Circles of Change: Conversations with Dr. Zara Larsen
on Change Leadership and Career Fulfillment
December 21, 2008
“Personal Engagement: In Pursuit of Professional Paradise”
Guest: Vicki Hess
www.professionalparadise.com
Anchoring Points:
- Professional Paradise is a mindset, and it extends to actions and habits. These drive outcomes. Being “here” reduces stress, puts a skip in your step, enables creativity, problem solving and more positive relationships.
- Professional Prison is the opposite, and with 25% of employees reporting they feel trapped at work, the cost to the US economy is $3.2 billion annually.
- People stay “stuck” in the wrong mindset since it is often the path of least resistance, fear of the unknown, a result of extreme or blind loyalty, low expectations, or they just don’t know how to escape.
- Neither Professional Paradise nor Professional Prison is the result of one good day or one bad day. They are built over time by a series of POWs and WOWs.
- Prison is full of POWs – internal or external events that can aggravate, leaving unhappiness, frustration, anger, fear, and resignation.
- People in the working world have a tendency to “awfulize” things, referred to as “fly away thinking”. We make situations worse than they really are by making assumptions that don’t always ring true.
- Paradise results in shifting the POWs to WOWs. We create our own reality:
- Stop and breathe
- Harness knee-jerk reactions
- Identify and manage negative emotions
- Find new options
- Take one positive action
- Sometimes the strongest thing to do is bend a little.
- Consider the Rule of Threes to uncover different options: 1) what has worked in the past? 2) what would someone you admire do? and 3) what would someone objective do?
- Job satisfaction requires personal accountability that starts with our own level of involvement and the investment we make in our jobs or careers. Look for opportunities to create positive connections you your co-workers or your customers, and then everyone reaps the rewards.
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