Trade-offs and Triumphs 28 by @jennykim
Issue 28: "You Can't Handle the Truth"/A series on job hunting, networking, and succeeding/Resources for the Week/Closing Thoughts
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Welcome to issue 28 of Trade-offs and Triumphs - a newsletter of resources and thoughts about how to balance trade-offs in life to find and celebrate the small triumph; every decision point requires thinking through trade-offs and not just immediately aiming for the “solution.”
How was your week? What were your trade-offs and triumphs?
This week we will hit on:
“You Can’t Handle the Truth”
A series on job hunting, networking, and succeeding
Resources for the Week
Closing Thoughts
For a quick oral summary of Issue 28, hit ▶️ below:
“You Can’t Handle the Truth”
Think about the last time you told a white lie. You brushed it off as you would brush lint off your shoulders. A quiet voice told you that it was ok - it was the lubricant to keep this project or relationship moving in the right direction.
But does anything ever move in the right direction when it is built upon a collection of white lies?
As we keep on spreading white lies, do we lose the ability to distinguish between truth and lies?
And can we actually handle the truth, when it is likely not binary, but gray, and likely inconsistent with the white lies we have told ourselves?
✨Just as you have to accept that your emotions control you, how you view the world requires you to accept that the white lies that you have told yourself control you too.
✨And, if you cannot figure out the difference between lies and truth, then any trade-offs that you have made based on your lies will fail to stand the test of time.
🐕🧑🏫A series on job hunting, networking, and succeeding
Fear=opportunity, as my Morning Season writing partner, Dan Greenwald, always says.
The COVID period has been a moment of life and career reflection for many. But where to start?
Another job or a complete pivot?
🐕🧑🏫The Nuts and Bolts of Job Hunting and Networking
Recently, The Wall Street Journal published a series of articles about the entire job process - from giving notice gracefully to how to seek new opportunities to managing your time productively when you get there. The tips in the articles are practical and functional - some especially useful ones are:
How to Give Two Weeks Notice Without Burning Bridges: Keep it simple, stay positive, and be respectful of those you are leaving behind.
Where to Search for Jobs: Finding Your Next Opportunity: Network with peers and people in the industries, search online, and join a professional organization. Make sure that you know what you are looking for and can articulate it clearly to others.
How to Negotiate a Job Offer: The Dos and Don’ts: Don’t exaggerate your qualifications and don’t give ultimatums, understand what can be negotiated beyond salary and prioritize what matters most, and create a positive connection with your counterparty.
🐕🧑🏫The Nuts and Bolts of Career Changes and Pivoting
But examining your life and career may require more than just a job change - it may require a career change.
For example, Aimee Greczmiel (h/t Melissa Stewart) is a former banking executive who pivoted to becoming a corporate mom life coach during the pandemic. She competed successfully in the rat race of finance for over 13 years and thrived under pressure. But upon having her first child in 2016, she re-examined herself, her priorities, and hired a life coach - five of them and learned something new from each one.
Aimee explains that, in the corporate world, expectations are clear and work is measurable. However, as a parent, success is not as easily defined, and most days, you don’t even know if you have been successful. You don’t receive constant affirmation from your children the way you may at work.
And then the pandemic hit - Aimee saw the need for corporate women to manage their mental health and her passion for coaching overlap, and decided it was time to exit corporate America to become a full-time coach.
For those seeking to make a career transition, Aimee recommended the following:
Make sure that you are fiscally prepared to make the leap.
Set an intentional exit date.
Identify your values and strengths.
To read more about how to “reinvent you,” check out Dorie Clark’s “Reinventing You.”
✊⚒️️🧰Resources for the Week
✨StoryWatch: A thoughtfully crafted process to master your mind and the stories that push you forward but also hold you back.
What stories are holding you back from achieving what you truly want to do?
How do you build the self-awareness that permits you to regulate your mind and the re-work the stories driving you so that you can define your target, focus, and actions with clarity?
In fits and starts, I am working through this myself via StoryWatch. Sometimes, I don’t like what I see, and sometimes, I am surprised by what I see.
✨WSJ Jobs Summit on March 4, 2021: Register for this FREE (when does The Wall Street Journal ever offer FREE) online event that provides recent graduates and those seeking new opportunities with practical strategies and insights.
✨ Negotiating with Goalith Workshop: How to Prepare for your Toughest Negotiations - February 19, 2021 at 1pm ET (early bird discount until February 12, 2021)
This is not a lecture - there will be tons of role play - which is the best way to learn.
During this session, you will:
Learn the power and the limits of leverage, authority, and pressure that are used against you
Explore the potential of a valid mission and purpose statement and discovery to avoid being bullied
See the process of briefing and debriefing big negotiations to ensure success.
See how professional negotiations anticipate dilemmas, biases, emotions/aggression. Then having the habit to work through all of them to conduct discovery and get to the solution (or the trade-offs).
✨Twitter thread of presentation by Nick de Wilde to On the Deck Writing Fellowship Cohort 2 about how to build a newsletter audience
Check out the latest issue of The Jungle Gym - a terrific profile of Kevin Lee and his tools, habits and routines that helped launch his new food start-up.
Closing Thoughts: I’ve Learned
Please leave me your questions or thoughts in the Comments section below 👇👇👇
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Email me at jennykimwop@gmail.com.
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Be conscious of your trade-offs. Before settling on any one “solution,” run your fingers through all the trade-offs and decide intentionally and specifically.
And then celebrate your triumphs, no matter how small.