Bounce Back

The economists are saying it will get worse before it gets better. (Could they stop talking until they have good news? Just asking.) Being resilient in these times is imperative. Being able to bounce back from a layoff or rolling with the punches of changes at work may mean the difference between surviving and thriving. Before anyone starts saying these times are too tough to “thrive,” remember this. The period of time that created the greatest number of millionaires in America was … the Great Depression. When people have less to lose. When they are desperate. When they realize the old ways no longer work. When they are willing to take a risk. Those are the conditions that create millionaires. The first idea might not be the one, but persisting until something starts working for you – that is success. Be Prepared “Luck is preparation meeting opportunity.” Oprah Winfrey said that. In slightly different words, so have many other successful people. In fact, it is part of the motto for Boy Scouts. Are you prepared? Whether you expect a layoff or just want to find a more stable opportunity or are laid off, being prepared now will enhance your chances of landing the next job. Job Seeker, Know Thyself The first step of preparation is to know yourself. Until you know that, you won’t know what job is right for you. I know, I know – you’ve lived with yourself for the last X number of years you say. I say, so what? As a person goes through life, people constantly give you feedback as to who they think you are. Some of what is said to you is true. Some is not. Some was true when you were 3 or 13 years old, not so much now that you’re X years old. Some things are just family assumptions. Some things are said out of jealousy or fear or carelessly. Some things are said wishfully. If the authority of the person is absolute (a parent, a teacher), we tend not to examine it all that closely, but take it on. Write down who you are in July 2009, and identify those jobs that are suitable for you. Narrow the list of jobs down to what you want to do. Voilá – your targeted list of employers. It is counter-intuitive but,

The more targeted your job search, the more narrow the focus, the more likely you are to be hired quickly.

Steps to Being Prepared

Sharpen your interviewing skills. Practice communicating what you have done, can do and the value you’ll bring to the job. Be succinct, but be sure to tell a complete story. Be enthusiastic about working for the employer. Practice making a great first impression. Learn and develop new skills. Pick up new skills that will help you stand out in the crowd and increase your value to an employer. If you are laid off, see what municipal resources are available to you. These are usually free or very low cost. Network like crazy. Looking for work is a job in itself. Talking to as many people as you can, will only help you. Follow up with thank you notes or an article that helps them out. Remember, networking is a two-way street. They help you; you help them. Build trust. Be factual about your circumstances, but don’t dwell on them. Add value and they’ll remember that. 80% of the job market is “hidden.” That means you will only find out about these jobs through networking. I know employers who have openings. They don’t want to advertise, because they don’t want to deal with the flood of applications. Do your research. Who is your ideal employer? Find someone at that company to talk to. That is networking. Network, network, network. Ensure your résumé is ready. There are many great opportunities out there. You can only take advantage of them if you are prepared. List your best accomplishments for each job in your history. Is your grammar consistent? Is it readable? Be realistic. Being laid off is hard. Don’t think, “It can’t happen to me.” Or, think the employer will “wake up and call me back.” It can happen to you and the employer will not call you back. These times are hard for employers too. It probably wasn’t personal when they laid you off. It was all about the money. I know it feels personal. Step back to get a larger picture, let go of the anger. Take time to grieve so bitterness doesn’t creep into your job hunt and poison it. Regroup. Being laid off is bad, not dealing with it properly, is worse. Believe in yourself. Being laid off is a great opportunity! This can be a fresh start for you. Or, you can find work that is more rewarding. The key is to stay positive, be persistent. Surround yourself with people who know you, love you and believe in you. This will boost your health and self-esteem. The better you feel about yourself, the easier it is to impress others. It isn’t you, it’s them. Job hunting is all about rejection. Because once someone says, “Hired,” we generally stop. Understand that fundamental fact. They aren’t rejecting you; they are rejecting your résumé. They aren’t rejecting you; they are rejecting the performance you gave during the interview. Learn to hear the rejection, learn from it, make the corrections and move on to your next opportunity. Think of job hunting as a game; connecting the dots between you and the next job. If you need help on your job hunt, give me a call at 916.803.1494 or send me an email to eal@EALCoaching.com. We’ll get a strategy together for you to thrive. A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream. Warmly, Elisabeth Elisabeth Adler-Lund www.EALCoaching.com

Coaching from the Heart eal@ealcoaching.com 916.803.1494

What Have You Done To Make Your Intention Happen?

“The Secret doesn’t work for me. I sent my intention out and nothing happened.” So said “Gail,” an acquaintance I was talking with. The other people with us, all started nodding their heads in agreement or said something along lines of, “If it was that simple we’d all be rich/successful/etc.” I asked the question, “What did you do to make your intention happen?” As one, the group all looked at me as if I had sprouted a tree out of my head. Then someone said, “Oh, you haven’t seen the movie, The Secret! You send an intention out into the Universe, and somehow you get it.” Somehow? Sigh. As a coach, I am supposed to help people clarify their goals. One of the best ways to do that is to keep asking questions until the person has clarified in their own mind, exactly what their goal is, and most importantly, how to get there. Things do not magically happen. Things do not “somehow” happen for you. The Secret is not a magic formula that will do all the work for you. This is why, for the group of people I was with, “The Secret doesn’t work” for them. Fuzzy thinking For most of the people who do not believe in The Secret, it is this fuzzy thinking that they find so amusing. If those people had truly understood The Secret, they would not have explained it by saying that “somehow” you get your intention. They would have known the formula ... the secret! This is wishing. This is daydreaming. Some hallmarks of wishing for success are jumping from opportunity to opportunity, not persistently following something to conclusion or fruition. They watch the news and focus on it. They wait for things (the economy, life, their job or relationship) to get better. They have vague aspirations at best. They don’t have real, concrete goals with deadlines. They find deadlines restrictive, because they want to be “open” to the next opportunity. They don’t measure their progress, because they will get to it when … things get better, a better opportunity comes along, whenever. They haven’t built in accountability. Things do not magically happen If you send out an ‘intention’ into the Universe, without any actions, the Universe thinks you are dreaming or wishing. So no response is necessary. As the saying goes, the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. Again I ask you, “What have you done to make your intention happen?” If you don’t back-up your intention with an action or series of actions, things will not happen. Wishing will not one day, with little effort, make abilities to suddenly bubble up inside you, and, miraculously, rewards will appear. It is as simple as daily planning, so you focus on your next step to reach your goal. It’s as complex as knowing the whole goal and seeing the next step to take on the journey. The Secret for Success To be successful, you need to have a sense of urgency about becoming successful. You have set the BIG goal and all the intermediate steps for the achievement. You have to put deadlines on your goals and measure your progress. You have to stick with your goals persistently, consistently and work hard to make them happen. You have to take charge of your future and focus on the prize! Yes, you have to be open to see the opportunity. Yes, you have to hone your abilities so you can take advantage of the opportunity. These things do not belong to those who are more privileged or talented. Right now, you hold all of the potential in the world. Work with it, stay with it, and you’ll be able to accomplish anything. Then the Universe will swing into action, showing you opportunities you didn’t know where there before. Luck is just being prepared for opportunity when it comes along. That way you can take advantage of it. Coaching will help to define your goal and see your opportunities. We will build in accountability so you attain your prize, and release your full potential! A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream. Warmly, Elisabeth Elisabeth Adler-Lund Executive And Life Coaching Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

What Are Your Strategies ?

What is your first step when looking for work? I’ll bet your first stop is an online job board, such as CareerBuilder, HotJobs or Monster. You might want to rethink that strategy. When companies down-size, one of the first things to shrink is the advertising budget. Many employers are now using just their company website to advertise openings. To draw more applicants to their sites, companies such as software makers Intuit Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc. are revamping their online career pages, including making them more interactive by adding videos and employee profiles. Companies also are trying to reach job seekers through social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Sodexo Inc., which provides food services to institutions, offers online “widgets” at its Web site, which send alerts to job hunters’ computer screens when the company has new openings. As a bonus to scaling back advertising on online job boards, companies also reduce the number of applications they need to sort through. Since most applicants visiting a company website are interested in that particular employer, they are on average better qualified, than applicants coming through job boards. If you are a regular reader of Executive And Life Coaching, you know you need to tailor your cover letter and résumé to the specific needs of the company and the particular job you are applying for. By visiting the company website, you can do the needed research while you are there seeing if they have any openings. Networking Online Many successful job seekers are finding luck by first networking with employees at the company via social media like LinkedIn and applying directly with the company instead of through the job boards. Update your profiles on LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. Ensure your personal stuff is indeed marked private. You don’t want an employer, or an employee you are networking with, to see the midnight to dawn revelry of last weekend. Or, just as important, your personal views on controversial issues. A safe rule of thumb is, if you wouldn’t want to talk about it during a job interview (or want your mother to see it), don’t post it or take it down from your public pages. Helpful research sites Here are some places to check out companies and industries. For basic research, http://hoovers.com/free/, offers a good starting place. It has information like company overviews and the names of major competitors. Another site, http://www.google.com/Top/Business/, has a large directory of businesses organized by industry. Despite the recession, many companies continue to hire new employees, if for no other reason, to replace departing staff. People still quit jobs, get promoted or demoted, and retire. THERE ARE JOBS OUT THERE. New Approaches As companies increasingly seek new hires through their own Web sites, consider new strategies. Don’t give up on job boards. Just realize their limitations. Use every tool in your toolbox.

• Make a list of companies that meet your requirements for a desirable employer
• Research the companies to understand their business
• Broaden job searches by using multiple tools
• Make use of social-media sites to network with existing employees.
• Apply directly to a company’s Web site, not through an online job board.

This is a great time to contact me to get an action plan together to get your Dream Job. I can help you sort through your skills and your dreams to get the right job for you. I can assist you in finding the right strategy for YOUR job hunt, and getting you on the path to your dream job. Contact me now. A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream. Warmly, Elisabeth Elisabeth Adler-Lund Executive And Life Coaching Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

Are You a Good Listener?

How good are your listening skills? Sit back and evaluate how well you are listening. If you are brave, ask the people around you how well you listen. Your perception of how well you hear what someone is saying, and their perception of how well you heard them, may not be the same. In listening, their perception counts more. The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of time. If the person you are talking to feels you have truly heard and understood what they have to say, you have given them a gift. That gift will be precious to them. If you are talking with a loved one, you have validated their relationship with you. If you are talking to your boss, your listening skills will tell them if they want to promote you, or not. Poor listening skills set the standard in most offices. This unfortunate condition generates miscommunication, misunderstanding, and unnecessary repetition. Luckily, good listening skills are easy to gain. Pop quiz: What are you doing when you are in a conversation? Are you listening to what the person is saying, or are you formulating a response? Are you breathing, or, are you holding your breath? Here are some strategies for good listening. Pay attention, there will be a test.

1. Be silent. Let people finish their sentences, then pause before you answer. The break forces you to consider what was just said, and the person will appreciate your thoughtful response.
2. Be still. Be in a position to listen. In the office, hold calls, step aside with the person or close the door, and face the person. Pay attention. Do not scan e-mail, open envelopes, shuffle paper, or file. At home, don’t do the dishes, dust or sort clothes for the laundry. If this is not a good time to listen, reschedule for a time you are able to listen.
3. Be careful to not interrupt. Do not talk over people or cut off their message so yours can dominate. Use the 80-20 rule. Listen 80% of the time and talk 20% of the time. And I mean that as a 20% maximum. Less talk is more listening. You have two ears, but only one mouth.
4. Guard against dismissing or diminishing what people are telling you. If you even think about rolling your eyes, close them and gain control before opening them. Eye-rolling is a demonstration of a lack of respect. Don’t slip into the phrases “here it comes again” or “we’ve already tried that”. Respect their opinions. You don’t have to agree with everything they say, but they have as much right to their opinion as you do to yours. Besides, it might just work this time.
5. Listen to what is being said, and to what is not said, but clearly communicated. This often is the situation during conflict. A great technique to use is to say, “I just heard you say … ,” and then re-state what you heard back to the person. This demonstrates you were actively listening to what they said and have genuine concern for clear communication. A variation of this technique is to say, “I heard you say … , but I feel you meant … .” If the person is angry, be calm and acknowledge the feeling before the content: “I understand you are upset, let’s find a solution.” Then ask for the details of what is upsetting to them. Use their language (without the profanity) when possible: “What did he do that makes you feel ‘his attitude sucks’?”
6. Diversity is a wonderful thing. So actively listen and learn the conversation styles and meanings of those around you. Even within the borders of California, English words mean different things in different parts of the state. If you treat everyone as coming from a foreign country using English as a second language, you will reduce the number of miscommunications due to improper assumptions about what they are trying to say. Remember, meanings are in people, not in the words. [F.Y.I.-this is an especially helpful technique to use with your partner. Even if you were both born and raised on the same street, in the same city, you will have come from different cultures. An example: one family will “save” saying “I love you” for special occasions and for the other family this is a daily greeting. The partner A will feel that partner B doesn’t feel it because B ‘never’ says it; and partner B will feel partner A is diluting the meaning because A says it everyday. Viva la differance!]
7. Surround yourself with people who will keep you honest and open and force you to listen to what you need to hear. That is how you grow and expand your knowledge, mind and horizons.

Remember, practice makes perfect. So practice active listening in all arenas of your life and watch the quality of your relationships improve. The Test [as promised] 1. Rolling one’s eyes as a response in conversation is: a) A lively conversational technique b) Only done by erudite people (look it up, expand your vocabulary) c) Something to avoid as it is rude and alienating 2. In listening, whose perception of good listening counts more? a) The voyeur’s. That is the only objective person here. b) The listener’s, obviously c) The talker’s perception, that is the person trying to be understood 3. The greatest gift you can give someone is: a) Gold, it is always the best investment b) Stocks, because they can only go up c) Time, because it can’t be stored 4. Poor listening skills set the standard in most offices. This leads to: a) Gossip, rumour, and scandal b) Silence, peace, and tranquillity c) Miscommunication, misunderstanding, and unnecessary repetition 5. Formulating a response while someone is talking is: a) A quick way to keep the conversation moving b) A good way to get my point across, after all, I’m always right (am too!) c) Bad listening technique because you’re not paying attention to what the person is saying, so you only hear part of what is said 6. Interrupting people during a conversation, tells them what about you? a) That I am eagerly participating in the conversation b) That I am goal oriented and will reach my quota of 80% talking time c) That I don’t really care about their opinion 7. One of the best compliments you can give is to say someone is a good listener. a) False. People go to Ireland just to kiss the Blarney Stone and become good Talkers! b) False. Listener, shmistner! Listening is over-rated, besides, being quiet is hard c) True. The irony is, everyone will listen to what a Listener has to say (The correct answers to all questions is “C”.)

Be silent, pay attention, be calm, don’t interrupt, respect others’ opinions, repeat for clarity, be alert to diversity, and you will become known for being a good listener.

Are you one of the millions of people who hate to go to work in the morning? Or on Sunday, you dread Mondays? What I do is help you indentify your transferrable skills, your values and combine that with your interests, passions and experiences. It is a process of learning all about who you are, what you want to contribute and how to do that. Then we come up with your personalized career path to your dream job. Call me now to make your dreams a reality.

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

Warmly, Elisabeth

Elisabeth Adler-Lund Executive And Life Coaching Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com