Career Change & Executive Coaching

When clients contact me for help with their career they often experience an explosion of energy, racing ahead and completing their career analysis and career change exercises at lightning speed. 

The following enthusiastic Brazilian client read all my career change articles (particularly:

Career Change and What to do If You're Out of Work)

before starting his program and one of those articles became part of the life mantra of he and his wife.

My Job Sabbatical Pilgrimage

There are lots of reasons for someone to do the pilgrimage called the "Way of Santiago" (I will call it - "Camino de Santiago" or just "Camino". My reason for undertaking the Camino was as a spiritual journey suggested by my wife.  

With everything in life there is a matter of timing and this was the perfect one as I had just being fired upon return from my holidays after  nearly 18 years of fully dedicated Service to the Company that was once my family.

THE CAMINO: One can easily write a book about it as there is so many experience lived there.  It is a miniature life.  It involves everything you may deal with in life:

The decision to take the time off and "justify" doing it:

PREPARATION:  Perhaps a key part of any journey and no different in the Camino.
Dealing with expectations and anxiety:  Lots of questions from reading forums and preparing for the good and the bad on the Camino.

Can we walk so much a day for so many days?

Where do we start the Camino?

THE START: Finally being on the way.
The first night and the nights at the Albergue:  An experience and a lesson in humbleness.

DOING IT: The walks:  Long, short, hot, cold, nice, beutiful, rainy, snowing , climbing, descending etc.

Taking care of  the most valuable asset you have: YOU:  Crucial so you can walk the next day.  Anything can and will happen.  You need to rest and be ready for the next day and know how to pace yourself and NOT walk the life of others.

LIMITATION: Respecting your limits as we should in life also.  Easier said than done.

The people along the way:  Perhaps the best part of the Camino.

Angels, friends, families, finding your group/team, and the others that have different agendas and while very nice also are in a difference time schedule or state of form or mind.  

All with a common goal of stopping the fast lane, changing directions or rethinking their ways or existence in life.

LESSONS LEARNED:   Too many to write in a few words.  Some include that there is a lot out there to be learned on the Camino.  We get simplify or complicate our life's as we wish.  We can get used to anything and can adapt and change. The only thing we really need is water, food, sleep and love.    

The only factor the limits the excitement of our life's is ourselves. There is a lot of good people out there if you just open up to them.  The more centered you are, the easier is to find the good in life.  We should all stop and do at least one Camino every so often.

THE END:  Never an end to the Camino as the Camino de Santiago as it is an experience to remember forever.   The Camino may end but the Camino of Life just restarted again hopefully with some lessons learned.

If you'd like to learn more about the 'Camino' then I (Ed) can recommend 'The Camino - A Journey of the Spirit' by Shirley MacLaine, Published by Pocket Books, 2000.

When my Mum had her hip replaced we were thrilled for her. She said she felt no more pain. Little did we know that it was the start of a long drawn out fight with dementia and parkinson's disease. You see there was something that the health authorities were not telling us......

Just get a load of this advertisment that appeared in November 2007's edition of Maclean magazine:

You're not looking at a hip fracture, you're looking at a death sentence.

Each year one in three Ontarians (that's people from Ontario, Canada, Ed) over the age of 65 will take a serious tumble that may land them in hospital with a broken hip. One in three of those who do break their hip will die within a year. Two thirds will experience dementia-like symptoms. Most will never see home again.

Chances are - especially if you're 65 or over - you find these numbers appalling. We sure did.

So at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, we started to look at how we could improve these odds. We discovered that the combination of compassionate dementia care and rigorous rehabilitation is powerful medicine. So powerful in fact, that 90 per cent of the patients we've treated so far have successfully completed their rehabilitation and returned home.

We're pleased with these results. So are our patients. And happily, for those who will take a spill this year, 34 other hospitals and health care organizations across the GTA have embraced Toronto Rehab's new model of hip fracture care and now offer it to their patients.

With your help we can continue to defy the odds.

Make your donation today.

Telephone 1-877-666-0605

http://www.torontorehab.com/foundation 

For those of you who are contemplating a hip replacement past, present or future this information is critical to your survival or that of your loved one. If only we'd known. 

Annus Brilliantus - Flight to Canada 2007

You probably know the story by now, but just to recap a little....
Last summer we heard that Mum's carers were being shipped elsewhere and we decided then and there to bring our proposed move to Canada forward.

With only six weeks during which time we had to sell houses and cars to fund our trip - we made it just in time to arrive for Christmas 2006. Since then our life here has been one long party with our new Canadian friends and visitors from the UK.  We've had Persian parties, Housewarming parties, Birthday, Anniversary and Wedding parties, Barbeques and boating, picnics and breakfasts, jewellery and cookie, theatre and Halloween, in fact, any excuse at all.

Now you'd think that with all this joy going on that we would not have had time to accomplish anything, but you might be pleasantly surprised. We bought and renovated a Victorian stone Church Manse and we've built a Bookbinding Studio, Gallery and Exhibition Centre in the barn, where we've held Champagne Strawberry and Cream Open Weekends and hosted Studio Tours. (A.k.a. 'Teas and Wees'.)

Now you may be wondering what any of this has to do with YOUR career. Well, just look at this picture that I pulled out of a newspaper dated May 2006. It was my dream home. After I had clipped it out of the newspaper, the fragile piece of paper rattled around my kitchen for a while and at one point had to be rescued from under the cat bowl. Eventually it ended up in a see-thru wallet on my office desk.

Take a look now at a view from the window of our new house. What does this tell you?

Mmmm!?

You've heard by now of Abraham's law of attraction? Haven't you? I've talked about it.

Basically what you give out - you attract back from the universe. It works literally like a dream.

There are however fundamental flaws in the way the theory is put across - especially by the makers of the Secret.

I don't know whether they know, intend to use it in a sequel or are just keeping the news for themselves. But it is the key to making these things work.

I'll be talking about it in the new year and look forward to continuing to use this incredibly powerful tool with my coaching clients in the programs we run together.

Back to the newsletter -
 

Mum has continued to receive the finest care in the world and she is currently being looked after at home by a nurse from the Philippines called Theodora who is marvellous and makes great spring rolls. Although Mum has had one or two little strokes she is aware and enjoying everything that is going on.

Elizabeth is our miracle daughter and has decided to join us here. Lizzie has been working as a registered nurse in Birmingham, England and is now looking for a job in Ontario. She shouldn't be looking for long as she has already got four offers. We just have to wait for her official nursing registration to come through from the College of Nurses, get a work permit and a written job offer, not much really.  Lizzie's been enjoying life with new found Canadian friends (though she misses her UK gang hugely) and taking part in winter sporting activities, such as snowboarding and rally driving.

Edward has had a fantastic year spending the first quarter in Australasia partying, starting his new role with Accenture in London in May and joining us in Lake Belwood for a week of Seadooing, Kayaking and Caving and he's coming back at Christmas.

We can't tell you how brilliant it has been for us . Tomorrow we are having a celebration party because we have just received news of our permanent residency a year to the date we arrived. We love it here.

It's the jam and jelly-making season in Southern Ontario and the whole atmosphere is refreshingly redolent with strawberries, raspberries, cherries, sweet and sour.  You simply can't avoid the excitement of making your own delicious  preserves.

Preserving to many people conjures up nostalgic visions of country kitchens full of bubbling pans of fruity jam or gleaming jars of crunchy pickles. Whilst nowadays preserving is no longer a matter of survival, it is still practiced enthusiastically by a significant number of the population in Ontario and I thought I'd join in.

So I grabbed a copy of a book on sale in the supermarket called 'Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving' and started to dig out my British texts. Here is a sample of the rather heavy-handed instructions throughout the guide:

"Logic and attention to detail are essential to all successful cooking endeavours. Home canning is no different. Shortcuts easily compromise quality and food safety when preserving food at home. it is always safer and far more prudent to use ONLY those methods recommended by established food authorities that use the equipment, jars, lids and ingredients that match those you are using today." (and we are selling!)

They make sure to add their Bernardin Liquid Pectin as an essential ingredient to 95% of the recipes. I was so struck by this blatant commercialism that it reminded me to look up an article I'd read in May 07 in the Economist about how allergies develop.

Tanja Cirkovic-Velickovic and her colleagues at the University of Belgrade, in Serbia have found that pectin is forming a gel in the stomach during digestion and that this is hampering the destruction of allergens. (allergy-stimulating chemicals)

So if you enjoy a piece of fruit pie and you are susceptible to allergies then you ought to think twice before putting anything made with pectin in your mouth. Pectin is a naturally occuring carbohydrate in fruit - it's the man-made varieties that are added to 'gel' the fruit - where the natural food is processed - "Much like those used to extract sugar from beets or cane." (Bernardin) that I bet you should be worried about.

For me, I'm going to use the "long boil" method of preserving fruit and avoid any added pectins except for lemon juice because after all who needs another allergy? 

Technical Note:

In technical terms the object of preserving is to slow down or stop the inevitable process of decay inherent in all organic matter, whether it is caused by bacteria, yeasts, moulds, enzymes, oxidation or dehydration. Got that? lol

In fact to increase the shelf-life of products, manufacturers have been stuffing our food with so many preservatives such that the Institute of Anubis (Embalmers) announced some time ago that corpses are 'lasting' five times longer then fifty years ago!

 

On the packet is says in bold italics "EXTRA, EXTRA, read all about it! We've really gone overboard, adding an unraisonable amount of plump, tender Californian Thompson raisins to this delicious, wholesome cereal. So make sure you shake the box before using... And what's the story behind the flakes? They start out as whole grains of wheat, before being cooked for several hours (honestly you couldn't make this up, could you?) and made into crisp, flavourful flakes by experts with over 100 years of tradition behind them (that's five guys aged 50) Not only that, there are 10 essential nutrients and 5 gms of fibre in every serving. What are you waiting for? Let the shake up begin!"

You know, I didn't read the packet. I have been eating these for six months and didn't read the label. I assumed it was all natural and good for me. Not only could I could kick myself but I could kick somebody else too. Just listen to the list of ingredients. It's frightening isn't it?

INGREDIENTS: WHOLE WHEAT, RAISINS (COATED WITH SUGAR, HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL AND GLYCERIN) WHEAT BRAN, SUGAR/GLUCOSE, FRUCTOSE, SALT, MALTED BARLEY EXTRACT, VITAMINS & MINERALS (FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE (IRON) NIACINAMIDE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHOLRIDE (VITAMIN B6, FOLIC ACID, CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, ZINC OXIDE) BHT ADDED TO PACKAGE MATERIAL TO MAINTAIN PRODUCT FRESHNESS.

Am I right in thinking this product is over processed and therefore not good for me or anyone else for that matter?

Join our 15,796 readers worldwide:
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1. Do You Want More Happiness In Your Life?

2. Career Coach - Interview Skills

3. Career Coach Suggests - Highly Recommended Second Income Opportunity!

4. Career Change - Thinking of Being a Parent? - Job Description

5. Just for a Laugh - Tequila and Salt

This morning I went for my run down a wildlife trail and saw a yearling and a turtle that farted.

I cannot begin to tell you what a state of simple merriment this has put me in.

Six months ago I wouldn't have been in any state to enjoy the moment.

Now, having made some very large and small (simple) changes to my life - I feel ready to greedy as many of these blessings that life can offer. 

If you've been following the story, you'll know that I've moved continents to Canada. We came for a holiday two years ago and wanted to stay, the wild-life was so beautiful.

I dreamt of having a house with a garden overlooking the water and here we are by Lake Belwood.

I dreamt of continuing my career coaching work internationally and I spend my time now talking on the telephone with people from all over the world about their careers. 'Careers Psychology' is so a universal language.

I dreamt of lifting my spirits, by hanging out with optimists (Life's tough in the UK) - making me feel happier and be happier for my people

I dreamt of eating well - salads and salmon and now I'm producing organic products from my own raised bed/square foot garden. It has put me back in touch with what's really important in life.

I dreamt of exercising by jogging, walking, running and skipping along in sunlit trails - this has got my circulation moving and my energy levels are high.

The universe has been blissfully bountiful, thank you.

If you'd like to chat about building your dream career and future then just Skype: careersnet or call 001 519 843 3149 (Don't worry about the telephone cost - I'll call you back) and we can have a chat about the ducks or maybe your resume.

Kindest

Super San Francisco jobs await you at SanFranJobs.

Could you or someone you love be depressed?

It's normal to get "the blues" sometimes. (I do, especially if I don't drink enough water)

But if you or someone you love has any of these symptoms for longer than three days then you need to do something about it.

• Feelings of worthless.
• Stomach aches, headaches and backaches with no known cause.
• Appetite changes
• Trouble sleeping
• Trouble concentrating and remembering things.
• Exhaustion.
• Low interest in things you used to enjoy.
• Hopelessness or frequent crying spells

Of course you could go and see your doctor but s/he is just as likely to give you some medication that will make you unhappier in the long run. Been there, done that, got the prescription. (and the increased insurance bills and put on weight, yeou!)

There are however some simple but intense and powerful things that you can do to improve your happiness.

1) Find something to feel thankful for. No, this is not a joke or a folksy homily. It is a totally serious pursuit. If you can engender a feeling of gratitude in yourself and your surroundings (what the ancients used to call a 'state of grace')  then you can start to attract positive energy. No matter how bleak you feel, make a note of something positive each day!

My partner and I have a little ditty that we sing in unison to remind us of our everyday GRATITUDE:

'Longitude and latitude - our attitude is gratitude'. (You can borrow it)

When you acknowledge, experience and express gratitude for what you already have, you offer a powerfully attractive vibration to the Universe. The Universe hears gratitude as a request for more.  Watch the gratitude movie here 

2) Focus on a great memory. You'll find that when you are remembering a wonderful memory, you tend to look up skywards and breathe deeply.

The simple act of raising your head as in the catchphrase "Chin up" can release pressure on the 'Lizard' part of your brain stem, thus releasing endorphins. Talk, write or just think about that great memory.

3) Dwell on what you do well. It has always amazed me how new coaching clients have difficulty answering the question: "What are you good at?" Take a moment to think about what makes you special.

There are simple techniques you can use to identify your strengths. Make a "Coat of arms" - a collage of photos and pictures to celebrate your strengths. It will make you feel good about yourself. (Is probably why scrapbooking is such a popular phenomena!)

4) Allow yourself to dream big. If you are keeping a gratitude journal then you can give yourself permission to dream again. Imagine your dream coming true, especially one that makes a difference for other people, take a baby step towards it and it will happen.


Kindest

EmployeescreenIQ provides background checks to employers globally.

A girlfriend of mine in the US asked me about the state of the market in the UK and Europe for personal branding. My first response was to say that people in the UK are too stressed to give much thought to how they sound to others and in Europe - too distracted. Tell me if I'm wrong here?

She showed me a new site used by US University Career Centers and in looking around the site I found this page with 5/10 Google ranking. Not bad for a site that has not even been launched yet.  Click here to see why this interview skills site is so popular:)

Here's another example of interview skills practice that you will enjoy from Sue Morem 

Experience.com provides information on entry level jobs and internships.

PARENT - Job Description


JOB TITLE:
Mother, Mum, Mummy, Mom, Ma
Father, Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION :

Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an, often chaotic environment.

Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.

Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities!

Travel expenses not reimbursed.

Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

The rest of your life.
Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5.

Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.

Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.

Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers.

Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.

Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.

Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.

Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.

Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.

Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.

Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.


POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :

None.

Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :

None required unfortunately.

On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :

Get this! You pay them!

Offering frequent raises and bonuses.

A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent.

When you die, you give them whatever is left.

The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS :

While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered;

this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth
and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.

This should probably be taped to your bathroom mirror where one could read it every day.  You may not realize it, but it's 100% true.

1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.

2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.

3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

4. A smile from you can bring  happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.

5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

6. You mean the world to someone.

7. You are special and unique.

8.  Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

10. When you think the world has turned its back on you take another look.

11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

 So..........If you are a loving friend, send this to everyone, including the one that sent it to you.   If you get it back, then they really do love you.

And always remember....when life hands you lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call me over!

Good friends are like stars........
You don't always see them,
But you know they are always there.

"Whenever God Closes One Door He Always Opens Another." (Even Though Sometimes......It's Hell in the Hallway)

I would rather have one rose and a kind word from a friend while I'm here than a whole truck load when I'm gone.

Forward to all your friends.  And don't tell me you're too busy for this .. Don't you know the phrase  "Stop and smell the roses"?

Happiness Keeps You Sweet,
Trials Keep You Strong,
Sorrows Keep You Human,
Failures Keeps You Humble,
Success Keeps You Glowing.

Kindest

c. Clear Goals and Feedback

d. Concentrating on the Task at Hand

e. The Paradox of Control

f. The Loss of Self-Consciousness

g. The Transformation of Time

3. Diary of Paul the Snow Shoveller

4. Can You Figure Out How This Works?

One Chief Executive that I met this week was so 'out of control' of his own career that he had nearly lost all perspective on the situation. The very intensity of his worry was putting him in danger of losing his job. It was all too up-close and personal.

Another Chief Executive that I'd been working with for only a short while was so enthusiastic and excited by his future plan that he couldn't sleep, not from worry, but from sheer joie de vivre.  

So what do you feel is the defining difference?

As you probably know I've moved to Canada and enjoying every minute of it! 
Just so you know, I'm working with as many UK individuals as before. I find that telephone coaching is sometimes even more focused than one to one! So don't hesitate to give me a call on: 001 519 843 3149 and I'll call you right back.

(My Skype name is: careersnet)

For all you gorgeous, friendly and delightful Canadians out there - I can't compete yet with the state of the art home-grown career advice and guidance from your Canadian coaches, but I can certainly give you a new perspective. Don't hesitate to give me a call.  

Kindest 

Margaret Stead

PS. Be one of the first to get yourself a copy of my new book that tells you all you need to know about building your career with a blog: www.blogging-for-beginners.com

Pakistan Newspaper Ad - Reward for killing a Canadian

You probably missed it in the local news, but there was a report that someone in Pakistan had advertised in a newspaper an offer of a reward:

'To anyone who killed a Canadian - any Canadian.'
 
An Australian dentist wrote the following editorial to help define what a Canadian is, so they would know one when they found one.

A Canadian can be English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek.

A Canadian can be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan.

A Canadian may also be a Cree, Metis, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Sioux, or one of the many other tribes known as native Canadians.

A Canadian's religious beliefs range from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or none. In fact, there are more Muslims in Canada than in Afghanistan....

..The key difference is that in Canada they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

Whether they have a religion or no religion, each Canadian ultimately answers only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

A Canadian lives in one of the most prosperous lands in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which recognize the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

A Canadian is generous and Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never wanting a thing in return.

Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services and the best minds.

But they also welcome the least - the oppressed, the  outcast and the rejected. These are the people who built Canada.

You can try to kill a Canadian if you must as other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world have tried but in doing so you could just be killing a relative or a neighbour.

This is because Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom.

Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, can be a Canadian

Get the latest Internet recruiting scoop at Cheezhead.

You have to make the conditions right to enjoy yourself. It doesn't just come to you. So if you've been hanging around waiting for it to happen and you're still waiting....

.....then read on 

Almost everyone describes flow experiences as involving a series of activities that are aimed at a specific and challenging goal, are bounded by rules and could not be accomplished without the right skills.

So for instance playing chess or the flute, cooking, driving, singing in the bath are all times when we might feel at one with ourselves. In many spiritual arenas the analogy would be with 'living in the moment.' Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says "Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person's ability to act."

"When all a person's relevant skills are needed to cope with the challenge of the situation, that person's attentions is completely absorbed by the activity. There is no excess psychic energy left over to process any information but what that activity offers... they (people) stop being aware of themselves as being separate from the actions they are performing.

Similarly Buddhism encourages us to work with this fleeting nature of life. Buddhism teaches that life, however brief, should be lived fruitfully so that there are no regrets. By emphasizing that the present moment is of paramount importance, Buddhism defines this moment as both cause and effect. It is the only moment of life that can free oneself from the effects of the past and at the same time project oneself into the future.

    "The reason it is possible to achieve such complete involvement in a flow experience is that the goals are usually clear, and feedback immediate." Feedback varies given the nature of the goal or activity. Where goals are not clearly articulated in advance, as in some creative endeavours, an individual must have a strong "personal sense of what s/he intends to do." 

"One of the most frequently mentioned dimensions of the flow experience is that, while it lasts, one is able to forget all the unpleasant aspects of life. This feature of flow is an important by-product of the fact that enjoyable activities require a complete focusing of attention on the task at hand - thus leaving no room in the mind for irrelevant information."

Research mentioned by Daniel Goleman in his book 'Emotional Intelligence' reveals that children who learnt a skill that enabled them to experience a 'flow of consciousness' were more successful in later life.

"...the flow experience is typically described as involving a sense of control- or, more precisely, as lacking the sense of worry about losing control that is typical in many situations of normal life. "...what people enjoy is not the sense of being in control, but the sense of exercising control in difficult situations. It is not possible to experience a feeling of control unless one is willing to give up the safety of protective routines."