The New Mountains to Climb of 2010

Mark Twain once said that “twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do !

And to put a more positive spin on Miley Cyrus’s recent song “The Climb”, there is always going to be a mountain to climb in our lives… new challenges … new treasures to uncover in people and in ourselves.

As we begin the adventurous expedition of the year 2010, maybe it is time to throw off the bowlines and sojourn away from the safe harbor of your current personal and professional life.

As we approach the New Year- 2010,is it the year to catch the trade winds in your sails? Explore?. Dream? Discover? Do you dare activate and actualize your passion by climbing the new mountains in your life and share the experience with others?

Are you ready to climb those new and challenging mountains in 2010?

The knowledge economy ... is it really our future?

Jeff Brownlee, spokesperson for the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters , has commented that the future of manufacturing isn’t about mass production but customization. He emphasizes that businesses need to find their niche, then do it well and offer value add.

Instead of making one million mass produced items of questionable quality, you make 1000 products that are customized to your specifically targeted niche based on your research.

They say that the 21st century is all about the knowledge economy but Brownlee tends to think otherwise… “ At the end of the day, innovation and creativity are what sets us apart from other countries.”

Daniel Pink author of “ Free agent nation” and “A whole new mind: why right-brainers will rule the future” would most likely agree wholeheartedly with him.

What is Your Change Quotient? Resources

For more resources on 360 degrees Assessment and Self-Awareness:

1. Paul Copcutt—A personal branding expert: www.paulcopcutt.com .
2. Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton (2001)


I particularly recommend the book "Now, Discover Your Strengths" , because it provides an on-line code for the Strengthfinder- an assessment of your strengths/ potential talents.

You can also go to www.authentichappiness.com for a complimentary self-assessment.
3. Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham (2007)
4. One of the first books on this kind of feedback: 360 Degree Feedback: The Powerful New Model for Employee Assessment & Performance Improvement Mark R. Edwards and Ann J. Ewen. ( 1996)

What is Your Change Quotient?

Are you a driving force for Change? What is your tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty in your personal and professional life? If it is low, then it is time to work on increasing and developing your change quotient.

Can you cultivate a passion for the needed change? Can you make that tremendous effort to realize and actualize that Change? Is a passion for Change an subversive idea? Yes, indeed, you can ignite that fire within to make the changes you feel so strongly about.

Our current economic downturn means upheaval and revisions in the roles and responsibilities for companies/organizations. A significant impediment to Change is that you often hear and perceive only what you want to hear. Your auditory view of things is filtered and processed based on your own values, beliefs, prejudices, and personal history.

Behaviours that hinder embracing ambiguity and uncertainty act as blocking agents that can be touchy areas to deal with. The first step in this process of self-development for Change is creating and nurturing self-awareness. Your 360 degrees Assessment from your manager, boss, mentor or career coach can specifically target some of these behaviours.

Eccentricity and the 21st Century

Eccentricity is the key driver for the 21st century. What does being eccentric mean in this case? It represents standing out in a positive, professional manner from the competition- but don’t be ostentatious. Be different but be very good at what you do.

Innovation and creativity will set you apart from the competition and put you ahead in your career achievement milestones.

Break out of the mold of mediocrity --- Part 2

Referring back to Dr. Wayne Dyer classic book “ Pulling Your Own Strings, he comments that “If you want to achieve your own greatness, to climb your own mountains, you’ll have to use yourself as your first and last consultant.” ( p. 94)

To this end, in cultivating your Serendipity Quotient, you must work on your mind, body and spirit awareness in displaying creative aliveness while undergoing the greatest of adversity.

Victor Frankl in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning” also attests to this in creating and finding the purpose and meaning of your life through the most tragic of circumstances.

Another book that reflects this theme is “One Day in the Life”of Ivan Denisovich” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. In this book, the author focuses on life in a forced- labour prison in Siberia.

These two books, in particular, tell the life- changing story of using the mind to be creatively alive in moment-to-moment contexts.

These authors, like Dr. Dyer, emphasize the significance of “applying your sense of self-worth” to the present moment and refusing to let your own attitudes and self-beliefs defeat you as being the basic ingredient to the survival of the characters in these books.

Some quotations by Dr. Dyer summarize the essence of this theme:

“ You are the product of what you choose for yourself in every life situation” ( p. 234)


“ You do have the capacity to make healthy choices for yourself by changing your attitude to one of creative aliveness”. ( p.234).



And, this one by me- “You truly are the power of your mind!”

Break out of the mold of mediocrity

Break out of the mold of mediocrity and develop your peripheral vision for job searching and career planning.

One way to do this is by transforming your attitude into action.
There is an old adage that says” Your attitude determines your altitude”.

Become a non-conformist by not using the traditional ways of getting a job. Mass emailing of your resume to companies on Workopolis.ca and Monster.ca is the pathway pursued by most people; and therefore you end up behaving like “ all the other job seekers”.

Prove yourself resourceful by abandoning the so-called“ the right way” approach to job hunting by substituting creative individualized behaviour that brings results!

Don’t pigeon hole yourself with rules.. Take off those tunnel vision glasses you are wearing and throw away “ the only right way” manual of rules!

Be proactive by :
1. Getting rid of your stereotypical thinking and list some alternatives
2. Accessing the risk factors
3. Picking the best bet of these and doing it.

Don’t focus on the words “ what if”, ‘maybe” or “ I’m not sure” .

If your attitude is that you believe you cannot do it, then you become paralyzed by this self-limiting belief; and this belief will be transformed into a sad reality.

Learn to become your own marketing expert. Success in your job searching and career planning is not spotting the latest trends, but is starting them!

You can package an idea and sell it to anyone by believing in yourself and if you can demonstrate that it will work by designing a logical and easy- to- implement plan of action.

Dr. Wayne Dyer refers to this theme in his book “Pulling Your Own Strings” as the creatively alive approach to overcoming adversity. I like to refer to it as cultivating your “Serendipity Quotient” by using adverse circumstances to nurture out-of-the-box thinking.

Dr. Dyer comments ‘Don’t say to yourself that imaginative approaches may be fine for others, but they could never work for you”.

In your unique value proposition, you are succeeding by doing it “ your way” with your unique talents and competencies that can specifically benefit the company/ organization. This is all in part of cultivating your Serendipity Quotient.

Put some effort into having fun by seeing how effective you can truly be!