The Career Success Doctor

The Career Success Doctor guides talented professional women to career success

Getting Connected Hawaiian Style

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vivSypJa1RE[/youtube]

I’m here in Hawai’i on the island of Hawai’i, or Big Island as many people know it.

Hawai’i was ‘discovered’ by Captain James Cook in the 18th Century, although the Polynesians got here first! Although part of the United States, Hawai’i has its own language and culture, which were suppressed for over a century. One aspect of the culture which was suppressed was Huna, the psychological, energetic, spiritual and healing practices of the ancient Hawaiians.

Like most of the other ancient teachings around the planet, Huna stresses finding unity and connection to stay healthy, enjoy life and evolve as a human being, and one of my teachers, John Ka’imikaua had a wonderful way of presenting that which I show you in the video.

Beware – background sounds of the sea and birdsong accompany this tropical video!

Sex, Sacrifice And Energy – Top Tips To Boost YOUR Energy

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Energy You’re lost in the desert. What’s going to enable you to survive? Water? Food? Many people, when asked this question, miss the most important factor which is … energy. If you ask a group of people ‘what are the best sources of energy’ they will tend to reply with things like food, water, exercise, being happy and much else, but in fact the best sources of energy are sex (done in the right way) and blood sacrifice! That’s why so many sects and cults include sex and sacrifice as part of their rituals. Building energy is a key aspect of Tantric sex. People who have been present at the mass sacrifice at the end of the Hajj (the Islamic pilgrimage) often speak of the extraordinary energy that is present in the air. Now I am assuming that you’re not planning to indulge in a little light blood sacrifice, and it may be that your sex life brings all the energy you desire. But if that is not the case, or you are looking for other energy-boosting methods besides sex, then how do you boost and maintain your energy? And why does it matter?

Why Manage Your Energy?

Do you ever wish you had more energy? Or do you find your energy ebbs and surges? If you have a demanding career, or wrestle with maintaining a good work-life balance, then having control over your energy levels is crucial for your career success and general well-beling and happiness.

Breathing For Energy

One of the best ways of increasing your energy is through breath-work. When we are stressed we often breathe in a shallow way. This means we don’t ingest enough oxygen to fuel our blood and our brains. Here is a great technique for balancing your energy though breath. Breathe in through your nose and out through you mouth in a ratio of 1:2 (so the in breath is half the duration of the out breath). Do this for 5-10 minutes in the morning and 5-10 minutes in the evening, or any time when you are feeling stressed or lacking in energy.

Food And Energy

I love the Hawaiian approach to energy and food: if it gives you energy eat more of it, if it doesn’t give you energy, eat less. However, it’s very easy to kid ourselves. For instance I love chocolate, and a little high-cocoa chocolate can give me energy. But….the sugar in chocolate tends to give you a blood-sugar spike, so it feels like your energy has increased. In the short term, it works brilliantly, but the energy created doesn’t last and blood sugar spikes are not healthy in the long term. Find the foods that truly sustain your energy and make sure you include them regularly in your diet.

Alcohol And Energy

Oh dear! I love my wine but the truth is that alcohol is a depressant: it depresses both your mood and your energy levels. If you want more energy, then moderate your alcohol intake and avoid binge drinking.

Exercise To Boost Energy

There has been a lot of research into the energy benefits of exercise. Exercise can improve your mood, and your energy. Based on extensive research, the UK’s National Health Service advocates the benefits of exercise for both physical and mental health.

The Sound Of Energy

The healing benefits of sound are often overlooked. It is thought that music may play a significant role in cell growth and repair. Sound includes both the human voice and music, as well as chanting and rhythmic beats. If dancing around to your favourite music raises your energy, then do more of it. If listening to Gregorian chants takes you into the zone, then tune in to chant. And if the sound of the spoken voice soothes your soul, and builds your energy, then a radio programme or a good audio book may be the perfect solution.

The Feeling Of Touch

Years ago I used to teach at a friend’s massage school. As a result I was getting massage at least once a week. I was going through a particularly difficult time in life with a string of failed relationships behind me. Although there was nothing sexual about the touch I received, that healing contact was deeply healing for me, and I would leave the school feeling relaxed and energised. If there’s no-one around to touch you, go get a massage!

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Does Blogging Help You Stand Out From The Pack?

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IBlogging Can Help Your Career Successf you’re looking for a new job, or a new career, one of the suggestions career experts like myself offer is: LinkedIn. Recruitment consultants crawl round LinkedIn like truffle hogs in an oak-wood, and LinkedIn provides an opportunity to showcase your sills and expertise to both speculative enquirers and those with a more serious interest.

In a recent blog post, Tony Restell proposes that, rather than relying on LinkedIn, job-seekers should concentrate their energies on blogging. In his view, LinkedIn doesn’t enable the recruiter to distinguish genuinely good candidates from poor ones. A blog helps you stand out from the pack.

To a large extent I agree with him, but there are a couple of areas where you need to be cautious: consistency and connection.

Consistency and Connection

As far as consistency is concerned, once you’ve started, you need to keep going. If your blogging schedule is inconsistent, particularly if there are large gaps between posts, you may look disorganised, or lacking in focus.

In terms of connection, how will people find your blog? Of course, you can mention it on your LinkedIn profile, and tell your friends on Facebook, but ideally you want to have a range of strategies for encouraging people to come and visit

So, if you are thinking of going down the blog route, what ‘s the best strategy?

Here are some questions to consider before you ever embark on a blogging approach for career success.

  • What do you want to achieve with your blog? Is it simply a new job, or are you in this for the long haul? Do you want to become an acknowledged expert in your field, or are you content to operate in the void?
  • How much time, energy and money do you want to spend on creating and maintaining your blog? This will depend on what resources you have available, and what image you want to project.
  • What help do you NEED in setting up and maintaining your blog? I have an IT background, including IT security, and at first I set up my blogs myself. However, I’ve come unstuck on a couple of occasions, and I’ve finally realised that I was not put on this planet to get down and dirty with the innermost secrets of WordPress.
  • Even if you have a strong technical bent, how are you with the written word? Most mainstream recruiters will be put off by typos or poor grammar.

There are plenty of ways to set up a blog cheaply and cheerfully  with relatively little technical knowledge – for example by using blogger, wordpress.com (this is different from wordpress.org, which I am using) or one of the other free platforms. You can also do video blogs using Youtube. But these might not project the image you want, or give you maximum control of your site.

So, if you want to stand out from the pack, blog by all means, but do it in a strategic way to ensure you achieve your goals.

If you need help with finding your career direction, or help with using a blog as part of your plan to stand out from the pack, then contact The Career Success Doctor for a complimentary Career Quickstart Conversation.

 

Does It Matter That Lance Armstrong Didn’t Tell The Truth?

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Lance Armstrong (via starpulse.com)I enjoy watching sport, and I loved my day out at the London Paralympics, but I’m not a real sports fan. Nevertheless, I have been following the Lance Armstrong story with some interest.

I’m fairly cynical about reports of doping in the sporting world. I tend to accept the ‘no smoke without fire’ view of things. Yet when Lance Armstrong was first accused of doping, I totally believed his declarations of innocence.

I WANTED Lance Armstrong to be honest, to be telling the truth. Here was a man who had overcome testicular cancer and was going out there and showing everyone what was possible, even if you’d had cancer. It was such a great, heart-warming story

I was also impressed by his apparent congruence. From where I sat, he was totally believable and trustworthy.

And now the truth is out. Lance has admitted, on Oprah, that he was guilty of taking banned substances.

So why does it matter if Lance Armstrong lied?

Firstly, Armstrong sued people for libel when they accused him of doping, and won. Apparently he now apologies for that. Secondly, he is now saying that he doesn’t deserve a lifetime ban from world-class professional cycling which, to him, is like a ‘death sentence’.  Thirdly, Armstrong wasn’t just a champion, he was captain of his team, a role model.

Studies into leadership show clearly that people care deeply about the authenticity and trustworthiness of their leaders. As a leader, Armstrong let down his team mates with his dishonesty and – judging by the Oprah interview – by bullying them into doing as he did. Dishonest, AND he encouraged others to behave likewise.

But the piece that gives me the biggest pause is that he doesn’t seem to ‘get’ that lying and cheating your way to the top in international sport is not acceptable. (It shouldn’t be acceptable in business either, but there are business leaders and democratically elected politicians who seem to have successfully risen to positions of leadership without anyone objecting too much).

I am a great believe in forgiveness, but the ‘offender’ has to recognise what they have done and genuinely be contrite. Lance Armstrong’s contrition seems hollow at this stage. As an international sporting champion, he is a role model. Whether he likes it or not, he is, or has been, a leader.

It seems to me that Armstrong’s problem was that anything less that 1st place was failure in his eyes, and failure was unacceptable. To avoid failure he knowingly  broke the rules of his sport, and then deliberately lied about it. And now that he has opened his heart up on national TV, he expects to be let back in.

Apart from the message that this sends out to other sportsmen and women – that it’s OK to cheat and then to lie – it also says something about our views on failure. Somehow it’s OK to lie, but not OK to fail. How sick is that?

Personally I’d rather have a leader  who did their best and failed, than someone who broke the rules, lied, fell from grace, and then discovered honesty as part of a strategy to be reinstated.

Many of the most successful business leaders have had their share of failures: Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Bill Gates, Colonel Saunders, and Walt Disney have all failed along the way. And all learned from their mistakes and persevered. I’m just not sure how much Lance armstrong has learned from his mistakes yet.

And I do wonder whether his cancer was related to taking performance-enhancing testosterone in the first place.

 

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The Career Success Doctor’s 30 Day Video Challenge

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Since the beginning of January I’ve been taking part in a video challenge, run by Michelle Homes.

Each day I have to create a video of myself talking to camera, put it up on YouTube and share it in our Facebook group. I can put other bits and pieces in if I want, but there has to be at least a clip of me talking. It’s educational, and the learning curve has been steep.

Well, I like a challenge and New Year is always a good time to take on a challenge, but I have a suspicion that if I’d known just WHAT was involved, I wouldn’t have signed up.

We’re now at day 15, and I think things have improve a lot since day 1. I’m still struggling with the lighting and background a bit, but generally I know what I am doing wrong, and I’m quite please with some of the results.

I’ve tried to make them useful for you as well as for me, so there are always some hints and tips in each video. If you’d like to take a look, just click on the line at the bottom of the video that says ‘playlist’. You can also find them on my YouTube channel (Career Success Doctor). I’m also posting them on The Career Success Doctor facebook page and my LinkedIn page.

Brave or what!!!