Vol 1 Iss 15

Well, summer has finally arrived in Colorado. These past few days have been blistering. I suppose it's normal for this time of year, but it seems radically hot compared to the cool wet spring and early summer we just experienced.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but our home is for sale. We've been showing it to prospective buyers (fingers crossed each time) a couple of times a week for the past 6 weeks. If you have ever been through this process, you know that there are times when you only have an hour's notice and you'd better be ready. All you have time for is a little Windex in the bathrooms.

What I've learned from this is the power of consistency. Every morning the first hour is spent erasing last night's evidence of having a life. Then when the call comes, I can do the little things that make it special, gather some work and hit the local coffeehouse to wait it out.

Careers are like that too. Consistent effort at keeping your skills current and staying alert to possibility is what some people call "luck." As the saying goes: "Consistency is the key to success." I'll talk more about this in the article below and give you some tips on what to be consistent with in the Career Tips below.

P. S. If you missed the chance to vote for my son's band, Tenpenny, here is the link:

http://www.hardrock.com/promo/cabowabo2004/voteList.asp

If you download the MP3 to listen to them, that's my son playing the jammin' lead guitar.

He Rocks! Thanks for supporting Tenpenny!! (and pass it on...)

"Consistency is the key to success" I heard that over and over in my sales career. Here's another: "Focus on the effort, the results will come."

Both of these are true and applying them to your career can make you soar. Not only to the actual work of your job, but especially to the behaviors you bring to your work.

For example, if you consistently use your lunch hour to walk for 30 minutes, your afternoons will be more productive and you'll maintain a healthier body. If you walk with a buddy, you're enhancing that 30 minutes with building a relationship. Very small effort in the big picture, but it leads to some really beneficial outcomes.

When you consistently return phone calls within 24 hours, or better yet, answer your phone consistently, you are sending out a message to the universe that you can be trusted. When you are trusted by others, they invite you to play with them. Opportunity shows up. Even the smallest consistent effort can make a difference in the long run.

Sometimes, though, that word "consistency" sounds like prison. I mean, really, doing the same thing over and over can get a little - well, I'll say it - boring... tedious... Routine doesn't fit some people, and that doesn't make them wrong. You can still be consistent in your reactions.

For example, going back to that phone thing, someone who answers their phone with a smile out of habit, is going to attract more opportunity than someone who consistently responds with anger or annoyance. You get what you give. And what you give consistently is what you will consistently get.

I invite you to integrate the ideas in Career Tips to help you pay attention to your consistent behavior and actions. This will serve you in the long run.

As a Career Coach, I can be your partner through this process. Please contact me at debra@forwardmomentum.com for more information!

I sometimes fear the younger generation will be deprived

of the pleasure of hoeing;

how many souls have been formed by this simple exercise.

The dry earth like a great scab breaks, revealing

the pea-root's home,

a fertile wound perpetually healing.

How neatly the green weeds go under!

The blade chops the earth new.

Ignorant the wise boy who

has never performed this simple, stupid, and useful wonder.

Being consistent in your career change involves paying attention to what you are doing now and noticing the impact. You may want to make some changes. Several places to look are:

1. Whom do you hang out with? It's been shown over and over that if you aspire to greatness you need to hang out with great people. For example, Mark Victor Hansen (author of "Chicken Soup of the Soul" and marketing guru) tells the story of how he was complaining to Tony Robbins that he couldn't make the leap to becoming a multi-millionaire. Tony asked him if he was a member of a mastermind group, he said he was. Tony then asked him what the average income of the group was, and Hansen replied they were all at about the same income level. "There's your problem." said Tony. If you want to be an eagle, you have to fly with eagles.

By the same token, if you want to be a jeweler, you have to hang out with jewelers. If you want to be an engineer, time to to hang out with engineers. If you want to be a writer, find writers. You get the idea.

2. What routines are you already employing? Is it your habit to go to work and hide because you hate your job? Are you consistently on time for work? Do you slug it out hours past time to call it a day? Do you spend a lot of time on personal stuff? Do you ignore personal stuff?

By examining your current behavior and tweaking it slightly, a little piece at a time, you can shift your personal energy level and your energy around time. Shift happens.

Nothing is ever accomplished without deepening the learning and forwarding the action. This means that you need to learn more about how you are, learn more about what you want to change and what you can change, and do it. Consistently. It's a process.

3. Who are your role models? Do they know how much you respect them? Have you ever asked for their advice, or perhaps asked them to mentor you? They are more accessible than you could ever imagine.

Turn it around. Suppose you are at the top of your new field - 20 years from now. You've paid your dues and love your work. You get an e-mail, or your phone rings, and the person states they have admired you from afar and want to be just like you. And would you have 30 minutes to spare so they could ask you questions about how you got from where they are to where you are now? Personally, I would be flattered, and willing to give them a meager 30 minutes. You would too.

Start looking around in your chosen field and find the success stories. Read about how they did it. Get out of your comfort zone, contact them and ask if they would mentor you.

If you don't ask, you don't get. Consistently ask.

4. Who do you go to for help? The best people to ask advice of are those who do not have a vested interest in your success or failure. The people close to you are wonderful for support (if they are positive) and for cheering you in your successes. They are the WRONG people to go to to make significant change in your life because it can affect them and they will resist it. For your own good, of course they will say, but it's really about keeping things the same.

Change is hard. (The only people who like change are wet babies!) You need to have a person you can go to consistently to think out loud, to try out new ideas, and to brainstorm. That person can be a mentor in your chosen field, as mentioned in the previous section. Or, better yet, hire a coach.

Coaches are trained in the process of changing. They won't have the answers you seek, but they will have the questions you forgot to ask. The questions that your support system won't ask because they deep down don't really want that change to happen. Coaches are trained to notice when you have real blocks and can recommend alternate paths for you to follow.

If you are ready to make a change, I am happy chat with you to see how we can make it happen. Just send me an e-mail at debra@forwardmomentum.com and we'll see where it goes from there.

Let this be your first of many consistent efforts to ask for help.

In continuing with my new focus on the career transition that is obsoletely known as "retirement,"

I am expanding my offerings of workshops and teleclasses.

If you know someone that is within 5 years of retirement, please forward this information and let them know of these classes. It could change their life.

"Instead of absorbing an obsolete view of retirement, we should consider...a flexible life plan that provides for your financial, vocational, physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Unless you look at your future holistically,

You can have a retirement that is fulfilling and meaningful, but you need to plan ahead for it.

This is a 4-week exploration of Un-Retirement. Classes are held on Thursdays for one hour beginning July 8. You may opt to take the entire series or sign up for individual classes. Class Topics are:

Week 1 - Finding Meaning for your Life in Un-Retirement

Week 2 - Structuring Your Time in Un-Retirement

Week 3 - Loneliness Prevention in Un-Retirement

Week 4 - Self-Care in Un-Retirement

For the full listing of workshops, teleclasses, and coaching programs, visit http://www.forwardmomentum.com/html/schedule_more_info.shtml

You are free to use material from Moving Forward! in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including a live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read:

"By Debra DeVilbiss, CPCC, of Forward Momentum, LLC. Please visit Debra's website at http://www.ForwardMomentum.com for additional articles and resources on creating your right livelihood."

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