Radical Career Cherry Bombs

I went to an executive personal and professional coaching seminar last night. It was really interesting because while although I read a lot of personal and career development books, I've never sat in a room with 12 strangers and talked about my personal and professional goals.

It was fascinating to hear other people's stories and what's causing them not to live their dreams and goals. You know what? We all have the same fear - something that is causing us angst in our life and is holding us back from realizing our full potential.

And, you know what surprised me last night? Half the room was filled with people who were perfectly content in their careers (some even loved what they were doing) and the other half of the room were not so happy in their career selection and life direction.

We always wonder What If. What if I moved? What If I changed jobs? What if I increased sales? What If I were to open my own business? What If this big change in my life is really an escape and I make things worse? What If I do this and it turns out to be great?

Last night reminded me a of a really good ChangeThis manifesto that I read last month - Cherry Bombs: A Supplemental Kit to Radical Careering by Sally Hogshead. There are no cut and dried answers in the manifesto, but there are some good questions. Questions that rang true with me. The purpose of the manifesto is to get you to question yourself and your career.

What is a Cherry Bomb?, you ask:"Cherry bombs are quick but explosive ideas that startle a situation out of paralysis. Bursts of thinking to create change within you, or around you. Toss one wherever you want a flash of action." Sounds good, eh? There's more...

Sally says that there are three very simple and consistent trends among professionals, namely:

1. Most of us do not love our career right now.
2. We definitely want to love our career.
3. We don’t know exactly how.

True! True! True!

She offers 9 Cherry Bombs to lob at yourself:

Cherry Bomb #1. Passion is Not a Luxury. It's an Imperative.

A career isn’t to be tolerated. It’s to be savored, devoured, marrow sucked and fingers
smacked.

Cherry Bomb #2 Optimism Ain't for Wussies.

Optimism is so annoying. It asks you to take responsibility for your attitude and your actions, rather than throwing up your hands and blaming circumstances.

Cherry Bomb #3 Ruin the Bell Curve.

The danger for a company or individual is measuring success by the collective average,
rather than by your own maximum potential.

Cherry Bomb #4 Your Job is Difficult and You Are Busy. Get Over It.

Your career shouldn’t be a frantic scramble of catch-up, with zero time to stop and breathe. A career is a process, not a destination.

Cherry Bomb #5 Emotion Without Action is Useless.

Hope isn’t a passive act. And nowhere is this more true than in your career.

Cherry Bomb #6 You Can't Do Good Work at a Mediocre Company.

Anything truly innovative requires ferocious, relentless, even irrational dedication to see it through to execution.

Cherry Bomb #7 Your Life Isn't Multiple Choice. It's One Long Essay Question.

Today your career is one of the few things you’ll ever own that’s truly yours, and yours
alone. You can build your career, take it apart, fiddle and rebuild however you choose. You get to create options to move forward, or take a step back, or even exit if necessary.

Cherry Bomb #8 Refuse to Allow Your Career to Become One Long Focus Group.

Don’t play on anyone else’s terms. You can’t win on their terms, only your own.

Cherry Bomb #9 Find a Goal That Scares the Shit Out of You.

What do you stand for? What’s your life about? What’s your mantra statement? Once you figure that out, and then steer your life toward it, you can start to realize your true potential.

Check out the manifesto for some great questions at: http://changethis.com/18.CherryBombs and check out Sally's site at: http://radicalcareering.com.

Tags: Cherry Bombs ChangeThis