Telltale Signs Your Career Needs a Makeover

Telltale Signs Your Career Needs a MakeoverTelltale Signs Your Career Needs a MakeoverIs your career in need of a makeover? Do you feel like your professional life is at a standstill? Is it time to upskill your credentials so you can move your career forward? How do youknow when its time to seriously consider whether youre stuck in a career or a job, and its time for a reboot? There might elend be a single glaring warning sign, though there are some indicators that you can look for if youre not sure where your career is going. It could be something as simple as a feeling in your gut that its time for a change. It could be more complicated to make a change if youre working in anindustry thats in declineor has ahigh level of wage stagnation. Warning Signs to Watch For Besides having a sense that all is not right, there are some warning signs that could indicate that youve reached a point in your career where you need to make a transition. That could meanstarting a job search,consid ering a long-term career change, or upgrading your credentials to give your career a quick-as-possible makeover to reposition yourself as a competitive employee or candidate for a new job. If any of the following are happening to you, it may be an indicator that you need to revamp Youre not getting promoted. Areother employees getting promotedwhile youre not getting considered? If you arent in line for a promotion, or if you areapplying for new jobs within your companyand not getting them, one of the reasons could be that your skills arent current.Yourenot getting raises. Does it feel like youve been getting the same pay rate almost forever? In general, pay raises arent high, with theaverage increase for 2019 at 2.9 percent. But there could be otherreasons that you arent being considered for a raiseor only getting a small one. You feel stuck in your job.When you feel like youre stuck in your job and theres no way to move up the career ladder ortransfer laterally into a positionthats a better fit, think about what you could do to change the dynamic. The longer you stay, the harder it will be to move on.You hate going to work.The fact that you cringe at the thought of going to work might be a warning sign that you need a career makeover. Keep in mind, however, that it may just be the job that you hateand you dont need to pursue other career options. Your hours are getting cut back. If yourwork scheduleseems to be including fewer and fewer hours, it may be an indicator that you are lacking some of the skills the employer needs to get the job done.If youre a freelancer, youre not finding gigs. The same holds true for freelancers. If your client base is shrinking and youre not able to line up enough new gigs to pay the bills, you may not have the in-demand skills that are necessary for success in agig economy.Job openings are scarce.In a strong job market, there should be plenty of opportunities for candidates who are seeking a new job. If youre spending a lot of t ime onjob sitesbut not seeing many listings when you search for openings, take the time to investigate why not. Perhaps you need toswitch up the keywordsyoure using to search, or there may simply not be a large volume of jobs for someone with your qualifications. Nobody wants to hire you.Youre actively applying for jobs but having difficulty getting hired. There are manyreasons why you may not have gotten the job, but one of them could be that there are other candidates that are more qualified than you are.Your skills are obsolete.If your resume or LinkedIn profile still says that youre an expert in Windows Vista or at using a telephone switchboard or any other vintage technologies, it could be hurting your chances of getting hired. There are someskills that should be left off your resumebecause they will label you as dated. Youre being replaced by automation. Is your job indanger of being taken over by automation?Employers are continuing to rely more on computers and robots to do t he jobs that people used to do. It probably wont happen right away, but if you are in one of those occupations, consider what youll do when your job is gone.You work in a shrinking career field or industry. When youre working in one ofthe best industries for jobs, upgrading your skills and making a change can be relatively easy. When youre working in anindustry thats losing jobs, evaluate whattransferable skillsyou have that can be used in another sector. Tips for Making Over Your Career One of the best ways to makeover your career is to upgrade yourskill set. Upskilling, the term used to describe learning new skills and enhancing those you already have, is one of the best ways to get your career back on track. All the skills you learn can beincluded on your resumeandin your LinkedIn summary. Depending on your career track, you may need to go back to school to continue your education, or you can supplement your credentials by taking online courses, earning a certificate, partic ipating in a boot camp, or attending professional development classes. Start by learningwhat skills are in demand, and then explore career options that match the skills that interest you the most. Take acareer assessment or two - many are free - to help you line up possible matches. Think outside the box. What would you love to do next in your career vs. what can you do with your current credentials? Now is a good time to consider all possible options. Then take some time totalk to people in your networkwho are working in fields of interest. What do they like best about what they are doing? What dont they like? If you are looking at career options that require a degree, take a look at thepotential return on investment(how much youll boost your wages) for the degree that youre considering. When earning a new degree isnt in your budget, take classes to acquire the new and more relevant skills youll need for jobs of interest. Certificate programsandboot campsare lower cost ways of ga ining the skills you need for a career makeover. Attend as many conferences and professional development programs as you can to learn and to connect with people who can help your career. There are manyonline coursesthat are free or low-cost. Even taking a few courses can bolster your resume and help you transition to a new position or industry. Dont forget to add everything new to your resume and LinkedIn profile. Also, remember that a career isnt a one- or two-step process. Your career will most likely be transitioning over your working lifetime. Making it a point to keep upskilling, even when youre not actively job searching, will ensurethatyouare well-positioned tomakeover your career whenever the timing is right for a change.

45 Inspirational Quotes That Will Get You Through the Work Week

45 Inspirational Quotes That Will Get You Through the Work Week45 Inspirational Quotes That Will Get You Through the Work WeekWe know Work weeks can be rough.In fact, each day seems to present a different challenge. On Monday, youre looking for a jolt to start the week. On Wednesday, you need some help to get over the hump. And on the weekends, you need to get rejuvenated for the week ahead.Well, no matter what day it is, were here to help. These 45 motivational quotes will offer perfect inspiration and just the push you need to succeed all week long. Monday Get MotivatedSure, even The Carpenters agreed that Mondays always get you down, but that doesnt mean some good-old-fashioned motivation cant get you geared up and excited for the week ahead. Let these quotes motivate you to go that extra mile today Tuesday Get Down to BusinessWhen Tuesday rolls around, its really time to get down to work. Having trouble getting started? These expert quotes will help boost your productivity so you can power through that to-do list Wednesday Keep it GoingIts hump day, so youre already through half of the week. But dont let that stop you from working hard to achieve your goals. These quotes will give you that extra push to keep reaching. Thursday Reflect on All Youve DoneYouve been hard at work all week, so now take a moment to look back at all that youve achieved. These reflective quotes will open your mind and allow you to appreciate where youve been and where you are going.Friday Conquer Your FearsIts Friday, which means its the end of the work week. As you move into your weekend, remember not to let your fears hold you back- in your career or your life These quotes will urge you to leave your worries at the door and walk confidently toward the future.Saturday and Sunday Prep for SuccessThe weekend is a time for relaxation, rejuvenation, and reflection on what you really want. Use these extra moments of free time to mentally prep for success Read More10 Quotes Thatll Make Y ou Fearless35 Inspirational Graduation Quotes Everyone Should Hear23 Sheryl Sandberg Quotes Thatll Motivate You to Do Just About AnythingPhotos courtesy of Monica Chon and Gordon Lew.

14 strategies to accelerate your personal growth by 1,000%

14 strategies to accelerate your personal growth by 1,000%14 strategies to accelerate your personal growth by 1,000%First, personal evolution is a choice.Its notlage genetic.Its an overall approach to life.Its a mindful understanding of how the internal and external influence and shape each other.Second, dont mix up causes with effects.Most people believe, for example, that confidence is a cause of success. A comprehensive meta-analytic review paints the opposite picture, showing that confidence is a byproduct of positive choices.Heres what youll find in studying fruchtwein psychological subjects mountains of conflicting data on both sides.Psychology is complicated.So, youre left with a choice.You choose the data that either enables you, or the data that justifies mediocrity.What Ive found as a PhD student in organizational and motivation psychology is that fruchtwein people, even psychologists, prefer the data that justifies mediocrity.We selectively attend to what we believe is tru e. As the notorious Dan Sullivan has said, Our eyes only landsee and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for.At the deeper subconscious levels, we see only what our assumptions and beliefs allow us to see.Our behaviors match our personal standards and expectations.We get in life what we believe we deserve. As Dr. David Hawkins explains in his book, Letting GoThe unconscious will allow us to have only what we believe we deserve. The more we hang on to our negativity and small self-image that results, the less we think we deserve If we have a small view of ourselves, then what we deserve is poverty. And our unconscious will see to it that we have that actuality Here, again, youre left with a choice.You can focus on the mounds of data that suggest the subconscious mind cannot be changed. If such was the case, then some people are born with the golden ticket while others are not.Or, you can choose to focus on the mounds of data which suggest the subconscious is highly mutabel and flexible.When determining which data to examine, though, its important to look at the source of that information. To quote Darren Hardy, Never ask advice of someone with whom you wouldnt want to trade places.Ask any highly successful person or high performer and what will they tell you?I was just born this way No.You will not hear that.You WILL hear that response, though, from armchair philosophers and ivory tower researchers.But you wont hear that from the people actually performing at the highest level.Rather than an obsession on a fixed and immutable nature, you will hear a story of nurture, practice, and transformation.Youll hear about ups and downs.Youll hear about inflection points.Youll hear about faith.Youll hear about risks.Youll hear about making hard choices.Youll hear about consistency.Youll hear about giving up lots of other things to become excellent.Heres whats cool, though.More and more research is confirming what the highest performers in the world already know .Your belief in either being fixed or fluid determines your ability to learn and grow.The expectations of those around you shape your performance and perceived identity.The genes in your body are either activated or deactivated based on environmental signals and behavioral patterns.Your brain is highly plastic and malleable.- - - If you want to radically advance in your life, you can.You can even make quantum leaps or radical jumps in your personal and professional evolution.Growth need not be linear. In fact, the universe doesnt work in a linear way. Weve just been brainwashed and trained to think linearly because of the public education system.Consider these words from Napoleon HillWhen riches begin to come they come so quickly, in such great abundance, that one wonders where they have been hiding during all those lean years.There are clear inflection points in the growth patterns of people who excel at the highest levels.Its never linear.Its not 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Its not that you g o from first grade to second and on to third.When you get really good at learning, you become adaptive. You become flexible in new and difficult environments. This requires mindfulness of context, a clear purpose for where youre going (at least to a certain point), and the confidence to successfully navigate your new environment.Once youve developed these skills, you can jump into radically new environments. You can surround yourself with totally new people, and connect dots and relationships quickly and deeply.You can learn and do things youve never done before, and gain high level performance quickly.As Jim Rohn has said Dont join an easy crowd you wont grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high.With that backdrop, heres a quick overview of the fundamental principles and strategies for never plateauing, and continually making 10X leaps of growthKnow you can changeSet the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them. - Jim RohnKnowing you c an change and evolve is essential to growing.However, having a growth mindset is an effect, not necessarily a cause. Like confidence, it is the byproduct of positive experiences and performance. Once developed, the growth mindset will propel and accelerate your forward progress.But dont wait until you have a growth mindset to abflug moving forward. Actually, it is by moving forward that your beliefs about yourself will change.Make a positive and goal-directed choice and youll increase in your confidence.By moving forward, even a few steps, youll begin to develop hope and positive expectancy for your future.You do this enough, youll come to believe you can change.You make this your lifestyle, youll expect radical change in yourself, often. Youll stop putting caps on what you can do.Thus, you need to begin pursuing stuff you really want. You need to set goals that will require you become someone incredible to achieve them.Then, start taking steps in that direction. Those behaviors wil l reshape your identity.Train your brain to learn effectively and efficientlyYou need to learn HOW to learn.The most successful people out there are also the best learners.They learn with a purpose.They take time every single day for learning.They develop habits, rituals, and routines to increase and accelerate their learning.They immediately apply what they learn, even when its uncomfortable.They teach what they learn to others.They begin thinking in terms of frame-works, and how the new things they learn fit within the whole. Theyre even open to re-conceiving the whole if new information warrants it.The better you get at connectivity, or connecting stuff together, the faster youll learn. Its the connections between things that really matter.You have to alter and reshape your brain. Theres no way around it. You need a new brain. And luckily, as the science is continually showing, your brain can change.So change it.Turn it into a learning machine.Feed it the best information.Shock i t with intense and expansive experiences.Be an active, not a passive, learner.Dont be lazy.Define your goalsYou dont have to have it all figured out.But you need to want something if youre going to proactively get it. Otherwise, youre living reactively.Youre a creator.Thats why youre here.To learn how to create.To watch as you and your environment become one. And thus, to end the conflict between the inner and outer.So you must define what you want. Decide the schriftart of person you want to become. Decide the type of brain youll have. Decide the type of life youll have. Decide the type of world youll create.Then, once defined, let it go.Dont over-attach yourself to it, or youll be inorganic. Youll force things, rather than operating from power.Once consciously created, you can expect your goals to occur.Remind yourself of those goals, dailyPrivate victories precede public victories. - Stephen CoveyIn order to reshape your subconscious expectations, youll need a daily habit of rewr iting those subconscious expectations.Your brain and subconscious are most flexible first thing in the morning. Youve just slept and recovered. Youre primed.But also, how you start something really matters. Days are expensive. If you start a day-off poorly, that performance will shape your confidence. Again, confidence is an effect, not a cause. It boosts momentum. But positive choices must be the driver.So, in order to have confidence throughout your day, you need to start well. Its very, very difficult to reverse negative momentum. As youve probably experienced when you start a day poorly, its really hard to turn around.So start excellent. Put yourself into a peak state. Mentally create your dreams and goals. Every single day.Then, perform your highest priority behaviors BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE.Well-known author, Jeff Benedict, interviewed many CEOs and other successful people. He found some very important themes.Highly successful people give themselves 35 hours of uninterrupted work , first thing in the morning.No meetings until after noon.No email or distractions.Just you, putting first things first.Begin by reminding yourself of where youre going. Expect that your goals will happen becauseyour subconscious expects ityour behavior matches it, andbecause your environment facilitates itRemove all distraction and low-level energy from your environmentIf we do not create and control our environment, our environment creates and controls us. - Marshall GoldsmithYou and your environment are two parts of the same whole.To change one is to change the other.You cant expect rapid growth if youre continually surrounded by low-level energy.Your biology and psychology are shaped by your external conditions.If you change your surroundings, your biology will change. This is the new science of epigenetics. As biologist Bruce Lipton has saidThe environment determined the fate of the cells, not the genetic pattern. So if cells are in a healthy environment, they are healthy. If t heyre in an unhealthy environment, they get sick.Study the craft of the top performers in your fieldCompetition is a brilliant thing.At its core, competition is nothing more than collaboration.Most people have been trained to be consumers, not creators.So, rather than examining information in an active way, most people consume information in a passive way.Rather than examining how something was made, most people just indulge themselves.They arent students of life.Ryan Holiday explains that every creator eventually has an experience where the magic disappears.Every brilliant creation or innovation was done according to a process by a person.You can learn that process.You can become that person.There is no magic.And then, you can begin competing with the best in the world. Because you take the best products/ideas they give you, and you proactively respond to them.You then create something better and expect others to proactively respond to what youve created or innovated.Its not about maintaining power or prominence. Its about growth and evolution.Invest heavily in your personal developmentBecoming a super-learner starts with developing yourself.This means continually developing your mindset.Continually taking in the best information from the best books and resources.Although you prioritize learning through doing, you also prioritize gaining wisdom, knowledge, and strategies from books. You learn through your own experience AND the experience of others.Your heavy investment in your own personal development is what sets you apart.Most people are working on their jobs. Youre working on yourself, so you can do different and better work.Dont just read books.Go to conferences.Join organizations.Pay for travel and other transformational learning experiences.Books and information arent enough. And books and information are certainly not the only form of personal development.The more money you invest in yourself, the more committed youll be to your dreams.The more money you invest in yourself, the more subconsciously youll believe you deserve.The more you deserve, the more youll desire to help others. Its not about you. Youve crossed your point of no return. You already know your future is being PULLED forward in a brilliant way.Your goal now is to develop the skills and abilities to help as many people as possible.Once you have sufficient hope, you then have the ability to help others in an inspired way.Be a giver, dont fear others stealing your best stuffTaking makes me feel like Im dying. Giving makes me feel like Im living. - Morrie SchwartzIn the brilliant book, Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom details his experience meeting with his old professor, Morrie Schwartz, just before Morries dealth.That book has sold over 14 million copies.The core lesson from that book is When youre giving, youre living. When youre taking, youre dying.When you have an abundance mentality, you operate FROM gratitude and giving.You give, give, give. Because you LIVE when you GIVE. Thats what it means to be human.And naturally, you receive a lot. And when you receive, you are extremely grateful and appreciative.Recently, I was at the Genius Network Annual Event. At that event, Joe Polish asked Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi to share some of their greatest insights into starting and scaling a business.Both Tony and Dean talked about how, at the beginning of their careers, lots and lots of people would copy/steal their work.Of course, this continues to happen now.But they are less concerned about it.However, back in their beginning stages, theyd see people who would literally, word-for-word steal their presentations, ideas, etc., and it would really bug them. Theyd invest a lot of energy into trying to stop con-artists and thieves from stealing their work.Admittedly, Ive been heavily bugged when certain individuals steal some of my favorite ideas. And Im not talking about Steal(ing) Like An Artist. Im talking about straight thief-ery. Like totally plagiarism.What Dean said, though, was very important.Eventually, he got to the point where he stopped caring.Hed tell his team, when they saw someone literally stealing his presentations and materialGuys, dont worry about it. He wont be around in 46 months.And that was usually the case.People who arent creators, but instead are thieves and imitators dont have the WHY to make it through the storms.They arent coming from the same place.Because these people are driven by WHAT SUCCEEDED, rather than a deep WHY, they will eventually shift their focus onto something else.Put simply, its not helpful to worry about all this stuff. Especially in the internet age where stealing is becoming a cultural norm. Instead, just give give give.Give the best stuff you can.Never stop creating.Never stop giving.And dont worry about what you cant control. Yes, people will steal your stuff. Yes, people wont like you.Who cares?Keep giving to the people who you are trying to serve.But give effectivelyIn hi s book, Give and Take, Adam Grant details decades of research on giving and taking.He found that people who constantly give can become exhausted and burned out.HOW you give matters, not just the fact that youre giving.If you sprinkle giving throughout your week, such as doing 10 minutes of tafelgeschirr here and 10 minutes of service there, youll likely burn out.This type of service also doesnt have a big impact, both for you or those who receive your help.Often, those who give in this way do it out of fear. Or, they give impulsively.Whatever reason for their giving, its not done intentionally, and it can actually lead to their downfall.According to the research detailed in Grants book, the most effective strategy for giving is by chunking. You set aside a few hours on a given day to truly help.In this way, you are going deeper in your giving. Its not getting in the way of your own priorities. Youre also showing self-respect, which garners respect from others.Yet, youre still giving . Youre helping very much, and making time to do it. Youre just not running faster than you have strength. Youre doing things in wisdom and order.Also, youre not giving for the sake of giving. Youre giving to make an impact.Give in the ways that you actually can give.If you have expertise, do what you can to help in that way.Make a huge impact in your giving.Chunk it.People will seriously appreciate you.And youll make huge progress in your relationships AND in your contribution AND in your skill development.Youll also maintain your sanity.Be a brilliant receiver, take full advantage of your situation, and graciously give credit where its dueWhen you invest in yourself, your skills, and your relationships, youll find yourself in some brilliant situations.People will help you a lot.And youll need their help to succeed at the level you intend to.Take full advantage of the help awarded to you.Embrace all the help you can get in moving toward you goals.The best thing you can do is be an incredible learner. When you have mentors, for example, they get a lot of joy when the people they teach actually UTILIZE and APPRECIATE what they teach.When youre getting help, apply and utilize everything youre getting. Become the perfect case study.Then, give all the credit back to those who helped you.Dont take any of the credit to yourself.Youll end up getting tons of credit anyways, because youll start getting insane results in your work.But give all the credit where its due.This will keep your relationships in harmony.It will keep you humble.It will keep you learning and growing.When you start to succeed (and you will), double down on your fundamentalsIf you consistently apply the principles listed above, you WILL become successful very quickly.Youll find yourself in new and difficult situations. Youll quickly adapt to those situations.Youll begin doing work that matters and has a big impact.Youll develop abundant mentorships where people invest a hr in you, because youve inv ested a ton in yourself and into them.Its at this point that most people plateau.Sustaining success, and going beyond success is nearly impossible for most people. Hence Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism, questions, Why dont successful people and organizations automatically become very successful?One reason, obviously, is ego. As Abraham Lincoln has said, Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a mans character, give him power.Becoming successful has lots of benefits.Its also VERY distracting.You can quickly find yourself managing relationship and high-level projects, and never actually DOING THE WORK that got you there.You lose your sense of urgency and purpose.Maybe, just maybe, you begin to believe your own press. One thing any good mentor will tell you never to do.Dont believe the headlines.Always be a student.Always be an underdog.Never stop learning.Always take on bigger goals that require you to become someone more to achieve.Especially when you become successful, the noise to signal ratio will go way way out of whack.Lots of people will be seeking your attention and help.Its in those moments that youll have to be very honest with yourself.Why are you really doing this, again?Oh yeahThere was a reason beyond just being successful.And you can get back to that purpose very quickly.You just stick to your fundamentals.You simplify.You really do become an essentialist, where you say NO to most things.You remain VERY selective about the projects you take on and the people you collaborate with.You dont get caught up in the desires for fame and other distractions.You keep first things first.You keep your family first.You keep your core values first.You keep your core practices for getting clarity - such as morning routine, journal writing, learning, and fitness - first.As you keep these things first, youll have clarity where most people plateau and lose theirs.Youll be able to take your progress and compound it. Youll take what youve le arned about HOW TO LEARN, and apply it to bigger and bigger endeavors.And unlike most people, youll remain grounded.Youll remain on a foundation.You wont lose your mind.You wont be derailed by success.You wont plateau and become satisfied with the results of your past.Youll keep pushing your own boundaries and keep evolving.Give yourself plenty of time alone - Time to reflect, meditation, create visionConsequently, youll need plenty of time to yourself.All along the way.To connect with your why.To retrain your subconscious.To develop your skills.To continue learning.To continue creating vision.To continue getting clarity, and regulating your emotions.To keep yourself healthy, since you are your 1 asset.Ready to upgrade?Ive created a cheat sheet for putting yourself into a PEAK-STATE, immediately. You follow this daily, your life will change very quickly.Get the cheat sheet hereThispostfirst appeared on Medium.