Tag: job

042: 6 Steps In Making A Job Pivot [Podcast] – Todd Stocker.com

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making the job pivot.001Are you ready to make a change?  Are you wanted to make a job pivot?  Here are a few guiding steps that will help get you going.

ON THIS EPISODE:

Step 1: Pray.  Seriously.  God is waiting to pour direction and guidance over your entire plan. 

• First pray for wisdom (James 1:5)

• Second pray for direction.  (Each verse of Proverbs 16 has leadership lessons in it.  I’m actually wanting to write a leadership book based on the 33 principles)

Step 2: Really take time and identify WHY you would want to venture out on your own.  Process all the positives that sync up with your experience, family relationships and personal well-being.  This will be your anchor when the winds of doubt, fear and opposition blow against your entrepreneurial passion.  Don’t list any negatives in this step. 

Step 3: Envision what your ideal situation would be.  In other words, get a mental picture of your situation.  The is the WHAT of your idea.  Here are some statements that help: 

• “When I am running the IT Security Business, I am … ”

• “When I complete a week, I will feel …”

• “I am adding value to people through my business by …”

Step 4: Create a realistic, transition timing plan.  This is the HOW of the transition, not the new business.  This step requires some tactical and strategic thinking, at which you’re already good.  

Step 5: Figure out how much it takes monthly for your family expenses not family spending.  It is this number that is, what I call the MATS level – Minimum Acceptable To Spouse.  

Step 6: Do something people oriented within the sphere of the new venture.  You could put on a free seminar or youtube series for businesses on the basics of IT Security for example.  This would establish you as an expert in the industry. 

RESOURCES: 

WEBSITES:

PODCASTS:

035 HELP! I’m Stuck In A Dead End Job! [Podcast] – Todd Stocker.com

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deadend jobThere are two feelings you need in order for you to feel fulfilled at work and in life.  Today I talk about them and also share an update from our recently created private Facebook group.

On This Episode:

In order for you to feel alive and have a sense of purpose and meaning in your work and life, you have to have both

  1. a sense of progress and
  2. a sense of control.

‘Progress’ takes on different forms but it basically means the feeling of moving ahead or the accomplishment of a goal.  If you begin a work task from small to large, upon completion, there is a sense of movement in what you do.

This is ‘results-oriented’ encouragement where you achieve a task you’ve set out to do.

Adm. McRaven explains at a University of Texas, Austin commencement speech That as a Navy Seal, they were required to make their bed to perfection every morning.  Why is it the best way to start off your day? He said that it shows progress.  You’ve told yourself that you can accomplish something.

‘Control’ is just what it sounds like only on the positive side.  When I do career coaching, in the assessment phase where we are evaluating a person’s current situation, I often ask, “What part of your job/life do you feel like you have control?”  Even if the person can identify one thing it’s a starting point. For example: I have control over the decorations in my cubicle or I have control over what I do on Saturday afternoon.

Why is this important?  Because without a sense of control in even a small area of your life, your brain and emotions get a little wacky.  Emotionally, you feel stressed and chaotic and most of the time, you end up making a stupid decision.

You need a sense of control to steady yourself before you decide to leave or quite your job and you need a sense of progress in order to feel like your life has purpose.  That’s why the phrase ‘stuck in a dead end job’ is so appropriate.  ‘Stuck’ means you don’t have control and ‘dead end’ means you can’t go anywhere.

Resources From This Episode

  • Audible.com – 180K audio book, right at your fingers
  • Career Coaching – If you need some clarity on your career and life, I can help.
  • Adm. McRaven explains at a University of Texas, Austin commencement speech why making your bed everyday may be the best way to start off your day
  • 48days.com – great resources for finding work you love.

 

010: 3 Ways To Enjoy Your Job – Todd Stocker.com

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These are Show Notes for the Podcast: 

From a Forbes article:

Right Management ran the online survey between April 16 and May 15, and culled responses from 411 workers in the U.S. and Canada. Only 19% said they were satisfied with their jobs. (81% were not fully engaged in their work).

Another 16% said they were “somewhat satisfied.” But the rest, nearly 2/3s of respondents, said they were not happy at work. 21% said they were “somewhat unsatisfied” and 44% said they were “unsatisfied.”

Why are people unsatisfied?
  • low pay
  • hours
  • benefits
  • they type of job it is
  • feeling of being stuck
  • wrong expectations based on the “Overnight” success stories.
Nothing beats hard and smart work.
Dan Miller from 48days.com outlines our work decades.
Age 20-30 is a time of discovery of what work we like.
30-40 time of development of the skills needed.
40-50 time of mastery of the skills and a chance to niche down.
50-60 time of gathering, money making.
60 – time of returning or giving back to society.
So as you’re driving.  on a scale of 1-10, what is your job satisfaction level?  Do you feel fulfilled or like you’re going to scratch your eyes out?

3 ways to handle the job you’re in now.

  1. Thank God for your job.  Tracey Steivang who was featured on episodes 5 and 6, says that gratitude is the strongest emotion.  The bible says that work is a gift from God.  What would it look like if you took time tomorrow morning and before you began your day and said, “Lord, I am thankful for my job.” Be thankful for it because it is a gift.
  2. Ask yourself “Why did I get into my job?”  It could be that you’ve forgotten the key purpose of why you’re in the job in the first place.  Sometimes just refocusing on the positive reason you dove it can limit you focus on the negative struggles today.  If you do realize that you need to make a change…
  3. Don’t jump ship.  Create a plan for transition.
Dan Miller says an intentional transition is best.

Links:

Feeling Small – Lessons from the Lake

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I was at a cabin, working on my next book project when outside, I heard what sounded to me like thunder.  I thought that was strange since it wasn’t in the forecast.

I continued working but soon, I heard it again.  The sound thundered loudly to a point that it shook the windows of the cabin. So I went outside and looked around and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  It was clear.

As I looked across the lake, I watched a flock of birds suddenly fly off of the ice followed by the thunder sound.  I couldn’t figure it out.  Then, it happened again.  It was then that I realized the thundering sound was the cracking of the ice that happens as the temperature changed.  It expands and contracts which causes the “thunder.”  Right at my feet, the ice-thundering erupted and spread across the entire lake.  The ground on which I stood shook and I felt very powerless and very small.

It reminded me of when God had a conversation with Job.  Job was questioning God about his life and why he was experiencing loss and struggle.   God responds to Job and says, “Job, were you there when I sent the foundations of the world in place?  Were you there when I started the cosmos or when I created the very environments in which you walk?”  At that moment, I felt like Job.

Sometimes I think too big of myself.  Sometimes I want to completely control my life and that I have the power to do so.  But then I realize that ultimately, power and strength comes only from God.

The Bible says that the earth is the Lords everything in it.  He created the sky.  He created the mountains.  He created the ice that operates on the surface of the lake and causes the ground to shake.

The next time I try to control everything in my life, I’ll remember the lesson of the lake.

Peace!

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THE BENEFITS OF DOING A JOB YOU HATE

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All of us have had them or at least have experienced the angst of them.  Jobs you hate to do.  Realistically, there isn’t any job or career in the world that you will love 100% of the time.  Everything we do has at least a little part of it that you’d rather put on the shelf and leave alone.  But there are benefits to the “hate-part” of your job.

For me, the worst job I ever had was a one-day stint as a prep cook at an Italian restaurant.  Chopping, dicing, cutting – at that was only  my fingers.  The kitchen was hot and the chef was Jerry Garcia, back from the dead (no pun intended).  But the benefits of having even that one day gig were plentiful.  They came in the form of 3 learning’s:

First, I learned what I didn’t want to do.  This is obvious when you’re doing a job that isn’t a fit.  You instinctively know that you’ll be job-hunting again soon.

Second, I learned not to go after the money.  My brother worked at the restaurant at the time and got me the job.  After his first week, he brought home a paycheck that was double what I was making at the time.  I went after the money and was miserable.

Third, I learned how to quit gracefully.  After that first day, I went to my boss, thanked him for the opportunity and explained that if I were to stay, it would hold back the productivity of the kitchen and hurt his business.  I didn’t criticize the job, his chef or the patrons.  I simply stated why I felt it wouldn’t work and that I’d decided not to come back.  I felt bad but I knew it was the right thing.

What jobs have you had that you absolutely hated?

Peace