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Search Results for: serendipity

Changing Perspectives Using Intentional Serendipity

May 15, 2013 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

Changing Perspective

In my first blog on this topic I spoke about:

[1] helping people embrace chance events in their lives
[2] taking action, and
[3] encouraging curiosity.

Let’s talk about what else you can do as a career advisor to assist people in “intentionally” creating “serendipitous” events to create opportunity by changing their perspective of the situation.

4]    One “gift” we have as career advisors is the ability to reframe events in peoples’ lives in such a way to make it look like an opportunity. (See my article, Advisors Are The Wizard of Oz  http://bit.ly/12nmpIA ).  People bring us their view of unplanned events or surprises in their lives that, all too often, are viewed as obstacles.  Our job is to help reframe the event and to encourage them to look at it as a career opportunity.

Getting laid off from a job, changing their major because “it didn’t work out”, or being rejected again, are events out of their control in most cases.  The old school answer “things happen for a reason” is close but not exactly what people need to hear.

[Read more…] about Changing Perspectives Using Intentional Serendipity

Filed Under: Career Tagged With: happenstance, instincts, intentional serendipity, reframe the situation, serendipity, trusting your hunches, trusting your instincts, unplanned events

Intentional Serendipity Can Be Surprising

May 1, 2013 by Jim Peacock 1 Comment

Image 6

I met a person the other day and we ended up talking about how people discover jobs by accident.  His face lit up, “that’s exactly what happened to me!  In high school, I was thinking about engineering or joining the military and then I discovered machine tool.” 30 years later he was the CEO of a large machine tool company and now is a consultant in that field.

While on my honeymoon, I met the Director of a high school technical center.  I had no idea what a Vocational – Technical school was, but four months later,  I was working for him and my life was transformed forever with an understanding and appreciation of all kinds of occupations.

We all have stories about chance events that changed the course of our careers.  Then why is it that students and other clients continue to come in and ask to take “one of those assessments that tells me what to do”. The longer I am in this business, the less assessments I use.

[Read more…] about Intentional Serendipity Can Be Surprising

Filed Under: Career Tagged With: chance, curiosity, happenstance, intentional serendipity, serendipity, trusting your hunches, trusting your instincts

The Purple Parachute.

November 20, 2023 by Jim Peacock 2 Comments

A Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Winds of Career Change. By Paula Battalia Brand

I know the author says “A Woman’s Guide” but this career advice is great for anyone who is in the process of finding a new job or about to go through a career transition. There are some special items for women, but her advice matches my approach to the career development process very well. book cover for Purple ParachuteI love how Paula provides a comprehensive approach to the career process beginning with her ASTER model which looks at these steps: Assess, Seek, Test, Execute, Repeat steps. She walks us through these steps with great explanations, activities, and then stories that bring the steps to life for the reader.

She then talks about the importance of assessing what she calls the V.I.N.E.S.

  • Values
  • Interests
  • Natural Disposition (personality)
  • Exceptional Qualities (I really loved this section because for our clients it is where it really brings out the uniqueness of the person)
  • Skills

This really is a “working” book where there are many activities for the person to think about how what she shares relates to the individual. She makes you think. Then write down your responses which often is where the learning happens. Plus she provides additional resources on her website to help you.

For me, the case studies she shares about herself or clients, really brings what she is teaching us to life. 

And then just because she is so thought-provoking, the chapters begin with inspiring quotes from all kinds of people. For example: from Meg Whitman, “The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of a mistake“. This relates well to my philosophy of “intentional serendipity” where my clients have to be “intentional” and actually take some ACTION and then be open to discovering something by accident.

Paula’s philosophy and approach to career development are very similar to mine. I really appreciate how she has made the process practical, thought-provoking, and action oriented.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: paula brand, purple parachute

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

January 9, 2023 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

by Elizabeth Gilbert author of Eat Pray Love

There is so much that I love in this book. Not the least of which is how her “magic” is so closely related to trusting your hunches, instincts, and putting positive vibes out to the universe. She writes this book to those people who are creative and want to do creative work, but I find it applicable for all kinds of people.

She speaks to the inherent negative thinking that blocks so many of us.. I can’t do that…that won’t work…nobody is going to want to publish/read/watch (insert your word) this. She insists that you can’t worry about what others think about your work, keep moving forward, keep working at it, and if you believe it is good “go for it.”

I loved her story about how an editor rejected her story and then she resubmitted a couple years later and the same editor loved it. How often does that happen? Lots. People get rejected for jobs for all kinds of reasons. One errant comment from one of the people on the interview committee may be all it takes for the entire group to just move on to the next candidate.

Also, in Daniel Pinks book, When, he talks about the research that shows people who interview late in the afternoon do not get hired as much as people who interview in the morning. Timing is everything and Elizabeth Gilbert calls it magic. Sometimes magic that is good, sometimes, not so good. But you seldom ever know the real reasons.

I also agree with her belief that the mantra “follow your passion” is not that helpful. She insists that being curious is actually a better mantra to follow. I totally agree with this. If you are curious, you’ll discover things by accident…what I call intentional serendipity.

Page 236 “You might spend your whole life following your curiosity and have absolutely nothing to show for tat the end — except one thing. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that you passed your entire existence in devotion to the noble human virtue of inquisitiveness“.

Be curious and take action. I really believe good things happen when you do, and so does Elizabeth Gilbert.

Filed Under: Book Reviews

How I Choose My Three Words for 2022.

February 7, 2022 by Jim Peacock 2 Comments

A “Hat Tip” to Dick Knowdell and His Values Card Sorts.

Each month I look ahead to find a day I can take a tech-free retreat. I don’t always find one, but most of the time I do. This practice was inspired by Richard Leider in his book Repacking Your Bags.

I have written about my retreats before, but today I want to explain how I used one of my retreats to choose my three words for 2022. If you want to read about my retreats, check out these blogs. (Read)

This past December I had scheduled a tech-free retreat for December 22 when I would read, write, reflect, meditate, and hopefully choose my three words to guide me in 2022. I had one word that I knew I wanted. Balance. I have been looking at how to reduce the number of hours I work, maintain my business, and spend more time with my recently retired wife, my friends, and family.

My retreat is a time when I typically review my journal from the past year, looking for themes that might inspire me to discover my words for the upcoming year. It’s a bit of the “intentional serendipity” that I believe in—taking action and being open to discovering something by accident.

Then I received an email from Rich Feller letting me know that Dick Knowdell had passed away. Before I became familiar with Dick Knowdell’s work, I had used the Missouri occupational card sorts a bit. But when I was introduced to his Motivated Card sorts I was hooked. It was then that I added his values card sorts to my repertoire and created my favorite workshop called “The Magic of Card Sorts.” Dick was a large force in the career development field, always giving his time, expertise, and sharing his knowledge wherever he went…with a smile.

Dick Knowdell
I decided to bring my values card sort with me on my retreat to see what might emerge for my words and also as a “hat tip” to Dick. 

The first step in the card sort is laying out the header cards: Always Valued, Often Valued, Sometimes Valued, Seldom Valued, and Never Valued. Then placing the cards, one by one, into the column that made the most sense to me at that moment. Values can change over time and I was interested in seeing what may have changed since I did this values card sort years ago. Clearly my head was in a different space now as a 65-year-old and all that life has brought to me.

As I picked up each card and read the value on it, I processed what that word means to me and how it fits into the context of my life today, at work and at home. Placing it under a heading gives value to that word and its meaning to me. There is something subliminal happening as well as cognitively. I don’t completely understand it, but I do know it happens. As I looked at my values spread out on the table in front of me, I felt like it truly represented a bit of who I am and what is important to me.

But I still could not “see” a theme. So I decided to do another sort; one that I do with the Motivated Skills Cards but had never done with the values. I took the top cards from Always and Often Valued and sorted them into groups or themes that make sense to me.

That was when the magic happened.

It was here that I could see the importance of creativity and knowledge in my work, and I knew that I still wanted to keep working. I simply love what I am doing. (see the two groups at far left). The far right group starting with “practicality” also fits into my work life well as I love the independence of owning my own business.

Much of my motivation comes out in the middle column headed by the words “affiliation” and “community.” 

Yes, I love my work and what I do.

But why? And as I thought about it, the knowledge, the creativity, the helping others, all felt like actual people to me. People I wanted to share knowledge with. People I wanted to help. And that is where the word “COMMUNITY” came from for one of my three guiding words.

Clearly that second column from the left, headed by family and friends, supported my first word of BALANCE.

But what would my third word be?

The words, “Fun” and “Humor” stuck out to me. What is it that I want to do with my family and friends…and with my work colleagues and network? Yes, to share what I know, but also to do it in a way that is fun, uplifting, creative, and practical. But it has to be in a fun way, a positive way. Something good to do each day and that adds value to my community. I thought about using the words humor or fun, and then realized that it had more to do with being optimistic or positive. And there it was, POSITIVITY. 

What I like about my three words each year is that there often is an intersection between them. When I journal, I always begin with writing down my three words: Balance, Community, Positivity. I change the order and sometimes will create designs using them, but I always write them. When I do, it forces me to think about that word and how it might fit into my day.

Sometimes “community” means my professional network, e.g. doing a LinkedIn Live session or participating in my National Career Development Association volunteer work. Sometimes “community” is my family or my hockey buddies.

Balance is always challenging me to make sure that every day  I play, workout, read, meditate, and do the work I love.

Positivity makes me smile and I think about what I could do today that will make a positive influence on me. I found a TedTalk playlist called “10 days of positive thinking.” It is a great list and I encourage you, to check them out.

If you have not stopped to look at your values recently, I encourage you to do so. What is important to you today and how will you manifest it?

And if you have any good ideas on how I can continue to build my positivity…I’m all ears. I know that my community supports me.

Read about My Three Words in 2022
 ◊ Balance  ◊Community  ◊Positivity ◊


Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and The Adventure of Finding Me in New Zealand. He is also the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from the National Career Development Association and the Mid-Atlantic Career Counseling Association’s Professional Contribution’s Award in 2020.

Sign up to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You will also receive the career practitioner’s weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. (Sign up)

Filed Under: Career Tagged With: card sorts, three words, values, values card sort

My 2020 Book Reviews

December 21, 2020 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

I love to read. Normally I have a “professional” book going that I read in the morning before I dive into work and a “fun” or “historical novel” that I read in the evenings. Here are the books I’ve read in 2020 in three categories; Books that make me better. Historical / Non-Fiction. Just for Fun. I assume if you are reading this, you love reading books too…check out this interview I did recently with four other book lovers. Watch now.

Each link below will take you to a short summary I have written about the book. I do this so I can share book ideas with others and to help me remember which books I’ve read and the actual correct title and author 🙂

 Books That Make Me Better

Retirement by Design:  A Guided Workbook for Creating a Happy and Purposeful Future. By Ida O. Abbott, JD.

Life’s Great Question : Discover How YOU Contribute To The World. By Tom Rath. Author of Strengths Finder as well. Good stuff here.

Transpirations: Guidance for the Head & Heart through Career and Beyond. By Thomas Bachhuber, Ed.D. A view of the career process with through the filter that Thomas calls, Transpirations is a combination of “transitions” and “spirits”as he says, “transitions inspired by the spirit.” 

The Introvert’s Complete Career Guide: From Landing a Job to Surviving, Thriving, and Moving Up. By Jane Finkle. As an extrovert, I am always looking for insights on introverts to better understand them. 

Small Teaching Online Applying Learning Science in Online Classes. by Flower Darby with James M. Lang. I’ve been teaching online for 18 years and this reinforced much of what I know and gave me some great tips.

Virtual Training Basics by Cindy Huggett . Ditto to my above comment.

Small Teaching :Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning. By James M. Lang. This is filled with research on how people learn and much of this was instituted into Flower Darby’s book above.

Creative Lives: An Anthology by Ed Murphy. It is a collection of stories from a variety of people who work in a creative industry and how they got into their jobs.


The Treasure Hunt of Your Life: Seeking Your Calling, Encountering God, Finding Yourself. By Rebecca Schlatter Liberty. I love how serendipity is included in this book of the “treasure hunt”.

 Walking with Glenn Berkenkamp: 35 Wellness Walks to Expand Awareness, Increase Vitality, and Reduce Stress. By Glenn Berkenkamp. My backpacking buddy Howard sent this to me, knowing that I love to do walking-meditation.

Historical and Non-Fiction

Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate By Mark Kurlansky. This book is worth it for the pictures in it alone. But his world-wide research on what is killing off salmon is fascinating and frightening.

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster. By Adam Higginbotham. I knew this was a bad thing but had no idea of the depth of the event and how the Russians had hid it from the world for so long.

America’s Game: The epic story of how pro football captured a nation. By Michael MacCambridge. Yep, football and why it is America’s sport. Its great.

Beyond The Trees by Adam Shoalts. If you love the wilderness and canoeing, you will love this 2500 mile canoe trip across the top of Canada.

The Invention of Nature: Alexander Van Humboldt’s New World By Andrea Wulf. Van Humboldt was probably one of the last people on earth who literally knew everything there was to know about all of the sciences in the 1800’s and he was able to tie it all together to give us understanding of nature in a completely different way.

Road to Valor by Aili and Andres McConnon. Thank God people like Aili and Andres saved this story about the Italian bicyclist who rode in WWII. This should not be forgotten.

 JUST FOR FUN BOOKS

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. John LeCarre

As I write this blog, I am finishing up Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre who sadly passed away this month. I will have a link here later this week.

Port City Crossfire. By Gerry Boyle

Flood Tide. By Clive Cussler

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from the National Career Development Association.

Sign up here to receive my  TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON.  You will also receive the career practitioner’s weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. 

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: books

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