Inspired Choice

How to Love Networking for Executives in Career Transition

Step into this picture for a moment… you are about to walk into a networking event, in a room filled mostly with strangers, to get a lead to that elusive ideal job you want.  You are nervous. You are worried about saying the wrong thing.  You hope your breath smells good enough. You hope that you are good enough! Will you do it “right” and finally stop forcing yourself to attend these events to find a job?

 

Does this sound like you?  Notice how this picture makes you feel -- all the pressure and all the rules. Well, relief is in sight.

 

On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love networking?  Yes, love! A ranking of 1 means you’d rather volunteer for a free root canal from a dental intern.  A 10 means you love connecting with people everywhere; standing in line at Starbucks, in an elevator or while sitting in your dentist’s chair!  Write your ranking down now, before you read the rest of this article.  Now, read on.  

 

How do you operate best? Read the manual!

When your cell phone stops working or your computer freezes, you turn to the owner's manual, or an expert, for help. Right?

How well do you understand the care and feeding of YOUR equipment... YOU?!  Wouldn't it be nice if, when we were born, we had an owner's manual attached at the end of our umbilical cord?  You could hand it to people you work with, date, marry, and interact with and they would know how to get the most out of a relationship with you!

The good news is you can write your own manual! The key to greater happiness is to listen to the special programming of your built-in GPS and your operating system.  Self-awareness and managing your energy at the P.I.E.S.* level will guide you to thoughts, emotions, choices, actions and results that make you happier and healthier!  (*Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Spiritual)

Here is a simple, yet thought-provoking, tool that will guide you to a new level of understanding about how your equipment operates, warning signs of a problem, trouble shooting tips and ways to avoid energy drains and replenish energy levels when needed.

Click here to download the Inspired Choice Owner's Manual. Set aside 30 minutes and a quiet state of mind to complete this form.  Then email Gail to learn how you can integrate this learning into new habits of thought and behavior. 

If you are serious about reducing overwhelm, increasing reslience and optimism, and making choices that guide you to deeper levels of career and personal happiness, email Gail or call 773.477.4012 for a complimentary phone consultation to learn how she helps executives, women and teams take brave action for greater career success and joy.

For more information on emotional intelligence and tools Gail offers, like her free eBook "10 Secrets to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence" go to this link!

Be your own thought leader! Get to know your GPS

Emotional intelligence is like a built-in GPS (Global Positioning System).  It advises you when you veer off course, suggests U-turns, and guides you in the general direction of your one, true destination.... happiness!  

Your emotions are a factory-installed tool.  So often we try to squelch or squash emotions when they seem to get in the way.   

What might happen in your career if you tuned in to the signals your emotional system is sending?

The Inspired Choice Emotional Intelligence Model is presented below with the 5 key skill areas of emotional intelligence with 3 sub-skills for each.  This model is inspired by the EQi-2.0 MHS Emotional Intelligence Assessment, of which I am certified to deliver.

Scientifically, our emotions are activated in our "emotional brain" and are recognized and stimulate action before our thinking brain can add reasoning.  Our prehistoric ancestors relied on this fight or flight mechanism. This can lead to what feels like emotional hijacking. You react vs. respond. Heightened awareness of your emotional intelligence default operating system is like realizing you have an owners manual!  You can improve your functioning, prevent overheating and accidents, avoid repairs and troubleshoot your system when you have a system failure!  Why not improve your habits of thought and behavior and therefore your results!  Think about the dominoe effect below... it all starts with your thoughts, which held over time become beliefs, about you and others.

Thoughts –> Feelings –> Choices –> Actions = Results

Inspired Choice can help you boost these 15 skills to increase career success! 

How to Follow-up on Job and Business Leads

Are you someone who is challenged when it comes to following up on a sales lead, a job opportunity, or something you are promoting? What stories do you tell yourself... that you will appear needy, greedy, pushy?

Read this article I wrote on TCW's new feature, the Minute Mentor, for tips and insights on how being mission-driven can help you take action for the sake of others. Hint: it's NOT about you!

Overcome the difficulty of saying "No" by saying "Yes!"

If you are like me, managing time and getting all you have to get done completed is an elusive goal.  Fitting in time for what you want to do seems impossible.  I used to joke that while I slept at night, little time-stealing gremlins scheduled things on my calendar without my knowledge! 

Is this you?  As your "to do" list grows and your calendar groans, every day you resolve you are going to work smarter, be more efficient and finally get it all done! And then, not only do you only get a few things done but now you have more tasks on the list! No matter how much you try, day after day is the same! You feel overwhelmed, hopeless, stressed and out of control. 

Overview.  Join me as we look at the underlying issues and emotional hooks that contribute to this feeling of powerlessness over your time. Not to mention the bit of resentment (anger) you feel from the pressure that can "leak out" as uncharacteristic impatience in traffic, with your family, co-workers or service people waiting on you.

Below are solutions you can put to immediate use including a proven technique that helps you shift your perspective about saying "No" and take inspired action! 

Listen to a 23-minute success interview with my buddy, Joe, a financial services senior executive, who has had amazing results empowering others and himself AND reclaiming 3 hours each day by saying "No" by saying "Yes, and...!"  Click here, use the player below or download the MP3 file.

10 Tips to Overcome Stories You Tell That Keep You Stuck

Think about a time in the last week where you got out of bed or sat down at your desk determined to take action on one of your most important work goals.  And it didn't happen.

Perhaps you were going to make a networking call, sending an email to ask for an introduction or follow-up with a prospective client or employer.  Instead you found yourself answering emails, surfing online or rearranging the papers in your files to create busy-ness and feel productive.  Part of you wants the goal to be achieved and part of you creates a diversion because of a perceived risk, discomfort or fear. Welcome to procrastination! 

Here is a new twist on what's going on in that wonderful mind of yours and a new way to think about being stuck AND solutions to help.

This happens to ALL of us... full disclosure.  As I wrote this article, I had some not-so-quiet self talk going on saying things like, "I'm not feeling creative enough to write, so this article won't be good" or "This isn't going to interest my readers and maybe a nap is a better idea!"  See how active that inner critic can be? Two or three times I had to laugh out loud and ask myself, "So what story are YOU telling yourself, Gail? And what story would you rather tell?!"  It was like a big DUH moment.  It turned out to be great research!  So even in the midst of writing to tell you how to overcome negative self talk by changing the stories you tell yourself, it happened to me!  

For more on the value we get from acknowledging the voice of fear and how to make it work for you, go to my article here.  For more on the impact of judgment in the workplace (and in your head), how it protects you and how to work with it, go here for another oldie but goodie.

What are the stories you tell your Self that keep you stuck?

Isolate a recent procrastination moment and imagine that your thought processes where spoken out loud and recorded.  If you could replay your inner dialogue, what would you hear?  

Gail's article in "Planning Possibilities" Newsletter

I am happy to have an opportunity to spread the word about being mindful and reducing overwhelm in the "Planning Possibilities" newsletter from Plan B Consulting headed by Michelle Coussens.  Michelle is also the Dean of the School of Business at Kendall College where I serve on her Senior Advisory Board.

Plan B Consulting's mission is to assist nonprofit organizations and small businesses across the U.S. to become both more effective and more efficient short-term and long-term through practical business planning, resulting in meaningful and measurable organizational benefit and societal impact.

Read Gail's article, "Reduce Overwhelm with Unplanning; Tips to Mindful Calm Moments," by downloading this newsletter here PlanningPossibilitiesSept2010-CopyrightMichelleCoussens.

How to Love Selling Your Skills w/4 Perspective Shifts

What feelings come to mind when you think about the word “selling” or “sales” or “salesperson?” How do you feel when you imagine selling your skills, services and value in the market place? Can you feeling the “ick factor” kicking in? 

Attitudes about sales. Whether you are a job seeker, career builder or entrepreneur, you may experience a lack of confidence, discomfort and negative self talk when you think about selling. Some people think sales must include trickery, sleaze, canned sales pitches, manipulation, and pressure. Some believe sales means having to “make” someone do something or that people have to be convinced, coerced, incented, and lulled into participation.

We all sell, even you! Selling is at the core of most activities in your life that involve relationships. You are selling when you, ask your team to help you complete a project, tell your prospects what you offer, enlist a co-worker (child or parent) in letting you help them, negotiate a choice of restaurants with friends or design a change in a fitness habit to be healthier (relationship with Self).

It’s all a matter of perspective. Get ready to experience a shift in thinking, beliefs and your mindset about selling! Read the 4 perspective shifts below with an open mind and allow yourself to experience a new perspective. NOTE: These are deep concepts. The ideas are simple. Applying them in your life and making these thoughts and practices habit will take some effort. 

SPECIAL OFFER!  To help make this easier and avoid writing a 10-page article, join me for a 2-part no-cost “How to Love Selling” teleclasses. I’ll teach you how to apply these perspectives so you can engage people in your mission and sell without selling to boost your career or business! Go here to get dates, details and sign up.

Giving up the struggle. Nature's lesson on freedom.

On a walk around the renovated South Pond in Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, I was gifted with a lesson from Nature, taught to me by a baby duck.  See my special no-cost offer below, inspired by this story, so YOU can benefit from Nature's lesson, too!

While strolling along the gorgeous new boardwalk, my husband and I came upon a family of ducks.  A mom and 3 babies maybe 2 weeks old, about 5 inches long, all cute and fuzzy.  What wasn't so warm and fuzzy is that the 3 ducklings were trapped on the wrong side of a continuous circuit of chicken wire set up on wooden stakes to protect the newly planted seeds on the edge of the pond! 

We watched intrigued and concerned as these 3 babies tried to get back to their mother.  The longer they struggled, the more we thought of ways to intervene. 

Then we decided to see what Nature would figure out.

Using Emotional Intelligence to Increase Success

Below is a recently published article I wrote as a guest columnist for Winning Workplaces...

Source: Winning Workplaces - Ask an Expert.  Winning Workplaces is a nonprofit providing small and midsize employers with proven, practical and affordable people practices.

Published: April 13, 2010 

 

Q: I've run a small business for about 10 years, and I see the term "emotional intelligence" popping up more and more in business publications. What is it, and how can I use it to improve my business results?

A: What if you could reduce or even avoid conflicts at work? What if you could elicit more volunteerism, cooperation and collaboration in your organization? What might happen if you could better manage your emotional reactions to incidents and respond versus react without control?

That is the power of emotional intelligence. This is a set of skills that includes control of one's impulses, self-motivation, empathy and social competence in interpersonal relationships. Daniel Goleman, author of the classic 1995 book Emotional Intelligence, popularized this term. In the Harvard Business Review he reported on his study of emotional intelligence and its role in the success of business leaders. The good news is emotional intelligence can be learned and improved, and it has a 2 to 1 success ratio over IQ and technical skills!