It’s easier to make a small adjustment rather than a major change.

Instead of viewing change as an all-or-nothing proposition, (which usually prevents us from taking any action at all,) try viewing change as a process in which we check in with ourselves and make smaller incremental adjustments.

In this week’s show, Claudia and I look at process. Join us as we talk about being alert to what’s working and what’s not working for you, and then learning and adjusting on the go.

What if the way forward involved only taking a next step?

Listen in.

Ah life.

Yes, it does come down to making real choices in real time.

In this week’s show, Claudia look at how setting goals can help us structure our choices.

Instead of slowly and painfully suffocating in your current position, try setting one goal for yourself in three simple areas.

1. Professional goal. A challenging contribution to the mission of the organization.
2. Personal development goal. Tend to your own learning, growing, and maturing as a person.
3. Relational goal. Make and deepen connections via networking, mentoring or collaboration opportunities.

Working toward these three goals will give you a meaningful and rewarding reason for staying in your current position.

When it is no longer possible to set a goal in any of these three areas, you then have a basis for making a move to another company or another field.

Listen in.

After opening up so many possibilities by exploring clues last week, we now need a way to make choices. We need to go somewhere in particular instead of everywhere in general.

What makes work meaningful and rewarding to you?

The answer to that question is different for each of us.

You may be looking for a particular role. You may want to fund a certain lifestyle. You may want to continually expand your responsibilities. You may want to leave work at the office at 5:00 p.m. You may be drawn to a certain industry.

The key is to be able to articulate (to yourself) your criteria for making your next decision.

Join Claudia and I as we discuss the value of knowing your criteria for making career decisions and the risks of not doing so.

Listen in.

Clues instead of conclusions.

When looking for a way out of a room with no light, is it more effective to grope around blindly until we find the exit or to pull out the key-chain flashlight in our pocket?

A key-chain flashlight is not a very significant source of light. But bringing a small amount of light into a situation is actually far more helpful than continuing to grope blindly.

In our second conversation about avoiding career suicide Claudia and I explore how to shed additional light on our job situation by looking for clues. Looking for clues opens up options. Drawing conclusions closes options off.

While we eventually need to make a single choice, thinking that way at the beginning of the process in actually counter-productive. Watch the world open up when you begin by looking for clues.

Listen in.

It’s bad enough when we feel like our job is killing us. But what if we’re stepping into the coffin and closing the lid ourselves?

We begin a new series this week on avoiding career suicide. Too dramatic a description?

Not once we realize that we’re never as stuck as we feel.

One of the reasons we feel stuck is because we believe the only alternative available is to make a major job change. Get out of our current situation altogether.

Job change, though, doesn’t need to be an all or nothing decision. Instead searching for a huge life-altering solution to our situation, what if we were simply looking for clues that would suggest alternatives?

Join this freeing conversation as we learn together how to explore alternatives instead of jump to conclusions.

Planning Yourself Out of Career Suicide
Week #1: Overview
Week #2: Clues
Week #3: Criteria
Week #4: Structure
Week #5: Process

Listen in.