Find Your Career Sweet Spot & Redesign Your Career

Begin Section 2 with this inspirational quote by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Foundation to Course Methodology

Outlines what's included in this Section:

Inspirational Quote- Video

Overview of Section- Video

Foundation to Course Method -Video

Five principles to course method- Document

Seven creative elements reflection method- Document

Where are you in your life change? –Activity

Applying the seven creative elements to the model- Video

Method Overview- Video

Section 2 Learning Outcomes -Video

This video lecture outlines the principles, theories and approaches that this e-learning course is based upon and are useful to appreciate before you start to get into the detail of the course.

The supplementary documents that follow provide more foundational thinking to assist to put into context the method applied during this course. This course is based on a number of principles, theories and approaches and built on an understanding of the psychology behind career transition and the dimensions of life change. The document outlines 5 key foundational approaches used in this course.

It is informed by the thinking of experienced authors in a variety of related fields including careers, psychology, personal growth and well-being. This provides both a foundation and validity to many of the experiences and feelings participant’s may be experiencing.

The additional supplementary document also outlines a called the Seven Creative Elements, which provides a unique view on the skills and behaviours that are associated with people who successfully cope with life’s changes. It is valuable model that is applied as a reflective process to this course.

The final document includes 2 activities to help put into perspective some of the feelings and questions participants may be experiencing and will assist to enhance self awareness.

This video explains an important foundation to this program methodology, how the seven creative elements works alongside the seven step career redesign program model. It provides a means to prepare yourself for the each step as well as a reflective process after completing each step.

You'll be presented with a number of models in these first sections of the course to enable you to understand the structure to this program. These models each provide an important component to the overall architecture of the program. This video explains how they all fit together and which model is emphasised at each step of the program.

A brief video to make sure you got the most out of this section before you move onto the next one.

Begin Section 3 with this inspirational quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Step 1 Understanding Why We Need and Seek Change

Outlines what's included in this Section:

Inspirational Quote- Video

Overview of Section- Video

Welcome to change – Video

The psychology of midlife career transition – Document

What are the signs you’re ready?- Document

What’s a Career Sweet Spot? – Video

What’s a Career Sweet Spot? –Activity

What’s holding you back? - Document

Changing careers means changing ourselves- Document

The 4 Dimensions of Life Change Model- Video

Case Study -How Others Have Done It: Finding strength from change- Document

Section 3 Learning Outcomes -Video

A welcome video to Section 3, Step 1 of the 7 step method. This is where we start to get into the detail behind why you could be seeking a career change, what could be holding back and how recognising this can really help to get the career outcome you want.

Whether you are in your midlife or in a mid career transition, the work of Dr. Carl Jung provides a valuable addition to help understand why this can be a time of significant psychological change. The supplementary document is provided as a framework to help conceptualize why we could be going though the need for change and how this could influence our decisions about our careers.

The additional supplementary document, " How do you know you're ready for a career change", outlines the combination of signs, challenges and frustrations that signal it’s time for change. Acknowledging these signs will drive you to the next stage in your career redesign.

Your Career Sweet Spot is the intersection of your passion, where you find purpose and where you are rewarded. The Section includes an activity to identify what could be missing in your sweet spot.

As you commence on your career redesign, there can be all the will in the world until something tells you that this career change is going to be hard work. Not surprisingly, this starts to put you off continuing. The video, the supplementary document and set of activities asks you to examine your inner stories, mind games and self esteem to get to the heart of this.

The supplementary document considers the issues of most relevance to women and career change, as we reflect on how many successful women don’t make the move because of two significant issues: they have been defined by the success of their work and they need financial security.

This video to introduces the 4 Dimensions of Life Change model, a simple model with a big impact.

Each dimension serves an important and significant step in this career redesign program and serves a purpose. Each is dynamic, as we move between the steps in our own unique sequence and time frame.

End this Section with an inspiring case study. After working in administration roles, following her partner to Tokyo and Seoul in diplomatic embassy roles and having two children, Linda had experienced the best and worst that life and career change has to offer by her early fifties. So what happens next will change her life forever.

A brief video to make sure you got the most out of this section before you move onto the next one.

Begin Section 4 with this inspirational quote by Buddha.

Get to Know You

Outlines what's included in this Section:

Inspirational Quote- Video

Overview of Section- Video

Dive Deep for DATA Video

Get ready to get to know you- Video

Applying the creative elements reflective activity to Step 2 – Activity

The DATA Model and Activities- Video

Explore the past and present to inform the future- Multiple Activities

Case Study-How Others Have Done It: Matching Lifestyle with Career- Document

Applying the creative elements reflective activity to Step 2 –Video

Section 4 Learning Outcomes -Video

Making career moves is ultimately about being confident about our decisions, based on sound advice. This advice is going to come from many sources, particularly our own inner resources.This video explains how this activity based section uses the D-A-T-A model, to assist to explore your Desires, Abilities, Temperament and Assets.

The Seven Creative Elements model provides a unique view on the skills and behaviours that are associated with people who successfully cope with life’s changes. It's a valuable model that is applied as a reflective process to this course. This video explains how the creative skills of SEEING and PREPARATION can get you in the right frame of mind before you start the activities.

The supplementary document details how to apply the creative elements of Seeing and Preparation to get the best value from the activities section.

The video outlines the DATA Model to help gain an understanding of specific realisations about your desires, abilities, temperament and assets.

Together these provide valuable insights from the 20 activities that follow to help redesign your career by exploring your past and present to inform the future.

Then end this Section with an inspiring case study. Marla decided to change careers when she returned to Australia after traveling with her partner and they wanted to start a family. Now 44, she was one of the first health coaches in Australia.

This video provides guidance on how to use the creative element of Seeing to get the best value from the activities in this section.

A brief video to make sure you got the most out of this section before you move onto the next one.

Begin Section 5 with this inspirational quote by Anais Nin.

What’s Stopping You?

Outlines what's included in this Section:

Inspirational Quote- Video

Overview of Section- Video

Confronting the YES BUT’s- Video

Managing career transition- Document

Create an internal transition plan- Activity

Does your career change suffer from avoidance tactics?-Document/Activity

What are we really scared of?-Document/Activity

What is the cost of your career change?- Document

What’s your relationship with money?- Document

Applying the creative elements reflective activity to Step 3 –Video

Case Study-How Others Have Done It: Skills Transition-Document

Section 5 Learning Outcomes -Video

About the time when we start to come up with concrete options, a small voice starts to say, ‘Yes but… You’ve heard this before… You can’t do it… No way… What on earth are you thinking?’.

So if the idea of changing careers is not making you a bit fearful, then check your pulse. Taking on the unknown is bound to create anxiety and this Section is about acknowledging the risk and managing this uncertainty.

The supplementary document 'Managing Career Transition', provides great insights based on research by Dr. Herminia Ibarra, author of Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career. She has studied how people make a career change and what conditions can enable or inhibit the way we approach this change. Her research confirms many of the foundations in this course, namely that we must explore and discover though experimentation, that we must create new networks to succeed and that above all we must act.

The is followed by a supplementary activity 'Create an Internal Transition Plan' and document that explores useful coping mechanisms during career transition. The key is to decide what is really over for you when you change careers.

The next supplementary document ' Does your Career Suffer from Avoidance Tactics?' explores ‘Yes, but’ thinking and how it can act as a challenge and block to career transition. It’s a great way to avoid confronting an issue and an even better way of avoiding change.This lecture provides a number of activities to explore common threads in the risks or fears you have identified.

There is a school of thought that relates our approach to change with a psychology of fear and claims that this is directly related to the anxiety experienced in changing jobs and careers. Regardless of this, most of us can and have, overcome our past fears, have changed jobs and moved forward. So lets work out how we did this then and whether these strategies can still work for us.

Both supplementary documents ask you to explore, the cost of your career change. The cost is not in monetary terms, but in what long held beliefs you may need to change, or at least reconsider, to be able to progress through your career transition.

As you progress through this course at some stage you will need to understand what is stopping you from progressing to explore and make real your career change desires.

This lecture will focus specifically on the uncertainty associated with financial risks to assist you to answer:

What will it cost for you to have a successful career transition?

This video provides guidance on how to use the creative elements of Embracing Uncertainty and Risk Taking to get the best value from the activities in this section.

End this Section with an inspiring case study. Marianne is in her early fifties and has been through number of career transitions, now working to become a counsellor and coach. As a single mother, changing personal circumstances led to her first career change. Her approach was to stay in an industry she already had skills in and to progress from there.

A brief video to make sure you got the most out of this section before you move onto the next one.

Begin Section 6 with this inspirational quote by Henry David Thoreau.

Step 4 Embrace the Opportunity

Outlines what's included in this Section:

Inspirational Quote- Video

Overview of Section- Video

The single most important thing that you can do right now- Video

Ten things that will enable you to take action now- Document

Find your tribe- Document/Activity

Create your personal profile -Document/Activity

Communicate your personal profile- Supplementary Activity

Applying the creative elements reflective activity to Step 4 – Video

Case Study-How Others Have Done It: From Auto pilot to Successful consultant - Document

Section 6 Learning Outcomes -Video

This Section will get you to focus on one question:

‘What’s the single most important thing that you can do right now’?

It will help you identify the resources, assets, people and methods that you have access to or, with a bit of effort, could bring into your life to enable you to progress the process of discovery.

The supplementary documents all focus on activities you can undertake now to commence this Step.

It starts with the supplementary document that highlights ten things you can do now to enable you to take action.

The next document 'Find Your Tribe' outlines a series of methods to encourage collaboration as a means to drive career redesign. The activities centre on safe methods to identify tribes and expand networks.

One of the most important aspects as your move through the process is to ensure that you can present a new identity that is authentic and you are comfortable with, to your future employers and/ or clients that you will seek out.

These next two supplementary documents are about managing how others will interpret your career change and provides an understanding about personal brand redesign and the steps involved in this process.

Once you have created a personal profile that reflects your new and authentic identity, the supplementary document will assist you to manage how others will interpret your career change and how you can plan a process to communicate this to potential employers and clients.

This video provides guidance on how to use the creative elements of Collaboration and Using Context to get the best value from the activities in this section.

End this Section with an inspiring case study. William had a successful advertising career but by the time he was 38 years old he was starting to question the value of being an ‘ad man’. “That was making me feel restless and causing me to lose focus. Though I wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, I suppose I was becoming unprofitable to the agency, so they let me go. Not wanting to go back to advertising, I started looking for something more ‘spiritually’ rewarding.

A brief video to make sure you got the most out of this section before you move onto the next one.

Begin Section 7 with this inspirational quote by J.W Goethe

Step 5 Time to Act

Outlines what's included in this Section:

Inspirational Quote- Video

Overview of Section- Video

Start Project You- Video

Start with a side project –Document

Taking stock- Activity

Create an initial action plan - Activity

Convert your thinking into a plan-Activity

Applying the creative elements reflective activity to Step 5 – Video

Case Study-How Others Have Done It: Transport planner to Corporate trainer to Communications consultant - Document

Section 7 Learning Outcomes -Video

In this Section, you’ll be introduced to Project You and the Side Project concept, and discover if this idea you think you love, continues to be loved. You’ll also discover how you can build a bespoke or portfolio career made up of many different facets and interests.

This supplementary document ' How do you spend your Saturday mornings?', introduces the concept of a side project, as a low-risk strategy to enable you to explore without the fear of failure. You’ll also discover if there are elements of the project that you want to explore further and/or could be revised. It also outlines a bespoke or portfolio career to explore the idea of working for yourself or creating a multi-faceted career rather than looking for prepackaged jobs.

Before you move on to creating initial action plans, it's recommended that you 'Take Stock' to review where you are at.

Creating an action plan will get you started on planning to drive your ideas into action. There are 3 approaches to do this provided, so there is bound to be one that works for you. The initial activity will assist to provide you a big picture. These next two supplementary activities assist you to work on a plan that you could accomplish over a year. There could be a theme for the year to help guide your choices. Make it inspiring!

This video provides guidance on how to use the creative element of Discipline to get the best value from the activities in this section.

End this Section with an inspiring case study. While at primary school, Janet underwent vocational guidance testing. The career advisers told her that ‘she could do anything’, which she now knows was pretty useless advice. A good student Janet, now 55, reflects on how she ended up building on her best high school subjects, undertaking a Bachelor of Arts followed by a Masters degree. Following a gap of three decades filled with work and child rearing, she then worked towards her PhD. After seven years of postgraduate study and research, she was then able to fully change careers.

A brief video to make sure you got the most out of this section before you move onto the next one.

Begin Section 8 with this inspirational quote by Alexander Graham Bell.

Step 6 Explore and Discover Through a Side Project

Outlines what's included in this Section:

Inspirational Quote- Video

Overview of Section- Video

Immerse yourself in a side project –Video

Laying the groundwork to a side project- Document

It’s not stalking , it’s interviewing - Document/Activity

Create a side project by volunteering or job shadowing -Document/ Activity

Got a great idea you want to market test? -Document/ Activity

How to market test via a side project - Activity

Assessing your side project-How do you know its working?--Document/ Activity

Case Study-How Others Have Done It: Change is messy, But you’re worth it- Document

Section 8 Learning Outcomes -Video

What exactly is a side project? It starts with a commitment to make time to explore. How you explore is open-ended and depends on how much you need to confirm that this idea you have is what you really want to do.

So do you need to meet people already in the role you’re after, get practice in the role, get more skills to do the role, or just find out more? Or maybe you’ve got an idea for a business venture and you want to test the idea before taking the plunge.

The supplementary document 'Laying the Groundwork' will assist with your ideas, either working in a new field, industry or role or start your own business venture. By thinking of these ventures as side projects, either within or external to your professional activities, you may find they take on a life of their own, as you meet new people, move into different sectors and start to capitalise on your growth mindset to explore new possibilities.

The following supplementary documents are filled with practical side project ideas.

'It's Not Stalking, It's Interviewing', focuses on what many of us do daily, having a catch up coffee with someone we admire and just talk. Side projects could consist of applying for temporary projects, side ways networking and making it clear you’re interested in internal roles that will give you new skills, contacts and ways to test your brand statement. It also includes meeting people you admire who may have the ‘ideal’ job, or someone you envy because they have managed to maneuver into roles that reflect what you’re looking for.

Next, so you’ve got an idea of what you want to do, but there’s nothing like immersing yourself in the role to get a real sense of what it’s like. 'Create a Side Project by Volunteering and /or Job Shadowing' explores how to dip into roles as a means to go beyond exploring, into discovering if this is the career direction to take.

What about this great idea you have for a business, but you’re not sure whether this idea is going to be loved and, more importantly, bought by a potential customer. Can you turn this thing you enjoy doing into something people will pay for?

It’s essential that you test this idea to ensure that it will generate enough interest to warrant the effort you’re about to undertake. At this stage it’s not about creating a business plan, but more about playing. Rather than predicting the outcome, allow feedback to see if the idea has merit through a side project.

The next supplementary documents will assist you with WHAT and HOW to market test this idea to see what your potential customers think. They include simple and cost effective ways to test your idea and work out who your potential customer is.

What happens after you’ve read the books, started networking, got ideas, have undertaken the D-A-T-A model activities and reflections and have commenced with a side project. How do you know this idea is worth pursuing and what indicators can you use?

'How do you know your Side Project is working?' gives you a process to measure whether this side project is providing you with the clues, data and information you need to help you discover if it will help you find your career sweet spot.

End this Section with an inspiring case study. Roland, an experienced business coach in his mid-fifties, worked as both a journalist and a boat builder before he found his career niche. Growing up in a family of journalists in Holland, the profession seemed like the right way to go. But after 5 years he decided to leave journalism and try his hand at boat building. This lead him to Australia, where he discovered that while he loved and knew a lot about boats, he didn’t know much about business.

A brief video to make sure you got the most out of this section before you move onto the next one.

Begin Section 9 with this inspirational quote by W.M Lewis

Step 7 It Doesn’t Stop Here

Inspirational Quote- Video

Outlines what's included in this Section:

Inspirational Quote- Video

Overview of Section- Video

Don’t stop here –Video

The Opportunity of change -Activity

Keep buzzing- How to stay motivated --Document/ Activity

The value of a career buddy and career mentor- Document

Section 9 Learning Outcomes -Video

Final Thankyou Video

You're almost at the end of this course and you’ve been on an amazing transformational journey. This Section provides ideas on how to stay motivated. The worst thing you could do now is to become complacent. Remember the end goal and stay focused.

Now that you’re convinced that starting is worth the effort, even if they’re small steps, how will you know when to make that final career move? "The Opportunity for Change" provides clues to the signals or signs that tell you the time is right. Making sense of your exploration and discovery period is about interpreting the information, the changes and making meaning of this time.

'Are You Over It?... Then Let’s Problem Solve"'. Let's face it, staying motivated can be a challenge.

'Keep Buzzing- How to Stay Motivated' explores the barriers that could creep in once we start to consider career options and explore our side projects. From loosing momentum, having trouble with goal setting, or being overcome by the obstacles, these could all lead to staying stuck.

And finally, one of the most important ways to keep going on your career transition is to have others with you on the journey. There is no doubt that having someone that you can chat to, canvas views and test ideas, will help you with decisions about how to progress your career transition.

'The Value of a Career Buddy/Mentor' will assist participants to progress their exploration and discovery phase through the assistance of others. This could be through an informal arrangement with a career ‘buddy’ or a more formal arrangement with a mentor.

A brief video to make sure you got the most out of this section before you move onto the Bonus Section.

Some final thoughts and congratulations on completing the program.

How do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness?

How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to recognize that we are enough – that we are worthy of love, belonging, and joy?

So what has this got to do with career transitions?

Further references for Brené Brown

Author of ‘Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love and Parent’

www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability

www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame

http://brenebrown.com/

Utilising the thoughts of well known ad-man Siimon Reynolds, read how the obstacles he identified in the business world are applicable to the blocks we create in finding and acting on our career aspirations. They are a valuable reference point and help cut through some of the limiting beliefs we may still have about career change.

Further references for Siimon Reynolds

Author of ‘Why People Fail: The 16 Obstacles to Success and How You Can Overcome Them’

Siimon Reynolds discusses the key reasons people don't achieve success in life and business.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5gBckFtNik

http://siimonreynoldscoaching.com/

Work provides women with more than money, it gives them self-esteem, independence and a sense of identity. In considering the issues of most relevance to women and career change, Elizabeth Perle McKenna, reflects on how many successful women don’t make the move because of two significant issues: they have been defined by the success of their work and they need financial security. The lessons that follow are also relevant for male readers.

Further references for Elizabeth Perle McKenna

Author of ‘When Work Doesn’t Work Anymore: Women, Work and Identity’

A landmark book where Elizabeth details how the 1980s fantasy for working women was “money, power, position.” But by the 1990s, the fantasy had become “money, power, position, and balance.” She argues this still applies today, but “balance” is spelled with a capital “B” and the expectation applies to working fathers, too. Perle believes the point of her book was “to give women the power to be enough. It’s this trying to be everything that’s making them unhappy…How do we make work work for people who have more responsibilities?”

Reference:www.theglasshammer.com/news/2010/07/27/dual-career-couples-%E2%80%93-tips-for-making-it-work/

“The Happiness Advantage asks us to be realistic about the present while maximizing our potential for the future. It is about learning how to cultivate the mindset and behaviors that have been empirically proven to fuel greater success and fulfilment. It is a work ethic”.

Further References for Shawn Achor

Author of ‘The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles that Fuel Success and Performance at Work’

http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work

http://goodthinkinc.com/

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s famous investigations of “optimal experience” have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow.

Flow is the state of existence when a person performing an activity is totally immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does.

Further references for Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has contributed pioneering work to our understanding of happiness, creativity, human fulfillment and the notion of "flow" — a state of heightened focus and immersion in activities such as art, play and work.

www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi