Your Career Is The Treasury of Your Life - news! | April 2019
Your Career Treasury
newsletter

"Your career is the treasury of your life" - Joanne Meehl

It’s April and the snow piles are almost gone in the colder parts
of the country.

Spring = rejuvenation, new starts, possibilities. What about for you?

Keep reading for ideas that will help you renew your job search and your career. And maybe, you!
Joanne Meehl
Resume expert who hopes you never need to actually use your resume. "The Resume Queen" ®
LinkedIn profile creator if you want yours to be an employer magnet.
Networking guru who coaches you in elegant (not needy, gimme gimme) networking, finding hidden leads.
Interview prep that puts you at ease matching what they need and describing why they need you.

BA, MS, IJCDC and Forbes Coaches Council Member

Watch Your Language!
How what you SAY becomes what you THINK
It's bad enough that your job search has its ups and downs, all on its own. Add to that the knowledge that what you say to yourself and  about yourself  becomes what you THINK about yourself. 

So watch what you say  about yourself TO yourself -- either silently OR out loud. Negative comments become negative thoughts that become embedded. Then they kill your energy and cause a “What’s the use of me even trying…” lack of action. 

Sure, "positive thinking" is good, and there’s a lot out there you can read. But affirmative thoughts and positive actions are what gets you the next great job. (The next great anything , actually.)

Over the 20+ years of doing this work, I have seen people who remain positive GET the best jobs.

Thoughts, feelings, emotions, saying things, doing things are all related. If your thinking holds false beliefs like “There’s only so much so I’d better fight for mine” ("scarcity thinking"), you will BE limited. 

Affirmative thinking goes beyond “positive thinking” because it emphasizes “I am”, not “I will”.

Here are some examples of 3 kinds of thinking: negative, positive, affirmative:

Negative thought (Drains energy, feels hopeless)
“Nothing ever works out for me…that’s just my luck”
“There’s age discrimination... I’m just too old”
“I just want a job, any job. It’s a luxury to go after what I really want!”

Positive thought (Adds energy, feels good)
“I will find an employer who’s looking for someone to mentor newbies”
“I’ve had successes, and will have more”
“I am looking for something specific, so it will take longer”

Affirmative thought (Present tense = commitment to  being and  doing the positive)
“I have something to offer that’s unique to me AND which gives value to an employer”
“I deserve to have the right job for me, so I make good choices that will attract that job to me”
 “There is a reason I’m available now, a reason I remain open to options"

Being affirmative will give you results, not just good feelings. As the quote, source unknown, says, "The crowd makes way for the person who knows where he/she is going".
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This month’s Tip:
Keep a "career diary"
One of the things I strongly urge clients to do is to keep a career "diary". 

In this, you keep track of 1) new tasks and new responsibilities you handled well at work that day or week, 2) kudos and coaching given you by managers or associates or senior leaders, and 3) what you're learning. In short, it's keeping track of your increasing knowledge and growing list of successes.

The big things you'll remember but there are many other achievements that can get lost. I can't tell you how many clients, years after leaving a job, say "If only I could  remember all the great things I did on that job!" 

And keeping a diary of your achievements is very helpful when it comes time for your review. 
Thought for the Month

When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you .  
- Lolly Daskal, Leadership Guru
See my article about being ready to interview any time, anywhere, on Forbes.com
Joanne Meehl Career Services LLC | 612.216.3855 | Joanne@TheJobSearchQueen.com