Hang Your Ass Over the Edge

Heather — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 18:35:50 +0000

I get asked often by frustrated, hard-working, high achieving business people what they are doing wrong that they haven’t achieved the success that they feel should be theirs. They desire to move up the corporate ladder but seem to have moved up as far as they can go. Maybe they are stereotyped as a “finance guy” or “salesperson” or the “ops type”. Nothing wrong with any of these but getting to the top requires knowledge & experience in many facets of the organization. Often times, I think it has to do with many people’s tendency to stay in their comfort zone. We all get pigeon holed to a certain extent and when we excel in one area, we are less likely to branch out and take a risk on something that we could fail at. Our co-workers and managers may see us as the “go-to” for one area but may not see our potential in other areas. The key to success (in all areas of life I think) is to constantly grow, take on new challenges and expand not only our abilities, but also how people see us. So what to do? Hang your ass over the edge. Just a bit. Or a lot. For my own and my employee’s personal growth, I always encourage half the ass on and half the ass off. Meaning; stay half way in your comfort zone – an area that you are confident you can be successful, but the other half needs to be hanging out there. Here are some ideas: 1) Special Project: The easiest way to get out there is to volunteer to work on a project that isn’t in your particular area. An example could be a financial analyst or accountant that volunteers to collect market data for a new product offering. As an analyst, you likely have the fundamental skills of collecting and analyzing data, but chances are you haven’t looked at data this way and peers likely don’t envision you beyond your number crunching self. To be successful, you’ll need to be a bit vulnerable and humble and realize that you don’t know everything (it would be like an engineer doing a business case!). Do your research (Google baby!) and ask for advice or mentoring from someone that does have this experience. This method shows a great deal of respect for the individual you seek out, it creates new business (and sometimes personal) relationships that will be fruitful for your future success and you get to see a part of the business through someone else’s eyes. Maybe you are a consumer or retail sales manager that wants to take a shot at the business side of things. Discuss your desire to dip your toe in that end of the pool with your boss or peers that are in the business sales world. Find a project you can team up with someone already successful in this area. An operations guy that thinks he could have a future in management. Volunteer […]

The post Hang Your Ass Over the Edge appeared first on Heather Eldred.

Fake it Till you Make it

Heather — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 17:12:43 +0000

About 7 years ago, I went through one of the most difficult times of my life. You know those life altering events such as selling a business, starting a new job, losing a parent and getting a divorce? I had them happen all in a 6 month period. Looking back, I wonder how I survived. But that’s the thing about survival mode, you put your head down and power through it. What else are you going to do? Roll over and wallow in self-pity? Well maybe for a day. But the next morning, it’s just time to drag your ass out of bed and get on with it. Try like hell to put a smile on and if that doesn’t work, just try to keep the grimace off. That is when I really started to understand “faking it till you make it”. By having faith that it would all be ok (what other option was there?) and keep on trudging through, after a while it wasn’t so hard to smile. Before long, you’re singing along to the radio and even have moments where you are truly ecstatic. You savor it more than you ever did because you had the advantage of seeing the contrast. I was thinking about this with regards to living in the present moment. Around this time in my life, it dawned on me that I wasn’t very self-aware and although I had great kids and a very successful career, I wasn’t living my life from a place of passion. I had no idea what my life path was or even what direction to turn to get on the “path”. I was trolling for a new novel at the store one day and came across “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. It was absolutlely not in my wheelhouse but something made me buy it. That booked changed my life. It was such a simple concept. Bottom line: pay attention to your life stupid. I’d always been a “go a million miles a minute” person, with five thousand thoughts going through my head at any given time. The simple act of breathing and being by myself started my shift toward self-awareness. I remember reading that book thinking, I pay attention. And then when I started paying attention to my not paying attention. You know, driving home and not remembering the drive because you were re-hashing the business meeting, listening to your kids tell you about their day with your, “uh huh” and “oh good, honey’s” without really hearing a word they had to say. I realized I really had no idea even how to start being self-aware. So I just started faking it. When I was talking to an employee, I’d move away from my computer and sit across from them and actually try to listen and stay engaged. When I went through a grocery store line, I’d actually make eye contact and engage the cashier in some minor conversation. I quit reading email on the way to work (you know you […]

The post Fake it Till you Make it appeared first on Heather Eldred.

Heather Eldred » self help

Hang Your Ass Over the Edge

Fake it Till you Make it