003 What does it take to change into a new career or The art of changing direction and succeed

new-career003_what-does-it-take-to change-into-a-new-career

talking points:

how do you go from one profession to another? having a vague idea is not enough!

  1. learned, school learned profession may give you a process and teach you everything
  2. learning, self-directed needs YOU to build a curriculum, or you’ll fail
  3. law of process, research, guidance, mentors

    4. how do you know what skills to build?

  4. interviewing people
  5. watching movies

    6. reading books

how can you build skills if that is not part of your job?

volunteering

providing services, small services online/offline through craigslist, fiverr

What other than skills do you need?

  1. process capacity
  2. mental representation aka vision
  3. growth attitude… beginner attitude.

Article
How do you choose the next step if what you are doing in the present isn’t it… but you have no experience in the next profession, the next adventure?

You may have no skills that you know of that would get you a job in the next profession…

But you may have some skills… or why would you want to go that way? After all, the rule of thumb is: go with your strengths… and if you have strengths, you know you have them, because you’ve been using them.

Here is how I did it. The time was 1988 and I was an architect. And that opportunity closed for me…

I did a skill inventory, and found that all my skills at that point were putting ink on paper… writing, drawing, designing… and communicating. With people.

Graphics, design, text, communicating… I decided that the best match was publisher, although I had no idea what I would want to say… Magazine publishing.

I was unemployed, so I spent my time training myself… designing ads, writing ads, and I even apprenticed with a small printer so I had some idea what printing entails.

Then I sent out two resumes to small local pennysavers… that I saw all the time in the supermarket.

One answered, and said that the only job available is advertising sales. That I would get someone to train me…

I said OK… The woman who came to train me (I didn’t have any transportation) gave me a script and went out with me to a few stores to sell advertising.

Next day she went and covered all the stores I could have been able to walk in and sold everyone she could… Dog eat dog is the advertising world.

So I called the other publisher. I told him I sold five ads on my first day… He met me and hired me, even gave me a beat up car to use, so that I can get around and do the job.

I was grateful. I worked 80 hours or more a week. I actively participated on Friday’s meetings when every salesperson brought in what they sold. After two weeks I took over that part of the job, laying out the magazine for Saturday printing.

I even delivered all the magazines to the stores in my sales area.

I busted my ass.

I built enough relationships with customers, typesetters, printers that after 14 months, when the owner felt threatened and kicked me out, I could start, overnight, my own magazine.

After that fateful meeting, when I got kicked out, I called the typesetter, called the printer, and asked for credit for one issue.

I got it. I stayed up all night, and next day at 4 pm my own magazine was in the street.

It was the beginning of a wonderful eleven year run.

What does it take to change into a new career or The art of changing direction and succeed

new-career003_what-does-it-take-to change-into-a-new-career

talking points:

how do you go from one profession to another? having a vague idea is not enough!

  1. learned, school learned profession may give you a process and teach you everything
  2. learning, self-directed needs YOU to build a curriculum, or you’ll fail
  3. law of process, research, guidance, mentors

    4. how do you know what skills to build?

  4. interviewing people
  5. watching movies

    6. reading books

how can you build skills if that is not part of your job?

volunteering

providing services, small services online/offline through craigslist, fiverr

What other than skills do you need?

  1. process capacity
  2. mental representation aka vision
  3. growth attitude… beginner attitude.

Article
How do you choose the next step if what you are doing in the present isn’t it… but you have no experience in the next profession, the next adventure?

You may have no skills that you know of that would get you a job in the next profession…

But you may have some skills… or why would you want to go that way? After all, the rule of thumb is: go with your strengths… and if you have strengths, you know you have them, because you’ve been using them.

Here is how I did it. The time was 1988 and I was an architect. And that opportunity closed for me…

I did a skill inventory, and found that all my skills at that point were putting ink on paper… writing, drawing, designing… and communicating. With people.

Graphics, design, text, communicating… I decided that the best match was publisher, although I had no idea what I would want to say… Magazine publishing.

I was unemployed, so I spent my time training myself… designing ads, writing ads, and I even apprenticed with a small printer so I had some idea what printing entails.

Then I sent out two resumes to small local pennysavers… that I saw all the time in the supermarket.

One answered, and said that the only job available is advertising sales. That I would get someone to train me…

I said OK… The woman who came to train me (I didn’t have any transportation) gave me a script and went out with me to a few stores to sell advertising.

Next day she went and covered all the stores I could have been able to walk in and sold everyone she could… Dog eat dog is the advertising world.

So I called the other publisher. I told him I sold five ads on my first day… He met me and hired me, even gave me a beat up car to use, so that I can get around and do the job.

I was grateful. I worked 80 hours or more a week. I actively participated on Friday’s meetings when every salesperson brought in what they sold. After two weeks I took over that part of the job, laying out the magazine for Saturday printing.

I even delivered all the magazines to the stores in my sales area.

I busted my ass.

I built enough relationships with customers, typesetters, printers that after 14 months, when the owner felt threatened and kicked me out, I could start, overnight, my own magazine.

After that fateful meeting, when I got kicked out, I called the typesetter, called the printer, and asked for credit for one issue.

I got it. I stayed up all night, and next day at 4 pm my own magazine was in the street.

It was the beginning of a wonderful eleven year run.

Truth value… let’s talk about truth value

beauty-vs-intelligence-23-638During the summer of 1966 I ran into a girl I knew from elementary school. Turns out she applied and was accepted to the same school I was going to start in that September.

We were having a chat. I remember thinking to myself: Compared to her I know everything… why am I going to school?

We both graduated. I am sure she still thinks she knows everything. My experience is that I know less and less as time goes by.

Whether you can identify with my 19 year old person, or my 69 year old person, and to what degree will be important, so jot it down.

This article will attempt to answer truth value.

What is the opposite of truth? I have no idea.

The History of the Middle Finger

plucking-the-yewA bit of history? with a labio dental fricative.

The History of the Middle Finger:

Well, now……here’s something I never knew before, and now that I know it, I feel compelled to send it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified.

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as ‘plucking the yew

The sad guru… Paramahansa Yogananda

Possession-of-materialYogananda… I have measured his vibration at different times, in different contexts, always having a different number come up. So today I spent some time in his space… to see what’s up.

Paramahansa Yogananda was a sad person. For two reasons, the two sides of the same coin: he had something that he wanted to share, and it wasn’t shareable.

His words are simply his idea what made him the way he was, and the words did not communicate. Did not do for others what they, he thought,

How do you use the three levels of value in your “real” life to fall in love with yourself?

Coconut Is it good for you?How do you use the three levels of value in your “real” life to fall in love with yourself?

The article asking: where do you look to define your value got a lot of “hits” and comments.

Reading the answers I saw that some fundamental distinctions are missing, in spite of the fact that I have written about all of those before, on this blog.

So after reading the article about the three levels of valu

Knowledge, Strategy, Execution, is that enough for success?

michael-jordan-mental-representationI lead a workshop on Sunday. I had knowledge, I had strategy. I executed it. It was sloppy. What was missing?

I didn’t know. But “god” works in mysterious ways, the book I am reading has an answer that shows me what has been missing for me on Sunday and all my life.

The book, Peak, the new science of expertise, calls it Mental Representation.

Mental Representation is being able to see the finished product in your mind’s eye, and also see the process getting there, so you can anticipate missteps, and can correct, given that you

The capacity of seeing patterns…the threshold capacity

alberteinstein118979I am reading a book, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise. I am reading it because I want to be able to teach my students better, so they can leave behind the level of ordinary school learning, the pedestrian learning that always produces pedestrian result.

Amateurish performance, amateurish life. ((Your level of fulfillment is exponentially correlated to the amount of effort you invested. Easy: no fulfillment. Hard, lots of effort, hardship: lots of fulfillment.))

Updated: Why are there so many fake gurus?

michael jordan taught with his behavior and his attitude. how many listened? not manyI had an interesting insight today.

Recently a man from Switzerland came to the site, bought some of my energy audios, and even came to a call. Although his vibration was very low, he had interesting ideas, and I was excited to work with him.

Today he wrote me  a “Dear John” email, saying

Sophie, …you probably wondered why I did not attend the seminar yesterday.

when trying to connect, my computer refused the connection.this expresses a change of mind I felt yesterday.

I knew, that this path is not for me. t

As long as you are interested in the “what” and not the “how” you remain the same

winner-losers-whyIf you go about it the same way you have always gone, you’ll get the same results: not much.

I just got an insight I want to share.

There are all kinds of valid sayings that, as it turns out, only tell half truths.

If you do what you have always done… you’ll get what you have always gotten. Meaning: do something different.

But when you do something different, you get the same dismal result.

So what they are missing is the how.

The how, interestingly, points to your beingness. To your approach, not only to the task, but to life.

Because, please don’t forget, how you do anything is how you