The M.A.P. Maker

Year-in-review question #7: What difference did I make?

I'm a firm believer that having a happy, rich, fulfilling life isn't just a one way street. Getting the most out of life means making a positive impact on the world around you as well. Paradoxically, there's a substantial personal benefit (energy and inspiration, a sense of purpose, etc.) to be had when we focus on something bigger than ourselves.

Looking at the past year, ask yourself, "What difference did I make?"

There are a million different ways you can make a difference. What difference did you make with your work? What difference did you make with your family? What difference did you make with your friends? What difference did you make in your community?

What difference do you want to make?

The real benefits don't come from focusing on some big picture, external definition of making a difference. They come from making a "personally meaningful difference," and that's a unique and individual thing. The question isn't, "What do other people think is meaningful," it's, "What feels meaningful to me? What inspires me?" In short, what pushes my buttons?

Take a look at your life over the last year. Where do you want to make more of a difference? What are you drawn to? What have you done that felt particularly compelling?

The more insight you can get on what making a personally meaningful difference means to you, the more you can purposefully incorporate opportunities to do that into your future.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Year-in-review question #6: What do I love about my life?

Just like it's easy to fall into the abyss of focusing on what we've done wrong, it's easy to get lost wallowing in what we don't like about our lives. To counter that, ask yourself, "What do I love about my life?"

Give yourself a pool of positive aspects about your life to focus on, both on the work front and the personal front. They can be big and deep (e.g., I love the fact that I get so much love and support from my family and friends), or not-so-deep (e.g., I love the fact that there are so many opportunities to go dancing in Seattle).

To help prompt your exploration of the positive in your life, start with these gratitude questions.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Year-in-review question #5: What was less than preferable?

Much as I'd like to pretend otherwise, nothing's perfect. As you look back on the last year, ask yourself, "What was less than preferable about my life in this past year?"

The intent of this question isn't to give you a list of things you can moan and whine about, saying, "Woe is me." The goal is to help you step up and take control by following up each of those items with the question, "OK, now what can I do about that in the future? How can I change that?"

It's easy to feel powerless in the face of what we don't like about our lives, shrugging our shoulders and saying, "I can't do anything about that." So I'd like to encourage you to put this spin on the question. Ask yourself, "If I had no choice but to change that - if allowing more of the same were not an option - what could I do about it?"

Get creative. Step outside the bounds of your customary thinking. Look at your assumptions and ask if they're really valid. Explore other possibilities.

Take both a short-term and a long-term perspective. If you absolutely can't do anything right here, right now to change it, what might you be able to do within, say, five years if you start taking steps right now?

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Year-in-review question #4: Who do I appreciate?

It's so easy to get wrapped up in MeMeMe as we look back and reflect. But the truth is, we're not in this alone. We all need others to take part in our journey, both professionally and personally.

Ask yourself this question..."Who do I appreciate?" Who has supported you in your career? Who has been an integral part of your professional journey? Who couldn't you have done _______ without? How about in your personal life? Who do you appreciate there?

For each person you list, write about why you appreciate them. What impact have they had on you and your life?

And then - and here's where it gets a little wild - tell them! Tell them that you appreciate them, and tell them why. Reach out and build on what you have.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Year-in-review question #3: What did I achieve?

The purpose of this question is to shine a light on what you've accomplished over the last year. Too often, it's easy to get wrapped up in how we didn't succeed, or the goals we failed to reach. For a lot of people, their perception of life starts to get defined by gaps, rather than substance.

Spend today looking at your accomplishments over the last year. What were your achievements (big and small)? They don't need to be press-release-worthy (though you can certainly include those!). The idea is simply to start really paying attention to the plus side of what you do.

Did you start a new business? Did you make it to all of your son's baseball games, or all of your daughter's concerts? Did you gain a new work skill that was outside your comfort zone? Did you start learning a new language? Did you start an exercise regimen and stick to it? Did you hit your sales quota? Did you change careers?

Ask your family, friends, and colleagues to help you create the list. They might remember achievements that you don't.

This exercise isn't focused so much on, "What did I learn?" as it is, "What can I celebrate?" Spend some time as the year winds to a close celebrating where you've been and what you've done so you can build on that energy in the coming year.

You might want to expand this exercise into a long-term habit, making it a regular part of your routine to stop ask, "What have I accomplished - big and small - in the last week/month/etc.," and then celebrate it.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Year-in-review question #2: What went wrong?

Now that you've looked back and learned from what went right, take a look back and ask yourself the flipside - what went wrong? This isn't an exercise in self-flagellation. We're not interested in looking at what went wrong to give the inner critic more reasons to beat us over the head. We want to see what gifts those experiences have that we can build on  in the future.

So after making a list of what went wrong, ask yourself, "Why?" Why did that go wrong? What was behind it? How did I contribute to that? How did external circumstances contribute to that? What did I have control over? What could I have done differently?

Once again, the last step is one of distillation into nuggets of insight you can put to use in the future. Things like...

"When I ______, it got in the way of success."
"When I didn't ______, what I tried didn't work."
"When I didn't ask for _______, things didn't go as well."

Mistakes and failures are some of the best investments you can make in your future success - if you're willing to look at them and learn. 

Year-in-review question #1: What went right?

There's no place to start like the positive. What went right in the last year? Take stock of your successes, and the times when things fell into place, both in your professional and your personal life.

For each of the things you listed, take it a step farther. Why did they go right? What did you do? How did you approach what you did that helped that happen? What external factors supported that positive outcome?

Now take it yet another step. What did you learn from that? Boil it down into pieces that you can apply in the future. For example...

"When I ______, it helped me succeed."
"When I asked for _______, things went better."
"When I stopped _______, it helped me _______."
"When I focused on _______, the outcome was always positive."

Distill nuggets of insight that you can put to use in your favor in the years to come.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Year-in-review questions: Building a foundation for 2009

As we enter the last week of the year, I have a question for you...

"What are you going to do with 2008?"

You can either wave goodbye as you focus on 2009, or you can turn it into a solid foundation for the year to come.

Whether it was a shining year or a disaster zone, 2008 has incredible gifts of insight and understanding to offer you. Like just about anything good, of course, it will take a little work on your part. To get the most out of the year you just lived, you can't just look back and say, "wheeeeee!" or slap your forehead and cringe. You have to dig in and excavate what's there.

To help you along, I will be posting a "year-in-review" question each day for the last week of the year (starting with my next post) to help you squeeze the most out of 2009.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

How to thrive in adversity

A lot of my posts lately have been focused on building a bridge over the challenges of today to the dreams of tomorrow.

Recently I ran across an article with an interesting bit of insight on common characteristics that help people thrive in adversity.

“Recent studies have examined individuals who have survived trauma, natural disasters and being prisoners of war,” says Dr. Edward T. Creagan, an oncologist at Mayo Clinic. According to Creagan, people who seem to thrive in adversity have many characteristics in common, but especially a few:

• A sense of connectedness. The recognition that family and community are crucial to survival.
• A sense of altruism, somehow sharing of themselves to make the lives of others a little bit better.
• An optimistic attitude and sense of humor.

Connectedness, altruism, and optimism & humor - all great raw materials to build the foundation of that bridge to your dreams.

--

Need to re-energize your career?
Get started with 101 Ways to Get Wild About Work!

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

How to find a job in a recession

As I mentioned in yesterday's post on building a bridge, the path to your dreams isn't always a straight shot. It's likely to have its share of bumps along the way. Right now, one of the too-common bumps people are experiencing is an involuntary job search.

A couple days ago I posted a list of links to articles on how to keep your job in a recession. Today, I'm serving up a hot steaming ladle-full of articles on how to find a job in a recession.

How to find a job during a recession
CNN.com

How to find a job in a recession
JibberJobber Blog

What to do if you’re laid of in 2008 recession
Scobleizer

How to find a job during a recession (video)
Howdini

10 secrets for searching for a job during a recession
CIO.com

How to find a job during a recession or tight job market
TheJobBored

Eight tips for job hunting during the recession
Monster Career Advice

How to find a job in a recession
eHow

Find a job in a recession
Quamut Wiki

Tips to find work in a recession
@Work

5 recession-proof ways to get hired
Thrive

Recession-proof your job search
Blog Indeed

Finding a job in a recession – it’s possible!
The Black Collegian Online

10 resources for job seekers RIGHT NOW
JibberJobber Blog

Job hunting tips in a recession
JobMonkey

How to find work in a recession
California Job Journal

Getting a job in times of recession
Qassia

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams