๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐
The Monday Rx, a weekly career and job search prescription is back after the summer break, and this edition is about SUCCESS!
๐๐ฝHow many times have you been rejected, spurned or sidelined, and thought you had failed? Donโt worry. I have been there more times than I care to remember, but am still standing!
Why? Because failures don’t define me. I grow from every one of them. If not, I would be missing the success boat.
๐๐ฝBut, what if you think that success is a state of mind. What if we change the narrative and acknowledge that we are all living breathing, specimens of success instead of clamouring for that โone more thingโ that would make us a success.
๐๐ฝWhat if I told you that when I wrote No Canadian Experience, Eh? A Career Success Guide for New Immigrants, one Ontario college used the book to develop a course for their newcomer clients? Because of that, I have addressed their graduates several times, and right now am working on a project with them. Would you call that success?
๐๐ฝWhat if I told you that earlier in the year, I was contacted by two Ontario universities for career coaching opportunities. I didnโt hear back from one, but I spent the summer coaching staff and delivering workshops for the other. Am I going to view the first one as a failure or bask in the success of the other?
๐๐ฝAs I write, am in discussions with a company on the African continent to coach their mid-level executive staff. Am I going to wait until it comes through to call it a success? Nope! For them to reach out to me, is already a success. If it becomes a reality, it will just be the icing on the success cake.
๐๐ฝWhen I coached a mentee on salary negotiations two months ago with an 85-year-old Canadian company, she ended up with a base salary of $175K, $32,000 more than what she was offered. And, thatโs not the total package. Thatโs success on both sides.
๐๐ฝWhen I watch the career trajectory of a former client as he moved from IBM to Royal Bank to Amazon and now as VP of Technology at (by coincidence) the same company as my mentee, I thought of his words to me when he got his first executive position, โDaisy, I didnโt believe I could be an executive. You saw what I didnโt see in myself.โ
The accompanying image is my formula of SUCCESS. Which line resonates with you? Let each point serve as a guide as you define your own success story. Donโt measure it by someone else’s standard.
Here is an assignment for you this week:
Set aside 20 minutes of your time, grab your journal (I hope you have one), and start reflecting on your success stories, aka your accomplishments. This is a brainstorming exercise, so donโt edit your thoughts. When you are finished, you can go back and edit it to unearth the nuggets. You will realize you are more successful than you thought.
Need help? Let’s have a brief career chat!
