Career distraction #4

The case for coaching.
Complexity around career decision making is inevitable. Some decisions may seem difficult while others seem straight forward. When should you see someone? Who should you see? Having an objective discussion to clarify your own thinking is worthwhile. Talking with your mentor can help you to learn from their experience, whereas talking with a coach can be an opportunity to learn with or together, especially if you want to work toward positive relationships and positive outcomes.
People are complex and being pushed beyond your equilibrium can cause a shift to happen. Life is a process and so is learning. Coaching uses the socratic method of asking rather than telling. Maybe your mentor is a good coach?

Career distraction # 3

Are you optimistic?

Just a small amount of pessimism can make a difference to your productivity. Higher achievement is more than just talent and aspiration, much has been credited to optimism. When life doesn’t go as well as what you hoped, do you use phases such as “always…’ or “…never” to describe an event. Is this you? Think of a time when you felt like this. Where did your thoughts track? Dr Martin Seligman suggests examining the adversity, beliefs, consequences of an event/situation and dispute your beliefs. What are your beliefs? Remember that it matters more what you think of yourself than what others think of you. How do your beliefs link to your feelings?

Optimism

And back after being away for sometime.

I realized that I used on-line activities, such as Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn and also other applications within these applications as procrastination. I originally used my blog as a way of collecting information that I was keen to remember and use in my work but made a goal to finish my master's then come back to blogging. I have now attained my Master of Career Development, although recognize I'll never quite master career development because change is constant and people are as different as they are similar.And what is happening to the world of work?

Chaos theory helps to explain these contradictions for me. I'm fascinated by the calming effect that chaos can actually bring. There is a lot for me to learn about chaos theory but I think one aspect of this theory, Fractals, are at the heart of beauty in nature or at least something that attracts me. Try an Image Google Search for *fractals* to see just how attractive that is!



Pattern, reflection, rotation and transference. My favorite maths topic - geometry. Here is me on a tangent so if you are not aware of M.C. Escher then search Google images for his art. You may wonder where I am heading with this discussion, so hope you also see the relevance. "M.C. Escher... is an architect of perfectly impossible worlds who presents the structurally unthinkable as though it were a law of nature. The resulting dimensional and perspectival illusions bring us into confrontation with the limitations of our sensory perception".

Check out this also http://www.dragonguys.ch/visite/escher.htm Someone applied a hyperbolic paraboloid so you can fly through or zoom into the picture. Note the people on the bridge or the boats in the water. Woodblock art showing pedantic detail.

I didn't even manage to get onto optimism. Next post I'll try to stick to the topic. :)

Wisdom

Knowledge, experience and understanding together can describe wisdom. It is the power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action. Being wise is a good goal in life and the following is a list of important points.

• A wise person can discern the core of important problems.
• A wise person has self knowledge.
• A wise person seems sincere and direct with others.
• Others ask wise people for advice.
• A wise person's actions are consistent with his/her ethical beliefs.

Many, but not all, studies find that adults' self-ratings of perspective/wisdom do not depend on age. This stands in contrast to the popular notion that wisdom increases with age. In the following video by Andrew Zuckerman, Judy Dench says she thinks as she has got older she has become more silly. Check this out- http://www.wisdombook.org/

Wisdom should not be taken for granted.

Take the test - http://www.nytimes.com/packages/flash/multimedia/20070430_WISDOM/?mkt=magazinelink3 to see how wise you are. This is a good one.

The Systematic Problem Solving Model

• What is the problem or situation?
  
• What have you tried?
  
• What else could you do?
  
• What is your next step?
  

 

Career Distraction #2

Learning to continuously broaden and deepen self-understanding, and skill sets (and learn quickly) is a principle of employability.

What would I like to get better at?

What do I do really well? Do I want to carry on with doing this?

Why do I find this really easy to do/learn/understand?

How could I apply this elsewhere?

No matter what stage you are at in your career take some time to consider these questions if you are interested to maintain your employability.

Self Efficacy

It matters more what you think about yourself, rather than what others think about you.
I like the work of Prof A Bandura!
This is where I got this quote from:

"If I have the belief that I can do it,
I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it
even if I may not have it at the beginning."
Mahatma Gandhi