(Titled after one of my favorite Stars songs.)
Did you know all the awesome ways you can print out your calendar in MS Outlook? I was trying to decide whether or not to purchase a new paper calendar when I already rely so much on my Outlook and iPhone calendars. So I asked my coach (because I can do that) and she showed me her Outlook printout.
When I came back to the office I started messing around with the print settings, and realized that you can do some pretty awesome stuff... including tasks, areas for notes, different layouts and date formats. Fancy.
Useful? We'll see. I think they will help with the weekly meetings that M suggested I begin.
Friday, January 15, 2010
On Paper
I met with my coach on Wednesday for our opening session. Three hours later I'm not entirely sure where we are. It seems that the first meeting was all about getting my goals and ideas out of my head and onto paper. Maybe I was expecting a little more magic, or instruction. I don't know.
The goals we set out are reasonable, actionable and at the same time terrifying. I feel comfortable with my coach, and although I know and feel like I can ask her anything, there's also this creeping feeling that she doesn't know how much help I need.
In reality she does, it's just that my inner critic doesn't want to tell me that I can do this. Have I sunk so low that I don't believe I can do this anymore? Remember when I believed I could do anything? Does the 'real world' break everyone this way?
But what I ought to be doing right now is filling out my "Target Client" worksheets. They will be hard. Harder without any personal existing clients. But let's get it on paper, and then let's get going.
Standing Still
This post is a little out of context now that I have actually begun meeting with my coach, but it was in my head an ought to get out. One of my problems--generally as well as sales-related--is that I am far too comfortable in justifying my own inaction.
I lay in bed in the morning, getting later and later, and yet I tell myself it's OK. Because I'll be working late. Because I stayed up late. Because I can totally shower, dress and eat breakfast in 7 minutes. (I can't.)
That phone call can totally wait until tomorrow. That person is so much more likely to pick up the phone tomorrow morning, or hey, the next day is even better.
So yes, I'm using big words here to say that I'm a procrastinator, but the trouble is that I've gotten so good at it. This needs to change. I am hoping that being excited about what I am doing will help, but I also know I need to turn my inner justifier into my inner motivator.
I lay in bed in the morning, getting later and later, and yet I tell myself it's OK. Because I'll be working late. Because I stayed up late. Because I can totally shower, dress and eat breakfast in 7 minutes. (I can't.)
That phone call can totally wait until tomorrow. That person is so much more likely to pick up the phone tomorrow morning, or hey, the next day is even better.
So yes, I'm using big words here to say that I'm a procrastinator, but the trouble is that I've gotten so good at it. This needs to change. I am hoping that being excited about what I am doing will help, but I also know I need to turn my inner justifier into my inner motivator.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Task-Master Meets Floating Target
When I entered sales a year ago, I honestly did not know what I was doing. What I knew mostly was that I loved where I would be working and what I would be selling. And then I started. In the midst of the worst recession in decades, with no training and no clue.
Now I am blessed enough to have been linked up with a sales coach, someone who I think could turn my work life around. And I think it will help to write some of it out.
The coach (let's call her M, it's very Bond-esque) sent me a list of questions and introspective prompts for our first meeting. On the list was one thing I was dying to do--take a DISC test.
I am convinced that everyone loves learning things about themselves, or having someone else tell them something about themselves. I have never taken a true Myers-Briggs test, but I love learning more about us mysterious INTJs. It's almost as if putting a label on it gives us magic powers. Nothing about me has changed, but now I can be sure that I espouse this and not that. It's an odd phenomenon.
Anyhow, my DISC test came back telling me that I am a C/D, or a "cautious/dominant" personality blend. (I like that they use "blend" instead of "type, it's less pigeon-holing.) According to the DISC spectrum I am much more task-oriented than people-oriented (not surprising) and slightly more reserved than outgoing (no surprise there either).
The report lists all these adjectives that supposedly describe someone of my "blend," and some of them seemed to fit and some not so much. But I was really struck when I got to the summary of my ideal environment:
"Ideal Environment: Freedom to ask questions; definite procedures, structure and roles."
Yes! That's it! I have struggled in this position in some ways because the tasks and next-actions are not predefined for me. The internships I have had in the past, while they included much independent work an initiative, also included clear assignments. Starting a brand new sales position is much more of a moving target, and when I do not know what to do next, I get easily lost.
Of all the things I got out of reading my DISC results, this was the most encouraging. And of the many things I hope to clarify through working with M, the most important may very well be to set up my job as a process that has defined (but not inflexible) procedures, or at least to frame my day-to-day in a way that satisfies my need for such an environment.
Now I am blessed enough to have been linked up with a sales coach, someone who I think could turn my work life around. And I think it will help to write some of it out.
The coach (let's call her M, it's very Bond-esque) sent me a list of questions and introspective prompts for our first meeting. On the list was one thing I was dying to do--take a DISC test.
I am convinced that everyone loves learning things about themselves, or having someone else tell them something about themselves. I have never taken a true Myers-Briggs test, but I love learning more about us mysterious INTJs. It's almost as if putting a label on it gives us magic powers. Nothing about me has changed, but now I can be sure that I espouse this and not that. It's an odd phenomenon.
Anyhow, my DISC test came back telling me that I am a C/D, or a "cautious/dominant" personality blend. (I like that they use "blend" instead of "type, it's less pigeon-holing.) According to the DISC spectrum I am much more task-oriented than people-oriented (not surprising) and slightly more reserved than outgoing (no surprise there either).
The report lists all these adjectives that supposedly describe someone of my "blend," and some of them seemed to fit and some not so much. But I was really struck when I got to the summary of my ideal environment:
"Ideal Environment: Freedom to ask questions; definite procedures, structure and roles."
Yes! That's it! I have struggled in this position in some ways because the tasks and next-actions are not predefined for me. The internships I have had in the past, while they included much independent work an initiative, also included clear assignments. Starting a brand new sales position is much more of a moving target, and when I do not know what to do next, I get easily lost.
Of all the things I got out of reading my DISC results, this was the most encouraging. And of the many things I hope to clarify through working with M, the most important may very well be to set up my job as a process that has defined (but not inflexible) procedures, or at least to frame my day-to-day in a way that satisfies my need for such an environment.
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