I recently stumbled on Steve Jobs 2005 Commencement Address to Stanford University.

I was struck by Job’s comment that one could only connect the dots of one’s life when looking backwards. I agree.

Those of us who guide our lives at least partially by intuition, by our ‘guts’, are never really sure where we are going. Our paths look senseless to others. Yet, responding to the call of our Callings we wind up in the right places for us. And, the dots connect.

I’ve been providing
career & life coaching to creative professionals for more than 15 years.
I’m always looking for a clearer way to describe concepts like career planning
and career development. Then, on a recent early morning walk, I had an
epiphany!

There’s a clear, simple
way to think about Your Ideal Creative Career. Here are the Top 3 components of
your Ideal Creative Career:

Your Ideal Career = The Right Work + With The Right
People + With The Right Working Conditions

There are other
factors. And, when I do career coaching with you, you and I will examine them
in depth. Curious about these other factors? Watch this blog, I’ll be writing
about them. For now, I want to take a brief look at the Top 3.

#1 The Right Work

Nothing brings more
satisfaction and happiness than doing
the work you love. That’s why I’ve listed “The Right Work” as the number
one factor in your Ideal Creative Career. How can I help you identify The Right
Work? I primarily use 2 industry standard career instruments: the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator® (MBTI®) and the Career Direction Inventory (CDI). Sometimes, I
will have clients complete the Career Values Scale. Additionally, I would have
you work through exercises to identify your Vision, Life Purpose, and Gift(s).

#2 The Right People

Doing the right work is
critical to your satisfaction and success. But, if you’re working with toxic
coworkers or clients work won’t work. So, when I work with clients we focus on
identifying the kind of people they want/need to be with.

Here’s an example. I
coached a colleague who is a communications and IT professional, writer, and
aspiring novelist. She needed to return to ‘real’ work and was looking for a
part-time job. I had her complete the CDI to identify her top 3 interest areas.
And, we did some careful work to specify the kind of people she wanted to work
with. These factors focused and shaped her work search and she found just the
job she wanted! She loves the work and the people in her work group – oh, and
hubby loves her having a steady pay cheque.

#3 The Right Working Conditions

You love your work. You
love your coworkers and clients. But, you hate the conditions at work. There
goes happiness out the door. I’ll give you an example. I have a brother-in-law
who loved being a mechanic in the Canadian Navy. But, he’s over 6 feet tall and
work sucked every time he was assigned to submarine duty. Small bunks, low
doors, and tight workspaces did a lot to make his tours of duty less than
satisfying.

Here’s some homework you can do, if you choose.
Spend some time thinking about the 3 factors I’ve outlined and what they are
for your Ideal Creative Career. Then share your Ideal Creative Career here at my
Blog.  

Making Better Decisions

Decisions, decisions!
We make dozens everyday. Little ones like whether to put PB or jam on our
bagel. And, less frequently big ones like should I break up with my significant
other?

Here are a couple of thoughts
to help with the “bigger” decisions.

Make Sure Your Deciding at the Right “Level”

Frequently we narrow
our decision possibilities. For example, we pose questions like “what car should I buy?” Notice how that
narrows our thinking, so we’re only focused on cars. What about doing what we
call moving up a level. So, we move from a focus on a specific kind of
transportation device to the more general category of transportation. The
question then becomes “what’s the best
transportation for me?” Doing that opens possibilities. Possibilities like
taking the bus, buying a scooter. So, when you have a big decision to make see
if changing the level from general to more specific or from specific to general
makes the decision better.

Untangle Related Decisions

Sometimes, two or more
decisions are tangled together because they’re ‘related’. For example, suppose
you and your significant other have been living together and now have to move.
You’re struggling with whether to move with her or move alone. You’ve really
got two decision mashed together which makes it really hard to decide. Pull
them apart. Focus on the relationship decision first. Making that decision will
then make the choice of home a lot clearer and easier. Why focus on the
relationship decision first? Because the other decision is ‘dependent’ on it. So,
make it first. By the way, relationship decisions ARE tough to make. I’m not
sure I have any wisdom to share in that area, so please chime in!

What’s helped you make better decisions? Add
your comments at my blog.

Creative types love ideas and newness.

Ideas are easy, fun, exciting, enervating. Bringing them to fruition is hard, bloody work.

And, when faced with challenges, bumps in the road, we have a tendency to "throw the baby out with the bath water!" Interestingly, I just learned this expression was originally a German proverb.

Back to the point.

I think that as creatives we have this optimistic hope that we can find the Ideal Solution that will magically solve all our problems. That ONE thing, one Big Idea will fix it all.

Probably not. Hasn’t happened yet for me in 59+ years.

So, when we start implementing a new idea and run up against challenges. We CHUCK the whole thing. And, out goes ‘the baby with the bath water!’

What I’ve been trying to do is resist this temptation. When I feel the urge to chuck it and look for a Big New Idea… I take a breath. Look to see exactly what’s not working. What IS the problem? And, then see if i can TWEAK something.

That way the dirty water gets chucked and my baby, my great idea, gets saved!

I’ve been reading Keith Ferrazzi’s, "Never Eat Alone" and got to wondering what he was up to.

Exploring his site for the book I was lead to his "Life Coach 101" Tool. Gave it a try.

Revealing!

What I like is the fact that it gently forces you to create an ‘advisory board’ to help you with your goals. The idea is based on a principle in his book, Chapter 29 in fact. And, the system automatically creates a set of ‘contracts’ you can share with your advisors.

Now, to put the thing into action.

I’ve been slowly savouring Larry Ackerman’s newest book, The Identity Code: The 8 Essential Questions For Finding Your Purpose and Place In The World, for the last 2 weeks.

I’m hooked.

But, then that’s not surprizing I’ve been interested in the question of Life Purpose for decades. Sometimes I think I emerged from the womb thinking, "Why AM I here?" I know I sure as heck wondered that when I was a kid. That and, "Who ARE these people?"

Ackerman is an identity and brand consultant and bills himself as a leading authority on organizational and personal identity. My reading of the books suggests he’s been consumed by the question of identity for decades.

Rather than reveal the 8 questions, I’ll point you to TheIdentityCode.com where you can discover the questions and read excerpts of the book.

If you are a dreamer, an artist, a creative, or anyone who cares about understanding your Life Purpose I’d recommend you give the book a read.

Check it out here at Amazon:

I just recieved an email from a 17-year old who stumbled upon this blog.

RB asked me for advice on finding jobs for artists.

Here’s what I said (and a bit more):

"First of all, congratulations on knowing at 17 what you want to be! My advice is to take it one
step at a time.. It took me till I was 38 to figure out what I wanted..
and even now my life path is evolving…your plan sounds reasonable.. I
went to university in Calgary for 1 year to be a Chemistry teacher and
then dropped out. and went to technical school… i worked for 18 years
before i went back and did a masters degree. BUT, i did lots of
training courses in between. learning goes on all our lives and isn’t
just in school"

"Here are some excellent books on ‘Artistic Careers’ that you should be able to find in your library:

1. Carol Eikleberry, ‘The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People’
2. Shelly Field, ‘100 Best Careers for Writers and Artists’, and
3. Richard  Nelson Bolles, "The 2007 What Color is Your Parachute’

"Bolles classic is a great field guide to creating any kind of career. If you’re trying to create an overall picture of your Career Dreams then be sure to complete his Career Flower exercise. It’s a terrific map to  guide you."

Here’s the bit more…

Folks like CB who are attracted to "Artistic" careers need to learn to listen to their hearts. That’s not always easy. Especially at 17.

Here’s my unsolicited advice to you CB…

"The world", which includes parents and teachers and priests, because they care want to tell you "be serious", or "forget Art it’s not practical". Now I know that now a days Art has a higher regard then when I was a kid. BUT, choosing a path as a Artist is choosing "the road less travelled".

It will be rocky. It will be scary.

But, CB if you trust yourself…. it will turn out right.

And, don’t forget you don’t have to travel alone. Their are people who can help and guide you.

There is some magic in 3:

- Win, Place, Show
- Gold, Silver, Bronze
- The Father, The Son, The Holy Ghost

I help my clients FOCUS by having them narrow their GOALS and efforts to 3 — at any one time. That is, they don’t have JUST 3 goals for their life and career. It’s just that for TODAY, or THIS WEEK, or THIS MONTH… I have them focus on 3!

I was reminded of this recently when I read the latest newsletter from my friend Nancy Morris. Nancy is a fellow Canuck out of Ottawa, our nation’s capital. Besides Nancy, Ottawa is famous for The Senators (the hockey team not the politician’s) and a whole lot of hot air generated by our nation’s leaders.

Nancy has some great montly tips on Goal Setting and BETTER YET — Goal Getting!

If you want and need more structure for your Goal Setting and ACHIEVEMENT, check out her Goal Getter Kit!

I first began struggling with the question, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”
way back in 1984, pre-World-Wide-Web. That struggle was ‘resolved’ when my
employer gave me a Platinum Parachute and said in effect, “go away. We don’t love you anymore!”    

I decided to go back to school and enrolled in the MSOD program at Pepperdine University.    

A year after graduating, I first became interested in
helping professionals find more suitable careers. That’s when I first
discovered the bible of career books, Richard Nelson Bolles’ “What Color is Your Parachute?”     

WOW! A veritable treasure chest of career advice, it was
love at first read for me. I began adapting the advice on job search to my own
search for contracts and contacts. When my son turned 18 and was ‘encouraged’
to leave home (by his parents) I gave him that volume of “Parachute” as a
companion for his job search.    

Since then I’ve purchased a new copy of “What Color Is Your Parachute?” about every four years. I hang on
to my “old” copies because each and every year Bolles substantially revises the annual! What blows my mind is that Bolles
hand sets the type. I still have my copies of the 1996, 2000, and 2002 editions
– to say nothing of Bolles’ other career advice books (The Three Boxes of Life, How to Find Your Mission in Life, Job Hunting
on the Internet, How to Create a Picture of Your Ideal Job or Next Career, and
both editions of the What Color is Your
Parachute Workbook).    

So, when I wondered into my favourite independent bookstore,
Owl’s Nest, a couple of weeks ago, I was pleased to discover the “What Color is Your Parachute? 2007 edition”     

So, what’s new in the
2007 edition of “Parachute”?    

I decided the best way for me, Mr. Detail-Impaired, to see
What’s New was to compare the 2007 edition to the 2002 edition.    

Here’s what stands out for me:    

1. The annual has now been divided into 3 logical parts:  Part I: The Thing School  Never Taught us About the Job-Hunt”, “Part II: When the Unexpected Happens How to Deal With Change”, and “Part III: Resuming the Search to Find Your Dream.” Looks like a great division to me!!  

2. Part I covers some critical Job-Hunt skills, including:   

1. “The Five Best Ways to  unt for a Job” – is Bolles’ new take on his favourite theme: the BEST way to find a job and NO, it’s not looking in the classifieds. Once again he focuses on THE BEST way to job hunt. Believe me IT WORKS!
2. “How Much Help is the Internet” – Bolles looks at the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Best piece of advice, “Use the Internet as part of your job search NOT all of it!”
3. “How to Deal with Handicaps” – including great advice for Shy people (wish I’d had that one!)
4. Plus the regular good stuff – the nature of the job-market, resumes, interviews, and salary negotiations. 

3. Part II covers some critical Change Management skills, including:
   1. “On This Restless, Unpredictable, Ever-Changing Earth” – or, what to do when Hurricane Katrina washes away your dog, cat, house, and job!
   2. “In This Restless, Unpredictable, Ever-Changing Job-Market” – or, how to choose a new career.
   3. “In the Restless, Unpredictable, Ever-ChangingWork life of yours” – or, how to start your own business or create your own private practice.   

4. Part III covers critical Job Search skills, including:
   1. “What Did You Come Into This World to Do?” “What the World Most needs From You”, and “Why People Fail To Find Their Dream Job” – or, a careful  look at why you need to Find Your Mission in Life.
   2. “The Flower Exercise” – Bolles perennial (pun intended) favourite. I use this tool regularly with my clients to help them capture on 1-page the essence of their career
            dreams.
   3. “How to Find Your Mission in Life” – practical steps you can take to find your vision and purpose.   

Want to know more. READ THE BOOK. 

Click here to order a copy (and send a few pennies my way

In this issue: In order to seek and sustain Clarity you need to master
the ability to design and conduct research.

CREATIVE CAREERS
UNLEASHED!

The online Career/Life/Small
Business Newsletter

For Genre Busters^(TM)

From Lyle T. Lachmuth

The Unsticking Coach^(TM)   

==============================================

THANKSGIVING HOT FLASH!

If
you attended last week’s "Successful Careers for Genre Busters^(TM)" interview with
Dr. Barry Morris you know how much fun it was!

Well
get ready for another informative and provocative conversation!

JOIN
me and my good friend Dr. Trude Diamond, aka Menopause Barbie, who’s the
driving force behind the workplace and political Blog called "Hot Flash".

On
November 21^st join us to
find out how Trude has married a successful corporate career while building a
career as a writer.

To
join send a blank e-mail to gb-interest@aweber.com 

Our
family celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this past weekend, a month after the official
date. My American readers get to do turkey day this week. Well, I have a
special Thanksgiving Gift for ALL my readers!

          To show my appreciation for your support I’m offering a 20%
discount on my Premium Coaching package - that’s a $ 160.00 savings! Send a
blank e-mail to cdi-interest@aweber.com for details.

==============================================

DESIGN AND CONDUCT
RESEARCH

QUOTATIONS

DESIGN and CONDUCT
RESEARCH

Yesterday
I facilitated the semi-monthly gathering of the Career Self Help Salon. This is
a F*R*E*E group of Genre Busters^(TM) who meet together to explore challenges in
their life and careers and support each other in the achievement of their
individual dreams. The group is guided by the principles of Self Help and The
Mastermind. If you’re interested in joining this eclectic bunch of
multitalented creatives, send a blank e-mail to sh-career-salon@aweber.com to find out if you qualify for membership.

          I was discussing the topic of this newsletter with the
group when one of the members asked, "Does your definition of Research include
secondary Research?" I replied, "Remind me. What’s secondary research?" Here’s
the great example the member shared: "Think about Jane Goodall watching the chimps. That’s
Primary Research. Direct observation." Then they added, "Secondary Research
would be reading books or watching movies about Jane’s work."

          Got it! An important distinction - and, you need to be able
to do BOTH kinds of Research.

          So, why is the ability to Design and Conduct Research such
a critical competency?

          Because wise career and life decisions and actions depend
on having good, clear information. Remember the first Creative Career
Action/Competency: Clarity? Clarity comes with information and a later
Action/Competency: Analyze.

          So, there are 2 kinds of Research you need to master. What
are they?

          Remember all those papers in school, college or university.
Combing the library stacks. Reading volumes of ’stuff’ and trying to make sense
of it. So, you could write up a report summarizing your analysis and findings.
That’s Secondary Research. You may be better at that than Primary Research.

          The other, Primary Research, may be less familiar. IT
however was the mainstay of my existence at the Southern
Alberta Institute of Technology. My first training was as a Chemical Research Technologist. Practically
every class consisted of a lecture followed by lab work. Lab work consisted of
experiments. We would follow the so-called Scientific Method:

One,
Formulate a Hypothesis (that’s a guess/projection/suggestion about what you
think could/might happen).

Two,
Design an Experiment (figure out a way to test your hypothesis. Often in school
the experiment was designed for us. That’s not the case in Life.

Three,
carry out the experiment while measuring the critical variables, e.g. in
Organic Chemistry lab that would involve paying attention to the colour,
texture, volume, and weight of the precipitate that resulted from combining
certain compounds.

Four,
analyze the result and formulate a conclusion or conclusions about them.
Typically that means figuring out what worked and why or what didn’t work and
why. Sometimes, your conclusions would be pure conjecture.

          Five, write up the lab.

          Okay, how do you apply these 2 kinds of Research to
developing your Creative Career Plan?

          Let’s look at Secondary Research first since it’s the
easier of the 2 to master.

          Secondary Career
Research

          Secondary Career Research involves:

1) Determining What You Need To Know 

You
might think this is easy. And, lots of times it is. But, sometimes it’s not.
The first critical step is take some time to THINK about what you know
and what you don’t know. THEN, you need to sit down and make a list or draw a
mind map that answers these questions: "What
exactly and specifically do I need to find out? What questions am I trying to
answer?" Your answers to these questions will shape the direction and focus
of your research.

2) Figuring Out Where To Look 

When
I was in school back in the dark ages before the Internet I spent countless
hours combing the stack of SAIT’s library. Now a day you’ll be able to find a
swack of information on the Net. However, I’m still a bibliophile. I have a
collection of over 1,000 books on business, psychology, self help, careers,
change management, HR, spirituality, relationships, sexuality, writing, and marketing.
That’s where I look first. But, I know You. . . Google® is your buddy!

3) Finding It 

I
have to admit that I’m better at finding stuff in books than on the Net. I
still haven’t wrapped my mind around formulating good Google® or Yahoo® or MSN®
search terms. I have learned this though: you can find lots of information on
the Net. But, can you trust it? Look carefully at the credentials of the
sources.

Now
that you know how to do Secondary Research, let’s walk you through an example
of how to do Primary Career Research. Here’s the x steps:

1) Hypothesis
- Define the ‘problem’ you want to solve

Here’s
an example: Say for example you’re now a Sales professional and you think you
might like to be a Writer. In this case your Hypothesis mainly involves
thinking about the various ways you could gather data about the Writing Life.
For example, you could: 1) Read writers’ biographies 2) Search the internet to
find information about "Careers for Writers" or "Writing Careers", 3) Search
your local library for material on "Writing Careers", or 4) Interview a real
live Writer.

2) Design the Experiment 

Let’s
say you pick one of my favourite tools: the Information Interview (by the way,
the Information Interview is one of the MOST important tools in your Career
Search Toolkit). Here’s how to design a really excellent Information Interview:
a) Make a list of the questions you want to have answered, 2) Run them past
someone else or more than one someone’s to refine them (order, kind of
questions, what’s missing), c) Figure out who to ask (ask your network for
recommendations).

3)    Conduct the Experiment 

You
know who you want to interview and what you want to ask them. Now comes the
scary part: setting up the interview. Actually, it really ISN’T that scary.
I’ve found that most professional are more than happy to talk about themselves
and their work.

Pick
up that phone. Take a deep breath. Call them and say something like this: "Hi. This is Connie Career Seeker. Your
colleague Mark Mentor told me that you are really terrific writer (sincere
flattery does not hurt). I’m thinking about a career as writer. I wonder if you
could spare 20 minutes of your valuable time (recognizing their demands is a
good thing) for me to interview you. I promise not to take more than 20
minutes! Would you be willing to do that?" Most true professionals will say
YES.

Set
up a time and place that works for them!

Then
go DO IT! A few interview tips: a) Practice your interview in advance; b) Show
up ON TIME! c) Speak slowly. d) Ask permission to take notes or record the
conversation, e) Ask any other questions that pop into your head (they will),
and d) don’t go overtime UNLESS they agree to it!

This
is VERY IMPORTANT: following the interview Send
them a THANK YOU note!

4) Analyze the Results 

Okay,
what did you learn? Do you need to refine your questions for your next
interview? Do you need to ask new and different questions? Did you learn
something that tells you this isn’t the career for you?

5) Formulate Your Conclusion(s)  

What
will you do now? More interviews? Interview writers in different Genres? Try a
different tool? What will your next steps be?

6) Document 

Let’s
sum up.

You need to master
Primary and Secondary Research. That means learning how to design and conduct
either kind of Research. When you do, you’ll have the data you need to Clarify
your plans and actions.

Until next
time,

Lyle Lachmuth Honours Diploma Chemical Research
Technology, MS (Organization Development)

The Unsticking Coach^(TM) 

Your Talents > Your
Career >> Your Life >>> Your Way! ^(TM)

ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER

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PRIVACY POLICY:  I will not rent, trade, or
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CAVEAT:
CREATIVE CAREERS UNLEASHED and its publisher, are not engaged in providing
therapy. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only.

CREATIVE CAREERS
UNLEASHED may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety only, including
copyright, legal, and contact information and only with live links intact.

Copyright 2006 Lyle T.
Lachmuth, All Rights Reserved