Category: Adapt, Innovate, Win

Adapt, Innovate, and Win: Welcome to the cornerstone of jaywren.com, where we believe that career growth is a continuous journey fueled by adaptation and leads to success, both personally and professionally. This category unites the core principles of thriving in a dynamic world with the practical steps for individual development. Here, you’ll find insights and actionable strategies to accomplish these things:

Cultivate an Adaptive Mindset
Learn to embrace change, navigate uncertainty, and develop the resilience needed to thrive in evolving circumstances.
Fuel Personal and Professional Growth.
Explore techniques for self-improvement, skill development, building confidence, and achieving your full potential in all areas of your life.
Embrace Innovation and Creativity.
Discover how to think outside the box, generate new ideas, and implement innovative solutions to overcome challenges and seize opportunities.
Define and Achieve Success
Understand what success means to you and gain practical guidance on setting meaningful goals and developing effective strategies to reach them.
Develop Essential Skills for a Changing Landscape
From communication and leadership to critical thinking and problem-solving, equip yourself with the skills needed to excel in today’s world.

Summary

Whether you’re navigating a career transition, seeking personal fulfillment, or aiming for greater achievements, this category provides the framework and inspiration to adapt, innovate, and win on your unique path to growth and success. Join us as we explore the continuous journey of becoming the best version of ourselves in an ever-evolving world.

Fate and Luck: Playing Comes Before Winning

Fate and Luck: Luck comes to those who act.  Fate decides who wins.  But acting often and acting smarter increases our odds of turning fate in our favor.

In life or in cards, we can’t win without playing.
~ www.jaywren.com

Fate and Luck

I have had good luck and bad luck.  But without work, I could not have had the luck to do so many things I enjoy.

My luck in college increased greatly when I realized that I didn’t have to be the smartest student in the room.  I had to put luck on my side by doing the things that, for me, were necessary to be as successful as people smarter than I was.

I was lucky to get into Naval Officer Candidate School. However, if I had not worked hard in college, I would not have had the opportunity to apply for NOCS and become a bridge officer on the carrier, USS Midway.

Also, I had the good luck to work at two major consumer companies. However, the time and effort I put into college and into my work as an officer in the Navy paved the way for me to get an interview with these companies.
Adrenal hormone in ED is not much clear, but many diagnostic reports predict its role in male impotence. *

As a business owner, I had success and frustration.  I learned early on that I could not control the results.  Results are about fate.  However, by making more phone calls, working extra hours, adjusting to changes in technology, I had the good fortune to run a successful business for thirty years.

You Can’t Control the Results

Some you win. Some you lose. Some get rained out.  The results are fate.  We work hard.  We do the correct things.  But the world changes. Technology, industrial dynamics, economics, and other things change.  Things beyond our control change.

However, you can do the things that influence the outcome.  For example, poker is a game of betting on the cards you have and the cards you hope to have.

However, great poker players know as well as anyone how fate controls the outcome of a hand.  Holding aces never guarantees a win.  But playing the hand, and playing it smartly, increases the odds of winning. And great poker players win often.

Not only in poker, but in everything I do, I play to win.  I know that taking the right action increases my chances of success.

Career Change Commitment: Steps to Stay Engaged

Career Change Commitment: Hunting for jobs take a lot of work. It is easy to let up and let opportunities slip away. Finding a job is a business. Even when business is slow, you can act to increase your success of finding the job you deserve. Here are some things you can do during a lull in activity.

The Steps to Career Change Commitment

  1. Stay Connected
  2. Become a Resume Expert
  3. Gain Access to Power Players
  4. Read Career Books
  5. Expand Your Skills
  6. Build an Attitude for Success
  7. Protect Your Health
  8. Focus on Action

Stay Connected

Speak and write to your friends and business connections to let them know that you are still actively seeking a new opportunity. Each time you connect, thank them for their support and let them know that you welcome their support with referrals and job listings.

Become a Resume Expert

Make your resume tighter. Reduce the accomplishments in older jobs and increase the list of accomplishments in recent jobs. Revise the objective of your resume to match the job for which you are applying. Even if you use a resume writer, you must know whether your resume is effective to meet your needs for applying for specific jobs. Ask everyone you trust in your job search to review your resume for effectiveness. Recruiters should be able to help you review your resume for jobs where they are referring you.

Gain Access to Power Players.

Work on the quality of your first-degree network. In many cases, there is nothing wrong to building a huge network. As your network grows, you have the power of audience reach. However, within your close network you must have the people who can empower you for success.

Specifically, build your database with people who have relationships in the industry and at companies where you want to work.  Being to make a direct application to an employer is far better than applying through a job board or a membership site.

Just knowing that you are connected with people who can help you create optimism for career change commitment.

Read Career Books

The most successful people become experts in their career. Likewise, the most successful people increase their potential for success with a lifetime of learning. As you go through your career move, you can empower yourself to perform each step as a well-informed professional.

Reading can help you become more interested in what you are doing in your career search and maintain your career change commitment.

Expand Your Skills

There are YouTube videos on nearly every subject imaginable.  With the Internet, you can take college courses without leaving your home.  Skills seminars and meetups can help you learn new skills as well as expand your network. LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, Quora and other social media websites offer groups and forums to help you find answers for developing your skills. Some websites offer free subscriptions to articles on skills development. YouTube is especially helpful to show you how to advance your skills.

What you learn from these videos can get you excited about finding a new job.

Build an Attitude for Success

There is so much information on creating a healthy, productive attitude. My first exposure to creating a more powerful attitude came from reading the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. Later, I found that listening to Zig Ziglar tapes help me feel more comfortable and confident about everything in my life. For most of my career, I have used forms of meditation to quiet my mind and think more clearly. This practice helps me understand and respond more intelligently to the people in my life.

A simple step to a better attitude is to avoid negative people and spend time with people who will help you feel motivated and positive throughout your career.

A powerful attitude can motivate you to be more aggressive and active in your career move.

Protect your Health

You are your greatest asset.  Eat healthy.  Get daily exercise. Sleep well. You will have more energy to work on your career.  With that energy comes a clearer mind that leads to better decisions.  Remember that the body in which you live is the same vehicle in which you achieve success.

A healthy body is a natural first step to an engaged mind and developing the energy for action.

Focus on Action

Focusing on your difficulties in finding a job will not help. It can discourage you from working on your career search. You build success by seeking and acting on solutions not focusing on problems.

Finding New Industries for Your Job Skills

Finding New Industries: If you find that you have skills that are no longer needed in your current industry, it is natural for you to feel discouraged.

Skills Requirements Continue to Change

The ever-changing employment landscape often leaves people with industry-based skills and no employment market for those skills.  If you are one of those people, you are not alone. Additionally, you do have options.

The first week I worked as a recruiter I received a call from a salesman who had just lost his job from a reduction in force.

The man faced a large challenge, because companies across his industry were merging divisions and merging with other companies.  However, he was fortunate to get a sales job in the medical industry.  The training at his former employer gave him the skills to sell.  A medical company considered those skills as transferable skills for selling their equipment.

This person was not the last of the applicants I saw who transitioned to other industries to relaunch their carriers.

The Challenges of Finding Industries

Most people have transferable skills. However, they face challenges finding new industries for these skills.

For example, headhunters, hiring managers, and staffing people often face mountains of resumes.  They are focusing on close fits.  Scrutinizing resumes closely for crossover skills is a challenge for these people.  The first decision that these people make is to eliminate people based on a match in industries.

A second issue is that the network people have in their industry does give them contacts when they try transition to other industries. To find jobs in a new industry, job seekers must develop new networks to reach people who have job openings.

Steps to Finding New Industries

Here are some steps that might help you find jobs in new industries.

  1. Make a list of companies and industries that appeal to you.
  2. Determine if other people at those places have a similar background to your own.
  3. Evaluate the overall experience of these people in terms of other skills and experience that you might have in common.

Tips for Expanding Your Network

The second challenge is expanding your network to the new industry.  You will probably find better success in getting an interview if you know the hiring manager and can get your résumé directly into that person’s hands.  Here are some suggestions.

  1. Ask a member of your current network to give you an introduction to the hiring manager.
  2. If you cannot get an introduction to the hiring manager, attempt to network directly with the hiring manager.
  3. Join professional organizations that can give you introductions.
  4. Attend trade shows where you can make new connections.
  5. Backtrack through your network to find people who have transitioned from your current industry to a new industry.
  6. When you do send out your résumé, make sure that it markets your skills that are useful in the new industry.
  7. Edit your résumé and interview agenda to highlight your qualifications for each specific company you are seeking to join.

Expand Your Skills to Match Skills in New Industries

A third challenge is that your skills are just not as strong as those of people already in the industry you are seeking to join.

  1. Strengthen your marketable skills with more training.
  2. Become an expert on the new industry you are seeking to join. Write your cover letter and résumé to show what you know about that industry.
  3. Head back to school to get a diploma, degree, credential, certification, or advanced degree.

In Conclusion

Remember that you are not alone nor unique.   Many people find that they need to consider transitioning to a new industry.  You are not alone in your trials.  If you concentrate on building your network and your skills, you do not have to work alone in your efforts.

Rebel: The Power of Being Different

Rebel: The world is full of successful people who conform to the norm. However, a rebel can blow past the norm and change the world.

I have never known a rebel who was boring. ~ www.jaywren.com

Companies have guidelines and rules.  But what do you do when the guidelines block you from achieving your goals? Do you have enough of the rebel in you to change your life and, perhaps, even the lives of people around you?

Rebel: Is Conforming to the System Killing Your Career?

Following policies and procedures works great for many people.  They go to work on time and do what the company asks. To the best of their ability, they try to get along with everyone.

But what if you are frustrated with squeezing your way into the norm?  What if you want to break out of the mold in a bold and dynamic way? The way of the rebel may be the answer.

Every Pathway Involves Risks.

There are people who have great careers.  They work at a company for twenty or thirty years.  Some of these people are fortunate enough to move on to another great job.  Others have the good fortune of being able to retire early.

On the other hand, for other people, the life of the conformist moves along fine until they discover that their company no longer needs them.  Even worse, they learn that their skills are obsolete long after it is too late to develop new skills.

In fact, most people find that the security of a large company disappears long before they reach financial independence.

Rebels Find Success Through Their Authenticity.

The most successful rebels are authentic to themselves. They easily sustain and succeed as rebels, because what they are doing feels authentic.

The simple writing style of Ernest Hemingway, the descriptive writing style of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the complex writing style of William Faulkner, and the clever, honest writing style of J.D. Salinger are all different. What these different styles have in common is that they are consistent in the work of these different writers.

Furthermore, their styles are not only different from the style of each other.  Their styles were different from the styles of any other writers.  All four adhered to their idea of authenticity in their writing.

Moreover, don’t force yourself to be different. Simply, let your authenticity shine through your performance.

Rebel: Examples of Success

Cultural icons like Gorgeous George, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Muhammad Ali, Madonna, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and hundreds of others risked controversy to create success their way.

Innovative icons of technology: Nikola Tesla to Steve Jobs to Elon Musk have never let conformity to restrict their ability to fulfill their visions.

Iconic rebels of art: Van Gogh, Picasso, Jason Pollock, Joan Mitchell, and countless other great artists. A commitment to be innovative, sometimes shocking, and consistently authentic empowers great artist to change the way we view art.

In every field of endeavor, there are rebels who step out to create new pathways for others to follow.

Wise Choices: Little Adjustments Can Change the Day

Wise choices: Success comes from making wise choices about how to feel and respond to the things that happen to us.  When I am having a bad day, I can strain to push myself through the day.  Ruminating, sulking, and whining are great ways to stay stuck in a bad day. On the other hand, I can restart my day anytime.

Making Little Adjustments Can Lead to Wise Choices

Start My Day over with a Little Grooming

Splashing a little water on my face is refreshing.  I can dampen my comb and start with a fresh part in my hair, just as I do when I am beginning the day.

If I wore makeup, I could restart my day with a mini-makeover:  lips, eyes, cheeks.

I can refresh the way I am dressed.  I can tuck in my shirt and adjust my tie just as I do when I first get dressed in the morning.

I not only feel refreshed. I empower myself with a stronger presence among the people at my workplace.

Practice Affirmations

Everyone is different.  However, I find that by focusing on the things that I have accomplished rather than the things I regret can increase my energy and my confidence. I affirm that am capable and accomplished.

I have a friend who is fun and interesting. He told me that every morning before he heads out the door, he looks in the mirror and says to himself, “You are fantastic.”

Whenever I am around him, I find that I feel better about my own life through his positive attitude.

Take breaks.

When I am hungry or tired, I may deal with situations poorly. I can relax with quiet meditation to calm my mind and reset my disposition. A 20-minute power nap has been part of my lifestyle for years.

Adjust my Schedule.

Sometimes I schedule too many things. On other days, too many new tasks arise.  I can restart my day with a new schedule.

If I am struggling with a task, I can break the task down into pieces.  I can look at the pieces or elements of the task and define my true goal for this task.  With this process, I better understand what I am doing and cut the number of false starts and revisions.

I can then schedule a completion date for that task.  I may find that I am dealing with a truly valuable task that will return greater rewards once I have stopped forcing my way through the task and have begun to work with a schedule of steps.

Take Walks

By exercising, I burn up that adrenaline that accumulates from the mental stresses of my workday. Rather than sit at my desk to eat my lunch, I can take a short walk or go through a series of stretches at my desk.

Winning Traits: Empower Yourself for Success

Winning Traits: What traits do successful people have that empower them for success?  Are they traits that you can develop?

Horrible things happen to all of us.  Things beyond our control.  But developing winning traits can change the questions we ask when we meet challenges. We stop asking, “Why me?”  Instead, we ask, “What steps can I take today to make things better?” ~ www.jaywren.com

What is Self-Empowerment and How Can We Achieve it?

Self-empowerment is taking control of your behavior to reach your goals and achieve success.  This trait empowers us to do the things that we can do.  Furthermore, it enables us to recognize our weakness and turn them into strengths.

1. Hustle

The people who hustle move ahead of the competition. They are the ones who recover the fumble, catch the rebound, or bring their product to market before competitors do.

2. Integrity

There are many quotes about integrity.  Usually these quotes look something like this:  Integrity is what you do when nobody’s watching.  However, integrity is a quality that builds success whether people are watching or not.

People without integrity lie in public, con people into choices, break their commitments.  They lack loyalty, fairness, decency.  No one trusts people who don’t have integrity.

On the other hand, people with integrity do none of these things. Nor do they have any of those bad qualities.  Additionally, people trust people who have integrity.

3. Self-Honesty

There are two types of honesty.  Cash register honesty is one.  Certainly, cash register is important for building trust and staying out of jail.  However, self-honesty enables people to see their shortcomings.  More importantly, self-honesty enables people to correct their mistakes and strengthen their weaknesses.

To have self-honesty, we must be open-minded and have a willingness to change.

4. Absolute Ability to Set Priorities

Anyone can make a list of things to do.  However, a simple to-do list is not a list of priorities.  Successful people must have the ability to know the difference between the things that they should do today from the things that must do today.

5. The Ability to Act

Do not confuse motion with action.  A swivel chair has motion but it is not going anywhere.   People who move into action create self-empowerment to reach their goals.

6. Relentlessness

People who are relentless don’t give up on themselves or their success.  Through effort and intelligence, they move past obstacles to achieve their goals.  I write two to three blog posts a week.  Sometimes, I don’t feel like writing.  Other times, I can’t think of ideas for writing.  However, I have a relentless attitude to continue to read and grow and find powerful ideas to share on my blog.

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