Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

Blog

Are you faster than 300? You could save hours of time each week if you were.

by Leave a Comment

According to a speed-reading test sponsored by Staples as part of an e-book promotion the average adult reads at 300 words per minute. (Source Forbes)

Following up on last month’s “bite-sized professional development” blog focusing on how TED Talks are inexpensive and “bite-sized,” typically about 15 minutes, this month I want to talk about reading. Primarily books, but also professional journals, and magazines / articles, in our profession and outside of our profession.

Staying up to date in career development is a key piece to raising your credibility and the credibility of the entire career profession. I try to have at least one or two ‘professional’ books waiting for me either on my shelf or on my Kindle reader. My current two books are,  The Couple’s Retirement Puzzle by Mintzner and Taylor; Callings. By Gregg Levoy (Yeah, I know this has been around for awhile, I’ve just never read it).

I also have pleasure reading books that I mix in between the professional readings. I can’t wait to start reading Jeff Shaara’s book, A Blaze of Glory.

My book goal:  Read 15-30 minutes each day

Challenge yourself to grow, to think differently by reading different views, to try and understand others, especially if you don’t agree with them, and learn something new. [Read more…] about Are you faster than 300? You could save hours of time each week if you were.

The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny in Business and in Life. By Jim Loehr

by 2 Comments

Reviewed by Scott Woodard

Loehr is a psychologist who runs the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, FL. He works with world-class athletes, business executives and other high achievers to hone their stories so that they perform at optimal levels. His premise is that we tell ourselves stories that help us navigate through life because they provide structure and direction.  The stories we tell ourselves give our lives meaning.

Because the stories we create and tell about ourselves form the “only reality we will ever know in this life…and since it’s our destiny to follow our stories, it’s imperative that we do everything in our power to get our stories right” (Loehr’s emphasis).  Most of us, he asserts, get our stories wrong; or more accurately, tell a story that’s really someone else’s – our parents, our bosses, our spiritual advisors and others who have influenced us throughout our lives.

[Read more…] about The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny in Business and in Life. By Jim Loehr

Launch. By Jeff Walker

by Leave a Comment

I have been focused on my website and e-marketing lately and someone recommended Launch. This book is about Jeff’s “secret formula to sell almost anything online“, he calls it his Product Launch Formula (PLF). He breaks the launch into 4 parts.

Pre-Prelaunch- where you begin to build anticipation with your community and can also be used to make tweaks to your product by using the feedback you get here.

Prelaunch-  this is a series of emails over 5- 12 days that gives some value to your community while activating mental triggers such as: authority, social proof, community, reciprocity, and anticipation.

Launch – this is the day you open your product to the community and usually has a finite number of days. [Read more…] about Launch. By Jeff Walker

Bite-Sized Professional Development – TED Talks

by Leave a Comment

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
Anthony J. D’Angelo

As career practitioners it is our responsibility to continue to learn and grow in order to serve our clients best. I was talking with a client the other day and he said, “I can’t believe how much things have changed to find jobs!”  Clearly he was frustrated that he could not just open the newspaper, find a job opening, and apply with a resume. It is my job to know the current practices in my profession. It is my job to stay “fresh.” It is my job to be inspired to do good work, so that I can provide the best services to my clients.

It is our responsibility to stay current and to challenge ourselves to learn. For people who have good size budgets for professional development, that may mean attending the National Career Development Association conferences, or taking classes or seminars. For those with little financial support for their professional development, you need to be more creative.

TED Talks are a great way to continue to learn and grow.

  • They are free
  • Often they are people you would see at national conferences
  • They are “bite-size” too, between 10-20 minutes
  • They are inspirational and often challenge us to do better
  • The diverse range of presentation styles from the speakers is always helpful to identify strategies for improving your own presentation skills

Take 15 minutes (Read my blog on “Take 15” here) each week and put in your earbuds and find a TED Talk that inspires you to be your best or gives you a different angle on a familiar topic. We can all find 15 minutes. Yeah, I know you are busy, but seriously, 15 – 20 minutes somewhere in your 40+ hour workweek. Find it. It’s there.

What about using a TED Talk for staff development? Why not take 20-30 minutes out of your staff meetings once / month to have the entire staff to watch and then discuss a TED Talk? This is where you can grow your team, get to know people better, and possibly provide better service to your students/clients as a result. Have each staff member take a turn at choosing a TED Talk.

No matter what you do…take the 15-20 minutes and keep yourself energized, learning, and growing.

Here are the results from a survey I sent out recently asking people for their favorite TED Talks. 

Special thanks to all of you who took the time to fill this out.
I now have a few more “20 minute bite sized professional developments” to watch.

Angela Duckworth talking about GRIT, the power of passion and perseverance   6.12 minutes

Susan Cain, The Power of Introverts in a world that can’t stop talking. Very good talk on how introverts have an important effect on the world.   19.04 minutes

Amy Cuddy Body Language 21 minutes 

Astro Teller. The unexpected benefit of celebrating failure 15.33 minutes

Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk, “How to make stress your friend.” 14.28 minutes.  It dovetails with her book, The Upside of Stress: Why stress is good for you and how to get good at it. The book title pretty much says what’s cool about the talk.

Shimon Schoken. What a bike can teach you 15.40 minutes.  There are a lot of life lessons tied to athletics, he uses a real example, very touching, nice photos, and only 15 minutes long.

Graham Hill: Less stuff more happiness   5.43 minutes. Touches on minimalism in a short, direct way that reminds the audience that less = more, powerful message, well delivered.

Ruth Chang’s “How to Make Hard Choices.“14.38 minutes.  I love to hear/read views on career development from professions outside of career counseling, and she’s a philosopher. I love her message that some decisions are tough because there is no “right” choice. I also like watching her reason out the problem step by step.

Jia Jang’s “What I learned from 100 Days of Rejection” First, because what he did was just amazing. So simple– to go out and look for ways to be rejected so you can desensitize yourself to it. Then, I love his whole manner. He’s funny, and humble. Two of my favorite qualities in a speaker. 

Meg Jay, PhD, Why 30 is not the new 20. 14.49 minutes. She had real first hand experiences dealing with a variety of issues facing 20 somethings.

Simon Sinek, although not a TED Talk, Millennials in the Workplace.  15 minutes

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, Princeton Graduation speech. What Matters More Than Your Talents. 18.44 minutes. “Our character is reflected, not in the gifts we are endowed with at birth, but by the choices we make over the course of a lifetime.” I use this as a writing prompt for my students to reflect on what they want to have accomplished. The puzzle of motivation – my client base, high school juniors/seniors, keep me looking for solutions in this area. The happy secret to better work – Reminds me of the importance of setting boundaries between my work and personal life…a major challenge for me.

Mel Robbins, “How to stop screwing yourself over”.  21.39 minutes. Her message about not being complacent (our satisfaction with being “fine”) and her practical advice for a couple ways to kick-start ourselves is inspirational.

Brene Brown-–On vulnerability, which I fully endorse. 20 minutes

I’m a constant learner. You need to be a constant student because things change and you have to change and grow.
And I emphasize the word “grow.”   Zig Ziglar

————————————————-

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a monthly newsletter 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.

Sign up here to receive my  TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON.  You can also receive the career practitioners newsletter which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. 

Career Judo. The Martial Art of the Mindful Career. By John Long with Erin Newman

by 1 Comment

I really like this book which uses Judo as a way to describe the career process. Judo uses control, wisdom, and patience. Your career development requires this as well.

John lays out the various steps required to find your next job with concrete examples of what you should do. Not only that, he describes why you should do it. He starts with helping you discover what makes you unique and moves to how to capture that in all forms of communication from your resume, cover letter, to your online professional presence, all the way through the interview.

Tying Judo quotes throughout the chapters to make his point, is done mindfully and powerfully. In one of the final chapters that speaks to staying positive (with great tips on how to do that), I found this quote,

[Read more…] about Career Judo. The Martial Art of the Mindful Career. By John Long with Erin Newman

The Lead Machine: The Small Business Guide to Digital Marketing by Rich Brooks

by Leave a Comment

As a solo-preneur who provides so much content online, I really need to “get my head around” this digital marketing world. Jessie, my virtual assistant and I attended the Agents of Change conference in Portland Maine this year and received this book in our registration packet.

If you are a small business owner…get this book. Besides highlighting many paragraphs, I have 17 pages in this book with a bent corner which tells me I HAVE to go back and institute something into my business. Most books, I’d be lucky to have 2 or 3.

This book is chock-a-block full of good advice / tips on how to build your business using Rich’s B.A.R.E. model of:

[Read more…] about The Lead Machine: The Small Business Guide to Digital Marketing by Rich Brooks