Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Danger of Overplanning Your Career

Let's say you've done some soul searching and finally have decided on your next career move. You want to open a floral shop in Georgetown and cater to nearby businesses who need flowers at their front desks. You're proud of the specific nature of your dream, after years of vague yearnings. Everyone you tell your dream to is impressed by your razor sharp goals.
But wait, not so fast. Vague dreams have their up side, it seems. Leaving some of your dream open to chance may make you a bit luckier.
Researchers are discovering that identifying a destination, then being open to multiple paths to arriving there, is better than creating and trying to stick to a detailed, linear plan, Psychology Today magazine reports.
So instead, what if you expand your vision? Maybe your dream could be to add beauty to workspaces through living plants. Maybe you decide to experiment with your dream by taking a part-time flower delivery gig, and you learn that there's a demand for potted plants in lobbies of tall office buildings outside of your target area. Can you be flexible enough to jump on that opportunity?
You can prime yourself for good luck if you approach life with a sense of possibility. And when you see an opportunity, it takes flexibility and openness to try something new.
One way to cultivate flexibility? Take a different route to work, or try a new coffee shop. Insert novelty in your day. It can't hurt, and you just might be a bit more lucky in life.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Clutter Up Your Career

The new year brings resolutions, and this year it seems everywhere I turn, some magazine is urging me to declutter my home, my email, my brain, even my  resume.
I'm trying to resist the urge to spend large amounts of time decluttering. It always looks so good on television, but I think clutter gets a bad reputation.
Instead of trying to keep to a linear career path in life, clutter up your career. Don't worry so much about being on "track," about having the perfect resume, the perfect work history, or the most linear progression through a company. Think instead about cultivating hobbies, pursuing reading just because it intrigues you, and collecting odd facts and theories. Consider taking a course for the love of it, or becoming an expert on something off-beat. Sometimes you can hook a future employer that way.
I once got a job because I had traveled to Morocco. I had no other reason for going except the photos in our college travel center looked amazing. And it helped that study abroad at my college cost the same as staying on campus. So off I went, and later, I was hired by a man who also loved traveling to Morocco, and when he saw on my resume I had studied there, he offered me an interview. I got the job, and I credit that trip.
So go ahead, take up something intriguing, or read a perfectly "useless" article. Stray from the linear path and see what happens. Clutter is not so terrible after all. It can be interesting.

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In other news, I will be starting to take new clients again now that the new year has begun. If you would like to talk more about my services, please contact me at meredithtseu@gmail.com. Happy New Year!