Are you a Do-Do?

Are you the kind of person that when asked ‘JUMP’ the reply is always ‘HOW HIGH’? And there you go jumping all along everyday at the beat of what others instruct you to do. Or, are you the workaholic that does a zillion things one after the other without reasoning the sense of all that work?

I go to a HRM class every other Saturday at Rice University where a wonderful professor, Mr. Davis, is always opening discussions about day-to-day HR matters. He empowers the class to be strategic on their thinking; therefore, more efficient in their decisions and definitely more aligned to the business needs.

He said something in one of the classes that has resonated with me since I’ve heard it. If you do a lot of things all the time, everyday with no strategic planning and no reflection (review) on the results, then you are repeating yourself constantly, so what happens when you just do, do, do stuff all the time? You become a do-do!!!!

Isn’t that obvious? Yes, you need that vision to align your action to and the space to check they are moving you on the direction you want to go. But lots of folks have become precisely a ‘do-do’ type of professionals and even worse, ‘do-do’ persons.

Organizations are laying off people resulting in much more work for those keeping their jobs and those who are job transitioning feel such a pressure that keep applying to job after job without thinking or assessing what resources are more effective in their search.

I can think of many disadvantages of being a do-do, such as:

1. Level of stress is much higher. I know someone whose health has been jeopardized a few times by the obsession of doing too much with no planning. Every week is the same story, level of stress, same old complaining talk of how time is never enough. How many trips to the emergency room will take for this individual to realize a CHANGE is needed?

2. Lack of joy. What pleasure is there to complete one thing after the other without celebrating any success, completion or closure of any of it? I couldn’t believe these days when I got a letter from my daughter’s school notifying the report card would be sent this Friday and reminding the parents the need to celebrate their kids’ achievements instead of focusing on what did not work on this period. Whoao! Are people even going so far in their obsession to do things that they do not even celebrate anymore their kids’ accomplishments? Then, where is the joy in the day-to-day living?

3. Routine kills creativity. If you assume your day is what you get and there is no sense to change any of it, can you imagine the level of boredom? Not counting the mechanical reaction towards every request to JUMP and keep JUMPING. There is a Charly Chaplin movie I love that makes a parody of a factory worker that does a manual activity with his hands all day and that when leaving work his hands keep moving on the same way no matter what he is doing or who he is with. Hilarious and sad, so are you out of ideas already?

4. A network disabler. Who wants to be around a ‘do-do’ or hire one? Yes, I know it depends on the job but when you have three interview candidates for a job and 2 out of 3 are ‘do-dos’ and there is that one that takes the time to reason and learn from previous experiences, who do you think will get hired? . Also, if you see someone who repeats itself all the time and no matter how long you see that person there is no change, what value would that person add to your network?

Now, use your ‘life brakes’, stop and start thinking on your vision, that strategy you need to make some sense of your actions and creativity to effectively achieve what you really want to have.

At the end, it is about how you decide to spend everyday what will make your life/job what you want it to be.

So, get rid of the ‘do-do’ spirit and awake the amazing person who hides beneath the covers of ‘too much work to do and too little time to think on anything else’.

Be an enabler of your life and career! BE!

Your coach,

Mariela

Are you on a diet these days?

Have you met those folks (not you, of course!) that when being a bit overweight and eating a big slice of pizza speak about the wonderful diet they are thinking on starting on Monday? And then, Monday comes; the diet is broken on Tuesday by that piece of candy nobody can refuse to have. Even if your diet last a whole week, it is a horrible week filled with cravings for everything you are missing that you want to have. You become a ‘foodaholic’, somebody whose life turns into an obsession with whatever cannot be eaten instead of enjoying the pleasures of other healthier foods available right at your table.


So, what does all this diet talk have to do with your career transition and/or development plan?

Easy answer, most people when looking for either a job or a career switch tend to focus in what they do NOT have, they get obsessed on that particular skill that they have NOT mastered and which according to their expectations they should be better at. Then, there they go ready to move into a whole world of opportunities thinking and hoping nobody out there finds out they do not have that, yes, that particular thing they have created and built into their minds as a barrier, an obstacle that will decrease their chances to be noticed or selected to what they want. They become ‘gapholic’ people that only see the gaps and the holes they believe make them incomplete.

What chances have somebody like that to be successful on this ‘career diet plan’? What do you think? Almost none. Frankly, there is nothing more appealing than precisely the opposite.

Have you met those ‘health gurus’ that when talking to you resemble precisely the image of everything you would expect from somebody that eats and lives healthy in the inside and outside. They do not seem to deprive themselves to what they need but to move forward with such a level of clarity to what they want. Have you got friends like that? They are attractive and inspiring. They truly walk the talk on what they believe it is best for them.

The same could apply to your career. What if you could live the dream and embrace who you are? Your achievements, your skills, your competencies, your built network, your own goals and acceptance of the potential you have to drive yourself to the top of that high mountain instead of the bottom of a high wall.

An effective career diet plan requires guts to believe you can and preparation to make you more effective in your path, it does not take away what you enjoy but takes you closer to what brings you joy: that job you have always wanted or the corporation you think you’d be perfect for. Can you imagine going to a networking event or talking to an interviewer with the passion that comes from the clarity on your own ability to conquer and do beyond what anyone else in your shoes could do?

Doors will get open; people will notice you and you’ll be happier managing your own ‘career diet’.

So, step out of that  pile of applications you have waiting for you on the job board you face everyday and start making phone calls to meet the people that will see what you bring with you on that amazing portfolio of attributes, achievements and competencies called: YOU!

Dare to do your best, dare to enjoy who you are and beat your competition while you do so. Walk the talk and BE!

Best success,
Your coach.

I love your accent!

What happens when your communication gets impacted by your belief that your accent makes you incompetent of telling others your story? What are the consequences of having a second language but feeling unsecured about your ability to speak it without an accent to make your point effectively go across?

So, is it the accent or your lack of self-confidence the one jeopardizing your networking skills and a successful job transitioning process?

On my former corporate life I was exposed to a diverse platform of clients that were from everywhere you could think of, even from places I did not know existed in our global geography. The meaning was that I worked in a particular organization with a very inclusive culture in which accents were taken as part of the day-to-day communications and where everyone was able to ask, if not understanding somebody else's words due to this reality. It was not a barrier but a cultural enabler that made it cooler, funnier, more relaxed and certainly inclusive to the point in which you would feel at ease and at your best by the acceptance of it. No offense was taken as no offense was intended. There was a global management team that felt like the Miss Universe contest but without the looks!
Certainly, though we experience everyday the consequences of a global market, we also live mostly in a domestic/local job culture in which we'll likely face what is called 'minority' or 'majority' tagging games. Does this matter when we talk about your accent and your level of confidence to market your brand? Do you feel a 'minority', I mean, less that something bigger and greater called 'majority'? Hopefully, you don’t.
You make your own brand with your history and then, you reveal it to tell the story that will connect you to those wanting to hear it and buy it.
So, do I believe in Accent Reduction programs? Certainly, if it is going to help you make yourself understood and at ease under any circumstance, then go for it but if what you are having is not an accent problem but a self-confidence issue, then you are looking at the wrong resource to get you on the right track.
First, let me give you some very old news, everyone, yes, EVERYONE has an accent. It is part of your roots and who you are. The trick is not to let the accent determine your professional identity but your own brand to be the one that speaks by itself with its own attributes. Do not misunderstand my words, I believe that if you live in a host country and you call it home, wouldn't it make sense for you to learn the language of it? However, there is a big difference between the accent and the lack of language proficiency, don't you think?

Second, TRUST yourself, your own guts and instinct more than anything else. I get quite often clients that have forgotten their STAR which is the inner talent that made them successful in their career journey to a point in which they can list the value of what they did with clear and tangible contribution. How can you go to an interview if you do not believe you've got what it takes and blame it to your own 'minority' sense or 'accent' image? It is just an image you made with words that does not tell the whole story of who you are and your previous successes. Life is no accident, so do not make your career a matter of coincidences when it's always been a matter of preparation, hard work and readiness to take on the next steps.

Third, yes, some people suck! But at the end, it is how you react to what they do what gets you closer to your goal or takes you away from it. I confess I have an accent! Ops! Now you know, I share this amazing ‘unique’ attribute with you and guess what? I looove it. It is who I am and my story is to play with it. I speak faster at a social gathering and much slower at a professional one. It supports my openness to those willing to hear me and struggling to get me whenever my pronunciation does not come across in the way their listening is used to or my tongue is intending to. It also ensures my own willingness to be at my best squeezing every single chance to communicate. I learn everyday; I listen to the stories behind the accents to SEE the person that is telling it. I am amazed at the talent, the dreams, the goals, the possibilities, the incredible contributions people with accents have made and will keep making ensuring our world is a diverse and inclusive one in which we all do our homework to be open and to get what others are telling beyond the accents, beyond the biases and beyond the self-doubts.

Open up to the possibility that comes from your own self, your identity, your strengths, your own special and unique accent…your brand
And please, stay one more minute here to reflect on the amazing words shared by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander in their book The Art of Possibility (Harvard Business School Press):
‘We can make a conscious use of our way with words to define new frameworks for possibility that bring out the part of us that is most contributory, most unencumbered, most open to participation. And why not say that is who we really are?