Hi everyone. I know I had mentioned this is recent posts, and I’m happy to say that this blog has officially moved! www.postcollegesuccess.com is where this blog will now be held!
There will be no further blogs written here, but I invite you to check out the link above to see what’s going on.
Thanks for understanding! I hope to see everyone at www.postcollegesuccess.com!
Dan
AHHHHHHHH!!
Sometimes we look at others and think “man, I wish I had their job,” or “I wish I had that person as my girlfriend or boyfriend.” But then we think, “there is no way I could do that or date that person because I’m not good enough. It’s tough… or is it?
First of all, we need to give ourselves a break and not beat ourselves up so much. With some intentionality and faith, you can accomplish a lot more than you think! Take my fellow Eastern Iowan Cheyanne Boddicker for instance. She just finished a swim across the English Channel to raise money! Click the link to check it out!
But before we go out and conquer the world, there has to be some thought as to how you are going to create opportunities for yourself. There is no trick here, but I’ll guarantee that if you sit at home watching TV all night, every night, that not a lot of opportunities are going to come your way (These are usually the people who look at successful people and say “they are so lucky”).
So how and where do we create opportunities for ourselves? I tend to think that I am going to meet people, network, and create opportunities for myself where I hang out the most. If you spend 40 hours per week in an office cube, your probably going to make a lot of connections at work. If you spend a lot of time at the gym, you’ll probably meet some people there.
In other words, we need to be doing things to create opportunities! Say yes to a few more things, especially those things that might get you a little out of your comfort zone. What is the worst that can happen? Who knows, you might find some new things that you will really enjoy!
Here are 10 things that just popped into my head:
1. Attend a cooking class.
2. Organize a group bike ride.
3. Volunteer for a pet shelter.
4. Start a blog about something that interests you!
5. Take a weekend trip to a new place.
6. Read an inspirational book.
7. Learn a new language.
8. Write voraciously.
9. Ask to speak at a local conference of interest to you.
10. Learn to build birdhouses.
Okay, that took me all of 2 minutes to come up with those. There are a million things you could do. What should stick is that in all of these examples (maybe minus the reading or writing, which I could argue) you are forcing yourself to be active, go places, and that’s how opportunities are created.
In Cheyanne Boddicker’s example above, I know that what she accomplished has probably created an endless amount of opportunities for her! She took some action, did something of interest to her, created a story, which in turn will create opportunities!
Go create some opportunities. My friend gave me a quote last week – You miss 100% of the chances you don’t take. Do we really have that much to lose?
Dan – 9/1/11
How do you know which jobs may be a good fit for you? Check the video.
The Thinking Wavelength. Something very simple, but very powerful. Where do you think you lie on the Thinking Wavelength? If you don’t have any idea, how do we find out?
There are a few ways.
1. Study Yourself – What do you naturally do? Do you analyze all situations? Do you tend to think about outcomes before they even happen? Do you think artistically and abstract? How comfortable are you putting ideas into action?
2. Ask Friends and Family – If you are really struggling to know who you are, ask your friends and family. You might be surprised with what they come up with. Often times your closest friends and family will have a decent view of who you are, but only you know who you are at the core.
3. Personality Tests – Take a DISC Profile. They cost around $30 but the return to know yourself inside and out is well worth the $30 investment. After finishing it, your actions will start to make sense to you. DISC answers, why do I do the things I do? Here is a link to a DISC Personality Profile. http://www.48days.com/store/personality-profiles/
Now What?
So you have a good idea of who you are. Now what type of careers are going to be a good match? If you are more detail oriented you should find a career that lets you analyze and and use this skill to the best of your ability. Almost all Accounting, IT Professionals, and Engineers are going to be more detail oriented. If you are more abstract and creative, design work, drawing, and creating may be more of your sweet spot.
Along with understanding your personality traits, we also need to combine your passions, interests, hobbies, and your life’s core purpose to find a suitable career. By not combining these, you will likely have a tough time finding what it is that will really drive you in the workplace.
Think about your current situation, possibly where you work now. Do you see evidence of detail oriented people – Those that can put ideas into action, but are not great at coming up with the initial idea? Do you see creative people – Those that come up with ideas all the time, but aren’t great at implementing the idea into business?
A successful business will have people on both ends of the spectrum. When you have dedicated individuals working toward a common purpose with the necessary traits, it becomes a very powerful asset! If you are an entrepreneur working by yourself, get help in those areas that you are not good at. It will be well worth your time to have someone with the skills to do what you need done rather than struggle through them yourself.
Dan 8/28/11
Hey all! I just returned from a long weekend in Colorado where I had a blast. The fresh air and mountains were a nice break from the midwest humidity. It also gave me some time for reflection and thought, which is essential for me.
I want to provide an update on this blog and what is upcoming. I began blogging in February and this will be my 49th post (Almost to 50!). In the next couple of weeks this blog will be transferred over to an actual website! I’m working with a web designer to work out the details as of now, but be ready for that change! This will give me the chance to connect with more people, and hopefully help more people in the long run, which is why I am here.
Like I said at the beginning, I just returned from Colorado. One of the things I did while I was out there was a Micro Brewery Tour in Downtown Denver. What a great time! Some great beer, and lots of people around with the Rockies playing a Saturday afternoon game.
Our host for the beer tour was Steve. He took us to 4 breweries in downtown Denver, all within walking distance. A great set-up to show people some different lager’s available, all brewed in the Rockies. Here is my official scorecard from the Tour where I was able to track which beers I had enjoyed, and which ones were not my favorite.
The title of this post was about earning an extra $2,000 per weekend. It’s got to be a lot of work right? Well yes, initially, but that is exactly what our Micro Brew Tour guide is doing! He has 4 tours each weekend. The cost is $25 per person, with a limit of 20 people each tour (all tours fill up and often have a waiting list). $25 x 20 people = $500 per tour. $500 per tour x 4 tours per weekend = $2,000!!
Can you imagine? Each tour is about 2.5 hours long, so for 10 hours of “work” each weekend he earns $2,000… a cool $200 per hour to talk about Denver beer history, and make sure everyone is trying as many different beers as possible. That is creativity at its finest. Our guide, who was 24, started doing this when he was 22. He recognized a need within the community. He marketed himself and set up deals with each brewery (they give him free beer for his customers, he ends each tour at a different brewery and most people hang around to eat or enjoy another pint). It’s a win/win for him and the brewery’s.
So what do we do if we don’t live in Denver?
I will say, Denver is set up perfectly for something like this. But let’s think creatively for a second, or a few minutes. Are there things you could do in your town to earn a similar income? I bet there is. With passion, effective marketing, and a decent product or service I guarantee you can come up with something similar. Could you rent out scooters, or paint pictures? Could you re-finish doors, or develop your own line of coffee?
Think about what it is that gives you energy… what are you doing when time flies by? What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Write some things down and then get creative. Is there ways that you could create income while doing what you love?
Hard work pays off, but obviously from the example above, you don’t have to work 90 hours a week to make a good living. You just need to be creative, recognize a need, market yourself, and have passion. Make sure you’re having fun too! If you’re not having fun pursuing something, that’s a good indicator that it may not be for you.
Have a great week, cheers!
O, and if you’re ever in Denver, check out the Micro Brew Tour at http://www.denvermicrobrewtour.com/
Dan – 8/22/11
This was the Dilbert comic last weekend. ENJOY!
Hahaha, this gave me a good laugh. How would your boss react if you asked to work from home 2 days per week? Most employers don’t understand this idea of working from home. So let me lay down a few facts about why working from home 1,2, 3, or more days per week is not only beneficial for the employee, but also the employer.
1. Actual Work Time – This is the first thing I wanted to comment on because those employees that work from home work JUST AS MUCH as those who work from the office. That’s right, even though they aren’t putting in face time, they also aren’t wasted time on meaningless activities. Go ahead and walk around your office…. how many employees are checking up on Comics, (haha) or on Facebook? While putting in face time seems natural and feels like your accomplishing something, it’s really not healthy in the work place.
2. Overall Well Being – Who is going to be more ready to work… the person who skipped breakfast, sat in rush hour traffic for an hour, slams a cup of coffee and plops down at her desk exhausted. Or… the person who didn’t have to do that, but instead woke up refreshed and cooked a good breakfast for themselves. Hell, she probably already has 30 minutes of productive work time before the first person has even got to the office yet. There is a lot to be said for a person’s well being at their job. When you think about stress levels, health insurance costs, and keeping your best employees motivated in their line of work.
3. Employer/Employee Savings – That’s right, both the employer and employee save money when an employee works from home. Think if you could actually build a business around having all employees work from home. What would that look like? You wouldn’t need an office, but you may need services like Skype Conference, and dial-in calls. Big time savings. And the employee saves money on gas to and from work, possibly pet sitting fees, the dreaded vending machine fees, and plenty others.
4. The Next Generation Wants This – We want freedom from being tied down to one working location. We want to dial-in from coffee shops. We truly believe that work is only one part of what it takes to have a successful life – Our health, finances, social relationships, faith, family, and personal development are all integral parts of a successful life.
Let’s take a stab at being in the control group, with less control and more freedom. If you’re unhappy sitting in an office cube all day, ask your boss if you can work from home 1 or 2 days per week, as a test. If your boss has a problem with it, tell them you’ll provide daily progress updates to them. That way they know you are getting work accomplished from home. We should be paid for our results anyway, not face time in an office.
Dan – 8/17/11
I hear a lot of my friends talking about the “good ol days” in college and why they miss it so much. They think it would be a lot of fun to go back to grad school and further their education….Or do they? What is it about college that you miss or will miss if you are still in school?
1. Actually going to class and learning?
2. Freedom and lifestyle?
3. Having friends around constantly?
4. Going to the local pub on Thursday nights?
I truly think a lot of people are going to back to grad school right now for the wrong reasons. They are doing it because they don’t know what else to do and they hope a couple more years of classes are going to clear that up. The truth is that your goals and ambitions are going to be changing constantly throughout your life. What gave you energy when you were 18 will probably be a little different when you are 30. But you also need to realize that while furthering your education is admirable, you need to be going for the right reasons!
Back to the list above. If you had to choose one of those, which would it be? For me, I would say freedom and lifestyle is what I miss so much about college. Going to class wasn’t something I necessarily enjoyed, but I usually forced myself to go.
So while it would be fun to go back to college, I would probably go back because of the freedom and lifestyle that came with it, not for the school. This is the WRONG reason. What about exploring some other options:
What do you miss from college?
Dan 8/14/11
Some people find feet gross. Some people like feet. Some people like shoes. I like being barefoot!
Being barefoot is a feeling of freedom unlike any other. If you like to run, you are faster when you are barefoot. You have better balance when you are barefoot. Being barefoot
can also improve your posture, no joke! It is said that cavemen had great posture and strong backs, most likely because they didn’t wear shoes. We have shoes that embrace this now.. check them out here. http://www.vibramfivefingers.com
Recently, partaking in a barefoot recreational activity, I thought to myself, there has to be a correlation between being barefoot and finding success.
I found it, and the answer is FREEDOM.
Freedom: The ability to make choices, free will.
We all have freedom in our lives and I feel fortunate to live in the U.S. in which we are free to do what we want (for the most part). Freedom is a powerful tool when you use it to your advantage. I’m talking about making good choices in your life. Good choices for your health, financially, socially, and career wise.
Nobody is forcing us to do anything. The other great thing about freedom is having free will. I was first introduced to the idea of free will when I was 19 while reading a book by Dr. Bob Rotella. Dr. Bob is one of the best sports psychologists in the world and has worked with many professional athletes. Free will refers to the fact that we have control of how we think. We can choose to think whether we are happy in our lives or not. We have control over how we view life situations.
Things will happen in our lives that we don’t want to happen, and we have the free will to interpret these things however we want to. On the contrary, great things will happen in our lives especially when we believe great things will happen.
Go ahead and take control of your thoughts and freedom. Embrace it, go barefoot for awhile.
To being free,
Dan 8/10/11
Hello all, welcome to hauslifecoach! This is where I write about solutions, inspiration, thought provoking ideas, and exploration as a means to create success in your future! Sorry if there are weird spam links showing up on my blog. I’m working to get those fixed!
The title of this blog post is really why I write this blog. The story of our life is told through the journey that we take, mostly through overcoming adversity. I’m 26, and the story that I am creating is one of someone who did not know what they wanted to do after graduation from college. I have always just taken the next thing that has came up, especially in my career! Up until the last year, there was no real thought as to why I did what I did in my career, or what jobs are a good fit for me.
So that’s why I am here. To help you gain clarity on your purpose in life! I’m going to write some quotes that I recently read from a book titled In a Pit with a Lion, On a Snowy Day, By Mark Batterson. After each quote I’m going to give you a little insight.
Quotes:
The outcome of your life will be determined by your outlook on life. – First off, I love this quote. If we are constantly in a negative mood, dwelling on the bad things, the outcome of our life will probably end similarly. On the contrary, we can choose to view life positively and keep striving for more. Sure, we will have bad days along the way. But if every day was a good day, we wouldn’t know what a bad day was, right? Try to think positively today about your life. I think you’ll be surprised at how much better you feel.
Failure helps us appreciate success. – Losing sucks, let’s face it. If you’re competitive at all, you know that losing is not fun. Some of us are more inwardly competitive, some are more outwardly competitive, and some of us aren’t really that competitive at all. We’ve all lost, which helps us appreciate when we win even that much more. We’ve had adversity in our life, and times when things didn’t go our way. What I’m suggesting is that you use the adversity to fuel success.
If you don’t turn adversity into ministry, then your pain remains your pain – This is the sole purpose of why I write here. I feel like I have endured quite a bit in my life thus far. Lot’s of adversity, lot’s of cool experiences, travel, thoughts and wild ambitions running through my head constantly. I write because I don’t want life to remain my pain, or your pain. Life shouldn’t be a pain, it is life! It should be filled with exploration, fun activities, and doing what YOU WANT TO DO. When we start doing those things, we gain clarity and life becomes an exciting adventure. My friend and I were sitting down with his dad about a month ago talking about some things in our lives. My friend’s dad said something that was so simple, but yet sometimes seems so hard to do. It’s your life, do what you want with it.
The more problems you have, the more potential you have to help people – Now I don’t think going out and looking for problems is a good idea, but this quote seems like it could have some merit. For instance, why would someone want to learn how to quit smoking from someone who has never been through that same experience? Why would you want help from someone on starting a business who does not own a business themselves? Why would you want career advice from someone who has never thought twice about what they were doing in their career?
It makes sense. I think on some level we all want to help others. What are those things that you have had happen in your life, where you could then make a difference in someone elses life? Helping others and seeing their success is where we find fulfillment.
Maybe the problem you never thought you could overcome will turn into a 500 LB. opportunity – This is the last quote, and it hinges on the previous quote. Maybe you’ve had a tough experience that you’ve had to overcome and that is your opportunity to make a difference for others.
Here’s a scenario. A 30 year old smoker decides she is ready to quit. She painstakingly quits off and on for 2 years before developing her own plan for success. She is now 35 and has not had a cigarette for 3 years.
This person not only endured adversity while quitting, but now has a story to help others. She can use her story and success plan to create the same for others. What a huge opportunity!
Now, if you’re ready…. here’s my scenario. Presently: A 26 year old employee has held 5 job titles since finishing college 3 years and 3 months ago. He likes change. As a full time employee he likes his job, but he knows corporate America is not the right setting for him.
Future: He develops a plan (done) and begins to help others create a plan for success after college. Through stories and examples he explores creative strategies to help others achieve more success in their lives than they ever thought possible.
What are those adverse things that you have overcome in your life? Could you see yourself helping others do the same? Use adversity to fuel success.
Onward!
Dan – 8/7/11
We are extremely fortunate here in Cedar Rapids, IA to have one of the best golfers in the world from our town, Zach Johnson. On August 1st, Zach held a fundraiser at his home golf course here in Cedar Rapids to benefit the Zach Johnson Foundation which supports elementary school students in our area. The cool thing about the fundraising event was that Zach brought a bunch of his friends from the PGA Tour to town for the event as well. A lot of good Professional athletes came to Cedar Rapids, IA to take part in the fundraiser.
Rickie Fowler and Davis Love applying sunscreen, it was hot!
Rickie Fowler, Stuart Cink, Davis Love III, Jonathan Byrd, and Kyle Stanley all joined the fun from the PGA Tour. Former Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner was also taking part!
It’s not every day that we get to see these type of faces in Cedar Rapids, so this was a pretty cool event for everyone who witnessed! Not to mention that the Foundation was able to raise over a Million in cash for local elementary school students!
Zach talks to the crowd while the others warm up
So while we had a bunch of well known professional athletes and superstars from around our area signing autographs and playing golf for charity, it got me thinking about everyone else there who was watching. What are the rest of us going PRO in? All of the professionals who were playing obviously had a dream to be pro in the sport they chose, but what about the rest of us? Unfortunately we will not all be professional athletes, but what about professional artists, teachers, creators, planners, managers, doctors etc.
Just because we may choose to do something that will not bring us into the limelight like a professional athlete, doesn’t mean that we cannot be a PRO in our chosen line of work!
We can all be PRO’S. I challenge you to think of yourself as a PRO in whatever line of work you are doing. It’s easy to become PRO in something that your passionate about, that aligns well with who you are and what you are naturally good at. Whether that is cutting grass or open-heart surgery, we should do the absolute best we can.
Let’s not give up on our dreams. As I mentioned earlier, all of the professional athletes had a dream at one point to be who they are today. Identify what it is that you want to do in your career and start taking the necessary steps to get there. A little bit of movement can create a lot of clarity in becoming the PRO that you ought to be!
Dan 8/3/11
After a rough start to my initial travel to Playa Del Carmen, MX (see last post) I settled in and had a great week. I missed a scheduled blog post, but I’m okay with this. My plan for this trip was true vacation. I was disconnected for the better part of 6 days. I didn’t turn on my cell phone once, and I only got on the internet twice for very brief instances. We all need that sometimes don’t we?! I’ll answer that for you, YES.
Vacation was good to get out of the office, but I didn’t do absolutely nothing all week. I worked on some Effective Life Experiences, and had fun with family. 17 other family members and myself were on this trip. It was a good time for all of us to meet up somewhere outside of Iowa (where we all live).
I will say that the Yucatan Peninsula is not the most comfortable climate in late July. With tempuratures in the mid 90’s each day and not much wind, it was definitely steamy and there were a lot of insects along for the journey.
I had a question right after we landed in Cancun, MX. Where the hell am I? I hadn’t looked at a map before we went, so I was unsure. We landed in the middle of a tropical rainforest… and I loved it. A runway in the middle of a rainforest is perfecto in my book, seriously! After looking a little further into where I was, this is what I found.
On the northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula is Cancun. We flew into Cancun (3 hours 30 minutes flight from Chicago), then had a taxi ride south to Playa Del Carmen. This was a 1 hour ride.
South of Playa Del Carmen, you’ll notice a city called Tulum. You might remember this city from your 4th grade history book. This is where I did some exploring and what others would call sight-seeing.
I won’t go into a whole lot of detail, but Tulum is an ancient Mayan city which was inhabited from 1200 to around 1600 AD. Tulum means “Stinky Place,” but it didn’t hold true to its name. In 1519, Spanish Conquistadores attacked the city by sea and took it over. I got a picture at the beach where the attack happened, a beautiful setting, I don’t know how else to describe it.
It’s fun to think about the history, or the legacy that was left here. 492 years ago this beach was attacked! Okay, not much action today, but understand my need and excitement of exploration.
Here are more pictures of Tulum. It was tough to be photogenic with the temperature reaching 115 degrees inside the ruin walls!
Ruin Walls
Overlooking the Caribbean
Stairs to ruin overlooking Caribbean
So why am I sharing this with you? My purpose is to help you explore creative strategies for success in your future. Well, I also look for other things that I can start to explore in my life for success, or just for fun. I’ve determined two new things that I want to learn from this trip. #1, I want to learn each Country and it’s Capital City on Earth by the end of 2011. Pretty easy right? #2, I want to be fairly fluent in Spanish by the end of 2012. Right now mi Espanol is muy mal (very bad). This might mean another trip or more to Latin America to help! Using the 80/20 rule, I should be able to accomplish this early. But in the mean time, I’ll be looking to connect with some Spanish speaking locals in Cedar Rapids, IA. Anyone out there??
What are you wanting to accomplish the rest of this year or in the near future?
This trip was vacation for my family that I went with. Usually I am much against vacations unless they include some productivity! At some point, we get tired of sitting on the beach and want to do something productive. I tried to stay as productive as possible writing in my journal and reading. Here is a journal entry from last Wednesday 7/27:
Cozumel is in the distance at 9AM on a cloud soaked morning in Playa Del Carmen. I’m on the beach looking out at where the dark blue sky hits the clear blue water of the Caribbean. A couple of jet skis pass and high powered boats heading out too sea. Isn’t there more to life? If I sat on the beach everyday, would life be complete? Vacation with no activity can only be fun for so long until we reach boredom. On some level, we all want to be helping others and making progress in our lives.
Progress + Activity = Fulfillment
Understand, my purpose is to help you live and create the lifestyle that you want to live! I had some conversations with family members about mini retirements, company benefits, doing what they want in their lives. Their response was funny to me… “Oh that makes sense, but…” But what. Henry David Thoreau said that most people die with their greatest achievement still in them. My focus is to NOT be those people!
Alrighty, let’s take a look at some other fun photos from the Yucatan.
Entrance to the beach where I stayed in PlayaCar
Sunrise at 6:15AM over the Caribbean
An iguana catching some sun at Tulum
Signing off - Dan - 7/31/11
hauslifecoach 