Pressing the Reset Button...
Posted on February 26, 2017 by Mark Myette, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
If there's ever a time the topic of "reset" is appropriate, it's now. No time like the present to ponder the opportunity to press...
re·set – rēˈset – verb – set again or differently.
If there’s ever a time the topic of “reset” is appropriate, it’s now. No time like the present to ponder the opportunity to press the figurative reset button in our lives. This is a topic EVERYONE should take seriously. Understand, EVERYONE will need to press the “Reset” button – yeah, including YOU! So, whether you are pondering pressing the reset button, or, someone has press it for you, or, in your mind, your years away from something like that – bookmark this blog. It will come in handy one day!
Depending where you are on your 80,000 hour career journey – you will be pressing the reset button more than once! (SEE: Maslow & the 80000 Hour Career Journey…)
Don’t forget the teams!
Sometimes, teams need to do the same thing! Resetting is not limited to individuals. Yet, no surprise the reset has to begin with the individual. So read on with the perspective of how a “one-mind-at-a-time approach” could benefit the team!
OK, so how?
If “pressing the reset button” has been decided for you, or, you are still in position to decide to press it yourself, here are guidelines you can apply to this NORMAL career occurrence:
1. Put things in perspective…
Take this statement the right way – your career will end – you are going to die – we are ALL going to die – every day we get one day closer to our end. Our time – let alone our careers – is finite. So, if you’re starting over or considering starting over – appreciate your time is fleeting.
If you’ve been forced to press the reset button, it’s OK to go through you own process in dealing with the grief / resentment of your predicament. You should though try to put some sort of deadline on completing the mourning / grieving process (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance).
Learn from those getting ready to leave this earth…
Inspired by the regrets of the dying people she cared for, Bronnie Ware – an Australian nurse and counselor – worked in hospice care; taking care of terminally ill people, most of whom had less than 12 weeks to live. No surprise, she pressed her own “reset” button and went on to become a writer and songwriter.
Her experience totally transformed her life and she is daring everyday to live up to her truest potential. She authored a full-length memoir about this experience titled ‘The Top Five Regrets of the Dying – A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing’.
Here are their biggest regrets:
- Not pursuing their dreams and living someone else’s life.
- Working too hard.
- Not expressing / speaking their minds.
- Not staying in touch with friends.
- Not being happier.
2. Change your frame of reference!
James Baldwin, one of the 20th century’s greatest writers who broke new literary ground with the exploration of racial and social issues in his many works, once said about change of reference…“in order for this to happen, your entire frame of reference will have to change, and you will be forced to surrender many things that you now scarcely know you have.”
In some cases pressing the reset takes new perspective! A certain degree of courage!
If you take the step, “check your ego at the door!”, and be vulnerable you’ll be surprised by the possibilities of you!
3. Use this time to go deep!
When I work with people in the process of a reset, I ask them how they view this time in their lives. Once in awhile, someone appears to get it. They view this period as a “Gift”. May I suggest you view this reset as just that, a GIFT!
If you need time to process – go through your own grieving process to once was, please take the time! I knew a career coach / certified counselor and in her office she had a desk and chairs and a couch. For her clients if she felt there was a conversation necessary “for the couch” she would ask her client to “head to the couch”. When she felt her client had handled the issue, they returned to the desk to look ahead.
As long as you are ready to look AHEAD and determine how you proceed – that’s when you should take stock in who you are / what you bring to the world! (SEE Name! Claim! & Aim!)
When ready though, please go ahead be prepared to go deep.
- Take stock of who you are! SEE:
Questions to Uncover YOUR Calling / Purpose / Why…
Your Route to Empowerment…
A Calling VS A Job…
4. Determine what’s the worst thing that could happen.
So, since you should now view this period as a gift, ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” Good coaches may ask their client to reflect on a decision and imagine a worst-case scenario where you, the planner, in planning for the future considers the most severe possible outcome that can reasonably be projected to occur in a given situation.
In you case be prepared to answer that question and you may decide it’s worth the risk to make a change, press the reset button.
5. Seek a second / third opinion.
SEE: The Power of a Coach…
There’s something to be said with a third-party who would learn to understand your situation and be a resource to you as you navigate your own “future quest” of you. When it’s all said and down though, the coach can only facilitate – it will be up to you to come to terms with how the reset will occur!
Enjoy the journey and lean in…
My best to your quest!
Mark
www.WhatAreYourGifts.com
I believe each of us is a gift. I create trusted relationships where individuals, teams and leaders NAME, CLAIM and AIM their gifts to achieve optimum performance.
