Evaluate?  Evaluate what?  What are we evaluating?

First of all, this evaluation will not be done by you, but by myself.

I feel like there is a time in our lives for all of us to look at where we are.  Just take a good look.  Are you happy where you are?  Are you happy with with your job?  Are you happy with your house, your spouse and your car?  Are you happy with your friends?  If not, then join me in evaluating yourselves.  It is time to re-evaluate.  If you don’t like where you are, there is some good news. This can be turned around.  You have the power to change it.  Only you.

In looking at my road to full-time employment, I am in the perfect position to do this.  What jobs best describe the skills I currently possess?  With my daily inbox, my job search engines keep generating new results.  But are they the results that I want, or the results that I wanted a few years ago.  With each job posting, I need to ask myself “Can I do this job?”  “Do I possess the skills and qualifications for it?”  If not, “Would additional education and training be needed for it?”  If so, I don’t have the time and resources to spend on another degree.  Entering the workplace in my mid-thirties is not something that I would really prefer.

Back to the first two questions.  “Can I do this job?”  “Do I possess the skill and qualifications for it?”   Whenever I get a job search engine in my inbox, I gloss it over and delete it.  Why?  For one thing, the results aren’t always generating the jobs that I’m looking for.  Or they list another hourly job that’s part-time and pays minimum wage.  I have a journalism degree (one that I think might be obsolete).  Is another hourly job really going to fulfill my needs for advancement and growth?

At my job,  I have hit the ceiling.  I do agree that it is a wonderful thing to have “manager” next to your title.  However, I have a desire to grow.  What’s next at the store?  Store manager (that actually is taken, as someone will be filling that position very soon)?  When you have reached where I am, there is very little that you can do to increase your paycheck. Outside of work, Toastmasters gives me plenty of opportunities to grow.  Starting in July, my term for Area Director will begin.  I will be overlooking 4 clubs in my area: Area 16.  These would be the Toastmasters clubs in Saginaw, Bay City, Frankenmuth and Hemlock.  If you were to transfer that job to a real life scenario, you would be overseeing the operations of four warehouses.  Four plants.  Four restaurants.  That’s four teams of people that you would try to bring out the very best in to boost performance and maximize profits, while trying to instill more growth to the corporation.  In the Toastmasters world, that means trying to get every of your clubs to President’s Distinguished (the highest distinction that can be achieved in Toastmaster International’s Distinguished Club Program) while trying to start new clubs in your area.

That leads me to my next area. My network. In evaluating this, I would have to say that my network is drying up.  Leads need to be re-established so that they won’t die.  On my LinkedIn Account, I have a couple perfect strangers that are connections.  Who are they, and why did I add them in the first place?  Networking is a lot of hard work, but very rewarding.  If done right, it can land you the job that you’ve been looking for.

With any networking contact, you want to ask them “Is there anyone else that you can introduce me to?”  It can’t just be anyone, but people that can vouch for your performance.  Based on what your contact tells them, you possess the skills that they are seeking.  So if you are a connection of mine, I have a question.  “Who can you introduce me to?”  How can you help me?  I might have someone in my network that can help you but you need to have someone that you know that vouch for my performance and potential.  This is networking done right.  Using your connections to form new connections that can help you land that job or promotion.

Then there’s something that I have abandoned for a while.  My writing.  When will that next chapter be finished?  I have a number of unfinished projects.  It’s time that I finish them.  Turn those unfinished manuscripts into published works.  A lot more value can be received from them on a retail shelf instead of sitting unfinished in a bedroom or computer hard drive.

So there’s my self-evaluation.  Now it’s your turn.  Are you happy where you are?  If not, you have an opportunity to change it.  Use that opportunity and reach for the stars.

Today’s high is going to be 82 degrees and the silver lining is completing a thoughtful and reflective piece.

To those of you who desire self improvement, I hope that you all have a fantastic day.

 

Muse:  I myself need to re-evaluate.  Which form should I keep and which one should I dispose of?  This Intangible form is starting to become a bother…