By Mary Ann Faremouth,
Today I was pondering the 3rd Step of the Faremouth Method, Step Out of Your Comfort Zone. Although, with the recent events in our world, it might be more like “Shoved or Pushed out of our comfort zone!”
Recently I saw a quote that said something like:
THE BAD NEWS IS TIME FLIES. THE GOOD NEWS IS YOU’RE THE PILOT.
WE are in the cockpit of life right now and the sooner we can get past the shock of the events in our world and steer our “plane of life” above the clouds and head to a safe landing, the better we will all be.
In other words, the sooner we can move past the shock and move to strategy, the stronger the probability of a safe landing and the faster we will get there.
Let’s break this process into 3 parts to be strategic in our methodology:
Step 1 – Let’s become Awake and Aware
Step 2 – Understand This Will Not Last Forever
Step 3 – What Can We Do Right Now to have a safe and stress free landing
Step 1 – Become Awake and Aware
Often we need to put things down on paper, in black and white, to see more clearly. When I was talking to my editor, Max Regan, yesterday, he offered some great advice I wanted to share with you. He suggested we make 2 lists:
List 1, What We Can Control, and List 2, What We Can Not Control
List 1, What We Can Control:
* Staying in touch with colleagues
- Quality of work I am producing from home
- Control my mindset
* How can I strategically identify my transferable skills
* How can I control what I feed my mind and heart
* How can I join virtual groups to expand my skill set, maybe a Toastmaster group to do a better interview on that future job
List 2, What We Cannot Control:
*How long will it take to develop a vaccine
*Price of Oil
*Whether the company will hire me back
*Whether the Government stimulus package will arrive in time
Step 2 – We Must understand This will Not Last Forever
This current situation is not like “physical death” where we lose a spouse, a loved one or a child. It’s more like death of an old way of being that may very well lead us to become an even better version of ourselves or learn things about ourselves that we never realized before. I saw something recently that said:
Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself. It might last longer than we think or want it to, but there will be a light at the end of this dark tunnel.
Let’s take a look at the 3rd Step.
Step 3 – What we can do right now to have a safe and stress free landing:
*How can we control our household budget? Are there bills we can cut out entirely or minimize? Can we contact our mortgage companies or other Companies to minimize our bills and what we have to pay out immediately?
*Can I downsize my car and have a smaller payment?
*Can we all pitch in to clean the house and relieve Mom with the entire chore as she homeschools the kids?
*Can we begin researching jobs that are available on lists on LinkedIn, job boards, etc.?
*Do we work with a career coach or consultant to help us streamline the process?
*Update our resume to show transferable skills to new employment.
*Take an online class to make ourselves more marketable?
*Find an online meditation or yoga class to help us manage our personal stress to navigate through this time? Are you doing some form of exercise? There are other online classes that would also alleviate and manage our stress.
*Better nutrition will also help us to get through this time when we are not loading our bodies up with junk food.
The most important thing to consider right now is our relationship with ourselves. We want a capable, calm and stable pilot driving this plane of our lives to ensure a safe landing. We are all in this together and if we implement a safe and methodical strategy, we will land in a much better area than we ever dreamed of!
According to Faremouth’s company website, “Mary Ann is the founder and CEO of Faremouth and Company. As a leader in the national recruiting community and a placement specialist since 1982, Mary Ann knows what it takes to get the job done. She is 2016 President of Houston Independent Personnel Consultant Group, is a member of the NASPD, NAPCA, the National Association of Personnel Consultants, and is also a highly regarded speaker and writer. Her articles can be found in various industry related publications. She founded Jobs: Houston Magazine in 1997, one of the most popular employment magazines in Texas for over 7 years.” She is the author of the critically acclaimed and multi-award winning book Revolutionary Recruiting.
Mary Ann Faremouth is the founder and CEO of Faremouth & Company and a highly regarded recruiter, career consultant, speaker and writer. She has been a placement specialist and a leader in the national recruiting community and has placed thousands of employees since 1982. She was the 2016 president of the Houston Independent Personnel Consultant Group and is a board member of the NASPD (National Association of Steel Pipe Distributors) and Authors Marketing Guild. She specializes in recruitment of professional, clerical, and temporary placements, with a variety of industry specific positions in various fields. Her expertise is in matching quality applicants with the right job, serving companies ranging from thriving independents to global conglomerates, tailoring each engagement to the client’s needs.
Mary Ann holds a CPC (Certified Personnel Consultant) credential, was certified by the Board of Regents of the National Association of Personnel Consultants in Washington, DC, and was awarded an Advanced Communicator Bronze, Advanced Leader Bronze Awards by Toastmasters. She cofounded Jobs: Houston magazine in 1997. Mary Ann maintains affiliations with professional organizations in various other industries, including oil and gas, financial, construction, IT, and structural, mechanical, and civil engineering. She has a keen understanding of the marketplace and its specialized needs and requirements.
Mary Ann brings a wealth of expertise to clients looking for the right individual to maximize and empower their team. As a consultant she is available to assist both the applicant and the client to quickly adapt to the New Work World. She also offers virtual and in-person workshops to guide individuals through personalized self-discovery to find new career paths. She continues to build her affiliations with recognized leadership organizations to best serve her clients and applicants by creating a network of highly professional contacts throughout the world. She utilizes her platform as a writer and speaker through her articles and affiliations to reach those in need of help, offering hands-on guidance to navigate this uncharted territory. (More information on www.faremouth.com)
Mary Ann’s award-winning first book Revolutionary Recruiting has been listed by Book Authority as Number #1 of the Best 100 Recruiting Books; #1 Best Seller, Non-Fiction by Amazon (2019); Top 20 Recruiting books by Recruitics; Readers’ Choice finalist (2019) by Houston Literary Awards; Best Non-Fiction (2018), Best Cover (2019), and Best Self-Help (2018) by Authors Marketing Guild. Her books support individuals and corporations, teaching them how to tap into each candidate’s unrealized potential to find the right person for each job, maximizing both employee satisfaction as well as the employer’s bottom line. Mary Ann also showcases her expertise of the recruiting world on a monthly podcast for The Price of Business and weekly articles for USA Business. Mary Ann lives in Houston, Texas.
