By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
In his book, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” Marshall Goldsmith points out that often what makes someone successful are the very qualities they will need to modify to take their next step up.
I was doing a class last night in they posed a wonderful paradoxical question you. I am just going to repeat it to you.
“If you can’t lose the game, the game is not worth playing.”
The metaphor that this version of coaching does is that most things can be enjoyed and be made more successful when, instead of thinking of it as work or a task, we construct a game about it. So, again, to just repeat, if you can’t lose, the game is not worth playing. In other words, if there’s no challenge here, why bother?
As a result, most people take the safe route in order to advance, and frankly, it leads to mechanistic behavior because, frankly, at the end of the day, where’s the fun in all of this? Where’s the challenge to all of this? So, if you can’t lose the game, the game is not worth playing.
Here’s the second one. When you really play, you always win because failure (what most people would associate with not being successful) is a learning opportunity. You grow from it. You expand yourself and, in the course of stretching to achieve, you’re changing yourself. This isn’t about the outcome, per se. It’s about who you become in the course of doing this.
What got you here, won’t get you there. For job hunters, this is hugely important because, at the end of the day, you’re going to need to adapt to new roles unless you want to stay doing the same thing the next 30 or 40 years of your life. I don’t think you want to do that period I think you want to grow and stretch and learn from this experience and being in and environment that supports you.
That’s true in your job search, as well. You’re going to need to learn new skills and start thinking of, not just simply the immediate search, the totality of your career development. You need to build a brand for yourself. You need to construct solutions that employers want reach out to you for that you want to become known. In other words, you want to build “the brand of you.”
There’s never been a time in human history where it is easier than now to build one. After all, you’ve got YouTube here. You have video, you have live streaming. There’s twitter. There’s Facebook. There’s LinkedIn. There are all sorts of venues where you can do things. There’s public speaking. There’s all sorts of venues where we can practice doing things differently then you have to this point and create “the brand of you.”
I’m not expecting you to get on YouTube and do 1000 videos plus like I’ve done (by the time you see this, I am already over 4000+) the important thing is that you start thinking in terms of what you want to be known for. What qualities and experiences and successes and knowledge do you have and do you want to be known for so that people want to reach out to you and offer you opportunities instead of you seeking them out at a time to time we you get a crisis or feel desperation.
You are far better being “the go to person” in your field, rather than being someone who’s always like as supplicant, hat in hand, trying to find something.
After all, the person who gets ahead, isn’t always the smartest semicolon they don’t always work the hardest (although those great qualities to have). People get ahead by being alert to opportunity. Sometimes those are internal to your organization. More often than not, they are external.
Since most jobs are filled as a result of networking connections, you want to make sure that people know about you. Practice and put yourself in situations where you can speak publicly. Be the expert at a conference or one of the experts at a conference where people bring you in to espouse on your knowledge and your successes.
Never done it before? There was a time I never did a YouTube video. You learn. Get yourself into Toastmasters. Practice there. It’s an easy supportive environment where you can learn that skill. Write an article. Get it published. Never did it before? Most people never did the first time they write one. You may make a mistake and you will learn from it. It’s okay.
Just start exposing yourself to new instead of getting yourself into this or rut where you are constantly doing the same repetitive thing over again. At the end of the day, each time you take a step toward evolving your career and making sure that people know about you, you are closer to never being out of work.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, all as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the producer and former host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 3100 episodes.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Schedule a free Discovery call.
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Jeff’s Kindle book, “You Can Fix Stupid: No BS Hiring Advice,” is available on Amazon.
