Saturday, March 13, 2010

Letting Your Life Speak

I just got back from a day-long retreat for Seattle-area career counselors.  25 of us gathered in a large and beautiful home near the University of Washington campus where we reconnected, commiserated, ate Greek take-out, and learned from each other.  The highlight of the day was some of the more experienced folks sharing their tried and true exercises that help their clients get clear about what they need from and offer to future employers. 

One such exercise was asking one's client to write down 10-30 instances where they accomplished something in their personal or professional lives that they really enjoyed doing.  Things that engaged them and that, in hindsight, they're glad they did. 

Whether you’re employed or not, why not try it yourself right now?  Your accomplishments can be from your youth, like that way cool science experiment you designed and carried out.  Or volunteering, like helping put together that fundraiser for a homeless shelter when you were in college.  Or from your work life, such as the project you were a part of  with that great team of people who saved the company a cool quarter million a couple years ago.  So, go for it.  I’ll wait right here . . .

Cool.  Once you have your list, you have a gold mine.  It’s a collection of information that you can dig into to discover the things you like doing (and probably do well), the kinds of people you enjoy working with, and maybe even the physical space that you feel most comfortable in.  You can learn about your style—how you relate to others when you’re at your best.  And at what point in a project you have the most juice—at the start, implementing it, or finishing it off.  And perhaps most important, you can get a clear picture of why you do what you enjoy doing—your values.  Later, sit down with a friend and together, go over your stories.  A pal (or career pro) is a great assist when it comes to sussing out important information like this.

Discovering all these things is to know you.  Parker Palmer has written a powerful little book called Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the voice of vacation.  In it he makes the point that no matter what we are doing in our work, or think would be the right thing to do, it’s only when taking a clear-eyed look at what has made us come alive in the past that we hear our life telling us what we need to do now.  It’s up to us to listen, and then to act on what we’re being told.

Posted by Dan Kennedy at 10:09 pm

Labels: personal & career development