Lisa Kaye's Recent Posts

Sometimes you think any road looks better than the one you are on. Knowing you have choices in how you get there might help lessen the burden of thinking you’ve got to decide fast in order to get back on track. Not so. There are many roads that lead to your goal. Choosing one that’s right for you are part of the process and it’s not so much about racing to the get there, it’s just important you eventually get there.

Which ride would you be? You can tell a lot about a person by what they do in their leisure time. You might ask how this helps you in your career pursuits but just hold on to your teacups and let me explain. Exploring what motivates you personally may help you define what motivates you professionally. You might seek to balance your lifestyle in a way that supports you professionally. Meaning you may be on the go at work and desire a more leisurely sport, or you may have a more sedentary job and therefore go thrill seeking during your playtime.

You can’t be anymore inspired or motivated to change your job, rethink your career strategy or plot your next move as outlined in the new movie, “Horrible Bosses.” Hey desperate times as they say require desperate measures. I’m not suggesting you hire a hit man (or wanna-be hit man) to take out your boss or any colleagues who might be getting in your way towards career advancement. However, when it comes time to really reflect on how miserable you might be, keep one thing in mind: any alternative starts to look good when you are stuck in the middle working for a horrible boss.

As a colleague recently described, “Your job search is like the airlines. You have candidates in arrivals, those waiting in the departure lounge and then there are those who are lost in baggage claim.” When your job search resembles a plane stuck on the tarmac, it’s time to take matters into your own hands as opposed to waiting for a queue from air traffic control!Managing your career these days can feel like a trip to nowhere when all you want to do is get home. When the gates seemed closed, move forward and find the next flight out.

Do you find yourself questioning your career sensibilities lately? Doubting how well you can respond to change or if you lack a certain something to get ahead? If you believe you’ve lost your “career mojo” don’t feel bad because we all have periods of self-doubt. If you believe you have strayed too far from where you thought you were headed, it’s not too late to turn it around. Getting your career mojo back may take time, but it’s certainly not as impossible as you may now think.

Making sense of the rules and regulations that govern every aspect of our lives, particularly how we work and whom we choose to work with, isn’t always a case of black and right. You think there is a higher judge, a fairness police that sorts it all out, making the nimrods with jobs seem like the lucky ones when the rest of us need to struggle to survive the politics. Not knowing which end is up is never easy. Not knowing which end is down is even harder. When the rules of the game change and you seem to be lost in figuring it out, don’t sweat the small stuff, just change the rules.

Figuring out what you want from what you don’t want when the choices are not always abundant or exciting, may make you feel like you are forced into a corner without too much wiggle room. When you are faced with the inevitable challenge of choosing a job when the choices are limited, make room for yourself and move the borders. Knowing that there are limitless choices in the Universe of Jobs makes it easier for you not to feel like you are sorting fact from fiction in your quest for your next career adventure.

Like Rapunzel in the ivory tower throwing down her long braid in hopes of a rescue, does your career feel like you need more than a prince on a white horse to help you out? Having a job these days has become more than a blessing given the alternative. But do you somehow feel that you are sacrificing more than you think? Feeling trapped in your situation even though you are collecting a paycheck is not any better than not having a job-you’re tangled by your circumstances no matter which side of the braid you are holding.

Whether you are out of work, in between assignments or just taking a break from it all, you have the right to set the bar in terms of how you value your time and more importantly, your worth.Just because your friend calls and asks for some “free advice” doesn’t mean you should always put yourself in a position to discount your services. It’s good to help out a friend or former colleague or make referrals because you want to in turn help someone else land a job, but this does not mean you should give your services away for free.