Category Archives: Blog

How to Rock 2018

Recently I ran our goal setting workshop for the second time. The workshop went really well last year but best of all many of the attendees contacted me throughout the year to share that they had achieved all of their goals. Although I absolutely know this stuff works, it is still a massive thrill to hear when it’s been instrumental in changing others’ lives.

Given that this is an annual workshop (look out for it in January 2019), I thought I’d share the process with you because there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t start at any time and we now have some beautiful DIY templates that you can download to have your list also looking fantastic when you put it up at home.

Here are the five simple steps to get you on your way to your best year ever:

  1. Position yourself somewhere you enjoy hanging out. Then, download your favourite goal setting template below this article.
  2. Start your reflection … Imagine us meeting up in 12 months time. You tell me you have had your best year ever. Think about what has happened. What can you see? What can you hear? Who is with you? How does it feel? Dream big because that’s when you get the greatest benefits!
  3. Write down the five or six key outcomes that would create this amazing year for you. It can be useful to write them as though they’re already here, eg. If you plan to buy an investment property you might write “We own an investment property which is contributing to our family wealth”. If it’s say a car you want you might say “I am driving my beautiful new car”. Write these items in the left column of the template (either ours or one of your own).
  4. Find an image that will remind you of your goal. Say it’s the car, look for a picture that is the exact model and colour that you want. For me it’s a Mazda CX5 and it’s so coming this year!! Place the image in the right column. (Googling images can be a great idea because you can resize them for the template but magazines can also be a cool way to find them.)
  5. Place your goal list somewhere you will see it regularly, or where it will at least see you. Many people put it on their refrigerator and mine is by my desk looking over me as I go about my work day.

This exercise is underpinned by manifestation, tapping into the law of attraction. I cannot tell you exactly how it works but I can definitely tell you that it has worked for me and many of my friends and clients. Here’s a few tips for increasing the likelihood that it will also work for you:

  • Believe that it is possible, as Louise Hay says, “You’ll see it when you believe it”.
  • Commit to a personal growth practice … eg. believing you are worth it, appreciating all of the awesome things you already have in your life, helping others, meditation, exploring your gifts, and pursuing your life purpose all seem to have a positive impact.
  • Consider affirmations and/or visualising your goals. One friend manifested $15K+ after repeating “I am open to receiving large sums of money coming from unexpected sources” over and over each day, whilst I meditate daily visualising my goals achieved.
  • Be open to how your goal might be achieved. If we are steadfastly committed to a plan for how it will happen there’s a risk of being blind to alternative, sometimes easier, ways for the goal to occur. Have a plan if you want one, but please be flexible.

We would love to hear how you go with the process so drop us a line at judith@careervitality.com.au to share your experiences or to ask any questions you might have. We can also provide a template in Word format in case you want to type diretly into it.

Wishing you your best year yet!

Simple steps to finding a job you’ll love

career coach Brisbane

Finding a job you love and are good at is a common goal. Some may even feel it is some unattainable dream. It doesn’t have to be a fantasy, you can do something you enjoy for a living and excel at it.

To do this you need to identify what your strengths, skills, and passions are. Once you know where your strengths are you can use that information to find a career that allows you to thrive.

Strengths and Passions

There are many ways to find out where your strengths lie and what gets you excited. You could simply make a list of things people tell you that you are good at to start your strengths list. Then take that list and ask friends, or coworkers if you have them, what they would add to it. In terms of passions, try thinking of what you love to do at work and in your spare time. Don’t worry about whether or not it could be something you can do as a career at this point.

Another option is taking a personality test to help you see where your personality lies. These tests ask a series of questions and has you rank your agreement or disagreement to each. 16 Personalities is one of my favorite free versions of the popular Myers-Briggs assessment. Once you take the quiz the site gives you a very detailed insight into your personality.

Connecting with a career counselor to help you to identify your strengths and passions can also be a great idea. It can be hard for us to work out what we are good at and enlisting the help of a professional can be very insightful.

Applying it to a Career

 Once you’ve worked out what you are good at and what keeps you engaged and excited, what do you do with that information? If you have found that what you enjoy doing is completely unrelated to what your current profession is, brainstorm some ways you can move into the field you would be more passionate about. What skills or certifications would you need to gain? Is there a way you can start out as a side gig or volunteer to gain the experience you need?

If you took a personality test, there are tons of ways to see career options based on your personality type. Business Insider has a great infographic showing popular career options based on the Myers-Briggs assessment. You will have to do some internal reflection to see which role types align with your passions for the best outcome.

With such a big decision, talking to someone about what you are thinking is a great option. This can be family and friends or a professional career coach. Take in their advice but remember to choose based on what you are truly feeling. We spend the majority of our day at work, so why not make your career something you are great at and love to do!

At Career Vitality, we specialise in helping people find a job they’ll love. Call Judith today on 0400 739 919 if you’d like a chat about your career.

From Failure to Entrepreneur of the Year

Sometimes navigating life and career can prove very challenging, especially if you are someone who expects a lot from themselves and experiences self-doubt.

At the end of 2016 I topped off my year by receiving the Hills and District Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year Award’. I didn’t think I would win with six other deserving nominees in contention, yet I knew that 2016 had been an amazing year of growth and achievement for me.

Around four years ago I was in a very different place personally and professionally to now. A certain set of circumstances led to my long history of self-doubt spiraling out of control. I believed that everyone could see that I was a hopeless failure and felt like my son and partner would be better off without me. I was someone with a good relationship, caring family, many friends, and positive attitude. But there was always something missing – always a feeling of not being good enough.

That was then. It hasn’t been an easy road but finally, I found some peace with myself – my imperfections and my strengths. Others inspired me to know that it is possible to challenge and change the voice in my head that criticises, limits and often presents a very different reality from what others see. I feel so blessed to be in a different place now and to have an opportunity to help others through my work as a career coach.

The award was great but my biggest achievement in 2016 was no doubt finding, and learning to like, me.

I hope that this story might inspire others to know that even the darkest times will pass and that we can choose our thoughts and have a significant impact on the course of our lives. Wishing you all the best in your career and life.

‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ Presentation

Held hostage by friends, or so I thought

imprisoned
Photo by tiverylucky, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Recently the most interesting thing happened. While getting dressed for a coffee catchup I realised that my everyday handbag was not going to cut it with the floral dress I planned to wear. I opened the wardrobe housing my small handbag collection and was very excited to see a beautiful pink and black floral bag, the perfect accessory to my dress. The thing is, right, this bag had been hanging out there for at least three years. It still had the price tag on it yet it had never been given a chance to come out to play.

It didn’t take me long to recall the reason for its imprisonment. My partner had bought the bag for me when I fell for it at a market. I remember bringing it home full of anticipation. I excitedly showed it to a friend soon after and she looked at it and said “It’s not my taste”. As I reflect with the benefit of hindsight, I appreciate that it wasn’t her taste but it sure as hell was mine!

When did I lose faith in my taste, in my ability to make decisions for myself? Did I ever possess it? I think it has probably waxed and waned at different times in my life but I don’t think I ever truly and completely trusted myself. Maybe you’re different and have experienced the conviction of your views and, if you are, I applaud you! My fear is though that many of us are living lives strongly influenced by the views of others and I am hoping that my insight might help you to question if this is the case and remind you to believe in yourself.

Each of us is totally amazing in our own ways. We have unique gifts, talents, skills, attributes, and ideas yet we allow ourselves to be imprisoned. What I have realised is that it starts with me, the confidence to believe in and trust myself. What areas of YOUR life, if any, does this occur? How does it influence decisions? What might happen if you tried to do it differently?

Supporting parents gives a laugh

This morning I finally met up with Leigh, the Director of School Hours Pty Ltd. I have been communicating with Leigh by email for some time now because I regularly promote School Hours as a flexible work resource in CareerSmart Mums workshops and wanted to know more about the site.  When I arrived at the designated coffee shop, I noticed a male sitting at an outside table and also that there were very few other patrons.  I approached the counter staff and asked whether “L-e-i-g-h” was a male or female name in their experience.  As we wondered and chuckled, the seated male rose and walked into the coffee shop, clearing up the answer to the question. Turns out that my assumption that I was communicating with a mum all this time was totally wrong!

The element of surprise didn’t stop there.  It was awesome to hear the School Hours story and to recognise our shared passion for supporting return to work and working parents.  Leigh offered me some wonderful ideas and tips and I’m super excited about future possibilities in our respective quests to support parents.

Mentors Matter

Mentoring AdviceAs I sat waiting to catch a plane to my industry association’s national conference recently, I reminded my friend Jo, of our one year anniversary.  It was at last year’s conference that Jo had kindly offered to mentor me during my transition from human resources to the career industry.  Although I had a mentor through a university scheme, I jumped at the offer because Jo had taken a very similar path to the one I was embarking on and I figured the more access I had to skilled people on my journey, the better.  As it turns out, I haven’t exactly been monogamous in my mentoring relationships, having also enjoyed a couple of other very valuable informal relationships last year.

I actually can’t imagine having got to this point without access to these wonderful people (at least without much more pain, many more mistakes and much more time).  So what has come out of these relationships, you might ask?  Collectively, the benefits included work experience through placements, enhancing my technical skills through supervision and case meetings, expanding my network, recommendations for opportunities and actual work, developing a referee in my new industry (which helped me obtain consulting work) and learning about setting up, and running, a small business.

Potential mentors are all around us, whether it be in the workplace or the community.  Ideally the discussion of mentoring would happen when you know, or have developed a relationship with, the potential mentor because this will allow you to assess their suitability and potentially increase their comfort in taking on the role.  Yesterday I had the pleasure of connecting with a very experienced professional in my industry (I sent her an email after seeing her speak at a professional development session a little while back).  As we left the coffee shop, she said that she would be happy to continue to catch up, even in a mentoring capacity.  Although the thought had crossed my mind, it was lovely that it happened quite organically.  I will definitely be adding this person to my network of mentors which will allow me to call on others a little less and give me the opportunity to observe another style and skillset.

Whatever your stage of career, you are likely to find a good mentoring relationship valuable.  It can be a great way to grow into or out of your role, transition roles or industries, expand your network, increase your organisational knowledge, or to be challenged in a supportive context. Do you have a mentor?  What have been the benefits of the relationship?  If you don’t, is it time to consider it?  

Welcome to Career Vitality!

Welcome to the first Career Vitality blog …  I’m so excited to be launching the new website and to have the opportunity to share some of my knowledge and ideas on career development with you.  I’m sure I must have felt a similar level of passion for my previous career in human resource management, but the passion I feel for career development sometimes surprises me.  I truly do regard career management and transition skills as critical for us all in the dynamic world of work that we live in.  While we can no longer rely on employer provided job security, we can achieve a degree of security by keeping ourselves employable, ie. building and maintaining our skills and work related behaviours.

The career industry has a long history in Australia, with the professional association (Career Development Association of Australia) recently celebrating it’s 25th anniversary, yet only a few know that career practitioners exist.  For many their only experience with the career industry was the school guidance officer many years ago.  Careers and the world of work have become far more complex and fast paced and many people need to further develop the career transition skills needed for success in the modern economy.

I look forward to expanding your knowledge of the career industry, as well as your career development skills, through this website because I honestly believe that having the right people in the right jobs is critical on an individual, organisation and macro level.

Please feel free to provide comment, share any ideas and help to create an awareness of career development in our community.

Donna