I recently had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at the Haas School of Business regarding  managing your career in these tough economic times. On the panel were Mark Coopersmith, Haas adjunct professor of entrepreneurship and innovation; Lauren M. Doliva, managing partner with executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, and Martha Gerhan, an independent consultant with more than 20 years of experience in sales and marketing for technology companies.

I asked the audience, a group of Haas and general Berkeley alumni, to raise their hands to indicate which of three categories they fit into: (1) Looking for advice on techniques for getting a job in this economy, (2) Seeking ideas on how to create more meaningful, fulfilling work, or (3) Learning how to be more flexible in their work through contracting or consulting.

So, which one was most popular? I was surprised that nearly two-thirds of those attending were interested in topic #2, creating more meaningful, fulfilling work. I’ve encountered lots of people feeling fear and anxiety about the future, so I expected that to be most of the audience.  I was wrong.  Hmm, maybe those wanting topic #1 didn’t want to admit that’s their situation. But as much as I support people in finding work that truly fits for them, I was pretty dazzled that people care about that.

I shared lots of ideas about how to create and find work that aligns with what maters most to you, including a lot of career clarifying activities that you’ll find on the CD “Creating Work That Fits,” and then I was excited to hear Mark Coopersmith talk about finding work that overlaps in three areas:

Passion: You have energy and excitement about doing these activities

Expertise: Your skills, talents, and abilities allow you to do this work

Economic opportunity: There’s a need or demand; in some way, you’re solving a problem, and people are willing to barter or pay money for your solution

Too many people either look for a job for the money (sole or major  focus on economic opportunity) or they spend years building expertise (more education, promotions), but they overlook passion, and they wonder why they feel empty. Do you feel entitled to love your work? Maybe it’s time to do so. Do you worry that turning a so-called “hobby” or “extra-curricular activity” into work will pollute your enjoyment of that activity? Perhaps there’s an alternative perspective.

If you’ve already been considering the three dimensions of passion, expertise, and economic opportunity, but still not landing on a career or constellation of vocational activities that feels right for you, I’d also invite you to consider one additional dimension:  contribution.

When I consider people who truly craft their “work from within” and BOTH listen to themselves AND take into account a bigger picture, they are focused on making a positive contribution. When we rise above doing things just for ourselves, or just for our family and friends, and seek to make a difference in a larger realm (for example, perhaps you want to inspire people, or you want to improve life for animals, or solve a medical problem), we often feel filled (ful-filled) because we are able to have a bigger impact. As the author of The Translucent Revolution, Arjuna Ardagh encourages in a recent posting:  “Dedicate your creativity to something beyond yourself.”

When you consider this even sweeter spot, what are you inspired to do as your next step?

Best wishes to you for finding your sweet spot,

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Life/Work Transition Expert
www.WorkFromWithin.com

Each week, I’m  blogging about a different card from the Get A Move On! deck of cards. This week, I’ve chosen to share some wisdom about the card Extend Yourself!

This week, I’m trying something new.  Instead of telling you my intent with the card image, I’m focusing on what’s really important: Allowing YOU to express what it means to YOU to extend yourself.

So, when you’re stuck, or lost, or confused, and you need to find your direction, how does the guidance “extend yourself” help you?

What does “extend yourself” bring to mind for you?

How might you “extend yourself” right now?

I welcome your stories, observations, and thoughts about how this image and the wisdom to “extend yourself” touches you.  Thank you for extending yourself!  When you share, I promise to reply back on the blog.

Warmly,

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Life/Work Transition Expert
www.WorkFromWithin.com

PS – Each week, I’ve been introducing a new card from the deck of 52 Get A Move On! cards I created.   When you’re feeling lost, confused, or unsure, these cards that are designed to help you get “unstuck.” Each of the 52 cards (plus two instruction cards) features an image and a phrase, and these whimsical hand-drawn (with crayon and pen, by me, Dr. Susan Bernstein) images is meant to get you inspired and moving.

If you hate your job, do you toss yourself out of a window? Or plunge a knife into your chest in a meeting?

Um, hopefully not.

But that’s been happening in Europe at companies like France Telecom, Renault, and Peugeot, according a recent Economist magazine article. This is not good. It’s very, very bad. And the problem is not just confined to Europe. That same article goes on to cite two sets of findings that highlight a similar dissatisfaction with work in the U.S.

“A survey by the Centre for Work-Life Policy, an American consultancy, found that between June 2007 and December 2008 the proportion of employees who professed loyalty to their employers slumped from 95% to 39%; the number voicing trust in them fell from 79% to 22%.”

“A more recent survey by DDI, another American consultancy, found that more than half of respondents described their job as “stagnant”, meaning that they had nothing interesting to do and little hope of promotion. Half of these “stagnators” planned to look for another job as soon as the economy improved.”

My own opinion is that it’s not just the current economic climate that’s been creating this intense dissatisfaction with work. The problem of employee frustration has been mushrooming over time. Since at least 1994, when I took a class with Professor Homa Bahrami at the Haas School of Business, which was then entitled “Managing Knowledge Professionals.” Even then, we were talking about the ultra-mobility of the workforce, and the writing was on the proverbial wall, making it all-too-clear that employment was becoming more and more tenuous.

And now, those who survive layoffs have at least two issues to contend with: (1) constant fears of losing their jobs and (2) the added burden of taking on the work of their former colleagues. From what I hear from clients and other career coaches is that the stress level in companies is boiling out of control.

If you’re an employee, your company asks you to be very loyal. And yet employers are creating less and less certainty about employment contracts. Work becomes psychologically taxing if you don’t know how long you’ll be in the game. How do you decide where to live? Or what purchases to make, if your income could be pulled in an instant?

It appears that companies are going even more in the direction of temporarily contracting employees. That’s more and more the case for C-level executives. Business Week reports that to avoid making bad hiring decisions, companies are turning to tryouts of a few weeks to a few months. I’d heard about this trend just a few weeks ago, when I was on a panel at the Haas School of Business with Lauren Doliva, who is one of the world’s leading recruiters, with Heidrick & Struggles.

What is the answer? More and more, it is to rely on yourself, and create and share your own assets, and build your own network, so you’re “ultra portable.” So, how do you do that?

(1) Rely on yourself: This is mental shift. It’s all-too-easy to become reliant on companies, especially when they offer attractive perks, like gourmet meals and on-site mega workout facilities. But really, you need to see yourself as moveable, changeable, adaptable to new environments. Value yourself for your own skills, not just for the brand-name of your current company.

(2) Create your own assets: Right now, it’s more important than ever to create a distinguishable skill-set. In other words, this is a terrible time to be a generalist, and especially a general manager. Be a problem solver. Be crystal clear about what pains you help to ease, what emergencies you clean up, and find the organizations facing those issues. For example, while you might call yourself a finance manager, if you describe what you do as watching the bottom line and knowing how to increase revenues and decrease costs, you’ll have more ears tuning in to you.  Those assets ought to include knowledge capital that you’ve accumulated, based on your experiences and research (formal and informal).

(3) Share your assets. Once you’ve built up some expertise in an area (give yourself credit for what you DO know), it’s important to share your perspectives. That’s easy enough to do in a blog, but you’ll want to share your ideas with people who can decide to hire you, so be sure to get out to industry meetings and offer to speak on topics where you have knowledge.

(4) Cultivate your network: No longer can you rely on your company to take care of you for the long run. That contract’s been gone for many years. But you could be let go in an instant. So, in addition to networking within your company, be sure to meet people in your industry and your functional area. Joining and participating in groups on LinkedIn is one way to do this. Another is to attend industry conferences and professional associations. You might even be amazed that Meetup.com can connect you with interesting professionals at interesting events.

It’s also a great idea to talk to your friends who are contractors and consultants, because you’re likely to become one — eventually. Ask them how they built and promoted their expertise. Discover how they get their gigs. Find out how they deal with uneven income streams.

You may also find that people who contract and consult actually like their work better, because they have greater creativity, freedom, and mobility.

What are YOU doing to create work that truly fits for you?

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Life/Work Transition Expert
www.WorkFromWithin.com

Last week, I introduced the new Get A Move On! cards. When you’re feeling lost, confused, or unsure, these cards that are designed to help you get “unstuck.” Each of the 52 cards (plus two instruction cards) features an image and a phrase, and these whimsical hand-drawn (with crayon and pen, by me, Dr. Susan Bernstein) images is meant to get you inspired and moving.

Each week, I’m  blogging about a different card from the Get A Move On! deck of cards. This week, I’ve chosen to share some wisdom about the card Shake It Up!

When you’re stuck, have you ever wished you could hit a big “reset” button?

What if I told you that by shaking your body, you could start over? You could create a “re-do,” a “do-over,” a chance to redeem yourself. That by moving and grooving your body in different directions, you could wipe the slate clean. As you bumped and gyrated, you could get unstuck from whatever unpleasant situation you find ourselves in.

OK, well, it may not solve all of your problems, but you can let go of a lot of tension by simply shaking out your body for a few minutes. It’s like a natural way to shift directions.

In nature, we see the enactment of “shake it up” all the time. Have you ever seen a dog get out of the water, and it just shakes itself silly? Of course, that’s to dry off. But it also marks the transition from swimming to the next activity. When horses whinny, they, too, are shaking something off. We humans shake, but mostly, we try to stop that action. Somehow, we’ve learned that it looks awkward.

A few years ago, I was in a car accident. Thankfully, it was minor. But it jolted me. It shook me up. I felt really anxious and confused. Who was at fault? What had happened? What should I say or do next? I was physically shaking. In the past, I would have tried to control that movement. But, because I’ve learned a lot about shaking as a natural bodily response that helps us lets things go, I gave myself permission to feel those quaking tremors. I knew my nervous system was resetting itself. So I told the others involved in the accident that I needed a minute or two to calm down before I could talk. I walked a few feet away, on the sidewalk, and let my body shake naturally. I was able to be composed and to speak coherently and think logically about next steps.

An experiment for you:

The next time you feel the need to shake something off -- an unpleasant encounter with someone, a disappointment, a confusion — allow your body to shake gently for 3 to 5 minutes.

Stand up and flail your arms and legs around. Shake your head and all your limbs. As you get accustomed to this, you can move move vigorously.

Who cares what you look like? If you do care, and need privacy, find a bathroom stall and move in there. Or shake your hand under a table in the heat of a high-stakes business negotiation. If that’s too apparent, wiggle your toes in your shoes. Moving this way can jolt you out of a bad mood or a tense situation.

What do you need to “shake up” in your life?

Notice what happens to you when you shake it up. How does your mood change? How does your mind shift?

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Life/Work Transition Expert
www.WorkFromWithin.com

More resources to explore

If you’d like to explore shaking in more depth, I suggest this book and this audio program, both from Dr. Bradford Keeney, who has studied the transformative practices of shaking all over the world. I’ve had the pleasure of learning from Dr. Keeney directly, and he shares amazing stories that blend science and shamanism. He’s wise and wild. Fun!

Shaking Medicine	Shaking – audio program

I’m thrilled to introduce the new Get A Move On! cards, the cards that are designed to help you get “unstuck” when you’re feeling lost, confused, or unsure. Each of the 52 cards (plus two instruction cards) features an image and a phrase, and these whimsical hand-drawn (with crayon and pen, by me, Dr. Susan Bernstein) images is meant to get you inspired and moving.

Each week, I’ll be blogging about a different card from the Get A Move On! deck of cards. So, this week, we start with the card that says:

“Trust your gut.”

It’s such simple advice. But boy, have you ever not followed your gut? And boy, the consequences you pay for that, right?

Today, I want to remind you to trust your gut.

And I also want to introduce you to just one of the 52 whimsical images in the new The Get A Move On! deck of cards I created. If you ever get stuck, lost, or confused, you might wish you had a coach to guide you. Well, another option is to draw one of the cards from this deck and follow the wisdom. The Get A Move On! cards are designed to help you get unstuck, by reminding you that you have everything you need inside of you to get free, get clear, and get moving!

So, really, is it worth it to trust your gut?

Why should you pay attention to what your gut is telling you? continue