ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT YOUR WORK?

Fun-fact about me, that when I was young, I wanted to become an astrophysicist.

I even had a small telescope, which - although way too small to watch the stars – allowed me to have a closer view of the Moon’s surface.

Last night I had the honour to be at the Annual Gala Dinner of the Weizmann Institute of Science, held in Zürich, and was particularly excited to watch to Dr. Sagi Ben-Ami's presentation about his research.

Dr. Sagi Ben-Ami is an experimental astrophysicist, is developing advanced instruments and methods that will help detect “bio-signatures”—substances that provide scientific evidence of past or present life—on planets outside of our solar system. 

Wow-factor big time! 

What I really love when meeting people in science is their passion and dedication for what they do. 

My work today is to help business professionals to get unstuck from an unsuitable job and do what that they passionately love, where they find the meaning and see the impact. Work, where they can live their born creativity, innovation. 

And here’s the trick: you don’t have to be a famous scientist, a researcher, or a doctor to reach this. 

We can find fulfilment in business development, IT, law or being an accountant. The point is that you find what matches your inner drive, your character, the work you were born to do, that gives you the job-satisfaction we all crave. 

Are you living your life doing the work you love, where you feel fulfilled, and set the right example to your kids? 

Or you give them the message that work is something to endure till retirement, waiting for weekends and holidays to relax, recharge and finally do what you want? 

What is the career-life you wish for yourself? What do you do to get there? 

Ps: …and visiting the “Very Large Telescope” in Chile is very much on top of my bucket-list! 

What's on yours?

I Wish You Make Yourself A Happy New Year

Ready to get started? Full of energy? If not, you are not alone.

We didn’t even come out of two years of hardship with the pandemic, when another challenging year started in 2022.

War in Ukraine, energy prices, crazy inflation of food prices all across Europe, cost cuttings, lay-offs at companies. Everyone was cautious, not knowing what comes next.

 Yes, 2022 was a probing, challenging year, with lots of insecurities, unexpected events. The future seems more unpredictable, than ever.

 This is tough on us. Mentally, emotionally.

Then as year-end approaches, many of us are in the rush to get things done at work before the end of the year and the added pressure of family commitments results in what we are experiencing by the time we should rest. It’s a year-end fatigue.

Experts say that it's not unusual to struggle physically and mentally by the end of the year — tiredness, irritability, inability to summon joy or satisfaction and overwhelming emotions are quite common.

Then all the work and stress preparing for the year-end holidays and festivities – Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve –added even more to the stress and pressure we may experience at the end of the year.

It’s ok to feel tired. It’s ok to feel lack of energy.

Did you know that January 6 is a special day known as “Nollaig na mBan” (Women’s Christmas) in Ireland? It’s when women are celebrated, who worked so tirelessly during the holiday period. They can finally take a rest. So it’s not a new phenomenon, it’s just in a different form and context.

And then, there we are, at the beginning of the new year.

And new year’s resolutions!

Have you got your list ready?

“This year I finally, definitely finally will…. “

 – and here comes a long list of things, that we planned but haven’t done last year. Or the last 10 years.

I used to be caught up in this too. Every year I wrote a long list of things. Just thinking of it makes me dizzy :)

But I didn’t start doing them. Pushed it out to next day or next week. There was always a “tomorrow”.

Instead of inspiration and motivation to take action, I was tired, exhausted, demotivated. The frustration of not having started the things added extra stress to my fatigue and overwhelm.

So most of the big resolutions ended in the never-land of procrastination.

Did you know that 95% of new year’s resolutions die off just within a few weeks. Typically gyms capitalize a lot on this. Most of them offer you attractive conditions at beginning of the year. You buy your membership, and then after a few months, when the pain of the investment fades off, it just becomes sunk cost.

Year-end is just like the end of any other day. We get one day older. We turn one page in the calendar.

We don’t change from one day to another, we take ourselves into the new year, together with our bad habits, and frustrations.

If we were procrastinating on something for 365 days, magic will not happen on the first days in the new year, either. It’s just a line humans draw to mark the beginning and the end of a concept to track time.

But we are all the same, as what we brought in in December.

We are still the same person.

This reminds me of the movie “Six days seven nights”. The scene rather at the beginning of the movie, on the island, between Robin (Anne Hachet) and Quinn (Harrison Ford), quite drunk at the bar:

Quinn: They come here looking for the magic, hoping to find romance, when they can’t find it anywhere else.

Robin: Maybe they will.

Quinn: It’s an island, babe. If you didn’t bring it here, you won’t find it here.

On January 1st we are still the same person as we were on Dacember 31st. If we didn’t bring the energy, motivation, mindset with us into the new year, we won’t find it there.

 We brought ourselves, together with our habits and mindset, into the new year.

Change takes time, doesn’t just happen magically from December 31st to January 1st.

If we struggled to do something in the old year, it’ll not happen in an instant in the new year, either.

It takes determination, courage, planning, mindset, and energy.

If we are tired, frustrated, exhausted from last year, we won’t find the energy and the motivation a few days later, either.

I still recall how I hated the first two weeks of the new year at work in my jobs. We barely met the impossible goals by year-end, stretched ourselves to finish what had to be done and there we were, a few days later, bombarded with messages to start diving into the year immediately, even bigger impossible goals, achieve more with less resources. Aaaargh…

 If you don’t feel you are bursting with energy to dive into the new, let the old settle first, digest it, before taking a big or small bite from the new.

It’s ok if you don’t feel like it (yet). It’s ok to start slow. Look at nature, it’s still resting, too.

Take it slower, take it easy, in your own rhythm.

As the great Zen-teacher Master Lin-Chi said: go easy on yourself. Don’t force any new resolution. Your journey, your road should not be about forcing anything. Take things easy, like breathing.

It’s your road, your journey, your life.

Sometimes the road is easy, feels like we are pulled by a magic power, everything comes easy.

And sometimes it is bumpy, paved with hardship, challenges, many twists and turns.

Some roads lead somewhere, some are dead-end. But turning around we might find the right way out, the right direction.

 Yet, we can’t do it by forcing it, we do it by feeling, reflecting, planning. Understanding what we want, where we want to get to.

It’s about knowing yourself and taking the best possible decisions. Learning on the road.

We walk our path, and we create our own stories. Watch your journey, not others.

Focus on your own road, your story. We continue our life journey in 2023, our story goes on.

Let this year be the year of your path, your story. Full of new adventures, learnings, successes, experiences, growth and miracles.

I wish you a Happy New Year!

I wish you make yourself a very Happy New Year!

I am curious, what story are you planning to write in 2023?

I’ll write you my proven tips for reflection and planning that in my next post. I thought it’s too early yet :)

In the meantime, if you feel you need a slow start, it’s ok. Take your time, go easy on you.

Stay awesome,

Eva

5 Tips To Make The Best Out Of Your Year-End Performance Review Discussion

5 Tips How To Make The Best Out Of Your Year-End Performance Review

In the past couple of weeks several of my clients came to me to help to prepare or to help to reflect on their year-end discussions with their managers.

How to prepare? How to ask for promotion? How to recircle on a weak rating?

So, I collected a few thoughts on this topic, to help you get the best out of these discussions.

I guess I don’t need to explain what the year-end performance review is, but sometimes it’s good to take a step back and reflect, what’s the purpose of that?

The purpose is to review your goals, your achievements, and opportunities.

This is a great time to go over constructive feedback. Both from employer’s and employee’s perspective. It’s mainly focused on professional development and contribution to the company’s overall goals.

TIP 1 - Be prepared

Before you walk into your year-end performance review, take some time to reflect on all the work that you’ve done in the past year. It’s really rewarding to think back on the contributions you’ve made to the organization.

Compare with the goals that you initially set to what you’ve now accomplished.

In your preparation, these are the main areas to focus on:

1) Your goals and accomplishments – keep an eye of your goals and have your main accomplishments ready. I always advise my clients to keep a file of their accomplishments, collect emails referring to a job well done or a happy customer’s testimonial during the year. These provide tangible evidence and serve as a good reminder for your preparation or in case of a disagreement.

2) Your areas of responsibilities – besides the big wins, it’s helpful to review the day-to-day activities and responsibilities. This is an opportunity to discuss, how much responsibility you have, and if that’s too much or not enough.

Do you have too much on your plate or you have capacity to take up additional tasks, projects or teams. What is it, that you want?

3) Your key strengths - Now that you’ve delved into the areas that you can further develop and perform on, it’s time to talk about strengths. This is the perfect opportunity to understand what your manager recognizes and values in your work. It’s definitely going to motivate you to keep up the good work and apply these skills to even more aspects of your job.

4) Areas to develop – Even if you are not doing something wrong or poorly, there’s always room to learn and to grow. Be proactive in asking which areas you can develop more. Ask about specific skills (e.g. analysis, presentation, comms) you should work on. This invitation to feedback can help your manager to yield useful insights. Ask for specific examples, where a negative comment surfaced, so that you are clear what exactly you need to work on.

5) The company’s overall goals - This is the time to talk about if there are going to be any organizational or structural changes that you should be aware of or that may impact you and the way you do your job.

TIP 2 - Listen actively

Listen actively during this conversation, and better yet, write down your notes, thoughts, and suggestions. Documenting this is going to enable you to refer back to specific feedback that is actionable.

When you’re aware of your manager’s feedback, it enables you to actively work on suggestions and keep this information in mind as you carry out your daily responsibilities. Being an active listener means that you can provide solutions much more effectively and in a more timely manner.

TIP 3 – Be specific

Make sure that you are specific with your manager as you discuss your achievements, outline specific goals, inquiries, recommendations, suggestions or ideas. The more clear-cut, the better. This is no time to beat around the bush.

Don’t be afraid to be straight-up and to ask for the same transparency in return, because it’s going to give you much more valuable instructions to achieve your goals and aspirations.

Make sure that you’re discussing specific examples of what you’re doing well so that you can keep up the good work and thoroughly understand what types of skills, behaviours and qualities are valued by your manager and the rest of the team.

TIP 4 – Going to next level?

When you realize you’re completely comfortable in your job, it’s time to ask about how you can move towards the next stage of your career – that is, if you feel deserving of it and have worked hard to get to where you are now.

See if your goals align with the position you’ve got insight so that you can make sure that you’re taking tangible steps to move closer to the end goal.

It’s also smart to ask your manager about any kinds of openings or opportunities in other areas of the company that you may be interested in. Asking these kinds of questions really highlights your initiative and desire to do well– something that’s attractive to all employers.

TIP 5 – When you disagree - take time to reflect

If you are not happy with the review or the performance rating you got, don’t react from first impulse. Don’t go into big arguments or push back emotionally on the spot. Even if you are right.

First, always ask for examples, so that you have a clear understanding of the issue.

Then, ask for some time to think about it and to reflect. Do it in a calm way. Take your time let the steam out, to calm down. Take a walk, talk to a friend, get some fresh air.

In a peaceful environment collect your arguments, thoughts, supporting documentation.

Ask for a review-meeting where you can address your points and can request a re-assessment of the rating/grading you got.

Prepare all your arguments, and if needed, involve a trusted partner to review your plan and main points.

A very weak rating can be a sign, that you are on the wrong job, or - in worse case - that the company is preparing you for a no-bonus or an exit.

Bonus TIP – Follow up

Ongoing communication is really important when it comes to your annual review. Make sure that after you’ve outlined your professional goals, you set up a follow-up conversation about these achievements you’re working towards.

Take the initiative and suggest to your manager whether you think that you should follow up next month or next quarter, or during your regular (weekly) one-on-one meetings.

You need to be aligned on the expectations so that you have time to work on your goals before revisiting the topic.

Try to foster ongoing communications with your managers and not feel as if you have to wait for a formal conversation to discuss progress or anything else that comes up along our journey to attaining goals.

Success!

UNSTOPPABLE CONFIDENCE

Imagine, you wake up one morning with an extra boost of confidence.  Knowing and feeling, that whatever you do today in your work, you’ll succeed. 

What would you do? 

• Would you talk to your boss about the promotion or salary increase they’ve been promising you for years?

• Would you start looking for a new job, that you love and where you feel appreciated and happy?

• Would you dive into a complete career change?

• Or maybe you’d even start your own business?

• Would you write a book or compose music?

Tell me, what would you do that day in your work, in your career, if you had no fear of failure? 

Please take a moment to think about it for a few minutes. What would you do, if you had unstoppable confidence and know for sure, that you won’t fail? 

If you want, you can write me back about it, in an email. I am honestly curious to know. 

Everybody nurtures some career dreams and wishes. What they’d love to do, if… 

Yet they don’t do anything about it. 

Why?                                                                          

• They don’t know where to start

• Or they don’t see how they could change the situation

• They don’t believe that they can do it

• They don’t believe they are allowed to change

• They are afraid, that they’ll fail, if they tried

• They lack the confidence to take the leap

So, what happens? 

Nothing. 

Dreams remain dreams.

People remain get stuck. 

Stuck in the comfort zone. Sometimes for months, or even for years. 

A place that is too well-known, even if it is too tight, too small or unhappy. 

Time goes by and they laugh a little less, feel increasingly demotivated, have less and less energy. Waiting for the evenings to arrive, for the weekends, for the holidays. Escape into another life, binge-watching Netflix, playing video-games, parties, drugs.. When they don’t feel that pain. And wait for some miracle to happen. 

You know what are the dangers of this? 

Instead of a miracle, there’s burn-out, depression, bore-out, redundancy… just to name a few. 

But it doesn’t have to be like this. 

There’s a way, and you have a choice. 

The choice to change. To work on your confidence, to stand up for what you want, to start believing in yourself. 

Face the fears of failure, build your confidence, strengthen your courage. Step by step. 

How do you start? 

Look deep in your heart. Go and find the place, where your innermost courage lives.

Probably buried together with your childhood dreams.

As small children we have unstoppable confidence. We have our dreams. A clear mission, what we want to become, when we grow up. 

Then life happens, expectations of parents, teachers, society – and we end up living a life that is too far away from what we originally wanted.

Get your powers back.

Let today be the first day of the rest of your LIFE. 

Listen to your heart’s desire. To your hidden dreams. 

What would you do today if you knew you can’t fail?

When I ask my clients, what are the biggest benefits of my programs for them, this is what they tell me.

Wonderful achievements, successes at job-interviews, getting their dream jobs, negotiating a decent salary increase, better managing conflicts, more comfortable and confident in leading their teams. 

Increased confidence.  

One of the center points of my work is helping people to see themselves as the valuable, unique, amazing people they are. 

I strongly believe that everybody is talented in something, and the world needs that talent of everyone. 

Are you clear about your strengths and talents? Are you using them widely and freely, with courage and confidence, for your career success? 

Or you feel it would be great to have a better understanding of your hidden talents, on your innermost motivation and how you could make use of these in progressing in your career. 

Want to grow your confidence and break down limiting beliefs for a new job, a happier career?

Join my 5-day “Boost Your JobSearch” virtual Workshop and discover your confidence for a more successful career. It’s action-packed, step-by-step, guided program. Starting October 4th. And it’s for free!

Click this link for more info and to sign-up.

See you there? 

cheers,
Eva

LADIES' SUNDECK

Last week, while visiting my Mum in Hungary, I had to spend a few days in a hospital in emergency. I was in horrible pain and after a short visit at the emergency station I was immediately hospitalized. Instead of a nice dinner, I found myself in a hospital bed with 4 bags of IV dangling above me.  

The thing is, I am rarely very sick, normally I don’t take any medicaments on a regular basis and I’ve never been to hospital (except for 1 night in India, but that’s a different story). No surgeries ever, either. So, it was a whole new experience for me.

We are talking about a public hospital in a small town in Hungary, a 5-bed ward, no TV, no radio, and some nurses, who might’ve been trained by the military. 

What I found most disturbing was how slow time passed by. You know, I can perfectly lazy-around an afternoon or binge-watch Netflix for hours. And yes, I had my iPhone and Kindle with me. And normally I'm never bored. 

But this was a totally different level. It felt like a time-warp. 

These few days provided me with some new insights and reminded me of a few others: 

Laughter heals​

We were all ill – some more than some other. One recovering from a severe tumor surgery. Yet, we laughed a lot. We called our room the “Ladies’ Sundeck” and we greeted every visitor with that. The IVs were re-named to our favourite cocktails or drinks, with the evening service as Happy Hour. Once we laughed so hard, that a nurse came in to check on us. 

You can learn from everyone

My roommates varied from cleaning girl to slaughter-house worker, hairdresser, and shop-assistant. We had deep conversations, shared life experiences. You think you have a tough life? Boy, I heard those life stories. And did you know the process, how half-cut pigs are inspected, one by one, before being processed for consumption? 

You get help

That’s a big one for me. I don’t like to ask for help. But there we were, each of us needed help one way or other. Fetching water, help with walking, calling for the nurse, just to name a few. It was heart-warming to see, how we supported and helped each-other with all kinds of different things, how much help I also got from these total strangers. 

There are good things in bad things

I just started to work on launching my signature program in September again. I felt overstressed and impatient, it caused me a week’s delay in my work. I was forced to rest, instead. There was nothing else to do than to read, to talk, or to sleep. Boy, I slept a lot. Despite all noises, talks, machines peeping, nurses busying – I slept more than on holiday. Lots of rest, that I badly needed. 

The value of a healthy body

Illnesses force us to turn our focus back to ourselves. We tend to neglect our own needs. This episode reminded me again, we can only give when our own basket is full. We do need to take the time and effort to nurture ourselves – both body and mind. These few days helped me to be more grounded, more centered again. In a way, I am thankful for this experience. 

What are your experiences with involuntary breaks?  


My recent reading

As I was not up to reading about business or anything serious, I needed entertainment, beauty, spirit. So here are two interesting books I read  and can highly recommend:  

1.     An award-winning, wonderfully written fiction, almost poetry by a Greek author: The Colour of The Moon

2.     A collection of intriguing short stories about women, but still very different: “Roar” 

And finally, a coaching moment  -  let me challenge you with a few deep questions: 

·       What do you do for your physical and mental health? How do you take care of yourself? 

·       What is the one thing you could do more of or start today, in that direction? 

·       And my recent favourite that my clients love: If you knew for sure you have 3 more lives, what profession would you choose, other than your current one, based on your life experiences so far? Pick one, and describe what your typical day would be. Be exact, go into details. 

Have fun :) 

Want to share your answeres with me?  Write me, I am curious! 

Take care, stay awesome
Eva

ps: If you are on job-search, looking for a change or returning after a career-break, my 5-day workshop "Boost Your JobSearch" with new, updated content, will be run again, soon. Stay tuned!

Post-Vacation Gloom And Doom

Vacations reduce stress, boost your health, your general sense of well-being as well as your creativity, as also shown in several studies. 

The thing is,  however, that the happiness we feel on vacation usually doesn’t last long after returning back to work. A few days in the office can clear away all the positive effects in an instant, and we find ourselves busy in the hamster-wheel, that we tried to escape from.  

So, what can we do, to extend the positive vibe and to avoid post-holiday depression? 

I want to share with you my list of things and activities, that I have collected and tried over the years, to help me continue with the holiday bliss. 

1) Stay in vacation mood…

Connect with friends and family - if returning from vacation you yearn for continued social connections, reconnect with people that matter to you. Go visit, share a meal, start a conversation. Or keep up the intensified connection with those you were visiting or travelling with. 

Document and share your memories - If in the deep of your heart and mind you’re not ready to come back from vacation, you can prolong the experience by printing, organizing, uploading, and sharing your vacation photos.  You may jot a few additional notes in your journal. If you feel artistic, you can revisit your vacation emotionally by painting, sculpting, or drawing memorable scenes.

Write reviews to help other travelers - While your experiences are fresh in your mind, it’s a good idea to write reviews in online travel services, leaving tips and cautions that might improve someone else’s vacation. Not only will writing solidify your memories, your advice could boost a local business or prevent someone from making the same mistakes you did. 

Get outdoors - While during vacation we tend to spend most of our times outdoors, studies have shown that on returning home, people usually spend over 90% of their lives inside buildings.  I encourage you to go out, spend time in nature to improve your mood and to drop your stress level. Just a short, but regular stroll in nature can have the calming and restorative effect, similar to a short vacation. If you can’t go out regularly, think about bringing the outdoors in. A few pots of fresh herbs on your balcony, more indoor plants, or fresh flowers can make your home more inviting.  

Incorporate a new practice - Did you encounter some new custom or habit that you liked? You may also decide to study a new languageor want to try a new way of cooking, eating, shopping, or dressing. Whatever practices appealed to you during your travels, consider how you can incorporate them into your life.

Disrupt your routines - One of the benefits of traveling is discovering something unexpected, while hometown may feel familiar and boring.  Become a visitor to the place you live, explore it as if you were a vacationer. Or tour a museum you’ve never visited, try a new restaurant, read travel guides for your hometown, and see it through new eyes.

 2) …and manage your sanity at work

Do not start the first day by checking emails - Starting your first day back at work by checking you emails will do nothing other than make you shocked and frustrated. Yes, there are likely hundreds or even thousands of unread messages, but none of them so important that they can’t wait another hour. Remember, everyone else is probably feeling exactly the way you are, so it’s okay to take a little bit longer to ease back into things again – especially this year.

Take time to get things organized - Take the first few hours back at work to get yourself re-situated and organized. Check in with your team or some co-workers. The simple act of communicating with a colleague has a twofold bonus. One, it helps to put you back into a working mindset, and two, connection is a mood booster. 

Plan your day - Create a list of items that must get done on your first days back. When you’re struggling to focus and don’t know where to even start, this is a great way to stay on track and accomplish the bare minimum. And try prioritizing your tasks.

Find your purpose - We need to feel motivated and that we have a purpose at our jobs.  What’s the why of your organization? How does your job contribute to the bigger picture? How does it resonate with your life purpose? Try to formulate your why and your purpose. Will help you not just in post-holiday phase, but all along your career. 

Follow through on a change you considered while away - Vacations can be thought-provoking and sometimes even life-changing. When we’re out of our usual places and routines, we gain new perspectives.  If you found yourself thinking about your purpose, career goals or quality of life, now might be a good time to take some small steps in the direction of the life you want to build. Reach out, get help and don’t let the momentum fade away. 

What do you do, to maintain the good mood of the summer vacations?

8 REASONS WHY THE SUMMER IS ACTUALLY A GOOD TIME FOR JOB-SEARCH

Temperatures rising, pandemic subsiding, and can’t wait to dive into the summer; full of relaxation and social activities?

By now you’ve probably planned your vacation, the number of zoom-calls is slowing reducing, there are less meetings, office is a little less busy, there are more people away from work. This may make you think that the job-market goes on holiday, too.

- How about your career plans? - I ask.
- Nah, it’s not the right time now - you would say, and put your career growth or job-change plans quickly into the freezer for the hot months. Door closing tight.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

Based on my recent discussions with several recruiters and HR professionals across Europe, summer is actually the golden time to work on your career plans or job-change.

Let me show you why.

ONE

It’s on your mind, anyway. What are you waiting for?

If you are reading this, I am pretty sure you’ve been thinking about a new job for a while.

I see a pattern with many of my clients. Even if they are not happy at work, as long as their current job is tolerable, feels kind-of-safe, there’s no immediate rush -  only very few take the active steps towards a new opportunity. Now it’s the summer, then it’s too busy, and then comes Christmas…

Usually there are the 3 most common reasons why people don’t take action:

• They don’t know what they want

• They don’t know where to start

• They are not confident enough about their value on the job-market

But here’s the thing: waiting is not an action. Don’t wait until life makes a decision for you.

Think strategically, start with your goal and work out your strategy.

TWO

You are already looking and searching, but not finding?
Tired of all the rejections and feel the need to get a rest?
You wish you could take your job-hunt off your mind for a while, forget about all the worries and then pick it up again after the summer?

Recharging and relaxing is important, especially during the job-hunt-marathon. But don’t lose the momentum.

Job-search is not about quickly dusting off your cv and sending it out left right and center, or waiting to be found.

Without the right strategies even the most expensively and beautifully crafted CV will not land you the job. 

Taking a week or two off on holiday to re-charge is ok and necessary. Taking all summer off, is the wrong thing to do. 

Use the summer to think about what you want, why you want it and how you could get it. Learn, read, strategize. 

THREE

Because it takes time and the longer you wait, the later you’ll have the results

On average it takes around 12 months to land a new job. Yes, that long. Or even longer. I’ve had clients coming to me after 22 months of unsuccessful job-search.

That’s why, one needs to plan it and to prepare it. Mostly mentally. The sooner you start with your prep work, and the deeper you go, the better you plan, the faster you’ll see the results. 

When working with my clients, we can accelerate this, the best results I’ve seen were 8-10 weeks, from the date we started working together. During the pandemic. But they were all fully dedicated, focused and committed, towards their goals.

What you put in is what you get out. 

If you start planning now, apply the right strategies, you have good chances to land your new job before the end of the year. IF you start now… 

FOUR

There’s a lot less seasonality on the market now, the pandemic has flattened out the curves. 

Historically, there was a peak in February – June, a low in July – August, then another peak September – December, before almost everything stopped for Christmas, financial year-end-close, skiing holidays in January and then getting all the new headcount approved before opening the positions. 

This is not the case anymore. 

Just having interviewed several Recruiters and HR Professionals on the latest trends on the European job-market, they all confirmed, that in most of the industries this classic peak-low fluctuation has flattened out since the pandemic, especially by this year. 

Companies got used to the “new normal”, there’s less travel, less time-off, focus is on new strategies and having the right people.

On top of this, companies are already planning and hiring for growth.

Most analysts forecast that with the wide-spread vaccination the pandemic will slowly go away. Managers are focusing on the coming years, devising growth strategies and planning the necessary resources to fill.

There are a lot of openings and more to come, grab them before they go away.

FIVE

Hiring managers tend to be less busy in the summer.

In most industries the summer months a little more quiet, which means that hiring managers have more time to strategize for the second half of the year, devise growth plans and focus on the positions to be filled.

Yes, they'll also go on vacation, but during their office hours?

They are less taken up by busy year-end close or the day-to-day hectic and can spend more time meeting potential candidates and select the right one for the open positions.

SIX

Because there’s less competition now, while there are a growing number of job openings.

Everybody automatically assumes this is a dead season for job-hunt. They may not know about the changes of the market and they believe this is not the time (yet) for job-search. 

Start you process now if you haven’t done so yet and get your first-mover’s advantage. it’s a lot easier to stand out from a small pile of resumes, than from a huge stack.

So, go ahead and keep refining your resume and defining your career goals. While others are working on their next vacations, you are working on your next career move.

SEVEN

Wether it’s an informational interview or an informal coffee-chat, your network is your biggest asset in finding your next great job. The strengths of your network is absolutely key.

In the past year and a half most of us were confined to indoors. The great news is, people can’t wait to have and excuse to get out, grab a coffee or a drink and meet people.

So your request to meet a new acquaintance or to catch up with a former colleague will a lot less be a burden or a hassle, and much more like a welcomed opportunity. It’ll be a lot easier now to go out and forge closer bonds and build deeper relationships for your career success.

EIGHT

Summer is a time for relaxation and recharge. There’s medical proof, that sunshine helps to boost a chemical in your brain called serotonin, and that can give you more energy and help keep you calm, positive, and focused.  

When you are energized, calm and focused, you are also more creative. 

You have more time now, either holiday somewhere away from home or during a staycation, to think and reflect. 

How was your career so far? What have you achieved that you wanted? Are your old goals still something your heart desires? 

What new things would you like to do or learn? 

So, do you think summer is a dead season to to find a new job? Think again now. Even the experts say it’s as good of time as any to continue your search and reach your goals.

Hiring managers are looking for top talent now more than ever, if they have any opening, they don’t want to wait to fill it. 

So rather than taking a long summer break, continue to dedicate yourself towards your goals, and your career can heat up together with the weather.

If you feel overwhelmed, not sure where to start or don’t want to do it alone, join the Boost Your JobSearch Online Summer School running June 21 - June 25, for FREE, and let’s do it together.

It’s fun, it’s powerful, it’s free now.

Can’t wait to see you there!

WHAT'S LEFT AND IS IT ENOUGH?

WHAT’S LEFT AND IS IT ENOUGH FOR YOU? 

Almost a year and half into the pandemic and confined mostly to home office.

Let’s take a little inventory, of what we have here.   

If you are a corporate professional, your life before was probably like this:  commute to office, in-person-meetings, coffee-break-chat, printer-room-gossip, popping-by-colleagues, after-work-drinks, corporate-travel, client-dinners, off-sites, weekend-team-building, Christmas-party, just to name a few…   

Even if the job itself was not ideal, it was a round package filled with social interactions, cool colleagues and all the activities and perks around it. Which made it fun or at least bearable. 

Since home office, it’s zoom, work, zoom, work, zoom, work…  

Now that all the perks, the social interactions are gone, and all what you do is really stripped down to the bare, naked, pure work content. 

I challenge you: Now that all’s left is the pure job content. Do you still love what you do? 

The economy is changing and what the pandemic has brought us is an unfathomable, accelerated digital development. 

Where is your place in the world of business in the new normal? Do you want to let life figure it out for you, or do you want to figure it out for yourself? 

“The best way to predict your future is to create it” – said Abraham Lincoln. 

Now, that’s your job. Go, figure out what is that you want and create your happy future.  

ps: If you don’t know where to start, feel overwhelmed or don’t want to do it alone, reach out to me, I’m just a message away and we’ll discuss how I can best help you.

SHOW, DON'T TELL

SHOW, DON’T TELL

A couple of years ago I got the sudden urge to become an author and wanted to write a book. Romantic-travel fiction. Just for fun.

Who doesn’t have this image of a relaxed writer, sitting at a cool location overlooking some gorgeous landscape and speed-typing an amazing story.  (spoiler alert: no, it’s not like that!)

Since I have no training in writing, I engaged with a writing coach, so she would help me and guide me on this new path. 

One of the most important things I had to learn at the very beginning was the golden rule of writing well: “show, don’t tell”. 

Meaning? We don’t write “Sarah was happy”.  You describe happy.  

Now  -  surprise, surprise - the same goes for when applying for a job. 

Don’t list you are a team-player, a hard worker, a problem-solving genius.

I read these lists and think “Says who?”  Adjectives are subjective. Adjectives mirror what you think of yourself.

Want to make a real impression?

Describe, how you solved that problem; give an example of your consultative sales technique, explain how you work. 

This is what captures recruiter’s and hiring manager’s attention. Describing how you work, how you solve a problem or get out of of a tough situation will tell them a lot more about you, than a list of adjectives and will make it credible and make you authentic.

This is the reason behind the behavioural type questions during interviews. But first, you need to get to that interview. This is what a good CV can do - opens the door for you. But that’s another topic for another occasion.

Think about your successes, even of your failures - how can you tell those stories, so that you show them who you are, how you work and what value you bring.

Ps: my book - is still work in progress….  

Get Your Basics Right

Get Your Basics Right

This is a story I’ve been planning to write for a while, but hell, who doesn’t procrastinate? 

It all started with the brilliant idea, that this year I’ll make really nice, naturally coloured eggs for Easter. Red and yellow.  

Two pots ready, filled with water, eggs in. In one I added dried onion peel for red colour, in the other I poured in turmeric for yellow.  

Soon after they started to simmer, I saw the onion peels doing the magic. Eggs gaining a reddish tint.

But no change in the other pot. Where was the amazing, bright yellow colour I was dreaming of?

Maybe not enough turmeric? I poured in some more.. And then a little more. And more. Still no yellow eggs.

Having no idea what’s wrong, I checked with my friend “Google” again.

I mean it’s a simple process, what could go wrong?

Did I forget some crucial ingredient, like vinegar or something? But no, I did everything as described.

Then I turned to YouTube. Watched a video. Simple.

At around the 5th video I watched, finally saw it!

In the video, the eggs were white.

Mine were brown.

HEUREKA!

Brown eggs will never turn bright yellow, doesn’t matter how much turmeric I add. 

I wasted a large pack of invaluable turmeric for nothing!

I was so angry. How come, that none of the instructions said one should get white eggs?

That’s when the basics are different. I learned from my mum and grandmother, to always buy brown eggs. I don’t even know why. But I do it, too.

I don’t even consider the white ones. Automatic, basic process.

Yet not for colouring eggs!

Get your basics right. 

A tiny detail, that I just did out of habit, ruined my entire process. 

If we don't get the basics right, it doesn't matter, how much effort we put in. We just waste valuable resource, time, and still don’t get the result we want. 

I see this often with my clients, too.

They pour a lot of effort into their job-search, while the basics are not right.

They get tired, frustrated, unhappy. They feel unsuccessful with their confidence shattered. While they do everything right, except the basics are not. 

Get your basics right. 

If you don’t know how to start, or don’t want to do it alone, let me help you. Book a free call with me and we discuss, how I can best support you.

If you like my blogposts, subscribe to my email list and you’ll be among the first ones to get notified about new content, as well as offers that are not published anywhere else.

MY TOP 5 DO'S AND DON'TS FOR NEXT YEAR...

We are closing a long and very challenging year. 

I bet you too have a million things to review, to reconsider. We all need to recharge and re-bounce. 

But what is next year going to bring? 

Nobody really knows. 

Even once the pandemic finally slows down and stops, and life returns to normal, it will be different.  

What’s the new normal? How to succeed in it? 

So many questions.  No answers.

But there are a few things, that always help us, in all circumstances.

I want to give you 5 do’s and 5 don’ts, that will always help to thrive, to succeed, no matter what. 

My 5 tips to do (more of): 

1. Focus on the important things – remember that story with the professor, who filled the jar first with sand, and then there was no place for the stones? And then he started with the bigger stones, then the pebbles and then the sand – and they all fit perfectly in the jar? Focus on the important things first, and there’ll still be enough room for the “sand”. 

2. Take time to recharge and relax – we can’t control what happens to us, but we can control how we react to it. Find what gives you joy, what recharges you and do more of that. That’s the cradle of creativity, inspiration and your continued performance towards your goals.

3. Be grateful - in hard times we tend to forget about all the great people, things that surround us, as well as our own core strength. Count your blessings, see how your life is filled with wonderful things. 

4. Believe in yourself – how can you convince anyone to believe in your, if you don’t believe in yourself? Look at all what you have, what you’ve achieved. You have endless power. Go, create! 

5. Invest in yourself – invest time, energy and money for your lifelong learning. Becoming a better person, a better expert in what you do is the path to success. Investing in yourself are best investments ever.

In order to make space for more of the “Do’s”, drop a few unhelpful habits. Here are the top 5 things to drop:

1. Relationships and people who don’t care about you - the least you spend your energy on them, the more energy you’ll have left for yourself and for the ones who are truly important. 

2. Your age - it is what it is and you can’t change it. Be grateful and happy that you lived that long. (especially with the pandemic). You are never too old to start anything new if you truly want to do it. All you might need is to adjust your toolbox. 

3. The past – what is gone is gone. If something bothers you, try to make amends, take the consequences, consider your learning. And the drop it. It’s gone. Focus on the now and on your goals.

4. Comparing yourself to others - it’s your path, your life, your learning curve. Your uniqueness. It doesn’t matter, where others are in their careers, their lives, their wealth or prosperity right now. What matters is where you coming from and what you’ve achieved. Be proud of your achievements, the path you’ve walked, the learnings you had. What’s your goal? What’s the next step?

5. What others think of you. It.Doesn’t.Matter. Really. Studies show, 98% of the people have absolutely no idea about who you really are. They are too busy worrying about what others think about them. Just drop it. You’ll never make everybody happy. Make yourself happy. 

All that’s left for me now is to thank you for your continued support and for following my work. 

I want to wish you, from the bottom of my heart, a very happy New Year in health, joy, love and prosperity! 

See you in 2021! 

Hugz

Eva

Gratefulness in challenging times

There are times when our whole world seems to be falling apart around us and we are not sure how to hold on any longer.

Sometimes it’s our physical environment, sometimes our relationships, and other times we can’t really define but we just feel lost, or in a vacuum. Nothing to lean on. Exposed and vulnerable.

When life is going well, gratitude allows us to celebrate and magnify the goodness. But what about when life goes badly? In the midst of this global pandemic and all its challenges, how can you feel grateful under such circumstances?

Research shows, that not only will a grateful attitude help, it is essential. It is exactly under hard conditions when we gain the most by a grateful perspective on life.

It doesn’t mean that the feeling of gratitude will come easily or naturally in such situations. It’s easy to feel grateful for good things. But who feels grateful when they lose their jobs or a beloved person’s life is taken by the pandemic?

There is, however, a difference between feeling grateful and being grateful. We can’t control our emotions – but we can control out thoughts.

Being grateful is a choice, an attitude. It is relatively immune to the gains and losses that flow in and out of our lives. During difficult times gratitude can provide us with a different perspective, from which we observe life in its entirety and don’t get stuck by temporary circumstances.

Challenging times can awaken us not to take things for granted. Thanksgiving was born out of hard times. When times are good, we tend to take prosperity for granted and believe that we are unstoppable. In difficult times, we realize, that everything we have, we have counted on, might be taken away. Except for one thing: our power.

It doesn’t mean though, to simply count your blessings and remember how much you still have to be grateful for. This is not helping, actually.

Looking at life through a “grateful lens” means realizing your own power you have, to transform an obstacle into an opportunity. It means seeing life as it is, with its hardships and challenges and negativity. Power is to reframing a loss into a potential gain. Having gratitude for your own power.

These are the times to explore our sense of identity, safety and being. We usually see our sense of self in externals, any times these externals shift we have a chance to discover our inner self, our inner power. Our true home.

Your core is not affected by the changes of circumstances, cycles of change. It is steady and consistent. You just need to trust, that this inner core is there, your endless source of energy and power, and that you can always rely on this, even when you just don’t see it.

A way to see this power of your inner core is to look at all the challenging periods or situations in your life and see how you turned them around, how you came out of them and they helped you to grow.

Thus, when practicing gratefulness, think about yourself, your own creative power first. Thank yourself first. That you are always there for you. You have all the energy and power you need.

You are the star(t) of everything in your life. Be aware of this power and be grateful for that. It will change your perspective of gratefulness in life.

Stay safe & healthy

Love,

Eva

Does your to-do list freak you out?

I bet with year-end coming close, you have a really long to-do list by now, growing daily...

Frustrating, isn’t it?

Let me tell you a secret. I used to be a to-do-list-builder, too.

I would write one every morning. To be in control and to have focus.

Then I kept nurturing it during the day, growing it, until it became so big that it became scary.

As a result, instead of being in control, I lost focus and all I felt was overwhelm.

I was constantly busy but not productive. And this also led to procrastinating. Because I didn’t know where to start.

Until I found a solution: the concept of the "DUMP LIST".

What is a dump-list?

Simply put: a list of everything taking up space in your brain.

Tasks you need to complete, plans for your future, ideas for xmas presents, important projects at work....

All the things that keep scrolling through your mind at 11pm at night.

What are the benefits of a Dump List?

• It un-clutters your brain - all the things burdening your thoughts have a home now. It’s not a to-do list. It’s just all the things in your head. It’s like dumping your purse on the table. If you want to clear it out, you need to know what’s in it

• It helps you spend your time more efficient when you have a moment. No need to think: "I have 10 minutes, how shall I use it?" Instead of wasting your time browsing social media, you can pick something from your list and do it right away. One more thing completed. Tick.

• You’ll become more productive. Instead of just being busy all day for others, you control what you do. You can choose, what is important to you.

• This is your list, all the things that YOU want to do, or need to do.

• You manage better. You focus and prioritize. Do you sometimes do what you feel like doing, while there are important things waiting? This helps you focus, it’s the foundation of managing yourself. (sidenote: time is a concept, it can not be managed...)
  

How to do it?

Just write out a list, in whatever way it works for you. Paper or digital.

My dump-list is a dynamic document in an app, so that it is with me all the time on my phone. I combined all the different lists I had everywhere (word doc, notes, etc) into this one list.

Then I added various categories. Business, clients, projects, home, recipe ideas, things to buy, doctors, etc.

If you are like me, you also find a million things interesting, that you want to read or watch one day, or just do quickly, before you forget it... Distractions everywhere.

Therefore I have my dump-list open with me all the time.

Everything that comes to my mind, that needs to be done, fixed, created, built, bought, downloaded, developed or new ideas, inspirations I see - they all go on that dump-list. I also add pictures or links if relevant.

How to use this dump list?

Once you have this giant list, you can start planning. Don't be scared by the sheer size of it. Define your priorities and work on them.

Stuff that needs to be done - for your goals.

Every day, when planning the day ahead, I choose 2-3 items that I decide to focus on that day.

Also, I always add a small reward for completing them. (That's the motivation and fun part.)

Everything else I see or inspires me or would distract me (my shiny object syndrome) - all that goes on the dump list during the day.

It has a home now and I will pick it up when the time is right.

That’s it!

Easy, fast.

It helps me enormously to beat the overwhelm and stress.

It helps me to focus on the important things and to get them done.

I hope this will help you, too. Want to give it a try?

Let me know in our FB Group Career Redesign Forum, how it works for you, or if you have any other proven method! (Have not joined the group yet? Do it now by clicking this link: Career Redesign Forum)

And remember the saying by David Allen: "You can do anything, but not everything".

Stay safe and healthy!
Love,

Eva

Ps: If you feel you need help with reaching a goal or to complete a certain major project, just schedule your FREE call and we'll discuss how I can best help you:

https://evabottai.as.me/curious

What if it all stays the same?

Last weekend, when doing my grocery shopping in a supermarket, I almost got lost in the forest of Christmas lights, decorations, fake pine-trees and wooden reindeers. The installation occupied almost half of the store floor.

I was shocked. For me, autumn has barely started yet... what’s happened?

Then I realized, we have roughly a little more than 8 weeks left from this year.

Today one of my clients asked me to focus our session this week on goal setting and planning for the rest of the year: what can she accomplish before year-end, how to best do it, and what’s going to be moved over to 2021.

I encourage you to do the same now. 

Take some quiet time, one of these days, with yourself to reflect.

What is that you want to accomplish in order to close the year with satisfaction?  

What makes your heart beat faster?

What are the key things, that, when you think back in 2-3 months’ time, you’ll say “I am so happy I did it" or “I am so happy I started it…”

Planning for action, short term goal-setting can be your best friends and supports now, especially in uncertain times, like this..

You’ll be surprised, how much new energy you get from clarity and structure.

What are the things you don’t want to postpone any further?

What would it feel like, if you could accomplish all those things this year yet?

...and what will it be like, if everything stays the same? 

And if you don't want to do it all alone, I invite you for a free call with me. We’ll discuss how I can best help you to close the year with satisfaction and set goals for the coming year.
Book your FREE call here, looking forward to talking to you!

Stay awesome,

Eva

ps: I started a new group on Facebook, an inspiring and supporting community of likeminded business professionals seeking their purpose, discovering what they were born to do, for true career success and the quality of life they deserve. I invite you to join this group and help me grow it to a strong, empowering community. Clic the link to join : Career Redesign Forum

The Importance Of Being In Flow

Good Sunday to you!

I hope you can enjoy this beautiful summer, despite the probing challenges of this year.

It’s teaching us a lot of things. The most important lessons – also confirmed by my clients – is to listen to ourselves, to learn to be in flow.

You probably heard about Flow and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the Hungarian-American psychologist.

Being in flow is crucial in all aspects of our lives – be it our work or private life.

Also at work? Many would nay. “I go to the office to fight, to survive, to earn my living. Work is a challenge, a suffering, or just dull and I need to keep going.”.

Is that true? And most importantly, when and how are we in flow at work?

Let me show this to you in a small chart.

You are in flow at work when the challenges, your tasks are in synch with your skills, with your capabilities.

There is a natural channel, where you grow.

Why is it so important?

You can be outside of flow, either by being overchallenged or underchallenged.

If you are way overchallenged for an extended period of time – for any reasons – it first starts with constant stress, then comes anxiety and it ends in burn-out. Not fun. Believe me.

If you are underchallenged for a long period of time – again, for any reasons – it may feel boring first, then it sinks into boredom, which results in depression. Not fun, either.

Been there, done that, both ends.

Then I started to seek meaning, seeking who am I, what do I want to do from the bottom of my heart. What do I do best, that also gives my joy, fulfillment, satisfaction.

Although I miss certain aspects of my corporate career, I am way happier, balanced and grounded with what I do now. It was a bumpy journey, but it was all worth it.

Think about it - what are the aspects of your work that give you statisfaction, joy, meaning? What inspires you to be truly creative, authentic and give the best of yourself to make an impact?

If you don’t know that answers, I am inviting you now to an exploration, where I would share with you the methods and insights, that have helped me to find what is the work I was born to do.

After helping hundreds of people during 1-1 coaching sessions to find their passion and meaning at work, I put together a new 4-week online course, so that I can help more people.

The course consists of weekly short video modules to guide you and fun worksheet exercises that you work on for yourself. Additional weekly Q&A live videos in a closed Facebook group will help with more insights, and the private group ensures for a lively and fun networking opportunity.

Since this is the first time I run this brand-new course, I am offering it for FREE.

It starts August 3rd, application deadline MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.

Hurry up, this is available for a short time only!

CLICK on the button below to check out this brand-new course!

See you there,

Eva

Ps: Also, share this opportunity within your network, you never know who may need this the most.