Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

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Tech Free for the Day – The Power of Turning Off

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At the end of December I took a tech-free day to write, think, process how 2016 went, and explore my vision for 2017. The first part of this day was shoveling snow, truly a tech-free event, as we had about 14 inches of very wet snow. This delayed my mini-retreat by two hours but I did get my upper body workout in 🙂

As career coaches and practitioners, we can provide better services when we slow down and take time to think, prepare, create, and be mindful of each moment. We serve our clients best when we are in the moment with them. I strongly encourage you to consider a tech-free day. Mine typically starts at 8am and ends around 5pm.

The first thing I worked on was coming up with my 3 words to guide me in 2017, inspired by Chris Brogan who has done this for over 10 years. I then moved to my budget, online seminar offerings, business plan review, and finally to my short and long range “to do” list. One thing I decided on this retreat is that I want to do a tech-free day every month. Last year I had three tech-free days spread throughout the year, plus a 100 mile backpacking trip that was completely tech-free and cleansing. Each time I discovered a renewed sense of purpose. I need to do this more.

I find that life just keeps getting faster and ever more filled with technology creating a sense of being busy. You have to choose down-time daily to take control over this busyness and regain a more peaceful and thoughtful routine.  I’m thinking about this a lot as I will be speaking on March 2nd in Brunswick Maine for the first “To Live For” Evening of Stories and Music where I will talk about ‘Taking 10’ minutes daily to regain our lives. I also had a conference proposal accepted by National Career Development Association on a similar topic for the June annual conference. 

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Coloring Books and Career Development

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Can we as career counselors and coaches help our clients in their career development by being more fully present in the moment? Appreciating the value of turning off our technology and taking time to just ‘think’? Embracing these basics of ‘mindfulness’ as a useful approach to help our clients when job searching and for life in general?

You don’t have to spend hours meditating to be totally in the moment. Often the path to mindfulness is brief, simple, and even unexpected.

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My wife asked for an adult coloring book for Christmas this year. I had no idea what that was, but she has one now…and she loves it! Why? I believe it has to do with mindfulness. Being present in the moment. No technology. Tactile. She has to focus which clears her mind. It can be challenging.

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2016 My Three Words

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I have been inspired by Chris Brogan’s blog that he has been doing for ten years where he chooses 3 words to guide him through his year. I have also spoken with my good friend Sabrina Woods about this in the past and decided that this year was my year to do this.

New Year’s resolutions and goals are great but I really like Chris Brogan’s idea of choosing three words that you can remember and that guide you in your decisions and thoughts throughout the year. As I approach my 4th anniversary of full-time with Peak-Careers Consulting, this exercise “feels” right to me. I’ve learned so much about owning my own business since 2012 and each year gets clearer to me. Each year I’ve grown and I can only hope that 2016 continues to that trend.

Here are my three words and what they mean to me.

  • HEALTH
  • FOCUS
  • MINDFULNESS
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If you are happier will it lead you to your “purpose”?

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My wife thinks I was crazy to register for a college class right now with all that I have to do. She’s right of course. But I could not stop myself from registering for my first MOOC* on the Science of Happiness. (*Massive Open Online Course.) UC-Berkeley stated that over 10,000 people had signed up. I can guarantee you there are not 10,000 in week 7. (I am in week 7, but the class is in week 8.)

Studying happiness with research and science to back it up has been wonderful. What has been more amazing is how intertwined this is with discovering your “purpose” in life. As a career coach or career counselor, here are three specific things you can do to help your students/clients to be happier and three things to think about in helping them discover purpose and meaning in their lives.

Research shows that happiness has a “set point” in all of us at about 50%. This means that we are born with a certain happiness set point that is not moveable. 10% of our happiness is our environment, where we live, with whom we live & work, etc.. This leaves a WHOPPING 40% that we actually have control over! Yahoo! Here are three action steps you can take to increase your happiness that I have learned in the class I do not have time for 🙂

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About Jim Peacock

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Jim Peacock is an award-winning career development specialist and owner of Peak-Careers. He has more than 25 years of experience giving career advisors and counselors the tools to help their clients see that they have choices and that—with a little support—they can find the work they love to do.

He is on the National Career Development Association (NCDA) registry as a Facilitating Career Development (FCD) Instructor, and is a dynamic trainer, consultant and speaker. Jim specializes in helping career development professionals improve their career advising skills for a more holistic approach to addressing the needs of their students and clients.

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Listen to this Virginia Franco Podcast who interviewed Jim on career tips, his intentional serendipity philosophy, and even talked about how to avoid the ‘vortex of negativity’ in the career development process. PODCAST

Where Jim Started

Jim knows well the winding road people can take on their way to a job doing what they most love. He started college studying forestry when an “accidental” job as resident assistant in the dorms got him excited about working with students in a college setting. He found that he loved it.

Since then, he has used his extensive career development and training skills in a wide variety of higher educations settings, from a 2-year community college and a small, 4-year liberal arts college to large public and private universities.

Where Jim Is Today

Helping career professionals with their own professional development for better client results.

These days Jim is a teacher and facilitator who is passionate about helping people find what it is they love to do—what lights them up. As the former Director of the Advising, Career and Transfer Center at Kennebec Valley Community College, he has helped hundreds of students as the campus’s career and transfer counselor and academic advisor. He has also worked part-time in the career centers at Bates College and Colby College here in Maine.

After working with college students for years, Jim decided that he could touch even more students’ lives by also providing quality professional development for people who work in the field of career counseling / coaching.

Since then, he has trained hundreds of career development professionals to improve their career coaching /counseling skills and services to better support their clients’ career decisions.

As a former academic advisor, Jim believes that career and academic advising are intertwined, that all academic advisors are also career development facilitators and that most college students need career information, but do not always know where to go to access it. He is convinced that if advisors have the right resources, they can successfully guide, nudge and support students in their journey.

7 Things You Might Not Know About Jim

  1. His teaching philosophy is: “Provide people with practical quality information that they can use; make them laugh, and they will remember it.”
  2. He plays hockey 2-3 times a week in the winter months.
  3. His unfinished to-do list includes finishing the book he started on his year of travel through New Zealand and Australia, and someday getting back to New Zealand.
  4. As a survivor of a near-death experience, he is passionate about making his life count by impacting other people’s lives
  5. He has backpacked over 1,600 miles of the Mexico-to-Canada Pacific Crest Trail and figures he will be 150 years old by the time he completes the journey 🙂
  6. On a Saturday, you might find Jim hanging out with his wife: fishing, kayaking, camping, and enjoying the outdoors, or enjoying a live theatre performance.
  7. Jim and his wife Deborah have three grown sons.

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Education and Credentials

Masters Degree in Education, Oregon State University, 1983
Bachelors Degree in Forestry, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 1979
Certification: Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF), Certified Career Services Provider (CCSP)
NCDA approved FCD-Instructor

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Awards

  • National Career Development Association (NCDA) Outstanding Career Practitioner of the Year Award, 2007
  • National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Region 1 Best of the Region Conference Presenter, 2008
  • NACADA Region 1 Academic Excellence in Advising Award, 2005

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Leadership and Affiliations

  • Training & Education Council (TEC) member for the National Career Development Association (2016-2019) Formerly known as the CDF Advisory Council.
  • Past President, Maine Career Development Association (MCDA) 2004-05 and again 2013-15
  • Career and Academic Advising expert, National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Consultants and Speakers Service
  • Member, Maine Career Development Association (MCDA)
  • Member, National Career Development Association (NCDA)
  • Member, National Academic Advising Association (NACADA)
  • Member, Middle Atlantic Career Counseling Association (MACCA)
  • Past President, Maine School Counselor Association (MESCA) (1996-99)

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Publishing Credits

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Presentations at Conferences

Jim has been a conference presenter for more than 25 years. A sampling of recent presentations:

  • Using cards sorts to help our clients move forward…An organic approach to career development
  • How to help your client develop their ‘value-added statement’
  • How we can help our clients navigate their transitions successfully
  • Happenstance Happens. How Can We Help Clients Choose Majors / and Occupations Using Happenstance?
  • Can an “ENFP” Be a Forester?
  • How to Choose a Major by Accident
  • Providing Quality—and Affordable—Career Services to Your client
  • Using Career Assessments Appropriately to Help Students Choose a Career or Major
  • Understanding How Career Development Connects to Academic Advising
  • Career Advising Case Studies: Solving the Case

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