I previously wrote about the process of becoming grounded and mentioned that you probably have hundreds of resources at your disposal. Let’s explore that a bit further.
People
Many resources come from the people you have access to:
- Friends and Family: They care about your personal success and happiness, and can offer you a different perspective on work/career balance.
- Co-workers: They have experience with your contribution to your employer and how you work as a teammate.
- Bosses: They have visibility to your contributions, and understand the larger context of the organization’s goals.
- People you’ve delivered value to or with: They might support you because of appreciation, or the possibility of receiving value again.
- People who value what you know: They might be willing to support you in exchange for learning from you.
- Acquaintances: They might be willing to help because of their personal values.
- People you could contact: You might be able to find out useful things or enlist their assistance.
I’ve stated those in general categories, but when you start naming people, you’ll probably be shocked how quickly this grows to a huge list.
Knowledge
This list also grows rapidly once you start getting specific:
- Things you know: Your expertise, both work-related and not.
- Things you can figure out: Applying your creativity and intelligence.
- Things others know: Everybody you might contact could have useful information.
Clearly the challenge here is to focus on what you need and the solution you’re looking for, to direct your energy and attention.
Tools
Finding appropriate tools depends on the problem you’re trying to solve, of course, but here are some general categories:
- Tools you have: Immediately accessible.
- Tools you could borrow, rent, or acquire: Often minimal cost for the value you’ll receive.
- Information tools: Especially the Internet, which contains a vast wealth of free information, if you know how to use it.
- Social web: More and more, social networking tools give you great access to people who can be of great use in your career.
If you aren’t extremely comfortable with your web browser and search engines. These are the keys to opening up the limitless internet resources.
Ourselves
The most important resource you have is yourself: your intelligence, your creativity, your energy, and your attention. In fact, without tapping your internal resources, the entire rest of the list is just wasted.
Are you feeling like you don’t have enough resources to solve your problems? Start making the lists here, and you’ll quickly realize that’s not the case.
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About Carl: Carl Dierschow is a certified Organizational Leadership Coach and author of the career management guide, Mondays Stink! 23 Secrets to Rediscover Delight and Fulfillment in Your Work. He is a career coach for those going through interesting transitions, and works with leaders who are creating amazing teams. Find out more at www.Dierschow.com and www.PossibilitiesPartnership.com. |
