Archive: April, 2017
Posted by tomdowd - April 29, 2017 - News
With so many supporters dispensing advice, it’s easy to get caught
up, especially when some of it can be contradictory. My advice is
to take it all. Similar to the chapter, “Know That Your Résumé Is Yours,”
when you’re going through the process of finding a job, be willing to
grow while staying true to you. What’s most important to you? What is
non-negotiable? In the swirl of the job search, you may not feel you have
too much say or control over what is negotiable—but you do. As stated
in the excerpt of the speech in the introduction to this book, my oldest
daughter told me that relocating wasn’t an option. I set deadlines for myself
in the job search process. In the first few months, relocation wasn’t an
option. It was non-negotiable. I had in my mind that if there were no real
leads, then I would make adjustments to this goal. Time changes goals,
so keep them fluid, but it’s important to balance what’s right for you and
whoever else is impacted. I suggest staying firm to what you want and
who you really want to be. You don’t have to settle or compromise unless
new facts come that may change your direction. Go back to the chapter,
“Answer the Critical Questions” and determine your specifics relating to
location, satisfaction, and compensation, to ensure you are true to yourself.
Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):
- Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
- Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
- Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
- The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
- From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
- The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood
See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com. Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com
Do you know about Avanoo.com? Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.
When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself
Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You
MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby
Posted by tomdowd - April 18, 2017 - News
I received a panicked phone call from a colleague one day who said
she had taken on additional responsibilities and that she felt she
was drowning, her nose barely above water. She was crumbling
under the weight of her responsibilities. After she’d calmed down, she
asked the simplest question of all: “Can you help me?” Whether she
called me or someone else, she had become self-aware enough to know
her work performance was suffering. Self-awareness is a powerful tool.
Too many people wait until it’s too late to ask for assistance. You
don’t need to complain, you need to look for solutions. If you find
that these solutions or other time management tools you’ve tried aren’t
working for you—keep searching. Telling someone it will get done still
doesn’t get it done, until you find the time to do it. If you’re falling
behind, be strong enough to get assistance. You don’t want to wait
for a time study to figure out what you do all day! If you don’t know,
ask a peer, ask a boss, ask a mentor, even ask a stranger, but make sure
that you ask. I realize we’re in a do-more-with-less business world. We
hesitate to talk with people about the time crunches we’re under. We
don’t want to be considered weak, inefficient, unproductive, or other
negative connotations that can hurt our professional growth. Work not
getting done, however, will be a much bigger problem over time.
It’s time to do some soul searching. Is today the day to ask for help
with your own organization and time management skills? Even if you
want more time to implement these strategies, set an actual deadline to
do another assessment. If you reach that date and are not at the level
you expected, make that the day to ask for help. As stated in an earlier
chapter, the concept of building a strong enough relationship with
someone to have this type of conversation is critical. Invest the time
now to build strong relationships with those people around you who
can help. Discuss challenges with your manager and other co-workers,
and even people you mentor with to get sound advice. Silence will
only hurt you. Communicate with your manager and the appropriate
people within your organization relating to what’s on your plate. It may
take time to reach a solution, but it always begins with self-awareness.
Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):
- Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
- Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
- Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
- The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
- From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
- The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood
See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com. Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com
Do you know about Avanoo.com? Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.
When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself
Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You
MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby
Posted by tomdowd - April 11, 2017 - News
When looking for a job, do you know what you want–not just the type of job, but long-term thinking?
A motivational speaker by the name of Lewis Timberlake mentioned this
almost fifteen years ago when I saw him, and I never forgot it.
• Know what you want.
• Know that you deserve it.
• Know what you’re giving up to get it.
The third bullet always grabs me, because many of us often feel we
deserve so much more than we have or get. The question is, “What are
you willing to give up to get it?” Are you willing to travel more than you
ever have? Are you willing to see your family less? Are you willing to work
from home? Are you willing to take a pay cut to get your foot in the door?
Are you willing to shift other priorities? Are you willing to work eighty-hour
work weeks? The questions can go on and on. We may get a high
paying job, but are you getting the other things in return, such as job
satisfaction? Know exactly what you want.
Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):
- Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
- Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
- Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
- The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
- From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
- The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood
See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com. Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com
Do you know about Avanoo.com? Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.
When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself
Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You
MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby
Posted by tomdowd - April 4, 2017 - News
I used to work in a credit acquisition department where we were
making lending decisions for customers every day. The customer
would send in an application, and we had to make a credit decision
based on multiple factors like previous credit and financial history.
Every effort was made to build consistency, but there were always
situations when we would be on the fence due to the subjective nature
of the job. Do we approve it, decline it, or ask for more information
from the customer? The easy decision was to ask for more information,
but even then, some information that came back still left us in the fog.
Our job was to make sound decisions that didn’t put the bank at risk,
but we still had regulations and certain internal deadlines that forced
us to make some kind of determination. We called these final decisions
endlines. We had to endline and stop waffling. Right or wrong, we had
to make an educated and informed decision before the application was
considered past due.
In your professional life, it’s important to realize that procrastination
is not an option. There are decisions that have to be made. Effective
today, you will learn to make endline decisions. You obviously want
to gather important facts to make important decisions. However,
there are some decisions that aren’t important. Certain emails may
be sitting in your inbox that you’ve read twenty-five times in the hope
that something can be done to deal with it. Have you engaged the right
people, have you escalated the situation, have you gathered the right
facts? In the touch-it-once mentality, leaving it in your inbox doesn’t
solve the problem. A decision still needs to be made. Being decisive
and attacking problems head-on will always save you time and effort.
If you’re in the habit of leaving items unattended because you find it
difficult deciding what to do, now is the time to commit to changing
that habit. An unofficial rule of thumb for me is to consider a maximum
of five business days before simply making an endline decision—give or
take, based on the circumstances. Even if you choose to delete it with
no actions, you still have to make a decision. It’s been a week already!
As long as you understand the ramifications of your decisions, you will
start to build the right habits and reduce the volume of these endline
decisions significantly.
Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):
- Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
- Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
- Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
- The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
- From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
- The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood
See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com. Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com
Do you know about Avanoo.com? Two-to-three minute eLearning programs that can change your life.
When Your Job is to Find a Job—and Yourself
Manage Your Time—Don’t Let It Manage You
MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby
