Burned out and thinking about for a kindler, gentler job? Read this article by CNBC

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45859959?slide=1

Lindsey is a career and employment transition specialist for Metropolitan State College of Denver’s Alumni Relations office.  An east coast transplant, Lindsey grew up in Gainesville, FL before she received her BS in Communication from Boston College and, most recently, a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Georgia.

While she began her career in recruiting, Lindsey found her skills easily translated into the field of career services.  Her industry experience in recruitment combined with her background in education provide her with the unique ability to both understand the complexity of the job search and communicate it effectively to her clients. She has extensive coaching, planning and facilitation experience with hundreds of clients across the country.

Lindsey serves CAREER-Magic clients through resume and cover letter interviewing and editing.  Lindsey looks forward to working with you and helping you to achieve your personal and professional goals!

by Tom LaRotonda

As we are now a few weeks into the new year, you might be noticing that the excitement of your resolutions is hitting its first wave of resistance. That is not a bad thing. It is actually a very GOOD sign for it means that the resolutions you chose are truly on the mark. Where there is resistance, there is opportunity.

Now before you leap to the conclusion that I endorse leading a life of always looking for obstacles to run head first into, allow me to explain. It is not the external situation that is the wall or the resisting force. Nothing of this world has the power to become the wall, unless you allow it to. The wall is totally inside your mind. You have designed the wall according to the blueprint of your existing life perspective. The brick and mortar that comprises the wall are supplied by the old beliefs and patterns that have produced unfavorable results thus far in your life. The wall you are facing will seem quite familiar as you are the master craftsman of its design!

The resistance you are feeling is a billboard that reads, “Warning: To go further requires courage, commitment, discipline and a whole new way of thinking and Being!” It signals you that your ego has been alerted about your chosen path to your Greatness. Its mission, which is to keep you off the Greatness track, has been threatened and the troops have been rallied to attack the enemy. In this case, the enemy is your new desire and conviction.

For most of us, the way we were taught to combat resistance is to work harder. Sayings such as, “No pain, no gain” and “Keep your nose to the grindstone” are strong beliefs that permeate our western mass conscious. Understandably so, as they have created enough success in our lives that to challenge them seems sacrilegious. Yet at what opportunity cost and impact to our well being and wholeness does that lack of challenge bring?

Is it possible that the courage, commitment and discipline the resistance is calling forth pertain instead to how well we utilize our mind to direct our thoughts and consciously connect with our Highest Self to access Source energy? Is it possible the sayings are very wise; and we just never bothered to clarify exactly how they were meant? What if the first human being who thought up the quote, simply mispronounced harder for smarter or wiser. Wouldn’t that be a riot!

Resistance announces that an opportunity is at hand. What is the opportunity? It is a golden opportunity to shift the focus from the illusionary outer wall to the real inner wall. It is an opportunity to take down the real wall forevermore. It is an opportunity to transform our lives and become a powerful creator versus a helpless victim. It is an opportunity to add wisdom, calm, intuition and right-minded thinking to the values of being strong willed, determined and blindly ambitious.

Resistance tells us it is time to slow down, reassess, relax, reconnect, and let go. By letting go I don’t mean to abandon the path. I mean to let go of your fears, old patterns and beliefs that have solidified your inner wall.

The moment I become aware of strong inner resistance I step back and find a quiet place to contemplate. My first question is always, “What is the thought that is currently dominating my perspective about the situation?” My example is maintaining a writing routine. The thought that most often appears as my wall of resistance is, “Who cares what you think about life Tom!” My wall has nothing to do with time management or other things going on in my life. My wall IS that one powerful thought; despite the fact that I have all kinds of evidence which says people do care. Yet at that moment, I have blinded myself to the helpful evidence. Once I challenge that thought, the resistance immediately starts to melt away. If it doesn’t then I continue the process of examining my thoughts until the resistance begins to soften.

My inspiration to you this day is to learn to appreciate and properly utilize your resistance. It is one of your greatest allies whose mission is to help you claim your Greatness. With resistance comes great opportunity for success and fulfillment!

Blessings ~ Tom

For more background on Tom LaRotonda go to:

www.tomlarotonda.com

To Subscribe to the Core Reflections Blog

http://blog.tomlarotonda.com

by Katie B. Smith

How will you make 2012 a great year?  I believe the New Year is not just about meeting goals but rather, positioning oneself properly to attract opportunity, joy and results in an easy and effortless manner.  For me it always starts with letting go of the old and making space for the new.  By space I mean physical and mental space. I clean out old files, put new systems in place, maybe even purchase new office furniture or clean out the office to create space and energy for the new business that awaits me in the New Year. I also like to color-code my calendar for the year and schedule vacations first (so I am sure to make time for them), then client time, workouts, marketing time, down time, and anything that is important for me to have a balanced life and experience less stress.

Once my calendar is set, I have a clear idea of where I need to put my time and energy to generate the results I want in my business and my life. I no longer take up my mind space thinking about scheduling and time management. My mind is free to focus on what really matters and I have the space to do so. I call these tasks part of my business operations infrastructure.  To work efficiently and effectively it is important to put your internal and external infrastructure in place. Like building a house, you have to set up the framework before adding the rooms, floors, windows, etc.  Setting up the operations of any business is a key to experiencing more productivity and results. This can also apply to your home—clearing out what no longer serves you or your family to make way for the new that awaits you.  And by clearing out and building infrastructure, you actually help new opportunities arrive.

It’s difficult getting back into the work schedule after being on holiday and saying goodbye to the past year. But what a gift to reflect on what worked and what could be improved, and then set up your internal and external space to reflect that. I can’t think of a better way to position yourself for ease and success than creating the space for opportunities to find you.

While we all have to do our due diligence, it helps to create an atmosphere inside and outside of yourself that reflects who you are and what you aim to gain in the next year.  You will be amazed at the clarity of your thinking, your insights, and the ease of results when you focus on your infrastructure.  It’s what creating the life and work you want is all about.

So how will you make 2012 a great year?  I encourage you to take one small step this month to strengthen your infrastructure and create space so you can attract all the new opportunities that await you.

Work & Live Well,

Katie

www.katiebsmith.com

303-955-0367

What’s the Caffeinated Careers Club?

Caffeinated Careers Club in Arvada is one of the Denver metro area’s longest-running job search club. Often imitated, but never matched!

At the Caffeinated Careers Club, we network, share advice, job leads, resources, and encouragement. Facilitated by job search expert Tracy Laswell Valdez, is positive, businesslike, uplifting, and focused. Established October 1999 and going strong, with typical attendance of 30+ individuals.

Cost: $1.00.

Dress: Business casual, accessorized with a smile.

RSVP: We use Meetup.com for RSVPs and to share meeting minutes (uploaded under files), click here to join Caffeinated Careers Club (Arvada) on Meetup. Info on meeting process and protocol is listed here as well. When you RSVP, add your target job titles and target companies to the comments.

We also have a LinkedIn group to share job search resources, click here to join.

More Info: Call Tracy Laswell Valdez at 303-424-1700.

Caffeinated Careers Club Meetup

A career Marketing and Advertising Manager, Laura has called Denver, Colorado her home for 34 years. She earned her BA degree from Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York with emphasis on English writing and composition and a strong secondary focus to communications.

Among the highlights of her business career, Laura has worked for the A.C. Nielsen Company in Media Research and for the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency as a Marketing Specialist. She led the customer service direction for a Denver-based property and casualty insurance company coupled with managing their advertising and marketing platform and facilitating their field agency and CSR training. As a Marketing and Communications company business owner for over 10 years, Laura developed strategic marketing plans and advertising programs to assist fellow entrepreneurs in meeting their sales and service goals. She rounded out her marketing experience by serving in the retail sector as a Cosmetics Business Manager and as a Starbucks Retail Store Manager, based to be the Community Involvement Coordinator for her district.

Laura serves CAREER-Magic clients resume interviewing and resume editing, as well as career event facilitation. With a special talent in networking, she looks forward to offering you her passion for promoting and marketing your individual talents to achieve your dream career.

Have you ever realized how many forms of communication there are? We speak and we have body language, but we also have our own thoughts, dreams, intuition, and the ability to listen to ourselves internally. All of this encompasses communication.  Communication is about transmitting or exchanging information.  How effective are you in communicating, both with others and with yourself?  How often do you actually listen to your voice of intuition and inner guidance?

To me, effective communication means being truthful and direct with an open heart, and keeping our word. Many people feel compelled to communicate when they are angry and off-balance. But maybe it would be better to remain silent during those times, and instead, open up when we are feeling empowered, secure and balanced. Imagine how interactions might look if we only communicated from a place of feeling balanced, rather than upset.

Effective communication also encompasses the ability to listen. It is when we listen and turn off our responses that we are fully engaged with another person. It takes practice to listen effectively, and some don’t feel comfortable articulating the truth of what they mean or are not conscious of what lies under the words they speak. But with practice, you’ll learn to tell the difference between what someone is saying and what they really mean. After all, talking takes energy, so why not conserve our energy and practice listening?

Likewise, have you ever been in a conversation where you or the other party doesn’t stop talking? You continue to talk about your expertise, your successes, and are not engaged in what the other person is saying but rather, in what you will say next. When we compete with the other party, we show our insecurities by needing to justify ourselves. We communicate from a place of ego instead of heart. However, when we fully accept who we are, we don’t need to justify or share our victories because we are at peace with ourselves and what we know. There is no competition to prove we are better than the people around us because we are more open and engaged in the moment.

This topic is near and dear to my heart, perhaps because I raised a hearing impaired daughter to talk—and she taught me how to listen. I learned a lot about communication through her journey into the speaking world. She lost her hearing at 17 months and our journey in learning to talk and listen began. She is 23 years old now and an amazing communicator, with herself and others. I am in awe at her ability and how much she has taught me to listen and to honor the amazing gift of communication that we all have. She has taught me that the ability to communicate effectively takes commitment, practice, and the awareness to choose how we speak and listen. So I invite you to honor your ability to communicate this next month.

What is one small step you can take to become a more effective communicator?  Maybe it is being silent instead of always talking. Maybe it is listening more deeply to your inner guidance, or maybe it is being quiet when you are upset, rather than dredging it all up to someone near and dear. You could even try speaking up at a meeting in which you would normally sit back. Whatever comes to mind in this moment as you read this, take note. It just takes willingness to shift one small habit to enhance our awareness of how we communicate. Like everything we learn, it takes awareness and practice. And we can’t change how we communicate until we begin making small changes in how we experience ourselves.

Enjoy this wonderful season and listen to the sounds of fall all around you.

Live Well,

Katie

If you find this information valuable, please forward to a colleague or friend that may benefit from it.

If you are interested in learning about your personal communication style and how to exercise it with those around you, please contact me for a personal communication styles inventory assessment and consultation at katie@katiebsmith.com

My associate Allison went to the gym today, and found in the October 2011 edition of O an enormously useful article…”How to Spark A Breakthrough.” I love the title!

Briefly summarized below are a few of the 9 steps offered in the article, in bold, for you to apply to any situation you want to transform, be it a job search, the next step in your career, or building your business. My thoughts on how to implement the steps are included.

Go Public - Share your vision with others, especially the ones in your life who will cheer you on and hold you accountable.

Join the Club – No matter what your goal, there is almost certainly a local club or at very least, an online club, of people who share your interests who want to support you. If you’re looking for work in the Denver area, you might want to check out this club – Caffeinated Careers Club

Confront the Risks: In a job search, there are risks like reaching out to strangers by telephone only to be rejected. These risks, however terrifying, pale in comparison to the prospect of extended unemployment.

Rely on the Kindness of Strangers: To the cynics in the room, I say that I have witnessed many times how much others want to help you. Be open to contributions from others. Allow them the grace of contributing to your well-being. Everyone wins!

Read the full article here: http://lindsyvangelder.com/sites/default/files/OPR100111WWOW-Spark_lo.pdf

Pay it Forward: The Great Glass Elevator Speech
Why the ‘Traditional Elevator Speech’ Leads Nowhere
by Dale L. Jones, Strategic Advantage
Public Relations and Marketing Communications
(303) 818-0210
www.strategicadvantage.ws

As a marketing and communication professionals, we’re frequently asked by nervous entrepreneurs and professionals headed to networking meetings about the best way to put together an “Elevator Speech”.

Fear not! Surprisingly and simply Willy Wonka has the answer.

First, let’s define an Elevator Speech.

Wikipedia says:
“An elevator pitch (or elevator speech or statement) is a short summary used to quickly and simply define a product, service, or organization and its value proposition.

The name “elevator pitch” reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver the summary in the time span of an elevator ride, or approximately thirty seconds to two minutes.”

Back to Willy Wonka, the fictional character originally played by Gene Wilder and later Johnny Depp in the 1964 Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Incredibly, Wonka depicted the best way to begin thinking about effective ‘elevator speeches’ in his description of the Great Glass Elevator, which he called the Wonkavator.

Willy Wonka:  “This is the great glass Wonkavator.”

Grandpa Joe:  “It’s an elevator.”

Willy Wonka:  “It’s a Wonkavator. An elevator can only go up and down, but the Wonkavator can go sideways and slantways and longways and backways…”

Charlie:  “And frontways?”

Willy Wonka:  “…and squareways and front ways and any other ways that you can think of. ……”

To be effective, think in terms of your creating a Great Glass Elevator Speech that moves up, down, sideways, slantways, longways, backways, frontways, squareways.

Instead of a Traditional one-way Elevator Speech which proceeds only from the speaker to the captive, often dismissive listener.

Let’s look at a few reasons traditional one-way elevator speeches potentially do more harm than good.

1. You have no idea if the person you’re talking to is in your niche or target market or remotely interested in your product or service.

2. If you do not know your audience, it is near impossible to provide value to them through your words. The key is to get to know your audience with a Glass Elevator Speech; not to just let them know you.

3. You are at a networking event with the express purpose of connecting with others. Regurgitating a memorized canned speech is not connecting.

4. Find out more about the person in which you are sharing. Be interested in the other person in the conversation instead of trying to be interesting.
The key is your connection with people. By definition, communication is between two or more people – listening, sharing ideas and forging bonds to attain a more substantive or positive end. When you truly listen and share with one another, good things happen.

So how do you create ‘The Great Glass Elevator Speech’?

1. Concise: Being able to boil your purpose down to a few words is a worthy exercise. Then,

2. Listen, observe, and comment as needed.

3. Find out more about the person in which you are sharing. Be interested in the other person in the conversation instead of trying to be interesting.

4. Be willing to go up, down, sideways, slantways and longways: Once you learn about the other person, you can tailor your “what do you do” response to meet their needs and interests.

5. Be Memorable for What You Don’t Say. Instead of tooting your own horn, encourage people to talk about their issues. Clients care about their own problems and how to solve them.

6. Answer with Questions. A well-timed, insightful question will have a big impact on a person.

7. Share for free: Provide examples, suggestions, help, or ideas on the spot.

8. Respect: Remember you are connecting with a person. Not a prospect. Not a hot lead. Be genuine. The person you’re talking with deserves your full respect and attention.

We are not talking about a one-way marketing message – instead an effective two-way conversation between you and another person. Stop thinking of every single meeting as a prospective business endeavor and begin to think about helping another through meaningful discourse.

People love to be listened to…Think about it.

You know when someone really hears what you say. By listening, you will understand their problem and in a position to know if you can help. Often that means you’ll be suggesting a resource or another person who can do what needs to be done, with no benefit to you. Either way, you are both in a better situation if you’ve used the Great Glass Elevator Speech vs. the Traditional Elevator Speech.

The key is the listener will be left with an understanding that you truly care about solving their challenge, vs. simply trying to sell them something.

(Shared with express written consent of the author!)