Need Some Motivation???

Man! Job hunting can be a downer, if you rely on the internet to hand you an interview. So when I began losing interest, motivation and hope in starting a job anytime soon, I realized it was time to look for answers. After doing some research into the best job hunting techniques, I found out that I've been predictably "spinning my wheels" and gaining little momentum due to my very actions (or lack of the best actions).

For starters...pursuing jobs on-line only is like sowing seeds in rocky ground. Not only will your crop be sparse, you might even stumble and fall. There are definitely predators out there just waiting for the gullible fly to get caught up in their net. Or I can go back to the vehicle analogy...you'll be left spinning your wheels, going nowhere.

So what to do? Scouting job prospects on-line is not a bad idea to do in spare time, but the true meat and potatoes of job hunting is self-marketing...preparing yourself, your resume, and a cover letter and targeting the companies you want to work for. Not waiting on them to come to you with an interview from your on-line application, but contacting them, and specifically someone who has the power or say-so to grant you an interview. (reality checks from Robin Ryan and other job coaching experts)

Now...the above is no easy task! It takes a serious investment of time, intense mental evaluation and clarification, decisiveness, courage, and gall! Which is why it's just so much easier to sit at the computer googling jobs, posting your profile and resume(s) on job search engines and filling out applications. Believe you me! That's what I did for about 2 weeks with very little turn on my time investment.

The more I searched for answers and read the info out there, the more I realized how much I have yet to do and how to change my job search tactics. There are gobs of books out there offering the ideal way to land a job. If you read a few books or articles by job coaches, you realize they are all saying about the same thing. It isn't rocket science. What they have to say just makes sense. This is the information I've been digesting:

Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton

Over 40 & You're Hired by Robin Ryan

Knock Em Dead by Martin Yate

Ya! I don't believe it is as easy as "1, 2, 3..." but they have a point. I'm not looking for a miracle, but I need to use my brain and be productive with my time. The internet contains a lot of information on jobs, but marketing oneself in person gets people to notice you!

So...I'm "getting in the game" and will be "sowing the seeds" as a new week begins. I'll keep you up on my progress.

Some of the areas are hilly which helps a bit with the cardio.

In the meantime the one healthy thing I've been doing (however inconsistently) is going for walks in the evenings from 30-60 minutes and completing my knee strengthening routine. It is good to get outside and walk to get some perspective. And tonight as I took my mp3 player with me and listened to "Listen Up: The Official 2010 World Cup Album", I felt uplifted and actually good about life. Listening to upbeat, active music with a positive message is definitely a helpful reminder and motivator. We just don't do those good things for ourselves enough!

The last week has been full of cloudy days and very little rain...

don't let the rainbow fool ya!

Ok! Now you try it...listen to this song and try not to move!

Ahhh...come on now! You know that little kid in you is going bonkers!!!

If you still have no motivation to get up and move after listening to music like this...maybe you need some shut eye! Well then...get your sleep on, so you can eventually get up and do something good for yourself like moving to the beat!

By the way...Congrats to Spain for winning the World Cup in overtime!

Itching to get back to writing...

Where have I been? Focused on healing my knee, improving my health and my attitude.

My goal is to write more often...but most likely less on each blog. Honestly I think shorter is better! It is just easier to follow. Anyway I'm still attempting to find the focus of this blog...so excuse me as I flounder around trying out new things.

My family is on FACEBOOK and they've asked me to get my own facebook page and join them. I have yet to do so though, because I've already put so much time and effort into this site, my wordpress blog and myspace...now to begin again on facebook?? Eventually I may find a way to take the three places I blog and combine them into one or connect them to facebook. I just have not found the time or motivation to begin again on yet another site. Just how does one manage so many sites and actually "live" life?!? There is much I have yet to figure out in life!

Oh I recently ran across a new musician that I encourage you to check out! REGINA SPECTOR!

Though I am a great lover of music and have at times memorized the words to countless songs I sung in high school age performances of one kind or another, I cannot for the life of me remember the lyrics to popular songs! It drives me crazy!!! So naturally I could relate to the comments made during an interview with Regina on NPR about forgetting the words to a favorite song. (here's a bit of the lyrics to Et pronounced "eat" and you can check out Regina on youtube singing Et on her new cd Far)

It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song
You can't believe it
You were always singing along
It was so easy and the words so sweet
You can't remember
You try to feel the beat

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, eet, eet, eet
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeteeet, eet, eet, eet

I was amused and intrigued by the free-flowin, yet deep, and at the same time, exhuberant way this musician expresses herself in her words and through her music.

Regina was born in Moscow in 1980. Her family is jewish. Her mom is a music professor and her father plays violin and is a photographer. Her family left the USSR in 1989 and lived in Austria and Italy and eventually settled in New York. Regina began playing the piano when she was young and studied classical piano when she was 17 years old. She began songwriting when she was 16 years old. You can read more about her at wikipedia.

A bit from the NPR interview with David Greene on Morning Edition...Spektor is a petite woman with striking red hair and bright lipstick. She writes about what's on her mind, and her music often defies explanation. But she says that doesn't concern her. "If I could explain every word of this song, then I wouldn't have been very inspired when I wrote it. I would have been more crafty and intellectual," she says. "I would really hate it if I could call up Kafka or Hemingway or Salinger and any question I could throw at them they would have an answer. That's the magic when you read or hear something wonderful — there's no one that has all the answers."

However, that's not to say she doesn't want people to look for deeper meaning behind her songs. "It's not like I have all the answers," she says.

You can listen to the NPR interview and/or check out this video...Laughing With is one of my favorites on the Far cd...though each song has its own unique message and makes me smile. =D I was unable to download the videos for whatever reason (maybe I'm out of practice).

In case you have difficulty understanding the chorus lyrics to "Laughing With" as I did...here are the words...but check out the video because the entirety of the song is extremely thought provoking.

*Chorus*
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha

If you think belief in God is a joke...then you've never really faced hard times in your life. Listening to the lyrics of Laughing With gives me chills. It is pretty amazing to think that she is singing these lyrics on mainstream stations.

Ok at this point in the post you may be thinking...shorter posts?!? Well...I've never been really good at saying what I want to say in as few words as possible so...all in due time...lol.

This post is dedicated to music lovers everywhere who can't remember the words to their favorite songs & the subsequent AWE felt of those who can :)

Who are we?????

Traveling across time

to be where

hope's resolve

casts itself

upon a sea swelling

awaiting history

Those cold shivers

threaten to undo one's longing

to be present

at such a time as this

such rapt attention

all around the world

just to see

what it is that abounds

in Washington D.C.

2009 begins a new era

we will see

the good and the bad

of one man

just a man is he

and so he, too,

will succeed

and so may we

the people of this nation

and yes stumble on days...

as we make our way

along this path we have chosen

or has it chosen us?

Well i say

it's about time

for all to finally awaken

and be shaken

It's time to know

it truly is not

about the color of the skin

of man or woman or child

but what matters most

is the content of our character

as we think and love

and live and struggle

and believe

Who are we?

tkaeu 2009