Skip to content

UXL Blog

“Creating Successful Leaders”

Tag Archives: Stuck at the Crossroads

January 29, 2014 How Traveling Boosts Personal Growth

Some of my best memories come from the trips I’ve taken. Whether I’m remembering cozy summers with the family on the ocean, or adventurous backpacking endeavors in college, all my travels have left me with nostalgic, warm feelings.

And that’s great. But it’s not the complete picture, is it? I’m sure if I really tried, I could remember all the things that were stressful, exhausting, and uncomfortable; in other words, the inevitable parts of traveling we like to ignore.

So while I love the memories traveling provides me, it’s meant to do much more than simply create fuzzy feelings.

Traveling recalibrates our expectations and assumptions about life. When we stay in one routine for long periods of time, tunnel vision takes over. Without even realizing it, we begin to assume that all life has to offer is what’s right in front of us in our particular circumstance. Traveling wipes this clean when we see all the differences, big and small, between places and cultures. There are many ways of doing life. Traveling both inspires us to try new things and forces us to investigate our own lifestyles.

Traveling gives us the chance to test ourselves. This might mean a physical challenge such as a long hike, a mental challenge like learning a new language or familiarizing yourself with cultural customs, or the general challenge of relinquishing your sense of control as you navigate your way through new spaces and experiences. A family friend told me that after spending time in Colombia, she no longer found herself worrying as much about the trivial stresses of everyday life, because her experience abroad proved she was capable of handling all sorts of challenges. This is the kind of personal growth traveling provides.

Traveling forces us to prioritize. You can’t fit every trinket and comfort you own in a suitcase. You have to instead focus on what you really need to make your travels special for you. You’ll take this mindset home with you. How can you simplify your life at home to optimize your priorities?

Traveling doesn’t have to be long and grandiose to be meaningful. Take a train ride through the country, spend a weekend  biking or camping, or coordinate a roadtrip to historical sites in your area with friends and family. As long as it transports you to new experiences, your adventure can be almost anything.

Tags: , , , , , ,

October 16, 2013 How Do You Decide What To Decide?

Decisions bombard us every minute of every hour of our day. They come in all types: some are so trivial and daily–like choosing what to wear or eat–that we hardly notice them, while other types of decisions can make life pretty stressful. Still others appear trivial at first, but turn out to be deceivingly tricky. How to word an email, for instance, seems small but can be extremely difficult.

So the question inevitably comes along: How do we make decisions, and how do we know that our decisions are good at the time that we make them?

Understanding a bit of psychology helps us answer these questions. We know, for example, that gut decisions are generally not good decisions, because they are fueled by our emotions, which as we know, can shift in a heartbeat. Tony Swartz, CEO of The Energy Project, writes that “Our first challenge is resist being reactive. Many of our worst decisions occur after we’ve been triggered–meaning that something or someone pushes us into negative emotion and we react instinctively, fueled by our stress hormones, in a state of fight or flight.”

Any decision we make under this kind of fight or flight stress is only concerned with resolving the present issue and disregards future consequences. You can see why this usually doesn’t work out. A shortsighted perspective yields rash decisions that cause more stress in the long run.

This isn’t to say that decisions should be completely divorced from your feelings. Some decisions that make the most logical sense aren’t always the best decisions to make. Sometimes irrational decisions yield the greatest benefits (see my post on taking risks). So I know that our feelings are deeply tied to how we choose, as they should be. However, I do want to caution you to take a step back when you have the urge to make an impulsive decision. If it’s a decision you should make, that feeling will stay with you, and therefore you can sit on it for a day.

This is because good decisions are based on how you’ll benefit from them in the long run . Of course, what you wear today is not a very world-shattering decision, but you can view your little decisions as components of larger patterns. What you tend to wear, or how you tend to eat, compose a larger lifestyle you create for yourself. And because all the aspects of your lifestyle are connected, you can always trace your larger decisions back to the small ones.

In summary:

1. Good Decisions aren’t based on reactions. Decisions should be thorough, and to be thorough you need perspective, which leads to point 2…

2. Good Decisions are made when you have a healthy view of yourself and your surroundings.

3. Good Decisions follow your deepest convictions. What values do you hold to? Where do you see yourself a few years down the line? What are your dreams? These questions help guide you to making the decisions that give you the life you want to have.

Tags: , , , , ,

March 21, 2012 Solving the Challenge of Older Unemployed Workers

By Margaret Smith, UXL:
SPEAKER | CAREER COACH | CERTIFIED INSIGHTS DISCOVERY PRACTITIONER

Today I read a fascinating article published by the Urban Institute titled “Can Unemployed Workers Find Work?” that really changed the way I think about the challenge older unemployed workers face in today’s job market.

Let’s face it–we all know about our own experiences, but how did job loss affect Americans in a larger sense? Read on for the real story about how the “Great Recession” has affected the American workforce.

Who Really Lost Jobs

As we all witnessed, and in many cases firsthand, people rapidly lost jobs as the recession swelled. According to the Urban Institute, the male workforce was hit slightly harder than the female workforce, with monthly male unemployment rates averaging “10.3 percent in 2009 and 10.5 percent in 2010, the highest since reliable records began in 1948.” These percentages compare with women’s job prospects, “which were only slightly better… whose unemployment rate averaged 8.1 percent in 2009 and 8.6 percent in 2010.”

You know what else I learned? This unemployment stuck around—and it’s not just you. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a shocking 31% of unemployed adults had been without work for more than a year in the second quarter of 2010.

The Good News for Older Workers

Contrary to my expectations, if you’re an older worker, you’re actually less likely to be fired. Workers employed in wage and salary jobs in the second half of 2008 age 50 to 61 were “34% less likely than those age 25 to 34 to lose their jobs within 16 months.” And, what’s more, unemployment rates are consistently lower for older workers.

Unemployment among Older Workers Hard to Defeat

So there’s less of a chance that an older worker will be laid off, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t, and didn’t happen. Now what? Unfortunately, if you’re an older worker who’s been laid off, studies show it will take substantially longer to find employment. “Workers age 50 to 61 who lost their jobs between mid-2008 and the end of 2009 were a third less likely than those age 25 to 34 to find work within 12 months, and those age 62 or older were only half as likely.”

That means that although less older workers were laid off, it was 33-50% more difficult to get back on your feet again.  No matter what your age, however, getting back to work was no piece of cake. Workers age 25 to 34 were faced with a 36% likelihood of finding a job within a year, compared to 24% likelihood for workers age 50 to 61, and 18% likelihood at age 62 and older.

Not only are older workers toughing it out to reenter the job market, they’re also settling for a lower wage.

(source: www.urban.org)

So how do older workers combat these daunting statistics? I advocate the active pursuit of training, taking advantage of employment services, and reaching out in new and open-minded ways. Let’s face it, being stuck in the job hunt—especially for a longer period of time—can really be a drain on your motivation and positive energy. If you think that your progress toward your next career could benefit from a guiding, professional career coach, contact me today to learn how I can help you find direction and energy once again.

Source: “Can Unemployed Older Workers Find Work?” by Richard W Johnson and Janice S. Park, Urban Institute

Tags: , ,