Career Management Visualization – an example

Yesterday I introduced the idea of a visualization, which my coach prompted me to write. Today I will present a visualization that is similar to my business visualization, but customized to my job search from last year (still very fresh on my mind :)).

I found it interesting that Mike Schaffner wrote Do You Have A Mission Statement yesterday. And Chuck from I Hate Your Job wrote An Explosion of Purpose and Fulfillment, where he wrote his own mission statement and was so inspired he started a meme. And Darlene from Interview Chatter mentions that spoke on goal setting and visualization and that “seeing what you want to accomplish is 90% or more of the battle.“

Chuck’s mission statement is strong and powerful, and inspiring. In the comments, Alexandra Levit’s is also strong and powerful and inspiring. Yesterday I was down on mission statements but Chuck and Alexandra proved me wrong – mostly because they are so sincere and heartfelt that they don’t smell like the usual corporate mumbo jumbo mission statement. These are personal, life statements.

How are they different from my visualization? I’m definitely not going to say that one is better than the other, rather, they are quite complementary. Here’s the main difference that I see, though, from both Alexandra and Chuck: they start almost all of their sentences with action verbs. They are going to “strive, budget, continue, maintain, obey, chronicle, speak, notice, give, take, focus, teach, remember…” the list goes on and on. These are things that they are going to do. Nothing wrong with that.

I look at my current visualization, called “The Visualization,” and I see that each paragraph starts out with “I have…” because I am visualizing that I’m already there.

Check out the following visualization and see if it has a different flavor:

My Career Visualization

Jan 13th, 2006 (yes, it was Friday the 13th!!)

I have a job, much better than the one I recently left, where I am responsible for my own product line. As product manager I am essentially a mini-CEO and have a full staff to make our product #1 in the market. My salary is $90,000 with a potential bonus of at least $150,000.

I have a strong local and professional network that I developed over the course of my job search. I nurture this network by finding opportunities daily to give back to individuals, whether they are in transition or not. I volunteer once a month to non-work causes, such as speaking at job search/networking meetings, or something similiar. I continue to grow my network wide (meet new people on my own) and deep (meet new people through my network contacts), adding value where I can, and living the principles learned from Never Eat Alone.

I have a strong emergency savings account with $30,000 which allows me to minimize the fear of a job loss, transition or recession.

I have eliminated most of my bills, including credit cards and student loans, and am able to eliminate other monthly expenses easily, if necessary.

I have a strong personal brand, which I reinforce with regular articles that I write, speaking engagements, and a professional blog where I am seen as a leader in the space.

I have at least one other stream of income that I have developed independent of my work income, which provides financial stability. This is worth at least $1,000 a month, after taxes.

I have a terrific relationship with my wife and kids. I go on a date weekly with my wife and spend quality time with each child, individually, at least once a week. I use all my vacation time to create memorable traditions for our family.

I love my job and feel very satisfied with my life, and live life to the fullest!

Can you see how this is different than the mission statement (click here to see Chuck’s and Alexandra’s excellent mission statements)?

I have my current visualization in two places – right next to my keyboard and on my fridge.

Why has this been so important? During my coaching sessions we’ll frequently take a problem at hand and go back to the visualization to ensure that we don’t lose site of the goal that we’re working towards.