• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • FCD Career Class
  • Online Learning
    • Info about Online Seminars
    • 12 Month Calendar
    • Building Your Coaching Business
    • Social Media Strategies for Career Practitioners
    • Understanding Holland Interest Theory and Practical Applications
    • EQ at Work: Emotional Intelligence for Career Practitioners
    • Career Readiness for Justice-Involved Citizens: Factors, methods, and insights
    • Career Advising Using Happenstance
    • Transition Theory in Career Advising
    • LinkedIn: Advancing Your Skills
    • Finding Purpose: Working with Clients To Find Meaningful Work
    • Career & Educational Choices After High School
  • Workshops & Training
Peak Careers

Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

  • About
    • About Peak-Careers
    • About Jim Peacock
    • Meet The Team
    • Peak-Careers Advisory Board
    • Privacy Policy
  • Shop
    • Field Guide BOOK
    • The Adventure of Finding Me in New Zealand
    • Career Poster
    • Webinars
      • WEBINAR: Mindfulness, Positive Psychology & Neuroscience to Help Yourself & Your Students/Clients
      • How To Successfully Build Your LinkedIn Network and Beyond
      • How To Successfully Work With Recruiters
      • WEBINAR: Creating a Value-Added Resume
      • Develop Confidence in Clients
      • Linkedin Train-the-Trainer
      • Develop Value-Added Statements
  • Resources
    • Career blogs
    • Book Reviews
    • Interviews
      • INTERVIEW: Choosing 3 Words to Guide You
      • INTERVIEW: With a Few Book Lovers
      • INTERVIEW: Brand Yourself On LinkedIn
      • INTERVIEW: Staffing & Recruiting Agencies
      • INTERVIEW: Would You Benefit from Hiring a Business Coach?
      • INTERVIEW – Creating the Conversation Using Card Sorts
      • INTERVIEW: TED Talks for Career Practitioners
      • INTERVIEW: What is Mindfulness and Why Should Career Practitioners Care?
      • INTERVIEW: My Three Words to Guide Me in 2019
      • INTERVIEW: Reading Books for Professional Development
  • Contact

goals

My Three Words in 2023 to Guide Me

January 9, 2023 by Jim Peacock 4 Comments

My 2023 words did not come as easily to me as they had in the past. As always, I did a tech-free retreat to get out of my house, slow down, write, and think. This was a good starting point, and I felt like two words stood out for me. But the third word had been elusive, so I waited.

Journaling helps. Reading helps. Thinking helps. Slowing down helps.

Probably one of the best things I did this fall was to read Brene Brown’s book,  Atlas of the Heart. I love how she broke down so many emotions and explained some of the subtle differences. It’s possible that all three words this year are because of this book. Yes, I had been thinking about some of them, but the book clarified what they mean to me and encouraged me to think deeper about them.

I struggled with the third word until one day when I sat down, pulled out my pen and journal, and just free-wrote for a few minutes:

I want to keep writing ◊ I want to stay humble ◊ I want to keep helping career coaches ◊ I want to slow down ◊ I want to keep working ◊ I want to keep playing ◊ I want to keep learning ◊ I want humor in my life ◊ I want to be outdoors as much as possible.

What I discovered was that the free writing confirmed the three words I had been considering…and it felt great. So much of this process is trusting my instincts and being authentic. So here are my three words for 2023 and why I chose them.

Joy

As I read Brene’s book, her definition of the word joy really stood out for me. It is “the good mood of the soul” and an intense feeling of deep spiritual connection, pleasure, and appreciation. While experiencing joy, we don’t lose ourselves, we become more truly ourselves. 

She talks about how joy and gratitude are closely connected and can create an “intriguing upward spiral.” The opposite of what I call the “vortex of negativity” when people focus on the negative and all that happens is they get more and more negativity.

Gratitude was one of my 2019 words, and I’ve discovered that my yearly words never really leave me. I try to spend time thinking daily about what I am grateful for. So when I read about the connection between joy and gratitude it really resonated with me. Probably the phrase that really hits home for me is “good mood of the soul.” Yeah, I want some of that every day!

Orange flower with green background and the words, exploration, humility, and joy

Humility

Although I list it here as second, this was the final word I chose. It didn’t really make the list until I did my journal purge and it came out almost immediately. Maybe it’s because I was just visiting my 96-year-old dad in Michigan and have watched him deteriorate from a healthy, vibrant, intelligent, successful man to his small world today. But he still remains thankful and gracious for all Jean (his wife) does for him and for all the times his children visit or call.

I’ve also seen some people in various fields who think they know everything. I am not one of those people and never want to be. I always feel like I have more to learn and that I am never the smartest person in the room. I might have more knowledge about a topic than others, but there is so much to know about any subject and there are so many people I know in the career field doing great work. I never want to lose my humility.

In Atlas of the Heart Brene describes humility  as “openness to new learning combined with a balanced and accurate assessment of our contributions, including our strengths, imperfections, and opportunities for growth.” And most impactful is this quote: 

“I’m here to get it right, not to be right.”

Exploration

This is an interesting word for me that has many meanings already. The word brings with it more questions than answers. Where do I want to spend my time this year? How can I explore new ways of working less while still providing quality? What are some ways to grow Peak-Careers in areas in which I want to do more in? (i.e. workshops) How are all my roles in life going to grow (husband, father, grandfather, mentor, friend)?

Exploration could be my continued effort to explore my 2022 word, balance. This past year I worked to balance my life more by looking at work and life. Exploration seems to be less about balance and more about exploring options to keep my brain growing, me learning, and experiencing new experiences.

We have some travel plans this year too and my curiosity about cultures and meeting new people is always strong. Exploring new environments, a new backpacking trip someplace, and the always present book on my shelf, seems to fit me well for now.

———————– 

If you have tried the New Year’s Resolutions and they have not worked well for you,  you may want to try this activity of choosing three words to guide you each year. You can watch some interviews and read some blogs I’ve written on this topic here https://peak-careers.com/?s=three+words 

My strongest piece of advice is to write them down regularly. Not just print them off and post them, but to physically write them down with a writing utensil. There is something kinesthetically magical about that process where it seems to embed the word in my head better when I write it.

Below are my past words. FYI, I feel like they don’t ever leave me, they just are not forefront in my thinking.

2016 – Health ★ Mindfulness ★ Focus

2017 – Intentional ★ Authentic ★ Wellness

2018 – Reach ★ Capacity ★ Consistency

2019 – Reflection ★ Purposeful ★ Gratitude

2020 – Philanthropy ★ Rebalance ★ Strategic

2021 – Be ★ Kindness ★ Understanding

2022 – Community ★ Balance ★ Positivity

If you have chosen three words to guide you for the year, I’d love to hear what they are and what they mean to you.

Watch this interview with three of us talking about our Three Words to Guide Us in 2023


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: goals, reflection, three words to guide me

INTERVIEW: Our 3 Guiding Words for 2022

January 17, 2022 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

Another Peak-Careers INTERVIEW  talking about what are our three words to guide us are in 2022? Why do this? and How do we do it?

In 2016 I heard about Chris Brogan’s annual activity he did choosing 3 words to guide him throughout the year. Ever since then I have been choosing my words, writing them down in my journal daily, posting them in front of me, and thinking about them every day. Since then, a number of people in my network have joined me in this yearly process.

Guests today are (Sue) Soon-Lan Lee Switzer, a certified career development practitioner in Canada and Sheila Taylor,  a nationally certified career counselor.

*Read my blog on my 3 words. (Read Now)

Watch / Listen Now

Bio’s

Sue. Her full name is Soon-Lan Lee Switzer was born and raised in Korea and moved to Canada in November 2007. Sue is a certified career development practitioner, human resources management, and essential skills training as working at a college on the west coast of Canada as an educator and research project facilitator. Sue is currently completing her own studies in the field of student-centered leadership in higher education. Sue serves as Vice President of the United Nations Association of Canada in the Vancouver region. Sue is highly dedicated in the community to achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. [Her words are Hope, Presence, and Connection].

Sheila Taylor is a nationally certified career counselor. She works with high school and college students, and early career clients that are struggling to identify their vocation. By helping her clients move from frustration and confusion to become energized and hopeful, they are empowered to pursue careers that complement their strengths. For leisure, she and her husband enjoy traveling in a small RV in search of beautiful vistas and hiking trails. [Her words are Finish, Optimism, and Community].


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: Interviews Tagged With: 3 Words, goals, three words

My Three Guiding Words in 2022

January 3, 2022 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

A couple of weeks ago, I took my “tech-free retreat” which I try to fit in monthly. My focus was on choosing my three guiding words for the upcoming year. December’s retreat was scheduled on a day that turned out to be our first real snowstorm of the year. Hence, it became a half-day retreat, not my typical full day one. I’ve lost access to an office I was using for my retreats, so I spent the morning at Selah Tea Cafe downtown Waterville where I worked on my three words for 2022.

I had planned to move to my other favorite coffee shop, Jorgenson’s Cafe, at noon, but they closed early. My next back up plan was to hang out in the Waterville Public Library on the 3rd floor which has a wonderful room with lots of windows looking over downtown Waterville…but alas, they closed due to the storm as well.

All was not lost as I still did lots of thinking and writing, and came up with my three guiding words for the year.

First off, let me share my words from past years. Each word still resonates with me at some level. They were important to me then and still are now as a clue to who I am and who I want to be.

2016 – Health ★ Mindfulness ★ Focus

2017 – Intentional ★ Authentic ★ Wellness

2018 – Reach ★ Capacity ★ Consistency

2019 – Reflection ★ Purposeful ★ Gratitude

2020 – Philanthropy ★ Rebalance ★ Strategic

2021 – Be ★ Kindness ★ Understanding

Here are my three guiding words for 2022 and a little of the reasoning behind each one.

Three Guiding Words: Balance Positivity Community

Balance

In 2020 I used “rebalance” which is similar, but as I looked ahead to 2022 and reflected back on 2021, I kept coming back to the guiding word of “balance.” A few years ago I was trying to rebalance, to make a bigger change. Now looking at this word the meaning feels more like balancing with smaller more permanent changes.

Like a few years ago, I am still interested in reducing the actual number of hours I spend working each week. My wife retired this past year and I am trying hard to spend more time with her. We have already gone to a number of matinees during the week, and occasionally taken some time off “just to hang out.” I want to explore this balance more in the upcoming year while continuing to add value in the career field.

Positivity

Ted Lasso inspired me on this one. Special thanks to my backpacking buddy, Howard who turned me on to the Ted Lasso show in September. I came home from our backpacking trip in Vermont and my wife and I watched both seasons this fall.

Ted Lasso is positive, unassuming, funny, and has a HUGE heart. Each episode had me laughing, crying, and often surprised at what happened.

Humor has always been a big part of my life. I want to BE a positive influence on others and I want to be as upbeat as I can every day. Life is too short to be any other way and the past couple of years have been difficult daily to navigate…sometimes I just have to stop reading articles and move on.

Community

As I think back to what I loved working on this past year, I found myself reflecting on the many zoom calls with people in the career field, many of who were thinking about going into private practice or exploring their own career development related to our field. I really want to continue to help other career practitioners and love the idea of figuring out where I want to spend my time in the career community.

I am also looking at my local community here in Central Maine to figure out where I might spend some time and energy. Of course, I also have a community of family, cousins, and friends that I want to continue to nurture.


In February I will share the process I used in choosing these three guiding words. Yes, it happened mostly on my retreat, but this year I did something a little different. I will also write more about what each word means to me in the coming months.

Have you chosen three guiding words for 2022?

If so, what are they and what do they mean to you?

Read how I choose my words this year.


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: 3 Words, goals, purpose, three words

Interview: Visioning Your Future

July 19, 2021 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

Today I ask our experts:
Why is it so important to take the time to envision the next 3-5 years
as a person or a business?

What recommendations do you have for people who want to do this exercise?

My guests today are Sabrina Woods, Holistic Career Coach, LinkedIn Trainer & Consultant and Megan Piper,  Principal of Piper Consulting helping leaders clarify their vision and create traction through building a healthy company. Both Sabrina and Megan help people and businesses envision their future. 

I attended Sabrina Woods’ annual retreat “Going Beyond New Year’s Resolutions: A Retreat to Reflect on What Matters this past January and I also had the pleasure of attending Megan’s workshop she did for the Maine Association of Training & Development this spring. Both were enlightening and helped me look forward in my personal and work like.

*See my blog on my why I take monthly tech-free retreats

Visioning Your Future

BIO’s

Sabrina Woods is a Holistic Career Coach, LinkedIn Trainer & Consultant. She has 20 years of experience in the career services field including work at Harvard and Northeastern University. She is also the president of the Career Counselors Consortium professional association based out of Boston.  For more info: www.sabrina-woods.com or www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinawoods.

Megan Piper is an Entrepreneurial Operating System Implementer helping leaders clarify their vision and create traction through building a healthy company. She instills purpose, accountability, and discipline, and provides tools to measure progress against meaningful metrics. Megan is uniquely qualified to advise organizations with years of executive experience across diverse environments, from IT to e-commerce, healthcare to non-profits. 
https://piperconsultingco.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganpiper/


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 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. 

Peak-Careers logo

Note: Featured image Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: goals, visioning, visioning the future

INTERVIEW: My Three Words to Guide Me in 2019

January 21, 2019 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

Another Peak-Careers Interview

Three Words to Guide Me in 2019:
Why, How, and What for..

I have been choosing three words to guide me now since 2016 and my guest has been doing it for a few more years. Learn Why, How, we choose words and then listen to the words we both choose and the meaning they bring to us.

My guest today is Scott Woodard. Scott is an executive and career coach. (see full bio below)

What we will explore today:

  • Why do you choose 3 words to guide you?
  • How do you do it?
  • What are you 3 words and why?

Look for my blogs on this same topic at 3-Words Blog

Scott Woodard

Scott is an executive and career coach. He frames issues so people can take action and achieve their goals. He works with individuals and teams to see new patterns and create alternative ways to move forward. Scott has coached people from all walks of life: corporate executives and elected officials challenged to transform their organizations; Boomers trying to determine the “second acts” of their life, and new graduates starting out in their first career.

You can reach him at [email protected]
Learn more about him at www.scottwoodardcoaching.com

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly career news 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

Sign up 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. https://peak-careers.com

Peak Careers - Professional Development for Careers

Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: 3 words to guide me, goals, inspiration, my 3 words, new years resolution

INTERVIEW: With Chris Brogan on choosing 3 words to guide you

January 15, 2018 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

INTERVIEW with Chris Brogan

I had the pleasure to interview Chris Brogan from Owner New Media Group who has been doing this practice of annuallychoosing 3 words to guide him. He’s been doing this now since 2006.

– Do you struggle with New Year’s Resolutions?
– Do you find developing goals to be cumbersome?

Learn more about “Why and How” Chris chooses three words each year to guide him

Look for my blog on this same topic https://peak-careers.com/3-words-to-guide-me/


Chris Brogan

BIO: CHRIS BROGAN provides strategy and skills for the modern business. He is CEO of Owner Media Group, a sought after public speaker, and the New York Times bestselling author of nine books and working on his tenth. Ask him about it!
He offers webinars, courses, podcasts, and great advice.
Learn more about him at chrisbrogan.com

Learn more about Jim Peacock and Peak-Careers Consulting at https://Peak-Careers.com

Special thanks to Chris Brogan for doing this interview

Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: chris brogan, goals, my 3 words, new years resolution

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Footer

Connect With Jim

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Career Practitioners Subscribe Today

Sign up for "the Top 10 Tips When Working With an Undecided Person" and also receive a weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more SUBSCRIBE

Copyright © 2023 Peak Careers

Subscribe

Sign up here to receive my  “TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON”. 

You can also receive our weekly career practitioners email which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. 

Subscribe Today