they appear. They are engineered in a logical sequence to maximize your clarity, insight and possibilities. If you skip to the last question, you’re going to overlook important, hidden clues. Take your time. Be patient. Be thorough. It might take you weeks or months to fully answer them. But, ultimately, the satisfaction is sweet.
1. What are all of the activities and responsibilities I could do with my education, work experience, skills and personal interests and hobbies?
2. Of the activities and responsibilities identified in #1, what could I be good at doing?
3. Of the activities and responsibilities identified in #2, what would make me happy?
4. Of the activities and responsibilities identified in #3, what would lead me to the sweet spot of soul-satisfying success?
If you need any forensic help making sense of the clues, call me.
A Well-Kept Secret to Making the Best Decisions
Do you feel an enormous amount of pressure to make the right decision? If so, you are not alone.
I coach highly motivated people who want to improve, excel and achieve. And, no matter the focus of their goals – professional or personal – these individuals usually have one thing in common. They feel an enormous amount of pressure to make the right decision.
Here’s a well-kept secret. Looking for the ‘right’ decision – more often than not – sneaks up behind you and bites you in the butt. If you want to increase your odds of being successful at whatever you are doing, stop looking for the ‘right’ decision and start looking for the best decision.
Here’s why trying to make the ‘right’ decision isn’t smart. When you focus on finding the ‘right’ decision, by definition, that means all other alternatives are wrong. You are looking for that one magical solution. The unconscious fear of making the wrong decision artificially elevates the stakes, slows you down and restricts your perspective. You simply don’t think as creatively as you can nor do you see all of the possibilities that exist. When you stop looking for the ‘right’ decision, you’ve got a lot more viable options. It’s no longer a ‘win or lose’ situation. With more options to choose from, you increase your chances of being successful.
Consider this. Decisions are like coffee and wine. They fall along a continuum from dreadful to delightful. With a swirl of the pot and a cautious sniff at at the spout, you can usually toss out the dreadful before you choke on a bitter mouthful. That leaves you with infinite decision choices ranging from mediocre to ho-hum to good to surprisingly tasty and, finally, to “OMG, this is heavenly!”
Next time you need to make an important decision rank your possible options along the continuum from bad to poor to OK to good to better and to best. Then, ask yourself, “At this particular point in time, which of these choices will best serve me?”
Making the best decision starts by forgetting about making the ‘right’ decision.
What’s Your Sweet Spot of Soul-Satisfying Success?
While we face uncertain times, are you also downsizing your dreams? You don’t have to.
In fact, there’s no time like the present to experience the sweet spot of success.
America has managed its way through every economic peak and valley. As a country, we’ll weather this one, too. But, will you?
Many executives and professionals are feeling like they can’t pursue the path they’d laid out. Whether it’s early retirement, family vacations or launching a treasured pet project, many feel that if they don’t hold their cards close to the vest they’ll lose everything. That’s pretty sad because it doesn’t have to be that way.
You see, there’s one thing guaranteed to help you weather this (and any other) storm.
Living in the sweet spot. That’s the secret.
During my many years as an executive coach, I can tell you that those who thrive in any economic circumstance are those who have learned that success and meaning are bigger than a dollar bill. They’ve come to not only understand what the sweet spot is, but they’ve found theirs…and they’re doing just fine right now.
The Sweet Spot is within your reach.
What’s your definition of the sweet spot?
More money?
Increased time with family?
The time to develop projects for which you have passion?
To experience more meaning and purpose?
Let me know.
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It’s time to wake up and smell the truth. Like gas guzzling relics, traditional Type A’s are becoming passé. In the good ole’ days, with their steely-eyed focus and turbo-charged tactics, Type A’s could dominate the game by slicing, dicing and sacrificing. That pricey party is over. Award-winning executive coach Kay Cannon offers a funny insider’s look into the secret world of top performing Type A individuals and redefines how these talented and smart superstars can get great results without collateral damage.