Tag Archives: Self Coaching

Do Cherry Blossoms Change Career?

Posted on by
Reply

For the first time ever in Japan, I went to view the cherry blossoms at a famous spot with some Japanese relatives. We took a bus and several trains (this is Tokyo, so public transport usually works as planned), stopped for some delicious okonomiyaki in Ikebukuro, and eventually joined the large crowds at Chidorigafuchi.

Sakura Blossom

This was an evening visit (the photo above is from near our house a few years ago) and there were marshals with megaphones politely urging the crowds along. The trees were floodlit and so their white blossoms contrasted brilliantly with the night sky and the greenery around the imposing moat.

I dislike being in the midst of large crowds but, fortified by a nice meal and a few beers, I was able to enjoy the experience. (In years past, we had a number of family ‘o-hanami’ parties at my in-laws; where delicious home-made food, pleasantly warm weather, and a private view into the cherry blossoms of an adjoining Japanese cemetery, made for some magical afternoons.)

Throughout Tokyo, this past week has been perfect for viewing the ‘sakura’ trees. However, such splendor is short-lived and already the ground is being covered by a white carpet of petals. ‘Hanami matsuri’ is a special time of year for many Japanese; not just because Spring has now visibly arrived, but also because most companies and schools start their new year in April.

There is a sense of both beginning anew and yet continuing as before. And in the Sakura’s passing moments (and they are literally that) we can see life’s rhythm of birth and death in just a few, short days.

Now that I think of it, anticipation of exactly when the trees will be in full bloom in each part of Japan is part of the fun. Even the weather forecasters play their part – by earnestly predicting when the ‘cherry blossom’ front will makes its way from south to north of the long Japanese archipelago.

Viewed from a self-coaching perspective, the cherry blossom helps me understand how the desire to change careers is often counter-balanced by a need to stay rooted.

What if career change is made but success is short-lived?

What if it’s not really career change they want but just variety to the spice of life?

Questions, so many questions.
Do cherry blossoms change career?

Be Sociable, Share!

The 5 Minute Career Mentor – Listening

Posted on by

Here’s the first in an occasional series of relatively short posts written from a mentoring perspective.

In other words, this is knowledge I gained from others and have found useful in my life and career.

1- “The Method Of Polite Conversation”

This technique is really simple and can work well when talking to someone else or in small groups (such as a well-run meeting):

While one person is speaking, the other(s) stay silent.

Try it out first with a friend  you trust.

Continue reading →

Be Sociable, Share!

Self Coaching For Career And Life Change

Posted on by

OK, time for an update on my “invisible target” post.

Thanks to Geoff Roberston over at total self improvement for his vote. I’d dropped the ball on this and forgotten to close comments on 23 February.
Lucky I didn’t!

So the invisible target on my desk now has something to visualize around – and to keep taking action on until the product is physically created and available for customers to purchase.

This is what I see so far:

1- The product is a CD or DVD.

2- The idea is to help people self-coach themselves on the career and life change path they want to follow.

3- This is not a replacement for personal coaching – but a useful and affordable supplement to help people follow through on turning dreams into reality. (now there’s a conundrum..!)

4- The working title is “Self Coaching For Career and Life Change“. If you can think of a better one, just leave a blog comment. I’ll send you a free copy of the CD if I use your suggestion.

5- If you want to be one of 3 “review testers” of the product, just leave me a track back comment on this post from your own blog or web site.

(I will accept most legitimate and relevant sites – my decision is final on whether your site meets that criteria.)

As a review tester I will give you time limited access to an online version of the product once it is in beta stage. In return, you agree to send me constructive criticism and feedback by email within a couple of weeks on how to improve it.

Comments close on this post Friday 9 May.

- Mark McClure

Be Sociable, Share!

Children Say

Posted on by

Sometimes children can be an unexpected and innocent source of great career change advice.

Case in point.
When my wife asked how went day 1 of my IT consulting gig, my daughter aka Princess Smiley (she’s crazy about Miley Cyrus) came straight out with:

“Do you actually do stuff on your computer at work?”

Wow!
Now there’s a reflective question worth chewing on for a while.

And it made me come up with 3 of my own.

  • Where’s the value in what you do?
  • What do you enjoy about it?
  • Do you want to keep on doing it?

Listen up!

Sometimes you don’t need to ask – feedback is all around you!

Are you bold enough to answer these questions?

I’ll post my thoughts at a later date.

- Mark McClure

(PS – Have a listen to “Children Say” by Level 42.)

Be Sociable, Share!

Employed In The Realm Of The Senses

Posted on by

Want the secret of career or vocational enlightenment in just 1 word?

Awareness.

And in 2 words?

Awareness. Awareness.

How about a whole 3 words?

Awareness.

Awareness.

Awareness.

“Get the picture?”

“Feel the vibe?”

“Hear the music?”

Since we’re equipped with sensory perception it kinda makes sense to twiddle the dials now and again – you never know what you might tune into.

For instance, when I said ‘sayonara’ to permanent employee life last year and stepped off the IT outsourcing bandwagon, I got to experience a whole new set of sensations while working from home.

Let’s just focus on “sound sensations” in this post.

Well, here are some of the highlights my ears were treated to:

- catchy little 10 second jingles played endlessly by the “paraffin oil truck” as it slowly crawled round the streets of our neighborhood between 4 and 6 pm in the afternoon.

- occasional birdsong in the back garden.

- mechanical diggers chewing up the building site outside (but only until 2010.

- large trucks waiting at the traffic light outside our apartment and continuously repeating a safety announcement in Japanese (“hidari e magatte”) which I take to mean “turning left”. Sometimes that d$#n light doesn’t change for what seems like 5 minutes!! And the truck is stuck until it does.

After a while I became immune to most of these sounds and barely noticed them – until I started doing a version of the Betty Erickson self-hypnosis exercise.

They then started to become more known and friendly to me as I associated “working at home” with almost ritualistic sound effects!

And now that I have reentered a corporate portal in the guise of a contractor, it was somewhat startling to be confronted with other sounds I had so long taken for granted:

  • Multiple computer keyboards clacking away within a 10 meter radius of my desk – what an unearthly racket!
  • Phones cutting to voice mail after 3 rings.
  • The unrelenting hum of the “big brother” air-conditioning in the ceiling.
  • Multiple conversations happening around me (today I was amazed to hear Japanese, English and Chinese being spoken on separate calls at the same time.)

Taking a few minutes to silently practice my version of the Betty Erickson self-hypnosis exercise in such an environment was surprisingly easy and relaxing.

In fact, it became a very welcome mental break from the brain crunching work of creating network configurations and diagrams.

You might even call it conscious daydreaming.

Now if you’re thinking that the point of this post is to remind you about the importance of relaxing in the workplace… Hmmm. Only partly true.

While relaxing in the moments is a cool skill to enable, the deeper magic comes from becoming selectively and non judgmentally aware of the sensory stimuli around you.

Because you can then start to program and experience sensations that you’ll perhaps meet in your new career – simply by the power of suggestion from a relaxed state.

At least, that’s how I have been using this trance-formational ability – and I’m just a layperson following a course of self study.

But here’s what’s really bizarre about the whole thing:

The present moments, as they “pass” you by one by one, seem less transient and fleeting.

Time, in some sense, seems to drag.
And awareness of any particular waking moment ‘hears it’ putting on the garb of a particularly rich daydream.

“Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.”

- Mark McClure

(PS – No jokes about wanting what I’m smoking! This is as free and legal as it gets – 5 senses and counting…)

Be Sociable, Share!