Leap Day!
Or maybe I’ll just catch up on work. What will you do for “Leap Day?” Will you make it count?
I hope not! Happy Leap Day!
Intelligent Career Decisions Come from Knowing What You are Not
How many times in your career have you faced a decision where there was a good job in front of you (maybe even offered to you) and you knew it was a terrible fit, or that the benefits outweighed the costs? This has happened several times to me, and luckily, in most cases, I had the good sense to walk away.
In those cases when I didn’t, though, I took a job and was miserable. It’s also happened that I took jobs and the jobs changed, or my interests changed at a different pace than the jobs (or institutions) adapted to change. In cases like these, it’s best to know what you are not.
In this vein, I want to clearly describe what I am not, and what Higher Ed Career Coach is not.
- I am not strictly a professional blogger. First and foremost, I am a professional career coach, organizational consultant and speaker. The blogging supports the dissemination of my ideas, of my perspectives on career strategy, and serves as a marketing vehicle for my coaching programs and services (individual and group coaching, webinars, information products, etc.)
- I am not an advertising professional, and this is not a “job search” site. You cannot find job listings here, and I have no intention of becoming a job board, in part because that is a saturated market, and in part because I believe that sector of the advertising marketplace is dying, as the web 1.0 model of “job boards” is being replaced by social advertising.
- I am not a conventional information marketer. I am an educator and a coach. Anything I sell through this site will be:
- Educational (i.e., based in philosophy but instructional in nature and delivery)
- Reflect my personal and professional perspectives as a reformed educator, critic, strategist, and an educational reformer (i.e., an outsider from the inside, now looking back in, and commenting on what is good and what is broken)
- Concerned with convergence of ideas, lessons from other industries and fields, and real-world factors, including economic factors, political concerns, and the environment.
- Intelligent, in that readers can expect articles to be generally written at or above the college reading level. My assumption as publisher is that my readers are smart, not easily confused, and engaged in the development of coherent and well-rounded perspectives on a variety of topics. The Flesch reading ease score for all submissions is available to me as editor and publisher, and most articles on the site rate as “difficult” or above. Articles are not revised for that reason, as long as uses of grammar and spelling are appropriate. Articles appearing here assume that the reader is an academic professional, member of the faculty, or someone capable of functioning in those capacities, so articles will not be “dumbed down.”
- Social, in that topics that relate to social networking and intelligence, and how they play into job searches and career planning, will be regular features. Understanding how to create a socially intelligent career strategy is a core concept of this site, and in most cases, coverage of other topics will also include ways to approach those topics in socially intelligent, relevant and appropriate ways.
- A good-humored, good-natured and personal brand. I want this site, and my corporate brand to reflect my values and the values of everyday educators who work in the trenches and persevere in living lives of service and commitment, despite the many and growing challenges of modern higher education.
The site’s values are drawn from the well of my experience, my commitment to the core values mentioned above, and my belief that the best answers are rooted in how individuals, institutions, businesses (including independent small businesses like my own), and personal learning networks work together to raise the collective intelligence of our society and mobilize change through social action.
To be most effective, we need to have a sense of humor as well as a sense of commitment, a belief in the good intentions of others, met with our own good intentions, and brought to life and to action by the power of personal relationships, common interests, and common goals, and not dictated by traditional methods of business, most importantly closed networks, claims on personal ownership of collective public information, and the sheer pursuit of financial gain at the expense of competitors and the public good.
My financial goals for this site are simple and rooted in the American dream. I want to support my family and spend time with them, support my profession and be able to criticize it, so that it can change and grow. I want to have good conversations with intelligent, kind, committed people. And one day, I want to be able to retire and play with my grandchildren and work in the garden, without being a shriveled up husk of a man, spit out by a system that didn’t understand him and never valued his contributions appropriately. (Which is where I was headed, if I had stayed at Penn State.)
As I mentioned, it’s never been about money. It’s always been about passion for ideas, service to the greater good, and helping people like me live lives of purpose and authenticity
Hopefully this article, and others published recently have cleared up for you what this site is and is not about, and who is or is not responsible for the content herein. If you like the ideals that this site is committed to, please keep reading and join the conversation.
If you are looking for intelligent career strategies to help you move forward in your career, and intelligent ideas for solving the problems of higher education, and you don’t mind the contrarian views, crusty language and occasional humor, then Higher Ed Career Coach is the site for you.
If you just looking for position listings, or run-of-the-mill career advice, visit a job board like HigherEdJobs or Monster.Com, a university human resources page, or LinkedIn.
That’s where I would go, if I were looking for a job, instead of planning a social revolution.
Be Like a Ghostbuster
It’s easy to build up a decision in your mind until it’s reached monolithic heights. The more important a choice feels, and the more distinct the options you choose from, the higher the likelihood that you will feel paralyzed by it. This is especially true when you find yourself needing to choose between things you are passionate about and weigh them against the things you need to do and your available time.
More than likely, you have at least one situation in your life that tugs on you this way, and leaves you feeling that the choice is always all or nothing. I wrote about this the other day, in reference to a friend’s dilemma in setting priorities so that he could devote more time and energy to his business.
My answer to this sort of “analysis paralysis” that strikes many job-seekers and career-builders: do what the Ghostbusters always did in their movies.
People told them not to cross the beams, but they did.
Every. Single. Time.
And the ghosts went away.
Nothing in life is all or nothing.
- What if you took your multiple passions out of the different corners of your career and crossed those beams?
- Could you bring your colleagues into your life, your family into your work, and find ways to combine your personal interests with your career goals?
- Could you really have it all?
- And if so, why are you spending your time and energy fretting over a choice, rather than looking for ways not to choose?
When you follow your passions, you get others to help carry your load, and get the “likable authority” points that come with bringing the right people together. It’s a different kind of wealth that you build when you do this. It’s not money, but you will get steady, purposeful work and hopefully, time to nurture your ideas more fully.
So cross the beams already. I double-dog dare you!
Do you like this article? If so…
- Have new items from this blog delivered to your inbox, so you won’t miss anything! Plus, get special subscriber-only content, special offers and discounts. Click here to subscribe
- Connect with me on Twitter and LinkedIn
- Like My Facebook Company Page and join the career discussions there
- Share it with a friend or colleague using the share buttons below, or through the sharing functions of the Webiya Toolbar
Saying No and Scaling Back: Separate, But Related Choices
I recently had a discussion with a fellow coach as part of the Third Tribe Marketing membership site, which connects small businesses with some of the top minds in social media and marketing to help them learn ways to build authority, increase their credibility and get more business.The discussion was about saying “no” to some commitments so he could concentrate on his business. He was having an awful time doing so, and I could definitely relate to where he was coming from. Like most of the people I work with (and like me!), he has multiple passions and only so much time.
His question was about deciding what to quit and when to quit it. I get it. When you have a business, and want to have a life beyond it, it makes no sense to keep on doing the wrong things, or dividing the time you need to spend on the right things. I suggested that maybe he just needed to re-balance his priorities.
I’ve said it once before, but it bears repeating: Work/Life balance is only a myth to those who won’t insist on it. Your priorities are your priorities. You get to set them.
There was a time when I worked at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, and was responsible for running a student organizations office that supported 32 student groups. I advised four of these directly, and assisted the other 28. I also coordinated the work of the committees for all of the college’s major student events, including a scholarship committee, two award ceremonies, and all of the major leadership and professional development events.
I left that job and went back to Residence Life. In my first position back in that department, I supervised professional staff, planned training events for student and professional staff, created publications, and was responsible for 11 major department tasks and committees, including oversight of a resident assistant training class with 4 to 7 instructors and 70-120 students each semester; admissions events; orientation; welcome week; assessment and writing the department’s annual report. I had so many things on my plate that half the time I met with my supervisor, we talked about what I had been doing lately, and the rest, we tried to click through in our heads all the things I was supposed to be doing, because neither of us could keep up.
Now those were busy jobs. Many people have busy jobs, and those were the duties. I knew that going in. These types of positions are classic student affairs jobs…you wear many hats, largely because of interesting institutional priorities and lack of funding to actually hire an appropriate level of support staff.
Anyway…
What I did in my “free” time was up to me.
Did I relax?
You tell me. Here are a few things I spent my “free time” doing during that period:
- Serving on the “nominating committee” for my church to recruit people gullible enough to want to be on the board, or who could be guilted into it.
- Acting as student outreach chair and advising the Penn State student group related to the church (yeah, another group!)
- Teaching a 26-week sex ed course at the church for junior-high-level kids (10 of them) where they learned about not only plumbing and mechanics, but assertiveness skills, understanding sexual orientation issues, and discussing their values and the role they play in decision-making. (Did I mention this was an unpaid position? My standing joke is that this is about as close as an Unitarian can get to sainthood!)
- Serving on the fundraising and events committee for a new non-profit that saved an old movie theater and converted it into a performing arts center. In this capacity, I helped plan a couple of concerts, a 5K and a certified mile race, and helped with open houses during the yearly arts festival.
- I also took up gardening, got back into home brewing, and helped found a home brewers club. I was secretary of that group for a while.
Somehow I fit it all in. And for a while, it was okay. Then, I got promoted, had a different scope of responsibility, and my wife and I started a family. I supervised more people, had fewer work responsibilities, but ones with more impact on other people, and I had to learn to say “no” and to let some things go, and scale back commitments to others.
Eventually, I hit a wall with stress, being a new dad, and dealing with everyone else’s needs for my time and energy. I had a health issue crop up, and things got much harder to deal with. Only then did I learn to say “no.” It’s not selfish to take a step back if you need to do so. At least not in the unhealthy, guilt-wracking way most people think about it. Instead, think of it as “self-preservation,” because that’s what it is, really.
I won’t say I did it without encouragement and support from the right people. First, my family. My wife Sarah insisted I stop ignoring my obvious health issue and go to the doctor. My doctor insisted I see more doctors. And my supervisor told me in a meeting that she would support a personal leave of absence. I resisted for a while, but eventually realized I needed to step off the stress train and go look at some trees and grass and get right with how I was taking care of myself and with how I was viewing my work, my life, the world, and my place in it.
Here’s how I did it.
- I started saying “I have some other things to deal with right now, and I want to take some time to sort out my personal priorities, so I will be scaling back some duties and not continuing with others.”
- I offered to help with an orderly transition of tasks during my leave, and I did so.
- Then I left, turned off the cell phone, stopped looking at work e-mail, and spent a few days all by myself at a state park lodge in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. It was the best thing I ever did for myself. Looking back, I realized I hadn’t given myself enough opportunities for comparison.
That period let me adjust my approach to work and family, and my priorities started to settle themselves out. I spent more time developing my staff, and less time criticizing them; more time talking with students instead of just at them and near them, and I started going home on time to be with my family, work in the garden, enjoy downtime, and think about the kind of person I wanted to be. It led me onto a path toward coaching, and eventually to this group.
Here’s where you have to be bold and unapologetic. I was established at Penn State, and comfortable. You might even say complacent. I’d “topped out,” and after a few searches for the next rung up the ladder didn’t work out, I realized several things about my situation that I hadn’t reflected on enough. First, my opportunities to move up internally, which had been regular and self-sustaining for almost 15 years, dried up. Second, I had moved through the hard transitions of the previous couple of years, and was in good stead with my colleagues and supervisor. Third, the organization was most comfortable with me at the place in the organization I held at that time, and both of us were losing out on growth opportunities because of it.
That’s when I realized my priorities were hopelessly out of sync with where I wanted to go in my life and career. So I took a leap of faith, and went there anyway. It meant leaving my job, moving away from a place I had called home for 15 years, and making new friends. I left at a weird time of the semester (about 5 weeks before Winter closing.) I didn’t want to leave then, because of the weird employment gap it left, and how some people would interpret it. But we had bought a new house, had a buyer for the old one, and I really didn’t want to move from Pennsylvania in December, anyway. So I planned my transition as cleanly as I could, left the lines of communication open, and stepped boldly into creating my own life and career.
I realize that for many, this would have been completely insane. For me, it was only mildly so. I had savings and investments to lean on, the support of my family, and a plan B. (I moved to a college town just in case I needed a more stable stream of income, and I keep the lines of communication open with my old colleagues, supervisor and references, in case I need to get that next job.)
I’ve concentrated my efforts on being recognized as a likable authority in relation to higher education careers. I’m learning to provide content that enhances that reputation and build testimonials that will speak for me. I know I talk too much and that it annoys some people. I can only say I’m working a little on it, and the rest is just who I am. If you respect the value of my advice, knowledge and skills you’ll move past it. What content “expert” isn’t a little bit of a pain in the ass every now and again?
But I’ve digressed, so let me return to you and hopefully help you to focus your efforts:
My questions for you are these:
- If you can’t fit your priorities into your life, is it your life or your priorities that are the problem?
- How could you re-order them without “throwing out the baby with the bath water?” My bet is that you can. And if you are going to get where you need to get, you must.
- So which needs and priorities are you going to feel worst about not meeting: yours, or those of others?
- What’s the role of faith (in yourself, or something greater, or both) in your career? And how do you know when it’s time to “take a leap?”
The other truth you need to embrace, if you are to move forward, is that the world doesn’t rest on your shoulders. The programs you support will go on, if people are committed to them. You can still be involved in a lesser role if you want to be. You can do your own thing, without walking away mad, or burning the bridge behind you.
To think any less is to imprison yourself by meeting someone else’s expectations. Let them go. Focus on your own. You deserve to be happy and get where you are going.
Do you like this article? If so…
- Have new items from this blog delivered to your inbox, so you won’t miss anything! Plus, get special subscriber-only content, special offers and discounts. Click ” target=”_blank”>here to subscribe
- Connect with me on Twitter and LinkedIn
- Like My Facebook Company Page and join the career discussions there
- Share it with a friend or colleague using the share buttons below, or through the sharing functions of the Webiya Toolbar
