Invincible Career - Claim your power and regain your freedom

“Nothing is working. I can't find a job!”I was talking with an acquaintance about their job search strategy recently. They complained that nothing they had tried was working. They had written and shared articles on social media, but the engagement wasn't very good. They had searched for jobs but couldn't find what they were seeking. * I asked how many articles they had written. * They said, “Two.” * I then asked how long they had been searching for relevant job listings. * They said, “A week.”Okay, folks. I'm sorry, but sometimes, more effort and patience are required! We seem to have turned into an instant gratification nation. Ubiquitous internet access, fast smartphones, thousands of online services, and the rise of AI have made us all expect instant answers and results. But it doesn't work that way. Your easy access is everyone's easy access. Everyone is posting, sharing, commenting, and competing for attention. I've published over 1,000 posts/articles over the past eight years. I started writing on Medium in 2017 and launched my Substack newsletter in 2019. I slowly built a decent number of readers on both platforms, but only in the last three months did my subscriber numbers really grow! I have a lot of failings, but I do have some personality traits that help me. I'm very persistent and patient. I will keep grinding away at something for years and years. * I've been working out almost every day for the past 16 years, and it took at least 4 years of lifting weights 5 days/week before I started seeing decent results. * I've been building and running my businesses since 2010 (never returned to a job). * I've been writing something every single day for years and years and years. I'm stubborn, if nothing else. Perhaps there have been times I should have given up. I know there are times other people definitely would have given up because I've watched them do exactly that. When to be patientSometimes, you just need to be patient. Stop expecting instant success! * Networking takes time.* Building an engaged audience takes time. * Looking for a new job in a terrible market in a struggling economy takes time. If you've invested many years in your current career, you may need to be more patient. It can often take approximately one month for every year of experience to find a new job (e.g., a full year if you have 12 years of experience). Also, you may need to be patient if you have many commitments and change would disrupt them. For example, your family might depend on your income, and you don't want to take your kids out of their local schools, so you can't just quit your job or jump at a new opportunity that would require a move. If you have a job you don't love but the job market is terrible, you may need to be patient and ride it out. But you should still be looking around. Treat it as a validation exercise. * Are you being paid what you should be?* Are you at the level you should be?* Are you being given the opportunities you could be?* Is your manager more supportive and mentoring than what's available elsewhere? I guess my early career years are an example of being patient. I worked for almost 10 years before I got my big break and started landing promotions that moved me up the leadership ladder. When to pivotIf you feel you're spinning your wheels, not getting any real traction, or running out of time, you may need to pivot and change strategies. At some point, more patience won't help. Also, if you have already been impacted by a layoff or business failure, you may need to make a change to survive. The degree of change depends on your situation, how long you've been trying other options, and your desired outcome. How much you pivot your career depends on what's possible and what's necessary. * Small pivot - Find a new job with an employer in the same industry and vertical (this is what most people do). * Medium pivot - Find a job with an employer in the same industry but in a different vertical (e.g., ecommerce instead of gaming).* Large pivot - Find a job with an employer in a completely different industry (e.g., transportation instead of tech) or geography (e.g., a different country).* Massive pivot - Change professions entirely using your transferrable talents and skills (e.g., a good manager is a good manager in any business). Or build your own business! The size of your pivot depends on what you do for a living, how deeply your job or business has been impacted, and how serious you are about doing whatever it takes to survive and thrive in this economic downturn.➡️ I go into more detail about these pivots in the podcast audio. So, scroll up, hit play, and listen.

The Job Market Is FrozenThat was the recent headline of an Atlantic article. It reflects the baffling frustration many job seekers are feeling right now. “Six months. Five-hundred-seventy-six applications. Twenty-nine responses. Four interviews. And still, no job.”Already in 2025, we are seeing a flurry of firings and layoffs happening across the corporate world and now in the U.S. federal government, too. This means that an estimated 200K displaced workers will enter the job market and compete for scarce jobs. How scarce? Well, the pace of hiring has slowed to levels last seen shortly after the Great Recession. Also, voluntary quitting to find a new job has fallen to its lowest level in a decade. People are worried, so they're staying put (if they can). Employers are concerned about the economy, so they aren't hiring. The job market is frozen. And now, with the recent tariffs, the stock market tanked, consumer confidence is falling as threats of inflation rise, and some are whispering the word “recession.” All of this is influencing my outlook for job searchers. * The layoffs and firings will continue in the U.S. this year. * More job seekers will enter the market to compete with you. * Fewer jobs will be available in the U.S. because companies are freezing hiring. * Even if you do land a U.S. job, you may get laid off soon after. * The political and economic turmoil will continue to damage our economy. My recommendationIf you need a new job and can work remotely (or with some travel), I highly encourage you to seek employment with a company based outside the U.S. A few people misunderstood my recommendation when I suggested this recently in a Substack note. They assumed that employment with a non-U.S. company would always require moving to a new country. Yes, that could be a requirement, and some people don't mind it at all (e.g., a few of my clients and friends have relocated to other countries over the past few years). However, I also have clients and colleagues who work for international companies and still live in the U.S. Let me give you a few examples: * Atlassian has its global HQ in Sydney, Australia. But, several friends of mine worked for them in their San Francisco office. * IKEA was founded in Sweden and is incorporated and headquartered in the Netherlands. They're always hiring in their U.S. locations. * Rakuten is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, but it also has offices in San Mateo and San Francisco, California. * 1Password is based in Toronto, Canada, but they hire for remote positions, too (U.S. or Canada). * Located in Virginia Beach, VA, STIHL Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of the global STIHL Group, founded in Germany. * Finally, here are some top German companies doing business in the U.S. You can search for similar companies from any country you find interesting. Why international?Why do I recommend these companies headquartered outside of the U.S.? * They have diversified global teams that aren't trapped in our local political turmoil. * They have global revenue sources that aren't tied 100% to the U.S. economy. * They are not under the complete control of the U.S. federal government, and we've seen what happens when American companies bend the knee. * International companies are seeking and appreciate U.S. talent. The number of American workers hired by international companies grew 62% in 2023. My hope is these companies will be more willing to hire new employees than U.S. companies seem to be right now. Also, working for an international company opens up opportunities that could be interesting for you later. For example, a friend worked for an international company in one of their U.S. locations for many years. Then, they asked to be relocated to one of their offices in another country. Now, they live there permanently and have never been happier. Here are some resources to help you find a job with an international company. * 15 Best International Companies Hiring U.S. Remote Workers* U.S. workers are getting scooped up by international companies hiring remote roles* 30 International Companies Hiring* InternationalJobs.com* RemoteJob.io (look for non-U.S. employers)* We Work RemotelyOf course, your income taxes get a little more complicated when you have income from non-U.S. sources. So, check out this overview of U.S. taxes on foreign income for individuals. I also recommend talking with your accountant to ensure you appropriately handle reporting and tax payments. Working for an international company set up to hire in the U.S. (e.g., it has an incorporated presence here) means they should be handling reporting for you, but it's wise to verify. Additional complexity is never fun. But being out of work for a long time is even worse. So, if you are struggling to land a new job with a U.S. company in this crazy job market, consider opportunities beyond our borders.

We may feel powerless at times like these, but we are not. Over 70M people in the U.S. didn't want the outcome we are dealing with now. Millions more are now regretting choices made that enabled what is happening.However, if we unite, we become powerful. The coordinated focus of our time, energy, and money would have a massive impact on those who think we have no voice. We are familiar with the idea of voting with our dollars. We change our spending habits to favor one business over another, to show that we reject a corporation's policies, and to influence a company's actions. It happens all the time. But we also live in an online world that isn't about the money we spend with a company. Instead, it's about the time and attention we give to their platforms, services, and apps. We are the product. Our data, behavior, and clicks are harvested to feed their advertising platforms. We don't pay Meta to use Facebook, for example. But that corporation sure makes a significant profit from our time spent in the app. So, we can vote with our time and attention, too, not just our dollars. By deactivating or deleting our accounts, we can starve specific platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X). We can also feed other platforms that represent the values we believe in (e.g., Bluesky). Money talks. When a company loses enough advertising revenue, they take notice. They may decide to change their policies and actions before it's too late, and they lose everything. We have the power to make that happen if we are willing to redistribute our time and attention. We can decide how we spend our money, time, and attention. We get to choose the companies that we feel are aligned with our values. But there is another way to live your values and influence policy that we don't talk about as often: Where you work.You can also “vote” with your blood, sweat, and tears. Our jobs are where we spend a significant portion of our adult lives. Of course, we need to work to live. We must cover our bills, buy groceries, and pay for housing. But work is already hard enough without being completely miserable while we are doing it. And working for an employer that doesn't align with your values adds another layer of pain to the misery. Being selective about choosing an employer is undoubtedly a privilege that not everyone can enjoy. If you live in a small community with few employers and no options for remote work, you are stuck with few choices. I grew up in a tiny farm town like that. The online world hadn't been created yet, and few local employers existed. You took any job you could find. However, those who do have more options for their career paths can use this opportunity to research, plan, and select employment that:* Aligns with their values.* Supports their belief system. * Positions them for the future. * Gives them flexibility and resilience. This podcast episode discusses these points in more detail, so scroll up, hit play, and listen. In summary, you have more power than you think to help change this world and right wrongs. * You can vote with your dollars to help influence policy. * You can vote with your time and attention to make change happen. * You can vote with your blood, sweat, and tears to reward the right kind of employers with the precious remaining time in your career. You deserve a career and a job that makes you feel good about waking up on Monday mornings!

My guest for this episode is Sarah JanTausch, the Founder of SRJ Coaching and Consulting and creator of the Values-Based Career method. This method helps individuals unlock the hidden job market and ditch burnout while creating a career move rooted in their core values, ideal work style, and goals.Before starting her own business, she worked in politics and government, serving Ohio's Governor and lieutenant governor. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Master of Science in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University.About Sarah“I'm a speaker, trainer, and coach who works with individuals to create values-based careers. I also partner with organizations serving both students and job-seekers for the job market of the future. My specialties include career-pivots and generosity-based networking that makes creating genuine connections and growing your network feel almost completely effortless.Previously, I crafted my dream career working in politics and government. While serving Ohio's Governor and Lt. Governor in various leadership roles and advocating for effective public policy, I ran multimillion dollar programs and I led a team while overseeing statewide outreach. I earned my Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University where I majored in Politics & Government. As a mid-career professional, I went back to school to earn my Master of Science in Management and Leadership at Western Governors University. I am a member of the National and Ohio Career Development Associations (OCDA) and I currently chair the OCDA's government relations committee.Our total vocational impact includes more than just our day-to-day work. I love exploring and helping my clients define the impact they want to make on the world. For me, this includes a variety of volunteer roles I've held in my community, from volunteer board positions to spending approximately 15 years on political campaign work. I've worked on key issues including healthcare, substance abuse, education, and recreation. When I'm not working or volunteering, you can find me hanging out with my husband and our two cats Peanut Butter and Blaze or hitting up a local coffee house.”We talk about* How and why she pivoted her career even though she thought she had landed her dream job.* The surprising connection between a childhood passion and her solopreneur business.* A common mistake that many job seekers make.* How she works with her career coaching clients to uncover their values and find a job that is aligned with them.Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.Where to find Sarah* Her website* LinkedIn30 for $20! ☎️Schedule a call and get 30 minutes of coaching for just $20 on any career topic you want to cover. Save $177 off the regular price! Note: This offer is only available for new clients who haven't worked with me before.I'm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

My guest for this episode is Isabel Sterne, a writer, designer, and brand strategist who helps entrepreneurs and professionals build aligned brands. She offers LinkedIn visual design, content writing, marketing clarity calls, and monthly and project-based marketing and branding support.I always talk about treating your career like a business that sells a product called “you.” As such, you should invest in your professional brand and leverage LinkedIn to attract new opportunities. Before starting her own business, she worked for 12+ years in marketing and communications for global brands like Condé Nast and Effie Awards. She also has a B.Sc. in Communication from Cornell University.When I encountered Isabel on LinkedIn, I first noticed how funny her posts are. Then, I noticed how much engagement she was getting on those posts. She's humble about this, but I like to say that she's conquered LinkedIn. If you're not following her there, you should be!About Isabel​Isabel Sterne helps founders and solopreneurs develop their reputations and attract more opportunities on LinkedIn and beyond. She provides design, ghostwriting, and strategy support for those looking to level up their LinkedIn presence and be seen as the experts they are.Late identified as neurodivergent, she's also passionate about neurodiversity advocacy and raising awareness about the challenges and advantages of thinking differently.We talk about* How she became more active on LinkedIn after being burned out by layoffs.* Why she decided to start her consulting practice doing what she had always been doing for her employers (e.g., creating marketing content).* How she would have told her younger self to put herself out there more.* What she does to be so successful on LinkedIn by being more human and authentic.* The role of AI in content creation and mistakes people make with it.* How she helps her clients get more out of LinkedIn and social media.* The challenges of being neurodivergent in the workplace.Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.Where to find Isabel* LinkedIn* Substack* Her website30 for $20! ☎️Schedule a call and get 30 minutes of coaching for just $20 on any career topic you want to cover. Save $177 off the regular price! Note: This offer is only available for new clients who haven't worked with me before.I'm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

My guest for this episode is Emily Schneider, a visual storyteller specializing in presentation design. She helps businesses and corporate leaders confidently transform their messages into beautiful, effective presentations that genuinely resonate with their intended audiences.If you give talks and presentations, her advice is invaluable. Becoming comfortable with public speaking is one of the best investments I have made in my career. I was also lucky enough to receive advanced media training and present a lot during my last few years as a corporate executive. Learning how to tell a compelling story through your words and slides is essential if you want to persuade and inspire others. About Emily“​My passion for simplifying complex content has become a bit of a magical knack — blending storytelling with a keen design eye. I'm not just a designer; I'm a strategic collaborator, dedicated to helping businesses confidently transform their messages into beautiful, effective presentations that truly resonate with their intended audiences.​What started with pink pixelated swirls and a questionable font choice as the invitation for my sweet sixteen luncheon has morphed into a creative business venture. My nearly two decades spent in the marketing and branding space, combined with my passion to help simplify information for clients in a vibrant and compelling way, make me a perfect partner for your presentation needs.”We talk about* Her background as an art director, creative director, and director of brand strategy and marketing.* Why she decided to start her consulting practice.* How she helps companies with presentation design and storytelling consulting.* What people struggle with the most with presentations.* Where she focuses her business.* How she finds new clients.Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.Where to find Emily* Her consulting website* Emily's LinkedInDuring our conversation, I mentioned the book Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter) (my Amazon affiliate link). Check it out!30 for $20! ☎️Schedule a call and get 30 minutes of coaching for just $20 on any career topic you want to cover. Save $177 off the regular price! Note: This offer is only available for new clients who haven't worked with me before.I'm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

My guest for this episode is Maureen Wiley Clough. Maureen is the host of It Gets Late Early, a podcast and community of tech employees bringing awareness to the issues facing experienced workers and striving to create a better working world for all. I've talked about the issue of ageism in the tech industry before. I faced it myself a few times, and I witnessed discriminatory behavior during my decades-long career (e.g., during job interviews). I wrote a post on LinkedIn about embracing aging, which is how I met Maureen and got invited to her podcast. So, now she has returned the favor and joined me for this episode to talk about her mission to shine a light on ageism and find a better way to move forward in the working world as we all grow older. About MaureenMaureen built a successful career in tech. But as she looked around the Zoom room at her last early-stage startup, she was struck by the fact that the number of people over 40 were slim to none. When she realized she had observed a similar demographic makeup in her past roles at more mature organizations, she began to wonder about her ability to chart her own course in this sector for as long as she wanted - or needed - to be employed. She also recognized that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs had not focused on the issue of age, the one “ism” coming for all of us (and that's if we're lucky). So, she set out to start conversations with her peers and conduct research to understand reality and build towards a better, more inclusive future for all - no matter what your age.We talk about* When Maureen first encountered ageism in her career* Why she started her podcast “It Gets Late Early”* How ageism will affect all of us (if you're lucky to live long enough)* How age discrimination negatively impacts corporations* The unexpected ways ageism creeps into recruiting, hiring, and promotion practices* Why return-to-office hurts parents and older workers* What you can do to be better prepared as you advance in your career* How Maureen can help companies improve their recruiting practices, hiring policies, organizational policies, and more to help find and nurture great talent, regardless of ageScroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.Where to find Maureen * It Gets Late Early (website, podcast episodes, and newsletter)* LinkedIn * Instagram* Threads I'm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Do you have an enemy at work?Okay, maybe that's too strong of a word.

Have you experienced one of those one-way video interviews during a job search? It can feel a little intimidating to talk into your laptop camera, knowing it's recorded and you're not speaking live with another human being. I recently helped my son prepare for one of these interviews. We focused on three main strategies to ensure his readiness. * Analyzing the job description* Talking with current and past employees* Preparing for this new type of interview In this podcast episode (scroll up and hit play), I discuss each of these strategies in more detail. By the way, I recently launched a new Introductory Coaching Call → 30 minutes of coaching for just $20! Note: this service is only available as a onetime initial call. Check it out! I'm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

“I'm putting in long hours and working harder than ever. Why am I not getting promoted?”Do you know how many times I've heard that complaint? Sure, working harder than your peers can get you promoted during the early years of your career. But you will soon find that what got you where you are today won't get you where you want to be tomorrow. Most people play checkers with their careers. They hop around the board, marching ahead, step by step, and don't think more than one step ahead. The game board looks similar. In the early days of your career, you and the other pieces are making the same moves—trying to get head, space by space. But you eventually find out that strategy won't cut it. Your career growth is limited when you behave like a checker piece on the corporate chess game board. Unfortunately, many people experience that. They think more of the same will continue to move them ahead. * Working harder * Working longer hours * Taking on more workSadly, that is the path to stagnation and abuse. Yes, abuse. I've watched many people get used by their employers. Many managers love dumping work on the people who work hard, don't complain, and never ask for raises or promotions. So, if you want to avoid being stuck in checker mode, there are five things you must do:* Become a valuable chess piece* Use strategic long-term planning* Leverage pattern recognition* Make sacrificial moves when necessary* Play leadership chess, too1. Become a valuable chess pieceIf you want to play chess, you must qualitatively change how you work and transform the value you deliver. Leaders don't get promoted because they work harder than their peers. They get promoted because they think differently, add unique value, get results, and know how to make 1+1=3. World-class chess players don't randomly flail away moving pieces on the board. They never think one step ahead and hope things work out. So, stop behaving like an interchangeable checker piece. In the game of checkers, every individual piece has the same capabilities (i.e., hopping one space forward). You can easily be replaced if you are a commodity with the same skills as everyone else. Heck, maybe they can even find a cheaper piece to replace you! And if they can do that, they will. I watched that happen many times over the decades of my career. A senior employee was often replaced with a more affordable junior employee who could do the same work. I remember an executive saying, “Why should we pay this much for a U.S. employee? I can hire three designers in country XYZ for that salary.” A basic U.S. checker piece was often replaced with more affordable international pieces. Basic pieces were also frequently put on the inevitable layoff lists about every six months. However, the employees who had leveled up to provide unique strategic value were never replaced. Their cost was never questioned. Instead, they were assigned the best and most challenging projects. They were the ones promoted when the review cycles rolled around every year. I often ran into the unfortunately common belief that tenure will eventually lead to a promotion. Some employees thought they would keep moving up the career ladder if they stayed with the company long enough. I'm sorry, but higher-level promotions simply don't work that way. A pawn that has been with the company for 5 years—but still acts and performs like a pawn—won't be promoted to knight simply because of tenure. Level up and transform yourself, or be stuck where you are forever. 2. Use strategic long-term planningProfessionals who end up succeeding in their careers are thinking many, many steps ahead. They aren't simply focused on their next career move. They have a vision for where they want to be several years from now—sometimes even decades. Every move they make is intentional and sets them up for the next move and the next. They use strategic thinking instead of scattered and mindless hopping. One of my old colleagues and friends had a clear vision for where they wanted to end their career—as a C-level executive in a public company. Every move they made was deliberately planned to help them advance toward that goal. * New projects* New connection in their network* New skills and experiences* New domains* New jobs with the right employers* Seizing new opportunities when they appeared Over the years, I watched them make smart moves until they finally did land that C-level role. It was definitely a clever game of corporate chess, not checkers.

In this episode, I share an overview of my upcoming course. Play the audio to hear my description of each of the steps below.10 Steps to Prepare for a Successful Job Interview* Research your target employer* Identify their biggest problems* Map your expertise* Tune your resume, LinkedIn, etc.* Find your inside champions and connections* Prepare and rehearse* Setting the stage* How to crush your interview* Follow up* Maintain relationshipsBy the way, if you need some 1-on-1 coaching to help prepare for an interview, you can schedule time with me here.As I mentioned, this article's actual content is in the podcast audio. So, scroll up and hit play to hear it. Do you know someone who will soon interview for a new job? They might find this episode helpful! Hit the button below to share it with them. I'm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

No one ever said the job market was fair. That's even more true in the current economy which has been plagued with layoff after layoff. Now, in this race for a new job, some candidates are clearly driving race cars, while others are struggling to make it around the job search track with an underpowered engine or even a flat tire. Why is that? Let me play with this metaphor for a bit, starting with the diagram below. Note: I go into a lot more detail in the podcast recording. So, scroll up, hit play, and listen. You can think of “Capability” as the engine of the race car. It includes:* Talent* Skills* Knowledge* Experience“Drive” is one of the tires. It includes:* Grit* Determination* Persistence* Confidence* Consistency“Reputation” is the second tire. It includes:* Your professional brand* What people say about you* What you're known for* Your proof “Interview” is the third tire. It includes:* Your job interview process* Your interviewing skills* Communication skills* Presentation skills* Questions asked* Follow upFinally, “Champion” is the last tire. It includes:* Your inside champion* Inside connections * Inside influencersLighting it all up to get hiredThree of my clients and community members recently landed new jobs:* One leveraged networking, finding an inside champion, and my 1-on-1 coaching to create a new role that hadn't existed before. They also negotiated a higher level and a lot more compensation! * Another used networking, my coaching, and my Career Accelerator to land a job with a former colleague that was in the “hidden job market.” * Finally, the last person used my Career Accelerator, some of my coaching, and an inside champion to land a great new job in Silicon Valley.Weak engine of CapabilitySometimes, your engine is underpowered for the role you're seeking. I always encourage people to stretch themselves, but do so within reason. Flat tire of ReputationYou may have everything else going for you, but people know you're a pain to manage and worth with. The industry is always smaller than you think, and people talk. However, you can repair your reputation and get back in the game. Flat tire of DriveGrit and determination will often carry the day. But, if you lack confidence, don't consistently put in the work, and give up too soon, you'll find it hard to land jobs that others do. Flat tire of the ChampionI frequently talk about the power of having an inside champion. Champions, influencers, and insiders can tip the balance of a job interview in your favor. Just ask my clients who leveraged them to land great jobs quickly! But, if your Champion tire is flat, be prepared for a long, slow crawl in the job search race. Flat tire of the InterviewYou could have everything else set up, but still bomb the interview. No champion can save you if you don't prepare well enough. Your capabilities and reputation won't matter if you can't demonstrate your knowledge, experience, and wisdom while speaking with the interviewers. I don't care how much drive you have. It won't help if you can't communicate well, present well, and generally interview strongly. Winning the job search race Light up your engine, and all four tires, and you'll be well on your way to speeding around the track and landing your next great job! As I said earlier, most of the content of this article is in the podcast audio. So, scroll up and hit play if you want to hear it. I'm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

In this podcast episode, I share a sneak peek at my recent Invincible Career Job Search workshop I hosted on April 1st. In the previous podcast episode, when I shared a preview of the workshop, I talked quite a bit about the Connecting strategy. In this episode, I discuss positioning (e.g., LinkedIn, resume, cover letter) a little more and then dive into the Broadcasting strategy. If you want opportunities to come your way, the professional world has to know you exist. Enjoy!I'm Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

In this episode, I share an overview of the presentation materials to give you a sense of the 2-hour workshop I'll be hosting on April 1st. So, make sure to play the audio since I'm not including 2 hours of text material in this newsletter article.➡️ “Find a Better Job Using 3 Essential Job Search Strategies”The price for the workshop goes up again next week. So, if you're interested in joining us, grab a ticket now. Or, use the advice I share in this episode for free! ​⏰ This is the last time I will host my Invincible Career Job Search workshop this year. I won't offer it again until 2025! So, join us now or wait until then. ​Note: I record video of myself and the presentation, which I share with all the attendees after the workshop. So, if the time doesn't work for you to join us live, you will have the homework document and the video material to use later, just like a course. The Workshop Agenda* Who is this Larry Cornett person? * What's going wrong — with your job or job search? * Breakout discussion

This is one of the worst job markets I've experienced in quite some time. It seems like new layoffs are being announced every day. In this podcast episode, I talk more about what's going on, how to tell if a layoff might be coming, what to do about it, and how to get back into the game after one happens. I've linked some of my past articles you might find useful if you're concerned about a layoff or recently went through one. Have you ever considered starting a business to escape the stress of worrying about layoffs?I know that sounds strange, but that's exactly why I launched my first solopreneur business. I had just lost my job, needed to support my young family, and wanted more stability. So, I put my trust in myself instead of leaving it in the hands of a fickle employer. If that sounds interesting to you, I'm hosting my next live workshop on how to build a lifestyle business on Feb 26th!"Build a Lifestyle Business to Escape Your 9-5 Job"I'll record the workshop and share the video with you later. So, if the time doesn't work for you, you'll have the workbook exercises and video to use just like a course.Grab your ticket now, because the price goes up next week.Would love to see you there!Hi, I'm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

The most successful people in your industry and profession may not be better than you. They also may not be more intelligent, talented, or hardworking than you. However, I bet they are great at something most of us usually are not: Promoting themselves. Of course, self-promotion isn't enough. You do need a baseline of competence in your job. However, I think we've all noticed that management will promote someone who is good enough at their job — and great at getting noticed — more often than someone who might be even better at their job, but no one is aware of them or what they do.How did things turn out for you last year with your performance review? * Did your boss notice and appreciate your hard work? * Did they promote you? * Did you receive a significant raise? * Are you happy with the recognition you've received?Or did you get passed over for a promotion this cycle? Are you frustrated with working hard and doing all the right things but don't seem to get ahead at work?Well, that's why I write this newsletter and share my career advice. If you work hard and are good at what you do, you deserve to be treated well at work. That should be recognized and reflected in your compensation. I want you to be successful and happy, so I will share some advice to help you get ahead this year. Here are five things successful people tend to do better than most. Note that 3-5 tap into the self-promotion skill. * Focusing* They focus passionately on being great at something. * Helping * They help others and generate a lot of goodwill, which encourages reciprocity. * Networking * They network intelligently and consistently. * Marketing * They're good at capturing attention and converting it into opportunity. * Selling* They understand that selling is all about building relationships and solving people's problems. Let's dive into each one of these in a little more detail. FocusingIf you're a jack-of-all-trades, becoming an expert at anything is challenging. Yes, our jobs require a wide range of knowledge, skills, and tasks, but there should always be a primary focus. The folks who rise to the top know how to focus their time and energy on what matters the most for their job. They do everything they can to improve at that one thing (e.g., sales, writing clean code, elegant design, strategic thinking, relationship building, persuasion, writing, playing guitar, statistical analysis, research, etc.). What is the one thing that represents excellence in your profession? Note: this will change as you climb the career ladder. What got you to your current level will not take you to the next level. For example, I started my tech career as a designer. Doing great design work efficiently and effectively got me promoted to more senior levels as an individual contributor. However, as I moved into design management, my design skills were no longer what made me stand out. Effective leadership was much more important than my ability to design interfaces. Now, this doesn't mean you can drop the ball on the many requirements of your job beyond the “one thing.” But don't ever prioritize those over your most important focus area. I've seen people do that (e.g., an engineering manager writing great code but doing a poor job of managing the team), and then they wonder why they're no longer getting promoted. Helping The most successful people help other people succeed. It creates a virtuous cycle. Rising to the top of your career ladder by climbing over the bodies of your fallen colleagues isn't a smart strategy. I think we all know some people who have done that. But, eventually, those chickens come home to roost, and these people fail. Industries are small, and people talk. The selfish folks soon find that no one wants to hire or work with them. Be generous with your time and advice. Obviously, don't overdo this to the point where your work or personal life suffers. But help when and where you can. For example, I spent about ten years helping people with their career issues and connecting them with potential employers for free. Friends, old colleagues, and connections in my network would reach out, and we'd meet over coffee or lunch to discuss their career goals. Fast forward ten years, and I started a career coaching business to help even more people and make it my primary focus. Many of my first clients were the same people I'd helped in the past. Many of those people referred more potential clients to me. People like to help people! And the most successful people make it part of their lives. NetworkingIntelligent networking creates opportunities. You shouldn't only do it when you need a new job. Thanks to my network: * I landed every single one of my tech jobs. * I've been invited to speak at events (some were paid engagements). * I've been invited to participate in panels and speak on podcasts. * People reached out to hire me for consulting engagements. * I found talented people to hire for my teams. * Founders and CEOs asked me to sit on their boards.* People hired me to be their career or business coach.* I've made some amazing and ambitious friends who help me grow my business. Your network is one of your most valuable resources if you build it wisely, protect it, and nurture it. Nurturing your network means keeping it fresh with consistent contact.* Send people interesting articles. * Pull folks into the right conversations. * Support each other on social media (e.g., like, comment, share). * Send job opportunities to your acquaintances. * Refer business to your solopreneur friends. * Reach out to catch up over Zoom, coffee, or lunch. * Check-in to see what folks have been up to. The most successful people treat their network well. They balance giving and taking. They introduce good people to good people. They build communities and engage with other communities. Marketing Marketing did not come naturally to me, and I still struggle with it as an introvert. Most modern marketing means spending time on social media, creating videos, and writing content. Lots and lots of content. However, writing is the one thing I do enjoy (hence this newsletter). And it has helped me grow my business and find new clients. The most successful people are great at marketing. They know how to capture attention and convert it into a useful opportunity. They pay attention to psychology and learn what people like. What gets clicks. What turns attention into conversion. People in the broader industry should know who you are, what you do, and how amazing you are — beyond the walls of your employer. I always talk about how important that is. If you want to become an opportunity magnet for the best things in life, people need to be aware of your existence! But marketing also applies inside the corporate walls. People inside your company need to know who you are, too. I know it's hard to talk about yourself and promote yourself. It feels icky for many of us. So, don't! Instead, talk about the work, the team, and the mission of what you're doing. When you promote the great work you and your colleagues are doing, the spotlight also shines on you. Smart leadership will recognize that you're behind the work, and you'll get a chance to show people how you think. Promotions happen when you're great at what you do, and the right leaders know about you. Don't be shy!Selling“Oh, but I don't work in Sales.”Yeah, I used to think that, too. I was a designer and wanted to be left alone to do my job. I didn't need to learn anything about sales, right? Besides, the idea of “selling” made me feel dirty. When I was younger, I briefly held telemarketing jobs and did door-to-door sales. I hated it. So, for most of my early career, I deliberately avoided anything that felt like sales or marketing. What I learned later — and wished I had fully understood earlier — is that many things in life require being good at sales. * Interviewing for a new job. * Negotiating your job offer. * Asking for a raise. * Asking for a promotion. * Selling your cool idea to management. * Persuading coworkers that you're right about something. * Convincing others about a mutually beneficial opportunity.* Launching a new business and finding your ideal customers. The most successful people in life are pretty damn good at sales. They know what they want, they know that persuading other people is a necessary part of life and getting what they want, and they know how to do it well so everyone feels good about it. Sales doesn't have to be a dirty word. What are you going to do?If any of this sounds like something you need to work on, the question is:What are you going to do about it? What will you change this year to get better at these five things so you can be more successful in your career and life? It's time to set a goal and make a plan to make it happen. On that note, my goals workshop Achieve Success with the Invincible Goals System is coming up in less than 2 weeks! The first 25 people who use this coupon code get 25% off: N468OAHope to see you there! I'm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

This year, I spent hundreds of hours researching and writing newsletter articles — and recording podcast episodes — to share with you. I listed the top 10 below.If you found my advice and articles helpful this year and would like to support my continued writing and podcasting next year, please consider upgrading to a premium membership that also grants you access to:* My private Invincible Career community of ambitious professionals (from entry-level to executives). Note: I now offer a lifetime community membership option for folks who aren't crazy about subscriptions. Pay once, and I'll invite you into my private Slack community, where you can stay for as long as you want!* Live 1-hour workshops throughout the year. This is a value of more than $500! * Weekly exercises delivered to your inbox to support the new monthly workshops. * Exclusive office hours every Monday with the other premium subscribers and me.

Why do some people hear about opportunities before you do? * Are they that much smarter than you? * Are they liked more than you?* Are they better than you?Before you get angry with me, let me say it's probably none of the above. When this happens, it's usually because: * More people know who they are. * More people see their work. * People think about them. But why are more people thinking of them more often? Well, the answer lies in a lesson about how memory works. The big “neural network” of your personal connections behaves much like the smaller neural network in our brains. Two things are at work: * Long-term potentiation* The Priming EffectPeople who are receiving more consideration and opportunities are lighting up and frequently strengthening connections between nodes in their network. Let me be nerdy for a minute and remind you of the neuroscience you probably learned in high school. Long-term potentiation Long-term potentiation boosts neural pathways to facilitate the transmission of signals and the creation of long-term memories. This occurs when more activity between neurons boosts neurotransmitter production, increases receptor formation, and builds stronger synaptic connections. Yes, that is a simplified explanation, so don't come at me if you're a neuroscientist.

“Staying employed at the same company for over two years on average is going to make you earn less over your lifetime by about 50% or more.” — Cameron KengYou may be underpaid if you've stayed with your current employer for longer than two years. Consider the following chart. On average, people who change jobs see bigger increases in their income. Haven't you noticed this in your career? When you took a new job, you probably enjoyed a nice bump in title and compensation (you negotiated, right?). But, the longer you stayed with an employer, you noticed the annual raises weren't nearly as impressive. Luckily, I experienced this early in my career, and it influenced how I thought about changing jobs for the next ~15 years. I was working for a pretty amazing company that was, unfortunately, going through some hard times. So, even though I was told I was performing well, I received a tiny raise during the review cycle. A couple of weeks later, I was approached by a startup, thanks to my network. I decided it never hurts to talk and interview to see what they had to say. They gave me a sweet offer that was more than a 50% bump to my compensation. I accepted and put my lifetime earning potential on a new trajectory. It was a valuable lesson that I never forgot, and now I share it with all of my clients. Your biggest bumps in level and compensation will most likely happen when you start a new job. I was a manager and leader inside some of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley. Many of my friends became leaders, as well. We talked about this issue. Once an employee is “inside the machine,” it's hard to compensate them more than HR policies will allow. There's only so much you can do, and exceptions are extremely hard to get approved. We often ended up in a terrible situation where we would make a job offer to a candidate with much better compensation than an equivalent internal employee was currently being paid. It's pretty messed up! So, I know that intelligent job hopping can increase your lifetime earning potential. But let me be clear about something. You should not change jobs just to change jobs. By all means, if you're in a good situation, stay!* If you're receiving promotions every year or so, stay and climb the ladder as long as you can. * If you're receiving big raises every year or so (way above the cost of living increases), stay. * If your compensation is much better than you'd receive from a prospective employer, stay. How do you find out about this? Always be interviewing! * If you love your job, boss, and coworkers and you don't care about making more money or getting promoted, stay in your comfort zone. Some people prefer that. However, a big problem with not making more money is inflation is still pretty high in the U.S. That means you're essentially taking a pay cut if your compensation doesn't stay ahead of inflation. Your dollar is weaker than it was before. The current annual inflation rate for the 12 months ending this September is 3.7%. It's lower than 2022, which is kind of surprising given how much the cost of goods has exploded. Have you been grocery shopping lately? So, if your income isn't increasing to keep pace with inflation and the growing cost of living, you're falling behind. Today's dollar is worth less than it was a year ago. If you aren't receiving a sizable raise that exceeds inflation, you're actually making less money every year because the dollar isn't as valuable. It's as if your annual salary was reduced by thousands. And, due to the rising costs of almost everything, it is getting harder to make ends meet. You should ask for a promotion or raiseOf course, you should always have a household budget and strive to reduce your expenses. You know I'm an advocate for living more simply and curbing extravagant spending. That's one reason I left the Bay Area of California. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't maximize your earning potential at the same time. If you want to get ahead and live a better life, you must ask your employer for the compensation you deserve. Some people are comfortable requesting raises and promotions every year (Note: You shouldn't expect a promotion every single year). I had a few employees like that. But most folks don't like to push or pitch themselves. Instead, they hope their hard work will speak for itself and their manager will do the right thing.But I'm here to tell you that waiting and hoping is a risky strategy. Not every employer looks out for their employees. Not every boss is going to fight for you. Many employers try to keep their expenses down, and, for most businesses, salaries are the most significant expense. If an employer has many employees, reducing raises by a few percentage points can translate to millions in savings. I want you to get comfortable with having a conversation with your manager about your performance every year before the employee review process begins. For many companies, this happens in late Q4 and early Q1. If you wait until the decisions have been made, it is too late. I also want you to feel good about asking for a promotion (and the associated raise) when you know you are performing at the next level and deserve it. I want you to feel confident asking for the raise you should receive every year to keep pace with inflation and cost of living increases. * Be professional.* Be prepared.* Don't feel shy.* Don't be nervous.* Don't feel “greedy.”When you are providing value to your employer, you deserve commensurate compensation in return. And, if your employer doesn't understand that, it's time to find a new job with an employer who will pay you fairly. CaveatThe current job market isn't that great. So, be respectful about this process, and don't risk losing your job. You should always be looking for your next opportunity. It's easier to push for a raise or promotion when you know you could easily land a new job quickly. But if you have doubts about that, tread carefully. Prepare for the conversationHere we are in Q4, and the Fall weather reminds us that winter is coming. It is also a reminder that something else will be happening soon.Your annual performance review.Now, not every company has its annual performance reviews at the end of the year or the beginning of the next one. However, I know many do.I also know most people put off writing their personal performance reviews until the last minute. Then, they scramble to gather information, ask people for input, and remember everything they did during the year.Don't be that person.Start capturing information and notes for your review now. Doing this gives you plenty of time to prepare by spending a few minutes on the task each day.Go back through your calendar for the year. Review the meetings that you attended. Doing this will jog your memory for a few activities and accomplishments that you may have forgotten.Similarly, review your email inbox and other messages. Quickly scroll through starting at the beginning of the year, or search for key phrases. Most of the messages won't be that useful or will look familiar. However, a few will jump out at you and remind you of projects, achievements, and other work you did during the year.As you start writing your review, gaps will appear and help you create a to-do list of information you need to gather and conversations with people you may need to have. That's normal. It sure is better to start this process now vs. waiting until it is too late.A performance review is your opportunity to ask for that raise or promotion. So, capture as much quantitative data as possible to support your case (e.g., that project you worked on increased sales by 23%).* Know your internal value (e.g., prepare several quantitative examples of how you're helping the company succeed).* Know your market value (i.e., what your compensation could be with a new employer). You also need to understand what the expectations are for the level above you. Please tell me that your department has a levels and expectations document (e.g., a senior individual contributor is expected to demonstrate ABC and do XYZ). Hopefully, you've been focused on clearly performing at that level this year. It's also essential to demonstrate proof that you are operating at that level. It's hard to justify a significant raise if no one is aware of what you are doing. Don't expect your manager to take your word for it either. Have proof.However, I stand by my belief that you still deserve a raise that keeps pace with inflation if your performance is meeting expectations. Don't settle for less.Of course, some of your accomplishments will have to be qualitative. That's OK, too. It helps to gather feedback from your coworkers. A few positive quotes always improve your review (e.g., “Susan saved our project from disaster. We couldn't have finished on time without her help!”).As I've mentioned in the past, bosses often forget all of the details of what you have accomplished. They don't remember all of the work you did during the year. Writing your detailed review may make all the difference between a small raise and a much more significant raise or promotion.I often talk with my clients about maximizing their earning potential during their long-term careers. To successfully negotiate raises and promotions — and you should be prepared to negotiate — you have to demonstrate that your value to the organization is continuously increasing.In other words, if you continue to do the work you've always done at the level of contribution expected for your current level, that is not enough. That is called “meeting expectations.” You may get a minimal raise as a cost-of-living increase (e.g., 2–3%), or you may receive nothing (which means your compensation is actually decreasing).The business of your careerI wish I had known earlier in my career how important it is to treat your career like a business. This is what I recommend to all of my clients.You can't just put your head down and work hard within the walls of your company, hoping that a good boss will always recognize your contribution and value and commensurately reward you. You have to market yourself, just as a business markets its products. The world needs to know that you exist!I work with so many talented people who have virtually no presence online or at real-world events either. They are so busy working hard — and living their lives — that they haven't bothered to put themselves out there. They haven't spent much time networking, public speaking, or writing.Like any business that wants to succeed, you need to market the “business of you.” Find ways to demonstrate your expertise and talent outside of the office. Show the world what you know and how you think.This boosts your perceived value, generates inbound interest from potential employers (or clients), and shows your current employer that they have competition for your talent.Be visibleBeing more visible is hard for many people, especially those of us who are a bit introverted. It requires that you find a way to share your knowledge and insights publicly.You can create blog posts, write on sites like Medium, get interviewed on podcasts (or create your own), share your thoughts on social media, create videos (e.g., on Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo), etc.Creating this content generates inbound interest in you. Being in demand is one way to always know your value and have negotiating power.Some of my most talented employees, who were also good at marketing themselves, received unsolicited job offers every week. They didn't have to hunt for work.Jobs came to them, and they always knew their value. They weren't shy about asking for raises and promotions because they knew they had options.Note, I am not saying they used job offers as leverage to threaten me. I highly recommend that you never use that approach with your manager.Instead, we would honestly discuss and evaluate job offers they had received. We'd talk about the pros and cons of taking the offer vs. staying. Sometimes, I had insight into that company and who their potential boss and colleagues would be.If it genuinely seemed like a fantastic opportunity with no hidden gotchas, who was I to stand between them and a great chance to advance their career much more quickly than they could with me?Be in demandAsking for a raise or promotion is so much easier when you know that you are clearly delivering value above and beyond your current level.You're not asking for special treatment with a chance to prove yourself later. You have already proven that you are worth that investment.When you are known and in demand, you are constantly receiving data that confirms your value. Putting yourself out there allows the right people to be aware of you and find you.Sooner or later, someone will want to talk with you about an opportunity. There is nothing wrong with having conversations with people who are interested in hiring you.It's good practice to interview with the few that are of particular interest. If your current job, compensation, and career path all still seem great in comparison to something new, then, by all means, stick with your current job!However, if your current manager and company don't recognize and compensate you appropriately for your value — and a new company will — then it's time to seriously consider an offer from that company. My most significant jumps in earning potential always happened when I took a new job.But don't be hastyThe grass isn't always greener, so take the time to evaluate any new opportunity deeply. You don't want to be hasty and jump ship only to regret it later. It's also more challenging to find a new job in this market. The layoffs are continuing. I have always used a spreadsheet to compare different opportunities on dozens of factors quantitatively (comment to let me know if you're interested in this spreadsheet). It helps me remain a bit more objective, although emotion can't help but play a role too. Sometimes, you are really excited about a new opportunity or really upset about something going on in your current job.Regardless of whether you decide to stay in your current job or pursue something new, you should be compensated appropriately for the value you bring to an organization.When you know that you are delivering above and beyond your current job level, have an honest conversation about your expectations and ambitions with your manager. If you never ask for something, you may never receive it!My Invincible Career community can help Members of my community have used our advice and support to find better jobs and receive promotions. For example, one person received a 10x return on his investment when he landed a new job with a much higher salary.  We all want to be compensated as much as possible for our time and effort. We all want to find work that we enjoy.However, we sometimes get stuck and find ourselves blocked without a clear path ahead. When this happens, it's easy to get tunnel vision and feel like there's no way to escape a bad job or get paid what we are worth.That's why it helps to join a friendly and supportive community of people who have been there and done that. We can help you explore options, prepare for your job search, practice job interviews, and hold you accountable for making progress.“After a year of receiving poor advice from recruiters and design professionals, it wasn't until I joined Larry's group where my career started to head in the right direction. The advice I received from Larry and other professionals in his community was instrumental in improving my resume, portfolio, increased my results in interviews, and even got me into writing. I have been very fortunate to have Larry as a mentor, and I can't recommend joining his Invincible Career community enough.”— Christopher SchuttThe weekly check-ins and the accountability to the group have helped many people overcome obstacles. More importantly, it encourages you to invest in yourself and your happiness and fulfillment.If you are feeling stuck and nothing is working, lean on us and let the community help you break free. ➡️ Learn more about my community… ⬆️ Scroll to the top if you want to listen to my more detailed reading of this article

Let me start by saying I'm using a metaphor here. I haven't hunted since I was a teenager in the Midwest. I love animals, so please don't take my talk of “hunting” literally and miss the advice I'm trying to share in this article. Human beings have been acquiring food to survive for millions of years. We've used a combination of active/direct and passive/indirect methods to find the animals and plants we eat. * Actively hunting, scavenging, and gathering food in the moment. * Building traps, nets, etc,. to capture animals and recover them later. * Planting crops to harvest much later. Many modern-day humans have transitioned to a very different model of acquiring the meals we need. We work in jobs, get paid, and use that money to purchase food in grocery stores. However, oddly enough, we can still leverage the three methods of hunting, trapping, and planting to gain what we now need to survive: a job. We even use the phrase “job hunt” to describe this process, which is rather telling. Many job seekers focus almost exclusively on the hunt. They do everything necessary to hunt for a job actively (e.g., applying online and sending resumes). But they ignore the other two powerful methods of capturing and harvesting opportunities for the future. This is a mistake you don't want to make. Only hunting for a job when you desperately need one is a risky move. People often make hasty decisions when the clock is ticking. You'll be more empowered, less stressed, and more successful if you also trap potential opportunities and plant seeds that will yield an evergreen harvest of interest in you. You should always be looking for new and better opportunities, and methods 2 and 3 are much better suited for that. When I work with clients who need a new job immediately, I recommend combining all three strategies with an emphasis on 1 and 2. But when a client is still employed and seeking a better job, I prefer emphasizing 2 and 3 with a careful use of 1. 1. HuntingHumans fed themselves and their tribes by hunting and gathering, dating as far back as 2 million years ago. They actively searched for whatever they could find to survive. They couldn't passively wait around and hope food would land in their laps. Instead, they sought an immediate fulfillment of their needs. Hunting is a valuable strategy when you need a quick solution to an urgent problem. You need a job ASAP! However, I recommend a targeted approach vs. the clumsy “spray and pray” I see many job seekers using now. I've read more than one account of people applying for hundreds of jobs online and blasting their resumes to everyone they can find. Big surprise, it doesn't work. One person lamented, “I applied to a hundred jobs and didn't get a single request for an interview.”Instead, I ask my clients to be laser-focused on the job they want and the employers they find most interesting. * What is your ideal next role? * Who is your ideal next employer?* Who is your ideal next boss?You should have only 1-3 roles in mind for your next job. For example, you may ideally want a job as a Lead Designer, but you'd also accept a Senior Designer role if you were really excited about the opportunity. Be clear about the job you want and focus your sales pitch on selling yourself as the ideal candidate. If you have a dozen roles in mind, your resume and LinkedIn will be all over the place and won't appeal to hiring managers and recruiters. Focus! Similarly, you should have perhaps 3-10 employers in mind for your next job. Be picky with the hunting strategy. Create a list of ideal employers, start tracking down the potential hiring managers, and find a way to get a warm introduction. The market isn't great for job seekers right now. Employers have their pick of thousands and thousands of candidates. Stack the deck in your favor and get introduced to hiring managers and recruiters. Find your inside champion, who will help shepherd you through the interview process. This makes all the difference in the world! It certainly helped me land all the jobs I had during my tech career. Now, it's time to move on to one of my favorite ways of lighting up your network to help find you a job. 2. TrappingAbout 9,000 years ago, humans began building traps to capture prey. Instead of actively hunting, we used these more sophisticated traps and nets to serve as an extension of our capabilities. Think of it as an early creation of systems to automate food procurement. Now, instead of being limited to what you and your tribe could actively hunt during waking hours, you could deploy traps to work for you 24x7 in a more scalable way. Similarly, you can deploy “nets” to attract and secure interest in you and your capabilities 24x7 in a more scalable way than panicking and scrambling to find a job at the last minute. When you activate key helpers in your network, each expands your reach and ability to trap new opportunities. They'll help you capture things you never could on your own. But the activity is still targeted. Your friends know who you are and what you are seeking. Contrast this with people who indiscriminately toss their net to the four corners of the earth. Their net gets stretched thin and tangled up in everything that comes by while a prime catch slips past. I ask my clients to reengage and reactivate their networks, which I'll recommend to you, too. It's essential to do this from a place of honestly wanting to reconnect, since you shouldn't only reach out to people when you need them for something. You can't just contact people when you want to use them for an introduction or a job. No one likes that. Resist the urge to add, “Oh, by the way. Can you also do me a favor and introduce me to Susan, the hiring manager for an open position at the company?”Of course, during the conversation, your friend may naturally ask you, “So, what are you up to these days?”If they do, you can mention what you're doing now and what your plans are (e.g., “I'm working at company ABC. But, I'm actually considering my next move. It's time for a change.”)When you light up your network, you now have dozens of people recognizing opportunities for you, bringing your name up when someone is hiring, and keeping their eyes open for a job that seems like a good fit for what you are seeking. These “nets” are capturing and sending you jobs to pursue. Sometimes, they'll be able to make the warm introduction you need. This brings us to one of the most powerful methods, which is a gift that keeps on giving for years and years and years. 3. PlantingBesides hunting and trapping, humans also discovered the power and scale of agriculture. But farming requires more patience. Planning, investment, and work upfront to plant crops will only yield a bountiful harvest later (i.e., not tomorrow or even next week). When you plant an apple tree, for example, it can take around five years to mature. But it will then provide you with fruit for several years, thanks to that initial investment. Content creation and marketing is the last strategy I recommend for my career coaching clients and even job seekers. Planting the seeds from your excellent mind won't land you a job immediately, but it will provide examples of your knowledge, expertise, way of thinking, and point of view on things relevant to your profession. More importantly, as you create and publish hundreds of articles over the years, your harvest will yield evergreen inbound interest in you. * I've written 493 newsletters for Invincible Career. * I've published 92 episodes of my podcast. * I've written 228 articles on Medium. * I've tweeted over 18,000 times. * I've created over 170 videos.It's pretty amazing when a potential new client reaches out to me after reading an article I wrote seven years ago. I spent a couple of hours planting that “little seed” seven years ago, and it continues to bear fruit and attract people even today. When you consistently put yourself out there day after day, month after month, and year after year, your harvest may come long after you've forgotten that you planted the seeds. But this is how you create an invincible career. You want everyone to know who you are and how great you are. You want to become an opportunity magnet through trapping and—especially—planting, so you don't feel forced to scramble and hunt for your next job. Hi, I'm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Have you ever worked for a showboat? That's the kind of leader who wants all the attention. They lead from the top down and expect everyone to get in line behind their vision of the future. They're not usually open to hearing new ideas from the organization below them. Showboat leaders are incredibly charismatic figures. So, it's not surprising that they rise to the top. * They have a grand vision. * They speak well. * They are great on stage. But it's all about them. They tend to use the company as a stepping stone to a higher platform. Over the decades of my experience in the corporate world, I've watched more than a few showboat leaders move up and on into politics. Even becoming a CEO does not satisfy their ambition. They want a larger stage, more power, and more people hanging on their every word. As long as your showboat leader has the right vision and strategy, your organization can succeed—if you and your team execute well. We can all think of a few companies with visionary genius CEOs who are more than happy to take all the credit for the company's success. However, we also know it wouldn't have been possible without the thousands of employees making that vision a reality. There is an enormous risk with this type of leader. They leave a hollow organization behind when they walk away. They build nothing that lasts without their presence because they've never allowed their team to flex their own “vision muscles.” Of course, there is a time and a place for visionary leadership. Startups and small companies need a strong leader at the top to chart the course and focus everything around a singular vision. But, as companies mature and grow, they need a different type of leadership. You want a robust, diverse organization full of leaders who enable their teams to grow, thrive, and reach their full potential. You need managers who lift the entire team, not just themselves. Why would you ever want to encourage a fragile organizational system that collapses when the showboat leader vanishes? I once received feedback that I think was intended to be criticism. The person essentially said:“You focus too much on getting the best out of your people. You seem really good at identifying and nurturing talent, but I want more vision from you.”Oh boy, that sounds terrible. How dare I focus on the incredible intelligence and talent within my team so that over 100 people were operating at 100% of their potential? Yes, I should have focused on myself and tried to become the next Steve Jobs.

My guest for this episode is Tim Yeo (@timyeo on Twitter). Tim coaches introverts to have impact and influence without pretending to be extroverts at The Quiet Achiever. He is currently Design Director @ IBM, helping Enterprise clients transform their businesses with enterprise scale at startup speed. In IBM, Tim focuses on DesignOps for the Customer Transformation design practice in Australia.Previously, Tim was the first UX and Design leader at fintech startups @Finder, @OFX and @Prospa where he hired, established and scaled design teams from scratch. Best known for saying complex things simply. He's also a keynote speaker, bookbinder and currently living the nomad life with no permanent address in Adelaide, Australia with his partner and the fluffiest Old English Sheepdog ever. We talk about* Introversion and job searching, job interviews, and getting noticed* How to be an introvert and still get ahead in your career* The kind of coaching Tim does with introverts. * The workshops Tim teachesWhere to find Tim* The Quiet Achiever* Twitter* LinkedInThank you for reading Invincible Career®. This post is public so feel free to share it.Hi, I'm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

My next live fireside chat with Q&A will be on Monday, June 26th. Join us to talk about careers, job searches, job interviews, offer negotiation, professional growth, and more! I want to thank the folks who gave me feedback about how to keep improving this newsletter. I've already incorporated some of it and made changes. One excellent piece of feedback from Michelle was to be more inclusive with my career advice and not always talk about tech jobs, for example. Many folks work hourly 9-5 jobs (i.e., not on salary) and blue-collar jobs. They also want to leverage their skills to land better-paying jobs, get promoted, etc.I spent many years of my life working in jobs like that before I ended up in tech. The good news is some strategies will help you get ahead in any job in any industry (e.g., IT, retail, restaurant, construction, manufacturing, health care, etc.). During my previous non-tech career, I found ways to get promoted and land better jobs. I also sat on the other side of the table as a supervisor and leader, so I know who performed well and got ahead vs. those who did not (and occasionally got fired). Here is an overview of my twisting career path and various jobs. It doesn't include every job, believe it or not. * As a child, I had a paper route, operated a lemonade stand, mowed lawns, sold magazines door to door, and did farm work. * During high school, I worked at a grocery store (e.g., stocking shelves and bagging groceries), mowed lawns and other yard work, and did some farm work on the side. * I joined the military to help pay for my college education, went through Army Basic Training in Fort Knox, and ended up in the National Guard for many years, first as a tank gunner and then as an ambulance medic. * I also worked at fast-food restaurants, was an engraver at a trophy shop, worked in receiving and stocking at Kmart, held a temporary job at a road construction company, and became a night security guard.* While I was finishing up college, I ended up working almost full-time as a police dispatcher. When I worked in a job long enough, I often received promotions. Looking back, some lessons I took away helped me with the rest of my career. I hope some of this advice will be useful for you, too. Be good at what you doI know this advice sounds obvious. But I've encountered many folks who expect raises and promotions when they're still not very good at their jobs. Some people think that time on the job is all that matters, which is not true. Other people think they should get raises simply because they need the money. Sorry, business doesn't work that way, either. * “Hey, I've been working here for a year. Isn't it time for a promotion?”* “My rent went up, so I need a raise.”If you demand more money when you're not that good at your job yet, don't be surprised if your employer replaces you with someone else. You must be competent and provide solid value if you want a raise. You want your employer to worry about losing you. You must perform better than your current position if you want a promotion. I've mentioned this before. No employer wants to promote someone and hope they'll be able to handle the new responsibilities. It doesn't end well if it doesn't work out. That's how folks get demoted or fired. I once worked for a company that provided awards, medals, trophies, plaques, etc. I started as a trophy assembler. Exciting, huh? But I was fast, competent, and showed up for work on time. Plus, I didn't break trophies and damage expensive materials like some folks did (e.g., when they drank too many “complimentary beers” from the fridge). One day, my boss asked if I was willing to learn how to run a computerized engraving machine. I said, “Yes,” and demonstrated that I was a fast learner. That resulted in a promotion and raise. Keep learning and growing If you're ok with a job just being a job, then you may not worry too much about your professional development. Maybe your job just pays the bills, and you focus your energy and passion on something outside of work (e.g., writing books, making art, playing in a band). However, if you are ambitious and want to move up, you must always seek opportunities to acquire new skills, knowledge, and experience. Some employers will have programs to support this growth and invest in you. For example, one of my employers was a university, and I could take courses at a discounted rate. Take advantage of perks like this! If your employer doesn't provide learning and training programs, invest in yourself. Set a career goal, make a plan (see below), and find ways to educate yourself. I had a guest on my podcast a few years ago who did just that. Sam Sycamore was a landscape carpenter worried about his future financial security and physical health. So, he taught himself web development every night after work. He eventually landed some gigs and changed his career forever. He's now a developer relations engineer, making much more money than before, and he's much happier. Be reliable Reliability is one of those things you think should go without saying. Of course, you should be a reliable and dependable employee. We instilled this in our children as they entered the working world. It was funny to see them being appreciated by their managers and kept on board even as the companies let other employees go. It was true during my previous jobs, as well. I often got promoted simply because I was one of the few who always showed up for their shifts. I also lasted longer in many of my jobs than those who kept quitting every few months. For example, I was “promoted” to squad leader during Army basic training, mostly because I wasn't a screw-up. * I listened and paid attention. * I executed orders. * They could trust me to get work done without a lot of oversight. Later, during my service in the National Guard, they promoted me to platoon sergeant for similar reasons. * I showed up for duty, and I showed up on time. * I didn't show up drunk or high (or fail drug tests). * I worked hard and got things done without trying to get out of tasks, sneak off to take a nap, or disappear before a job was done. This strategy seems obvious, but you'd be surprised by the number of employees who fail at the following. If you want to get ahead at work, your boss should be able to count on you to:* Show up for the shifts you're scheduled to work. * Show up to work on time. * Do the work you're supposed to do. * Complete your work on time with quality. * Tell people if you'll miss work (e.g., sick) or show up late. Don't be a painWe've all worked with people who were a thorn in the manager's side. I've worked in a variety of industries for all kinds of employers. I've seen some pretty crazy stuff. For example: * We had a random drug test once, and some guys were freaking out and trying to leave. Apparently, they were at a party the night before and had snorted a lot of cocaine. Yeah, that didn't end well. * Another person I worked with would bring a tumbler of coffee to work daily, which was heavily laced with scotch (we all could smell it). * A couple of people I worked with would take an afternoon break to drink beers in the parking lot. They returned to work feeling pretty good and often accidentally broke lots of stuff (e.g., materials, tools). They eventually got fired. * One coworker loved to argue with the boss about every little thing in front of everyone else. Pro tip: Bosses hate that. If you're more trouble than you're worth (i.e., not providing enough value for the stress you create), you're certainly not going to receive promotions or raises. Sooner or later, you'll most likely end up losing your job. Note: I'm not saying you should kiss your manager's butt or endure mistreatment. It's ok to ask questions, push back on unreasonable requests, and expect fair treatment. But do so professionally. And it's usually a good idea to have challenging conversations with your boss in private, not in a team meeting or in front of other employees. Have a planWhere do you want to end up in your career? What are your life goals?What's next for you? Sometimes, career growth isn't very likely with your current employer. There may not be much internal mobility. Or, it may take a very long time to move up in the company. A friend of mine knew he would be stuck in a dead-end job if he stayed with his current employer. So, he looked for opportunities to get promoted by taking a job with a new company that had a position open for a supervisor. Another friend was in a similar situation but had bigger plans to open his own business one day. He saved money, networked with the right people, and created a business plan. He launched it many years ago and turned it into a very successful business, never returning to his old profession and low hourly pay. You must establish goals and create a plan if you care about getting ahead, making more money, and moving up the career ladder. When you know what you want, it's easier to make the right moves to set you up for success later. Connect and network When I was a security guard, I got to know the local police officers and dispatchers pretty well. We developed a friendly relationship since I always showed up for work, did a good job, and became a supervisor (being reliable and sticking around helped me get promoted). One dispatcher and a couple of the younger officers talked me into applying to become a dispatcher. It was a full-time role with much better pay and benefits. I'm an introvert, so I've often put my head down and focused on my work. But, building relationships will open the door to new opportunities. Networking outside your workplace is also a great way to learn about events, meetups, potential new employers, and job opportunities you might not otherwise discover. * Your local gym. One of my gyms was an excellent place for networking. Members were always connecting people with potential clients, customers, and employers. Friends like to help friends. * Local meetups. I've attended local meetups with ambitious professionals and business owners. It's great for referrals and introductions. * Local business events and parties. One year, one of my friends invited me to his office holiday party. Usually, I wouldn't want to attend something like that. But, I discovered it was a good way to expand my professional network. I've talked about the power of “weak ties” before. * Local town celebrations, volunteer work, and outdoor recreation events. Your network is your most valuable asset for advancing your career. You are limiting yourself if you only connect with people you see daily at work or in your personal life. Get out there and meet new people! * Trade associations and labor unions. I'm not as familiar with these, but some friends speak highly of them for getting the support you need to advance your career. If you have a plan for where you want to go, try to network with people already in the profession, industry, or business you're interested in pursuing. Build bridges now to open doors later. Yes, I'm mixing my metaphors.

I hosted another live fireside chat via Zoom last month. In this podcast episode, I share some of the questions and answers we discussed. As usual, people sent me questions ahead of time. But in this session, we also covered questions raised during the Zoom. For example:* “What is there to write about (related to my profession)?”* “Do I even want a career anymore? Do I want to do something for myself?”* “I changed careers and industries… how can I best adapt to a new job and collaborate with my new boss?” * “How do I find a great product leadership job in this challenging economy?” I recorded the call and uploaded it for this newsletter's podcast episode. Scroll up, hit play, and enjoy! By the way, if you'd like to attend the next fireside chat, I'm hosting it on May 30th. Sign up here to save a seat. I'll be sharing feedback on LinkedIn profiles and answering other questions you submit using the form on the event page. There's still time to send me yours!This week's professional development challengeHi, I'm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I currently live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

I hosted a live fireside chat via Zoom last month, and I've already shared the first half of the Q&A. This is part 2. People sent me questions ahead of time; then I shared my answers with the attendees. We had some more detailed discussions later. For example:* “How to adjust to a new controlling boss?” * “How do I persuade my colleagues to take action on one of my initiatives?” * “What questions can I ask in an interview to make sure my manager is one of the good ones?" * “What questions can I ask in an interview to make sure the company is healthy and it's not a toxic environment?” I recorded the call and uploaded it for this newsletter's podcast episode. Scroll up, hit play, and enjoy! By the way, if you'd like to attend the next fireside chat, I'm hosting it on April 24th. Sign up here to save a seat. I'll be sharing feedback on LinkedIn profiles and answering other questions you submit using the form on the event page. There's still time to send me yours!This week's professional development challenge⭐ Cross-publish Your Writing This week, your Invincible Career exercise is to take one of your previously written articles (e.g., on your blog or Medium) and cross-publish it to LinkedIn. If you aren't already aware of this, LinkedIn has a native article format that gets pretty good engagement. They also have a newsletter feature if you're interested in trying it out. Hi, I'm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I currently live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

I hosted a live fireside chat via Zoom last month. People sent me questions ahead of time, then I shared my answers with the attendees. We had some more detailed discussions later. For example:* “What can I do to stand out amongst hundreds of other applicants?”* “Should I change my resume?”* “What are some strategies to network more effectively with professionals at my level or higher and what are some ways to maintain those relationships long-term?” I recorded the call and uploaded it for this newsletter's podcast episode. Scroll up, hit play, and enjoy! By the way, if you'd like to attend the next fireside chat, I'm hosting it on March 27th. Sign up here to save a seat. I'll be sharing feedback on LinkedIn profiles and answering other questions you submit using the form on the event page. There's still time to send me yours!This week's professional development challenge⭐ Design or Redesign Your Website This week, your Invincible Career exercise is to settle on a host (if you don't already have one) and start designing and building your website. If you already have a website, this is an excellent opportunity to review it to make sure you're still happy with what you created. But if you're like most of us, your website is probably due for an update and refresh.Hi, I'm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I currently live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. It's been quite rainy and foggy lately. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.He frowned and said, "That's a stupid idea. It will never work." "How do you know? We haven't even tested it yet!" He leaned back in his chair with a slightly smug look on his face. "I've been working on this product for five years. We've tested hundreds of concepts, and we tested something like this a couple of years ago. It failed."She was frustrated. "This isn't the same, and timing matters. It tested well in the lab, so I want to get more data from an A/B test." He shook his head. "I disagree. That's a waste of resources." "Well," she said. "Looks like we're at an impasse. I guess it's time to escalate this."I lost count of how many meetings I attended like this when I worked in tech. You know, the ones that were supposed to be "collaboration sessions" but turned into debates? We seem to have lost our way with team meetings. Too many arguments. Too many show-offs trying to prove how smart they are. Too many people trying to "win" instead of actually working together to reach a great outcome. Unfortunately, this type of exchange isn't uncommon in the working world. Even when we say we're going to collaborate, brainstorm, and discuss an issue in a meeting, it's actually not very collaborative. Everyone has an opinion, emotions run high, and people get stuck on their pet theories. It becomes a debate to see who can persuade the other that they are right — or force them to back down through intimidation tactics. It's probably true in every profession and industry, but boy oh boy, do we ever love to argue in Silicon Valley! Almost every meeting felt like a debate with one or two literal geniuses in the room (just to make sure you felt like an inferior little monkey). So many of us love to argue, demonstrate how smart we are, and crush our competitors in debates. I'm not saying I was above it all. I competed in debate and persuasive speaking when I was younger. As my wife will tell you, I kind of enjoy arguing. I don't take it personally. It's strangely fun for me. However, as much as some of us might enjoy these confrontational discussions, it's not the most effective way for teams to work together toward a common goal. When everyone is trying to win, the team often loses. Even in the healthiest of collaborative sessions, the full cognitive horsepower isn't fully aligned to drive the process forward in the same direction at the same time. * One person proposes a creative idea.* Another person starts shooting it down. * Someone else tries to share useful data they think might help the discussion. * Yet another person says the idea doesn't "feel right."* And, someone else in the room is already at the whiteboard trying to share a completely different idea. What if everyone's thinking process was aligned so the team was rowing in the same direction at the same time? What if people stopped viewing each other as opponents and competitors sitting across the debate table? What if we joined each other side by side and felt like partners working together on an issue? Not us vs. them. Instead, it becomes us vs. the problem. With parallel thinking, you don't stop and debate every point as it is made (unlike traditional meetings). It reminds me a bit of writing. It's a slow, laborious process when people try to write and edit at the same time. They barely get any work done. But, if you separate the two activities, you can get into a creative flow state. Write and let the ideas stream onto the screen with no judgment, no editing, no stopping to fix misspellings or grammatical mistakes. Then, once your writing session is finished, return to the document later to edit and revise it. Imagine working together to be creative at the same time, positive at the same time, and look for issues at the same time. No more competing across the table for things you want vs what they want.I worked in traditional 9-5 hourly jobs with the usual bosses and coworkers for about 10 years before I entered graduate school (and everything changed). For the most part, these jobs were not high-stress jobs, although there were some tense moments as a police dispatcher. Most of the folks I worked with treated a job as a job, not a career. People worked just hard enough. I even had veteran employees tell me to, “Slow down and take it easy. You still get paid the same. Don't make anyone else look bad.” There wasn't much competition at all, and promotions were kind of rare. In my experience, you got promoted simply by sticking around long enough. Staff turnover was incredibly frequent. I became "Delta 47” when I stayed long enough to become the shift supervisor. We were all friends and working in the trenches together.The salaried corporate world was so very different. When I joined that experience about 30 years ago, I discovered it was much more competitive. * So many arguments about who was right or wrong. * Trying to persuade others to your point of view.* People deliberately withholding information as a power play. It seems like the spirit of true collaboration was missing. It was more like coopetition. We cooperated enough to get work done, but no one could forget the underlying competition for:* Resources* Power* Visibility* Credit* Bonuses* Raises* PromotionsThe higher purpose of what we were doing was lost, too. If individuals, teams, and organizations are all competing on some level and to some degree, what an unfortunate loss of energy and focus that is. Energy that could be aligned to do amazing things for customers and humanity. I'm going to use two different metaphors to describe what the true spirit of collaboration might look like for your teams and companies (i.e., tables and hats). This is inspired by two sources that have stuck in my mind ever since I encountered them:* Sitting on the Same Side of The Table: The Art of Collaborative Selling by Michael Levin.* Six Thinking Hats by Dr. Edward de Bono (my affiliate link).I'm going to start with the “table concept” because it's a simple mindset shift and approach. I should say simple to understand, but not always simple to do, of course. 1. Sit on the same side of the tableI think I first heard the phrase "Sit on the same side of the table" many years ago from Jason Calacanis, an angel investor. Since then, I've learned that there's a great book on sales written by Michael Levin called Sitting on the Same Side of The Table: The Art of Collaborative Selling. The idea is to shift from a hardcore negotiation style (i.e., facing each other across the table) to sitting side-by-side with your customer while you work out solutions that are good for both of you.The current world of Zoom meetings forces us into meetings where it appears as if we are across from one another. But, think back to the last meetings you had in a physical room. If it was a confrontational meeting and you expected some debate and argument, you probably sat in chairs across the table from the folks on the other side of the issue. I know that most of my tense meetings were like that. We certainly didn't sit next to each other.However, I remember deliberately experimenting with this seating arrangement in one critical meeting with the head of product from another organization. There had been some tension between our teams, and disagreement about the direction our products were going and how they interacted.I wanted the meeting to be a collaborative session instead of combative. So, when I entered the conference room, I sat next to them on the side of the table by the whiteboard. It was funny. They pulled back a little and looked at me with surprise. But I said, "I want to sketch some concepts on the whiteboard and show you a prototype on my laptop."I was completely transparent about the goals. I wanted the solution to be something we agreed upon and would end up being a win for both of us — with the ultimate win being for the company if it worked for both of our products. The session was pretty amazing, and it changed the nature of our relationship from that day forward. No, we didn't become best friends. But I like to think there was mutual respect, and they actually went out of their way to meet with me many months later and share some helpful advice.There is incredible power in solving a problem together vs. being opponents facing each other on opposing sides of the table. Literally, in person. Figuratively, online.2. Wear the “same hat”I learned about this collaboration and decision-making model in Dr. Edward de Bono's book. Thank you for introducing me to this book, Justin!"The main difficulty of thinking is confusion. We try to do too much at once. Emotions, information, logic, hope, and creativity all crowd in on us. It is like juggling with too many balls."- Edward de BonoIt's all about being in the same thinking mode at the same time vs. the typical opposing mindset of disagreement and argument. You all are creative at the same time. You all look for flaws at the same time. Stay in that mode together until it's time to switch.* White hat: neutral and objective, concerned with facts and figures.* Red hat: the emotional view.* Black hat: careful and cautious, the "devil's advocate" hat.* Yellow hat: sunny and positive.* Green hat: associated with fertile growth, creativity, and new ideas.* Blue hat: cool, the color of the sky, above everything else - the organizing hat.Now, some people love this concept, and some are not fans. If everyone isn't fully on board with the process, it won't work. If psychological safety is absent in the organization, it won't work."Team psychological safety is a shared belief held by members of a team that it's OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes - all without fear of negative consequences." (source)The power of the "Thinking Hats" approach is to make sure everyone is collaborating on a problem in the same mode at the same time. Instead of arguing, debating, and defending your ideas or point of view against your colleagues, you talk about the problem in a collaborative way as you view it from the same perspective at the same time. Imagine viewing a large, complex building from the outside. If each person is on a different side of the building, what you think you're seeing and how you would describe it is very different from everyone else. But, if you all come together and visit each side of the house at the same time, you now have a shared perspective and can have a great conversation about what it is. This is referred to as “parallel thinking” in the book. It's constructive collaborative thinking vs. adversarial thinking. It's sharing everything together in the most open and honest way possible to ensure everyone has all of the information required to produce the best possible outcome. You don't withhold information that could help simply because you're “trying to win” and don't want to share relevant data that might help your opponent. Parallel thinking aligns the team fully with one thinking approach at the same time, viewing the problem from the same perspective simultaneously. You are not opponents. It is not you vs. them. It is all of you vs. the problem. The colored hats are quick cues to move into a specific mode of thinking, communicating, and sharing. De Bono makes the point that the language we usually use to talk about emotions, negative consequences, creativity, etc. is insufficient and has some baggage (e.g., people are reluctant to fully share their personal feelings about an issue with their boss). The hats make the exercise more objective and not about the individual. For example, you're not being negative. You're simply sharing Black Hat thinking and objectively pointing out things that might go wrong with a proposed course of action. I'll briefly summarize each of the hats. But, this barely covers what is available in his book. Blue hat modeUsually, the group assigns one person to act as the "blue hat." They play the role of facilitator/moderator: * They set the stage for the discussion (e.g., state the purpose of the meeting, identify the issue or problem, describe the desired outcome for the session). * They share the proposed agenda with the sequence of using some or all of the hats as they work on an issue (e.g., “Let's start with some red hat to get everyone's feelings on the issue. Then, we'll move into white hat and share all of the data and information we have. After that, I'd like to move into green hat and start generating some new ideas for how we might solve the problems.”). * They will remind participants to stay in a specific mode of thinking (e.g., “Tom, that's black hat thinking and we're still in the yellow hat part of the discussion. Save that for later, ok?”). * At the end, the blue hat asks for the outcome and talks about next steps (e.g., “So, we all agreed that this is the best course of action. Next steps, lets loop in the rest of the team to start planning the work on this new strategy.”). White hat modeIn white hat mode, you share the information and data you have with your colleagues, but without any emotional interpretation or bias. What is actually happening? Not what you imagine is happening. Not how you feel about it. Everyone puts all the facts on the table together, while striving to be neutral and objective. Unlike most meetings, everyone should share every bit of information and data they are aware of, even if it doesn't support their personal agenda. * No emotional reactions.* No arguing about the data.* No debating a piece of information. * No judgment of the facts. * Think "Mr. Spock."Red hat modeIn typical business discussions, you're not supposed to allow your emotions to cloud your judgment. You try to avoid becoming heated during a debate. The first person to lose their cool loses the argument, right? Well, believe me, emotions do run high in business meetings. But, it's often not a shared experience and it's rarely constructive. It's hard to feel safe and creative when an executive is cursing, shouting at you, and threatening you. Ask my friend how it felt to have a laptop tossed at them… The red hat mode allows everyone in the meeting to safely express feelings, emotions, and intuition. There is no need to explain or justify feelings. What people sense or feel is always valid while in this mode of thinking and sharing. Note: this part of the session doesn't take very long. It's a “gut check” moment and gives people a chance to express things without the dispassionate sharing of data (white hat), a demand for positivity (yellow hat), etc. Black hat modeBlack hat mode is going to feel very familiar. It seems to be the go-to activity for many people in meetings. I'm sure you've worked with several folks who almost immediately shoot down any idea and are happy to explain why something will never work. I sure have! It is a valid and useful thinking activity (just ask your Legal team), but it is so much more effective when everyone agrees to be in that mode at the same time vs. debating and arguing throughout the entire meeting. * The black hat is about caution and survival. * You can identify things that might be unprofitable, unethical, destructive, dangerous, illegal, etc. * Discuss the potential downside, risks, flaws, weaknesses, and concerns. * What could go wrong? * How will we react if something goes wrong?Black hat is incredibly useful for planning and coming up with contingency plans, too. But, the magic of the process is that you engage in this type of thinking together and at the right time in the meeting, instead of constantly derailing a productive discussion. Yellow hat modeThe optimistic mode of the yellow hat is kind of fun. It is especially enjoyable to watch one of your colleagues — who is usually quite negative about everything — suddenly start sharing positive examples of potential benefits, value, and opportunities. Again, the magic is that everyone in the room is engaging in positive thinking at the same time. When is the last time you experienced that? It's a good idea to consider probabilities and reality even in this mode. Sure, it would be nice if a knight rode up on a unicorn and handed your team a billion-dollar budget, but it's highly unlikely. Some examples: * What is our vision of the future? * What are the opportunities ahead of us? * What does success look like?* How does the future change if we succeed?* What are the ways this could work out well for us? * How will this change people's lives for the better? * How could we improve this even more? Green hat modeIf you've ever attended a brainstorming session, you're familiar with wearing the green hat. If you had an excellent facilitator, they ensured that everyone stayed in the mode of generating new ideas before debating, arguing, or trying to interrupt someone's creative flow. * What is possible? * How can we disrupt the industry? * How far can we push things? * What new ideas do we have? * What is your wildest suggestion? * What are the alternatives? * How can you build on someone else's idea? * What course of action could we take to make this happen? Note: I want to point out that not everyone can be put on the spot in a meeting and immediately let loose with creative ideas. Some of us — myself included — need time to be alone, think, and let things flow and simmer a bit. I recommend you give your colleagues time to prepare for a proposed brainstorming meeting, know the agenda, review the data and information available, and generate some ideas on their own before coming to a green hat session to share and develop them together. I know this was a lot to digest! Check out the book (Six Thinking Hats ) if you'd like to learn more about how to apply this methodology to your own team discussions. Becoming allies, not competitorsFirst, let me be clear about something. You need a reasonably healthy culture — both company and organization — and psychological safety to open up and embrace the Six Thinking Hats methodology. You will fail if others refuse to commit to the process. You will fail if you don't feel safe being completely honest and transparent with the information you have. It's hard to be open and vulnerable if your colleagues simply take advantage of it to go for the kill and take the win. However, if your team really does want to find a better way to collaborate, work together, and make decisions, there is hope. Introduce them to the book and the process. Start experimenting with it in your meetings. Take note of how it, hopefully, improves the quality of your discussions and outcomes. Work can feel pretty amazing when your coworkers are genuinely your partners seeking the best outcomes (i.e., you're on the same side of the table). I've had this experience in small startups. It feels magical to be aligned with a common goal and no hidden agendas. Have you tried this approach in your organization before? I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments! This week's professional development challenge⭐ Define Your Professional Brand This exercise is about defining your professional brand. What do you want people to remember about your work reputation? What do you wish people would say about you when you're not in the room? Capture a list of attributes you believe define who you are and how you want people to see you. Hi, I'm Larry Cornett, a Personal Coach who can work with you to optimize your career, life, or business. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I currently live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. I still believe I might grow up to be a beautiful butterfly one day. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber."It used to be so easy for me to get a new job. I didn't even have to look or try. People came to me! But, now? Now I'm struggling to get to the final round and I haven't received any offers in over a year? Something has changed…" — My new clientMy coaching client was pretty unhappy about this twist of fate. That wonderful well of endless jobs had surprisingly dried up. Many smart and talented people have this experience. Getting a job in their 20s was easy. Almost too easy.It was so easy that they never bothered to think about a career plan or create an intentional career path. Employers were plentiful and the job market was bountiful. Heck, jobs were falling out of the sky and landing in their laps It would always be like this, right?Wrong.The wild ride will come to an end, sooner for some people than others. If you haven't mapped out a plan, put yourself in the driver's seat, and controlled your path and destiny, you might find yourself kicked to the curb.Ageism is real, folks. Age discrimination is illegal, but it's incredibly difficult to prove. You'll simply notice that people are no longer actively seeking you out and trying to recruit you for roles.Sitting back and waiting to see what happens in your career isn't a great strategy. Do you see yourself as more of a driver or passenger on your journey?* Are you just along for the ride in your career?* Do you feel like your career happened to you serendipitously?Most people let their careers "just happen." They don't give much thought to planning their career path, looking for the best employers, and controlling their future until something goes wrong. Suddenly, they notice that: * They're being passed over for promotions. * It's taking longer to find new jobs.* Their career growth is slowing down.* Their raises have flatlined.* They're feeling unhappy, stressed, anxious, worried, and unfulfilled.Eventually, they ask themselves:"Is this really what I should be doing with my life?What's going wrong?How do I get back on a good path?" Create an intentional pathWhere do you want your life to be in 20 years? Can you get there more quickly? Let me stop for a moment and make something clear. I am not suggesting that you create a rigid 30-year career path and follow it from the start to the bitter end. We don't do that anymore, right? If you are thoughtful and intentional during your journey, you will learn more about who you are and what you really want from life. You will change your mind, and that's ok. It seems like I change my career plans and path about every 10 years. While the thought of changing professions and careers may make some people feel stressed out, I find it exciting. Rather than selecting a point in the future that's attached to a specific profession or financial outcome (e.g., I must be a CEO, a billionaire, or a famous author), I prefer to ask people to envision a life they would find interesting, exciting, delightful, and fulfilling. * Where do they live? * How do they spend their days working? * How do they spend time playing? * Who are they spending their life with? When you have a plan in mind, you'll notice more opportunities that can help you with your journey. I created a 91-page Invincible Career Manual for my clients that we collaboratively complete and review. It's meant to evolve with you and be updated as your career grows and changes. * If you're already one of my clients, ping me to make sure you find your customized copy of the manual in our shared Google Drive folder.* If you're a member of my Career Accelerator, I'll share a link to get your free copy of the manual in our private Slack channel. * If you're a premium subscriber to this newsletter, I'll share a link to get your free copy of the manual in our Office Hours channel on Slack. If you subscribe to the free version of this newsletter, use this link to get 20% off and download your own copy of the Invincible Career Manual! You can start using it right away to plan what you want for your career this year and beyond. Design your ideal lifestyle One way to create a better career path is to focus on life design first. Design your lifestyle and then find a career that enables it. I'm not talking about the lifestyles of the rich and shameless. Don't be a silly child and say, "I want to own a private island with a jet and a yacht. Therefore I need a career that makes me a billionaire!" It's great to be ambitious. But, try to be somewhat realistic, too. * How do you want to spend your days? * How do you want to structure your weeks? * With whom do you spend most of your time? * Where do you live? * How do you keep yourself happy, healthy, and fulfilled? Craft your ideal jobJob crafting is the practice of changing your job to make it more engaging and meaningful. I also love to have my clients write their ideal job description as one way to pursue a role that would give them what they want for their career and life. We focus on the job, the employer/company, and their direct manager/boss. Ideal jobDesign your ideal job that is the right next step for your career. * How would you define your ideal role? * What do you want to do more of in your next job? * What do you want to eliminate in your next role? Ideal employerDefining your ideal employer sometimes feels like a scene from Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You've probably had enough jobs that you know what you want more of from an ideal employer and what you want to avoid. * This corporation is too large. * This startup is too small. * I don't want to work for a company that's dependent on ad revenue. * I don't enjoy working on enterprise software. * I enjoy companies that sell direct to consumer. Ideal bossThink back and remember what you've appreciated about your past bosses. Also capture the toxic traits of your bad managers. * What does a great boss look like for you? * What are your red flag issues to avoid? * How do wish your future boss would behave and treat you? Ideal independent business (if necessary)Sometimes the best job is the one you literally create from scratch. I reached that point in my career. I was tired of trying to fit myself into companies, organizations, and leadership cultures that weren't a good match for my personality, values, and ambitions. So, I left the corporate scene and built my own business. If that's something you're interested in doing one day, check out my Invincible Solopreneurs newsletter. I'm also planning a live workshop to help folks define and design a business based on their existing talents, skills, knowledge, and experience. Why bother with a plan? For most people, staying in a job for too long has diminishing returns. On average, being employed at the same company for over two years will make you earn less over your lifetime — by about 50% or more. If you're not planning your promotion path and taking control of making it happen, you may not have a manager who will look out for you and ensure you get promoted when you deserve it. If you know you need to move on to a better job to keep growing your career and maximizing your lifetime earning potential, having a plan ensures you make a smart move. Too many people end up jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire of an even worse situation. A plan helps you do your homework and make a move to a great company, manager, and job.* The right boss can accelerate your career. * The wrong boss can damage it and set you back for years (or forever). * The right company can set you up for the rest of your career. * The wrong company can waste years of your time and lower your lifetime earning potential. * The right company culture will let you have a great personal life. * The wrong company culture will chew you up and spit you out. A plan also helps you identify faster paths to your ideal end state. If you don't know where you want to go, it's kind of impossible to even notice or look for shortcuts. I found a shortcut and got the life I want decades ahead of where my traditional career was taking me. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life! Drivers get what they want Drivers get what they want out of life. Passengers end up where someone else decides to drop them off. Those people who seem happier and more successful than you aren't better than you. They're just more confident, know what they want, and pursue it with a vengeance. They are in the driver's seat, controlling where their careers and lives are going. You don't have to be a passenger. Don't let anyone stop you from climbing into the driver's seat of your career and life. It's not like you'll get a second chance to play this game. You get one life. Chart a course to end up where you want to go. Invincible Career WorkshopI'm considering creating a workshop on "How to Create an Intentional Career Path." Let me know your thoughts by voting on this poll. Larry Cornett is a Personal Coach who can help you optimize your career, life, and business. If you're interested in starting a business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop (coming soon).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He's also on Mastodon. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

This year, I spent hundreds of hours researching and writing newsletter articles — and recording podcast episodes — to share with you. I listed the top 10 below, and I've also categorized most of the other articles and episodes for easier browsing. If you found my advice and articles helpful this year and would like to support my continued writing and podcasting next year, please consider upgrading to a premium membership that also grants you access to:* My private Invincible Career community of over 130 ambitious professionals (from entry-level to executives). * Weekly professional development challenges and exercises delivered to your inbox. * Exclusive office hours every Monday with the other premium subscribers and me. Your support means a lot to me. Thank you!

Do you have a colleague or friend who might be interested in the advice I publish in this newsletter? Feel free to share it with them! Did you know the average American hasn't made a new friend in five years? As we grow older, we make fewer friends than we did as children and young adults during school, college, etc. It's probably not surprising that many of our friends come from our work experiences. I used to work at eBay many years ago, and I recently attended an alumni event in the Bay Area of California. It's a long drive to get there from where I live now, so I initially hesitated when I saw the invitation. Also, I'm an introvert and rarely enjoy social events like that. But it was a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends I haven't seen in a very long time. So, off I went! The wave of nostalgia and fondness I felt for these people surprised me. Even for those I had not particularly felt close to when I worked there. We're older, wiser, and kinder now. The passage of time has sanded down the harsh edges of the memories of the intense workload, stressful projects, and confrontational arguments. We had been through a shared experience, bringing us closer together. As one friend put it, after we hugged: "We have a trauma bond." Unfortunately, there is a price to pay for forging such deep relationships with coworkers. Leaving the company feels like losing most of your friends. And it's never the same again. Also, every step that brings you closer to your coworkers is a step that takes you further away from your family and friends outside of work. That was simply the reality of employment for most of our lives. We spent way more time with our colleagues than with our loved ones. It was certainly true for me. However, the last few years changed everything. People began working remotely and staying home. The pandemic lasted longer than we expected it would. When we could finally come out of our homes and back into the workplace, employers discovered that most of their employees did not want to return. * People enjoy the flexibility of working when and where they desire. * Many of us have found we can focus better without interruptions from coworkers. * They are saving money by working at home (I've saved about $150K over the past 12 years). * The time savings are significant when you no longer have to commute to an office (I spent 750 hours/year on the freeway). * Some people have moved to a better location for their financial and emotional well-being. * They have rebuilt stronger relationships with their loved ones. * They are exercising again, eating healthy meals, and sleeping more. This year, Buffer published its 2022 State Of Remote Work. They surveyed 2,118 people from 16 different countries to get their input on remote work and its impact on their work and personal lives. Here are a few more highlights: * 97% would like to work remotely, at least some of the time, for the rest of their careers. * 90% described their experience with remote work as either very positive or somewhat positive. * But, 45% think that career growth is more difficult for remote workers to achieve.However, even I will admit that our enhanced lifestyle from remote work has come at the cost of work relationships. Now, some leaders are desperately promoting a return to office (RTO). They claim that collaboration and innovation can only thrive when people share physical space and time. They're not completely right about this, but they're also not totally wrong. As much as I love remote work — and I have built friendships and working relationships with people I've never met in person — the bond isn't the same as it is with people who worked with me in the trenches. Like my friends at eBay. * We worked side by side every day. * We saw each other at our best and worst. * We shared meals and drinks. * We laughed and cried. * We supported each other. However, the answer must be somewhere in the middle. As with many things, the truth is in between polarized opinions. People must stop denying that dedicating most of our waking hours to our employers damages our personal relationships. How could it not? I have friends who regret missing out on their children's lives. I have friends whose marriages fell apart because they were never home. But we also can't deny that 100% remote work isn't the best for working relationships. It doesn't have to be a choice of always working remotely vs. always working in an office. For example, Automattic has a great remote work model, but they regularly schedule team gatherings in person (more on this in a future newsletter). The office environment is not the best for everyone at all times. * Power dynamics are heightened, which makes people defer to authority too often. * As I know all too well, introverts can't do their best work when surrounded by noise and constant interruptions. * People with disabilities often struggle in the workplace, and some can't take part at all if we forced them to travel to an office. * Creativity is stifled inside corporate walls. Sometimes work is best done outside the office. And there are many types of work that do not need to take place sitting alone in a cubicle. However, there are also types of work we should perform together in person. For example, collaborative riffing on a physical whiteboard can never be replaced by the poor substitute of virtual whiteboards.  The nuance of human expressions, tone of voice, and body language get lost in laggy digital proxies like Zoom meetings, where you only see someone's talking head. Plus, people don't behave naturally on camera. We've been doing this for years, yet video meetings still feel clumsy and awkward compared to in-person meetings. Where am I going with all of this? Well, if you're trying to find a new job or work more effectively with colleagues in your current job, you need the best of both worlds. We'll never put the remote work genie back in the office bottle. So, you need to make the best of virtual relationships and interactions. But I'm also going to encourage you to tap back into the power of face-to-face conversations and meetups. Connecting with people, building relationships, and bonding will always be easier in person. So, find ways to start making that happen again. Finding a remote job in this economyIn this newsletter, I'm going to start with how you can find a job in this crazy economy and wild world of remote employment. In a future newsletter, I'll dive into part 2 of how you can work better with your colleagues once you land a job (or if you're still employed). As a coach, I've talked with enough job seekers over the years to know that no one wants to hear that finding a job takes time and requires building relationships. So many people want to “spray and pray” their job applications and resumes to hundreds of companies and hope it works out. It rarely does. Or, I should say, it rarely yields a “great job.” You may end up with an ok job. Maybe… However, if you want to find a great job in a great company that is a great fit for you, here are some steps you can take to increase your odds of success. * Connect * Communicate* Bond* Give help * Receive help * Collaborate 1. ConnectI'm sure you've been reading about the thousands and thousands of people being laid off over the past few weeks. In addition, many companies have frozen hiring. All of this means that competition is heating up for the remaining roles that are available. If you submit your resume and job application online, you're being dumped into the same pool as hundreds of other candidates. You might be okay if you have a top 1% resume. If not, good luck standing out. You may be tired of hearing me beat this drum, but your network is your most valuable asset during a job search. If you already have a powerful one, you can start reaching out to people. If you don't, it's time to connect with more people to strengthen yours. * Build relationships with people online. * Connect with folks via their posts. * Be present and make intelligent comments. * Reach out to people in companies of interest. * Attend online meetups. However, I think we've all noticed an increase in meetups in the physical world, too. Heck, I just hosted a breakfast meetup a few weeks ago! So, don't overlook the opportunity to network and meet some people in the real world. Meetup.com is still a useful resource for finding local events. It is easier to connect more deeply with someone when you are face-to-face instead of staring into a laptop screen. 2. CommunicateWhen you're looking for a job, and it's taking longer than expected, it's time to tap into your network and get a little positive energy back out of it. One of the first things I recommend to my job-seeking clients is that they download their LinkedIn connections and create a basic relationship management spreadsheet. Make a note of the following: * People you'd like to work with again. * Leaders you'd like to work for again. * People who always have their finger on the pulse of what's going on. * Colleagues who are connected to people and companies of interest. Then, start reaching out to these folks to let them know that you're starting to explore your next opportunity. Depending on the notes you made for each person, you'll structure the conversation accordingly. You're essentially letting your trusted connections know that you're in play, would love to know of relevant opportunities, or might want to be introduced to someone. Make sure you know exactly what you're looking for (e.g., industry, type of employer, role), so you can clearly answer the first question people will ask: “So, what are you looking for?” Of course, you can do most of this online (e.g., send a message on LinkedIn). But, when possible and for the most important contacts, try to schedule a Zoom meeting so you can see each other and talk live. I will also encourage you to use the ol' tried-and-true meeting over coffee or lunch when you want to talk with someone local. It's still much easier to connect with someone and bond over shared food and drinks when you're asking for a favor. By the way, you should pay for their coffee or meal. 3. BondI often have strangers contact me for help with their job search. They want to talk and get some free advice (note: I've written and shared tons of free advice). They want me to tell them who is hiring for the positions they're seeking. Or they ask for an introduction to a hiring manager in a company. Folks, I'm sorry, but you just can't ask strangers for favors like this. You must build relationships and gain trust. You have to provide value to receive value (more on this in the next section). No one wants to introduce a stranger to people in their network, which is an amazingly valuable — yet fragile — resource. That's one reason I built my career community (to which my premium subscribers have access). It gives people a chance to bond and build relationships over time. That's how you gain people's trust and increase your odds of receiving a favor. So, if you want to find a great job (instead of just any old job), take the time to build real relationships with the people in your broader network. * Comment on posts (like the ones I share on Invincible Career). * Attend meetups. * Have coffee and lunches with people. * Join video chats. * Talk with people in the community. * Share useful information. * Let people see the real you. * Give people a chance to see your talents, skills, personality, and how you think. 4. Give helpPeople want to be surrounded by what Adam Grant calls “givers” and “matchers.” We all try to avoid “takers.” I'm sure you've encountered them in your life and workplace. These people don't seem to understand the concept of reciprocity. Don't be a taker. Now, I can understand if you're thinking, “If I'm out of work and looking for a job, I don't have a lot of time for giving and helping everyone else. I'm not a charity!” But giving doesn't require spending endless hours of your time helping others. It can be accomplished with something as simple as what Adam Rifkin calls the “5-minute favor.” I noticed this phenomenon when I moved to the Bay Area in California and started working in tech. One of Silicon Valley's competitive advantages is that almost everyone is willing to help others with quick little favors. * Answering questions over email. * Having a coffee chat at a local Starbucks. * Introducing talented people to each other. * Taking a phone call to give quick advice. * Giving feedback on an issue over a Zoom call. * Being a reference for someone during their job search. * Sharing a few names when a manager is looking for talent. * Forwarding job openings to people. “My students at Wharton often describe the five-minute favor as life-changing. It challenges their assumption they have to choose between helping others and their own success, allowing them to find ways of giving to others that don't demand enormous acts of sacrifice.” — Adam Grant The magic of this type of favor is that it doesn't take long for the giver, but it can change the recipient's life. Five minutes can truly change the course of someone's career and life. It reminds me of the short phone call my advisor made that connected me with my first job in Silicon Valley and set me on the path of my tech career. It changed my life forever. But, if you're a taker who never gives to this system of reciprocity, people remember. No one will go out of their way to help you. They may even try to avoid you. Be a giver and feed positive value into your network. People will notice and remember that. So, if you're seeking a job and people know you're looking, they will: * Send opportunities your way. * Introduce you to good hiring managers and recruiters.* Tell you about jobs that are buried deep in the hidden job market. Again, doing some of this giving in person will strengthen your connection with the recipient. When I left my last corporate job, I had coffee and lunch meetings almost every day for the first six months. People wanted advice, help with a job search, introductions to an investor, feedback on their startup idea, etc. 5. Receive helpSo, yes, it's good to be a giver. But, sometimes, we need help, too. The problem is most folks are too busy with their own jobs and lives to dedicate a serious amount of time to help you land a new job. That's where a career coach like me comes in. Obviously, I can't help everyone since my time is limited. And I'm not always the right fit for some folks, either. But, if you're struggling to find a job, interview well, and receive job offers, please find someone who can help you with things like:* Getting crystal clear about what you want next for your career. * Identifying the right employers who are the best for who you are and what you do. * Finding the right opportunities in this job market. * Learning how to position and sell yourself well. * Preparing your LinkedIn, website, portfolio, social media, resume, and cover letters. * Writing and practicing your elevator pitch. * Preparing and rehearsing your answers to the dozens of interview questions you should expect. * Negotiating your job offers to get the best outcome possible. Sometimes people think they should naturally be good at interviewing and negotiating offers. But we all get rusty without practice. If it's been a few years since you've interviewed, work with someone to strengthen and sharpen your skills. The time and money you invest will more than pay for itself when you land a job more quickly and get the best offer possible. Or… you could keep waiting, struggling, and not getting paid for weeks and weeks — or months and months. 6. Collaborate“The new form of networking is not about climbing a ladder to success; it's about collaboration, co-creation, partnerships, and long-term values-based relationships.” — Porter GaleFinally, a great way to build and strengthen relationships is to collaborate with others. This is why you develop such strong bonds with your coworkers. Shared work towards a common goal brings people closer. I hope you have interests outside of work. It's important to make time for things that light you up. Many of us also dedicate ourselves to activities that help others and improve the world, in some way. When you collaborate with other people on projects outside of work, you expand your network in new ways. I've talked about the power of “weak ties” before. They open up opportunities you may never discover through your traditional professional network. Working with people gives them a chance to see how you think, your talent and skills in action, and what you are capable of doing. It builds trust in a way casual conversations never can. You can do this virtually, like when two friends and I recorded a weekly podcast together. Lots of people collaborate on projects remotely now (e.g., the open-source software community). However, I also encourage you to look for opportunities to collaborate in person. For example, I recently reconnected with an old friend and colleague in person. Over drinks, we discussed some business ideas, and now we're moving forward with a plan. We're going to meet again in person for a working session. The funny thing is, we've always just been a phone call away from each other. But meeting in person sparked a renewed desire to build a new business in a way that occasional emails and texts never did. So, reach out to someone you'd like to connect with and catch up over coffee, lunch, or drinks. See if there's an opportunity to collaborate on something simple while looking for your next job. You'll probably discover that it opens all new doors for you! Speaking of building relationships…I hope you see why your network and relationships are essential for a successful job search. But they are also so important for your professional development and career growth, too. So, with that, I'm going to challenge you to take advantage of a network and a relationship only a few of you have leveraged. Hi there! I'm Larry Cornett, the author of this newsletter and a leadership and career coach. I like to think that I'm pretty approachable, and I do want to see you succeed in your work and be fulfilled in your life. There are 4 easy ways to connect with my community of friendly, ambitious professionals and me: * Ask a question or leave a comment on this newsletter article. * Schedule a free coaching call with me. * Upgrade your newsletter subscription, and I'll invite you to my private community. * Book a private call or coaching engagement if you're ready to work with me on your job search, career plan, leadership development, etc.Simple, right?

A storm is coming… * The economy is not in great shape, and we are probably entering a recession. * Companies have been instituting hiring freezes since the summer.  * Startups and larger corporations have been laying off thousands of people this year. The last few years have been an employee's market. Hiring was booming, especially after the recovery from the quarantine months of the pandemic. It seemed like companies couldn't recruit fast enough to replace the millions of workers quitting during the Great Resignation. Working from home reached all new heights, and the time recovered from daily commutes gave people more time to reflect on work and life. People decided they wanted more. They wanted something better. * Better jobs. * Better working conditions. * Better work-life balance. * Better compensation. * Better career development opportunities. The growth of remote work also opened up global opportunities that never existed before. You can now work for any company in the world and not be forced to relocate. Many of my friends and clients have accepted jobs in other countries that would never have been possible before. However, what goes up must come down, and all good things come to an end. The job market has recently flipped back to an employer's market, and the hiring frenzy has cooled. Job seekers are feeling the strain of tightening corporate budgets and wondering why they're getting ghosted more often by recruiters and hiring managers. * Some of my clients who are managers lost their open reqs. * My job-seeking clients apply for an open position but are then informed that the role is suddenly closed. * People are discovering that it's taking much longer to find a new job. So, welcome to the pending recession and a tighter job market! It's time to change your strategies to adapt to this new reality. How you manage an employer's market depends on your current situation. What best describes you right now? * You have a stable job, and you aren't worried. * You have a job, but you fear a layoff is coming. * You've recently been laid off. * You've been unemployed for a while. * You're the one doing the layoffs. * You run your own business. I'm going to touch on each of these cases below. But first, I want to share some clues that may indicate a layoff is coming to your company. When a layoff might be brewingI've had a long working career — over 30 years at this point. I spent about 20 years of that in Silicon Valley, so I experienced my fair share of layoffs as an employee and a manager. I've been a career coach for over 6 years now, which means I frequently work with people who are getting laid off or managing a layoff. After you've been through several of these experiences, you recognize recurring patterns of behavior. You see the all-too-familiar signs that a layoff is coming. Trust your gut because your instincts are usually right. Here are a few of the precursors I've witnessed or heard about from my clients. Some of these start happening months in advance, but others are a sign that a layoff will be executed within the next 24 hours.* Are you back to working in an office? If so, you may notice the free food and drinks tapering off and disappearing, or the quality has dropped dramatically. I still remember the first time I experienced this at a startup. The snack supply slowly but surely dwindled, and they weren't replaced despite our requests. The leadership team provided vague explanations, but the reality was the startup was failing, and we shut down shortly after that. * Regularly scheduled long-term planning activities are suddenly postponed, often with no explanation. This behavior is typical when a significant layoff is coming, especially one that will cause a re-org and a change in the key players. It is challenging to make long-term plans that require critical decisions when the decision-makers are going to be changing seats soon.* Hiring is frozen, and open reqs are put on hold or closed. Yikes! I know this is already true in many companies right now. This often happens a few months before a layoff. So, managers not only lose their open reqs but they won't be allowed to backfill those positions either. * It's usually a sign that the company is going to specifically lay you off when senior management postpones a meeting with you they normally would have accepted. Or you stop receiving invitations to meetings for long-term planning or where confidential and strategic information will be discussed. As much as people would prefer not to telegraph your termination, they really can't have you in critical meetings once they know you'll be leaving the company.* Entire teams are suddenly reassigned to new management when it doesn't seem to make sense. I know this move all too well. Sometimes senior management will move a team to a more junior manager to pass on the unpleasant task of the layoff. Thanks, boss. * Numerous meetings are scheduled with management and HR reps at the same time on the same day. If you've developed a great relationship with your HR partner (as I recommend you do), you'll find out about this before anyone else. Otherwise, you may hear rumors about it from your colleagues. Some companies have even conducted mass layoffs over Zoom. That's a nasty move. * You may be on the layoff list if you're scheduled for a surprise meeting with your manager and HR, and they won't tell you what the agenda is. It depends on the size of your organization and its policies. At one company, my manager met with everyone, even if they were staying. When she showed up at my office door (yes, we had offices back then!), I thought I had lost my job. But instead, she told me I was not being let go. * All management is suddenly pulled into a series of meetings across a 2-day period. Now, this occasionally happens when something massive is going down, like an acquisition or change of top leadership. But, they are probably planning a layoff when your manager finds it difficult to answer you when asked what is going on.* People are told to attend a mandatory meeting even if they're supposed to have the day off or be out on vacation. Managers will say that everyone needs to show up and can't be off work that day. Thus, you've either identified a layoff day or a massive announcement (e.g., a re-org or acquisition is happening). * Your corporate VPN suddenly stops working, thanks to IT staff that pulled the trigger too soon. I wish I were kidding about this one. But I can remember at least two different occasions when an employee called me to ask why they couldn't VPN into the network anymore.Layoffs are an inevitable fact of working life, but no one likes an unpleasant surprise. It's good to recognize the signs, be prepared, and brace yourself for the moment you pop into a meeting and see the smiling faces of HR and your manager. Ok, let's move on to the scenarios I listed earlier. What will help you get through this next year of uncertainty? 1. Ride out the storm Now is not the time to be making a move. I'm guessing the Great Resignation is behind us now. I don't know anyone who is quitting their job without having something lined up first. In this market, it's not a good idea to quit suddenly and hope you'll find a great job later. So, if you already have a decent job in a decent company, sit tight. Focus on your performance, delivering value, and meeting or exceeding expectations. As much as it pains me to say this, don't rock the boat. Hey, you know I'm a big believer in pushing hard to get what you want and deserve from your employer. And that's great when the market is hot, and you know you're in demand. Unfortunately, it's risky when companies are cutting budgets, reducing headcount, and freezing hiring. Even if you have a stable job and think you could never lose your job, it doesn't hurt to strengthen your position in the company. The things you can do to ensure your job security are also great for preparing for a promotion. 2. Boost your job security I've been an employee, manager, leader, and business owner during my career. I've been involved in all aspects of the layoff process.* I was at IBM as a young employee when it conducted its first layoffs in the company's history (I kept my job).* I was at Apple as a junior designer during multiple rounds of layoffs and learned why they spared me when more experienced employees were let go.* I worked at a startup that was acquired (

Do this todayTake a moment and assess the balance of how much you are giving to your job vs. how much it is giving back to you in return. Is it equitable? Are you receiving more than you are giving? Or is your job taking more than it is investing back in you? I can't stand it when bad things happen to good people. I'm sure you've experienced some pretty bad things in your professional life. You might be going through this right now in your job. If so, read on to learn more about how you can address that. Conversely, it really bugs me when good things happen for bad people. Yet, if you work in the corporate world long enough, you will witness both things happening. A lot. Sometimes, you will be in a position where you can do something about that. You can reward the good people and punish the bad. You can help talented, generous, and hardworking people get ahead in their careers.You can also try to help others change their ways before it is too late. Because, one day, it will indeed be too late. People don't forget those who mistreat others to claw their way to the top. Eventually, karma comes calling.A long time ago, I had a conversation with a colleague. Our corporate culture and the negative politics frustrated me. After years of trying to change things and make it work, I was feeling burned out from frequent re-orgs, leadership changes, and strategy shifts. I mentioned I was starting to look for new opportunities, but I was worried that joining another company might end up being more of the same.I felt like I deserved better. But how could I ensure I would find better? He looked surprised and said, "Why look for another job? You should start your own thing. If you build your own company, you get to define the culture from the start." It was an excellent point. You can either find something better or create something better. Long story short, I did. I left the corporate world over 12 years ago, created my own businesses, and never went back. I consulted for a while, founded a tech startup, but eventually found my way to coaching. The practice of coaching captures the essence of what I loved the most about leading teams.Listening, advising, guiding, giving feedback, and being a sounding board for decisions.Being the person someone can turn to when nothing else is working.Helping people solve problems. Helping people “find better.”Yes, we do a lot of that as managers and leaders. Or we should be! But there is always some tension between the needs of the individual and the needs of the team. You're always walking that tightrope and balancing your empathy and compassion with what you need to do for the good of the company.However, as a coach, I have incredible clarity, focus, and purpose. I am in your corner. I don't work for a company. I work for you. I am 100% focused on helping you succeed, thrive, be happy, and find fulfillment. I finally get to help good people when bad things happen (with no conflict of interest). I get to help set things right. I believe in people, coach them, and encourage them until they regain their confidence and believe in themselves again. As a coach, I help people navigate the three phases of leaving a bad situation and demanding something better for their professional lives. Recognizing when you deserve better. Understanding why it is so essential to find something better. Working through how you actually find something better. How to recognize when you deserve better No one expects a job to be 100% sunshine, unicorns, and puppies. But, I think we all recognize when a job isn't fulfilling us, our boss is always treating us poorly, or we finish work every day feeling down. We know we deserve better. Maybe all you have is a nagging feeling that something isn't right at work. Or, you assume every job must be like this. You think the grass may not be greener anywhere else, either. It is what it is. So, you put up with it and keep showing up. However, I'm here to tell you that you deserve better if one or more of the following 13 issues continue to be true for your job day after day and week after week:Your boss makes you feel like “less.” You feel less confident than you did before you took this job. You're no longer growing or being challenged. Your value isn't recognized or appreciated. Your input is always dismissed or ignored. Your manager criticizes or humiliates you in front of other employees. You're underpaid, and your manager keeps promising to make things right but never does. Your manager doesn't respect your work-life balance boundaries.The energy you put into the system isn't returned (note: a great system returns even more value for your contribution). Your coworkers are dragging you down. You feel drained at the end of every workday. You feel hopeless, and you're dreading the next day at work. You feel like your career is at a dead end. Of course, no job is perfect. There will be good days and bad days. You will experience some normal ups and downs during your career. But, if most of your days are bad and you spend most of your time feeling down, you must make a change. When you work in a negative environment around negative people, it can have a lasting impact on you and your career. Why you need to find better The longer you stay in a negative situation, the more damage it does to you. You start to internalize what you are hearing and experiencing. You stop believing in yourself. You lose confidence in your abilities. Your ambition fades. You stop striving (i.e., “quiet quitting”). You won't reach your full potential. You won't get promoted. You'll earn less in your lifetime. The longer you stay, the harder it gets harder to land a better job. Ultimately, you'll achieve less in your lifetime. Also, terrible managers can do a lot of damage to your future career. Yet, if they get results, companies tolerate their behavior. The ends justify the means. And the problem is, the working world is still full of so many bad managers. They cause burnout with unreasonable expectations and demands. They destroy your confidence, which takes months or years to recover. They can tarnish your reputation. They can blackball you during reference checks. Life is too short to tolerate this kind of toxic environment. Spending every day around a toxic boss and/or coworkers is no way to live. You're a good human being who deserves to be treated better. We all do. So, what are you going to do about it? How will you ensure you don't end up in another unpleasant situation working for another bad boss? How to find something better We've all experienced bad personal relationships. And I think we've all learned to take some time before the next relationship to understand what went wrong, learn more about who we are, and be more careful about who we get involved with next time. Right?Well, the same thing can be said about work relationships. You don't want to leap into your next job until you understand what went wrong in your previous job. You don't want to end up in yet another terrible working relationship with someone. So, slow down, reflect on things, do your homework, make a plan, and find a healthy professional environment for your next move. You want to end up with a good boss and a great job that will help you recover your career potential and optimize your future success. 1. What went wrong? First, take time to understand what went wrong and why. Was the situation objectively bad, or was it just wrong for you?What wasn't working for you? When did you first notice that something was wrong? Was something off with your role, responsibilities, expectations, etc.?What did you learn from the relationship with your boss? What did you learn about the company culture? What did you learn about your relationship with your coworkers? How can you spot the red flags ahead of time when you explore your next opportunities? 2. Define betterNext, define what “better” means for you. If you don't figure out what you want and what's right for you, you may end up in the wrong company, working in the wrong role, or working for the wrong type of person again. Your definition of better could include: A better job that plays to your strengths. A better company with a healthier corporate culture. A better and more supportive boss. A better manager who mentors you and helps you grow. Better projects that help you advance your skills. Better coworkers who partner and collaborate with you. Better support for accommodations you require. 3. Do your homeworkSomeone recently asked me how they could ask enough questions during a job interview to really understand what the manager is like, get the truth about the company culture, and know what they were getting into. My answer was, “You can't.”Those few minutes you get to ask questions during a job interview will never be enough time to learn everything you need to know. You must do your research ahead of time. Dig, dig, dig. Leverage your network to learn more about the company and the management team. If things go well and you receive an offer, do even more research before you commit. Talk to current employees. Talk to past employees, too. Find people who will tell you the truth about the company and your potential new boss. Don't be dazzled by the superficial flash and external veneer. A big name and big money aren't worth it if you end up being damaged for months or years by a bad work experience. 4. Find your support systemYour network is one of your most valuable professional assets. They can help you find new opportunities that are a good fit for you, your personality, your skills, and your talent. They will also do the right thing and connect you with healthy companies and good managers. All of my corporate jobs were because of my network and thanks to my “inside champions.” I knew what I was getting into before I even started interviewing. So, find or create the support system that will help you succeed. Connect with people who want to help you find “better.”Create your inner circle of peers who support you but also challenge you. They'll remind you when you're settling for less and should seek better. Join a community that will lift you up and encourage you to pursue what's best for you. Find a coach who will believe in you until you believe in yourself. Someone who will be just as upset as you are when someone isn't treating you well. Someone who will say, “Ok, that's enough of that. You deserve better! Now, let's help you find it.” As a coach, that's my purpose. That's why I created my coaching business. It's why I do what I do.I'm here for the good people who deserve better. I'm here for the talented people who should be getting ahead. I'm here for the people who are tired of suffering at work under poor leaders. 5. Never settle for less againYou should never settle for less. Life is short, and your prime career years are even shorter. When you settle, you deny yourself what you could have achieved and who you could have become. I know the working world can sometimes be a frustrating, cold, dark place. But no one should feel hopeless, and no one should feel alone. I'm doing my best to bring a little more humanity, light, and warmth into the professional world. I hope the articles I share help with that! There are good companies out there. There are good bosses out there, too. The challenge is finding them.Work is a significant part of your life. You can find a job (or build a business) that is meaningful and fulfilling. You deserve that! Never settle for less.Thank you for reading Invincible Career®. This post is public so feel free to share it.If you're interested in checking out the latest chapter from my book, I published it here. By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:

Try this tip todaySpend more time responding to people and commenting on their social media posts vs. posting your own content. Pay attention to how this affects your engagement metrics (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc.). Do you wish that more people would follow you, enjoy your social media posts, and send you interesting professional opportunities? Well, last Friday, I hosted a live event with my Invincible Career community, and we discussed that desire. It’s one of many topics we’ve been brainstorming and voting on recently. For example, here are some of the upcoming ones:Marketing yourself and showcasing your work. Strategies for getting promoted. Handling conflict at work. Building and maintaining a powerful network. How to boost or rebuild your confidence. Dealing with impostor syndrome. How to avoid or recover from burnout. How to manage a challenging boss. Maintaining physical, mental, and emotional health. Setting and achieving professional goals. What it takes to succeed at work. How to deal with challenging coworkers. Getting better at saying No. Best ways to find a great new job. Remote work strategies, tips, and tricks. Becoming better at public speaking. Job interview strategies, tips, and tricks. By the way, if you’re a premium subscriber to this newsletter, you can access my private community and my live events. You can also participate in our Monday office hours every week. Notice the topic that bubbled to the top: Marketing yourself and showcasing your work. Obviously, today’s newsletter can’t cover all the details we discussed for over an hour in that Zoom session. But, I want to share a few key points and highlights from the section about marketing yourself so that you can become a magnet for opportunities. It’s a rich topic that I’ll be offering in a longer 2-hour workshop on “Building the Business of Your Invincible Career” to help you:Achieve greater success, get ahead, and make more money. Experience less frustration at work and in future job searches. Be happier and more fulfilled in your long-term career and life. If you said, “Yes,” sign up to be notified when I schedule the workshop. Thanks! OverviewI won’t be able to cover everything that will be part of the 2-hour workshop, but here is a rough outline of what we discussed last week. Goals Audience Brand Value propPitch BioYour intro Online presence Channels Your message Schedule Tools SuccessLet me touch on these and some questions you should ask yourself as you prepare your strategy to get noticed by the right people. https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.comLarry Cornett is a Personal Coach who can help you optimize your career, life, and business. If you’re interested in starting a business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

“You know, I could fire you.”I stood up, put my hands on the conference table, and leaned closer to my seated boss. "Oh, really? You're gonna fire me after all I've done for this company? The sacrifices I've made?" He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I'm not going to fire you. I'm just upset that you're quitting."I guess my resignation came as a surprise, but I'd done nothing wrong. I had used a couple of vacation days to take time off from work and used that time to interview for a new job.The interviews had gone well, and I had two job offers to consider. I hadn't decided which one to accept yet. But, a re-org pushed me to accelerate my timing, so I gave my two-weeks notice early. However, my experience highlights that you do have to be careful when you look for a new job while you're still employed.Here are my five Do’s and Don’ts to help you be strategic and safe with your job hunt. Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Do thisDefine your ideal jobIdentify your ideal employerActivate your networkBe intelligently visibleBe selective Let’s dive into each of these items in a little more detail. By the way, I’ll expand on these points a lot more in the audio version of this newsletter article. If you’d like to hear that, scroll up to listen! 🎧1. Define your ideal jobYou don’t have a lot of free time on your hands when you’re already employed in a full-time job. So, you can’t afford to waste your time — or anyone else’s time — with a vague conversation about what you’re looking for with your next opportunity. Before you dive into a job search, start talking with people in your network, and applying for open positions, spend some time capturing what you want most for your next career move. Create a clear answer to the question:“What kind of job are you looking for?”2. Identify your ideal employerExpand on your previous answer by doing research into your ideal next employer. I want to help you minimize the time you spend in the next phases of the job search (e.g., talking with your network, contacting potential employers, applying for jobs, interviewing). The shorter those phases are, the sooner you can receive job offers and reduce your exposure. Do you want to stay in the same industry (e.g., finance, e-commerce, gaming)? Do you want to work for a similar type of employer (e.g., quitting eBay to work for Amazon)? Do you want to work for a startup, a small company, a larger corporation, etc.?Does the employer need to be based where you live?Would you be willing to relocate?Are you open to a remote role?Create a clear definition of your ideal employer — almost like building a “persona” that describes the ideal company for you. Start building a list of potential employers that come close to what you are seeking. 3. Activate your networkOk, now that you know what your next ideal role should be and the type of employer you are seeking, you’re ready to engage with your network. When you tell people you’re looking for your next job, they’re going to ask what you want. However, you have to be careful with giving your trust. I’m not saying your friends and connections might betray you. It’s more like some people have a hard time keeping a secret!My last job search — which ended in great competing offers from both Yahoo and Google — was accelerated because I reached out to a select few people in my network. I intentionally talked with those who were in positions of influence (e.g., they could directly hire me or share my info with the right hiring managers) or great connectors (e.g., they knew about opportunities, were connected to hiring managers, and could ping their networks for me). I knew I could trust them to be professional, check around, and not reveal my job search status to the wrong people. I didn’t want that information to get back to my manager too soon. 4. Be intelligently visibleWith my “Invincible Career” strategy, you should always be visible online and in your industry. People should know who you are, what you do, what you’re capable of achieving, and how amazing you are. Write articles, publish and post on LinkedIn, be a guest on podcasts, post smart insights on social media, etc. When you do this regularly, it doesn’t seem out of place. However, if you are rarely professionally active online, someone will notice the sudden increase in the velocity of your engagement. “Gee, why is Bob suddenly posting on LinkedIn multiple times a day? Is he looking for a new job?”5. Be selectiveI am not a fan of blasting your resume to hundreds of companies. I also don’t believe in applying for hundreds of open positions, hoping that one will just love your resume. If you use the “spray and pray” approach for your job hunt, way too many people will know that you’re unhappy with your job and looking for your next move. Most industries are surprisingly small, and you’d be amazed by how quickly news travels. Someone at your company will find out. Are you ready for that?Instead, focus your efforts on a few ideal employers. Leverage your network to get warm introductions. Do this well, and your interview process will be smooth, fast, and efficient. Again, the longer you’re in job search and interview mode, the more likely your employer will find out.Don’t do thisSome of this advice should be obvious, but the mistakes people make when job hunting has surprised me. Don’t use company resources Don’t broadcast Don’t be “open to work”Don’t be interviewing when you should be working Don’t count your chickens Ok, let’s dive into each one of these mistakes. 1. Don’t use company resources This advice should be obvious, but people break this rule all the time. Never look for your next job or interview using your corporate laptop, phone, or network. Use your own devices on your own internet on your own time. Speaking of company property, don’t share your employer’s intellectual property during a job interview. You probably signed a confidentiality agreement as part of your employment agreement. That means you can’t share any information that isn’t publicly available, unless your employer gives you explicit approval to do so (which you won’t ask for anyway, if you’re keeping your job search under wraps). I know this makes it harder to share your portfolio of work or talk about your latest projects during an interview presentation. But it’s not worth the risk. You should find ways to discuss your most recent work without violating your employment agreement. 2. Don’t broadcast Now, I’m fine with the modern practice of sharing that you’ve been part of a large layoff. That’s not your fault, and I don’t think it looks bad to admit it. One of the quickest ways to get a job lately has been to announce on social media that you were laid off. However, broadcasting that you’re seeking a new job while you’re still employed is not a good idea. The more you do it, the more likely your manager will find out and there could be unpleasant repercussions. Also, desperation never looks good. I’ve witnessed people begging for a job online, which makes you wonder why they aren’t in demand? How weak is someone’s network if they have to broadcast to strangers that they are desperately hunting for their next role? 3. Don’t be “open to work”Linkedin has an “Open to Work” feature that lets recruiters know you’re looking for a new job. Your profile will show up with priority in searches, and your profile photo has a green circle around it. I think you can guess that this is a bad idea if you’re currently employed. You don’t want your boss or coworkers to see that you’re “Open to Work.”You can choose to restrict the setting, so only recruiters see your status, instead of all LinkedIn members. That way, your profile doesn’t get that snazzy green circle. But this can work against you. Again, I think it looks a bit desperate. As Robert Hellmann explained in his article about the feature:The “open to work” indicator turns off some employers and recruiters because they prefer passive candidates. You may receive more attention than you want from recruiters and employers that aren’t a fit for what you want, which wastes your time. 4. Don’t interview when you should be workingWhen I used to work in a corporate office, I would often hear people being interviewed for a job in our “phone booths” and conference rooms. The walls were thin, and some people were loud. Not smart. The smart folks took a break and walked outside during their job search conversations. We still suspected what was going on, but at least no one could hear the conversation to confirm those suspicions. Now, the boundaries between work and life are incredibly blurred since so many of us are working from home. But, you probably know when you should be working for your employer and when you are on your own time. Schedule work breaks for your job search activities and make sure you’re still giving your employer the time you should be. When you’re scheduled for a full day of job interviews, don’t use a “sick day” to take time off from work. It sure won’t look good if you’re supposed to be sick at home, but someone runs into you in the grocery store after your job interview. If you have a flexible work schedule, you can arrange your meetings and work time around a job interview. If not, you can use personal days or vacation days to take the day off and interview. It’s ok to say, “I’m taking a day off for personal business.” You don’t need to come up with some wild and crazy fabricated excuse (e.g., “I’m attending a funeral for my cousin’s iguana.”). If some presses for details, just say, “It’s personal.”). That’s why it’s called “personal business.” 5. Don’t count your chickens Finally, don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched. Way too many employers are rescinding offers now. The economic downturn has made the whole job hunt process more unpredictable than ever before. Don’t pull the trigger on your resignation until you know for sure you have that new job locked in. That moment used to be when you had signed the written offer and returned it to the recruiter, manager, or HR rep. That’s no longer the case. When an employer makes a job offer of at-will employment, they can rescind that offer for any reason at any time — including the period after you accept the offer but before you begin work — without legal consequence.So, I suggest that you don’t resign and give your notice until you have a start date. But, I also recommend waiting until it is exactly two weeks before that date. There are no guarantees, but this should hopefully reduce the chance of your offer being rescinded after you’ve quit your job. Always be lookingYou should always be looking for your next opportunity and be ready if something amazing comes along. But you want to be strategic about your approach to the hunt, so you don’t risk your job when you’re currently employed. In a perfect world, your boss would understand that you’re looking out for yourself when you keep your eye on the job market to see what the next step is for your career (i.e., stay where you are and advance your career internally or look outside for something better). Heck, a great boss would help you assess job opportunities and review offers to make sure you’re making a wise decision. But, we don’t live in a perfect world, and sometimes we don’t work for the best bosses. So, take care of yourself! Be smart about your job search, stay in contact with the right people in your network, and explore opportunities in a way that won’t jeopardize your future. Thank you for reading Invincible Career®. This post is public so feel free to share it.By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.comLarry Cornett is a Personal Coach who can help you optimize your career, life, and business. If you’re interested in starting a business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Strike 1!“Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life's next adventure.”— Brian ActonStrike 2!“Got denied by Twitter HQ. That's ok. Would have been a long commute.”— Brian ActonMost people would experience back-to-back job interview rejections like that and feel pretty discouraged. Who knows? Maybe Brian felt pretty down on those days. However, those rejections were an incredible gift. Brian left his engineering job at Yahoo earlier in 2009 and interviewed with Twitter and Facebook, but both companies rejected him. So, he decided to partner with Jan Koum to start WhatsApp. Five years later, Facebook agreed to acquire WhatsApp for $16B. Yes, $16 billion with a B. The deal left Brian worth over $3B. Not bad for someone who failed his job interview at Facebook five years earlier, huh? So, Brian had missed the opportunity to join Facebook as an engineer and make a few million dollars. Heck, the stock may have made him worth tens of millions later. Ok, let’s be even more generous. Hundreds of millions. However, the gift of their rejection was worth so much more. Billions more. I’m guessing that Brian looks back on that job interview and thanks his lucky stars that it didn’t work out. There are so many more stories like this about the silver lining of rejection. For example:Whitney Wolfe Herd was a co-founder of Tinder, but faced sexual harassment in the company and filed a lawsuit. She left Tinder in 2014, founded Bumble, and took the company public in 2021. She’s currently worth $740M. Ten years ago, Simu Liu got laid off as an accountant by the consulting firm Deloitte. However, it was one of the best things that happened to him because it forced him to invest in his acting career. Now, you probably know him as the star of the Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. As painful as rejection and failure might feel in the moment, sometimes that becomes a positive turning point. Being forced out of a comfortable situation and knocked off a predictable path may very well challenge you to pursue something even better for your life and career. Bad stuff happens“If at first you don’t succeed, you're in luck. Effortless excellence is a lousy teacher and a fickle friend.” — Adam GrantSome really bad stuff is happening right now. Companies are freezing hiring. Job offers are being rescinded.Thousands of people are being laid off and fired. Crypto is imploding. Investment portfolios are losing value. You may be experiencing some of this. Or, you’ve had some of these bad experiences in the past. We all also know that we will experience some sort of failure or rejection in the future. It’s an inevitable side effect of being human. I've taken a few hard knocks myself over the years. At the time, they felt like the end of the world. I knew that a leadership and organizational change had essentially ended my internal career at one company. I was once laid off shortly after a startup acquisition. A massive change in strategy and leadership at another company meant that my future there was pretty much over. Hey, sh*t happens. In the corporate world, it happens often. You have to get used to it and roll with the punches. When your professional future is disrupted, don't wallow in despair and feel sad about what you lost. Instead, see it as an opportunity to challenge your assumptions about who you are and what you want for your life. When you feel you have nothing to lose, you can take a risk and fail forward. Reach for something bigger and more audacious. Hell, if it helps, use your anger to fuel your comeback and prove people wrong. Nothing will upset your "haters" more than your success and happiness. A weak Yes is the kiss of death“Most humans, in varying degrees, are already dead. In one way or another they have lost their dreams, their ambitions, their desire for a better life. They have surrendered their fight for self-esteem and they have compromised their great potential. They have settled for a life of mediocrity, days of despair and nights of tears.”— Og MandinoI would rather hear a firm Yes or No than a Maybe. I hate maybes.Maybe next timeMaybe next yearMaybe if you ask me again later Maybe if things change A weak Yes isn’t much better. It feels like a consolation prize.“You weren’t our first choice. But the other candidate turned our offer down, so now we’d like to make you an offer!” “You’re meeting expectations. Keep up the great work!”“No one else is available, so we’re putting you on the project.”Working in a job where you’re not appreciated or challenged is a weak Yes. You can continue in that cruise control mode for years. Some people spend their entire career in a company like that. I guess that’s ok if a job is just a job for someone. But, if you’re ambitious and want more for your career, you have to move up or on. However, change is hard and the unknown can be a bit scary. It’s not easy to willingly quit a solid job and give up a steady paycheck. Sometimes people need a push out of the warm nest. That “push” may come in the form of a layoff, for example. But, if and when it happens, it’s time to seize the moment to do something greater with your career and life. How to turn rejection into an opportunity“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” — Henry FordEvery failure is a learning opportunity. Every rejection is your chance to challenge yourself to reach for something even greater. Don’t let it push you into a position of fear and doubt. Don’t be tempted to play safer and smaller. Perhaps I have a strange reaction to failure and rejection, but I think it has served me well. When it happens, I get a feeling of, “What have I got to lose? If I’m going to fail, I’d rather fail while trying to do something even bigger and more audacious.”Here are a few steps I recommend when you experience rejection. This process can help you transform failure into a launchpad for your next success. 1. RecoverTake some time to grieve the loss, recover, and process what happened. We aren’t machines. Rejection hurts. Failure isn’t fun. However, you can also work on your mindset and how you view failure. The only people who never experience the pain of rejection and failure are those who never try. They play it safe, but they don’t achieve great things in their lives. Chasing what you want requires risk. If you want to accomplish amazing things, you have to take a swing — multiple swings — and accept that failure is part of the process. Use it to get better and learn how to improve your strategy and execution. 2. LearnWhat can you learn from what happened? Every failure and setback is an opportunity to reevaluate your strategy. Was your approach sound or not? Do you need to make some changes?Sometimes your strategy was solid, but your execution was flawed. If so, understand what went wrong and what needs to change next time. We all fail, but not everyone learns from their failures. Make sure you do so you can improve your odds of success later. 3. RetargetWhat’s your new target? After a failure or rejection, you may need to identify a new goal. What you wanted may never work out. Or, you may have another shot later, but you still need a win now. Of course, this depends on what you were trying to accomplish and the nature of your failure or rejection. Your original goal may still be valid, but you need to adjust your plan to reach it. 4. PlanTake what you learned in step 2 and use it to tune your strategy. It might be time to try a different approach. Update your plan to execute that strategy and move forward. Sometimes, we fail because we failed to plan in the first place. If that was the case, now is the time to create a plan to reach your goal vs. shooting from the hip again. If it’s important to you, it’s worth taking the time to prepare well. 5. PrepareFailure taught you a lesson, so now you can better prepare for the next opportunity. When we see talented people succeed, they sometimes make it all seem so effortless. We think, “It must be nice!”However, almost every successful person you see worked harder, failed more often, and kept pushing forward more than you’ll ever know. Remember, you’re seeing people’s public lives, not their private struggles. Strong preparation increases your odds of success. But it also serves a secondary purpose. When you know you gave something your all, you will feel proud of yourself no matter what the outcome is vs. feeling bad and blaming yourself for not trying hard enough. 6. RebuildBelieve me, I know how much rejection and failure can do a number on your confidence. After one of my worst failures, I doubted myself for months and it killed any chance I had of securing a new win. It took me a long time to get my mojo back and recover my full confidence. But I finally did, and it made all the difference in the world. So, do whatever it takes to rebuild and boost your confidence. Surround yourself with people who believe in you. Invest in your health and wellness. Take a vacation, clear your head, and come back stronger. So much of what we achieve in life is due to having the confidence to pursue it. 7. ConquerIt will happen eventually. You will conquer that next challenge. Grit and determination matter more than people think. Persistence pays off. Here is what I think you’ll discover: There’s a silver lining to failure and rejection. Losing something or not getting what you thought you wanted can often be a blessing in disguise. Something better is waiting for you! Turn failure into fuel“Success is your ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” — Winston ChurchillEvery time I failed in life, something better came along. Every time someone rejected me, I ended up in a better place. Ok, here’s a question. Did I actually end up in a better place after rejection and failure or do I only perceive that things turned out for the better?The answer is that it doesn’t matter. Perception is reality. What I think and how I feel is all that matters. And, I feel damn good about how my career and life have turned out. Maybe all I did was turn lemons into lemonade. But I know that I’m happier, healthier, and more fulfilled than I was before. So, I’ll drink that lemonade every day and smile. I can tell you I’ve witnessed the same with many of my clients. They sometimes end up in an unpleasant situation at work, things go south, and they feel like it’s the end of the world. Maybe they’re still going to work every day, but they’re miserable. Or maybe they eventually get caught up in a layoff, get fired, or quit and walk away. But we find a way out of that terrible situation and transform the darkness into light. They fail forward and end up in a much better place. One client recently experienced that and landed an amazing job that almost doubled his compensation. I’d say that’s a pretty nice outcome after feeling burned by a temporary rejection!So, the next time you’re facing failure or stinging from rejection, I want you to take a moment and remember these stories. Not only is there a light at the end of the tunnel, but your future may also be even brighter because of that failure and rejection! Sometimes we need to be forced out of our comfort zone and reminded of what we really want most for our lives. It can ignite your bravery and passion to pursue what you’ve always dreamed of doing. Use failure to fuel your drive forward into something greater!By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.comLarry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

For a while now, I've felt pulled in different directions as I wrote the Invincible Career newsletter. The primary focus has been on professional development to help you get ahead in your career, get promoted, explore leadership, find a new job, manage workplace issues, etc.However, I also know how important personal development is and how much it affects your working life, not just your personal life. Life and work get better when you become more confident, communicate well, improve relationships, build on your strengths, manage your weaknesses, and improve yourself.You've probably also noticed that I'm a big fan of entrepreneurship and building your own business at some point in your life. I do think it enables the ultimate freedom and flexibility to live every day on your own terms.However, I've seen that this creates some tension in my readers. Some of you have asked me to focus more on helping employees be more successful in their careers. They don't want to read about entrepreneurship (or personal development stuff). On the flip side, other people have asked me to write even more about entrepreneurship and how to grow and scale a business.Therefore, I've decided to separate my writing topics (and passions) into 3 separate newsletters:​Invincible Career will continue to focus on professional development and be more of what you want as someone navigating a career in the world of corporate employment.​Invincible Life is new and focused on personal development and helping you live your best life. It will also be where I share the remaining draft chapters of my book this year, Building the Invincible You.​Invincible Solopreneurs is also new and focused on entrepreneurship. It's a companion to the Invincible Solopreneur courses and community I've been building this year. So, if you dream of escaping the 9-5 world to build your own business someday, check it out.Each newsletter will have a public edition (and podcast episode) that is released once a month. So, don't worry about getting 3x the email if you decide to subscribe to all of them! I will still publish the premium version of the Invincible Career newsletter every Monday with the themed challenges and exercises. No change there.So, this will be the last book chapter I share with the Invincible Career newsletter. If you're interested in reading more draft chapters this year, subscribe to the Invincible Life newsletter. Thanks!By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

A few days ago, I tweeted a quote from Seth Rogen using something he said on the podcast “Dead Eyes.” It’s produced and hosted by Connor Ratliff and explores the time Tom Hanks fired him from the 2001 HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers. It’s pretty good. You should check it out. I heard Seth talking about auditions and it made me think of the frustration people feel after dozens of failed job interviews. Here’s my tweet. Note the part where he said, “or knew the person who wrote it.”I’m a fan of Seth’s work as a director, producer, and actor. I’ve enjoyed many of his movies, and his laugh always makes me laugh whenever I hear it. So, I was surprised and delighted when he actually took the time to respond. Now, I didn’t actually say that he used “networking” to land his roles, but I guess it was implied. It became quite the polarizing discussion on Twitter! Some people supported me and my comment about networking in their follow-up tweets. “I’d call that luck… 🤷🏽‍♂️💯 And networking… You forged relationships with dear friends who happen to all be famous af. That’s not reality for anyone. That’s pretty blessed and lucky imo.”“That's networking Seth, you created the network”“Hey Seth that’s networking”“I’m pretty sure you just described networking.”“F*%$ man, who am I to say but I think that might be networking”“AKA “Networking”. Your awesome Dude, love all your work.”“Social networking. No crime in it. Everyone succeeds.”“So, networking…”“I feel like that’s definitely networking, lol.”“Soooooo… Networking 😂 🤣”“Yep, that’s what he said….Networking 😂”“Just btw Seth, creating relationships with other people in your industry is literally called networking 😂” (to which Seth replied, “I don’t think so.”)Other people were more than happy to tell me how stupid I am. You have to grow a thick skin if you want engagement on Twitter. 🤣“Yeah, LARRY”“Seth said, ‘dont career-speak me into your shiz dude. you dont know me.’ King.”"‘networking’ just feels so shallow. I get it, but I like your way better, Seth.”“you tell em 👏”“tear that a$$ up boo”and a few more that I don’t think I should share… 🤣Note: if you want to increase your engagement on Twitter, tweet a polarizing point of view. Bonus points if you can get a celebrity to respond. Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.There’s nothing wrong with smart networkingNetworking isn't a dirty word. If you think it is, you're doing it the wrong way. People obviously have very different definitions of networking. They're envisioning very different things. Unfortunately, many people have a negative view of networking. They picture the typical cocktail parties and industry events. They also have nasty things to say about people who network. “When most people think of networking, they automatically have a vision in their head of cocktail parties and conventions. My approach to networking is based on a transformation process and not a transactional game.”— Porter Gale, author of Your Network Is Your Net Worth: Unlock the Hidden Power of Connections for Wealth, Success, and Happiness in the Digital Age (my affiliate link)Other people accept networking as part of their professional life. They know that it’s a useful way to meet new people in your industry, build new relationships, and find people you may enjoy working with later. While I never had much luck with traditional networking events (e.g., industry mixers), I have met some wonderful people through more strategic networking activities. I have more success when I give a talk at an event, meet people for 1-on-1 conversations (e.g., Zoom coffee chats), or get introduced by a mutual friend. Better approaches than shallow networking events include:Creating your own network (what Seth has done). Building relationships and inviting people into your network. Tapping into your network for advice. Leveraging your network for finding opportunities. Feeding opportunities back into your network. Forging new connections between people in your network (i.e., you know them, but they don't know each other). Our networks increasingly overlapI think we've all experienced a shift in our personal and professional lives over the past few years. Our attempt to maintain work-life separation and work-life balance has evolved into a work-life blend. Perhaps I notice this more as a solopreneur, but my social circle and professional circle are overlapping more lately. I know that some of this is because of the pandemic and how much my social life and working life involve a lot of online chats and Zoom meetings. Sure, we do still have purely social friendships and purely professional relationships. But there is an overlapping area with a hybrid network that lives in both worlds. We refer friends for jobs. We introduce professional friends and acquaintances who we think would benefit from meeting each other. We connect people who can help each other. We sometimes form working partnerships with old friends and talented people from previous jobs. Networking doesn’t just happen at those massive industry events or professional cocktail parties. That’s a very limiting view of the activity. Networking occurs whenever a friend tells you they’re hiring for a new role in their company and you say, “Hey, I know someone who might be a good fit.” It occurs whenever you’re talking with a friend who is struggling with an issue and you say, “You should meet my friend. She has a service that addresses that problem.” Seth gets value out of his networkI also think what Seth was trying to say is that his personal network was a side effect of great working relationships and friendships with talented people. He wasn't intentionally trying to "network" first (i.e., the verb), and perhaps he does hate the act of “networking.”Where I went wrong with my tweet — which resulted in such a negative visceral reaction from many — is my use of the word “networking” instead of talking about social and professional “networks.” I doubt that so many people would have disagreed with my tweet had I worded it this way:“Sooo… a successful actor like Seth Rogen hardly ever landed a role from auditioning, yet people expect to land a great job without tapping into their network.”I would hope Seth wouldn’t deny that the power of his network did indeed help him during the earlier years of his career. Later, in the same podcast episode, Adam McKay (director of “Anchorman”) shared a story about Judd Apatow: "Judd had done Freaks and Geeks with Seth and came to me and was like, ‘Hey, do you mind if we give this guy a line? Uh, he's really funny. I think he's really talented.’ And that was it. We put him in, and... He had like, the tiniest moment, but he did that really funny countdown, with the pinky move. So even in that tiny little moment, he made it work. But yeah, that was it. It was Judd. Judd was like, ‘Please cast this guy.’ And it was like, ‘Okay!’ And he was great.”Investopedia has this definition of networking:”Networking is the exchange of information and ideas among people with a common profession or special interest, usually in an informal social setting. Networking often begins with a single point of common ground. Professionals use networking to expand their circles of acquaintances, find out about job opportunities in their fields, and increase their awareness of news and trends in their fields or the greater world.”Well, Judd telling Adam that Seth was really funny and talented and that they should cast him was definitely an exchange of useful information. Call me crazy, but it’s an example of powerful networking. Seth wasn’t the producer or director of “Anchorman.” He didn’t create that role for himself. Judd was connected to both Seth and Adam (you might say they were networked together 😉) and he’s the one that made it happen. Networking the right wayI found this response amusing. Apparently, Emily doesn’t want to work with you if you use the word “networking.”What would you prefer to call those events when you socialize with other professionals? I don't know about you, but I can find better uses for my time than attending some professional event and trying to think of it as pure fun or socializing. It is indeed a hybrid event. I guess I have more enjoyable ways to have real fun. You know, like hanging out with friends and family. I don't refer to my time socializing with friends and family as "networking." But, if I am forced to attend some professional event (e.g., a conference after-party), yes, that's "networking." Perhaps it isn't the smarmy, shallow, schmoozing networking that this person is used to experiencing. But, for me, it is the lighter, more enjoyable, and more authentic professional networking that I can find somewhat enjoyable. It's still not my first choice for connecting with people. I'd prefer a more intimate dinner with a few people from an event. But, I can make it more tolerable with the tips I've provided before in this article. I'm also going to call BS on the suggestion that going to professional social events should be all about fun and friendships. Are you trying to tell me that every person you have a positive working relationship with is also a dear friend that you invite to your inner circle of friends, Thanksgiving dinners, and your most intimate gatherings? I don’t buy it. Mature adults realize and accept that we have different levels of intimacy, relationships, and friendships. We can respect and admire people without being "friends." We can be friendly with people in a professional relationship without assuming that we're best buddies. Of course, real personal friendships can and do occur with work colleagues. No one denies that. Some working relationships transform into personal friendships. But not all work relationships are equivalent to friendships. The process of building and maintaining professional relationships is different from nurturing personal friendships. They are not the same. It's foolish to get on your high horse and proclaim that they should be the same.Whether people like it or not, a powerful network will help you get ahead in your career. Very few people are born into families that immediately give them access to a network that will help them succeed in life (e.g., Kennedy, Windsor, House of Saud, Rockefeller, Ambani, Rothschild). Most of us will need to build and nurture our own networks and, yes, the actions we take to do so will fall under the umbrella of networking. Thank you for reading Invincible Career®. This post is public so feel free to share it.By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.comLarry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Most people never reach this step of making an actual plan. They dream, and they might even brainstorm strategies, but they don’t take the next step. They never create a concrete plan to achieve their most important personal goals. If you remember the study I mentioned in chapter 7, creating a plan for how you will accomplish your goal improves your probability of success. Your odds rise to 50%. That may not seem inspiring. But, 50/50 odds are much better than no chance of success at all. Plus, as you continue to work through the remaining chapters in this book, your odds of success will continue to improve. So, how do you feel about planning? Which one of these quotes resonates best with how you think about it?“Remember, if you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail.” — Reverend H. K. Williams“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” — Thomas Edison“Just because you made a good plan, doesn’t mean that’s what’s gonna happen.” — Taylor Swift“The reason that everybody likes planning is that nobody has to do anything.” — Jerry Brown As you may have guessed, I’m a planner. For as long as I can remember, I’ve created plans for what I want to achieve. I know that everything I want won’t simply fall into my lap. However, I know many people who are not like me. They’ve told me that, until this point, their life has just “happened.” Of course, they’ve moved forward in life. But they didn’t plan very far ahead, or they followed along with someone else’s plan. At some point, this approach fails. Life won’t always give you what you want or need. Also, someone else’s plan may not have your best interests in mind. One day, you may find yourself dissatisfied or unhappy, but you won’t know what to do about it because it all just “happened.”I’ve worked with many clients who end up in this situation. So, we create plans together. They execute the plans and they see results. For the first time, they are choosing their path in life and they’re amazed by how much better that is than just being tossed around by the winds of fate. Life is better when you’re in control of your destiny. Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Plan for uncertaintyI’m going to propose a different approach than traditional planning. What I like to do with my clients is a mix of planning techniques that are inspired by:Research on “reverse planning.”A flexible strategy of milestone hops. Decades of my life spent in business planning meetings.Reverse planningIf you are clear about your big goal and set your intention, you can start planning backward with the steps that make it achievable. Researchers studied this “reverse planning strategy” and found that, for more complex goals and tasks, it is more effective and enjoyable than traditional chronological planning.“True retrospection is used to review events that have already happened, but using one’s imagination to think of future events as if they were in the past facilitates visualization of both the end goal and the steps required to get there. This ‘future retrospection’ tends to increase the anticipation of pleasure from achieving the goal and helps bring about goal-directed behaviors.”Planning forward can feel overwhelming when your goal is ambitious. It is too hard to imagine all the tasks you must accomplish between now and then. I found this to be true in my own life.Planning backward helped me see it all as achievable. I started with the assumption that I had accomplished my goal (e.g., I’m living in my home in the mountains).Then I defined the logical step that must have taken place right before that. I asked and answered a series of questions to determine each move.Why am I able to live there?How could someone there make a living?How could someone like me do that for a living?What did I have to do to make that possible?How did I prepare for that?And so on… continuing to plan backward until I reached what I thought would be my next logical step right now. You can use the same process. Start with your long-term goal and start planning backward year by year — at a high level, of course — to get a sense of what you may need to do to get there. Milestone hopsWe don’t know what we don’t know. We can’t predict the future, either. But, you defined your most audacious goals in chapter 7, which should have given you a vision of an outcome you desire for your life. Reverse planning can help you envision a series of high-level steps to make that vision come true, but it probably left you with a few burning questions:What do you I do now? What is my next step?I know it can feel like a paradox of choice. There are almost infinite possibilities, moves, and tactics you could choose to employ right now at this current point in time. There are so many paths you could take to navigate that competitive landscape to reach any number of goals. You already defined a strategy for navigating that landscape and overcoming barriers and obstacles. It sure would be nice if your path was a straight and narrow one, as illustrated below. Choose a goal, choose a starting point, plan your path, and just get going. Right? In a simpler world — and life — goals wouldn’t change and we would never have to deviate from our planned path to get there. But life is chaotic and we know nothing is ever as simple and easy as we think it will be. Without a plan, you may end up being lost in the twists and turns of reality. However, there is a more effective strategy and flexible approach:Start somewhere (it doesn’t have to be perfect).Choose a path.Identify your first milestone.Make the “hop” to get there (e.g., complete projects and tasks).Gather data, assess, and reevaluate.Course-correct and adapt your strategy if necessary.Identify your next milestone and continue.Your vision will be on the far horizon. Your goals are what you need to achieve that vision. Your strategic plans help you accomplish those goals. The tasks are what you need to do to execute those plans. Business planningNo plan survives first contact with reality. Yes, you need a plan. But accept that you will always need to re-plan. “Peace-time plans are of no particular value, but peace-time planning is indispensable.”— Dwight EisenhowerIn the corporate world, we had rough one-year plans, more realistic six-month plans, detailed quarterly roadmap plans, and very specific project plans. More often than not, our longer-term fuzzier plans either changed radically, or we abandoned them entirely. The world and the competitive landscape are not under your control — they change frequently, and chaos often alters them. A plan is an attempt to predict the future, but you can’t predict the future. Perhaps one way to visualize this reality is to picture life as a large, rushing river full of twists and turns, obstacles, and rapids. Your long-term goal is your destination somewhere along the course of this river. But, rather than a precise destination (e.g., I want to bring my boat ashore at that exact rock at those precise geo-coordinates), your goal should describe a desirable outcome that could be possible at multiple destinations. The farther away your goal is, the fuzzier your view of it will be and the more vague your long-term plans will be. They exist at the far end of a broad cone of possibilities. Your strategy is how you plan to navigate the course of the chaotic river to get there. As you get closer, you will narrow in on the place you want to come ashore. But the waters you are traversing with your boat right now require a crisp and detailed plan. You need to know precisely how you will paddle around the rock in the river in front of you. You need to aim your boat to navigate the rapids that are just ahead. So, it’s ok to have fuzzier, placeholder plans for the far future. Don’t even bother with creating detailed plans for that timeline because everything might change — and probably will. However, you do need precise plans for what you are doing today, tomorrow, next week, and in the months ahead. Some plans will have activities you must set in motion now. They will be captured in the projects you define.Define projectsA project is composed of the tasks you need to complete over time to achieve a goal. You'll notice that each project is a mini version of how you're thinking about what it will take to achieve your most important long-term life goals. Deconstruct your strategic statement and ask questions for each component. For example, if your strategy is to be "uniquely valuable," what can you do to be unique? The details will be crisp and well-defined for your near-term projects. You may even be able to plan the daily tasks you’ll need to make progress and accomplish them.However, things get a bit fuzzier as you consider the projects you need to execute your strategy a year from now. Your plans will become more general as you forecast even further into the future, two to five years from now (e.g., “Write my second book”). And, things will become fuzzier still as you consider the projects that will support your long-term vision you don’t expect to reach for 10-20+ years.A project definition will include:Overall goalWhat do you want to accomplish? Success measuresWhat does success look like? How will you know when you've successfully completed the project?RequirementsWhat are the expectations? It's helpful to think in terms of must-have requirements and nice-to-have requirements. For example, resist the urge to build the Taj Mahal when a cozy cabin will meet your needs (i.e., the requirements). ResourcesWhat will you need to complete the project successfully? This could include other people, certain skills, materials, money, etc. DependenciesDoes this project depend on any external factors (e.g., something or someone must be available before you can begin)? Does it depend on a previous project to be completed first (e.g., the output from an earlier project is an input into this project)?ScopeHow long do you estimate this project will take? Is it time bound (i.e., the project must be finished by a specific date)? Or, is it based on a milestone (e.g., the first version can be completed and launched, then improved later)? As you may have already experienced, almost every project may take twice as long and costs three times as much as you think it will. DatesWhen do you want this project to begin? How long will it last, based on the scope of the previous step? When do you expect you will finish the project?Let's use an example. If you wanted to build and launch a simple website to promote yourself, here is one way you might define that project. Overall goalLaunch a website that will attract potential hiring managers and recruiters.Success measures You get five friends to review the site and provide positive feedback that it’s ready to launch. The website is functional and available.Google Search can crawl and index the site. Requirements You're satisfied with how the website looks in the most commonly used desktop web browsers on MacOS and Windows. You're satisfied with how the website looks in the most commonly used mobile web browsers on iOS and Android. The site loads quickly enough to not be annoying, all pages on the site load as expected, and the website doesn't generate any errors. People can navigate and browse your site, learn about you and what you do, access links to your other online profiles, and successfully send you a message to contact you. Resources You'll design and customize the site yourself using WordPress. You'll use free images from Unsplash. You need a domain. You need a hosting provider. You'll need some money to pay for initially registering the domain and the monthly website hosting fee. Dependencies You'll need a hosting provider that can host a WordPress site. You'll need to think about the name you want for your website. You'll need a unique name that is available for your domain. Scope You can only work on the website for about 6 hours every weekend. You estimate you can complete the total project in 4 weeks. Dates You can begin working on the project next weekend. Given the scope, you estimate a completion date on Saturday during the last weekend of next month. You'll announce and share the website on your socials on the following Monday morning. Given the amount of detail and work that goes into defining a project like this, you should only create detailed projects that must be completed to achieve your near-term goals for the next few months. Don’t even bother with detailed plans or project definitions beyond a year. Life is too unpredictable. I think we’ve all realized how much our lives can be completely disrupted beyond anything we might have imagined.That’s why, decades ago, my plans and projects for my distant future were quite vague. I knew what my long-term vision was for my life. I had some long-term goals. But, the big projects to support them were high level:Start my own business.Move somewhere into the mountains.Write a book.You can pencil in high-level project ideas for your longer-term goals, of course. But, don't overload yourself and become overwhelmed with defining and committing to too many projects at once. What high-level projects are you planning this year to accomplish your biggest goals for the year? What is the more detailed list of projects that you will focus on for the next few weeks and months? As a next step, use the project definition framework that I described above for each of the projects you want to work on soon. As you begin and learn more, you can flesh out more details and make adjustments to your project plan as necessary. However, let’s take a moment and make sure the projects are aligned with your strategy. Ensure strategic alignmentIt’s easy to get lost in the weeds when you start defining projects and working on them. So, now is the time to ensure alignment with your strategy. You want to make sure you’re using your time and energy wisely. You can ask a few questions to double-check that you’re working on the right things:How will the successful outcome of these projects support my strategy?Will these projects “move the needle” to get me closer to my goals?Are the investments of time, energy, and money worth the result they should yield?Do the projects complement each other or not?Am I sequencing these projects correctly?That last question is where your roadmap comes into play. Create your roadmapA roadmap is an overview of your projects mapped into a calendar view. One of your roadmaps could be a “vision roadmap” that reflects your long-term life vision and goals. There will be no specific project details, but it does provide a sense of sequencing and timing over years. For example:In the example above, note the high-level goals, tasks, and aspirational outcomes. I included a task of “Plan move” instead of something too specific, such as:Move to the Rocky Mountains.Move to Aspen, Colorado.Move to a four-bedroom, two-bath blue house 5.7 miles west of the Aspen County Airport in Aspen, Colorado.The items on the long-term roadmap do not include specific details. If you’ve created your long-term vision and goals correctly, you won’t need to change them frequently as things change in your life and the world around you. At this level, a detailed plan or roadmap that is too specific won't survive the chaos of reality. So, don't bother.However, you should also create a more specific one-year roadmap that lays out the projects you want to focus on to accomplish your most important goals for this year. Now, this will include more detailed projects than a vision roadmap. But, it is still not a detailed breakdown of any single project. What are the timing, timeline, and effort required for each project? What can you work on in parallel (given your available time and resources)? Which projects must you complete before other projects can begin? Finally, create a detailed roadmap view for each project you want to work on now. Identify the tasks and activities you will focus on each week for the duration of the project. What tasks can you complete in parallel? What tasks must you sequence?Note: The companion website for this book has resources, which include downloadable spreadsheets and templates to help you build your own roadmaps.Establish milestonesYour milestones will be the smaller goals you want to reach on the journey to your larger long-term goals. They mark the completion of major project tasks and the ends of various phases. You’ll find that milestones will probably map to the subgoals you identified in chapter 7. For example, you might have a long-term goal to have one of your books on The New York Times Best Seller list. But, it is exceedingly rare for an author to have their very first book achieve such recognition. So, you would probably want to set milestones for publishing your first few books along the way. You captured your most audacious goals in chapter 7. Now, it’s time to identify some key milestones for those goals that will help you assess your progress. Review your subgoals, since they will inform your milestones. A good way to think about this exercise is to visualize a journey. If you were currently in Los Angeles and your long-term goal was to reach New York City, what cities would be milestones on your route to get there? Your travel strategy determined your mode of transportation and informed the route you will take. Knowing this, you now can plan the cities you must pass through to get where you are going. Similarly, your milestones are what you must achieve to get where you are going and reach your long-term goal. You can check them off as you make progress. This will give you more confidence and assurance that you’re on track. What are some key milestones for your highest-priority long-term goal? What are some key milestones for the biggest goals you want to achieve over the next two to five years? What are some key milestones for the goals you want to achieve this year? If you’re struggling to identify milestones, it might help to bounce some ideas off a good friend. Or, you can talk with me and the members of my community. Many of us have spent years of our careers in project planning meetings and exercises. Leverage checkpointsCheckpoints help you measure progress. Milestones are also certainly major checkpoints, but you will need additional smaller checkpoints to identify tasks you must complete on the path to a milestone. The more frequent checkpoints you define will be quite useful to assess progress, but they aren’t the same as your key milestones. In the book example above, publishing a book is a key milestone, but you would require dozens of checkpoints to stay on track and publish that book. Writing and editing a book is a long and complex process. A few simple examples of checkpoints:A weekly review of total pages written. Finish the first draft of your book. Proofread and edit the book. Have an editor review the book. Get feedback from beta readers. Come up with the right title. Format the book for publication. Hire someone to design the cover. Get your book website ready. Create a book launch plan. You can create a list of checkpoints and work through them yourself. You can even establish a schedule and process to review your checkpoints by yourself. However, as I’ve mentioned before, accountability partners improve your odds of success. You could schedule regular checkpoints to review progress with an accountability buddy, coach, or community. What are some checkpoints you will need to assess progress toward the key milestones you identified for this year? You will definitely have way more checkpoints for all the tasks you’ll need to accomplish your goals for the year. But, this should give a small taste of what it’s like to define them. Create backup plansI’m not sure why some people proudly proclaim that they don’t have a backup plan. They say that the idea of having backup plans in life is silly. You have to go all-in on what you do. Win big or fail spectacularly!The problem is that you are never entirely in control of the variables that influence outcomes. Even if you are entirely in control of that big long-term goal you’ve defined, you don’t control the world around you. It’s safer to assume that something will go wrong because life is unpredictable. It’s only smart to have a backup plan, just in case things do go sideways. It’s actually not a bad idea to have a series of backup plans; Plans A-D.Plan A Plan A is your current plan, which is what you’ve been defining above (e.g., the roadmap, milestones, and checkpoints). This is how you plan to execute your primary strategy to achieve your goals. Of course, it should be where you are focusing most of your time and energy.Given your best planning and thought, this path is the one that you think will yield the outcome that you want. However, your plan could go sideways if an unanticipated wrench gets thrown into the works.Plan B Plan B should be your strategy for a course correction if Plan A goes wrong at some point. What do I mean by things going wrong? Some examples:A re-org removes the potential promotion path you were counting on.The country goes into a significant recession. A pandemic changes the world around you. Sometimes your Plan B works out even better than your Plan A would have if you had tried to stay the course.What is your Plan B?➡️ Plan C Plan C is a complete change of strategy. What you were trying to do to reach your goal will no longer work at all.I activated my Plan C when I left the Silicon Valley tech world and launched my career coaching business. What I do is somewhat related to my old career, but it is very different from my previous roles, and it has required significant planning and experimentation.What is your Plan C?➡️ Plan D Plan D is your emergency plan when everything goes wrong. It is what you fall back on when something extremely disruptive occurs. For example, the economy collapses, you lose your job, and you’re on the brink of bankruptcy.It is a rare occurrence, and it’s nice to think that this will never happen to you. However, there are no guarantees in life. Recessions, depressions, and pandemics don’t care about your plans.When everything fails, and you need to go into survival mode for a while, Plan D will keep you going. For example, I have my eye on a job at my favorite local hardware store (I love tools). Worst-case scenario, I could move in with a family member until I got back on my feet.What is your Plan D?➡️ You may think, “What’s the point of making these backup plans now? I’ll just figure things out later if something goes wrong.”First, it is almost impossible to think clearly and plan well when you are in the middle of an emergency (e.g., you were just fired). Sometimes people end up making a decision too quickly and regret it later. They didn’t take the time to plan and research, so they end up getting into an even worse situation.“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” — John F. KennedySecond, successfully planning your next move takes time, especially if it’s a significant change of plan. Some people have the luxury of a large financial cushion and can take several months or even years to figure out their alternative path. Many people do not and cannot. Third, even when you have a backup plan, getting back on track always takes longer than you think. If you need even more time to figure out your next move, it will create a significant delay. Commit to your plansI don’t expect this chapter to teach you everything you need to know about planning, creating projects, and executing your roadmap. My goal here is to persuade you to invest in yourself and commit to making a plan to get what you want out of life. Building the invincible version of you means you dedicate at least some of your precious time to pursuing your most important personal goals. How will you achieve what you want in your life if you never make time to work on it?It’s great to have goals. It’s wonderful to have strategies for how you will pursue those goals. But without a plan, most people struggle to make serious progress. They shoot from the hip, and they eventually fail. A plan gives you a fighting chance! How to ensure progressOne of the best ways to ensure steady progress is to identify the daily and weekly tasks you need for your project work. For example, writing a book is a massive project. But blocking an hour each morning to write will ensure you conquer that project page by page every day. Establishing habits will ensure project tasks get completed. Let's tackle that topic in the next chapter.I’m looking forward to sharing more of my book with you this year! Become a premium subscriber today to keep reading the draft chapters as I complete them.By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.comLarry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

The past two weeks have been interesting and challenging. I was selected for jury duty service here in California, and I have a few weeks left in the trial. The process has been taking up most of the time I usually spend writing, recording my podcast, and working with my clients and community. As a result, I’m not entirely happy with my progress on the latest chapter of the book I’m writing. It’s about 80% of the way there, so I need more time to wrap it up before sharing the draft with you. So, instead, I will try something new this week! I’m frequently asked career-related questions across various platforms. Instead of answering there, I will share the questions and my answers with you here. By the way, if you would like to ask me a question about anything related to work, careers, interviews, etc., there are many ways you can do that:Reply to the weekly newsletter email and send me your question.Post your question in the comments section of an article. Send me an anonymous written question.Record an audio question, and you can have your voice included in an upcoming podcast episode!Note: Please let me know if you’d like to have your name included or if you prefer to remain anonymous. For example, I can disguise your voice in the podcast. Now, without further ado, let’s dive into the six questions below!Question 1“Has working remotely part-time or full-time enhanced your well-being?”Absolutely! I have been working primarily remote for more than 12 years now and full-time remote for more than six years.I used to commute 2–3 hours every day for my last corporate job. I was overweight, unhealthy, and unhappy. I didn't see my family much during the workweek.Once I went remote running my own business, I started working out more often and eating healthier — after I recovered and repurposed those 2–3 hours every day. I lost 40 lbs! If you check out my Instagram, you'll see that I'm still working out every day.I was also able to spend more time with my children and eat dinner with my family every night. I go for a walk and run with my wife almost every day. My mental and emotional health are so much better now.Anyone who has read the advice in my newsletter knows that I'm a huge fan of remote work. I coach clients to take control of their working lives so they can work where they want and when they want. It's a life-changing experience!Question 2“What job or profession is a lot less fun than people imagine?”I think many professions look more fun from the outside than they do on the inside. For example, I was a software/web/app designer for much of my career. My friends and family (who don’t work in tech) would frequently comment that my job must be “fun” because I just had to sit around and design stuff all day. I think they confused “design” with creating art, which I actually do enjoy quite a lot. But, I can tell you that the actual profession of software design isn’t all fun and laughs. It’s a ton of long hours, arguments over requirements and design decisions, endless revisions, tedious documentation, etc. Sure, there are some fun moments, but probably no more than other professions.Likewise, I think television shows have misled us into believing that the lives of doctors, police officers, and lawyers are a lot more exciting than they really are. My brother is a surgeon, so I know he isn’t having “fun” very often on the job. I used to be a police dispatcher, so I know that most of the job is boring and full of process and paperwork (briefly interrupted by rare moments of terror). I’m sure that many of us look at the lives of professional athletes, music artists, and actors and think, “That must be nice! I sure do wish I could get paid to play like that.” But, there’s a reason that many of them struggle with substance abuse, depression, and failed relationships. The professions aren’t as glamorous as they look from the outside. Question 3“What are the considerations before making a career change?”This is a tricky question to answer because I don’t know how significant the planned career change is. So, my first follow-up question would be, “What type of career change?” Obviously, a massive change will require more serious consideration and preparation. Do you know what you're getting into? You should talk to people in the career/profession you’re considering. Explore what the job is like by receiving training, shadowing someone, etc. I have some friends who have considered opening restaurants and bars. However, after spending a few days as a chef, they changed their minds. Do you need a financial cushion? Depending on the career change, you may need funds to bridge the gap while your new career is spinning up (i.e., before it provides enough income to support you). This is often the case if you quit your job to become an entrepreneur. It takes some time for a new business to provide a reliable and sufficient income stream. Will the career change require a lifestyle change? Are you prepared for that? For example, sometimes your commute or working hours will be pretty different when you change to a new profession. You should also be prepared for the impact it may have on your circle of friends. I lost quite a few “friends” when I left my tech career behind to become a leadership and career coach. Finally, what’s your backup plan if the career change doesn’t work out? Failure is a possibility, and it can happen. Hey, my tech startup failed, and I had to quickly come up with my Plan B to keep going. So, be prepared with a backup plan ahead of time (just in case). Question 4“What (if any) new careers are open to you if you are nearing 60?”Even though age discrimination is illegal and the law protects people age 40 or over, we all know it still happens. It’s a massive issue in tech, and I encountered it several times. Unfortunately, it’s hard to prove age discrimination. So, it’s wise to plan ahead and be ready for the inevitable slowdown in opportunities that used to flow your way when you were younger. I started planning my future as I approached my 40s because I could already see where things were going. I intentionally guided my career in a direction where my age would be viewed as an asset, not a liability (e.g., management, leadership, consulting). Some examples of pivoting into a second-act career:Successful actors become directors before they age out, and it’s too late (e.g., Ron Howard, Penny Marshall, Jodie Foster).Hot music artists start their own record label before they grow weary of touring (e.g., Jay Z, The Beatles, Dave Grohl).World-class athletes know when to hang it up and transition into coaching (e.g., Bill Russell, Martina Navratilova, Mike Ditka). Careers for older folks:Many older employees move into consulting when they feel their career slowing down within the walls of a corporation. People like me leave the corporate world, become coaches, and advise the next generation of leaders.Some people realize that they can’t be forced into “early retirement” if they start their own business and become their own boss. I know many business owners over the age of 60. My optometrist owned his practice and just retired this year when he was over 90! Teaching at a local school or college is a good option and lets you give back to the next generation. I’ve watched people retire from their first career and go into real estate. It’s a job that values your experience and connections. Writing is another career that is open to anyone, no matter their age. No one knows how old you are behind the keyboard! Finally, I know several people who indulged their artistic talent and became artists in their second-act careers. I interviewed one talented lady for my podcast. As you may have guessed, some of these second-act careers won’t pay as well as your first-act career did when you were younger. So, plan accordingly. I think you’ll enjoy this article; A new start after 60: ‘I became a psychotherapist at 69 and found my calling.’ You might find this one interesting, too.Question 5“How many careers did you have before your current one?”I guess it depends on how you define a “career.” I’ve had many different jobs in my life, but I wouldn’t classify any of the earlier ones as a career to which I dedicated a significant amount of my professional life.Before I became a leadership and career coach, I spent most of my professional life in one career in tech. I was a designer, design manager, design leader, product executive, and startup founder and CEO. But, I would put all of those jobs under the umbrella of my “tech career.”I will say that the idea of having one primary career for life is outdated. My professional life has changed considerably about every ten years. I would guess that many of you will change careers more than once in your lifetime, as well. Question 6“What do you do when your business direction is becoming more risky and you feel like your life is taking too long to get to where you want to be? Mildly bittersweet and having a lot of hindsight about my past life right now :(“One of my most popular articles ever was on this very topic. What does “too long” mean? Are you comparing yourself to someone else?The focus on “where you want to be” reveals what is known as the Arrival Fallacy. Many of us experience it at a few points in our lifetime. "Arrival fallacy is this illusion that once we make it, once we attain our goal or reach our destination, we will reach lasting happiness." — Tal Ben-ShaharWhen you dream about the destination and keep thinking that reaching it will be what makes you happy, you don’t enjoy your life along the way. I know this is easier said than done, but you need to enjoy the journey too. Too many people experience a letdown when they reach their big goal. They feel like, “Is this it? Shouldn’t I feel happier now?”Now, your comment about your business direction becoming “more risky” is a valid concern. My follow-up question is, “What do you mean by that?” You should continuously evaluate progress and how things are going. Sometimes, it is time to cut your losses and move on. But I don’t know enough to tell you if you’ve reached that point yet. So, what do you think? Do you enjoy these Q&A articles? Let me know!Again, feel free to comment on this article if you’d like to ask me a question. Thank you for reading Invincible Career®. This post is public so feel free to share it.By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.comLarry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

NOTE: I apologize for the chainsaw sounds in the background. The crew picked an amazing time to endlessly cut trees outside. 😫I recently read Reid Hoffmann's article, Why 10 Year Plans are Wrong. In it, he states:”You will change. The environment around you will change. And your allies and competitors will change.” I agree with what he is saying about planning. Of course, career plans will need to change. A 10-year plan is a bit silly because the world does change so much in a decade. Who could have predicted the impact of the pandemic? Who could have foreseen the massive disruption smartphones would have on our personal and professional lives? Who envisioned all of the novel opportunities enabled and created by online platforms? Strategies and plans will always need to adapt to the changing times. But, if you created your long-term vision the right way, it shouldn’t keep changing. It should endure and stand the test of time. So, don't get distracted by the shiny objects screaming for your attention today. Surface-level trends come and go. If you try to predict the ripples on the surface, you will fail. The hot new profession today may be gone in a few years. That hot new industry everyone is talking about may go cold next year. The technological marvel that all of the investors are pumping may fizzle soon (e.g., Clubhouse). Focus on the core truths of the human condition, if you want to choose a professional path that will endure. Dive deeper and deeper still. What have people always wanted and will always need (until we evolve beyond carbon-based lifeforms)?Let’s use the entertainment industry as an example. What evolution have we witnessed?Stories told around a fire at night. Live plays enjoyed in the village square. Theater performances on stage. Films projected on screens in movie theaters. VHS tapes, Laserdiscs, and DVDs watched in the comfort of your home. Cable television pay-per-view. Netflix delivered DVDs to your home. And now, an explosion of streaming video, gaming, and other entertainment experiences is consumed on tiny computers in the palm of your hand. If you try to predict what's coming next, you might be correct, but you might be so very wrong. If you try to plan a 10-year career and place a bet on where it's all heading, you might win or lose. That's why Reid is correct about the fallacy of concrete 10-year plans. You can't predict the future with enough accuracy for planning that far into the distant years ahead. However, you can return to the core truth that human beings enjoy being entertained. Our brains are large enough (and our modern world is safe enough) that we can frequently focus our minds and senses on fun instead of survival. In some way, shape, or form, people will still want to be entertained — and distracted from reality — ten years from now, 100 years from now, and probably for the rest of your professional career. So, if you tell me that your long-term career goal is to be an executive at Netflix, I will caution you against that decision. For all we know, Netflix could implode in the next five years (e.g., a competitor might kill them just like they killed Blockbuster). Heck, I will say that you're making a mistake even if you tell me that your long-term goal is to be a leader in streaming video. Sure, it seems like it's not going anywhere. But, we said the same thing about many technologies that have gone to the high-tech graveyard in the past 20 years. However, if you want to create a long-term goal of climbing to a leadership role or founding a startup in the business of entertainment, I say go for it! People will always want to be entertained. Just be ready to adapt to the changing “how” of how entertainment will be provided. Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The future is unpredictable Companies often make the mistake of trying to brainstorm and engage in long-term planning to “create the future.” The reality of uncertainty and chaos makes leaders and shareholders very uncomfortable. As Amy Webb said in an HBR article about strategic planning like a futurist:“Nice, linear timelines offer a certain amount of assurance: that events can be preordained, chaos can be contained, and success can be plotted and guaranteed.”Unfortunately, no amount of vision work or planning can control the future. Outside forces collide with the best-laid plans and wreak havoc on expected outcomes (e.g., natural disasters, pandemics, wars, competitive moves). That’s why so many organizations get into a pattern of cycling between strategy and tactics repeatedly and churn their teams. Individuals fall into this trap, as well. I’m just as guilty. I enjoy long-term planning and vision work. But, we can’t predict precisely how our futures will turn out. “Man Plans, and God Laughs.”— Yiddish proverb As a quantitative futurist, Amy Webb suggests a different framework for strategically thinking about the future. Her timelines aren’t lines — they’re “time cones.” The image below illustrates her framework. The tip of the cone lives in the here and now, and tactics come into play because we have the highest degree of certainty, data, and evidence. But, as the cone moves to the right with more time (5 years, 10 years, and further out), it expands more broadly, and details are fuzzier. Outcomes and destinations are less precise and could fall within a broader range of possibilities. Your longer-term vision and strategies become much more useful than tactics. What’s also interesting about her model is that the cone moves. It is not the fixed timeline that most planning exercises use. “Unlike a traditional timeline with rigid dates and check-ins, the cone always moves forward. As you gain data and evidence and as you make progress on your actions, the beginning of the cone and your tactical category is always reset in the present day. The result, ideally, is a flexible organization that is positioned to continually iterate and respond to external developments.”— Amy Webb, How to Do Strategic Planning Like a FuturistControl, influence, or adapt?This topic of long-term goals and trying to plan your future reminds me of the concept of “Locus of control,” which was created by the psychologist Julian Rotter. Your life is full of actions you take, actions others take, events in the world around you, and outcomes. If you have a greater external locus of control, you tend to place the power over outcomes in the hands of others, luck or fate, or other “powers that be.” You say things like:“I just got lucky.”“He was in the right place at the right time.”“I can’t do anything about it. What will be, will be.”“I received a bad grade because the teacher doesn’t like me.”“The boss only promotes her favorite employees.” If you have a greater internal locus of control, you believe your actions determine or influence outcomes. You say things like:“I worked really hard to get where I am.”“He received that award because he’s super smart and talented.”“I know that I control my destiny.”“I received a bad grade because I didn’t study enough for the test.”“The boss promotes people who get results.” Of course, this concept isn’t black and white. Most of us have a belief system somewhere along a continuum. We either tend to think we are more in control of the outcomes in our lives or those outcomes are more out of our hands. Interestingly, people with a greater external locus of control have higher levels of depression and anxiety. They feel like nothing they do matters. A pure internal locus of control isn’t so great, either. If you do that, you blame yourself completely for every failure. The reality is that it is a balance. Yes, you can take action and shape outcomes. But, other people and the world around you will have a significant impact on outcomes too. And, people who are more balanced in how they think about external vs. internal control report being happier (April, Dharani, & Peters, 2012). I've coached several people who told me that their career "just happened to them." They took the jobs that came their way, but they never intentionally pursued what they wanted. At some point, that approach failed them, they had a bad experience, or their career stalled. However, when they shifted their locus of control more internally, they decided that they could control the path of their careers. They could intentionally decide how to prepare and position themselves. They knew they could influence the outcome. They ended up in a much better place. I created a worksheet (available below) that is a useful way to examine a situation you might be facing that feels out of your control. It can help shift your locus of control away from external forces and reduce feelings of helplessness. The exercise challenges you to identify what you actually can control, what you might be able to influence, and what you probably have to accept. The downloadable worksheet is free for the first 1,000 people who claim it. Grab yours today!"Do you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?" — Charles BukowskiYour heart is stablePeople don't change. We mature, evolve, learn, and grow. But, we don't fundamentally change. I've observed that truism in my children as I've watched them grow up from babies to young adults. I still see the core of their personalities, likes, and dislikes despite the other changes in their lives. I've seen it in myself. I've watched my life come almost full circle. Sure, my career has transformed — often radically — about every ten years. Blue-collar workAcademic pursuits to receive my Ph.D.Software designManagement and leadershipStartup lifeBuilding my own businessCoachingAnd who knows what will come next?However, what has remained surprisingly stable and accurate is my ideal vision for my life. That has lasted more than 50 years. I got sidetracked along the way and distracted by false goals, but I'm finally returning to that vision of what I always wanted. I'm slowly but surely finding my way there (and have never been happier). What's always been true:I'm an introvert who prefers mainly working alone. I'm a creator who brings what's in my head to life with words, art, and music. I wither when I'm trapped in the concrete world of cities. I thrive when I'm in the mountains, deep in the woods, and away from crowds. It took most of my life, but I've come full circle to what my heart always wanted. So, sure, a 10-year rigid career plan is ridiculous. Who knows what the world will be like and what you'll have to do to survive?But, having a lifetime vision, mission, sense of purpose, and meaning? Yes. Yes, that is possible. I think it’s so important that I dedicated a chapter in my book to it. Will you learn more about yourself and course correct over the years? Yes, I’m sure you will. But, without a vision and a sense of purpose, what are you? A tiny boat on the surface of a stormy sea being thrust wherever the winds of fate blow you? That's surviving, not thriving. It's ok for the short term but pretty miserable as a lifelong lifestyle.Yes, be agile with your tactics in the near term. Be flexible with your strategy for the next few years. But, don’t be afraid to create an enduring and inspirational long-term vision for your life. ”And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”— Steve JobsThank you for reading Invincible Career®. This post is public so feel free to share it.By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.comLarry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

A flawlessly executed plan will fail if the overarching strategy is flawed. Let me use a hypothetical situation with a cafe named “Beanville” as an example. Beanville’s strategy to win in a competitive marketplace was to offer the lowest price option to customers. So, Beanville created a plan to acquire, create, and sell the lowest-priced coffee products in town. That plan included all the details required to keep costs down: Low-cost commercial real estateSourcing the cheapest coffee beansAggressively negotiating with suppliersLow production costsMinimum wage employeesLow-cost packagingPricing and sales strategiesUnfortunately, Beanville’s core strategy was flawed. They discovered that customers in town weren’t so cost-conscious that they were willing to sacrifice the quality of their coffee drinks to save a little money. So, Beanville lost to its competitors, who delivered a better product. Even though they flawlessly executed the plans to support their lowest-price strategy, they still failed. This is why choosing the right strategy matters so much and why it must happen before you go into planning mode.So, let’s take the time to create a winning strategy that will help you achieve your goals. Developing the right strategy must come before making the appropriate plans to support it. Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Strategy vs. PlanPeople often confuse creating a strategy with making a plan. As Chris Kolenda succinctly points out, here are three critical differences between strategies and plans:A strategy faces outward, while a plan faces inward.A strategy orients on factors you don’t control, while a plan focuses on what you do control.A strategy measures success, while a plan measures performance.However, It’s easy to slip right past strategic thinking and into planning mode because the steps feel tangible and clear. “We’ll do x, then y, and then finish with z.” Unfortunately, intense and detailed planning does not ensure success.A perfect plan won’t save you if the underlying strategy is the wrong choice. Looking back to your vision and mission in chapter 4, think of your vision as an inspirational flag planted on the horizon. That point — shrouded in misty clouds —is your ideal destination. That’s where you want to be.Your mission is what you will do to make that vision become a reality. You know you need to move from where you are standing to that point on the horizon. In chapter 7, you identified the goals you need to achieve to get there. You can think of those as waypoints along the path you choose. But, you also know the journey will be complex, bumpy, and full of obstacles that will try to stop you.That’s where your strategy comes into play. Your strategy is how you hypothesize you can navigate that mysterious landscape to follow your mission, achieve your goals, and reach that vision. Let’s play around with this metaphor for a second to make the distinctions clear.If your vision is to reach a specific mountain peak in the far distance, you could choose one of the following strategies to get there and overcome the obstacles in your path:Float over the landscape in a hot air balloon and land on the mountain.Fly in a small plane and parachute down to the mountain.Take a boat down the river that leads to the mountain's base and climb to the peak.Ride a horse through the countryside to reach and ascend the mountain.Hike the entire way to the mountain on foot and climb to the peak.Those are all valid strategies, but each one has pros and cons. Eventually, you will choose the strategy you are best able to employ, hope will take you past all obstacles, and has the greatest chance of success.Once you have selected a strategy, only then would you start creating a plan to set that strategy in motion. For example:Acquire funds.Purchase equipment and supplies.Map the best route and account for travel speed, time, waypoints, resupplying, etc.Hire experts and guides.Acquire the necessary training, skills, and knowledge.Your strategy can’t predict the weather, but your plan certainly can prepare for the worst.Create a Plan B, so you’re prepared if Plan A fails.Too silly? Ok, let me share a personal example instead.I’ve had a long-term vision of living in a cozy cabin in the mountains surrounded by a forest for most of my life. I spent decades with this image in my mind as I made my way through childhood in Nebraska, graduate school in Texas, and a tech career in Silicon Valley. I knew where I eventually wanted to be and what I wanted my life to be like, but it seemed far, far away in the future.However, a health scare woke me up several years ago, and I decided I shouldn’t put my dreams off forever. So, I made it my mission to make that vision come true. We had to find a way to leave Silicon Valley and move closer to the mountains where we always enjoyed spending time and wanted to make our new reality.I’m not the kind of person willing to shoot from the hip and hope things work out. I have a family to support. So, I began exploring various strategies that could make a move possible. One strategy was to reduce our cost of living to give us more flexibility in our income. Moving out of the Bay Area and into a rural area was part of that strategy.Yet, I still needed to make a living somehow. I had spent decades working in tech, which is why we had moved to Silicon Valley in the first place. But, how could I maintain my career in tech if we moved to a rural area far away from the heart of it all? Note: This all occurred several years ago before the pandemic and the changes it enabled for jobs like mine.I came up with a few possible strategies for making a living:Stay in my current career and find a tech job in a city within commute distance from our new country home.Leave my career and find a non-tech 9-5 job in our tiny town.Find a tech job with a company that would be ok with me mainly working remotely, but traveling to be in the home office every month.Found another tech startup and locate partners and employees who would also be comfortable working remotely.Leave my tech career and design a new business that fully supported my new lifestyle and enabled me to work remotely with customers and clients.Long story short, I evaluated all of the strategies, what they would require, the fit with my desired lifestyle, and their likelihood of success. For one reason or another, the first four strategies didn’t seem to have the full potential and flexibility that the last strategy did. So, I finally went into planning mode to execute that strategy, set it in motion, and I’m happy to say that it’s been working well for the past few years.Strategy must come first. And you must have enough research, innovative thinking, and cleverness to select a winning strategy. Then, and only then, can you plan to execute that strategy.We’ll go into the details of the plan to build the “Invincible You” in a later chapter. Now, we’ll focus on ensuring you are creating a strategy — or strategies — that will help you successfully navigate the competitive landscape of your professional and personal life. These are the strategies that will help you achieve your most audacious goals.First, I’d like to share a meta-level strategy that will fundamentally shift how you think about your career and work.The Business of YouAs you may have noticed, you will be creating strategies within strategies. A high-level strategy to win and achieve your goals will often have numerous lower-level strategies to accomplish various sub-goals (identified in chapter 7) and overcome obstacles.Treating your career like a business is one of those meta-level strategies that sits above the specific strategy you will soon create to achieve your particular vision. But, thinking like a business doesn’t come naturally for many people. If you’ve been an employee your entire career and don’t plan on changing that, why would you bother to think like an entrepreneur running a business?However, that’s precisely how you should be thinking about your career. It is very much like a business, with income streams, expenses, and products and services (i.e., you and the work you do) that you “sell to customers” (i.e., your employers).This fundamental shift in my thinking changed how I viewed my career forever. I understood that the strategies that helped businesses succeed in a competitive marketplace could also be applied to my professional life. Branding, positioning, pricing, marketing, sales, etc., should all be a part of a successful career. The Product of YouSeeing yourself as a “product” that you “sell” to customers is another meta-level strategy that elevates you above the emotional turmoil of job searches, competing for promotions, and getting ahead at work. It’s also the foundation of building a solopreneurial business based on who you are and what you do.One of the fastest ways to define the product of you is to transform your current job description into a product description. How do you help your “customer” (i.e., your employer) succeed? What problems do you solve? Break everything down into the fundamental building blocks of what you do. Don’t forget to capture your work that goes far beyond your simple job description. You’ll discover that the product of you is more complex and valuable than you think. One surprising and exciting discovery is that these “building blocks” can be assembled in any number of ways to create variations of the product of you. In my long professional life, I’ve learned that intelligent, talented people can learn almost anything, do almost anything, and succeed at nearly anything. We are more flexible and malleable than we think. Once you realize this, a world of possibilities unfolds before you. You start to envision radically different strategies that leverage different facets of the product of you to achieve your goals and reach your vision. Then you just need to determine which strategy will best support the life you want and decide how you want to build, package, promote, and sell it (e.g., employment vs. entrepreneurship). We’ll get into those details in a later chapter. A few more strategiesI want to share a few more strategies that can help you overcome the competition before focusing on your specific strategy to win.Coming in the side doorThe masses are following the rules. The masses are a little bit lazy. Sorry, but it’s true. The masses aren’t that good at what they do. Again, I’m sorry, but that’s the law of averages (I.e., the normal distribution of the population). Only a few people stand out on the far ends of the distribution.If you want to stand out competitively — if you want to win — you can’t do what everyone else is doing. Be creative and dare to be different. Ignore that massive line of people queued up behind the velvet rope facing a giant bouncer who won’t let them into the club (i.e., your dream job with your dream employer).“Different is better than better.”— Sally HogsheadSlip right past the velvet rope, walk past the bouncer, and down the dark alley to find that hidden door no one else knows about. Some rules are meant to be broken.Leveraging your networkMy first few jobs in tech happened because I knew someone who knew someone inside “the club.” I was able to leverage the power of my network. I doubt I would have landed those roles if I had followed the rules and waited at the end of the long line.Instead, my graduate advisor called his old student at IBM. I was sitting in his office, and he said, “Hey, do you want to do an internship with a software company?” He picked up the phone, called him, and before I knew it, I was moving to San Jose to work for IBM. A year later, a fellow graduate student introduced me to someone at Apple. That networking connection opened the door to a summer internship. That internship went so well that my manager at Apple reached out later and asked me if I wanted to stay on as an employee. Working for Apple was my dream job, so I said, “Yes.” But, I still needed to fill out an application and formally apply. Later, I was attending a conference at the same time as a few of the hiring managers. I remember walking past a massive line of students queued up in the hall outside the Apple suite at the event. People glared at me, thinking that I was jumping the line. I slipped past everyone, walked inside, and saw the hiring managers sitting there at the front. They smiled and said, “Hi Larry!” and took my job application and resume. The reality was it was a bit of a formality. I already knew they wanted to hire me, and they did.Every single job I landed during my employed career came about due to connections in my network like this. I don’t share these stories to brag about how easy the process was. I’m sharing them because this strategy is available to you, too, and will make things much easier for you as well. Networking is a powerful strategy that will facilitate everything you need to do to accomplish your goals. I’ll talk about building a powerful network in a later chapter.Ok, let’s move past these general strategies (which can help anyone succeed with whatever they want to do) and talk about more specific strategies that will help you reach the vision you have for your life. Aligning your personal and professional visionsIn chapter 4, you captured your long-term vision of an ideal future. What is it that you want most for your life? What did you write down?Your personal vision: ➡️You also defined your mission to make that vision come true. What did you decide your mission would be?Your personal mission:➡️ Now, it's time to align your personal and professional lives. We sometimes like to think we can draw a firm boundary between what we want in our personal lives and what we're trying to achieve in our professional lives.But, it's so hard to split your energy and focus between those two worlds. It's even more challenging if those two visions are somewhat at odds. So, what happens?Well, what most people do is prioritize their professional vision and defer their personal vision. They push their dreams into the future and hope they can return to them after retirement.It doesn't work well. Sometimes, it doesn't work at all. As I shared earlier, a friend of mine delayed the pursuit of his personal vision, focused on his professional life, and wildly succeeded, but passed away before he could embark on the journey to achieve his personal goals.I was doing much the same with my life. My personal vision was at odds with what was required to succeed with my professional vision. So, I ignored my personal life goals for decades.Once I broke down the barriers between work and life, I was able to create a strategy for my professional life that supported the strategy for my personal life. Instead of working at odds with each other, they worked in harmony and let me live the life I want now instead of decades in the future.So, let's take a moment and capture your existing professional vision and mission. What have you been striving to achieve in your professional career? What has been your mission to make that come true?Your professional vision: ➡️Your professional mission:➡️ Your professional goals:➡️ Now comes the hard part. Are there synergies between your personal and professional visions or not? Are your personal and professional missions working in harmony or not? Are your goals aligned? Write them side by side and evaluate them together.If things are out of alignment, how could you creatively adjust your visions and missions to focus all of your energy behind shared efforts to make both come true?In my case, my visions were at odds with each other. My goals conflicted. Many years ago, my professional goal was to become a C-level tech executive in Silicon Valley and earn enough money to comfortably support my family with an enjoyable lifestyle. But, I realized I could never be fully satisfied working for someone else and making their vision come true instead of mine.So, I adjusted my goals to pursue building my own tech startup. That enabled me to become a founder and CEO, build a team, and create products to pursue our vision.However, these professional pursuits were still at odds with my personal vision of living in a cozy cabin in the mountains surrounded by a forest. I was stuck in the Bay Area, fighting terrible traffic on congested freeways every day, and not enjoying very much of my limited free time. My career path had trapped me in an urban world far from the great outdoors.As I mentioned, a health scare woke me up. Was I going to defer my personal vision until it was too late? I couldn't let that happen. So, I went through this same exercise of aligning my visions and goals to find some way to make them all come true.You'll find that you have to challenge all assumptions for this exercise to work. I asked myself:Does my company have to be in Silicon Valley?Does it have to be a "tech" company?Do I still need to work in a tech career?What if I pivoted my career and did something very different?What could I create if I started my own business without the constraints I thought I had to work with? Where could I live?At a foundational level, what was the Product of Me? What solutions could I offer? Who needs it? Who would want it?What would a Business of Me look like that sold that "product"?I deconstructed and reconstructed my visions to align them and then selected a strategy that I believed would support my mission to pursue the goal of making those visions come true. That's why I decided that if I wanted to live somewhere in the forest far away from the big city (and Silicon Valley), I would need to create my own "job" and build a flexible business that let me work anywhere in the world with anyone in the world.My new professional goal to build this flexible, location-independent business is finally aligned with my personal goal to live wherever I choose. This lifestyle was simply not possible with the old professional vision that chained me to a specific geographic location.So, now it's your turn. What is a bold potential professional vision that might also enable your personal vision to come true?Your new professional vision: ➡️What is the professional mission associated with your new vision? How can it potentially be more fully aligned with your personal mission?Your new professional mission:➡️ Given this new vision and mission, what professional goals do you want to pursue?Your new professional goals:➡️ Now, it’s time to craft a few strategies that might support your pursuit of these goals. Remember, your strategy is how you will navigate the competitive and challenging landscape to ensure the achievement of your tangible goals and your long-term vision. It will help you overcome obstacles, slip around barriers, remove blocks, and win.Potential strategies to achieve your new goals: Which one do you think might be your winning strategy? Let's put them to the test to identify the winner.How well do your strategies help you overcome obstacles?Let's put your strategies to the test. Evaluate the strength of your potential strategies in light of the obstacles you might face in pursuing your goals.Have you identified all of the obstacles in your path? You captured some of them in chapter 5. But are there more barriers you might face when pursuing the strategies you just wrote down?How does each potential strategy account for those obstacles? What will overcome blocks? What might break down the barriers?Also, competition is always a concern. Whether your strategy involves being employed by a company or building your own business, you will be competing with someone else. How does each of your potential strategies deal with competition? Does one rise to the top?In my case, I faced numerous issues with the original strategies I brainstormed. As I evaluated each one, the winner became increasingly apparent.That doesn't mean the winning strategy was the "easiest" to pursue or the least risky. It certainly wasn't. The other strategies were more familiar and easier to execute. But, they failed my tests for different reasons. For example:Stay in my current career and find a tech job in a city within commute distance from our new country home. FAIL: The nearby tech jobs were with companies I wouldn’t enjoy joining. Also, the last thing I wanted to do was reintroduce a long commute and risk my health and well-being again.Leave my career and find a non-tech 9-5 job in our small town. FAIL: The available employers in my small town viewed me as overqualified, and the income wouldn't be enough to support my family.Find a tech job with a company that would be ok with me mainly working remotely but would require travel to work in the home office every month. FAIL: This was before the pandemic. No tech employer wanted an organizational leader who worked remotely. I also didn't want to travel so far and be away from my family that much again.Launch another tech startup and find partners and employees who would also be comfortable working remotely. FAIL: Founding another startup after my previous one failed would be very challenging since I would have to convince another set of investors to believe in me and the idea. Also, the market at that time wasn't great for fundraising. My current investors had already decided they were done.So, that's why my winning strategy was building my own business that didn't require investment, could be run solo, would immediately generate revenue, and was location-independent to allow me to work from home (or anywhere).Does one strategy stand out as you evaluate your strategies in light of your obstacles, blocks, and barriers? Which one has the greatest chance of success?What is your best strategy? ➡️ResourcesNow that you’ve selected a winning strategy, it’s time to change gears and think about what you need to execute your strategy. Your focus will shift inward, focus on what is within your control, and plan the necessary steps to start making things happen.What will help you achieve your goals? What do you need most? Some of the resources people often identify include:Training, knowledge, skill acquisition, relevant experience. Education, degrees, certifications. Money, investors, advisors, partners. Networking, connections, introductions. More free time to focus on those goals! However, one of the most critical resources you will need is your plan for how you will execute your strategy and make steady progress to achieve your goals. That’s what we’ll dive into in the next chapter.Key TakeawaysBuilding an invincible version of you requires creating the right strategy to help you achieve your biggest goals.Strategy and planning are not the same. Strategy is what you will do, while planning is the detailed “how” of executing that strategy.If you don’t align your professional and personal goals, the conflict can pull you in two separate directions and derail your overall success.Your strategy is how you think you will successfully navigate the rocky landscape between you and what you want to achieve (e.g., defeating the competition, knocking down barriers).Don’t move into the planning phase until you select what you believe will be your winning strategy. It’s good to have backup strategies if your hypothesis is wrong. I’m looking forward to sharing more of my book with you this year! Become a premium subscriber today to keep reading the draft chapters as I complete them.By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.comLarry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Listen now | The secret to creating connections and succeeding more quickly. One of the happiest moments when I coach people is the day they accept a great job offer. They're so relieved to put the stress of the job search and endless interviews behind them. They're looking forward to starting something new. However, that relief is soon replaced with a little bit of anxiety. They know they need to hit the ground running with their new employer. They want to make a good impression in that critical first 90 days. One of the essential tasks in those first few weeks is meeting people and starting to build relationships. No one works alone. I don't care how great you are at what you do — if you work in a company with a team, your success depends on those relationships. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Listen now | Sharing another draft chapter with you. Most people have jobs that are a means to an end. It pays the bills. But, that doesn't mean you have to live an uninspired life. You can take control and create meaning that inspires and motivates you every day, even if your job does not. When you create an invincible life and career, you get to inspire yourself. It's too risky to leave your inspiration and motivation to chase your wildest dreams in the hands of someone else. Sooner or later, they will let you down. However, you will always be with you on this life journey. You can always count on yourself. So, don't sit back and wait for someone else to inspire you with their big goals. Create your own audacious goals and inspire yourself!  This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Listen now | How to create Invincible Evenings. Morning rituals are important, and many of us rely on them to start our day and go to work. But, we kind of drop the ball on the other end of the work-life equation. We don’t create or follow a consistent evening ritual. Instead, we let our work bleed into our evenings, and then we wonder why we can’t sleep and our mornings are unpleasant. Bad habits of working too late and staring at your phone aren’t doing you any favors. So, I want to share an evening routine that may help you make the most of every day and start your next morning with clarity. It also will help you sleep better every evening.  This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Listen now | Sharing another draft chapter with you. Why are you so amazing? If you don’t yet believe that you are, you will by the time you finish the exercises in this chapter. You have come so far — and accomplished so much — that you’ve probably forgotten most of it. So, I want to help you refresh your memory. The previous chapter focused on your weaknesses, what’s blocking success in your life, and what stands between you and your dreams. I know — heavy stuff. Now, let’s have some fun in this chapter and talk about what makes you so great! This is just between you and the pages of this book. No need to feel shy. No need to be humble.  This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Listen now | The world is changing and old rules no longer apply. The old career model of working for one employer for life is dead and buried. The world has changed. Very few people commit to a company for the entire duration of their careers now. And, chasing money and prestigious job titles is a recipe for vulnerability and disaster. What we all actually want is safety, mastery, and meaning in our work and lives. But, how do we build a personalized career ladder to achieve that and find purpose and fulfillment?  This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Listen now | Who doesn't want to feel more confident when they walk into a room or join a Zoom? Or give a presentation where everyone trusts your recommendations? Or be given more responsibility because the leadership team knows you can handle it? In other words, who hasn’t wanted a little executive presence? But, what is executive presence? Even experienced leaders struggle to define it. They say, “you’ll know it when you see it.” It’s that automatic response you have to someone who exudes calm confidence and power and seems to be in control of the room. I’ve witnessed the lack of it holding many people back in their careers. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Listen now | Sharing another draft chapter with you. Why aren’t you already living the vision you defined using the questions in the previous chapter? Why aren’t you working for your ideal employer? Why haven’t you created your dream business? Why aren’t you living the life you really want? Whatever the answer is you just quietly whispered; that's one of the barriers standing between you and your ideal future. Now, you could let those issues hold you back forever or you can do something about it. You can identify all the barriers and knock them down one by one. Climb over them if you have to, or find a way around them. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Listen now | This vulnerability has hurt many people. I wish Facebook had the decency to send a similar message to me when they suspended my account years ago. Instead, I found out the hard way. I shared this story with my premium subscribers on Monday as part of this month's focus on owning your domain and controlling your own website as your "forever online home." There was no warning. They provided no explanation. I had no access to my Facebook business groups and pages. I had to ask one of my moderators to message the groups and let people know what happened. I no longer have a single point of failure or a risky dependency on another company. I will never again make my primary “internet home” on a service that leaves me vulnerable, and neither should you. Own your domain and control your website.  This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe

Listen now | Sharing another draft chapter with you. Fear of the unknown keeps us from exploring all of the intriguing alternate paths branching off left and right, even when we know we're not living the life we want. We’re too afraid to take a significant risk that might end up in failure. So, we keep marching ahead, even though it's now becoming clear that the destination isn't what we had hoped it would be, and the journey is making us miserable. However, defining your ideal vision of the future can feel overwhelming. Where do you begin? If almost any career path is possible, how do you decide which one to take? When I work with clients who want to redefine their careers completely, I give them some “homework exercises.” The questions help them focus on specific details that eventually reveal a desirable path forward. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at newsletter.invinciblecareer.com/subscribe