Listen to the Music Inside You

Summer is the season of music festivals. Touring in a band is like managing a career change. Here are the relevant lessons:

Lesson #1: Join the Right Band

Do you feel out of place, in a dead end job that neither satisfies or motivates at any levelYou love country music, but find yourself in a jazz ensemble expected to improvise a solo performance instead of participating in a three-part harmony. A good jobfit is like singing the right kind of music (the kind you like) with the right musicians (the ones you like).

Lesson #2: Play Your Own Music

Perhaps you have simply forgotten how to play your own music?
Like most bands, you learned very early that a band can make a living playing other people's songs. Then one day you woke up a complete stranger to yourself, feeling like an imposter.

Similarly, your right work hinges on your ability to write, record, and sell your own songs. Staying true to your authentic self, your vision, your values is not easy. It requires patience, persistence and courage. Most of us give up far too early, for good reasons—marriages, mortgages, duties, obligations, bills to pay. One of the most important things you can do is honor that place inside yourself where the sound of your own music is in harmony with who and what you are in terms of your right work.

Lesson #3: Good Marketing Trumps Good Talent

From the employer's perspective, talent at some point becomes a "given" and the real differentiating factor for making a hiring decision is much more precise. Leveraging that talent into a particular set of employerproblems, challenges, issues, pain points is what wins the job.

There are a lot of bands out there competing for your concert dollar. There are many ways to spend your money. They might be selling talent, but you’re buying something else--an experience.

The same thing happens in a job search. Employers are buying talent but there are lots of talented people in the marketplace. Your job is to make it as easy as possible for them to choose you.

Career consultants can make a big difference in the way you are marketed through your resume, your interview performance, your follow ups, your salary negotiation, your probationary period.

Lesson #4: Listen When the Music Stops

For many people who lose their job, the music has stopped. Your first inclination is to try to make the same music again and again despite the fact that you don't even like the music. Instead, use this gift of time to LISTEN to the internal voices that can guide you in the right direction.

I understand the desire for job security. Many people are finding out, of course, that there is no real job security, and too often it comes at the price of losing the music inside us. Besides, job security and passion are not mutually exclusive—ask any successful musician.

All music begins in silence. Silence carries not only a message but the right answer. Read Nigel’s story, and how I helped him transition from a hi-tech career to a music therapist : http://www.jobjoy.com/SuccessStories-Details.php?ID=22

Your personal story is full of music, one that harmonizes with who and what you are in terms of your right work. There are dozens of jobs that align with your authentic self. All that is required is for you to slow down, listen for the rich sounds embedded in your stories, and follow the melody into a better job fit.