Taking charge in the new year
Welcome 2023
I have never liked New Year’s Eve. It involves drunk people, misbehavior, and crowds, three things of which I am not a fan.
But I love New Year’s Day.
It’s a new start. It’s a chance to take stock and realize that the future is unwritten. That’s exciting.
This isn’t about “new year’s resolutions.” Those are almost designed to fail, because they are usually sweeping generalizations that fall apart in the light of day. What I want to do is suggest some small moves that you can make in the days ahead that could reap major benefits for your job search.
Here are some concrete steps you can take right away to make this year better and more successful than last year.
Identify three companies that you would like to work for. Research them thoroughly, then make one or two contacts with people working in jobs similar to the one you would like to fill. Ask for short information interviews to begin to cultivate relationships with these companies and the people who work there.
Reach out to three people, either new people you have never met before but have some connection to, or people you have not spoken to in a long time. Set a date for coffee or lunch, your treat. Talk with them about your job goals, or just catch up. Best case scenario, you can offer *them* help with whatever they are currently working on.
Write down in detail three things that you would like to see change for yourself by the end of this year. This isn’t pinning a photo of a farmstand kitchen to a vision board. This is just an exercise in focus. I’ve written before about figuring out what you want. But what you want changes and morphs over time. The new year is an opportunity to sharpen that focus.
The idea here is not to make some grand pronouncement; but just to do some small bite-sized tasks that can keep you on track, and give you small consistent wins as you go along.
Online creator and coach Sean Anthony makes a great distinction between outcome goals and action goals. An outcome goal is “I’m going to lose 80 pounds.” An action goal is “I am going to walk two miles four times a week.” What I’m suggesting is focusing on action goals, and small ones at that. Small moves.
2022 was a difficult year for a lot of us. (I finished out the year with a stroke.) So I would love it if we could all help each other achieve our goals in 2023. My goal for Mighty Forces is to make it into a community of people, not just me shouting into the void. But I need your help for that.
BONUS IDEA: Read one new book in your field.
Try to make it a book published in the last couple of years, so it can more likely include some fresh perspectives. Finding this book is pretty easy now that we have Amazon to provide us with both traditional reviews and user feedback on just about every book in existence. While reading, take some notes and/or highlight passages that resonate with you. I guarantee that this exercise will sharpen your job hunting efforts.
If you take any of the steps outlined in this article, please leave me a comment or reply to this email and let me know the details. In the new year, it would mean a lot to me to get some feedback from my readers.
Happy New Year!
I've heard some talk about informational interviews as if they were a thing of the past. Though I recently had a young woman contact me for one and I was very glad to do it — I feel like it's kind of my duty to help people like that! She didn't call it an informational interview. I wonder if there are other ways to frame it that might be less likely to make people think you're looking for a job. You do address this some; maybe you could delve into it more in a future post about that kind of outreach?
Sorry to learn of your stroke. Wishing you a speedy recovery and a healthful new year.