S.M.A.R.T. vs. S.M.A.R.T.E.R Goal Setting

For many of us, September is the new January when it comes to career and business planning. The seasons change and we head in to winter; kids go back to school and people begin to think about what is next? Of course, I make my living supporting people with career or business goals (and love doing it!) but also deeply believe that people should understand how to set and track their own goals. You may have worked with the concept of setting S.M.A.R.T goals in the past. But in case you haven’t, the acronym refers to:

Specific: The more specific you are in defining your goal, the easier it will be to chart an action plan. An easy way to ensure a goal is specific is to use the “6 Ws” as a means to qualify your goal: Who is involved? What do I want to accomplish? Where will this take place? When will this take place? Which constraints or obstacles may be involved? Why would this goal enhance my life?

Measurable: The easiest way to ensure that a goal is measurable is to ask yourself, “How will I know my goal is accomplished?” Give quantities, schedules, dates etc.

Attainable: Make sure that it’s possible to achieve the goals you set. However, also resist the urge to set goals that are too easy. Try to strike the right balance between attainable/challenging and out of reach/unrealistic when you are charting out your goals.

Relevant: A simple way to ensure that the goal you set is relevant to you, it’s essential to ask, “Does this goal reflect my core values?”

Time Frame: The difference between a goal and an activity is that goals have deadlines. Set specific dates by which certain things must be accomplished in order to achieve your goal.

To make the goal setting process “smarter”, I have added the next two criteria:

Extended: The goal should stretch your capabilities and allow/empower you to grow as a person.

Rewarding: Know, and therefore be able to anticipate, what rewards await you as a result of completing your goal(s).

So, in honor of the season of planning set some S.M.A.R.T.E.R goals and see what happens. Happy new year!

Yes! Moments.

Part of a job search or deciding to change careers involves taking a look our past accomplishments. Typically, I ask coaching clients to outline work and accomplishment stories that we can later feature on resumes or in interviews. These stories often times hold the clues to what the person excels at, why they like the work they do, or, in other words, what lights them up.

What do I mean by accomplishment stories? Not just the times where you got accolades in a performance review but your “Yes” moments. Yes, I am good! Yes, I love my work! Yes, this is what was meant to be.

When you are looking at what you want to do next with your day job what matters more than what you’ve accomplished is what really lights you up. When in your life have you been strong? On fire? In the zone? What were you doing when you felt this? When have you felt a sense of pride and known you have done something well?

Examples from my life:

LIVING ALONE FOR THE FIRST TIME – I graduated from university and chose to live by myself in Vancouver with no roommates and no cable. This was a big deal for me as I am a highly social person who had (sometimes still has) difficulties being alone. What I learned during that living alone year in Vancouver is that I did not mind spending time on my own and I really did enjoy my own company. I developed hobbies and tried to spend quality time with myself. I worked through “the Artist Way.” I read more, wrote, and did lots of other creative projects. This lit me up as I really enjoyed the amount of time I spent being creative.

ACTING IN LIVE THEATRE – Up until I was 17, I took singing, dancing and acting lessons. The best part I got was playing Peter Pan. I loved acting and being on stage. For a long time, this was something I wanted to do as a career. Singing now still lights me up. Even if it’s just the Indigo Girls as a bedtime song or 80’s music as I drive to work.

MANAGING A TEAM AT AN EMPLOYMENT CENTRE – I am proud of the team I managed and the relationships I had with my staff. What lit me up? The relationships I built with people and the goals we achieved as a team. I tried to always work with integrity and respect even in difficult downsizing situations.

What do these stories say about me: I need a job where I can be creative, relationships are important to me and sometimes I still like to take the stage.

Now it’s your turn. Reflect on the proud moments you have had in your life and describe what you were doing – get specific about the situation that made you feel proud. It doesn’t matter whether these are professional or personal. In fact, don’t limit them to only professional endeavors. What matters is that you recognize and reflect on times you felt strong and bright from the inside out. Then, you go and do more of that.

Now what? How does this relate to what you want to do in your work and, more importantly, in your life? Make a list of career and life ‘must haves’: freedom to be creative, working alone or on a team, relationships are paramount, family, time with friends, a pet, hobbies, etc.

Take this list and start sketching out what your life and work looks like with these must haves in it. Structure your day, even if for now it is just in your imagination, around these values, and see what you come up with. Take this list/sketch to a coach to help you dream this into being.

Taming Our Limiting Beliefs

I work with an executive who is making six figures and supporting her family as a single mother, and has a value around stability, but she hates her job but really believes that she can’t leave it because of her family. Her perception is that she cannot make a VP salary at any other company. This is what she says stands in in her way of moving into fulfilling work.

Is this true? She asks… No, in watching the labor market and knowing her skills, education and background. My career coach instinct says this is not true. But we agree it is her limiting belief.

Of course, people who live in glass houses….

I also have limiting beliefs. I have wrestled constantly with my beliefs around being a working mother. I have limiting beliefs about my freedom being self-employed vs working inside a company.

Limiting beliefs are those which constrain us in some way. Just by believing them, we do not think, do or say the things that they inhibit.

We may have beliefs about rights, duties, abilities, permissions and so on. Limiting beliefs are often about ourselves and our self-identity. The beliefs may also be about other people and the world in general.

In any case, they sadly limit us.

Let’s look at eliminating beliefs and fear. Here are some simple steps:

1. Normalize your fear. Everyone has gremlins, inner critics and limiting beliefs. We all have them. This is what they sound like. These are the kinds of things they say to you. They say ‘you’re never going to get a job this good’ or ‘at your age, who’s going to hire you’. Or you can never make that kind of money doing xyz.

2. Shine a light on the critic, the limiting belief. When we shine a light on our particular variety of those critics and exactly what they’re saying to us we have some power around them and we have some choice around them. She could decide to stay at that job and that’s an absolutely okay choice, but choosing to stay and honoring her value of stability above all else is now a choice because she’s shined a light on the limiting belief and she’s named it and there’s power in that. She can powerfully choose that for herself and her family.

3. Learn how to quiet the gremlin. How do we move past them or around them? How do we work with them? I don’t think you get rid of them. They tend to diffuse when they get a little air time.

FIELD WORK: FIELD WORK: What your signature inner critic sound? What is the belief that you’re holding? How do you know if that’s true? Wanna chat it through? Give me a call.

Baby steps can change your career.

Happy New Year! There is always a lot of information in January about setting goals. With a career change it does not have to be a huge leap or a BIG GOAL. I promise. What if it just was a micro-movement that could change everything? Here is an example, I had a young client who was miserable at Starbucks. After some values work with me she moved to a small independent restaurant and she was more fulfilled. It wasn’t a different job description she needed but an environmental change.

Isn’t this great news? There may not be something wrong with your overall career choice.You might be able to make a small change to fix what is not working for you in your job.
For example, you may hate a part of your job that is only 10% of your time. Instead of looking for another opportunity in a new company the first step is to have a conversation with a supervisor or a co-worker about how to shift some duties/responsibilities around.

Through one to one coaching I can support you to look at what is really not working at work. What do you love doing that you are not doing? What do you want to do more of at work this year? Feel stuck – Let’s talk.

You Don’t Have to Swing at Every Pitch

My dad took me to lots of Blue Jay baseball games when I was growing up. I am not a baseball expert, but I do understand an important element of the game: deciding if/when to swing. The pitcher throws and the batter has to decide whether it is a good pitch. It’s coming across the plate and if it’s in the sweet spot and the batter knows he/she can hit it: swing! If it isn’t right or the pitch is poor the batter won’t chance it.

How many times in our lives are we presented with the opportunity to swing at, or step back from, what life sends our way? The pitches are always coming – career opportunities, relationships, professional development, family, education, etc. and your job as batter for your life is to know what to swing at and when. To understand what your sweet spot is, what an ideal pitch is for you. A lot of opportunities come up and of course you want to swing at the right ones, the ones that get you the furthest into the outfield. Sometimes, like in the real game of baseball, you don’t get all the time in the world to decide and timing is everything. If you hesitate, you strike out; if you are too aggressive, same result.

So, how do you know when to swing? Professional ball players spend years honing their instincts to the game and they are pros because of all that practice, commitment, and skill has made what they do so well appear natural. As professionals in our own right, we need to spend time doing the same thing. Instead of swinging bats and throwing balls, we are always re-evaluating our values, visions, and goals. We ask ourselves: What do I value the most? Then we add and delete these values from our “Non-Negotiable” career planning list as our life evolves. Such a list will support you in your decisions, provide you with ready and familiar knowledge for when it is swing or step aside time. You will be ready and know what to do because you have taken the time to put in writing what it is exactly you are looking for based on what matters to you most. A non-negotiables list prepares you to recognize the “perfect pitch.”

Non-negotiables might include: hours you would like to work, work environment, and location of position. People come up with vastly different non-negotiables like: I want to be able to bike to work; I want to make ‘x’ amount of money; I want to be able to travel; I want to have creativity in my work; I want to work for a big company; I want to work for myself. Think in terms of what you want (not what you don’t want) and create your list in the positive. Our time is too important to spend on what we don’t want and neither does this focus help us clarify what we do. It keeps us thinking in the negative which is the last place it serves us to be.

Whether you are searching for a new career, job, professional opportunity, or just want to shake life up a little, start with your non-negotiables. Then get ready to swing.

Linked In For Job Search

In the past two months I have attended two LinkedIn workshop sessions with Victoria based social media guru, Juhli Selby. I am excited to share with you her top five tips for using LinkedIn for a successful job search. Drum roll, please….

Top Tip #1 – Ensure you have a professional photo on your profile. Julie recommends a proper head and shoulder shot.

Top Tip #2 – Ask people for recommendations. Use the recommendation section as mini letters of reference from your colleagues and supervisor so people viewing your profile get a sense of what your strengths are.

Top Tip #3 – Use LinkedIn like a Rolodex. If you are young enough to not know what that is, then think of it as a massive contact database. The more contacts you have, the better networked you will be.

Top Tip #4 – LinkedIn is one of the best ways to research companies of interest. “Follow” companies to gain further information or join relevant groups that people in the companies are a part of.

Top Tip #5 – Use accurate keywords in your headline. Your headline section is the first and only thing people will see when they conduct a search on the LinkedIn database. Ensure you have captured your key message and career objectives in your headline.

If you would like me to view your LinkedIn profile and offer feedback as to its effectiveness, please contact me. Happy networking!