[Think As Inc.] January 2007 Newsletter http://ezezine.com Your life is a business. You have a: MISSION: the reasons you live your life; BRAND: the message you project to the world; PRODUCT LINE: the skills and qualities that are your unique assets; BOTTOM LINE: your financial picture; CLIENT BASE: professional, personal, and don’t forget, yourself. Your life is YOUR business, and you are its CEO. IN THIS ISSUE Something to Think About: WORK BACKWARD Something to Do: BUDGET AND TRACK Inspirational Quotes: FROM A PLAY BY MAXWELL ANDERSON News and Upcoming Events WORK BACKWARD There is no greater frustration than taking one approach towards your goal only to find that it doesn’t work. You diligently adhere to your plans but the strategy was wrong to begin with. One way to avoid this is to test your strategy by working backward from the goal. For example, if you wish to lose ten pounds, that’s 35,000 calories. If your strategy is to walk one mile each day and one mile at your current weight burns 100 calories, then you need 350 days or almost a year to hit your goal, provided that nothing else changes. If your metabolism slows or you eat more or differently, then you may not hit your goal. Your strategy may not be the right one at the outset. Fix it now – by identifying other activities to burn more calories or by incorporating dietary changes – to have a better chance of hitting your goal later. If your goal is a new job, note that 15% or less of jobs are filled by advertising. Word-of-mouth or networking is the most effective method. If you don’t know where to start, work backward. What is your ideal job – what industry, company, department? Who do you know in that department? Who do you know in the company – they may be able to refer you to someone in the department? Who do you know in that industry – to get to the company to get to the department? If your goal is a new career, work backward from your role models in that career. You can’t become them overnight, but they will tell you where to start. Find out the preceding jobs and the education background of top people in your dream career. This reveals what type of training and experience you may need. This saves you from going after degrees or jobs that aren’t necessary or helpful. Save yourself from strategies doomed at the start by working backward from your goal to outline the necessary steps. The right strategy is just as important as execution. BUDGET AND TRACK Whatever your goal you need an outline to follow and a log of what happens to keep you accountable. You need to both budget and track. You are budgeting the time, money and energy you are dedicating to the goal. You are tracking how you actually end up using these resources and the results you get from these efforts. The budget helps you see if your plans are realistic and if you are using too much or too little of each of your resources. The tracking helps keep you honest so you can do more of what’s working and less of what isn’t. For a job search, your time budget may cover research, networking, job interviews, mailings and follow-up. Your money budget may cover stationery, postage, interview wear, trade dues, and coaching. Your energy budget should plot out when you are at your peak (so you can do your meetings and calls then) and when you are not (so you can use this time for mailings or less demanding tasks). A journal or Excel spreadsheet can track your daily activities, sources of job leads and subsequent results. Be honest about how much targeted networking you are doing versus responding to blind ads. Maybe one feels safer than the other, but it may not be yielding the leads you need. Or, maybe your tracking will prove that you are doing just fine and affirm that you need to stick to it. For a career change, your time budget needs to account for time spent on your current career (if you’re keeping it), as well as the specific activities for your transition (e.g., coaching, informational interviews). It is easy to get overwhelmed by the day-to-day and push off the transition work for a “less busy” time. Your money budget may be the cost of your transition activities or it may be the savings target you set to buy yourself some time off. Remember to budget your energy. If you are serious about switching careers, don’t use up all your energy at your current one. Finally, track every idea, suggestion, activity and result. Big changes take time. Without a system to track progress, you may think you are standing still and get discouraged when actually things are happening. For other goals, remember that time, money and energy are your personal resources. Other resources include your space, equipment, family and friends. Track your progress and how you’re feeling. Note what you did each day towards your goal. Note any results and see if you can account for the source. Jot down ideas to try or unanswered questions to research. INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE One life is all we have, and we live it as we believe in living it and then it’s gone. But to surrender who you are and to live without belief is more terrible than dying – even more terrible than dying young. -- Joan of Lorraine (a play by Maxwell Anderson) NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS This past November, I started coaching training with CTI (Coaches Training Institute). It was intense, inspirational and fun. In order to solidify these new techniques into my current coaching approach, I am trying to coach as many different types of people as possible over the next three months. If you are interested in a free sample coaching, please email me at cenizalevine@yahoo.com. Sessions are 20-25 minutes and conducted over the phone. All information is copyright © Caroline Ceniza-Levine 2007 www.thinkasinc.com