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Coach Caroleen
I help women in tech grow their careers by landing better roles using my Career Makeover MBA.
If you’re like a lot of people, you’re just ready for 2020 to be done. I got this message on from a job seeker whose job was impacted by COVID.
The problem appears to be outside of my control…. Maybe the market is too saturated… I’m just so tired of 2020.
2020 has been hard for all of us in different ways. Many people lost their jobs overnight. Others were hospitalized and many have lost their lives. As I write this article, over one million people have died from COVID.
There are plenty of things that are out of your control, especially a global pandemic. At the same time, there are plenty of things still within your control. When it comes to the job search, are you putting in the time? Are you updating your resume? Are you networking? Are you keeping your job opportunities pipeline full? Are you tracking your job search activities and being productive?
Are you grateful for the opportunities that cross your desk? Or instead, are you angry that you’re not getting the responses that you feel you deserve and are entitled?
In 2020, my husband, Joe, and I launched Agile Pro Tips in March. Great timing, right? Our original business model was delivering in-person training. We had three events already scheduled for late March and April. Well, hello COVID! We were also scheduled to be in China, Argentina, and Thailand this year. Nope! Everything was canceled and evaporated in a matter of days.
So we pivoted. Similar to how I pivoted careers, we pivoted our business. In a matter of months, we went from an in-person training model to selling digital courses. Yours truly grabbed a slice of growth mindset and built a website with an integrated Learning Management System (LMS) and online payment portal. I guess a decade of building websites including my daughter’s school PTA site paid off. I decided to branch off my own brand of Coach Caroleen – how meta!
We started recording at home and learned how to edit our own audio and videos. We bought microphones and upgraded webcams. We’re still far from where we wanted to be, but you know what, at least we did something and learned along the way.
As we start saying goodbye to 2020, ask yourself:
Are you grateful or entitled?
Can you look back on this year and see the positive? Or are you angry that this year didn’t turn out as you expected? Was this year supposed to go a certain way and deviated from your plans?
Enjoy this short video about gratitude
For those of you who aren’t video fans, here’s a written transcript. Sure, you’ll miss my lovely, not lovely, slow talking scripted voice but if you get the message, that’s what matters : ) And use the pro tip below to play this at double speed if you’d like!
Pro Tip: You can play the video at 2x speed so this 2:39 min video will only take 1:19 min! Click the gear in the bottom right-hand corner and choose Speed = 2x.
Gratitude Video Transcript
Which statement are you? I deserve better. OR I’m grateful and own my destiny.
Here’s a great quote by Randy Pausch, “Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.” If you want to read a great book on living life to the fullest and the power of gratitude, check out his book, The Last Lecture. It’s a compilation of the author’s life lessons that was delivered to his students shortly after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Gratitude is being thankful and having appreciation. When you’re grateful for what you have, you’re opening yourself up for more opportunities in all facets of life.
When you’re entitled, you’re closing yourself off. You’re expecting something to happen or someone to do something. This mismanaged expectation can lead to disappointment and then you’re off to the races on a downward negative spiral.
When you shift your mindset to gratitude, you’ll start to notice how much life has to offer. I’m grateful that you trusted me enough to spend your hard earned money and precious time to watch this video course. I’m grateful that as a woman you have the right and freedom to work and earn a decent living. I always like to bring up this fact. Until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, which was less than 50 years ago, women could be denied credit simply based on being a woman or unmarried. I’m grateful that although I bumbled my way through my first career transition, I learned so much from it that I’m able to share that knowledge with you today.
When you start to shift your mindset to a place of gratitude, you’ll also recognize how much the world has to offer. Sure, women still make less than men for equal work but by educating yourself and approaching the job search with a more gracious mindset, you, as one woman, as one human, can start leveling the playing field.
Here’s your takeaway: Leave the entitlement attitude behind and bring on the gratitude mindset. Open your eyes and heart and be grateful for what the world has to offer.
