Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
Building skills on the job
“Power” is a word that many of us associate with unpleasant ideas: it makes us think of egocentric politicians and crazy movie villains. Somewhere along the way, power and abuse became linked in our cultural lexicon. But almost everyone has some sort of personal or positional power that they exercise in the office, even if we don’t often call it by name.
In order to overcome the difficulties, some professionals are casting a wider net in their job searches and considering relocating to other areas in order to find good work. If your current location simply doesn’t have a market for your skills, that can be a great decision.
Full disclosure: I’m sniffling as I write this at work. Down the hall, I hear regular coughing, and I just finished a meeting with someone who dabbed at her nose the entire time. The odds are pretty good that one or more of us will infect an innocent bystander by our presence at the office. Why do we still come in?
If you’re interested in switching careers through an MBA, you’ll want to do some soul searching before you apply to a particular program. While an MBA may be an excellent vehicle for career change, it may also require a hefty investment. Therefore, it’s a good idea to figure out where you want your MBA to lead you before you pursue this degree. That process might also help you compile a stronger application essay that contains carefully planned long-term career goals.
There are people who claim to like people they don’t trust, but I almost never believe them. For me, the word “like” implies a relaxed relationship, and I can’t relax around people I don’t trust. I suspect that liking someone you don’t trust means that you believe you’re far enough down their enemies list to escape any negative behavior.
I’ve written about being nice before and how it can sabotage your career and your wellbeing. It’s not that nice guys finish last; I think that if we were all nicer to each other, the world would be a better place. But what is corrosive to your soul is being nice instead of being strong – being nice in the hope that you won’t have to be strong. It doesn’t work, and it eats at your confidence and your power.
Time to quit? Maybe. After all, the correlation between personal fulfillment and success on the job is a strong one. If you’re really miserable, you’re unlikely to brainstorm those cutting edge ideas that will both advance your career and put your company on the cutting edge.
Scarcity people believe that the slice of pie you get means the rest of us get a smaller slice. Abundance people believe you can simply make more pie.
Thanks to technology, the choice is no longer between a germ-ridden communal office and the isolation of a home office.
I’ve been reading a lot of advice on how to make real change in your life, and the best advice seems to trend toward not making resolutions – at least not in the traditional way. When you try to make a change based on what you “should” do (lose weight, get back to the gym, or get organized), you are relying on a very weak system to help you along.
Your Work, Your Way 