Identity and the Curve of Transformation

“The unfolding saga of life on all levels is one of constant transformation, constant changing of form,” says author, artist and playwright Julia Cameron.

Nature illustrates this principle in countless ways. The chambered Nautilus, for example, is a deep-water mollusk that builds a spiral-shaped shell for a home. Growing constantly, it can never remain for long in the chamber it lives in. Nor can it return to previous ones; they no longer fit. Instead, the Nautilus is constantly obliged to build a new chamber for itself to live in. And in so doing, it is, in a way, constantly arranging for its own disappearance in the world.

Whether we like it or not, our personal and career identities obey the same growth impulse. Some part of us is constantly disappearing around what poet David Whyte calls an ‘invisible curve of transformation’. Some part of us is constantly pushing ahead, in search of a meaning horizon that is broad enough to accommodate the expanded self that is asking to be born.

The form of disappearance in the world is met with deep existential dread by the ego, says Jungian analyst Murray Stein (Stein, Murray. In Midlife: A Jungian Perspective. Conn.: Spring Publications, 1983. p.86.). Not only does it spell the death of a secure way of being:

“…a person’s sense of direction forward is beclouded and obscured during liminality; life’s pathways to the future appear to be unmarked and even uncharted, and the future itself seems unimaginable in every conceivable direction.”

Still, this is a journey we must all make if a more robust form of identity is to emerge. It is a departure that must occur if a new Self is to be born. If we do not, says poet John O’Donohue, a person may “linger for years in spaces that are too small and shabby for the grandeur of their spirit.”
(O’Donohue, J. To Bless the Space Between Us:A Book of Blessings.New York: Doubleday, 2008.p.192)

Where are you on the curve of your career transformation? What has already happened in your life that you need to catch up with?”

Post contributed by Adrian Juric

Adrian Juric is Canadian Certified Counsellor. He leads wilderness retreats for adults that use poetry and hiking to help individuals make sense of the transitions occurring in their lives. See www.innerlandscapes.org for more info.

How Optimistic Are You?

Those of us who favour looking at the bright side of life and seeing opportunities in less than ideal circumstances are prototypical optimists. Technically, optimism is the systematic tendency to expect the best possible outcomes. Some argue it’s merely a bias we’re hardwired to experience (see the Optimism Bias by Tali Sharot). Regardless of its’ roots, optimism has been associated with many benefits including healthand happiness, and even career success and job satisfaction.

So how optimistic are you? In a recent Life Strategies’ survey, 65% of respondents considered themselves optimists whereas only 2% of respondents considered themselves pessimists (i.e., having a systematic tendency to expect the worst possible outcomes). The remaining 33% saw themselves as realists (i.e., having a systematic tendency to expect the most likely outcome).

Those who identified as optimists preferred to see the positive in life, embracing change and uncertainty. Many noted positive expectations have lead to positive outcomes – consider the self-fulfilling prophecy where individuals will succeed because they believe they can.

Although only a few respondents identified as pessimists, reasons included focusing on the negative side, overanalyzing situations, and self-protection. Some of our pessimistic respondents realized this viewpoint was problematic; however, felt it was hard to change.

Some reasons why respondents identified as “realists” were a preference for logic and objectiveness, as well as a distaste for concepts such as destiny and luck. Realists saw this as a safer, middle-of-the-road choice; it’s a bit of both (i.e., not overly pessimistic or blindly optimistic). They also reflected on past experiences that have tainted their views of optimism, seeing realism as necessary to mediate both the good and the bad that life throws at them.

Respondents also highlighted strategies they use to stay optimistic in difficult times. Responses included:

• Connecting with friends and family
• Avoiding negative people
• Engaging in positive self-talk
• Adopting a more solution-focused mind frame
• Setting priorities and goals
• Maintaining a balanced and healthy lifestyle (e.g., getting enough sleep, eating well, enjoying hobbies/activities)
• Getting outside and being active
• Using relaxation meditation techniques
• Appreciating what you’ve got
• Recognizing things could be worse
• Relying on one’s faith
• Reframing negative experiences
• Focussing on the learning
• Reaching out for help when necessary

Luckily optimism can be learned; to strengthen your own optimism or adopt a more optimistic viewpoint on life, check out our tip sheet  on the topic.

Simple Things You Can Do To Support Cultural Diversity

Did you know? May 21st was World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.  Here are some suggestions for activities adapted from the Do One Thing For Diversity And Inclusion Facebook page:

1.  Visit an art exhibit/museum dedicated to other cultures.

2.  Invite people from your neighborhood with different cultural/religious backgrounds to share a meal with you.

3.  Rent a movie or read a book from a country/religion other than your own.

4.  Invite people from a different culture to share your customs.

5.  Read about the great thinkers from cultures other than your own (e.g. Confucius, Socrates, Avicenna, Ibn Khaldun, Aristotle, Ganesh, Rumi)

6.  Visit a place of worship different than yours; participate in the celebration.

7.  Learn about traditional celebrations from other cultures (e.g., Hanukkah, Ramadan, New Year's Eve celebrations of  Spain, or Qingming festival in China).

8.  Spread your own culture around the world through - see the  Do One Thing For Diversity And Inclusion Facebook page and learn about other cultures.

9.  Explore music of a different culture.

Clues to Work Satisfaction . . . and Dissatisfaction

If you find yourself visiting with colleagues, searching the web, posting to Facebook, or planning your next vacation while at work, you may be dissatisfied in your current role. In a recent study by Salary.com (check out study results via this very cool Infographic), the top time-wasting activities were using the Internet (48%), socializing with co-workers (33%), and handling personal business (30%). Not surprisingly, the top excuse for time wasters was lack of satisfaction at work (46%) with feeling underpaid (34%) coming a close second.

Take a moment to reflect on your work; ask yourself what’s working and what’s not with your day-to-day tasks, team members, supervisors/managers, compensation, and work-life balance. Strive, each day, to do what you can to maximize or take advantage of what’s working. Reflect on what’s not working – what can you do to facilitate change or make improvements?

Another strategy is to explore your Career Engagement or the emotional and cognitive connection you feel to your career (or specific role or set of tasks); full engagement is possible when capacity and challenge are in balance. However, if these are out of balance, disengagement will occur either through becoming overwhelmed (i.e., too much challenge for the available capacity) or underutilized (i.e., insufficient challenge for the available capacity). If you’re wasting time at work reflect on whether lack of career engagement is the cause.

Remember . . .

Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do. ~Walt Disney

Is Variety the Spice of Life? Change vs. Stability

With Spring finally here, change is in the air for many of us; however, we all may not be equally excited to see it.

We took a quick poll to see what our newsletter readers preferred: stability or change. An overwhelming majority (93%) preferred at least some change; 43% liked more stability than change, 27% liked more change than stability, and 23% could do without stability altogether, appreciating variety and new beginnings. Only 7% indicated a preference for stability and continuity.

Although change occurs in almost every facet of life, it sometimes feels like an unnatural process and can result feelings of anxiety and worry. Bridges proposed a three-stage model of transitions where, after experiencing a precipitating change, individuals work through (1) endings and (2) the neutral zone before reaching (3) the new beginning. Although “the neutral zone” is a time of uncertainty and confusion, it’s by working through this transitional phase that an individual can set/achieve new goals and begin to move forward toward the new beginning. Although stability can feel “nice” and “safe” it may lead to stagnation; changes can help you continuously strive for improvement.

According to one change-management website, change preferences are on a spectrum where “stability” and “change” are the endpoints and there are gradations of preferences in between the two. Problems arise when a stability-oriented person encounters rapidly changing circumstances or when a change-oriented person finds him or herself in a slow period with nothing new happening. Understanding our own change preferences, and those of others, can help us navigate the transition process more effectively.

If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.
~ Gail Sheehy

Recognizing the Importance of Professional Development – Taking and Making Time to Learn

This time last week I, and about 250 others, had just finished listening to an amazing “Day 2” keynote address given by Denise Bissonnette. For “Day 1” we’d been privileged to hear John Krumboltz. These two, and a host of others, presented at the BC Career Development Association’s 2012 Career Development Conference. Attendance was down this year, likely as a result of BC’s “Business Transformation” which has seen a number of agencies closing and Career Development Practitioners (CDPs) losing their jobs. Those who are working are in training and probably scrambling to be ready for the launch of new services on April 2nd. I’d guess that limited resources, which include time and money, drew many away from CDC 2012. This made me wonder, however . . . how many of us see the conference, and other professional development activities as something “nice to do” but an overall low priority vs. a “must attend” event? Clearly, I shouldn’t make assumptions about what stops someone from engaging in professional development but it is curious.

Given the huge changes in BC’s career development landscape how did people not “move mountains” to attend the conference? The networking opportunities, alone, can be a huge benefit for someone in transition. Taking this further, is it just the conference or an underlying reluctance to invest in our own lifelong learning? I remember one discussion, in particular, that had colleagues sharing comments they’d overheard; things like “Now that I’ve got theories and ethics I don’t have to take any more courses” or “Now that I’ve got a three year contract I’m not going to bother keeping my professional certification.” Again, a few comments aren’t likely representative of a full population but this isn’t new – several of us have noticed that some CDPs simply aren’t willing to make learning a higher priority.

According to the 2009 Pan-Canadian Mapping Study of the Career Development Sector, “access to professional training is the highest rated priority by CDPs for future directions needed in the sector” (p. 5) yet I’d suggest that much of this training already exists. The Career Development Chapter of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association recently updated an inventory of career training programs that are available across the country and/or online. So, if the challenge is lack of awareness, this resource would go a long way in solving that problem. The other challenges that I’ve heard relate to time and money; we’ve developed two tip sheets to help with those (1) 10 Tips to Fit Professional Development into a Busy Life  and (2) 10 Tips to Stretch Your Professional Development Dollars.

So, I challenge everyone to find some way to invest in your own professional development this year. Read a book then pass that learning on through a blog post, take a webinar (see our series to support the Where’s the Work? project ), take an active role in a LinkedIn group like Careers Debate, find a conference, or take a course. Sometimes all it takes is a willingness to spend the time and it is worth investing in your own career! Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Where’s the Work? Helping Career Practitioners Explore Their Career Options

Life Strategies Ltd. was honoured to be awarded a 2012 Canadian Career Development Foundation (CCDF) Building for the Future Endowment Fund in support of the Where’s the Work? Helping Career Practitioners Explore their Career Options project. To support the development of a series of webinars and workbook, we surveyed Career Development Practitioners (CDPs) to find out where they’re working now, what alternative work settings they may be interested in, and how prepared they are to work outside of “traditional” settings.

We found an abundance of CDPs working in the government-funded setting with most respondents agreeing that this represented the “traditional” workplace. Survey respondents expressed interest in learning about many other work environments including Business / Corporations, Private Practice / Self‐Employment, Education (Post‐Secondary), Recruiting / Placement, International / Global Career Services, and Government (Policy / Program Development).

When considering level of preparedness for working outside of the traditional setting, the majority of respondents reported they were personally prepared (at least somewhat) but didn’t believe the average CDP was as prepared as they were. Could this truly represent higher levels of personal preparedness or is it simply an overestimate, a blind spot, for many CDPs?

Interested in learning more? Click here to read our preliminary report.

We are hosting a 3-part webinar series that will introduce the Where’s the Work? project, review our research, and help career practitioners explore alternative work roles and settings.

• March 14, 2012: Part 1: What Does a Career Development Practitioner Do? - FREE
• March 21, 2012: Part 2: What Roles Do Career Development Practitioners Fill? – Only $49.95 (plus tax)
• March 28, 2012: Part 3: Where Do Career Development Practitioners Work? – Only $49.95 (plus tax)

Click here to learn more about the project and the upcoming webinars. Please note: space in the webinars is limited so register early.