[Think As Inc.] March 10, 2008 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: THE POWER OF FEAR Something to Do: THE POWER OF SUBSTITUTION/ LOVING THOSE LAXATIVES Inspirational Quotes: MICHAEL GERBER News and Upcoming Events THE POWER OF FEAR A previous coaching client, thinking of switching from acting to accounting (that’s right, acting to accounting, NOT the other way around!) asked me how she’d know for certain when a career change is right. For big life changes (as career changes often are) most clients are excited during the self-assessment process, stay pumped up for the planning phase, and then get petrified to make the actual leap. To get past the fear, ask yourself one question: Which will you regret more: trying something and potentially failing miserably; or staying where you are and never knowing what might have been? The answer changes over time. When you first consider change, the prospect of failure is often scarier than the prospect of regret. You can improve your readiness with smaller changes – e.g., adding new skills, making contacts in your new field. However, keep in mind that being scared off by potential (but by no means guaranteed) failure might indicate this change is not really for you. Maybe the fear is signaling that you are unwilling to make this change a reality, and you might need to go back to the self-assessment stage. However, as dreams of change keep calling you, the fear of failure wanes. You might be scared, but you consider the change anyway. You might be like my client, looking to others for certainty about something only she could decide for herself. For this client, and others getting scared out of making a change, I propose you scare yourself INTO the change. Use the power of fear – but fear of regret, not failure. Move towards change because your fear of regret outweighs your fear of failure. Remember, you can earn back your career, your reputation, and your money after almost any setback, but you cannot ever regain the time you let pass by. Yes, change is scary. But, if you think change is scary, try regret. THE POWER OF SUBSTITUTION/ LOVING THOSE LAXATIVES During the acting period of my career, I had met with a top commercial casting director. For the audition, he assigned me a script for a laxatives commercial. Thankfully, I’ve never had to use laxatives, but then I had no inspiration. I needed to convey that these laxatives were the greatest thing since sliced bread, though the thought of them, well, was just not as great as sliced bread. How did I get through it? Whenever the copy called for me to say the product name, I substituted my daughter’s name in my mind. So whenever the script called for laxatives, I cracked a smile, my body relaxed, and I got a twinkle in my eye at just the right moment. Behold the power of substitution. Substitution is a technique I encourage my clients to use when going into a situation that might make them freeze and not do their best. The idea is to substitute something that gives you the desired effect for the actual thing that makes you freeze. A business application of this would be at an interview. One client was interviewing at a top consulting firm. She was prepared but would completely fall apart at the start of the case interview. (Consulting firms give interviews called “cases” which are business problems the interviewee needs to solve.) These cases are similar to research projects, which this client was comfortable with after two years of graduate school. Therefore, I coached her to substitute a professor for the interviewer and a proposed research topic for the case question. She still needs to know how to do cases, but the substitution gets her relaxed enough so that the preparation she has done has a chance to show. If you are in an audition, interview, business meeting, sales call, etc. for which you are prepared but during which you might get rattled, use substitution. You will not forget where you actually are. You will still be able to harness the adrenaline and the energy of the moment. You will also still need to prepare. However, you will have a powerful technique to keep you grounded if you feel the need. At the very least, you now know how to sell those laxatives. INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE Your Comfort Zone has seized you before, and it can seize you again, when you’re least prepared for it because it knows what it means to you. Because it knows how much you want to be comfortable. Because it knows what price you are willing to pay for the comfort of being in control. The ultimate price, your life. So…if living with your spirit means anything to you at all, if you truly care about it, then guard it with your life. Because Comfort overtakes us all when we’re least prepared for it. Comfort makes cowards of us all. -- Michael Gerber, in The E-Myth Revisited NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS On eight consecutive Mondays starting April 7, I will be leading a teleclass series: SixFigureStart Proactive Job Search Basics • Learn The Exact Steps To Landing A Job You Want • Hear From A Fortune 500 Recruiter How The Hiring Process Really Works • Get Support and Motivation In Your Current Search • Empower Yourself To Succeed In Any Type of Market This series meets Mondays at 7p EST via a conference phone line. Each 90-minute teleclass features 30-60 minutes of lecture and 30-60 minutes of discussion, Q&A and support. This intensive and interactive series is for people who want to gain control of their job search: to stop reacting and instead start creating opportunities. • Week 1: Overview of the Proactive Job Search • Week 2: Identifying your target market • Week 3: Creating a resume that gets results • Week 4: Creating a complete marketing package/ cover letters, references, online branding • Week 5: Researching your target market • Week 6: Mastering the interview process • Week 7: Networking with ease and authenticity • Week 8: Negotiating and closing the offer There will be at-home assignments between each class to continue the learning and deepen the understanding between sessions. Sample assignments include drafting a one-page resume, creating an elevator pitch and preparing answers for the most typical general interview questions. This workshop is for you, if: • You are new to the job search process and want to get a proper foundation • You are struggling in your search and want to get insight into why • You have lost your job or are in a potential layoff situation and want to refresh your job search skills in a supportive and collaborative environment Participation is limited. Fee for all eight classes is $500 for Think As Inc subscribers (normally $600). Fee refunded if you attend the first class and decide this is not for you. Be sure to mention you are a TAI subscriber to get charged the discounted fee. In addition, we offer a $100 referral fee if you refer someone who takes the class. So take the class with a friend, and you get the discounted price and an extra $100. The next series runs Mondays, April 7 thru May 26, 7p EST. Please call 212-501-2234 or email info@sixfigurestart.com with questions or to register. If you have friends who may want to join the distribution list, please have them visit http://home.ezezine.com/2034/ to sign up. You can also see previous newsletters at that link. All information is copyright © Caroline Ceniza-Levine 2008 www.thinkasinc.com