Career-Wise Ways ... Not Just A Job-But A Career ®

I am puzzled because you explained in an earlier response that career-wise ways is how an individual goes about advancing in a job and building a career. How does this work?

Full Question: I am puzzled because you explained in an earlier response that career-wise ways is how an individual goes about advancing in a job and building a career. How does this work? Is there an age group or a gender-type that you are thinking of when you describe who career-wise ways applies to?
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This question comes up often when I am speaking about CWW Career-Wise Ways.
"CWW Career-Wise Ways...",applies to both men and women who want to be successful in their jobs and careers.
While doing my research, I talked to a lot of people who opened up and shared their passions, disappointments and disillusionments about working, finding a job, keeping a job, and figuring out how to prepare to move from job to job and what makes a career.
Some people needed additional training in order to hold on to a job they'd had for a number of years and they didn't see the fairness in that. Others were content to push sons and daughters toward college educations, only to find out that they needed to do a mid-life reality check themselves about their own jobs. And many were concerned with the examples they were setting for the same sons and daughters.
A lot of the individuals I talked to were women who were in mid-life transitions from relationships, empty nests, former jobs, from former lifestyles and who were on the move to exciting, but scary new ventures. The number of people who opened up to me voluntarily left me awed and I knew I had to do something with what I was learning.
What I learned is that most were quite accomplished in many areas of their lives. Many were stagnated and bewildered by the challenges of pioneering into new frontiers, especially as it related to working and career building. Many women I talked to had never even touched a computer back in 1999. A lot of them told me they dusted around the computer so their husbands and children could use it, but they never dared trying to learn how to use it themselves. Others told me they were afraid to go beyond their own neighborhoods to look for work.
After many conversations and brainstorming sessions and an imbued resonation, the phrase, "career-wise ways" came into reality for me. I imagined it as a way to get anyone who desired it, could focus on the word career and not just having a job. Eventually the brand was established as, "CWW Career-Wise Ways...Not Just a Job, But a Career". And it meant taking one job opportunity and making it work and then layering on another job opportunity and to continue layering experiences, skills, know-how, one next to or on top of another until a solid foundation has been built. Career-Wise Ways is learning how to deliberately start at the beginning of starting over. If practiced, it becomes a way of thinking about how to create and re-create your life's work.
At some point, everybody needs career-wise ways. It's just a matter of time when you realize that the time has come for you to use it to get to your next career development stage.
I hope I've given you insight and inspiration and perhaps the opportunity to see your own challenges in the challenges of someone else that may allow you to practice or adopt some career-wise ways for yourself.

Help, I feel like such an outsider. I work for a family-owned business, where everyone comes from the same background.

Full Question: Help, I feel like such an outsider. I work for a family-owned business, where everyone comes from the same background. Also, I am not from the same ethnic group as the owners and other non-family employees, nor am I from the same race. I really like this job, but feel like my difference is going to keep me from getting ahead in my career in this company.
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I am going to guess that you stand out the most in your company because your difference is very obvious and this is what’s really bothering you. You want to know how to feel comfortable in an environment that in past times would have been impossible, un-imaginable or unattainable in your particular case.
I will speculate that you, your experience and your personality are really something that is needed in this organization. Otherwise, they would not have chosen you. So, give yourself credit for being worthy of being chosen.
Secondly, you must live up to and beyond to your own potential. You may be doing some "first evers" and breaking down some barriers in your efforts to do a great (not good) job. Please notice that I indicated great, because good may not be good enough in this case and you may have some proving to do. No doubt, someone's reputation may be riding on your performance, while someone else may be expecting (and maybe even hoping) you fail. But do not take a negative approach. Do not let your fear and anxieties overcome you and do not settle for a mediocre performance, attendance, or behavior from yourself.
While you may think you have nothing to prove to anyone, you are still only as good as your last best performance. Do your homework by observing corporate behavior and decide which factors you will be willing to adapt into your own style of communication and behavior. This doesn’t mean you have to be different than who you are, but you must adapt in a way that is equitable and that assimilates you into their culture.
Don't barge into conversations or casual employee groupings, but rather allow yourself time to feel comfortable enough to join in as a contemporary. Learn to listen, observe and analyze.
Also, allow yourself to be open enough and approachable so your co-workers will learn from you about your culture and your ethnic group or race. You might be the first opportunity any one of them has had to observe up close someone so different from themselves. You may find yourself smashing stereotypical beliefs as you go along. But your survival in this job is key as long as you are building a career. Remember every career is made up of jobs turned into stepping stones that lead to the next phase of your life and career.
Whatever you take from this experience, know that you will also have had a chance to broaden your own understanding of another culture and business type. I believe that if you are successful on this job - you will take with you some lifelong friendships and I totally applaud you for recognizing that you have a few hurdles to overcome.
If, after a time, you feel that have reached a career plateau here, do not take a negative initiative. Instead, build as much goodwill as possible and quietly observe if other career opportunities exist in this company for you. If you are miserable in this experience, discreetly plan your exit from this job because it may become harder to endure the longer you are there.

I can never find what I want to wear in my closet. Yet I have so much to choose from. What is my problem?

Full Question: My taste in clothing and accessories is constantly changing. I pick my work clothing out the morning of, which leaves me rushing and running out of time to get ready for work. I can never find what I want to wear in my closet. Yet I have so much to choose from. What is my problem?
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You are not alone in how you feel. We're influenced by media, magazines and designers, who all seem to tell us that we constantly need makeovers and that our styles are not stylish enough.
It almost seems like in the midst of reality shows, we're not being real in our choices. It is impossible to keep up with fashion icons that have disposable income and staff to maintain their outrageous and exorbitant style flows. In real life, there is no red carpet and we are required to exhibit our work skills, not necessarily our style skills. What we know and what we can achieve is way more important than in how we look. One of the CWW tips quotes, Do you look as good in person as you do on paper and vice versa do you look as good on paper as you do in person? When it comes to doing your job, the substance of being a good employee had better be there, regardless of how good you look.
It sounds like you are trying to have too many choices and that you're having a hard time maintaining your own sense of individuality. We are living in the confusion of casual / dress-down / business and creative casual trends that make a corporate or dressy style seem blah and passé.
It also sounds like you don't like being told what is right or wrong for you in your mode of dress. If this is true, you need to remember to enhance your own personality and your style. An image consultant or fashion stylist or even a department store personal shopper can create a wardrobe styling session that includes sorting through your closet to help you to narrow down some of the choices that seem to be coming at you.

I wish I could do a time-out from job so I can figure out why I am so bored. How can CWW help me?

Perhaps, the time-out you think you need is not just about working. If you can't do a timeout from work, have you considered other things that may be going on in your life that could be adding to your boredom? Are you taking care other people? Are you in financial distress? Do you have time to do things that make you feel renewed or happy? Perhaps keeping a journal will help you sort out what's going on. A journal is helpful because over the course of a week or a month, you forget exactly what you were thinking or feeling at a particular moment. A journal will help you remember. Also, if you decide to see a career coach, journal notes will help you have a productive conversation with her or him during your sessions.
If you are so good at what you do, maybe it's time for you to learn some completely new skills. Do you speak or write a foreign language? Would being able to do so give you something challenging to hold onto in your current job?
Can you teach or become an instructor in some area of your work? Employers love when an employee steps up to become a leader in some area of work. You might discover some hidden talents within yourself.

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