The Interest You Left Behind

We all have subjects that particularly interest us, that capture our attention. It could be a skill, a hobby or just a topic you follow very closely. Try taking note of the articles that attract you online or in the newspaper and you’ll have your answer. Have you incorporated that interest into the job you have today?

As much as we are told, to use a trite term, to “follow our passion”, many times life leads us down a different path and we leave that interest behind. It can be for all kinds of reasons, but they are almost always practical. Maybe you couldn’t figure out how to make a living using that particular focus, or most likely, you reacted to market conditions and something else came along and you took it. No matter how it happened, it’s worth considering whether you want to attempt to integrate it into your work going forward.

We know that market conditions change all the time, and if like me you’ve been in the workforce for 15+ years, during that time the pace of change has sped up more than during any period in history since the Industrial Revolution. Impediments that existed when you first entered the job market may no longer exist. It’s also likely that your goals have changed as you’ve gained experience. Maybe this is the right time to design a new career that favors that neglected area of interest, or at least partially incorporates it into your current path.

In my own life and career, I was an early adopter of romance languages and spent my teens and twenties learning French, Italian and Portuguese while I lived. and later worked, abroad. During years spent in marketing and branding I sought out jobs that would utilize my language and cross-cultural skills. While I love the work I do today and know it uses many of my talents, it is the only time in my career when being able to communicate in a foreign language has not been a specific asset.

Do you have an example from your own life? While I’m working on finding the right intersection between my language skills and my work as a career advisor, I’d love to hear your stories. To get in touch, contact me here.

Photo by Nina Matthews Photography

Why Getting Nervous Makes You Happier

You’ve been asked to make a presentation at work, or you’re a consultant who delivers speeches and workshops to generate interest in your work. You have some time to prepare—and you’re anxious. Depending on how you regard public speaking, you may be extremely nervous. And probably a bit excited, too. How can you best use your anxiety to your advantage?

You may not realize that having some anxiety in your work is actually a good thing. When you’re nervous, it means you’re challenging yourself. And setting goals that are a bit beyond your reach and meeting them is one of the main components of happiness.

If your work doesn’t challenge you, you probably need to find a new job. Most people want to feel engaged in their work and be proud of how they are growing in their jobs. If you are not feeling like you’re gaining new skills and improving yourself, think about what you can do to fix that.

There is always a project you can create, a new department you can get involved with, an article you can write or a panel discussion you can contribute to. Think about “stretch assignments” you can request, or figure out what needs to be done and offer to do it.

The more you think about challenging yourself at work, and being a bit scared in the process, the more you will learn, and the more marketable—and happier—you will be.

For Parents: What’s Your Mindset?

Do you have a “fixed” or a “growth mindset”? Does your mindset change depending on the situation? According to psychologist Carol Dweck, those with a fixed mindset see intelligence as something that doesn’t change as opposed to those with a growth mindset who assume one is always learning and growing, thereby increasing intelligence. This can also be viewed in terms of attributes like athleticism, and facility with numbers or the written word.

Dweck’s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, is a great read for parents in particular. Being more mindful about how you encourage your children is something we can all learn to do more of, and of course it can greatly alter how kids view their abilities and their possibilities, in life.

Imagine focusing on praising your child for the effort they put in to get a good grade instead of praising their intelligence. By praising the effort they should begin to view themselves as in control of their grades, as opposed to deciding early on that less than stellar grades equates to less than stellar intelligence. It’s a powerful, yet simple, concept. And it can truly lead to people either giving up early or being on the road to fulfilling their potential.

I learned about Dweck’s work through the Positive Psychology for Coaches webinar I took a few months ago (and recommend highly). If you aren’t familiar with the field of positive psychology, here’s a great place to read about happiness research and trends.

You’re 90% There

Career paths are long and confidence is an ephemeral thing. And in my experience, women need their confidence replenished more than men.

A couple of years ago, I heard senior banker Heidi Miller talk about how women in business have an over-riding tendency to focus on what they lack, as opposed to what they have to offer.  In her talk, Miller pointed out that in an interview, men have a tendency to sell themselves based on the experience they bring to a specific job—the part that they’ve done before—while minimizing the part of the job that’s unfamiliar. Women, she said, do the opposite: they focus on the 10% of the job they haven’t done before at the expense of the 90% of the job they know well.

To illustrate this self-confidence gender divide, research conducted for the groundbreaking book Women Don’t Ask, included this statistic: “Women report salary expectations between 3 and 32 percent lower than those of men for the same jobs; men expect to earn 13 percent more than women during their first year of full-time work and 32 percent more at their career peaks.”

So what does this mean for Gen Y professional women? A lot, it would seem. First of all, awareness of this dichotomy is increasing among senior women and they are embracing mentoring. That means that younger women are being encouraged to seek out mentorship and sponsorship from senior women who can guide them and boost their confidence.

According to a 2009 study by The Families and Work Institute, Gen Y women are looking for as much job responsibility as men, and are responsible for close to half the family income. That kind of advancement doesn’t come without self-confidence, so this trend bodes very well.

Since career advancement rarely comes from keeping your head down, it’s critical to toot your horn and plug into a great support network. Finding the right mentor or sponsor requires an awareness and assertiveness that should be continually maximized. Reach out to women you find compelling—both inside and outside your organization. Invite them to have a quick cup of coffee with you, and don’t forget that you have plenty of skills you can trade on. Senior women may hold a lot of the cards but they are behind in social media aptitude and frequently don’t know what they don’t know. As a Gen Y and native technologist, you can be a valuable asset. Make networking a regular part of your busy schedule and not simply something you do when you need a job.

Gaining the support of the right insiders means that when that ideal job or promotion comes up, you have others who can endorse you. And the more that happens, the more everyone will focus on the 90% of the job you have nailed.

Should You Change Your Major to Agree with Your Myers-Briggs Type?

Penelope Trunk’s blog post today on what college students should do now offers some great wisdom. But the one tip that really caught my eye was her suggestion to take a Myers-Briggs test to understand what you’re good at. She also suggests that if your score doesn’t agree with your chosen major, you should change it.

I applaud taking assessment tests as early as high school—they can provide some direction about a career path when little exists. I would, however, caution against jumping to immediate conclusions based on a test score. For example, the test Trunk cites is not an actual Myers-Briggs test, but an approximation. The good part is that you can take it online and it’s free; the bad part is that it may not reflect your most accurate results. In my case, for example, it gave me a different type than the actual MBTI I’ve taken in the past.

And as far as changing your major to suit your type? I would say that it very much depends. For example, if your major is pre-professional and your MBTI score doesn’t fit, you may want to consider making a change in the future. But I would gather more data first. You should gain some experience through internships, volunteer work and informational interviews before taking such a bold step.

If your major is not pre-professional, and your career path is under development, it may not matter anyway. Your career choice will likely evolve over time, and although your MBTI score can be informative this is not information that is black and white.

Check out my favorite book on the subject, called Do What You Are. It offers perspective and career advice for all of the MBTI types, so you can decide whether your score is accurate for you—or not.

For the College-Bound: Relevancy Will Be the Greatest Challenge

Kings College Chapel, Wikipedia

Dan Schawbel, the Gen Y personal branding guru, wrote a post last week that resonated with me on a number of levels.

Point #5 of the post, entitled “Relevancy Will Become Our Greatest Challenge”, is as apt as the overblown claims that surround it. Who skims 800 blog posts a day, I ask. But being relevant when there is so much information bombarding us and so much competition surrounding us does seem to be the greatest challenge in separating ourselves from the crowd.

I was meeting with a high school junior today, and we were discussing how tough it is to write a college application that really stands out. It’s difficult to write something so personal, so raw, so self-exposing that it connects with the admissions committee and makes them realize that you should be one of the chosen few to be accepted at the college of your choice.

We talked about the expectations of excellent students with top grades and board scores, and also those with records that are just one tier down from that. The question is always: how to distinguish yourself?

From my interviews with undergraduate admissions heads for my upcoming book, there was one consistent thread that I truly believe. It was this: Stand for something. Yes, it means you will be rejected by some schools, but more importantly it will mean that by declaring yourself to schools you will be more likely to find the right fit. In other words, you will be relevant to that school. No, you won’t be relevant to every school, just as you won’t be relevant to every job you apply to in the future. And that’s okay—it’s supposed to be a self-selecting process. So don’t be afraid to make your pitch: your specific interest that makes you the relevant applicant to a particular school. Be generic at your peril—it won’t help you, and it’s more likely to hurt you. Not just now, but throughout your life.

It's Always About Work

Do you find that your feelings about your work spill over into your free time–the time you’ve specially reserved to relax and do non work-related activities? It’s amazing how work touches everything we do: if things are going well with work, time off is more fun. If work has taken a downturn, well, watch out.

Make no mistake: because our work is what we spend so much of our time and energy doing, and because our long-term prosperity is tied to it, it tends to form an important part of our identity. And sometimes it’s hard to let go, even during the weekend. So my point is this: Whatever your work entails, it’s worth spending a lot of time and resources making sure you get it right. Because at the end of the day, it’s not work; it’s life. And life is indeed too short.