Karen Ruby

Proof That It's Never Too Late To Change Careers

I'm enjoyed reading the Globe's article on the prior CEO of Circuit City's The Source, Brian Levy. Brian worked at The Source for over 30 years, until he decided in 2006 to quit his CEO job and become a doctor.

Yes, a doctor. With all the extra schooling that entails. At 50 years old. And, he's loving it.

I'm love this story because it just goes to show you that it's never too late to change careers. Can you imagine how someone who started at the bottom rung and then after 30 years became it's CEO, just decided to chuck it all to pursue his childhood dream?

For those people who thik that entering med school at 50 years old is taking the spot of someone in their 20s who can be a doctor for much longer than a 50-year old, I say this - who's to say that the 20-something will remain a doctor? No one can predict what anyone else will do in their lives. The 20-something may become a doctor, then decide it's not for them, and default on all those student loans. Did you know what you wanted to do for the next 50 years of your life when you were in your 20s? I sure didn't. I think the 50 year old man has a better shot at sticking to the profession and deserves to be in the program, just as much as the younger person does.

What are you putting off because of your age? If Brian can do it, then so can you!

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

Marshall Goldsmith Free Library

I saw on the Fast Company Now blog that Marshall Goldsmith has decided to provide his articles, videos, interviews, and columns free for everyone to read, download and share. What a gift!

Who is Marshall Goldsmith? "Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams." He's written quite a few articles on FC that are very inspiring and useful.

I love Fast Company -- here's the link to the Fast Company articles Marshall wrote: http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/cim/FastCompany.php

Some of Marshall's articles from the magazine include:

• Who Are You Arguing With? (FC, April 2005) (doc)
• Do You Love What You Do? (FC, March 2005) (doc)
• If They Don't Care, Don't Waste Your Time (FC, July 2004) (doc)
• Why Even Thinking About Retirement Can Be A Bad Idea (FC, January 2004) (doc)
• How To Learn The Truth About Yourself (FC, October 2003) (doc)
• ... and many more

Some of his Leadership Excellence articles include:

• Coaching Leaders (Leadership Excellence, 2005) (doc)
• From Good To Great (Leadership Excellence, September 2004) (doc)
• Creating Diversity (Leadership Excellence, May 2003) (doc)
• Building Partnerships (Leadership Excellence, March 2003) (doc)

Check out his free online library here: http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/

Analytical Thinking

The ability to think analytically and critically is crucial to being successful and fulfilling your purpose. It is so easy to be sidetracked from your purpose and goals. I'm currently reading Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success: The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement. Remember he wrote the classic book Think and Grow Rich. I'm sure you've heard of it before.

You have to be very careful which thoughts, ideas, and opinions you allow to enter your consciousness. This is where being able to think analytically is crucial. There is a good chapter in the book where Napoleon Hill advises:

Accurate thinking is based on two types of reasoning:

1. Induction. This is the act of reasoning from a part to a whole, from the particular to the general, from the individual to the universal. It is based on experience and experimentation and draws conclusions from them.
2. Deduction. In this act of reasoning specific conclusions are based on general logical assumptions.

It is very important that you question assumptions and do not make false conclusions, based on inaccurate opinions. As Napoleon Hill says:

To be an accurate thinker, you must take two important steps:

1. Separate facts from opinions, fictions, unproved hypotheses, and heresay.
2. Separate facts into two categories: important and unimportant.

We are so bombarded with information every day, from such a variety of sources, that it's very difficult sometimes to think and process the information, never-mind actually question the facts of the article or the agenda of the writer. I know myself that I need to work on thinking more analytically about what, exactly, is behind some of the things I read. Does the author simply want my money? Do they want me to buy their products? Change my vote? Speak out against or for their viewpoint? I have a tendency to take people at face value and not see that everyone has an agenda (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). This is why it's important to know what your purpose and goals are.

Napoleon Hill offers 6 good questions that you should ask yourself when you read a book:

1. Is the writer a recognized authority on the subject covered?
2. Did the writer have a motive in writing the book other than imparting accurate information? What is that motive?
3. Does the writer have a profit interest in the subject matter?
4. Is the writer a person of sound judgement or a fanatic?
5. Are there easily accessible sources to check and verify the writer's statements?
6. Do the writer's statements harmonize with common sense and experience?

Additionally, to think analytically:

Before you accept anyone's statements as fact, you must try to find the motive behind those statements.

You must rely upon your own judgement and be cautious no matter who is trying to influence you.

When you are able to think analytically, you are not swayed by other's opinions or thinking. You are able to concentrate on your own purpose.

Just something to think about.

Writing down your goals daily works!

You know that I love Jack Canfield's book, The Success Principles, right? I've talked about it here and here. If you haven't picked up this book, I strongly urge you to. It feels like Jack has taken all the gold nuggets from all the books he's written, all his friends books, and everyone else who writes about personal development and put it all into a huge value-packed 473 page book.

I adopted one of his gold nuggets, that of writing down my goals in a Goals Book daily. I didn't think it would actually work. Well, maybe it would work, but not so fast! Sure, I have a of list of things I want to accomplish in my life that are written down and I try to work on them when I'm not so swamped, but what Jack advocates is writing down daily your six major goals. As Jack says:

Writing down your goals magnetizes your mind to what you really want to accomplish.

It has something to do with your subconscious mind working on your goals and attracting into your life (by magic, it seems sometimes) the people, things, and events that enable you to fulfill your goals.

Buy yourself a really nice blank book, similar to a journal, where you can write your goals down each day. I picked up a really nice Mead hardcover journal at Shopper's Drug Mart for under $5.

What do you write in it? Have six basic goals concerning (from the book):

• Body: Your physical goals
• Brain: Your intellectual goals - the books you read, the amount of daily study you will do
• Being: Your spiritual goals
• Time: Your organizational goals
• People: Your people goals - concerning the most important people in your life
• Money: Your financial goals

I started writing down my goals on April 3, 2005 and already one of my major goals has come true! I didn't even write every day. I only have 9 entries, so I wrote down 9 times my list of 6 goals. I can't believe that the first goal, the one I really really wanted to happen, but didn't think actually would for about another year, has come true. In only 17 days. This was a very significant goal for me.

Jack would call it a 'breakthrough goal'.

Something that changes your life, brings you new opportunities, gets you in front of the right people, and takes every activity, relationship, or group you're involved in to a higher level.

Yup, my goal is definitely a breakthrough goal. It's a very personal goal, otherwise I would share it. Besides, it's not the goal itself that matters, it's the process of writing your goals down daily and the fact that this actually worked, which is the purpose of this post.

Some guidelines when writing down your goals:

• Use the present tense
• State it in the positive
• Keep it brief
• Make it specific - how much and by when

Jack also advocates rereading your goals three times a day and carrying them around with you in your purse/wallet. I think that that's overkill, and I'm going to stick with my Goals Book. I can now change one of the goals to something even bigger and better.

I can hardly wait to focus on another major goal to see how fast it comes true.

Personal Responsibility

This article is so true: "Personal responsibility waning, experts say", by Steven Thomma. It's true that in today's society that not enough people accept personal responsibility for their lives and their actions. I fear that with the rush to have it all, now, we've forgotten some basic truths that our parents knew - that working really hard for something makes us appreciate it more, that it's through our mistakes and failures that we learn the most, that it order to take control over your life, you have to accept the good and the bad, and we need to treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated. Who's fault is this? Our society and culture? The media? Our parents? Our upbringing? The politicians/celebrities/wealthy who seem to get away with their misdeeds?

Historians, philosophers, political scientists and sociologists cite many reasons for the decline of an ethic of responsibility in America over recent decades, including:

• A culture of narcissism or self-absorption
• The rise of celebrity worship and entitlement
• The distractions of the war on terrorism

Whatever the reasons, most experts agree that how people feel about their obligations has changed, particularly for those in positions of power and influence.

"Responsibility is waning. The strong sense of holding people responsible is getting more and more difficult," said Joan McGregor, a philosopher at Arizona State University. "We still hold people responsible all the time in a legal sense. But in a moral sense, it's as though no one is responsible any more."

Americans adopted a new post-1960s attitude that society - not the individual - was to blame for errant behavior. They created no-fault divorce and no-fault auto insurance. Increasingly, they also turned to lawsuits to blame others for their own choices.

I don't have a solution to this problem, but I know it's a slippery slope once you decide to blame others or society for your problems. No one is a victim in today's society, we all have choices.

Speaking of choices, here's an interesting article: Borderless blogs vs. Canada press ban by Rondi Adamson on the Gomery scandal and how a US blogger chose to publicize the testimony of people involved in the scandal, in direct violation of a Canadian publication ban. What I particularly like about this article is this sentence: "Freedom should not be mistaken for license." What right did this American blogger have to write about the scandal, when a Canadian judge determined that it was in the best interests of Canadian citizens, in order not to pollute the potential jury pool, to keep testimony out of the media? None, in my opinion. I'm not defending the Liberals or anyone involved in the scandal, my point is, that if there is a law, even if it's a law you don't agree with or is from another country, and just because you have the 'freedom' to write it, doesn't mean you should take that 'license'. The US blogger should take personal responsibility for their actions in flaunting and breaking Canadian law.

I know it's moot now, since Justice Gomery lifted the ban, but in my opinion, intentionally breaking the publication ban was just plain wrong.

It's time to take some personal responsibility.

Perception is Reality

If we perceive something to be real, does that make it real? If I perceive myself to be a really good programmer, does that fit with reality? Do others perceive me that way, or am I just fooling myself? If it's my reality, does that make it real?

A couple of examples to illustrate: A classmate at one of my night school classes mentioned to me that a co-worker of hers was in my other night school class. It's a small world, isn't it? When the co-worker asked my classmate if she knew me, and mentioned that I was blond, I didn't think she was talking about me. You see, I don't consider myself blond. I changed the highlights in my hair about six months ago and I guess you can mistake me for being blond. My hair is not entirely dyed blond, just highlighted, but I guess there is enough for people to describe me as being blond. (I have nothing against blonds, by the way). It's just that I always thought of myself as having brown hair, bluish eyes, and when someone describes you in a different way than how you perceive yourself, it really makes you think. This is a trivial example, I know, but it really made me perceive myself differently. I guess other people see me as being blond. I kinda like that.

The other example is when you perceive your 'worth' money-wise. If you think of yourself as a good worker and feel that you are 'worth', let's say $50, 000 per year, when someone comes along and is willing to pay you, let's say $85, 000, it changes your perception of yourself. (I'm not talking about me in this example) Your eyes are opened to the possibilities, wow, my skills are worth $85, 000?!.

This is why I like reading books on success, personal development, finance, and other genres that get you to change your perception about the world, your life, and your possibilities.

I finished Brian Tracy's 'Change Your Thinking Change Your Life' book last week. Very interesting. I've read a lot of his books and similar personal development books so they are all starting to sound very similar, but I thought that he had some really good points that stuck with me.

When you believe something to be true, it becomes true for you, whatever the fact may be. "You are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are."

The fact is that you can never earn much more or less than your self-concept level of income. If you want to make more money, you have to change your beliefs about yourself relative to income and money.

Your aim is to become so confident, courageous, strong, and resolute that you can set any goal for yourself with the firm knowledge that you can learn what you need to learn, and do what you need to do, to eventually achieve it.

The more different things you do that are likely to help you to achieve your goal, the more likely it is you will do the right thing at the right time.

Prosperous and wealthy people have a prosperous and wealthy mind-set...When you develop the same mind-set that other successful people have, you will soon enjoy the same results and experiences that they do.

The greatest wealth you could possibly possess is between your ears. You can create an unlimited future for yourself by tapping into your brainpower and channeling it, like a powerful current, to energize your life and get you anything you really want.

If you generate 20 ideas per day, 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year, you will come up with an astounding total of 5,000 new ideas to improve your life and work each year.

The most important principle of human life is that you become what you think about most of the time. The most successful men and women report the same things. They think about what they want and how to get it most of the time.

In the book, Brian Tracy outlines 6 steps to achieving any goal. They are:

• Step 1: Decide exactly what you want
• Step 2: Write down your goals
• Step 3: Be willing to pay the price
• Step 4: Make a detailed plan
• Step 5: Take action on your plan
• Step 6: Do something every day
• Step 7: Never give up

I think Step 1 is the hardest. Once you decide what it is that you want, the other steps just seem to fall into place. At least that's my experience. If you want something badly enough, chances are that you will do what it takes to achieve it. You will pay the price, if it's worth it to you.

I saw this comment on Fast Company's weblog this morning that I think is also very true and interesting:

Internal wants trump external needs all the time...even when the wants cause problems. Behavior changes, as they are often acted out, lack a root of inner motivation to be different than before.

Many people simply do not want to change that much.

Brian Tracy in his book advocates writing down your goals every morning. In this way, you are changing your thinking and re-enforcing what is important to you. I've adopted this practice and will post the results. I really, really want some of these goals to become not just my perception, but my reality.

One Minute Millionaire, Part III

"All is takes is a dream, a team, and a theme to create a stream of perpetual income". One Minute Millionaire

As I've previously posted here and here, the One Minute Millionaire book is really two books in one. One half of the books tells the story of Michelle, who after her husband dies, loses custody of her children. She must come up with $1 million dollars in 90-days to regain custody. A powerful motivation. She does it with the help of a Dream Team and through MSIs. You have to buy the book to learn exactly how.

The second part of the book provides practical advice, 24 Ahas or Principles of Wealth. The ones that resonated with me were:

The 9th Aha: Wealth is Freedom

The 10th Aha: It All Starts with a Dream

The 12th Aha: More Clarity is More Powerful

The 13th Aha: Tap Into Your Genius

The 15th Aha: Imagination Trumps Will

The 17th Aha: You Already Know the Answer

The 18th Aha: Be Congruent

The entire book is about MSI (Multiple Streams of Income) which include: Real Estate, Investments, Business and Internet. The book leans heavily towards the Real Estate route, but provides really good examples and principles for obtaining MSIs in Investments, Business and the Internet. As the author notes: 'Our objective is to awaken the entrepreneur that is hidden inside you'. Or, as in the Internet MSI case, the 'info-preneur' hidden inside you. This really spoke to me, too. We all have information inside of us that we can share with the world, some obstacle that we've overcome, or some talent we have, or some knowledge that we can share to earn us another source of income. It's certainly got me thinking.

I also liked the way the book presents the topic of increasing your MoneySkills (Value, Control, Save, Invest, Earn, Shield, Share). This topic was unique, in my opinion. I haven't seen it outlined in quite this way before.

I liked this quote, too: 'Find value or Create value' - Warren Buffet. All we have to do it look around us and be aware of opportunities. If other people can do it, then so can you (and me).

There's a really good discussion on Leverage (Mentors, Teams, Networks, Infinite Networks, Tools and Skills, Systems). I know that I need to focus more on this section in my own life.

Now I understand why there are so many reviews of this book and why people have recommended it. Check out their website here to review their book and see what resources they offer for free.

I'm recommending it, too.

The Universe and Pay It Forward

'The Universe works in mysterious ways'. A cliché, I know. We've all heard this saying, but it's also very true. 'What goes around comes around'. Another cliche, another truth. I believe in this truth a lot. I've seen it work in my own life. There have been more than a few times in my life, where I've wanted to say something to someone or email someone about something and instead of listening to the little voice inside my head saying things like 'why would they be interested in what you have to say?', 'oh, I'm sure someone else would have emailed them the same thing or let them know before me', 'they wouldn't want to hear from me, it's been so long and we've lost touch', and 'why get involved?'. But, I've learned to ignore that little negative voice and gone ahead and emailed that person or talked to them.

Two recent events have happened that illustrates what I'm trying to say. I can't get into specifics, but I'll try to make sense. The first one involved someone sending me a newsletter offering to sell some goods and services to me. I noticed that they offered to sell me something that was copyrighted by someone I knew. My first inclination was to just let it go, after all, I'm sure someone else would let my other friend/acquaintance know that this other person was selling what was her stuff. After a few hours, I thought, just in case she didn't know, I would forward her the original email, it's the least I can do. She didn't know what was happening, none of her so-called friends had bothered to let her know (each probably thought somebody else would notify her) and thanked me profusely for stopping this other person from selling her copyrighted material and, essentially, stealing from her. I felt pretty good that I followed through and ignored the negative voice inside of me.

The second recent event involved, strangely enough, again the first person in the above paragraph. They had sent me an announcement of a business closing, which was news to me since I had made plans to visit the business this week as part of a larger organized event. I, again, thought I'm sure that the event organizers would have heard about the place closing and would send out an announcement or something. But, I learn from my past, so I sent them the original email to see if they had heard anything. They hadn't, of course. The long and short of it was, there were some things that were true in the original email and some things that were not true. The event was still taking place at the business. So, even though I sent a 'false alarm' in this case, the club organizer was very grateful for the heads-up and it could have easily gone the other way and the event might have been negatively impacted.

I've also sent emails to people, just to let them know that I was thinking of them and hoped that they were having a good day. Or one time, I sent a Happy Valentine's Day to everyone in my address book (each addressed individually). I got back 3 emails from my friends thanking me for thinking of them. One of my friends even emailed that he felt so bad that entire day up until he received my email because no one had bothered to say Happy Valentine's Day or contact him. He was single at the time and was finding it difficult to go through that day alone. He was so happy to hear from me, one of his long-distance friends. It blew me away, that something that I thought was so small and insignificant for me to do, that I was even debating whether to bother or not, that only took about 10 minutes, meant so much to him.

You have no idea sometimes what your 'small' actions mean to someone else. That's not to say that we should do something with the thought of getting something out of it in mind. If by you doing something small can help someone else out, then why not do it? Pay it forward. There are a ton of examples out there that proves that this works. We all need help sometimes and it's amazing where that help will come from, most of the time it comes from the least likely place.

The moral is: don't assume somebody else will do it, if you don't. Don't assume that the person doesn't want to hear from you, they may be there waiting just for you to contact them. Don't assume you will look stupid or be embarrassed or foolish by getting involved. What goes around, comes around. The Universe really does work in mysterious ways.

Just something to think about.

Ask, Ask, Ask for that Raise!

I was talking to a friend of mine last week and she mentioned that she hadn't had a raise in over 3 years. People who know me, know that this is a major pet peeve of mine - that some women are taken advantage of and are scared to ask for what they want and deserve. I know how hard it is to get up the courage to ask for a raise, especially when your manager is a man, but this is something that I make myself do. Not just to earn more money (although that's a major reason for asking) but because it builds my self-esteem, my courage muscles, and my confidence. It also gets easier the more you ask for what you want, not just asking for a raise, but in the 'simple' task of every day asking.

It's important to have the right motivation and resources before we can ask for what we want. You first have to know what you want, whether it's a 10 percent increase, an extra week of vacation, a better project, training, or the corner cubicle with the windows overlooking the park. You also have to believe that it's possible to get it. This is the book that provided me with the right motivation to ask for and obtain my last raise: Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach. I constantly re-read this book to get the motivation to ask. Check out his website here. Another one of David's books: Start Late, Finish Rich offers some fantastic advice for people to start getting their financial affairs in order. It's never too late. It really isn't.

The second thing people, especially women, need to know that it's not hard to ask for what you want. 'No' is just a word. We have to get over the rejection. Other people ask for what they want every day. Other people get raises, even when the company says it's in a salary-freeze or it's all over the news how bad the economy is or whatever excuse you can come up with. The bottom line is, if you haven't had an increase in the last year or two, you are making less money than you were the year before, just due to inflation. If you value what you do and the company values your skills, then there's no reason why they shouldn't increase your salary to what the market is paying. You still have a job don't you? Then obviously they value what you do or you wouldn't be there. If you need to upgrade your skills, then what are you waiting for? Permission? Just go do it and in 3-6 months ask for the raise. Do you really think the guy in the next cubicle is scared of asking for more money? Don't forget, just because he's a man, he's probably making more money than you anyways! David's books and this book: The Aladdin Factor by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen can say it better than I ever could. Just go buy/read/borrow the books and ask for the raise! You have nothing to lose by asking for what you want. I just wish we as women don't settle for what is given to us, that we have the courage to ask for what we want when it comes to money and things that make our lives better. If I can do it, so can you. Truly.

On a similar topic:

Why should we settle for less than what we want? Another friend and I were discussing my penchant for being 'picky' when we go to eat in the food court and I don't just sit at the first table that is free. If I have a preference for padded benches, good lighting, a clean table, a table by ourselves, and if one is available, why should I settle for the first table? The same goes for almost anything else. If I like to write with a Pilot G2 black pen, why should I settle for any old pen lying around? If I prefer to eat chicken fried rice when we go to a certain restaurant because that's what I like, I shouldn't have to justify it or order something else just because I have a preference and I order the same thing every time. I don't think anybody should just settle for something if it's within their power to get what they want and if they have a clear preference. If you don't care about where you sit or write with or eat or how much money you earn or whatever, then that's your choice. Just don't belittle my choices.

Just something to think about.