Last week I listed some of the excuses you might make that hold you back from making a move in your career (either a change of career, setting up a new business, or asking for a promotion for example). This week I want to give you some simple but effective solutions. Don't judge them until you've tried them.

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now

I'm going to help you unstick yourself from your current career position. I've split this blog into 2 parts. Part 1 outlines your problem if you're feeling stuck (cheerio to those reading who are 100% happy in their career). Then in part 2, next week, I'll share with you some great ways to solve your problem. You'll want to come back here next week or sign up to the RSS feed or email notifications if you want the solution!

How You're Holding Yourself Back in Your Career

Face it – you want to be somewhere else don't you? A different career, role, or just a better, more rewarding or fairer deal than the one you've got? That's why your eyeballs are soaking up these words, in hope…

Maybe you have an urge to do something in particular? Maybe you've been thinking about something else for a while now? A new business perhaps? An entirely different career? Applying for a position in a top company? Or thinking about asking for a promotion or pay rise? But something's stopping you. Something's holding you back from moving towards what you think you should have or deserve. Look, you're not going to get it the way things are. You're going to have to work out what's stopping you, and overcome it.

The first two most common reasons people give me for not moving towards a better career position when they know they want to, are:

1. They don't know exactly what they want
2. They do, but they don't know how to make it happen

Both of these can be overcome relatively easily (click here) They're actually not the hard part. Ideas and know-how can be obtained (once you know how!) Ok, these may be holding you back, and you'd do well to deal with them quickly. But once you have, you'll almost certainly hit a new wall.

This wall is much harder to break through.

You may be facing it now. This wall is built by your subconscious, and it's put in place in an attempt to keep you feeling safe. It's a survival thing. You feel safe on this side of the wall, and…well, you don't really know what's on the other side of the wall. Could be great, but then, it could be hell for you? You don't know. So your subconscious builds a strong wall to keep you feeling 'safe' (ironically, that's 'feeling safe' in an undesirable even miserable position..) That's why you want your conscious to deal with this one, not your subconscious.

In fact, I can describe this wall to you more clearly. Each brick is an excuse or reason that your subconscious has put in place to keep you 'safe', or hold you back, depending on how you view it. The bricks in your wall might include:

• lack of confidence
• lack of self-belief
• too busy
• tiredness
• it's not the right time
• laziness
• ignorance
• not enough resources
• other people holding you back
• fear

Some are excuses that you present to yourself (too busy, not enough resources, other people). Others you don't really have a handle on – they're not excuses as such, they're just there, in your way (these are things like ignorance, fear, laziness).

The thing is, some people seem to be able to just blast through the wall between them and where they want to be, even though they could probably claim many of the things on the list too.

So what makes these people different? Are they born like it? Or did they learn to be like this? Or did circumstances lead them to side step the list of excuses? Or did they simply decide to 'just do it'?

If you think they're born like it, and you're not, then you've just put another brick in your wall. If they learned to overcome their wall, then that's great news for you, because you can learn too. If it was circumstances, maybe it's possible to try to put yourself in similar circumstances, if that's what it takes? Maybe you are already in those circumstances?

I vote for it being a combination of learning how to get around the wall, and circumstances. Next week then, I'll show you how to knock down each of the bricks I've mentioned. If you have other bricks to add to the list, let me know in the comments below. I'll help you knock them down.

Oh, I almost forgot – what about the people who decide to ignore the learning and circumstances, and 'just do it'? You could just copy them if you want, take the straight line approach and get moving on your idea right away…that's an idea reflected by the title of Richard Branson's book 'Screw it, Let's Do it!' It's an option if you want to take it and save time.

For the rest of you, if you don't want to miss my post next week, either sign up to my RSS feed or email list. See you then – have a good week.

P.S. Please forward this post on to anyone stuck in their career

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now

1. The hoax – you can read about how a young female employee used a dry erase board to tell her whole office she was leaving. This was viral marketing by website www.thechive.com which clearly worked, and here I am adding to their success. Great marketing side lesson there. Clearly these days, marketing can be powerful and inexpensive.

2. Wasn’t a hoax – and was about the American Airlines employee who got angry with a passenger, ‘lost it’, grabbed 2 cans of beer off the trolley and escaped down the emergency exit inflatable slide. Luckily for him the plane was on the ground!

What’s interesting is the amount of support these stories have got. Everyone seems to love the idea of the unhappy employee escaping and getting the better of their employer. Do that many people out there identify with these people? It seems that way. Kind of makes you wonder about levels of engagement, retention, productivity and performance when so many people don’t feel too loyal and happy with their employer.

What’s worse is employers are spending a fortune still trying to tweak details within the system (like better learning practices, perhaps). They’re pressing the wrong buttons. That’s not going to make the slightest bit of difference to the employees who just don’t want to be there any more. They’re not going to learn and apply what they learn effectively. You’ve disengaged them. They’re unlikely to get better at their work. They’re potentially bottlenecks. If they’re more passionate and excited about people escaping their career, as an employer, you’ve got to start worrying.

Unfortunately, much of the time, I don’t think the employers are helping themselves. Maybe the big companies are too arrogant? Maybe employees today are realising that they have other, better, options. And what happens when your senior people realise there are other, better options for earning a living? What happens when your recruitment people don’t want to stay any more? What happens when those helping you promote your brand aren’t really bothered with your organisation any more? What happens when they realise opportunities are better elsewhere? What happens when your L&D people no longer want to help your organisation learn and develop because you’ve tied their hands by forcing out of date mindsets and systems upon them?

I think it’s time to start teaching your employees how to steer themselves and get what they want by continuously increasing their win:win with you. They’re beginning to steer themselves anyway. Away from you. And towards whoever can help them get what they want. Maybe organisations are finally beginning to understand that their people have legs. Legs for re-positioning themselves, legs for learning effectively their way and legs for creating more opportunities and value in areas they are compelled to because they get personal relevant rewards back.

So you might as well start showing them how to define what they really want, and how you can help them get it, so long as they use and develop their strengths to add more value to you in the way they do best. There are lots of personal rewards from this, but often people need reminding of them and a help to understand how to get them.

In the meantime, if people aren’t helped to steer things to a mutual win:win with you, then they’ll be looking at opportunities elsewhere. If that’s you, then to answer the question I started with, the best way to quit is to quit knowing your ideal career and how you’re going to get into it. –> click here.

Next Post: The Career Excuses You’re Making (and How to Overcome Them) – stay tuned!

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now

It's probably not news to you that you can become more productive in your work. I mean, much more. For your benefit, as well as your employers. There are loads of simple tweaks you can make to your approach to get more done in less time. People, I think are inherently ineffective. They take the long way round, because they don't think enough prior to acting. They just do things in the first way that comes to mind. And then they often stick with it, because at least it eventually got a result. "It works" isn't enough these days. "It works better or faster" is what's in demand.

But it's not their fault! It's the system they're within that removes the need for them to work more productively. That's what I think. So too, apparently, do more than half of Australians surveyed here.

You Don't Become More Productive When You Don't Have to

Do you feel 'protected' or secure in your work? Are you getting paid anyway doing things the way you do them? Probably. So your input:output 'engine' is ticking over fine? And you're comfortable with the way you work? Why would you bother then optimising your approach? Organisations waste a fortune trying to make employees more productive, and then they reward them with their salary regardless of whether they become more productive or not. A course on productivity will do nothing for a bunch of people who don't feel they NEED to become more productive. You might want to pass that on to your HR.

You Become More Productive When You Know Your Living Depends on it

I attended a Learning and Development conference once where they debated how to create a learning culture in their organisation. They threw around a lot of talk and flimsy ideas designed to encourage a learning culture. "Put posters up to encourage it!" people said. None of the ideas had the potency they required. So I stood up and said, "take away everyone's salary, and just pay them on performance when they deliver. If they don't deliver on time, they go hungry. That'll have everyone booking themselves onto learning and productivity courses, and paying full attention too, and discussing what they learn and sharing tips…an instant learning culture!"

I think the employees in the room wanted me thrown out for suggesting I removed their salary. Guess they thought I was being unfair. But the business owners in the room seemed to 'get it'. I remember them nodding in unison.

I didn't mean it literally – I was just making a point to give them something to think about. The thing is, you're probably in a situation now where you practically are paid on your performance. But in employment, there's a lag on your pay. What you do this month affects your pay in a few months time. And you may go hungry if you don't deliver on time (and deliver better results too!) The low performers who aren't obviously adding value are usually the first to go when a company cuts back.

Even if you feel 'safe' with your salary, it's been said for years now that 'no one is safe anymore in their work'. It's now necessary, if you want to increase your job security, to improve your own learning and productivity. The thing about improving productivity is that you don't have to put in more time or effort. Quite the opposite. You stop and think instead, give your mind a work out and then end up putting in less time and effort to get a better result. There are tools to guide your thinking which make the challenge easier. But as I say, people don't do this because they feel they don't have to.

My advice is to update your mindset. Now, you have to. When you're more productive, you increase your chances of being on the ball, being flexible, being higher value and keeping yourself on track when you most need to. You also leave yourself energy and space to learn and do other things that contribute to your value. You've heard the phrases "needs must" and "necessity is the mother of invention". It's necessary that you do this, so find a way that works for you.

You might like this productivity tip of mine here.

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now

How You Get What You Want – Connectors

Don't you just love 'connectors'? Things, sites, or people who connect you to what you're after?

Google is a great connector. Websites that learn your buying habits and interests and make accurate recommendations are great connectors. Some people are excellent connectors. Even if they sense they can't help, they still try! They think again and make every effort to connect you to at least something of use, be it another person, or some information. They connect and strive to create VALUE out of thin air!

People like connectors, and often reward them. Salespeople (the good ones) are often great connectors. They know the value and rewards of connecting. Want help in your career? Ask a salesperson you know. They're often thinkers and doers. They may surprise you.

Genuine, honest connectors, I think, get good things coming back to them.

How You Fail to Get What You Want – Bottlenecks

Don't you just hate bottlenecks? Things that slow you up, get in your way, stifle your progress?

Bottlenecks are everywhere and we all hit them. If their purpose is to filter out the 'wrong' stuff but let through the 'high value' stuff, then fine, so long as they work effectively at this and are up to date. Many aren't. That includes websites, and people. Many bottlenecks block the useful stuff and destroy potential value.

Many people are bottlenecks. They don't take the opportunity to enjoy connecting people. They're 'no can do' and they won't think any further than they have to. They just follow instructions, and they'll only ever rise as far as those instructions let them (until they break free from them). They don't investigate or explore the value in things and consider how that value can be amplified and distributed. They think, 'why should I go beyond what I'm paid to do?' They only focus on immediate and direct value to themselves.

I doubt these people are particularly happy, driven or productive people. My guess is that they're more likely to be isolated, lacking in people skills and less likely to progress in their own work or lives.

All of us seek out connectors all the time. When we want something, we love whatever connects us to it. And we get frustrated when we encounter bottlenecks.

The big question for you then, is on the whole, which are you?

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now

Over recent months, I've built up quite a lot of content by putting out 3 blog posts a week. I hope it's been of interest. What I haven't spent any attention on yet, is promoting my blog externally. Most of my blog readers are people I've worked with over the years, or people who have found articles of mine online.

So, for a while, I'm dropping 2 posts per week to use the time to write articles for other sites. You'll get one post per week, Fridays, hitting your inbox or RSS reader now. In time, this should build readership, and hopefully too increase comments on the blog and contributions from readers, potentially increasing the value to you. There will be other changes to come too.

That's the plan. It will take some time to pull off, but stay tuned and I hope it eases the strain on your inbox too!

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now

I've just read the book "Your Brain at Work" by David Rock. It gives an insight to how your brain 'works', how this affects your performance and behaviour, and what you can do to try to tame it.

I recommend the book, but only to a certain type of person (as all book recommendations should be!)

Who?

Well, I wasn't too excited during the first few chapters. I felt it was high in theory, not so practical, didn't offer anything new to me, and felt like I was hanging out with a bunch of psychologists (no offence, but you have to be in the mood). There are plenty of psychological and neurological terms in the book. But don't let this put you off!

I was compelled to read on, and I'm glad I did. The information in the book is just too important for us to ignore. Your brain is your own personal powerful computer, and most people unfortunately show little interest in reading the manual on how to get the best from it. In fact, most people spend more time reading the manual to their new iPhone.

Maybe it's because they didn't know a manual for the brain exists? Well you do now. Just be prepared to pick out the gems amongst the scientific terms that surround and support them, and don't forget (perhaps your brain's weakest link?) to put them into action.

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now

First question, are you sure you want to work for a big company?

Are you sure that just because they've 'proven' themselves, your career path with them will be rewarding and prosperous?

If so, and you're sure, then this tip might help you get ahead of your competition.

Most of my work is with big companies. A few years back, I read an excellent book called 'Selling to Big Companies' by Jill Konrath.

I'd recommend you read this book. It's a sales book, but if you are looking for employment, then you're currently a salesperson. And sales skills are career and life skills. You'll always need them, many times over. You'll learn some great sales and marketing techniques and if you apply what you learn, and adapt it to employment with big companies, I can't help but think you'll massively increase your chances.

Why?

Because your competition will be busy reading the same old career books (if they're reading at all). You'll be learning something that's beyond them. And you can sneak up around the back!

It might just work…

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now

It makes decision making easier, and we're more comfortable with it. We feel like we're doing the right thing by checking the qualification, the certificate, or past results.

But hang on, what does 'proven' really mean?

Doesn't it mean 'proven in the past'?
Doesn't it mean 'proven under a specific set of circumstances?'
Doesn't it mean, 'proven in a world which no longer exists?'

So how's something that's 'proven' going to perform when moving ahead once the game has changed? And why are so many large 'proven' organisations and industries unstable and falling apart?

Things change so fast these days, I'm coming to think that 'proven' has a very short life span. It could mislead you down the wrong career or business path. 'Proven' might not be the best decision. 'Proven' is beginning to prove that it's no longer a robust strategy.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm an Civil engineer by degree (it's proven, although don't trust me to build you a bridge) and I love to measure things, re-engineer them, see what works and make things work better. Particularly when it comes to people. But I can't get away from the fact that these days, if you continue to do what's proven, you're going to get EATEN ALIVE by your competition.

If Larry Page and Sergey Brin were held back by decision makers who just wanted 'proven', then how would Google have ever taken off? And what about the folks at Twitter? Was the success of Twitter a high certainty based on 'proven'? Not at all. They didn't even really intend it to be what it is now. They built the platform and the users got creative and increased its value.

And how likely is it that these people create a new winning product or service that takes the world over, just because they 'proved' themselves in the past? They might. People will back them for sure. But what's the unproven competitor doing meanwhile, passionately working on his laptop in his garage with nothing much to lose by introducing his project to the world? Maybe he's about to reset how the industry works?

Many famous actors are 'proven', but I heard recently that on average even the very best actors do only 3 great movies in their career. So do you put these 'proven' actors in your next movie? Will that produce a box office hit? Or do you bet on a new movie that's unproven and totally unique that people will talk about?

Are You Qualified to Perform Well?

What do your qualifications really mean? Do they mean that you'll excel in your career? Do they make you an innovator, a leader, or a great problem solver? Or are you trained and awarded to do things in a way that was once done, under criteria that was once thought of, when things were once as they were?

In the next few years, are you going to get your employer out of the stick they're in? Does your certificate mean that you'll eat your competition alive? Or does it just mean that once, you learned some information and sat an exam, and you happened to be able to recall it, organise it a little and get it down on paper? And how do you apply what you learned for that qualification under pressure when it really matters? Are you going to get the results tomorrow, when things are different, that people are betting on? Sorry, what exactly have you proven again?

"Qualifications prove that you can learn!" I hear some of you say. Well, whoopee. My toddler daughter has proven that too. Actually probably more remarkably so than many certificate holders. Maybe I should stick some extra letters after her name? No, she doesn't need the letters, her behaviour turns heads in public and makes people talk (in a nice way). And she's being highly innovative and applying what she learns right now, on the job. I wonder when that gets drummed out of her? I wonder when a certificate or something 'proven' gives her a sense of accomplishment that stops her in her tracks as the rest of the world progresses around her?

How about increasing your 'luck' and rewards in your work (and life) and going for, say, 80% proven and 20% innovative + promising?

Right, it's Friday, I'm off out to my local Thai restaurant to have my usual. Just kidding.

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now

You already are one. (That was pretty instant wasn't it?) At least at some things. And you're not so strong at learning other things.

But it's a great start, and more useful than you think. You should be smart and use this strength. Think about what you do outside of work. However you spend your time, you're learning something, most likely in a way that suits you perfectly. Otherwise you wouldn't be doing it. Outside of work is the perfect time for natural self-directed learning. Often you don't even realise you're learning.

Get Online

If you're online, you're learning something. Playing a computer game? You're learning. Maybe you're increasing your spatial awareness, your problem solving, or your creative thinking. Watching a movie? You're learning. Maybe you're learning the story, or about characters. Maybe you're taking away inspiration or lessons about people and life. Maybe you're picking up lessons about business. If you're using Twitter, you're learning about concise communication. And you're learning about what's going on out there in your network.

Turn it on it's head. Try to do something online without learning anything at all. Tricky hey?

The best thing too, is that you don't even realise you're learning when you do these things. You're almost in a state of flow. And you're definitely learning in more ways than you think. You're growing and developing your skills, knowledge and behaviours. These make you who you are, they form your outlook on life, they affect your thinking, which affects your decisions, which affect your actions and your results and rewards. This of course gets transferred back to your work too.

Of course you don't just have to be online to learn. Most activities you do outside of work, you're learning something about something too.

So what's my point here?

When you're in the driving seat, you're a strong learner. And you enjoy it. The problem lies when you have to learn something that you don't feel you want to learn, something apparently really complex, or when you have to learn something in a way that doesn't naturally suit you. And this problem is huge. Most organisations out there haven't yet worked this out. They still think that you should get told what you need to learn (usually so that they can have you doing things their way – not yours. They often fail to focus on important results but instead method). And most think that you should learn it in the way they make available to you. But they're wrong.

So my challenge to you, strong learner, is what are you going to do about it?

Here's my very best advice:

1. Get into your ideal career. In your ideal career, you're strong. And you're on the ball yourself about what you need to learn. You're also naturally drawn towards learning more and more about your work, through learning and experimentation. You're less likely to find things complex to learn, and if you still do then the first thing to question is your approach to learning them. Perhaps there's another way? Almost certainly. See step 2.

2. Learn how to learn effectively. It's a learnable skill. One way is to look at how you love to spend your time outside work (Computer games? Movies? Building things? Chatting away to people? Sitting and thinking? Reading?) Then find a way to combine this approach with what you need to learn. Get plenty of ideas down, then explore them. And consider learning various learning skills such as speed reading, range reading, mind mapping, memory skills, thinking skills and listening skills to name a few. Most people I work with who learn these are stunned by their new abilities.

3. Create a personal 'system' that has you applying what you learn in the right ways at the right times. You need help with this. Everyone does. People just aren't that great at applying what they learn. You need to capture the main ideas you've learned, practice them, and have them accessible and retrievable in the right places at the right times. A support system, tailored to your style is what you need. And everything becomes easier.

I can tell you one thing for sure. Your organisation or employer is likely to be slower than you are to get this right. You can turn quickly. They can't. Well…they won't. And it's you and your career and the rewards you earn that suffers. If you're reading this, I urge you to get in the driving seat and steer yourself in the right career direction, making progress your way for your benefit. Time's ticking (and it ticks faster as you get older doesn't it?)

If you have any comments or tips on how to do this, I'd love to hear them below. And if you think others would like this article, please share it.

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now