Last night I attended the GLBT Executive Networking Event hosted by Boston Spirit Magazine. It was a good event which had a number of companies with booths, break out sessions, and a keynote speech by Robert Kraft, Owner of the New England Patriots (American football) and New England Revolution (international football or soccer) teams. He spoke of teamwork and how he turned the Patriots around to be one of the most successful sports franchises. It was a nice night (and especially those that like to see handsome men in suits.)
I had a client that I was coaching at this event and there are lessons that I’ve found are almost universal for everyone who comes to these type of networking events. This individual was laid off and has been paralyzed by fear in starting the job search. This event was the first tangible action taken in months. As I stated, just coming and showing up made this a success!
Too often people get completely overwhelmed with the emotions and magnitude of the job search and shut down completely. My recommendation is to just think: “What is the one small action I can take now?” (Those of you who know GTD will not be surprised at this). When I’m coaching clients about networking events, I recommended that people have a goal for what they can get done at an event to know it’s a success. This can be as simple as “find someone who knows something about Google as an employers” to “find the names of 3 resources for a graduate degree or certificate in graphic design that I can take online” to “talk with one person who will introduce to another person”. By setting yourself an achievable goal, you are more likely to feel successful and actually do more than that. The important thing is just to move forward, and you can only do that one step at a time.
So, what’s the one next thing that you can do right now to move forward in your goals?
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