Focus: A Path of Discovery

“To the question of your life you are the answer, and to the problems of your life you are the solution.” ~~Joe Cordare~~

Focusing on the negative in our lives is not useful. We know that. Focusing on the solutions to the challenges in our lives is not always easy, especially when we’re not sure what the solutions are. And, discovering the solutions may be a long process…

I was inspired by someone along that path of discovery yesterday… He’s looking for a new opportunity, but hasn’t had to look in a very long time. Knowing the landscape is a bit different than the last time he was looking, he felt lost. Taking the adage that you can’t know how to get there if you don’t know where you’re going into account, he felt even more confused. What he told me he started doing and the reason for his call to me is more than worth sharing.

Intuitively, he did a sort of self-assessment. He took some quiet time and really thought about the things that he was good at. Then he took some more time and thought about the things that he enjoyed doing. And then he looked at where those two lists “met” on the paper. He took the short list and talked about it with his wife and a few friends, and got some external validation about his new proposed path. Then he reached out to me to help him turn that path into an action plan.

I, of course, asked him if he had read Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi the book I wrote about on Monday 3/7, http://hireeffect.blogspot.com/2011/03/preparation-its-just-necessary.html and he had not. I suggested it to him, and told him about the internal review; a self-assessment to figure out where your passion and abilities intersect. I told him that he should be very proud of himself for taking that step, and told him I would happily help him gain focus around the solutions he had just created for himself.

It was so great to have a conversation with someone who, without complaining about his lot in life, was taking action. I found this inspirational. I hope you do too.

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” ~Henry David Thoreau

Preparation: It's just necessary!

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." ~G.B. Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession, 1893~~


I’m re-reading Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi (with Tahl Raz). It’s a fantastic book in which tips and tactics on building a great network abound. I’m at the part in Chapter Three about conducting an internal review; a self-assessment to figure out where your passion and abilities intersect. It’s an exciting preparation for goal setting and I’m really looking forward to the journey.

Preparation comes in many forms…It’s not always pleasant, and it’s not always easy, but it’s always helpful. In fact, I’ll go as far as saying that it’s always necessary. We may not understand it. We may not like it. We may not want to do it. But when we do, and we’re prepared for anything and everything, there’s no stopping us!

What are some ways you prepare?