• Difficult goals lead to higher performance than easy goals.
  
• Difficult goals lead to higher performance than "do your best" goals.
  
• Setting specific goals results in more precise performance than setting "do your best" goals.

Just having the goal is not enough. You must develop a strategy to make it happen. What are the activities you need to perform everyday? Plan those activities, but also stay alert and open to new ways to achieve your goals as they present themselves.

There are three critical requirements that dictate how well goal setting will work:

• Commitment to your goals.
  
• Periodically reviewing where you stand regarding goal achievement (getting feedback).
  
• Belief that you can achieve your goals (self-confidence and self-efficacy).

You need to genuinely desire the goals you set. If you don't like your job and don't want to be there, then it is difficult to be committed. It's also crucial that you believe that you can achieve the goals you set for yourself.

Stress and Goal Setting

Goals create striving which results in more stress. So how do you deal with this stress? Since I am notoriously poor at pacing myself, I created a structure to help me with this process. My plan includes eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, but also not scheduling clients on Fridays. I never work past 8 p.m. I plan vacations and weekends away, and schedule social events with friends at least once per week. Part of my stress management program also involves not over-booking myself with social activities so that I have time to retreat for rest and recuperation.
As I approached graduation from college many years ago, I wrote a poem about goal setting which I titled, "My Brook and I."

I remember the brook
streaming though the woods;
spending hours around it,
building forts, wiping the mud off me with skunk cabbage.

I remember the brook on sunny days;
Water babbling over stones and rocks, pieces of wood;
making the water ripple the way it did.

I wondered what happened to the brook
traveling away from my yard.
I had a goal for my brook
to flow to the ocean...but then what?

I see goals for myself
thwarted, rearranged, fulfilled.
But the goal for my brook;
What happened to it?

Deepak Chopra, in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, says that if we want to have a successful career, we should first center ourselves and then release our intentions (our career goals) to the universe. We should not be attached to the way these goals develop, or to the exact outcome, but leave the details to the universe. We can get the same results through effort and trying, he says, but the result is stress, which can lead to heart attacks and other physical illnesses. Sometimes we focus more on our unhappiness with our present situation, than on what we want to achieve. Chopra says that we should accept where we are now, be fully present in the moment and concentrate on our deepest intentions (goals).

"Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
No less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you
No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."
Max Ehrmann
"Desiderata"

Goals should be difficult, but achievable with persistent effort. Goals that are too extreme, such as doubling your income in one year, can only discourage you. Goals work because you persist and focus your efforts in a specific direction. Without that direction, we can find ourselves floating through our lives, more at the mercy of outside forces that are not devoted to our welfare or success. But we can manage our goals in a way that does not create undo stress by not being attached to the exact way they are achieved.

Having set goals the brook and I
build toward them.
The brook unable to know...
about a pipe in the ground, a seeping marsh, a dam.
Myself not knowing the course I will follow.
Knowing what I want,
yet finding it hard to grasp.

I remember years of competition, of struggle, of acceptance.
Then discovering what is real, important;
myself, my friends, expression;
a soft kitten purring on my lap;
peace.

Being more than a doctor, a lawyer.
Knowing comfort, relaxation.
Being myself.

Approaching the completion of one goal,
I set new ones.
But fulfilling them means going away, sorrow.
Like the brook moves on, streams to the river...
the ocean.
Saying goodbye to familiar things,
friends.
Facing a reoccurrence of similar past memories,
painful.

Conclusion

In my business I set performance goals for myself every year. I also set goals for relationships, finances, home, physical and mental health, as well as spiritual development. I can attest to the fact that the more specific the goal, and the more frequently I review that goal and focus on it, the more likely I am to meet that goal. It helps to write down your goals, read through them periodically, visualize them and keep a picture journal that represents the achievement of those goals. But it also helps to listen to the feedback from the universe, and make adjustments to those goals when necessary. We should have a career plan, but be flexible with how it unfolds.

I know a word...self-fulfillment.
Being vulnerable, can I take chances?
Being strong, grinding ahead through disappointments.
Being weak, letting go of crippled goals.
Like a brook who misses the river,
finding another happiness.

Being motivated, seeking what I am after,
But not too aggressive.
Being easy, tension-free.

Making it through the insecurity
Like cool water in a brook;
not knowing what will come.
Traveling through the seasons of time.
Molding myself to the environment like the brook
makes its path through nature.
Sliding over any obstacles
the brook continues over rocks, pieces of wood.
Freezing in the rough, cold spots;
melting in the warm.
Praying for a map free of dams to follow
in a steady, unchartered progression.
My brook and I.

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What Is Right Livelihood?

Deborah R. Brown, MSM, MSW

"When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. To love life through labor is to be intimate with life's inmost secret. All work is empty save when there is love, for work is love made visible."

Kahlil Gibran

The idea of "right livelihood" originally comes from Buddhism and refers to work that is consciously chosen, performed with full awareness and care and leads to enlightenment. It means we show our love for the world through our work and should avoid work that hurts or exploits others. Work provides us with an opportunity to put our beliefs into action.

Conscious Choice

In my consulting practice, I often work with people whose work, through a series of circumstances, has chosen them. Sometimes these career choices seem arbitrary. One person liked a professor he had in college and therefore took up that person's occupation. What many deemed "practical" dictated their direction. Some chose a professional graduate school so they would be qualified to do something, only to realize in their first job that that they do not like the work itself. Sadly, career choice is often not inspired from a passion or a particular talent or need of expression.

"We like to think that we have chosen our work, but it could be more accurate to say that our work has found us."

Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul

A married person with a family sometimes makes career decisions based on what is best for the family. Work that does not harm others and supports our family is important. If we find our options are limited while we raise a family, we can be thankful that we have a well-paying job, and can plan for a career change to more fulfilling work when the children have left home.

Mindfulness

Right livelihood is also about being present in the moment and doing the work that needs to be done. It means concentrating on each task at hand. All parts of the work are important, including the paperwork many of us would rather not do. It means being willing to do the "grunge" work. Mother Teresa said that there is too much preaching and not enough doing. "Take a broom and clean someone's house," she says. "That says enough."

I have a client who was miserable working at a large law firm. She gained weight and had difficulty completing her work, even though she was very capable. Changing law firms did not improve the situation. Then she went through a thorough assessment process with me where we looked honestly at who she is and what she wanted. She discovered she really wants to work from her home making draperies or other crafts. She now has a two-year plan to make that happen. In the interim she worked out a three quarter time schedule with her old firm that allows her time to take better care of herself, pay off debt and plan her business.

Enlightenment

Opus, as defined by Jung, is the "work of the soul." Often when people come to me unhappy in their work, it is because the work does not fit them. It does not nourish the soul. Our work is a reflection of who we are. But if there is a discrepancy between the work and who we are, then the soul suffers. It could be that we did not do "good" work or that the work itself doesn't represent who we are.

When I was a stock broker, I felt the essence of providing people with investment options was good. People should save and invest their money. But the brokerage environment is competitive, narrow in job scope, and focused on making money for the broker and the firm. Just the nature of the commission sales compensation system can lead to concern more for the size of the paycheck than recommending investments that are suitable for clients. I thought there must be other work I could do that was more a reflection of who I am and would more fully utilize my talents, skills and need to express myself. I did not feel that I had a special "talent" as a stock broker; I could not stand out in the industry.

But I feel that I have a special talent for career consultation and coaching, and I contribute to my clients and add value to their lives. And the feedback I get from the universe (from having some success in this endeavor), supports that there is some truth to this assumption. This does not come from an inflated ego, but from working in two different occupations, feeling like things were not "right", and conducting a thorough self-assessment process where I was honest about my skills and abilities. I also went back to graduate school and continue to invest in learning. And as I develop my business, I am clear about my strengths and weaknesses so that I do not get pulled in directions that will not fit for me. I make conscious choices that sometimes mean sacrificing income or prestige.

Conclusion

Right livelihood is about earning your keep on this planet and doing work that supports life. According to Marsha Sinetar, "It means doing your best at what you do best." It means being proactive, honestly evaluating our options and making conscious choices. Right livelihood means contributing to our chosen work in a way that expands the work itself and grows us in the process.

"Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it."

Buddha

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To Secure That Great Job, Focus Your Job Search!

Deborah R. Brown, MSM, MSW

Graduation time is coming and new graduates are looking for that first job. I remember when I was graduating with my MSW; I asked my friend what she wanted to do.

"I would like a job working with children, " she replied. What does that tell you? Not much. It could mean working as a child care provider, a psychotherapist, or even a teacher. Similarly, I sat next to someone at a meeting who was job searching and there to network. I asked him what kind of a job he was looking for, and he said, "Something working with people." Almost every job in any occupation involves working with people to some degree!

Assessment

In order to conduct an effective job search that will yield a job you want, you must focus your efforts. This is critical and applies no matter how much experience you have. It means first conducting a thorough assessment of your skills, interests, values and abilities. What kinds of rewards do you want to receive from your work? Know your strengths and weaknesses and focus your job search in a position that allows you to use your strengths.

Resume

The next step is to create a resume that will reflect where you want to go with your career. A resume should include your major accomplishments, and should not be written as a job description or a list of your responsibilities. Determine which kind of resume would be the most effective in your job search, functional or chronological. A functional resume lists your accomplishments in different categories, such as administrative, supervision and clinical. It is more effective if you are making a career transition or you are seeking a position that does not emphasize those skills used in your current job. A chronological resume lists your employers and accomplishments in reverse chronological order, beginning with the most current.

Networking

At least 75% of people get their jobs through networking. Others are usually willing to help in yourjob search, but they need to know:

What you are looking for, and
How they can help.

With focus, these are easy questions to answer. People often network just when they need a new job. Networking should be an on-going process that reflects both giving and receiving.

Where to Apply?

You can respond to advertisements, but remember that everyone else is also doing the same. Another strategy is to identify the organizations that would hire people like you and contact them directly. Focus is critical to target your market and pursue it vigorously! The easiest job search I ever had is when I was applying to be stockbroker. I knew exactly the job I wanted and that I wanted to work with one of four major firms. It took a year, but I secured a position with Dean Witter.

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Money as a Resource: Gaining Perspective

Deborah R. Brown, MSM, MSW

I often watch my clients who make six figure incomes, yet are miserable, struggle with the thought of earning less. Although they are in jobs that provide little satisfaction, and/or work in conditions that are dehumanizing and demoralizing, they are addicted to the salary, perks and prestige of their careers. They find themselves handcuffed to a large, popular company, or a glamour profession. And, especially for the younger ones, at the exact time they complain of their unhappiness on the job, they may purchase a new house or a fancy car. They want the "things" to make up for the discomfort and dissatisfaction they find in their career. They want to assume the outward appearances of success, while they are suffering deep inside. But things can't do that for us. Nor can fancy expensive vacations. Ever take a great vacation and then 24 hours after your return feel like it never happened??

Marianne Williamson says it best.

"Meaning doesn't lie in things. Meaning lies in us. When we attach value to things that aren't love- the money, the car, the house, the prestige- we are loving things that can't love us back.
We are searching for meaning in the meaningless. Money, of itself, means nothing.
Material things, of themselves, mean nothing. It's not that they're bad. It's that they're nothing."

In a questionnaire I give to my clients, I ask when in their life they felt the most successful andthe happiest. A surprising number of people describe their college days or when they were just starting out in their first job. In college they knew where they were going. They set goals, achieved academic success and had a rewarding social life. They had balance. Their first job after college provided the means to furnish an apartment and establish their independence. Life was simple. Even so, when considering making a change in their career to more fulfilling work, some will not consider taking a lower starting salary, or moving to a smaller house or one that is in a less prestigious neighborhood. Or a change to a less glamorous career, like teaching, that is a better fit for them. It seems often it is those with the most financial resources who see their choices as the most limited. Yet logic tells us they should be the ones with the most options!

Yes, we need money to live--as anyone who struggles to pay rent, buy food and get medical care can tell you. Money is a resource that provides many of the creature comforts we enjoy. Money will provide the comfortable nursing home for my mother who has Parkinson's Disease. Money will put our children through college and provide for our retirements. But it is also this attachment to money and "things" that does many of us in--this pursuit of large paychecks and closets filled with clothes we never wear. Instead, we should first identify what gives meaning to our lives. And identifying and pursing meaningful work that uses the best of us is one way to add value to our work beyond the paycheck.

I once had a client say that he would like to be able to take off to Hawaii whenever he wanted. This is the same man who has not taken a vacation in years because he is consumed in work, burnt out and miserable. He pays someone to walk his dog because frequently he is not available to do so. Perhaps if he had a life that he was happy with he would not need to get away from it so much by taking expensive vacations.

I worked with a couple that were both employed for the same Fortune 500 company for 15 and 20 years respectively. This company has a strong corporate culture that demands loyalty and offers no flexible or alternative work schedules. Their work is demanding and consuming. They contacted me because they lacked meaning and balance in their lives. Since one of them travels extensively,the other assumes almost total responsibility for household chores whileworking a sixty-hour work week. Their goal was to retire early. But what purpose does an early retirement serve to people who have not yet learned how to live??

If we devote our lives to amassing material possessions, and measure our worth by these things, what happens if we lose some of it through divorce (there is a 50% divorce rate in this country), or from losing our job. If our worth is attached to that county club membership and it suddenly disappears, who are we? Today's companies run lean and mean and lay-off employees when profits decline. Many states are "right to work" and do not need a reason to fire an employee.

If we spend time developing a clear sense of who we are and what we value, and live our lives to reflect those values, then we have the inner resources to shield us in times of misfortune. All is not lost if we lose our job. All is not lost if the stock market goes down. What I am talking about is developing a strong inner foundation and a healthier perspective on money so that we can develop both inner and outer wealth. It's fine to set a goal of owning a nice home and car. It is when we expect these things alone to provide fulfillment for us that we get in trouble.

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Networking

"Dig a well before you are thirsty."

Chinese Proverb

Did you know that:

• A referral generates 80% more results than a cold call
  
• 75% of people get their jobs through networking
  
• Most people have at least 250 contacts
  
• Anyone you might want to meet or contact is only 4 or 5 people removed from you

  Networking is not:

• Putting friends, neighbors and associates on the spot
  
• Using people strictly for your own gain
  
• Coercing or manipulating someone into doing what you want

  Get Rid of the Lone Ranger Mentality

"If I want it done right, I do it myself."

"Networking is making links from people we know to people they know, in an organized way, for a specific purpose, while remaining committed to doing our part, expecting nothing in return."

Donna Fisher and Sandy Vilas
Power Networking

"What goes around comes around"
"You reap what you sow"

Facing Your Fears

"I can't handle rejection."
"If they support me, what will they expect in return?"
"I don't want to look weak."
"I'm not comfortable being pushy or aggressive."

Make lists of your friends, relatives and acquaintances.

Sources

Neighbors
People I went to school with
People I have worked with in the past
People who attend my place of worship
Former teachers, employers
People I socialize with
People who provide services to me
Friends of relatives
Members of professional and social organizations

Other Job Lead Sources

Want-Ads
Only 25% of all job openings are made public
A survey of employers in two major US cities found that 75-80% of employers do not hire employees through job ads.

Professional Journals and Newsletters

Employment Agencies
State
Private

Government Employment
Web Sites

How to Contact Employers

• Personal Referral
  
• Telephone Contact
  
• Informational Interview
  
• Human Resources
  
• Mailing Resume
  
• Web Site Postings
  
• E-mail/Fax

Prepare 15 Second Introduction

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Developing Your Resume

You need a resume because employers use a resume as a screening process when seeking employees. The process of creating a resume also helps you to assess and recognize your strengths and accomplishments.

Basic Information

Include no personal information, such as marital status or anything that would indicate your race or religion.

Do not use all caps. They are hard on the eyes.

Include name, address, phone number, and e-mail.

A resume should be accomplishment oriented and not a job description.

List your employers with dates of employment, city and job title.

Use a serif (Times New Roman or Courier) rather than a sans serif typeface.

Use a 12 font. You can use large than a 12 for headings.

Use quality bond paper, white or off-white.

Do not use booklets.

Keep resume to one page if you have lmited experience.

Use action words.

Include major highlights (accomplishments) but not everything you have ever done in your life.

Three Types: Chronological, Functional and Combination

Functional

The functional lists your accomplishments in different categories (functional areas).

Examples: Management, Accounting, Legal, Writing
It's more effective if you are:

• making a career transition,
• want to return to a professional area you worked in earlier in your career,
• have large time gaps in your resume, and/or
• have extensive accomplishments in volunteer work or hobbies.

Chronological

The chronological lists work history and accomplishments in reverse chronological order.

It's most effective for individuals who:

• have a steady record of employment in an industry or functional area or
  
• want to stay in the same line of work.

Combination

The combination combines elements of both.

It is most effective with:

• those who want to emphasize unique skills and accomplishments and
  
• those who want to de-emphasize certain parts of their employment history.

  Step#1
  Develop a list of accomplishments.

• State what you did using strong action verbs.
  
• Specify the results or impact those actions had on the organization using numbers or percentages whenever possible.
  

Examples:

• Led practice to 25% net revenue growth for four consecutive years.
  
• Developed state welfare policy that resulted in more efficient delivery of services to two million people in Georgia.
  
• Secured initial capitalization including venture capital, foundation grants and government support and membership.

Step #2 Prepare your Resume
Elements of a Resume

Contact Information
Name, address, phone number(s), e-mail.

Headline/Summary
A summary summarizes your expertise and also gives the reader a clear idea of what job you are seeking.

Example:
Seasoned, results oriented MBA consultant and business analyst. Strong organizational and planning skills. Proactive problem solver with 15 years expereince as Big Five consulting practice leader. A catalyst for organizational change and business growth.

Employment History
Employer name, city, dates of employment and job title.
If you are older, you can omit earlier periods of work history if they are not relevant to your current work objective.

Education/Training
If you are a new graduate, list this category first. List in reverse chronological order. List courses, seminars or workshops that relate to your job objective.

Additional Information
Professional Affiliations, publications, community activities, computer skills.

References
Should not be included on resume.
Have references ready if requested.

Length
Keep your resume to one page if you have limited experience.

Conclusion
Many people procrastinate when it comes to resume preparation. The best time to look for a job is often when you are satisfied with your current position. An updated resume is a career development tool that can help you strategize your next career move. Entrepreneurs and independent practitioners can use an accomplishment-oriented resume to create their career development and marketing plans.

Professional Approach
Résumé and Cover Letter Writing Service
Rocket Resumes- On-line Recruiters
Voice, Speech and Public Speaking Tapes

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