#initiative #TakingInitiative #motivation
The only way to get initiative is to take it.
It’s never given.
So writes leadership expert Seth Godin in his blog, dated Oct. 10, 2019.
Those who work for someone else, or, perhaps, those who hire a fitness coach, medical or other professional etc., are content to be told what to do.
In many instances, following an expert’s advice, or doing what your boss tells you, is not only prudent, but desirable.
Other times, especially in a work situation, some people realize that doing this for a long time is not what was meant for them.
Therefore, they take initiative to do something different.
Though Godin in this blog post says initiative is never given, he would probably make an exception for the person who gives himself initiative.
Are you in a situation in which doing what you are doing is not going to satisfy you for the long term?
You know you can do bigger and better things if given the opportunity.
But, opportunities don’t always come naturally, or through happenstance. Sometimes, you have to look for them, and at them.
The good news here is that if you feel stuck doing something unfulfilling in your eyes, and KNOW you can do much more, there are programs out there that may be an answer for you. Here’s where you give yourself the initiative to look at them.
These programs can be done without you giving up what you are doing now – at least for now. By devoting a few, part-time hours a week, at least to start, you can potentially earn an income that could dwarf what you are earning at that unfulfilling job.
No specific education, background or experience is needed. All you need is an open mind, a willingness to work and the gumption to stay with it.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Sometimes, you have to get away from people ordering you to perform what you see are meaningless tasks. Sometimes, you may need to get away from a job that is wasting your valuable skill and time. Sometimes, you just need to change your life.
If you are waiting for the opportunity to come to you, you may be waiting awhile.
Instead, give yourself initiative. Look for something different. You might even find something you had never thought you would do. But, if your mind is open enough, you’ll check it out anyway. Because, you never know what you might find when you look.
If patience is a virtue, and good things come to those who wait, don’t tell that to those who give themselves initiative.
Yes, they may have patience. They may do what they hate until they find what they love. But they have given themselves the initiative to keep looking. Instead of waiting to see what happens, these folks keep looking to make things happen.
So, give yourself initiative. It may be the greatest gift you could ever receive.
Peter
Monthly Archives: November 2021
IS COLLEGE WORTH THE INVESTMENT? DEPENDS
#CollegeEducation #colleges #education #investments
“If you are sending (your child) here (prestigious college) to get a job, you are sending them to the wrong place.”
That’s the likely response you would get from the admissions director of a prestigious college if you questioned him or her about a return on your investment, according to Maureen Downey, education columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Downey discussed the return on investment for a college degree in a column published Nov. 16, 2021.
Meanwhile, that same day, cnn.com published an analysis by Ronald Brownstein, a CNN political analyst, that concludes that the infrastructure bill approved in Washington that same week is heavily weighted to create jobs for blue-collar, non-college-educated workers.
What should we make of all this? First, college is not for everyone. Most advisers tell young people that college is the key to getting a good job.
But as Downey’s column points out, it largely depends what a student majors in that will determine his or her post-graduation job prospects, and likely salary.
So, especially if you are planning to go into debt to go to college, think long and hard. Some college majors, mostly in the science, technology, engineering and math fields, may be worth it.
Others, particularly in the liberal arts, may not – presuming you are expecting a dollar return on that investment.
But, if you just want an education, and money is not going to be a concern, then college could be a great learning experience and, perhaps, a fun four years.
If you are not suited to college, and are more suited to a trade, there will be a need for plumbers, electricians, carpenters etc., for the foreseeable future.
If neither of these paths suits you, there are a number of programs out there that could give you a potentially lucrative income, without having specific education, experience or background.
These programs, too, may not be for everyone. But if you have ambition, an open mind and are willing to be coached, they may be a very good alternative.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Education of any sort is never a bad thing. The more one learns, the more one can grow.
But college is expensive and time-consuming. Four years in college is four years of earning little, if anything. You have to see the payoff – not necessarily financial – at the end.
Remember, too, as Downey points out, in general, the more education you have, the more you are likely to earn, vs. the person with less education.
But getting back a lifetime of great earnings in exchange for going through college may not necessarily happen.
Therefore, careful choice is required. You have to know who you are, and who you want to be, to make such a choice.
The same path does not lead everyone to the same destination. Learn where you not only want to go, but also what best would suit you.
There is a path for everyone. Your path may not be the same as your friend’s. You have to find your own way.
Peter
MILLIONS QUITTING THEIR JOBS: WHAT WILL THEY DO NEXT?
#AvailableJobs #workers #employment #coronavirus #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve
A record 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September 2021.
So reports Anneken Tappe for CNN Business. Her article appeared on cnn.com Nov. 12, 2021.
She wrote that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 10.4 million job openings that month, because of a worker shortage. The number of openings dropped slightly from the 10.6 million openings in August 2021, the article says.
Meanwhile, employers hired 6.5 million people, while they lost, including those who left voluntarily, 6.2 million, the article says.
Earlier, the Associated Press had reported that employers largely were still looking for workers who had previous experience in the work for which they were applying. Speculation had been that workers were applying for jobs which were totally different from the jobs they had held – perhaps paying a lot more money.
The AP article also hinted that employers believe eventually they will regain the leverage in the job market that workers have now.
Still, if you are a worker and your job disappeared during the pandemic, but may be slowly coming back, you have to ask yourself: is the job worth going back to?
As the cooler fall and winter weather creeps in, are you worried that your kids’ school(s) will close for a period because the virus spreads anew?
If your kids had to do school remotely, could you work at the same time? These questions tell us that the virus has not left us, and, perhaps, won’t for a good bit of time – if at all.
Complicating one’s decision to return to a job is the lack of day-care options, or the lack of places a parent could drop off a child to go to school remotely while they work.
Another factor: have you, as a worker, considered all possible job options? You may actually find an employer, desperate for help, willing to train you to do something different. Perhaps that something different would allow you to work remotely, if you had to.
If you are an employer, have you considered offering better pay, training and work/life flexibility to attract more, or better, workers? Are you willing to invest more to keep the good people you have from leaving?
This push-pull of the current labor market is one reason, along with supply-chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, that prices on just about everything are rising.
Despite short-term pain your wallet may feel, if workers ultimately attain workplace leverage and get more pay and better benefits, everyone – yes, employers, too – will benefit.
Of course, if you are not sure what you should do next, but are willing to explore different alternatives, there are programs out there that may intrigue you.
They require no specific education, experience or background. They allow you flexibility to work from home as needed. They merely require an open mind to check them out, and the ability to be coached. You can even do them part time as you work a regular job.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
This labor market is difficult for employers and employees. It’s one of those transition periods from which good things can result. We just have to be patient in the short term.
Also, the more eligible people get vaccinated, the sooner we can keep the pandemic at bay.
So, what will be your next move?
Peter
TRANSITIONS CAN BE HARD AND MESSY
#transitions #energy #CleanEnergy #FuelPrices #gasoline #ElectricCars
Transitions can be hard.
But, many must be gradual. Otherwise, they get messy.
Take energy. We are in transition from primarily burning fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives.
Trouble is, one cannot flip a switch – yet – and go from one to another.
When we move too quickly to change, we have the mess we have today. We are urging oil-producing countries to pump more oil to bring down prices, while we are urging energy users to move toward cleaner alternatives.
Again, transitions can be messy.
We can’t go to all-electric cars on a wide scale, without having the ability to charge them quickly mid-trip.
Currently, you can drive X miles in your electric car, then you have to recharge it.
That’s fine driving around town. Once your charge gets low, you can go home, plug your charger into your engine, let it sit overnight and it will be charged by morning.
To take that same car on a long trip requires having rapid-charging stations as abundant, or nearly so, as gasoline stations. One can’t afford to wait multiple hours to recharge a car mid-trip. That hasn’t happened yet, but it will.
Here’s another rub. Many states’ and countries’ economies depend largely on fossil fuel production. It won’t be easy for them to transition to clean energy, or some other form of economic prosperity.
Energy consumption in general went down during the pandemic, so fossil-fuel producers produced less. Now they are being asked to ramp up production as the post-pandemic economy starts to bounce back. The result: energy prices are rising. Do they produce more of the dirty stuff, only to have demand drop – again – as the economy ramps up and cleaner energy conversions take place? They have tough decisions all around.
All this begs the question: are you in transition now? Did your job go away during the pandemic, and now your employer wants you back, but you are not sure you want to go back?
When you lost your job, did you find a better one? Are you still looking?
If you are still looking, and don’t want to go back to the job you lost, know that there are many programs out there that can enable you to earn a potentially great income. You could even go back to your old job, if it’s still there, and do something new part time in your off-work hours. That could allow you to quit your old job sooner rather than later.
No specific education, experience or background is required for these programs. You just have to be willing to look at something you may have thought you would never do.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Transitions, be they societal, economic or personal, can be messy. But, in most cases, the reward on the other end is a better life for you, and, potentially, many others.
You should not look at these transitions as losses, though sacrifice is usually required. You should look at them as if you were participating in a sport. Games have their ups and downs, but they eventually end. Though we all want to be on the winning end, there will be some losses for everyone.
You need to have the grit within you to see the positives of transitional outcomes and work toward them.
Peter
ARE YOU ‘LETTING THE GAME COME TO YOU?’
#sports #sportscasters #games #athletes #winning #winners
Often, sportscasters will say, when referring to a star player on a team, “He (she) let the game come to him (her).”
This statement can baffle, because it implies the star player sat back and became a star because the game just came to him (her).
Another popular commentary: “He (she) played within himself (herself).”
This also baffles. Why would someone play “within himself” (herself) when he (she) needs the whole team to win?
First, star players, or any players, on a team need to act. They need to do things, or make things happen, to win.
If they win, they generally don’t sit back and let circumstances dictate their behavior. Certainly, circumstances can cause them to alter their behavior – a missed shot may lead them to take another shot, for example. But they don’t passively sit back, or run up and down the field or court, and “let the game come to them.”
In short, these commentaries imply passivity among star performers, and they don’t become stars by being passive.
Perhaps the commentators meant to say that the game produced certain situations, and the star did something to either enhance those circumstances – things happen in the team’s favor – or alter them – things happen to benefit the other team.
As for playing within oneself, a star doesn’t just give what he (she) believes he (she) can, he (she) usually gives that and more. In other words, if his (her) body is telling him (her) that he’s (she’s) given all he (she) can, a player perceived to be a star always looks for more to give.
So let’s beg the question: are you just letting things come to you? Are you just playing “within yourself,” thinking there is only so much you can do to help yourself?
If so, you’ll get what comes to you. You’ll only achieve what you believe you can achieve.
But, if you prefer to aim for stardom, you will reach for more.
Commentators, or those watching you, like to confine you into something they perceive for you,
Your parents, or other elders, love to map out your life from an early age. Yes, more often than not, they urge you to settle for what life, i.e. your employer, gives you. They urge you not to stray from the person they hope for you to be.
But, as you get out into the world and start to rethink what you’ve been taught, you may want to go after something your elders, or even you, never envisioned you would do. When you do that, you feel a certain sense of challenge or adventure.
If whatever game you are in is “coming to you,” and you don’t like it or feel you can do more, there are programs out there that allow you explore things you may not have ever thought you would do. And, these programs can let you become a star, financially and otherwise.
As a bonus, you need no specific education, experience or background to become such a star. You need an open mind and a willingness to be coached.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
In short, letting the game of life come to you generally does not produce success. You have to actively go after what you want – and do everything possible — to help your team win. Sometimes, that means not playing “within yourself” and jumping out of your comfort zone.
So, play on. Strive. Thrive. It’s up to you to make things happen.
Peter