The phrase “Nothing happens in the summer months” is all a bit of a myth.

Yes, key decision makers may be on holiday and things may slow down – but it doesn’t mean that you have to as well.

Here are 5 ways for you to get more proactive this summer:

1. Get working on the new career or business idea

You know that great idea you have for changing careers or starting / expanding the home based business? Well now is a good time to work on it.

Instead of taking the summer off, invest time in researching, meeting or speaking to relevant contacts and actually test driving the new career or business idea (i.e. go and spend a day or two doing the thing you are thinking about starting). The “busy people” who usually haven’t the time, may well have some spare time this summer to help you get the idea off the ground.

2.  Keep sowing the seeds

For job searchers, there is a time lag between marketing activity (calls, networking meetings, job applications, sending CVs/resumes) and results (interviews and job offers). You have to sow the seeds before you can reap the results of your efforts.

So if you’re currently looking for a job (either internally or in the open market place), taking your foot off the gas in the summer months is not a good idea. Doing very little for the next few weeks because “no one recruits in the summer” (another myth) will simply result in an interview-less September and October for you. Whereas being consistently active and visible over the summer months maximises the chances of securing interviews in September and job offers in quarter 4.

3. Strengthen your relationships

The quality and depth of your relationships with people has a direct correlation to your career success. Your boss, your line manager’s boss, ex-boss, stakeholders, clients, suppliers, recruiters, peers and friends all play a big part – and this is a good time to reconnect.

Yes, some will be on holidays, but not everyone is away all summer. In fact, many people will have more time than usual to catch up over a beer, coffee, lunch, dinner – or even a ‘virtual coffee’ if you’re speaking to someone in another city or country.

4. Reflect and refocus

Give yourself 60 minutes at some point this summer to reflect on your professional life and ask yourself a few questions:

What’s gone well so far this year? What hasn’t gone so well?  What lessons have I learned?  How do I want my professional life to look by December 31st this year? What do I need to do differently from September onwards to ensure I get there?

Don’t over complicate this into a big task or project. Just put aside an hour and get scribbling – you may get some great insights.

5. Do some experimenting

What could you experiment with this summer?

A new schedule or new way of managing your workload? A new way of managing your professional relationships? A new way to manage your career? A new way of finding your next job?

If it doesn’t work, you can change back in September. No big deal.

It’s easy to see the summer months as a time when “nothing happens.”

But as you can see from the points above, that doesn’t mean you don’t do anything. In fact, if you use the time wisely you’ll find yourself living out that awful cliche by “hitting the ground running” come September!

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• Spent about 30 hours at my desk busily searching

• Tidied up my CV / resume

• Took part in an online forum

• Did research on some companies I’d like to target

• Emailed a few people

• Trawled through job sites looking for jobs

• Spent 5 hours on an application form

• Read some interesting articles about job searching

You sound like you’ve been working hard. Okay, let’s get specific:

1. How many real jobs did you apply for last week? How many CVs/resumes did you send out?

2. How many follow up calls did you make to chase up jobs or leads that you have already applied for?

3. How many real people (contacts, clients, colleagues etc) did you have a real conversation with on the phone in relation to your search?

4. How many informal one-to-one meetings (breakfast, coffee, lunch etc) did you book in the diary during last week with networking contacts?

5. How many informal one-to-one meetings did you attend last week with contacts?

6. How many face-to-face meetings did you have with recruiters last week?

7. How many interviews did you secure last week?

8. How many follow-up emails or notes did you send to contacts who you have met or spoken to in recent weeks?

Your answers to these 8 questions tell me what you accomplished last week instead of the paper shuffling and web surfing that that you did.  These are the real performance indicators that give an accurate view of how effective you were last week.

If you’ve nothing significant in the pipeline, the activities at the top of the page are just fluff.  Whilst some of them are relevant ways to spend your time,  they are not the best way to spend your time – particularly if you haven’t many open opportunities.

If all you are doing is spending most weeks doing the things at the top of the page, then you are quite probably:

- Kidding yourself

- Wasting lots of time and energy

- Afraid to get of out the door and have real conversations

- Playing safe

- Missing lots of opportunities

If you’re like many people who think sitting in front of a laptop for 7 hours a day is job searching, please stop kidding yourself.

Start judging your effectiveness based on what you achieved (outputs) instead of how many hours you put in (inputs).

When you do that, you can easily spend just 10 hours a week job searching whilst spending the remaining time with your family and your hobbies without guilt. And still you’d be more effective than most people who spend 30 hours a week at their just desk shuffling paper and surfing randomly on the web.

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Guest article by Mitul Kotecha

Since we last discussed the economic outlook at the end of quarter 1, much has happened and unfortunately there has not been a great deal of positive news.  I retained a cautiously optimistic outlook for economic recovery for the Q1 Economic Review: elections, recovery and underemployment discussion article, but highlighted that recovery would be a long and drawn-out process, with western economies underperforming Asian economies.

The obstacles to recovery discussed then continue to apply now, including consumers paying down debt, high unemployment, tight credit conditions and weak confidence.

European Debt Issues

One of the biggest points of uncertainty and worry over the last quarter has been the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe, which has resulted in higher borrowing costs for many European countries and pressure on the euro currency.

Some of this pressure on European markets has abated in the wake of a substantial EUR 750 billion rescue package, but nonetheless, market concerns have not receded fully.  Although there is less concern about a potential default and restructuring of sovereign debt, worries about banking sector exposures to bad debt and real estate have increased.

Austerity Measures

Governments across Europe and the world for that matter have embarked on fiscal tightening or austerity measures to try and reduce the size of burgeoning budget deficits.  This is crucial towards restoring market confidence but the economic cost will be severe as reduced government spending and higher taxes act to slow recovery.

It is also not clear that all major governments are taking a similar approach towards such fiscal retrenchment, with US President Obama’s administration taking a less severe stance on reducing the US fiscal deficit than European governments have done in reducing theirs.  The latest example was the tough emergency budget in the UK in which major spending cuts and tax hikes were announced.

Industrial Unrest

One of the consequences of austerity measures implemented by governments is that public opposition and unrest have been growing in the wake of painful spending cuts, public wage cuts, increased taxes and increasing retirement ages.

This is the unfortunate cost of profligate spending over the previous years and of course the massive fiscal injections needed to kick-start economic growth in the wake of the financial crisis.  Such opposition is likely to continue over coming months, but governments will have little choice but to carry out planned measures.

Unemployment

A spate of weaker than expected economic data, especially in the US, has also fuelled growing uncertainty about the economic outlook, with speculation of a double-dip recession intensifying. One of the biggest concerns is the slow pace of improvement in the labour market.  Unemployment in the developed economies is declining but only at a very slow pace.

In the US the unemployment remains high by historical standards and as the economy improves, it will draw in a lot of previously disaffected workers and result in an even slower reduction in the unemployment rate.

Growth In Asia

Even in Asia it appears that growth momentum is slowing as indicated by many manufacturing surveys.  Attention remains on China and India but it is unlikely that these economies will slow dramatically and more likely that they will remain important growth engines for the global economy even if economic conditions in western economies look less positive.

For example, China’s recent decision to allow its currency, the renminbi,to float came from a position of strength rather than fragility and even worries about a bursting of China’s real estate market look overdone.

Double-Dip?

The bottom line is that the prospects of a double-dip recession have increased but rather than a renewed downturn in economic activity, there is a more likely prospect of a slow recovery taking place.

The US economy is still set to outperform many other economies, especially those in Europe where not only will growth be slower than in the US, but there will also be a significant divergence between the faster-growing export-led countries in Northern Europe such as Germany compared to Southern European countries such as Spain and Portugal.

The Job Market

For the jobs market the picture has continued to improve even if the unemployment rates have been slow to decline whilst compensation packages have become increasingly competitive. Financial institutions that were quick to reduce staffing levels have been aggressive in hiring over recent months, suggesting that despite banking sector worries and relatively slow economic recovery, hiring is quickly picking up pace.

The risk is that actual business does not pick up as quickly as the hiring would suggest, but given how quickly jobs were slashed during the crisis, financial institutions and firms in other sectors still have plenty of scope to re-hire.

—————————————–

Based in Hong Kong, Mitul Kotecha is Managing Director and Global Head of FX Strategy for a large European Investment Bank. You can follow Mitul’s views on the economy and financial markets at his personal blog, ‘The Econometer’
Mitul’s Previous Guest Articles

Q1 Review 2010: Elections, Recovery and Underemployment

Q4 Review 2009: Dubai, Economic Recovery and Predictions For 2010

Q2 Review 2009: Recovery On Track, But Look Out For The Roadblocks

Q1 Review 2009: Light At The End Of The Tunnel

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‘Sanjay is so smart. I wish I’d applied myself to my studies like he has’

‘Sandy has done really well for herself – just look at that great house and the holidays she goes on’

‘Marco and Tina have the perfect family life. I’m so jealous’

‘Brian’s so ballsy. Just look at how he reinvented himself and started that business of his’

‘Emma is so damn organised. I wish had the kind of work-life balance she’s achieved’

Stop Comparing

Comparing yourself to others is drilled into us from childhood and school. But it’s completely misplaced and irrelevant when most of us get into adulthood and are in charge of managing our careers.

Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Everyone has different objectives

We all have a different definition of success based on our own needs and outlook.

We consequently have different objectives and priorities. So it’s futile comparing your results to those of others who have most probably got a different definition of success than you have.

2. No one is doing quite as well as you think they are

Most people put their best foot forward and so we only ever see the best of them in public.

But when you get closer to people and get to know the real person, you realise that Emma isn’t as organised as she seems – she’s constantly stressed and actually feels she has no work-life balance whatsoever.

That Brian may seem to be doing well, but his business is in trouble and he struggles to sleep at night.

That Sanjay may seem smart, but his poor people skills constantly stop him progressing his career and personal life.

That Sandy isn’t doing as well as you think.  She’s just racking up lots of credit card debt.

That Marco and Tina haven’t really got the perfect life because Marco’s having an affair with a colleague and Tina is addicted to prescription drugs.

And whilst Sarah’s job may look great from a distance, she hates it. She wants to change careers – but doesn’t know what and doesn’t know how. She’s just stuck on the treadmill whilst trying to look like she’s enjoying it.

Get the picture?

Everyone has problems – they’re just different ones to yours.  So by comparing your true self (with all your shortcomings and insecurities) to the best version of others - you’re making false assumptions about yourself and how you’re doing.

And in doing so, you damage your confidence and ability to realise your potential.

3.  You’re only competing with yourself

If you’ve ever run a marathon,  a 10km race or even taken part in a charity walk, you’ll know that the only person you’re ever competing against is YOU.

You’re competing against your personal best time (i.e. looking to improve) and competing against your true potential. And that is exactly what you should be doing in your career:

a)       Judge yourself against past performance (i.e. are you improving and growing?)

b)      Judge how well your career and life stack up to your true potential (i.e. how well are you doing at being the real you? Your authentic self?)

Comparing yourself to others is a mug’s game.

It inflates your view of the outside world and the achievements of others, stops your you looking to improve yourself and kills your self esteem.

Don’t do it.

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Most of you will have very good intentions when it comes to exercising and keeping fit.

Some of you will have good habits and may be regular runners, swimmers or gym goers.

But I suspect that everyone reading with this will, at some stage, have fallen out of their exercise routine or got sidetracked by competing activities.

A busy work schedule, an injury or simply feeling lazy leads to several weeks (or months) without working out or visiting to the gym. Very soon you’re caught in a rut whilst promising yourself that “I’ll get back to the gym from Monday”- but Monday never comes.

Sound familiar?

The same thing often happens in our working lives and careers too.

You may well be focused on finding a new job, changing careers or achieving that elusive work-life balance. But it only takes a few busy weeks, a couple of set-backs or distractions and you find yourself doing pretty much nothing to progress your career (…even though you may be able to convince others that you’re “working hard” at it – when really, you know you’re not doing as much as you can).

Here are 3 simple steps to get out of a rut; three ways to get your career or fitness routine back on track:

1. Start small

If you haven’t exercised in weeks (or months), telling yourself that “..from Monday I’m going to run 30 minutes every morning” is pointless because you probably won’t do it. And if you do, you won’t stick to it beyond the second week (trust me, I’ve tried it!).

You’re more likely to start on Monday if you start small – a 20 minute walk or a light run a couple of times a week to get you back into the routine and build up your fitness levels and the habit gradually.

The same applies to your career. If you want to kick-start your networking or job search activities once again, then make it easy for yourself by committing to meeting just one person next week instead of five people.

Decide to call a warm contact rather than someone you’re slightly anxious about calling (regardless of how ‘good’ a contact they are). Register your details with one job site instead of all of them. And then build up gradually each week.

When you commit to starting small, you’re more likely to take that first step. And it’s that first step which gives you a small sense of achievement and begins to you give you momentum.

2. Stop Being A Perfectionist

When you start small, that voice in your head says “….you won’t get fit with a 20 minute walk – what a waste of time!” or “what’s the point of having a coffee with him? – he can’t help you get a move into the right role!”

But getting fit or accelerating your career requires you to take action on a consistent basis. Something you can’t do when you’re waiting to plan out the perfect exercise routine, do a ‘proper work out’ or wait for the ‘right time’ to have a conversation with a contact or follow up on a lead.

So quit trying to be perfect – and focus on being successful. Just get started – make that call, apply for that imperfect job, book that first meeting with your boss (even though you haven’t worked out what to say), send off that CV or resume (even though it’s not perfect).

Once you’re into your stride, you can then improve and increase your activity levels to create the results you want. Something you can’t do whilst sitting around being a perfectionist.

3. Create some accountability

In order to kick-start an exercise routine, many people require some kind of accountability to get started. A training buddy, a fitness instructor or team mates to hold them accountable to getting to the gym or going for that run (even when they don’t feel like it).

Similarly, with your career, you may need a colleague, friend, mentor or coach to keep you accountable in pushing through with the actions you know you need to take (but keep procrastinating about). To gently push you out of your comfort zone to ensure that you get the results you want.

Yes you can do it on your own, but often it usually takes much longer to make progress. And the longer you wait, the harder it becomes.

Whether you’re trying to get your body or your career into a healthy state, we all get into rut and need a gentle kick-start sometimes. But taking the 3 steps above will help you get back into the routine and start building momentum once again.

Are You Stuck In A Rut?

If you’re looking for some help in kick-starting your career and moving forward with finding a new role, shifting careers or being much more successful in your current role, drop me an email.

To set up a no obligation phone call to get acquainted and discuss how I can possibly help you moving forward much quicker than you would on your own, email me at info@sitalruparelia.com.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuaIgzSvOXs

I love this track. I first heard it when visiting Colombia in January for a friend’s wedding. It was played at every party and club we went to and I couldn’t get it out of my head for weeks!

The Translated Lyrics

Apart from the music, I love the message behind the song. Here’s the chorus translated from Spanish into English:

Whilst, of course, the lyrics in the song are within the context of a romantic exchange, the message very much applies to our careers and professional lives too.

In the complex, interconnected world we live in today, we can’t predict what’s around the corner. A global financial crisis instigated by a real estate bubble in the US,  volcanic ash clouds from Iceland or major environmental disasters like the recent BP oil slick effect can effect so many industries and so many workers overnight.

Similarly, new technology, new products, new competitors can change the face of your industry immediately.

Which is why having detailed career plans no longer works.

You Don’t Know  Of Tomorrow

You don’t know if you and your employer will be together for years to come

You don’t know how a personal health problem or family matter could change the way you view your career overnight

So stay focussed on the job you’re doing right now, be committed to the employer who you’re working with right now. And then be agile in adapting to the environment as you go.

And if you’re out of work and job searching -- that’s your current job -- looking for work. So be present and stay focussed on just that. Be committed to following up those leads or the meetings you’re attending today.

I don’t know of tomorrow. And neither do you -- so don’t stress too much about it and enjoy today.

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• Setting up or updating your LinkedIn profile

• Making a call you’ve been putting off

• Applying for a new job online

• Having a coffee with an ex-colleague or ex-client

• Finally securing a face to face meeting with that recruiter

• Following up a lead

• Getting a little more organised in your search

• Staying positive and upbeat despite a ‘bad week’

• Learning more about job searching from books, articles and blogs

None of the above actions or activities will on their own secure your next new job. They possibly won’t even result in an interview.

But they’re all baby steps in the right direction – they’re “small wins.”

Job searching (like sales), is all about the small wins. Sure, it would be great if a big fat job were to land on your lap – but they rarely do.

Intead, it takes consistent actions –day in, day out – week in, week out – to create momentum and build a pipeline of opportunities which then convert into one or more job offers.

Taking action is easy when you’ve plenty of opportunities and interviews coming through. But it’s not so easy when your pipeline is empty. When there are very few opportunities bubbling through

And that’s why you need to celebrate the small wins.

The pat on the back you give yourself  after a small success is what creates momentum. It’s what keeps you going when you feel like caving in.

So quit giving yourself a hard time about all the thing that you’re not doing and all those parts of the job search which are not going too well. Instead, focus on what is working well, on the areas where you are moving forward and get into the habit of celebrating the small wins every day and every week.

The act of patting yourself on the back for your small successes will give you the energy to keep going, the confidence to tackle the areas which aren’t working and ultimately create the momentum to build a pipeline of opportunities.

So what was your small win today…?

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Within the last 24 hours, we’ve seen the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown step down from office. After losing last week’s general election, he will be replaced by the first coalition government in the UK for over 30 years.

Just 18 months ago Brown was playing an impressive role in leading global efforts to manage the financial crisis. Yet when it came to the election, he failed to impress the public.

While there were many policy and political factors that led to his downfall, a key part of his defeat and his exit from politics was due to Gordon Brown himself – his style and approach.

Here are 6 career lessons you can learn from Brown’s election campaign and subsequent downfall:

1. You need both style AND substance

Throughout the election campaign, Brown kept reiterating: “if this campaign is about style over substance – then count me out. I’m a man of substance, not a PR or marketing man.” Tough luck Gordon – like it or not, you’re in the marketing business. We all are. Brown, like many people, failed to actively manage his personal brand.

Modern politics demands that you have both style and substance. Yes, you need knowledge, talent and the ability to deliver results. But you also need to be able to engage with people, market yourself, sell yourself and your ideas. Something which has been a constant struggle for Brown during his premiership.

The very same applies in business and to your career. You can no longer say “oh I’ll just keep my head down, focus on doing a good job and let my results and resume do the talking.”

If that’s your approach then I wish you well – but I suspect you won’t reach your potential. Your personal brand and how you convey yourself to others plays a huge part in your success. Are you managing your brand or are you leaving it to chance?

2. Be Transparent

One of the key setbacks during the election campaign for Gordon Brown was the so called “Bigot-Gate” affair where Brown was caught referring to an elderly member of the public as a bigot in his car (…but forgetting that he was still wired up to a television microphone and so the whole country and world found out what he really thought of the person he had just spoken to on camera).

Yes, it was a huge PR blunder. But it wasn’t Gordon Brown’s lack of media or PR skills which got him into trouble, but his lack of transparency.

People forgive screw-ups and quirks, but rarely forget ‘falseness.’

How transparent are you? How much do people trust you and like doing business with you because you’re the same ‘on stage/on camera’ as you are off it?

3. Embrace New Media

The big news in the recent election campaign was the dramatic surge of the third party (Liberal Democrats) due to the performance of their leader Nick Clegg at the TV election debates. A relatively unknown leader 6 weeks ago, Clegg was the best performer in the TV debates and this resulted in a surprising surge in his popularity in a very short span of time.

And today Clegg has been appointed to become the Deputy Prime Minister in a coalition government – illustrating the speed with which a strong media profile can build a following and support.

Gordon Brown meanwhile was typically the weakest performer in the TV debates – something which directly impacted on his ratings. Regardless of the fact that he didn’t really enjoy them, performing well in media debates is part of a modern political campaign.

Whilst your own career is not played out on national television, an increasing part of your future career success will be influenced by the impact of all the new media platforms that have arrived. Blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more to come.

Like Brown, choose to ignore them and you’ll be in trouble. An unknown like Nick Clegg will quickly build brand presence and credibility in your niche or your organisation at your expense.

So learn to embrace them and learn to adapt to a changing world so that you’re far better placed to succeed and manage your destiny.

4. Remember: Attitude and Flexibility Trump Talent

Despite being defeated in last week’s election, there was still a small chance that Gordon Brown’s Labour Party could have been part of a new coalition government by securing a pact with the Liberal Democrats and Nick Clegg. Especially as politically and ideologically they are much closer than Nick Clegg and the Conservative leader (and now Prime Minister) David Cameron.

But if press reports are to be believed, Nick Clegg has always found Gordon Brown difficult to work with. Sometimes slightly patronising, a little aggressive, awkward – and generally just ‘difficult.’ So if press reports are correct, Brown’s inability to adapt his style went against him.

I see this in organisations all the time. People with less experience and less talent go much further than others simply because they are easier to work with. Flexible, open-minded people who are likeable will always seem more attractive than ‘difficult’ people.

How easy are you to work with? How easy is it to do business with you?

5.  Be Authentic

Brown’s natural personality and style has never been outwardly gregarious and ‘smiley’ like his predecessor Tony Blair. But during the election campaign, Brown suddenly began smiling in an attempt to be warmer and more accepted by people.

Or rather, he put on a ridiculous false smile (probably prompted by his PR team) which put people off him rather than warm to him. That’s because the big smile just wasn’t him. He wasn’t being himself – he was trying to be a version of Tony Blair.

Instead, he should have focused on being the best version of Gordon Brown instead of trying to be a second-rate version of Tony Blair. To succeed in securing the right roles and progressing in your career, you need to be the best version of yourself.

So walk, talk, dress and act in a way that is consistent to who you are whilst being relevant to your audience – not how you ‘think’ you should be presenting yourself. If your target audience can’t accept the best version of you – it’s time to find a new audience or do something different.

6. Avoid being a square peg in a round hole

Without trying to sound like a political pundit (or indeed make any political points), Gordon Brown was, in my opinion, always going to struggle to keep his post as Prime Minister in the long term. Not because he lacked experience or talent, but because he was a square peg in a round hole.

Modern politics (like professional sport in fact) requires leaders (and sports coaches) who are engaging, inspirational and media savvy. We may not like that fact that ‘style’ is now as important as ’substance’ – but it’s a fact of life in today’s world – so get used to it.

In my opinion, Gordon Brown had all the skills and strengths to be a great ‘number 2′ to a leader (as he was to Tony Blair), but being the leader in the current era didn’t suit his natural style as he isn’t a ‘front man’.

The same happens in business all the time. We have a great number 2′s promoted to the number 1 role – but they often don’t live up to expectations because the needs of the role and business don’t match the skills and strengths of the new leader. It’s a classic mistake in sales teams too. Successful sales people get promoted into leadership roles but very often become poor leaders.

They’re square pegs in round holes because they pursued the ego-driven need to progress higher up the ladder instead of focusing on playing to their strengths.

How about you? Are you in a role which plays to your natural strengths and style or are you a square peg in a round hole?

Politically, I’ve not got any strong opinions either way about Gordon Brown. But as an individual he seemed like a talented, decent person, committed to working hard for his country – and so I wish him well for the future. But as we all know, in the modern world, talent and a hard work don’t guarantee success.

To able to progress your career and stand out from the crowd, you need to be able to engage with diverse groups of people, be flexible, build a strong personal brand and convey your value proposition to a wide audience. Something which Brown failed to do consistently and which ultimately accelerated his downfall.

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Below is a excellent guest article from my friend Colin Hiles.

Colin is one of those rare people who dreamed of a more meaningful and exciting lifestyle – and then went for it.

Originally from the UK and now living in Spain, Colin is the author of the Midlife Maverick blog and runs a series of workshops and retreats (in sunny Spain!) for mid-lifers going through transition.

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How To Transition From Success To Significance

Many of us arrive at mid-life with a degree of success but find our fulfilment flags flying at half-mast leaving us perplexed, confused and unsettled.

As midlifers we can find ourselves well and truly caught up in life’s merry go round of busyness, feeling like we’re being pulled in many directions. We may find our work crosses over into our personal lives. Our boundaries become so skewed. Often we can’t even remember what they were in the first place.

The over whelmed, over worked feeling becomes part of our everyday life and energy to keep going comes from the adrenaline of non-stop “doing”. It’s no wonder that in mid-life we begin to question the meaning of it all and think about the legacy we want to leave.

The first half of life is all about the drive for success. As young adults we strive to answer the question, “What am I going to do?” And we get going with the doing.

At mid-life you may find yourself asking a very different question, “Why am I doing this? This is the time to start to listen to our souls yearning for the next stage in life – significance.

Significance means pursuing something meaningful to you, something you are passionate about, something that gives you a feeling of aliveness.

Perusing significance does not mean you have to leave your job or be financially independent (many of us aren’t). But it does mean organising your resources differently.

A closer look reveals you have four major resources you can use towards pursuing something significant:

1. Money

2. Time

3. Talents

4. Energy

Re-evaluating success

First spend some time looking at how you’re currently using these major recourses. Look at each one and ask yourself the question, “Why do I choose to use them in this way?”

Go through your typical day, asking over and over again about every detail of the day. Ask, “Is this really important to me?” How much of my precious energy and even more precious, time, am I wasting on things that are not aligned with what’s important to me?

Once you have some awareness around these questions it’s time to re-evaluate what success means to you. Ask yourself these questions to get some clarity on what ‘significance’ means to you.

1. Energy Resource

o What am I passionate about?

o What gets me thumping my fists on the table?

o What injustices get my blood boiling? What wrongs do I want to put right?

o What are my core values?

o What legacy do I want to leave my children and grand children?

2. Talent Resource

o What are my strengths?

o What am I naturally gifted at?

o Who inspires me past/present? What is it about them that I find inspirational?

3. Time Resource

o How can I free up time to pursue what’s meaningful to me?

o Do I need to create new time parameters around my work/business life?

o How much time do I need?

4. Money Resource

o How much money is enough?

o How can I best use my financial resources to support myself moving forward into significance?

o What can I simplify, scale down on?

There is no way of knowing how long it takes to transition from success to significance. It’s a journey that can take one month or eleven years, its unique to each of us.

Redirecting our major resources, time, energy, talents and money toward something significant is what will fill the second half of life with satisfaction and fulfilment.

Finding the answers to these questions is the easy part, living the answers however, is something very different. My advice is to take it one step at a time and walk slowly each day into more meaning.

I wish you a successful transition and I’ll leave you with some wise words from Henry David Thoreau.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

———————————-

By Colin Hiles

Colin is the founder of Finding Your Smile and runs retreats in Sunny Southern Spain for midlifers who have compelling reasons to create a new life chapter. His retreats provide a step-by-step plan for doing just that! Click here for more details.

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Ask yourself “how can I best help them? What would be of value to them right now?”

Trying to strengthen your relationship with a recruiter?

Ask yourself, “how can I help my recruiters?”

Trying to ‘sell’ an idea or opportunity to an individual or group of individuals?

Focus on what challenges they’re struggling with. What is it they want to achieve? Now think how you, your idea or solution will help them.

Trying to engage a de-motivated team?

Focus on what challenges they’re struggling with (individually and collectively). What is it they want to achieve as individuals? How can you and your organisation help them?

Trying to increase the number of connections on LinkedIn?

Stop focusing on the numbers, and instead ask yourself “how can I help and be of value to my network?”

Trying to engage an awkward / difficult client or stakeholder?

Ask yourself, “how can I make life easier for them? What can I do that would be of value to them?”

Trying to build a stronger relationship with your boss?

Ask yourself, “how can I help him/her? How can I make them look good?”

Regardless of what your objective is, when you come at it from the viewpoint of helping someone, being of service and being of value – the ideas, strategies and opportunities will open up.

But come at it from the angle of “what can I get from him?”or “how can I turn this to my advantage?” and you’ll invariably hit the same roadblocks you’ve been running into in the past.

How can I help?

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• 3 Reasons To Network Yourself Into Your Next Job
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