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This site is here to help you go back to work or make a career change while
keeping a health life balance of priorities family and relationships.
 

We invite visitors to share their insight, take advantage of the resources here
and continue to learn and grow.

Whether you are an empty nester who is re-entering the workforce, an
entrepreneur who is looking for a way to network, a person seeking their first
job, starting a business, going through a divorce, or simply someone who is
setting new life goals there are career strategies that will help you get to a
destination faster while also balancing other important areas of your life.  
Learn to take your interests and channel them into productive career goals on
a fast track.  Reach out of your comfort zone to achieve results proven and
practical strategies for success.  

For the FREE StartingOverNow E-newsletter, simply send an email to:
info@startingovernow.com.  Share your story with us.
Worksheets to Help You Get Started

The following downloads are FREE worksheets that will help you  plan a new
direction for your life.  It is hard to take a new course if you don't have your "map"
to success.  It is a lot easier once you have the direction you need.  You can do
this yourself.  Now is the time to get started!

Begin with the End in Mind and Sketch that Vision on Paper

On an Interview: Ask More Questions Than They Ask You

Find a complete list of worksheets by clicking on "Worksheets and Articles."
StartingOverNow.com  
HOME
Mary Lee Gannon's work
as a newspaper reporter,
trade association
executive director, public
relations consultant,
entrepreneur, and hospital
foundation president and
CEO are the basis for her
class "Starting Over
Without Starting at the
Bottom."  For the
Class
Schedule click here.
Where to Begin

Ok, so you want to make some changes in your life but those changes scare
you a little, invigorate you a lot and the ambivalence can sometimes paralyze
you.  You just don’t know if you can make it work but you know you have the
energy to make a difference.  What you don’t realize is that you have already
been through this before and succeeded.  

Remember the first day of school, the first day of scouts, the first day at camp,
the team try outs, going away to college, and starting a new job?  You weren’t
sure if people would like you or your book bag.  You couldn’t count on getting
played a lot in every game.  You didn’t know if the lonely feeling of standing out
would dissipate to reward.

How you met these challenges head on is exactly how you will overcome any
new challenge.  First you taught yourself how to accept the situation.  And
once you could cope, you strategized for better success.  Acceptance comes
first so that your emotions aren’t in the way when you need to plan.  And
planning is imperative for success.   

See if the following scenario is familiar.  

Meredith and Jessica are third graders who are standing in line at the bus stop.

Michael shows up and cuts in front of them just before the bus opens its
doors.  He scales the steps two at a time and beats them to the last seat on the
bus where the girls have sat  every day since school began.  Michael throws
his elbows up over the seat in front of him, leaning forward with a Cheshire cat
grin. “Got your seat!”

Meredith stands up straight like she’d swallowed a poker. “Bus driver!  Michael
Miller just stole our seat.”  She stomps her feet to the back of the bus, pointing
at Michael.  “He cut in front of us in line and should go to the principal’s  office.”

Jessica watched the bus driver sip his coffee from one of those coffee shops
that charges more for coffee than her lunch costs.  She slides into the seat in
front of Michael.  “Meredith, let’s just sit here today.”

“No way!  That is our seat.”  

More children file onto the bus and bus starts to pull away from the curb.  

Meredith is jostled down in the seat next to Jessica and lets out a sigh that
would have put the big bad wolf to shame.  “I hate that Michael Miller and I am
going to tell his homeroom teacher what he did as soon as we get to school.”

He pokes his face between them and bellows, “I’m so scaaaaaaared.”

Meredith starts twisting the key tags on her backpack until one breaks off.

Jessica opens her backpack and starts flipping through her flash cards.  
There is a spelling test first period and she kept getting “consume” wrong last
night when she was practicing.

Who do you want to be?   

Meredith is not able to accept the situation – she is not able to find peace.  
Michael is controlling the situation – playing his own game.  The bus driver is
disinterested in the situation – he quit the game early.  And Jessica chooses
not to let having to change seats get in the way of what she needs to do –
study for the test.  She is the only person peaceful enough to move forward.  

Jessica realizes that the energy spent on fighting for a certain seat on the bus
does not have anything to do with where she ultimately wants to be.  She
wants to get an “A” on the spelling test.  Meredith probably wants that too.  But
fighting with Michael is easier and probably fulfills an emotional need that she
has either to control or to be heard.  Either way, fulfilling the emotional need is
not going to get her an “A” on the spelling test.

It is very easy to get distracted from your goals with emotions that really do not
have anything to do with where you want to be.  People do this because it is
easier than focusing on something that is more intimidating – your own
accomplishments.  You can fail at reaching goals.  You can’t fail at arguing.  
Anger is easier.

Know the difference between your emotions and your goals.  Get your own
negative emotions out of the way so that you can get on with success.


For the FREE StartingOverNow E-newsletter, simply send an email to:
info@startingovernow.com.  Share your story with us.
FREE Resources
to help you:

1. JASPER - Personality
Profile Survey to Help You
Chose a Career Path:  
www.
monster.com    Click on “My
Monster” and then “JASPER”
and then register.

2. Salary Estimates in
Specific Cities:
www.salary.
monster.com

3. Organize Your Job
Search - Post a Question
etc.:
www.cvtips.com

4.  Starting Over After
Divorce:
www.
womansdivorce.com

5.  Starting Over for
Women:  
www.
makingbreadmagazine.com

6.  Self Improvement: www.
selfgrowth.com.

7.  Job Postings, Resume
Advice and Resources:
www.
careerbuiler.com

8.  Templates for: business
plans, competitive analysis,
start up costs and more:
www.score.
org/business_toolbox.html

9.  Federal/Sate/Local
Government jobs:  
www.
federaljobsearch.com