THE THREE KEYS TO SUCCESS

How are you doing? How is your job search going? How are you feeling about your chances for getting a job soon? I ask these questions because I care about you and I know what you are going through. I vividly remember my long period of unemployment and how bone-crushingly depressed I could get. There were days when I thought there was a conspiracy to keep me unemployed. Then there were those days when I thought I had completely lost my abilities and would never work again. It felt as though I was not privy to some elusive secret (maybe a secret handshake?).

 

Is this you too? Know this – I did eventually find the exact job I had been looking for in all those months and years of searching. It does happen. More importantly, IT WILL HAPPEN FOR YOU TOO!

 

There are three keys to unlocking the door to success. This includes getting a job. And, not just any job, but a job you actually want. Just follow all three keys consistently and you too will be successful in what ever you pursue.

 

The First Key:

 

1. Knowledge Is Power.
Knowledge about yourself, your family, the job you are applying for and the company in which it is located.

 

What do you really want to do for ten hours everyday? A typical working person thinks about the job, the boss, the company on average about ten hours every day. This includes commute time on the way to and from the job, the lunch hour (at or away from the desk), and reviewing the day with family and friends. If you have a difficult challenge at work (person or project) it can go up from there. Since job security has become a thing of the past, I’ll bet the most recent statistics are even higher.

 

You absolutely cannot learn enough about yourself, your family, the job you are applying for or its company. If you think you know enough about your family, ask someone a question. Why are you surprised? Family is a constant source of surprise and discovery. Go, do some more research.

 

The same holds true for the jobs that you are applying. Learn all you can. You will find out if this truly is the company, you want to invest part of your life working for, in the right job for you. Remember, people learn new things about their employers all the time. You cannot do too much research.

 

Most people spend more time planning their vacations than they do their careers. The time you spend charting your career course will mean you will reach your goals sooner. All the better to set loftier goals for your future. What do you want to do for the next five years? Where do you want to do it? What kind of people do you want to work with? Do you want to work indoors or outdoors? With people, or mostly alone? Do you want to work with data, people or things? There are half a dozen questions just to get you started.

 

2. Attitude Is Everything.
How you think about yourself and what affects you, will affect your outcome. If you think you got up “on the wrong side of the bed today,” you will indeed have a bad day. On the other hand, if you think, “If something bad had to happen today, I’m glad that it is so small.” You will have a good rest of the day.

 

I understand that when you are down it can be very hard to be neutral, never mind go all the way to optimistic. Just put a smile on your face and be cheerful to everyone you meet. Think: “If today was a good day, how would I feel and act?” Then do your best to model those actions. Pretty soon, the feeling will catch up. Honest.

 

Modeling the behavior, you want to have and consciously choosing a good attitude, will last you all day. It might be the difference to your success, or not. You never know who you will meet that could affect your future. Remember, luck is preparation meeting opportunity. If I want to hire you, and I call to set up an interview, I want to hear optimism and confidence in your voice. But, if you are all down and miserable, that will come through your voice also. Worse, that miserable-ness will shoot you in the foot. Part of your preparation is to project the confident-you. This is your moment to display grace under fire. Yes, I’m talking about courage.

 

“Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of attitudes toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.” – Charles Swindoll, psychiatrist.

“I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it’s only a choice of attitude.” – Judith M. Knowlton, US Tennis Player and activist.

3. Be Persistent.
Edison tried over three thousand different materials before he finally found success with carbonized bamboo for a commercially practical light bulb filament. This process took him years of trying, retrying, and reimagining the solutions.

 

“Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas A. Edison, inventor.

Choose a good attitude, just for today. Stay focused on your goals. Do something, anything, to move closer to your goals today. Learn all you can on what you need to know. Stay in the game. You can do this and you will be successful.

 

This Week’s Coaching:
1. What do you need to know?

• About your job search
• About your résumé and application materials
• About the specific job you are applying for
• About that company
• About yourself and what you want

 2. How will you keep a positive attitude?

• How will you take care of yourself to keep you “up”?
• Get feedback on how you are projecting yourself.

 3. What are you willing to try just one more time?

 

 Let me know what is or is not working for you. Do you think I have provided good advice here? Or am I totally unrealistic? Let me know, I care. Write to me at eal@ealcoaching.com. Thanks!

 

 All things are possible,

 Elisabeth

 

Elisabeth Adler-Lund

Executive and Life Coaching

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494

E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com