Tag: Change

Changing Jobs

Are you looking for a new job? If you are leaving an old job to do so, I would like you to stop and think for a second. I am not saying you need to keep the old position to show employment. What I am saying is do not separate yourself from one source of income until you have another income to take its place.

Does this mean you will be doing some ‘double-duty’ somewhere along the line? Maybe. Yet other things could be worse.

If you strike out on your own to find a job without adequate funding, you may be making a big mistake. If you are forced to go back to a position you did not like to start with, your dreams might be dashed.

How much money should you have? That depends. Calculate everything you are spending right now and add an extra 5% for inflation. Then add in the costs for training, education, and other expenses to learn a new career field. Then calculate the months to actually find a place to hire you. Double it. If you are going to work for yourself, Double it again. 

Now you have some real numbers to consider. The best-case scenario is you get hired next week, and the next family vacation is paid for. Worst case, at least you planned for it.

Many dream jobs start off as side-gigs for a reason. We do not do well without adequate funding.

What is your dream job?

Changes

It is great to be out there, pushing yourself forward, doing everything within your power to conquer your world. At the same time, you need to remember you have others around you with whom you have activities. Changing your schedule may not help their needs.

Too often, any schedule, no matter how well planned, will fall to the side; it is merely a fact of life. It is essential to realize and ensure no activities or people end up forgotten because of this disruption.

Is it easy? No. Is maintaining the balance doable? With a bit of attention, yes.  Whatever system you use to support your changes and additions, make sure it works for you.

How do you keep up with what is next on your schedule and what is looming down the road?

Are You Busy or Forward Focused

Busy does not mean you are actually in the development of meaningful work.  It is easy to be busy learning new software and protocols and at the same time marching in place instead of going anywhere significant.  It is just as easy to build the next great path for humanity and not need 37-hour days to do so.

I want to say the choice is yours, yet there is a problem you must overcome first.

To feel the inertia of movement, you need to put your plans into gear.  To do so, you need to know and understand software, various philosophies, and how to market your ideas.  There are a plethora of offers to help you through classes, symposiums, and other time (and money) consuming events. 

Do these side developments help you to advance ideas, or are they paid diversions?

The answer is how you decide what training and other knowledge you need and how you go about the process.  Being presented with this, I must ask one thing.

When you work on new projects and programs, how do you pick and plan your platforms to further your knowledge?

Change Is Interesting

On the one hand, change drives us forward. Change helps us to discover new ways and allows us to do more things better. Change can be a great ally.

On the other hand, change can also be a time of sadness. We lose what we have come to know and use. Change is a point of momentary confusion towards what is next.

Do not fear change. Look at change as an opportunity to improve.

What has changed for you lately? 

Transition

It feels like this may be the last hot day of the season. Coolness starts to come back tomorrow along with the possibility of rainstorms in and out for the rest of the week. More and more our weather puts us into not one season or another, instead, into a state of transition.

No matter how much we strive to find a permanent place, whether it is work, home life, or even the climate, more and more we find ourselves in a state of transition. We often fight transition wanting to stay where we are, doing what we know, and living the life we have. Believe it or not, we actually want to stay where we are, whether we like it or not.

The trick is to embrace transition when it comes. We want to get out in front of the change. Why? Because failing to do so puts us at the whims of the winds of fate. We can either enter transition not knowing where we will end up and having to live with the consequences or when change is upon us we can plan and research and act in a method which will help us to end up where we want to be. The choice is ours.

When I was 42, and just out of the Air Force, I actually built a layoff business plan. My dad was Army, I was Air Force, and I really didn’t understand how the civilian world worked regarding employment. I did know, to find a job I wanted, I had to go out and find one.

Although the factory I worked at did not close for 14 more years, the fact I had written that plan, served me well when needed. The fact that my family and I made it through those times and grew better because of them, I believe, proves that with a little fore-thought, guidance from above, and faith, transitions are not to be feared.

Transitions merely keep us excited about what is to come next. Change can be large or small, or better or worse. More than anything else change is what you make it.

Change Happens

We do not live in a stagnant world. Change is a continuous part of everything that happens. You cannot run away from change, and you cannot hide. The best we can do is to acknowledge new differences and face them without fear.

Change comes in many forms. Our needs and wants will change. The way we share information and learn new things will change. The way we shop will change. The way we are entertained will change. And as we move on, we will find out that we change. I have realized this and begun to hope to change for the better.

We have two ways to handle this. Either we accept the fact that change happens, and we keep up with the changes, or we ignore or fight change in which case we actually find others bypassing us as we strive to keep up. It is better to keep up with change and understand how it will best benefit you, instead of fighting change and finding that you are left out of many of the good things in life.

I am not up on the latest and greatest of everything, although, I do try to stay involved in what is new now, and what will help me both now and in the future. I find this keeps me a little more agile and the mind nimble. Staying involved helps to cut down on the cranky days were nothing moves right not even the brain.

I prefer not to coast along. As you saw on one of my blogs last week, coasting usually represents a downhill movement.

One of the famous sayings related to older people is, ‘Things are changing and none of it for the better.’ As I hit my retirement years I’d like to change the phrase a little:

Things are changing, thank goodness!

 

 

Variety

I love the summer months. Crisp mornings, warm afternoons, and then everything cools off for the evening again. It is a change from the winds of autumn and the snow in the winter. Changes more than just enjoying the season, change and variety are essential to our growth.

If we don’t try other things, how do we know if we like them or not? At the same time, if we only do what we’ve always done, doesn’t that put us in a rut? And think of the exciting ways we can grow as we learn new things. Places, people, sites, and activities, there are new adventures around every corner.

I am not saying that everybody should go out bungee jumping or go over a waterfall in a barrel or things that you are inherently scared of or afraid to do. I am just saying to try something. Maybe something small, and just take small steps first. Until you can figure out if it’s worth exploring further.

Imagine if Christopher Columbus had not sailed in 1492 because he just didn’t know what was out there. What would’ve happened if the Wright brothers did not try something that had never been done before? Where would we be if Ford, who had gone bankrupt three times, failed to build the car on the assembly line?

Are there risks? Maybe. Is there work involved? There is exertion any time you move anything from a standstill into motion in a desired direction. Some people call it work, and some people call it passion.

Again, start with something you think you might like, and try it. If you like it, do a little more. If you do not like it, you’re not that deep into it, and you can stop any time you want. That’s because you’re the person in charge.

I think you’ll be astounded at the amazing possibilities. You could meet new people. You could find new friends. You could discover skills you never thought you had. You could see a passion you never knew existed. And for some, you may even find happiness.

Think about small steps, because small steps can lead in a new direction. A new direction can show change. And sometimes change shows wonder.

Please enjoy your day, and hopefully, we will get together again tomorrow.

Pass the Good Along

Good morning.

It is very hard sometimes for us to understand how lucky we are. When half the population of the earth has never made a phone call or watch television or has been able to turn the faucet and have clean drinking water, we are truly blessed.

You can say that these blessings are arduous work and planning. And, you are right, yet they are still blessings.

If we are able to call up any fact in a matter of minutes, call someone and talk about anything we wish, or see anything of interest within the world or outside of it any time we want to, then we are significantly endowed. We cannot pay back those who came before us and set all these marvels into play. Just as real founders put new ideas into motion realizing they will never reap the full benefits of their actions, it is up to us to put into action right for our futures sake.

It is said that with great abilities comes great responsibilities. Just as our forefathers and foremothers worked hard that we may benefit, so too, we need to strive so that our prodigy can see and say the same about us. Everyone can take part in this endeavor. For how many of us can freely give a smile or a kind word, and how many of us could easily do some small good deed?

What We Do For Others

It is a beautiful new day and a beautiful new week. I had planned for a wonderful new me and still hope for that even though I seem to be running an hour late for everything.

It is amazing the things we do that we don’t even realize. Those little things, the ones which means so much to someone else. Saying hi to a passer-by on the street is a small thing, and yet it might be the only kind word heard all day. Sometimes just to point out something that someone did well may be the only thanks they ever get for that action. And sometimes, when somebody is at their lowest point, the action of the stranger can pull them back from the darkness of the abyss.

Many times, we do not understand the full extent to which a nod of the head to someone or smile may mean to them. In our days of high technology, and paranoid fear of others it is often good to take that chance. Just a smile on a nod of the head, or a hello as you pass on the street. You can hardly know some of the good it does for others.

This gives someone who feels unseen, the good feeling of being noticed. Somebody who feels he or she is a nobody, realizes they are somebody. Someone who has often lost all hope finds that spark of humanity.

The thing that those who never do this, never learn is the most important fact. The fact is that when you do this to someone else the good feeling isn’t just theirs. You also share that feeling of momentary connection to others.

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