psychology

The Offensive Job Search

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Last week I talked about what I meant by going “on offense” in one’s career.  I thought I’d itemize my thoughts to give people ideas and directions.

By “Going on The Offensive” in your search I basically mean taking the initiative in a focused, planned way that involves activity before response.

So here’s Steve’s Quick Guide to Taking The Offensive as it were:

HAVE A GOAL: Have a goal for your life and career that you really want and hold onto it hard.  This gives you direction, inspiration, and guides you in repurposing events and opportunities.

HAVE A PLAN: Have a plan for reaching your goal.  You want an outline that you can act on.

MEASURE RESULTS: Measure your progress.  Turn things into numbers.  For instance, if you want to make money as an artist, keep track of money you make each month.

HAVE A NEXT STEP: Always know what your next step is and do it – even if the next step is “take a week off to rest.”  You should be able to, at any time, take one hour and move yourself forward.

HAVE AN EDUCATION PLAN: Train yourself.  Have a plan to train yourself.  Do it.

REPURPOSE: Ask how you can use your current job, experience, contacts, etc. to work towards your goals.

CHANGE AS NEEDED: Do adapt – but don’t give up too easily.  You’ll need to learn when to change and when not to.

ASSOCIATE WITH SUPPORTIVE PEOPLE: Friends, professional associations, what have you.  You need people that keep you going and that you go places with.

STAY UP ON NEWS: Stay up on news relevant to your goals and dreams so you stay inspired and informed.

Note that most of this is being active.  It may be a kind of martial-arts like waiting for activity or precise strike, but active it is.

That’s really the key to an Offensive Job search – actively pursuing things in the appropriate way and not giving up.

So how are you going to take things on the Offense?

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

The Fire That Leaves All As Ash

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Hatred is fire, and a powerful weapon too tempting for many to resist.

It is easy to inflame a few people with words, actions, and deeds.  Such people with their passions ignited will easily take terrible actions and commit atrocities.

Soon, seeing the actions of this hateful group, others will burn with hatred of them.  These people, caught up in the fire of hatred, will in turn do even worse acts.  These acts will catch many innocents, many unawares, many who were not enemies.  Those who survive these acts of retaliation will be further enflamed.

Thus hatred spawns hatred, the fire spreads.  Clever, sly men will use the fire of hatred to achieve their goals.  Clever, sly men will benefit when their followers and deceived agents hate each other.  Clever and sly men know hatred too easily blazes alight, and those blinded in the brilliant agony of hatred can be so easily led to do horrors.

Of course in the end fire leaves ash, but oh those clever and sly men don’t think of that, only of the power they have.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

 

How Fandom And Hobbies Return A Sense of Control

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Ever feel like you can’t do anything?  Ever feel disempowered?  I pretty much already know the answer: yes.

Psychologically, a feeling of no control, of helplessness is incredibly damaging.  Anyone that’s taken Psych 101 knows about how it can lead to depression, mental illness, and general dysfunction.  That’s of course on top of what we experience or have seen.

Career-wise (and though it may be insensitive to switch over to careers, that is what this blog is about), a sense of having no control is also destructive.  Beyond the psychological issues people face, there’s the fact that lacking the sense that we can take charge of our lives affects our livelihood.  When we feel out of control, our ambition is checked, opportunities missed, and quite frankly we may come off as helpless or stagnant in the career world.

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