Take risks the odds might be better than you think

Take risks the odds might be better than you thinkTake risks the odds might be better than you thinkAs I look back over my early career, I wish Id taken more risks. I wish Id been a little braver in my choices, perhaps had more confidence in my ability to land on my feet when confronted with the unknown.If youve thought the saatkorn thing, youre leid alone. You dont take a risk because youre cautious and play it safe. In other words, youve settleuchtdiode for the status quo.If that sounds like the definition of a wimp, you might be right. To be fair, however, our brains are wired to be risk averse. Our aversion to risk kept us safe through the caveman years and probably saved our life a couple of times through our college years. What we forget, however, is that not every challenge is a risk to our life.A history lessonThe Old Testament of the Bible tells the story of a young man who decided to take a risk. His name was David, and he was a sheepherder who led a very predictable and ordinary life. He might never have discovered his greatness if he hadnt taken a risk and stepped into the unknown.The Philistine obere extremitty had gathered their troops for war against Israel. The two armies camped on opposite sides of a steep valley. Every day for forty days a Philistine warrior named Goliath broke out from the front line and challenged the Israelites to fight. Goliath was reported to be a giant of a man who wore full armor. The Israelites fell back in fear when they saw the huge form of Goliath. The odds were against them.Described as a runt by his own father, Davids job was to run back and forth from his sheep herd to bring news to his father of his brothers who were on the Israelite battle line. As David approached the battle line, he asked, Whats in it for the man who kills the big ugly Philistine?He learned that King Saul offered a huge financial reward. In addition, he would give his daughter in marriage to whoever killed Goliath. David decided to take a r isk and beat the odds. He said, Im your manThe runt of the litter takes on the giant. We love stories about the underdog who musters the courage and confidence to find a way to beat the odds. Follow Davids example and take a risk - the odds might be better than you think1. Master a skill setDavid took a risk because he had never fought in battle as a soldier. He had other experiences, however, and leaned into them to help him in this situation. David knew how to use a sling and perfectly weighted stones which he had used to protect lambs from large and strong predators like lions and bears. He was prepared to use those same skills to protect the Israelites. It took years of practice, but he never became distracted from learning the skills he needed to become a master of his trade.From an outsiders point of view, the skill set possessed by this young boy could not help him defeat the obstacle before him. David stuck with what he knew best and used those skills to help him beat the o dds.How To Make It Work For You Mastery is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of intense focus applied to your area of expertise. Identify your area of expertise. Just because someone else doesnt believe your skill set is needed to overcome an obstacle, it doesnt mean you cant find a way to apply those skills to help you beat the odds.2. Acknowledge weaknessesThe soldiers laughed at David because he wasnt a trained soldier. The first thing they tried to do was turn David into one of them. They suited him up in their armor and gave him a sword. But David wasnt a soldier, had never trained as one, and never wanted to be one. He said, I cant fight in this because Im not used to it. The techniques of a soldier were not his own, and he was wise enough to acknowledge what he didnt know so he could focus on what he did.Many of us focus all our attention on what could go wrong, and thats not a bad thing. However, if we fail to focus on what can go right, we miss the opport unity to improve our odds. When we look at what we can bring to the situation, we take a risk that is smarter because weve put our strong foot forward.How To Make It Work For You You will excel only if you maximize your strengths and stop trying to fix your weaknesses. Dont ignore your weaknesses but acknowledge them so you are better able to manage them. This allows you to free up time and focus on developing your strengths.3. Start with small winsDavid met Goliath on the battlefield with a sling and five smooth, carefully selected stones because those were the tools of his trade. He knew those stones had power because hed used them before- to kill lions and bears. David might not have been a soldier, but he knew a thing or two about a strong arm and good aim.While he hadnt stood before an obstacle this big before, this was not the first time hed dealt with a problem. He started with small wins as he protected his sheep from predators. Those small wins gave him the confidence to ta ke a risk and defeat Goliath.How To Make It Work For You If you need to take a risk, you create better odds for yourself if you experiment beforehand. Intentionally distribution policy yourself in situations where there is risk involved so you know how it feels and wont panic out of the gate. Experiment with how youll respond rather than rely on a knee-jerk reaction.4. Adapt to your circumstancesWhile others considered David an underdog, he understood how to adapt to his circumstances. It meant he would need to take a risk, but since he had defeated other enemies, all he needed to do was remind himself of his past wins. David had mental toughness. One aspect of mental toughness is the belief that you can adapt to your circumstances rather than believing your circumstances will change.If we dont have confidence in ourselves, we will underestimate our ability to handle risk. When this happens, confidence devolves into self-doubt and the downward spiral doesnt end until we reach the bo ttom. If were confident, we know that were able to accomplish the things we set out to do.How To Make It Work For You If youre confronted with a roadblock, adapt to your new circumstances. Re-evaluate your initial strategies. Keep your mindset flexible and agile as you look for new ways to move ahead. The key is to always move ahead.5. Press into the unknownAccording to the Biblical account, David took off from the front line, running toward the Philistine. David took leadership of the situation when he broke the pattern of the challenge. He moved toward the threat and pressed into the unknown.The closer Goliath came, Davis found more ways to defeat the giant. He saw a small gap in Goliaths armor that was not visible from a distance. David reached into his bag and slung one of his stones at the gap in the helmet that protected Goliaths head. Once struck on the forehead, the giant fell down on the ground. When the Philistines saw their hero was dead, they turned and ran.How To Make I t Work For You To increase safety, move toward the unknown - only when David moved closer to the threat was he able to see where and how to strike. Often, opportunities that can not be seen from a distance are made visible only when we press forward. Our chances of success increase when we leave our place of safety and move toward our challenge.Thisarticlefirst appeared onLaRaeQuy.com.

The Deadly Resume Trap that Stops Most of Us Reaching Our True Potential

The Deadly Resume Trap that Stops Most of Us Reaching Our True befhigung The Deadly Resume Trap that Stops Most of Us Reaching Our True Potential Writing a resume is tough. After all, getting it wrong could spell the end of your dreams.But in trying to avoid making a bad impression, most people make a very dangerous mistake. I call it the conformity trap and it can kill your chances of getting the job you deserve.The truth is that when we are frightened of doing the wrong thing, we tend to play it safe. And the safest thing of all is to look at what others have done and emulate that.Really want that creative director job you saw posted yesterday? Why not trawl the web looking for samples of resumes by other creative directors.That will show you what words you should be using and the type of content recruiters will be looking for, and you can be sure that what you submit is deemed acceptable.The problem is, acceptable isnt good enough.There are lots of other people vying for that saat korn job, and the recruiter scanning resumes only has a few seconds to spend on each one. If your resume looks and sounds like everyone elses, why would she single you out for an interview?Conforming isnt the answerWhat if you took a different approach?What if you avoided the conformity trap and wrote a resume that was different from everyone elses?The truth is that no one is quite like you. No one has had the exact same combination of experiences, or was born with the same blend of character traits, or developed the exact same set of skills.And that means no one can do that creative director job quite the way you can.So why not write a resume that says that?The secret to a non-conformist resume that gets resultsIm not suggesting that you have to do something wild and crazy. Super-creative can sometimes be a great answer but its hard to pull off well and its often not the most appropriate choice.Rather, Im saying that you should write a resume that describes you and only you, not on e that mimics the language and formatting used by someone else.You might think being unique takes more work, but actually its often harder to try to twist someone elses resume to suit your own background than it is to simply start with a blank piece of paper.And when youre done, youll have a document that tells employers exactly what you have to offer not what someone else does.The difference is remarkable. Just yesterday I received this emailI have read thousands of free resume samples and writing tips over the years and spent in excess of 100 hours on my own resume.I finally found your website 2 days ago and applied your principles in resume writing from your articles and WOW I was contacted within 15 minutes for an interview today from a company that I had applied twice to previously with no resultI am so happy I am writing to thank you.So just by telling her own unique story, this job seeker saw instant results. You can do it too, and once you start making the changes, youll se e how easy it can be to make this kind of amazing impact.How to determine (and communicate) your unique valueThere are lots of different ways to write a unique resume that truly sells. Many of them are covered in my free resume writing course so I recommend signing up now. In just a few days, youll have everything you need and youll see the amazing difference that this approach can make.But to get you started, here are some questions to ask yourselfWhat talents and skills do people often compliment you on?When you take on a new position, what improvements do you tend to make?What is it about your background that makes you particularly good at solving client/customer/employer problems?What common themes run through your performance reviews, linkedin testimonials or thank you letters.Which projects have you most enjoyed and why? What skills did those projects use?Questions like this will help you drill down to really understand your core value that set of skills, attributes and exper iences that you and only you possess.Communicate those in your own words, and youll have a resume that recruiters cant resist.If you have any questions or comments, feel free to either comment below, or drop me a line. Im always happy to hear from you.photo credit petrichor via photopin cc

The Resume and Getting it Ready for the Job Search

The Resume and Getting it Ready for the Job SearchThe Resume and Getting it Ready for the Job SearchThe Resume and Getting it Ready for the Job SearchCourtesy of William Iven from unsplash.comGetting started on the resume can often be one of the most difficult parts of the job search. Resumes, in the beginning, can seem tedious and time-consuming. You may be unsure of what to do, always keep in mind that resume writing is not as difficult as it sounds, as it is often the resume targeting that can present the most challenges.Before you begin your job search, you need to make sure that you have a solid document prepared, while you will be tailoring your professional resume to each job you apply for, you need to make sure you have a strong base resume. The base resume is your starting point to apply to various jobs. Do not be overly concerned with extremely fancy wording. While your resume should have business vocabulary, verbs, industry keywords, avoid jargon, use language that is inte rpretable and will explain directly what you have accomplished and worked on in your career. The main task of a resume is to get you noticed, employers will be looking for more elaborate explanations of your experience through the interview process and testing that they require of their candidates.Tailoring the presentation is the most important task when conducting your job search. Taking the time to cultivate a resume that is precise and in conjunction with the position you want to apply for, will assist in landing you more interviews. Each employer wants to feel like you took the time out to directly address their needs individually.When tailoring a resume always includeKey phrases and words , never copy and paste the qualifications from the job posting, use your own writing style to tell the employer what you can provide, based on your experience and the qualifications the employer is looking for in a candidate.Use their tone, if they are more serious, keep the resume serious an d so on.Tell information that is relevant, go into detailed descriptions only where necessary.UNDERSTANDING RESUME STYLES There are three types of resumes chronological, combinational and functional. Each resume serves a purpose and will provide a specific benefit based on your career objectives and situation.Chronological Resume This is the most common kind of a resume. It commonly includes an objective or profile, professional qualifications section, software and technical sections, education and awards and your experience. Your job description should include the company, position title, dates worked and city worked in. Always begin with the most recent job and work back no later than ten years. Each job description should contain 6 to 8 bullet points. Consider writing your experience using the Problem, Action, Result format.Who would use this resume Mid to senior level professionals with 3+ years experience and a consistent work history.Oops, it looks like this article is not com pleteYou can read the continuation in our April Dream Job BookClick below to find it out Get the Job of You Dream in 6 Days/6 Simple Steps