The Millennial View: Fixing Our Shortcomings
Filed under: Career, Fresh Voices, Life and Business, Marketing Yourself, Performance, Project Management, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
Note from Art: Eric Rodriguez is the voice of The Millennial View here at Management Excellence. His periodic posts offer insights from early career professionals seeking to navigate their way through this challenging world.
Nobody is perfect and everyone has a deficiency. It doesn’t matter how good we think we are at something or how much success we’ve had, everyone has an area they can improve.
A friend of mine experienced this lesson a couple of weeks ago; she was on a second interview and felt confident she would get the position. But then something unexpected happened. My friend who was self taught in graphic arts software, failed the company’s graphic arts test.
She later found out through the interviewer that the exam was the reason why she didn’t land the job. She was upset, but she resolved to overcome this shortcoming. Less than one week after the interview she enrolled in a graphics arts class at the local community college.
“I need to fix this, I want to be ready for my next interview that will lead to my new career,” she told me.
One of the blessings of failure is that it shows us the areas we need to improve. It can be painful, especially when our failure results in not getting a job or promotion, but because of failure we see where we need improvement.
Attitude About Failure is Everything:
Obviously not everyone takes rejection or shortcomings the right way.
Some people get defensive, point out why they think the critic is wrong, ignore the deficiency and continue to operate with their errors intact. Other people accept that they need to make improvements, discover how their shortcoming can be improved, and then they take steps to fix it.
Taking action could mean joining a networking group, attending a speech club to improve public speaking skills, finding out how to use social media, going back to school to earn another degree, or fixing the slice on a golf swing. Instead of begrudging our shortcomings we should embrace the fact that we need to make changes or learn something new to succeed.
Some of the most successful people have had to improve their deficiencies to achieve greatness. Michael Jordan worked countless hours on his jump shot after he got cut from his high school basketball team, Margaret Thatcher hired a voice training coach to improve her public speaking skills, and Henry Ford made many changes to his prototypes before he produced the Model T.
These efforts to fix a shortcoming resulted in six championship rings, becoming a key figure in ending the Cold War, and mass producing the first automobile. Imagine what would have happened if these people didn’t improve their errors – we may not be talking about them today and their accomplishments would be sorely missed.
Success can be tied to not giving up, but it should also be attributed to people who step out of their comfort zone and work on their shortcomings. These improvements can be applied to our careers and our personal lives.
It should also be noted that learning a new skill is a step to preparing for something great in the future, a promotion, a new career, or a significant personal accomplishment. The list and benefits go on, but when we make improvements good things happen to us and that is a great incentive to make changes or learn something new.
When Will You Choose to Be Successful? An Irreverent Rant on Personal Motivation
Filed under: Career, Leading Change, Life and Business, Making Decisions, Performance, Social Commentary, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
You can distill an entire shelf of self-help books down to this simple question at the top of the post: “When will you choose to be successful?” Based on my calculation, I just saved you somewhere between $400 and $800 dollars or more at retail on self-help books. Make checks payable to…
It never ceases to amaze me how many excuses people have for not succeeding at something they view as important to them personally or professionally. While behavioral psychologists might label this as an issue of “external versus internal locus of control,” as I listen to the excuses flowing for not getting the job, not losing weight, not saving money, not making it to class, not writing a book, not keeping up with blogging, what I’m really thinking is (in very loud terms inside my mind), “YOU HAVE NOT MADE UP YOUR MIND TO SUCCEED!”
Just a Few Examples:
- Let’s take diets. First of all, we’re all on them. Eating is required for life. The type of diet that bedevils most people is the one that involves doing this less often. To my own knowledge, there are very few incidents reported every year that involve someone force feeding someone else donuts and super-sized gargantuan fast food meals. Given the lack of external coercion, we are left to conclude that free-thinking people with free will are jamming the extra calories down their gullets and then lamenting the struggles of dieting. My suggestion is duct tape over the mouth. For multiple reasons.
- Want to write a blog or a book? It’s darned hard to do without understanding the secret behind S.A.I.C. That stands for “Sitting Ass in Chair.” Quit talking, sit down and start typing.
- Interested in reinventing yourself? This is a common topic during these unpleasant economic times, and a few courageous souls are active in pursuit of this challenging activity. However, more than a few know that they need to do something, but suffer from too much S.A.I.C., and need to apply G.A.O.O.C.a.G.G. That stands for “Get Ass Out of Chair and Get Going.”
- Still smoking? Yeah, big tobacco got you. It’s a plot. It may well be, but why are you committing slow suicide along with your donut eating, super-sizing, friends. Same issue. No one is holding the gun to your head saying “smoke me.” I get the nicotine thing…but find some help and get on with it.
- Would life at work be great if only the boss would hurry up and eat/smoke/reinvent himself out of your life? Get over your boss and focus on yourself and your performance. Some of the best performers and most successful people you’ll meet got that way by using the motivation of a lousy leader to help them push forward.
- Sales down this quarter? The last time that I looked, there’s still a lot of money flowing through the global economy. Someone somewhere is selling something. Why not you? Maybe it’s time to reinvent your approach to getting clients to know, like, trust, try, buy and refer you. (Thanks, John Jantsch…those are part of his Marketing Hourglass terms!). Shameless plug…call me on this one, I can help!
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Just so that you know that I’m an equally opportunity pain in the ass, I’ve got a few challenges on my plate that I’ve occasionally found myself looking around for good excuses to attach to my lack of progress. However, I know better and the excuses only make me realize that my biggest failure on the issues at hand is that, “I’ve not yet decided to be successful.” OK, I’ve decided. Now back to work. Right after I take a lunch-time workout to make some progress on another goal.
It’s your turn. Have you decided?
Fresh Voices: Two Posts that Can Improve Your Day and Your Life
Filed under: Career, Fresh Voices, Life and Business, Marketing, Marketing Yourself, Performance, Professional Growth, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
Still reeling from my losing battle with the apologetic sales rep from Big Telco, I went searching for solace and inspiration from the many great writers that I follow. Two posts from two professionals in very different fields stood out as particularly thought provoking and inspiring.
Grab Control of the Negative Beliefs and Perceptions that Are Holding You Back!
The first, “How to Do (Almost) Anything and Feel Good Doing It,” is from Mary Jaksch of the Goodlife Zen blog. I featured one of Mary’s posts in an earlier Fresh Voices column a few weeks back, and I’ve made it a priority to keep current with her work.
As you might gather from the titles of the post and blog, Mary offers up inspirational and thoughtful content intended to motivate and encourage. In a world filled with an over-abundance of bad news and seemingly unconquerable challenges, we can all use a good dose of what Mary has to offer.
This “How to” post offers up some outstanding and thought-provoking ideas on grabbing control of our negative beliefs and preconceptions to start focusing on thinking and doing the right things. Mary offers a nice roadmap and some great advice for dealing with our demons, establishing goals and moving one step at a time towards those goals.
While you might be rolling your eyes, thinking, “I’ve heard this all before,” I know more than a few people that are struggling in their personal and professional lives that will benefit from having Mary as a guide.
The Self-Development Power of Blogging:
The second post is entitled “9 Hidden Benefits of Blogging” and comes from someone that I hold in high regard, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing fame. John is the author of the great book, Duct Tape Marketing and he runs a successful business, website and coaching network that share that same name.
Note from Art: if you are in business, the book is a must-read and his website is chock full of remarkable resources and suggestions.
While one might think that the topic of blogging is old news, I still find that a good number of friends and family and way too many professionals that I encounter (all non-bloggers) either don’t understand the medium or don’t see the value of participating. Sadly, many of these individuals have some great insights to offer and the world would be well served by hearing from them. Many have lumped blogging into that uncomfortable category of something that people do in pursuit of over-night riches and instant internet fame. Those perceptions are very wrong.
John eloquently and convincingly highlights the professional and personal benefits that have accrued to him from a sustained approach to writing about marketing and business. This has turned out to be a powerful self-development tool for John as it has for me and can be for you.
John’s “9 Benefits” very effectively make the case that there is a great deal to be gained from challenging yourself to think big, write diligently and convincingly and sustain the effort over a period of time, whether you are doing it for an audience of 1 or 1 million.
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Thanks to Mary and John for the great, thought-provoking and motivating posts!
A Snow Day, Oprah and Finding Your Strengths
Filed under: Career, Life and Business, Marketing Yourself, Professional Growth, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
It’s a snowy Friday, December 19 here in the Chicago-area and I’m late with my post. The schools are closed, our high-school senior is thrilled that he is getting a one-day jump on the Christmas vacation, and our college sophomore is home for the next month. And I watched Oprah this morning.
There, I said it. Let the record reflect that I’ve never actually sat down to watch her show until this morning, and I have several great excuses. First, it is my wife’s birthday, and instead of disappearing into my office for the next 8 hours, I vowed to spend most of the day with her. (I feel guilty typing this!) Second, snow days always feel like found time where you can relax just a bit, and it felt like a guilty pleasure to sit down with a cup of coffee and watch a morning show. Last and not least, Oprah had a fascinating show this morning, featuring Marcus Buckingham of First Break All of the Rules, Now Discover Your Strengths and his 2007 book, Go Put Your Strengths to Work fame.
The focus of the show included a series of career interventions with professional women who were absolutely miserable in their jobs. Buckingham offered counseling to the women to help them find and begin leveraging their strengths. The outcome as you might expect was that they all made adjustments in their jobs, attitudes and habits and reported a remarkable transformation in their jobs and level of satisfaction.
One of the more startling observations came from Oprah citing a survey that indicated that 84% of respondents hate their jobs. That’s a lot of career hating going on at one time! (Note: there is a ton of information about the episode at Oprah’s site, as well as the opportunity to take an on-line course from Buckingham for free.)
The airing of the Buckingham episode was serendipitous following my last two career/resume blog posts on marketing yourself (Part I and Part II). I continue to receive e-mail or phone calls from professionals in all walks of life struggling with what to do next in their careers.
One of the more interesting discussion threads of discussion that was prompted by the “What’s Your Professional Value Proposition?” theme in the posts, has come from individuals struggling to describe who/what they are professionally. It seems that as we gain experience and develop a portfolio of successes, it becomes harder for us to state who and what we are and how we add value.
I’ve spent my career in sales and marketing, but absolutely feel like my proposition is more around developing great teams, developing and executing on winning strategies and helping develop leaders than it is about the selling or marketing functions. Creating and managing world-class sales and marketing teams is easy. Developing people…now that’s hard and rewarding work and that’s what I’m all about. Of course, unenlightened employers may not care about the leadership development and want to focus solely on my ability to drive results. It gets interesting when you sit down and try and describe your own personal value proposition.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
OK, it’s time to go shovel the driveway, and rumor has it that there’s a Monopoly game breaking out this afternoon. My parting observation is that it is absolutely essential for us to explore and develop our skills and talents in our professional lives. Life is precious and preciously short, and it’s a good idea to quit wasting time and start sorting out how to leverage our strengths and talents in our work. Those strengths and talents define who we are as individuals. Perhaps Buckingham has some good tools to help the 84% of us that hate our jobs. I love what I’m doing, but if it makes sense for you, take a peek at his books or his free couse at Oprah’s site. It might be a great way to spend a snow day.
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