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Skills can be developed a wide variety of ways

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Skills can be developed through on-the-job training, short term certificates or diplomas, even on-line through YouTube or Lynda.com, as well as college degrees. Our economy needs ALL kinds of skills to run. This struck me as I have been working with a number of clients recently who have done very well in the world of work without a college degree.

Bryan Alexander says “Goldman Sachs shared their analysis of higher education for investors a few weeks ago, and it’s an important document for people in higher education to consider.  Goldman is enormously influential in the finance world, and also in government, two realms with a lot of clout in academic institutions. Is the ROI of attending college worth it?”  (Read his analysis) [Read more…] about Skills can be developed a wide variety of ways

Rise To Rebellion & The Glorious Cause. By Jeff Shaara

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Read these two books about the Revolutionary War by Jeff Shaara. I love how Shaara stays true to history but can also give “voice” to the individuals that sounds and feels like them. I really feel like I got to know Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and more as people.

They didn’t all get along and agree on everything…other than England was not treating us fairly and that something had to be done. I had not studied this time period in our history since high school and it was great to relive this time period in a very interesting time of our country.

If you have not read any Shaara and if you like history, you need to pick up any one of his book. These are two good ones to start with.

Stand Out. By Dorie Clark

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Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around it.

I had a hard time with the beginning of this book because I was constantly thinking how I could use this for clients and I thought it had limited use for most of my clients. She talks about finding your own breakthrough idea to create something new, how to go about making it happen, etc…

Then I shifted my thinking in the second half on how I could use this information to grow my own business, develop my own “tribe” of followers and that’s when I started taking notes.

Many of her ideas I have thought about before but I realized that I really DO need to do them now. For example, repurposing content such as possibly doing a podcast or webinar on a topic, then tweeting out the best pieces, and then creating a slideshare explaining key concepts discussed, and finally putting together a short video explaining my biggest take-aways.

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Why podcasts should fit into your day – learning while you walk or drive.

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As many of you know, I am a huge promoter of professional development in our field. We need to constantly be learning how to better serve our clients and we can do that a variety of ways.

  • Attending conferences like National Career Development Association and Mid-Atlantic Career Conference and your state associations
  • Participate in classes, seminars (online or live), webinars
  • Watch Ted Talks (look for my April newsletter on this)
  • Read professional books or journals

I would like you to consider adding podcasts to this list.

A few years ago, a person in my Boomer online seminar turned me onto a podcast called Meditation Oasis which has a number of different meditations to listen to. My favorite is her “Relax Into Sleep.” Then last summer I was talking with Marc Miller of Career Pivot via video-conference. He talked about how he was listening to a number of different podcasts when he walked to the coffee shop, and how much he felt he was learning daily because of it.

Since then I have added about eight different podcasts to my regular listening. They range from a few that focus on entrepreneurship and marketing topics, to a number that focus on career topics. Of course there are many others that include news agencies like public broadcasting and entertainment.

I try to listen to a few podcasts weekly. Occasionally I download one to my phone and listen in my car while I drive to Portland once a week where I work at a career counseling and outplacement firm. Other times I will plug in and listen while walking in the neighborhood on one of my daily breaks, or I will just take a half hour and sit and listen to a podcast because I may want to take notes.

Regardless of when and how you do it, I strongly encourage you to add podcasts to your professional development modes of learning.

  • Read my interview with Marc Miller to learn what his and my favorites are. Click here.
  • Interested in reading other blogs on professional development? Click here.

Do you listen to podcasts?

If so, what are your favorite podcasts?

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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. 

Interview with Marc Miller from Career Pivot

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Here is a summary of my interview with Marc Miller talking about podcasts on January 19,2017

Marc Miller is the owner of CareerPivot providing support and resources for Boomers in transition. Marc and I chatted last summer and he turned me on to listening to podcasts. Since then he has started his own podcast giving advice to Boomers looking for a change and interviewing experts in the career field to help Boomers reinvent themselves.

The two times Marc and I have video-conferenced it has been a real pleasure talking with him and found myself learning so much from his advice but also simply enjoying our chat.

For people new to podcasts, why do you like podcasts?

Marc: It educates me at times that I would not get educated.  I can listen to one on my daily walk to the coffee shop and back and I can also listen when I’m driving somewhere. Now, these are times when I learn. I get a morning walk, a coffee, and a couple podcasts which also helps me clear my mind.

One thing Marc mentioned that the biggest difference with podcasts is that you hear the person and get to know them at a different level, a more personal level. I agree with this as after listening to Darren on Problogger, I really do feel like I know this guy now. His advice is always practical. Could I get this by reading his blog? Sure, but like Marc, I will plug into a podcast on a walk and it gives me a chance to get away from the computer.

Marc says that a couple reasons podcasts have really taken off is the growth of the smartphone being in nearly everyone’s pocket and that cars now have Bluetooth capability. Even though my car currently does not have Bluetooth I have still listened to podcasts by listening on my phone on my drive to Portland once a week. Instead of listening to music…I learn something new.

Podcasts come in all different lengths of time but Marc and I both prefer the ones in the 30-minute window. There are lots under a half hour which is perfect for most of our drive time, walk and workout time blocks. You can find podcasts that go for an hour or more. Personally, this is too much of a time commitment for me.

What are your favorite podcasts?

EO Fire by John Lee Dumas (Entrepreneur On Fire) and ProBlogger by Darren Rowse are ones Marc enjoys and also are two he mentioned to me this summer and I have been listening ever since. I can’t say I listen to every episode but I did listen in to Probloggers 30 day challenge which gives a tip on how to blog every day for 30 days. I found this extremely helpful for my blogging.

Other favorites of Marc’s are; Mark Anthony Dyson’s “The Voice of Job Seekers”; Money Matters radio show on Saturday mornings which also releases as a podcast; and Roger Whitney and the Retirement Answer Man Show. He has a number of other ones he listens to and you can see his list at his blog on favorite boomer podcasts. (Marc’s favorite podcasts)

A couple of my favorites are The school of Greatness – Lewis Howes; The Tim Ferris Show; Meditation Oasis; and The $100 MBA show.

What is your podcast, Repurpose Your Career, about?

I want to show career changes in the second half of life and that changing is possible and people are doing it. It is a combination of four styles. One is me sharing information with my listeners. Then interviewing an expert in the field. The third style is interviews with people who have had a career change in the 2nd half of life and can talk about how they did it and then I alternate with experts in the career field”.

I use a different show format for all of the 4 episode types. (Airs on Monday’s but you can listen whenever you want)

Expert show – I mostly tailor questions around the expert.

Career change interview – I use the format you described.

Sharing a chapter from my book, Repurpose Your Career – I read the chapter and then ask questions to ponder

Answering listener questions – Elizabeth Rabaey (one of his staff) reads a listener’s question, I answer and then we discuss.

Note: I just listened to Marc’s most recent podcast interviewing Taylor Pearson who wrote the book, The End of Jobs, talking about how jobs are so different now and the opportunity to be an entrepreneur so great. Very interesting indeed.

How do you find Podcasts?

On Macintosh / Apple products you just go to your I-Tunes store and search for actual titles of podcast, like Repurpose Your Career, or by topics.

Not an Apple product person? Find podcasts on Stitcher and Google Play

Thank you so much, Marc, for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk about how Podcasts can help people grow professionally and learn from thought leaders in our field.

Marc Miller is the founder of Career Pivot which helps Baby Boomers design careers they can grow into for the next 30 years. Marc authored the book Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers published in January 2013. He also authored the book Personal Branding for Baby Boomers: What it is, How to Manage It and Why It’s No Longer Optional in September 2015. He has been featured on Forbes.com, US News and World Report, CBS Money-Watch and PBS’ Next Avenue. Career Pivot was selected for the Forbes Top 100 Websites for your Career. Marc has made six career pivots himself, serving in several positions at IBM in addition to working at two successful Austin, Texas startups, teaching math in an inner-city high school and working for a local non-profit. Learn more about Marc and Career Pivot by visiting the Career Pivot Blog or follow Marc on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn

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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. 

The 4 – Hour Workweek. By Timothy Ferriss

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I was intrigued by this book title and it was recommended to me by a few people. Tim Ferriss writes about being the “new rich” or NR in this book and how you can create a lifestyle business that allows you to make money AND live / travel where ever you want.

Well…not sure this is for everyone.

No doubt there are tons of great tips on rethinking how we work like “make small to-do lists with never more than 2 mission critical items per day”. I have taken this advice and it certainly seems to help.

He has helped me really look at my “pain points” too…the things I don’t like to do and have been on my to-do list for a long time…which means I really don’t want to do them. His point is well taken on this; is there a virtual assistant (VA) who could do this? He has caused me to think much longer and harder about giving more things to my VA…which I have begun doing.

[Read more…] about The 4 – Hour Workweek. By Timothy Ferriss