Coming Around

A career makes sense,

When we can see it through the little feelings of completion,

We all experience along the way.

Carrying on the World Cup Theme but this time in a partisan way...

Come on England!

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Warm, Soft Facts about Your Career

Why do we talk about the cold, hard facts?

Because they hurt when we get hit by them?

Because we need to feel pain in order to learn something?

I disagree, and if that separates me from the masochists then so be it, they will enjoy being rejected anyway.

Facts are facts. The only coldness or hardness is in the way we give or receive them and we can all do something about that.

Continuing the theme...This place is like a box of chocolates

[Image courtesy of Pablodda on Flickr]

Here are a few facts about work that lose nothing and gain everything when you take them warm and soft instead of cold and hard.

It's an inevitability that one day we will all retire from work. It's also an inevitability that at some point in our retirement we will look back and reflect on the work we have done, the people we did it with and so on. No matter how we divide it up or how many smaller parts we cut it into, we will ultimately package our working life as a whole. We'll do this because of our need to find something simple to define and make sense of our experiences, all the jobs we had, the different things we achieved and the struggles we went through.

If you haven't retired yet, here's a warm, soft fact for you. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing right now, you can remind yourself ahead of time that it's part of a much bigger story. Now that might not sound warm and soft if you're not working, or you're finding it hard to get a job or figure out what you want to do but, right now, whatever you are doing, it's still your career and one day you will know that to be true.

Warm, soft facts like this say to us, Why wait?

When you look back on your career from your future retirement, you'll remember all the moments that were tough to live through. Some of your memories may even give you a chill when you think about them but it's also possible for these moments to be a great source of personal satisfaction. Not just because you picked yourself up and found the energy to move beyond them and turn things around but also because they were the moments and the times that led to new things, that connected your experiences and your life in ways that were unique and special to you.

These times will have played their role in the much bigger story of your work and your life as a whole and they can give you a warm, soft feeling that beats its cold, hard cousin any day.

All the best for now (from a warm, soft place),

Paul

Work Happens to You

It's easy to be swayed by someone else's opinion,

Tempting to take an answer from somewhere or someone else.

But work always comes back to us, and our experience.

You're never somewhere else or someone else,

When work is happening to you.

OK, So there's a theme developing...

[Image courtesy of Shine 2010 - 2010 World Cup good news on Flickr]

All the best,

Paul

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What work is happening to you right now?

Finding Yourself in a New Place

One day you're at work and everything's familiar.

The next day you're somewhere new and everything has changed.

Somewhere new can be a variety of places...

It might be a new company,

it could be sitting at home needing to start a new job search,

just as it can be anywhere else in-between.

Wherever or whatever the new place for you,

you'll probably be facing plenty of change.

I found myself in another new place recently too.

Can you guess where?

The new place I had to adjust to recently was a new blog.

I knew from the beginning it was going to be different but it took a little longer (plus a little help from a friend) to realise this new place also demanded something different from me.

At first I just carried on as before, writing what I write here in a very similar way. But by staying the same I was missing the point. I was also missing the opportunities a new place always has the potential to create.

Yes they are different, maybe even a little scary at first but new places can also be encouraging, inspiring even, as we learn more about them and what they ask us to change.

Although everyone's situation will be different, the shared experience of finding ourselves in new places is just one more thing that brings us together.

One more thing that invites us to explore our careers.

Best Regards for now,

Paul

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Would you like to share a 'new place' career experience?

Who or what helped you deal with the change?

How did you adjust to the new place you found yourself in?

What would you say to someone going through change like this right now?

Take Courage

We might have our doubts...

We don't really know what's going to happen

We're not sure what will work out for the best

We never know if time will prove us right or wrong

It must be a sign!

[Image courtesy of geese on Flickr]

But we can always be certain that

No one knows what's going to happen

No one knows what will work out for the best

No one knows if time will prove them right or wrong

You can also be sure that no one else is even half as motivated as you are,

to make the best choice possible and make your choices work

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Personal Happiness and Job Satisfaction

Now that work/life fusion has been joined by a brand new Blog, Book & Place to Explore, it seemed like the perfect time for a new voice on the subject of work and careers to join us here too.

So, without any further ado, here's an interesting, thoughtful and generously written new article from a most welcome first-time contributor to this blog, Angela Martin...

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Sometimes when we are not fulfilled in the workplace, it has less to do with our actual work and more to do with our own head or our own heart.

While this is not always the case, sometimes unhappiness at work is an indicator that something else in our life is lacking. Sigmund Freud once said that a person's two greatest needs are to work and to love. It's easy to see how even the most stimulating work can become empty without:

1.) A love for what you do

2.) A love for who you are

3.) A love for the part of your life that exists outside of work

There's nothing standard about this photo of Liège

[Image courtesy of Bert K on Flickr]

A new research study published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology indicates that those who are unhappy in life are not as likely to find satisfaction at work, according to BusinessWeek. In fact, the report supported the idea that personal happiness has a greater effect on work satisfaction than work satisfaction has on personal happiness.

I will provide an example from my personal life, since experience is always the best teacher. I once wrote for a publication in a career that I had been seeking since high school. You would think that I would find some measure of fulfillment there, as I had persevered for many years to attain this career goal. However, outside factors began to affect my personal happiness. My significant other had lost a job around the same time, requiring him to move three hours away. My career required that I move far away from friends and family. I found that I had stopped reading books, which took away another source of personal happiness. Without these vital sources of love and support in my personal life, my work life slowly began to lose its appeal.

I later left that job and found another in the same field that required me to work more hours, yet placed me closer to my friends, family and significant other. I also took up reading again. Even though the job was more stressful and demanding, I surprisingly enjoyed it more. I believe the reason for my sudden job satisfaction was that my personal happiness had dramatically improved. The work itself had little to do with it.

So before you decide to change careers because you find your current work dissatisfying, you may want to evaluate whether or not something outside of work is disrupting your personal happiness.

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This guest post was contributed by Angela Martin, who writes on the topics of Job Search Websites. Angela welcomes your comments at her email Id: angela.martin77(at)gmail(dot)com

A Place to Explore

Here's the third and final new thing and it joins work/life fusion from today.

It also leads our conversation and the bigger exploration it has always been part of, into a very bright future indeed.

I could go on (and I will) but you'll have to follow this link first,

Follow this link and explore your career...

http://www.exploreyourcareer.com

Sometimes the road ahead is all the inspiration you need

[Image courtesy of Wolfgang Staudt on Flickr]

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✪ A Blog

✪ A Book

✪ Into the Future!