Developing Your Criteria For Personal Success

"Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual." -Homa Bahrami

In my article last week (Unemployment: A Call to Self Discovery) , I explained that newfound unemployment can offer the time needed to engage in a process of self discovery. This is particularly important if you have come into the realization that the career you have been released from is a breath of fresh air after going through a period of "job dread," (you may want to review these concepts outlined in my last article). Perhaps with this lay off comes a voice calling you to your heart's center, beckoning you back to the steering wheel of your life, and into connection with the truth of who you are.

In a world where statistics show that people 18-40 years old change jobs an average of 10 times, it becomes critical to find security that lies within by engaging fully in this discovery period. Self-discovery is the first stage of any career planning process. Finding oneself newly in this stage sometimes elicits fear and insecurity. These feelings are valid and usually show up on the precipice between what we have always known and the great new discoveries we have yet to make, which is exactly where one finds themselves during a period of unemployment. Insecurity is experienced because we have trusted that it is the job itself that will provide us with the security we seek. However, as Bahrami's quote at the beginning of this article illustrates, we have moved into an era in which external security has rendered itself the illusion it has always been. Rather, we must go on this inward journey to connect with the true source of what drives us.

It is in this self-discovery stage where you can identify some of the key inner drivers that include your values and key competencies or preferred skills. These inform the work environment and career in which you will function optimally, and be inspired. Many people have engaged in some form of values assessments and skills assessments early in careers, perhaps as far back as college. However, as people grow, change jobs, change careers and change life circumstances, preferred skills and even values may also shift. These workplace values, and key competencies have a direct impact on your satisfaction with your job, with your career, and even with your life.

Sometimes, as in the case with unemployment our journey to self-discovery shows up through seemingly unplanned challenges, and often results in lessons that show us what is truly important. I received a story recently from a retired school teacher. In this story he illustrated that he always wanted to be a "retired school teacher." Nonetheless, he didn't apply for jobs as a teacher until after he went through a set up that almost sent him to jail. Upon leaving the office one day, when he was still a postal worker, he discovered that someone had placed an unopened, undelivered social security check in his unlocked motorcycle bags. Two postal inspectors approached him in the parking lot asked him to open his bag. They discovered the check, which led to him being fired, a year of probation and pursuing one of the greatest gifts of his life - becoming a retired school teacher.

I too realized that it was time to pursue my personal truth and calling on a full time basis two years ago. At the time I knew my career was moving in a different direction, but did not feel ready to let go of the illusion of security. I didn't have to. A higher force did it for me and the layoff came unexpectedly. I took this as a call from spirit to take the leap I had been putting off. I am profoundly grateful in the realization that this layoff was a great gift.

Here is another fascinating example of two people who are using their unemployment as a call to rediscovering their true values and gifts:
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-237745

In addition to formal self-assessments that career planning centers and career coaches often utilize, here are some questions to begin to ask yourself that will support you in identifying your key values:
• What is most important to you in a non-work environment: support, competitive challenges, reputation, flexibility?
• What is most important to you in a work environment: creativity, security, independence, helping others, job outlook?
• What role does work play in your life?

Also, I invite you to take some time to engage in self-discovery through identifying your prime accomplishments. A prime accomplishment is something that you loved doing and that inspired you (whether or not bosses, peers, teachers, etc. rewarded or recognized the accomplishment). It energized you, made you feel good, and had real meaning for you. This accomplishment may be entirely unrelated to your current career and may have occurred at any point in the past (school, sports, artistic endeavors, volunteer endeavors, social endeavors, etc.). Make a list of 5-7 of these prime accomplishments. When you have completed the list identify the key competencies that were most important to you while engaging in the endeavor.

For instance, one of my prime accomplishments would be the work I did as an actor when I was younger. Some of the key competencies that are present in that work are creative expression, communication and the ability to develop effective relationships with others. Another prime accomplishment would be when I headed up the Rutgers University Lesbian and Gay Peer Counseling Center in my senior year. In this role key competencies were the realization of my ability and passion for the empowerment and support of others, organization, and leadership. I fall into the job change statistic mentioned previously in this article (partially because I have spent a lot of time as a consultant). However, when I identity my prime accomplishments and key competencies, I can honestly say that they have remained constant throughout all of my endeavors, and in this I can feel secure.

Identifying your values and prime accomplishments begins to lay the groundwork for your own personal criteria for success (not the criteria that parents, friends, schools, churches, have set up for you). It is in adherence to this that generates a truer experience of security. You may discover that you have been working in environments that don't support this criteria. However, now that you have brought this into your awareness you can allow it to inform your future career and job choices, and perhaps come into something even greater than you can imagine!

Please share your stories of how being laid off was ultimately a gift in diguise

*** Jason brings a decade of experience in talent acquisition to career coaching.

Learn more at www.jmannino.com. E-mail Jason directly with career related questions at [e-mail].

Comments

[Charlene Sansone]

Your post is such a wonderful reframe and helps to put this change that many of us are going through into great perspective. It also took me down memory lane and helped me to affirm both my past and current path. It is exactly what I did right after my first "dread" job out of college. I thought back to a time when I did something I really felt fulfilled by doing, (social chair for my sorority, and also, being on the board of a city wide yearly festival) which lead me to pursue work in meeting planning and/or catering sales, which had nothing to do with my degree!. After 5 years in event production and feeling the need to grow, I took my skills and applied them to film production... same skills different elements. After 5 year of producing commercials, and again, the urge to grow and align with my life purpose more intentionally, I am now developing my own communications company utilizing those same skills (bringing vision to life) to assist others in "producing" businesses that are harmonious with the environment and humanity. With each and every transition I seem to have gone deeper in my own self discovery. And now, have really been called more than ever before to rely on the security within, as opposed to the illusory, temporal, external sources of security. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and concrete ways for applying it in our lives.

[Ed and Deb Shapiro - Huffpost Blogger]

Hi wonderful Jason,
I take each moment as it comes we teach workshops internationally, and as authors and writer (Deb and I write the daily Inspirational messages for sprint cell phones) we do our thing -

we say we lead a designers lifestyle we design it as we go along!

so we realize that there is only now and that life has no guarantees - Yet we are happy like 2 peas in a pod.

Enjoy the mystery -

Ed

[Larry Roth]

I went through three layoffs in a four year period. These layoffs were back to back. The blessing in disguise was being able to to take the database and software skills I had learned from my first job and put those skills to use at another job. That job was with a dot com company that closed down a year later.

I learned to develop websites while working at that company. I used my database and web development skills to get a good paying job at a large national company. A year later that large company went bankrupt. The blessing was the skills I obtained open doors that would not have been there before. I became a database and web development contractor.

I earned a living by offering my skills as a service for a variety of companies. This gave me more control over my schedule and my projects. I no longer had to take assignments that were not appealing. I was able to manage my own time and set my own priorities. I actually became more productive because I worked out of my home and there were no office politics to distract.

Those jobs and layoffs gave me the skills I needed to survive on my own.

[Jason Mannino - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for sharing your inspiring story. I am so glad you were able to recognize the gifts you received both from the jobs themselves and the layoffs, and that you were able to leverage them to your benefit!!

Blessings to you!
Jason

[Alicianne Fritz]

Many years ago, my husband had a high-paying job, I just finished my student teaching, we bought a house and I was pregnant for the first time. Tom had an accident at work and was fired. It was obvious to everyone that his union and the company's insurance company were making a "deal" and using him as an "example". We had to make a decision, does Tom fight and possibly win his job back or does he reevaluate. Tom decided that he wanted to say when he was sixty, "I lived a good life and this is exactly what I wanted to do with my life." Tom eventually went back to college to become a teacher. It was difficult for both of us to fight through the doubts that people so freely spoke regarding our decision. Tom did a thorough evaluation and we both knew his heart, so one voice of support was all that was needed and was often crucial to the dream's survival. Many years later, we are exactly where we want to be...Tom is a fabulous teacher/coach and we have three healthy children. I can't remember the feeling anymore of hearing that Tom was fired (although painful enough at the time to cause a miscarriage) but I CAN bring back INSTANTLY the feeling of our first conversation that inspired my husband to design a dream and chase it. Inspiration based on truth can wipe out ALL pain of disappointment. It has for us!

[Jason Mannino - Huffpost Blogger]

THanks so much for sharing your inspiring story. Your story is exactly the kind of story that can uplift people. It is generous of you to share your heart, and your personal journey!

Love and blessings!
Jason

[Jason Mannino - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks so much for sharing your inspiring story. People will really benefit from reading it!!

Blessings to you!
Jason

[Allyson Good]

Great article! When my husband was laid off this past summer, it became amazing for us. After years of him traveling for work, few and far between vacations, we actually had some time together. Because I am a work from home mom (3 kids, ages 1 - 6), I got to see the joys of raising our kids; while he was home actively searching for a job, he saw all that he missed b/c of the amount of travel his previous job required. Now, my husband works from home too, but for a University. He loves his job, and our family has dramatically changed b/c he chose to see the truth of who he is, what he was missing, and most of all what was most important to him. I learned, that his job is not my financial security: God is. When finances were super low - basically nil, before his next job started, our small group got together and gave 2,700.00 to us, no strings attached - the exact amount we needed (they had no idea!) to pay all of our bills until the new paycheck came.

If you have been laid off, re-read the article.. b/c you WILL learn a whole lot about yourself, your family, and your future.