After a discussion with my very supportive wife, Beth, I decided to leave and take a year off – a sabbatical of sorts.  My plan was to:

1. finish a Life Coaching certification program I was in
2. start a Life Coaching business for “Young Professional Men” (what is now SuccessCoachingforMen.com)
3. assess what I wanted to do next in my career

Up until last month, I worked hard at #1 and #2 with some good success.  But, I realized something after a great coaching session last week with Beth: after nearly 9 months, it was time to get serious and start working hard at #3.

Here’s the thing – I love Life Coaching. It is the single greatest tool I know to help people create positive change and more success in their life.  However, I can’t do it all day from home without going a little bit crazy.  And I never intended it to be my long term career.  I want to be in and around a talented team of people with big goals and the drive to achieve them.

So, I did what one would naturally do to get back into the corporate world – I started surfing the Internet looking for a new role.

And, after one week of looking around at the job market, talking to people, and even having a couple of interviews, here is my conclusion: THE JOB SEARCH IS TOUGH. Especially if you haven’t gotten this question sorted out: WHAT DO I WANT?

And, for me, this is a tough question to answer as I am not exactly, 100% sure what I want.  Which makes looking for roles, talking to recruiters and HR people as well as applying for online job postings pretty difficult.  I think the Chesire Cat says it best:

Alice: Oh, no, no. I was just wondering if you could help me find my way.
Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.
Alice: Oh, it really doesn’t matter, as long as…
Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn’t matter which way you go.

Okay, Ches, I know partly what I want… I want a role that combines my love for selling, coaching, and leadership in a dynamic, high energy, fast paced environment with strong, visionary leaders that innovate, mentor, and develop their young talent.

Am I asking for a lot? You bet I am. So, here’s my plan to find it:

1. Use social media tools, the web, and my personal network to connect with cool companies and super duper cool people.
2. In person, over the phone, through Twitter, or by e-mail ask them three questions:

a. How did you get started in this company/job/industry?
b. What do you love best about your job and company?
c. What has been the key to your success?

Basically, I want to make this job search into an adventure simply by connecting with and sharing ideas with as many interesting people as possible.  By tapping into what these talented people are passionate about, I am hoping to learn more about myself and where I would be a good fit.

And, through this Blog, I plan to share with you what I learn about on this journey.  So, let’s do this!

But what if there was a way you could get back in touch with those dreams, and set a course of action to get to where you really want to go?

Here is a secret weapon (clothed in the form of a powerful question which I call ‘The Question’) designed to do just that. Check it out:

Here is ‘The Question’ again:

“If we were having this discussion 3 years from today, and you were looking back over those 3 years, what has to have happened in your life, both personally and professionally for you to be happy with your progress?”

Click here to learn more about my new E-Book: ‘A Man’s Guide to Vision and Goal Setting.’

Nasty beer gut? No thanks.

No man ever sought out as a child to be overweight and blubbery. Our heroes as boys were sports stars: men in tip top physical shape at the top of their game. (Unless your idol was a 300 lb lineman, which is another blog post entirely.)

So, at 30 years old, when some men wake up one morning to stare at a 40 inch waist line that accumulated after years of neglect, it’s a shock.

‘How do I dig myself out of this massive hole?’ is their most common refrain.

Sure, a guy in this situation might joke around about that beer gut. Or maybe deny it. Or some slough it off by saying ‘it’s no big deal.’

It is. Deep down in the recesses of his mind there’s this nagging, whiny voice that whispers: (or sometimes yells)

“You need to do something about this.”

This voice has good intentions. It is trying to cause enough discontent and uncomfort for this man to say, ‘Enough. I will not live in a bloated skin suit anymore. It is time to get this body into shape once and for all.’

This is great. But these are just words. Unfortunately, for most men, they rarely translate into the action required to see them fulfilled. When’s it’s time to put on the workout gear, lace up the running shoes and get to work, the push forward morphs into a pull: to stay where you are and finish the urgent _________ (fill in the blank with something meaningless like an e-mail or presentation for the boss, etc.) because it’s ‘more important.’

So, how does a man regain the sense of urgency he once had for changing his physical condition? I’m glad you asked. More on that later.

Learn more about my new E-Book called ‘Why You’re Not in Shape – and What to Do About It’

Check out my new E-Book: ‘Why You’re Not in Shape – and What to Do About It.’

Key Points:

Twitter is unprecedented in its ability to:

1. Connect with ‘Untouchables’ (hard to access prominent people in business, politics, entertainment, etc.)
2. Help other people.
3. Ask Questions (for research purposes or to get advice.)
4. Secret Use –> more on this later.

WHY EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE ON TWITTER