image by giggleseye

Starting a new project almost always feels good. You become invigorated by even the thought of starting something new.

Resolutions, goal setting, and big dreams.

The problem is that for many, the bubble bursts easily. They set a goal and then they drop it either because they are too busy to follow through or they have hit a challenge with the goal and quit.

I often open the day on Twitter with a greeting. This morning I said this, “Good morning! First work day (for me anyway) of the new year! How are you going to make this year fantastic?”

Michelle who tweets as @NLCajax responded with: “Good morning, Julie! I’m still enjoying holidays for 2 more days – reading goal setting inspiration right now. ”

I answered her: “Glad to hear it. I plant to make reading in general something I do more of in 2012. Hope your day is wonderful!”

And as she replied with: Thanks Julie! Hope your first day back to work in 2012 is fabulous! Happy reading – what will be your first book?” I realized that I don’t know which book I will read. I have started so many books in the past year and finished very few of them. My goal is to finish them, one at a time. Allocate time for reading full books, not just blog posts and other information on my computer.

Visualize completing your goal

Many of us set goals like reading, losing weight, or getting organized, but never follow through. Perhaps we need to visualize ourselves completing the goal however which makes it easier to keep moving toward it.

Serious athletes set goals and strive to achieve them. Look at the photo above. Imagine the feeling this climber had reaching the top. Last year I wrote a series of posts that began with this one: You have to Start to Finish. I had forgotten the title until I looked for it just now. How coincidental that my mind is thinking the same way as it did last January.

I reached some of my goals in 2011 but not some of the ones I thought I would. I want to make 2012 the year I don’t just set goals. I want it to be the year I finish them. How about you?

image by crdotx

Ever notice how a little project grows into bigger projects? The latest project at our house is replacing the bathroom ceiling. The roof was leaking and the bathroom was the main target of the drips. We hired Evan from Poland Construction who uses my son, Dan, as a carpenter, to replace the roof which wasn’t new when we moved in almost 20 years ago. In the process, we found a new project, the bathroom ceiling.

Evan and Dan removed bags of moldy and wet insulation from the attic during the construction period so not only did we have a ruined ceiling, we had almost no insulation over the parts of the bedroom part of the house.

The Weekend Project

My husband’s solution would have been to paint over the ceiling which had cracks, peeling paint, and mold with a mold retardant paint and be done with it. Since I have suffered from sinus issues my whole life which are only getting worse, I turned to Dan, who would replace the ceiling with waterproof drywall after removing all the old stuff and reinsulate.

Dan’s schedule was busy and we finally settled on this weekend as the start of the project. Dan thinks through things and he put poly up in the whole bathroom before he started pulling things down and he isolated himself with the trash cans so the debris and dust wouldn’t spread through the house. It took all of Saturday to get the ceiling down and new insulation up. Yesterday, Dan put up the new drywall with the help of several tall friends.

It still needs mudding and finishing which should get done this week. We are using the downstairs bathroom to shower in now. I suddenly realized yesterday that this is Thanksgiving week and the dinner is here but no one needs the shower working  for that and so I breathed a sigh of relief.

We bought this house to remodel – in 1992 and there is still the kitchen to do but other projects have always taken precedence before the room I would like best in the house — the Kitchen.

Focus on the steps

It is easy to get disillusioned when your goals start falling apart. You want everything and you want it NOW! I talked before about learning to roll with the punches. I’m an expert. You, my reader, only know the parts of my life I share here but believe me, I am no stranger to challenges.

How do you move forward when every step you take seems like another challenge? You do it one step at a time. You can’t solve everything at once. If your job search is stuck, start with what you can control. Start by examining what you are sending out. The basis of every job search is still the resume. Many people will tell you that you can skip that step because there are so many other tools but I will tell you what the resume does for you.

Completing the resume first forces you to focus on determining your talents, accomplishments, and the value you bring to the employer.

• The resume gives you the basis for your social media profiles on LinkedIn and other platforms.
• The resume gives you something to share when you are networking or conducting informational interviews.
• The resume gives your the information in a well-written and keyword-laden format for any online applications you are completing.
• The resume gives you talking points for the phone interview and every interview after that.

I have wanted a new kitchen since the day we walked in the door to this house with the first box. Everything else seemed to come first. It was tempting to skip the roof and the bathroom ceiling and go straight to the kitchen as the next project and the money spent on those would have been a good start to a nice kitchen but it would have been backwards. I could have ended up with leaks in the new kitchen or worse.

If you proceed step-by-step with your job search, you will have peace of mind and if you start with the resume as your foundation, you will reach your goals of finding the new position.

Photo by Alosh Bennett

I’ve always been a goal-setter but not always a goal finisher. This year I’ve been working hard to change. I’ve been determining what I want and going after it in a much more organized and targeted fashion.

Goals & Results:

• Problem: OVERLOAD — I was overwhelmed with too much to do as both non-profit manager and career marketing professional Excuse: It’s always been this way. Solution: Resigned from Wausau Whitewater in December Result: More time to focus on Design Resumes.
• Problem: STUCK — 17 years+ (note that number, you’ll see it a lot) we had this awful, red-plaid shag carpeting (think 1960′s) in the living room and in the dining room for awhile. Excuse: you can’t put flooring down until you finish the other remodels — and we are always remodeling. Solution: I convinced husband to buy a reasonable cost variegated Berber in a light grey blend and had it installed in December. Result: Compliments from friends and family and a happier Julie.
• Problem: UNINVITING — 17 years+ the family room, now my office, needed a face-lift, finished fireplace, new ceiling & lighting Excuse: costs money and no one here liked to do finish carpentry. Solution: I hired contractor to complete the project  in March. Result: More professional-looking work space.
• Problem: ISOLATED — I never interacted with the career community in real life. Excuse: Too  much to do, can’t afford it. Solution: Budgeted, planned, and decided to invest in multiple career conferences in 2010. Result: Built critical career industry knowledge from meeting experts personally and building new contacts and alliances.

Setbacks:

• Setback: INCOME LOSS — March’s income tanked making me fearful. Action: Focused on maximizing income and minimizing expenses while networking to create alternative options and remain positive. Results: May is almost 4 times March’s income and I am continuing to market and network to keep the flow coming and growing.
• Setback: ILLNESS — Sinus infections moved to my ear and eye making it hard to keep up with the work flow. Action: After using homeopathic options, ended up going to both ENT’s Dr. Voss and Stine Eye Center’s Dr. Stine. Results: Treatment by professionals caused a marked change within less than 24 hours.

No matter how many goals you set and how hard you work at them, you will always have setbacks. Whether you are a business owner or job seeker, you need to continue to analyze, set new goals, and take note of the results. You are likely to have achieved more than you think possible.

Photo by Roscoe Ellis

#4 in the What’s Holding You Back series — designed to help you think about why you are not moving forward in your job search, career, or life.

Micki left this comment on the first post in this series: “If I had to pick one thing that I could say holds me back, it would have to be over-analyzing my goals and the steps to achieve them. I have heard it put like this: paralysis by analysis, and I know that I am sometimes guilty of it.

But she added the plus side in another note: because I thought through all the possible scenarios of what could go wrong and dealt with them before they happened.

I’ve known Micki for awhile and she is a very thoughtful, analytical person. In fact, because of those qualities, I often turn to Micki when I am making a decision. She is a person I have named to my team of Trusted Advisors. Micki and I have never met in person, just on Facebook and now over the phone now and then, but her ability to look at multiple sides of a question makes her very valuable to me. Her values also align with mine which makes her advice, advice I can trust.

Just the fact that I do have this team of Trusted Advisors tells you that I do take decision-making seriously. I don’t think anyone should make decisions flippantly or with little thought. This year, I have had many business decisions to make and I continue to make them. I am glad that I do have people to reach out to that can help me sort through things.

I think what Micki is talking about though, is that sometimes, we are so afraid of failing that we keep studying long past when a decision should be made. This as Micki dubs it, can be “Paralysis by Analysis.”

I’ve had that dialog with several clients recently as we discuss their career options and choices. While a career decision should be made carefully, as we talked about in “I need another Pepper Grinder, oh really?” — there are times when it is time to leave. If you are in an uncomfortable position that doesn’t meet your financial needs or perhaps is not fulfilling to you, after you have done some analysis, you should move forward. If you are currently unemployed, then you have less things holding you back but there still are decision-making factors involved.

Some of my clients are afraid to even apply for a position that meets all of their requirements because as Micki discussed, they are paralyzed by analysis. This is the time to cut to the quick and ask the hard question. What is the worst case scenario? Even though this is part of analysis too, giving yourself the worst case scenario and playing it out relieves the stress. In a job search, if you are worried about sending the resume or cover letter, if you have developed a professional resume and cover letter with all the necessary keywords and accomplishments, the worst case scenario is that they will say no. If that is the case, you even have the alternative of sending them a thank you note for the no.

Photo by Paul J. Williams

When in doubt, a SWOT analysis can be helpful. As I was looking for photos for this post, I came across this one and it reminded me of some sessions that I participated in when we worked on this type of analysis. When you look at all sides of a decision, you can make an effective decision.

Look at all these alternatives for not being stuck in paralysis by analysis and today make one step forward on an issue or problem that has you paralyzed.

What do you think? Or leave your success stories here!