New Business? Changing Careers? Youve Got a Whole New Ball Game

When you embark on a life transition, the skills that brought you success in a former life will no longer work. It's like trying to play football on a basketball team.

Example: To succeed in corporate life, you've developed strong political skills. You can maneuver by memo. You know the unwritten rules as well as the policies.

When you're ready to find a new life, you need to learn a whole new set of skills -- like these.

1. Scrambling: Transition is pickup basketball, not pro football.

2. Running on two tracks: Keep going in the short term but plan for the bigger picture.

3. Decision-making without data: You come to a fork in the road and both paths are unmarked. What do you do next?

4. Using intuition: Hang on to your power. Intuition is no longer woo-woo -- psychologists recognize intuition as a critical aspect of thinking, residing in a specific portion of the brain.

5. Listening and waiting: If you rush, you'll hit a wall. The toughest skill to master.

6. Not being afraid of fear. During a life transition, fear is your ally.

7. Taking the freedom inventory: count your money as well as your blessings.

8. Getting help: how to hire an expert -- and maybe discover you don't need one

9. Managing identity: overcome the biggest roadblock to a new life.As soon as you leave a well-established career or business,you're viewed differently by others and you may have to reviseyour own self-concept.

10. Enhancing creativity: think of new ways to reach your goal.

I offer one-to-one consultations on business and career strategy.Check out my new resume and interview services.

About The Author

Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com.

"Ten secrets of mastering a major life change" mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com

Contact: cathy@cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294

Baltimore Sun (blog)

Contractors propose to organize Grand Prix, pay some debts Baltimore Sun (blog) Sharon R. Grinnell, president of sGrinnell Enterprises LLC of Owings Mills, and Gregory K. O'Neill, vice president of BMW Construction Specialists of Curtis Bay, approached city officials early last month about organizing the city's Indycar race. and more »

Organizing Matters: A Lesson From Outside the Beltway Huffington Post When ordinary people get organized they can still do extraordinary things. But the key here is getting organized. The media likes to lift up singular "heroes" who are "making a difference." But political change is not made by individuals on their own.

Organizing committee of Dutch ice skating marathon gathers for first time in ... Washington Post AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands' state broadcaster NOS says the organizing committee of the country's traditional Eleven Cities Tour natural ice skating marathon is gathering for the first time in 15 years to consider whether the race can be skated next ... and more »

Get Organized: Clean Up iTunes (Part 2) PC Magazine The most important thing to understand about this article and others in the Get Organized series is that neither you nor your iTunes collection has to be perfect. If you follow the advice in this article, your iTunes library will be much improved, ...

Organize Your Paper Documents Efficiently The Ledger Having an efficient system to file and otherwise organize these documents can save frustration and time. Here are some tips: Prioritize. Think about the pieces of paper you most often need and build your filing system around those items, ... and more »

Sochi organizers launch recruitment drive for volunteers for 2014 Winter Olympics The Republic AP SOCHI, Russia — With two years to go before the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sochi organizers have begun recruiting volunteers. The organizing committee said Tuesday it expects to receive more than 200000 applications from people between the ...

The Atlantic Wire

Organizing Occupy, Without Occupations The Atlantic Wire As the movement fades from the headlines, these bits of activist shorthand have remained, and Occupy is counting on the shared culture they represent to carry it through to bigger actions this spring, organizers in New York said on Monday.

Organize Your Apps by Action Instead of Category for a More Intuitive Find-and ... Lifehacker If you're having trouble remembering where you've filed away an app on your phone's home screen, you may want to consider organizing your apps by action. By default, when you drag one app onto another to create a folder, iOS suggests a folder name ... and more »

Azim Premji University and Jamia Millia Islamia University to organize Dr ... India Education Diary Bangalore: Azim Premji University, Bangalore & Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi will be organizing Dr. Report by Santanu Ganguly; New Delhi: Om Books International, in association with Taj Safaris, announced the launch of On ... and more »

Get organized at work San Antonio Express By Melanie Warner If the piles on your desk are so out of control your co-workers are convinced it's the hiding place of Charlie Sheen's dignity, it might be time to get organized. "One client, once we organized her financial papers, found $40000 that ...