Get To The Parking Lot

Let’s dive right in shall we? For starters, I have been MIA (in case you care, and I’m sure you do) because my right hand/wrist was in a brace for a week+. The original diagnosis was carpal tunnel. Thankfully, the real diagnosis was a flare up of my tendonitis. The brace is gone, ibuprofen is my friend, and once again, I am able to write and type. Yeah me!

Recently, I acquired an Accountability Partner (AP) at the suggestion of my career coach. Bear with me here… My AP and I meet weekly with a check in mid-week. Today, as we were chatting I felt compelled to share a story with her, that I think might help others.

Each week we have 3 goals. One of my goals, for last week, was to update my resume. It didn’t happen. This week, it did. Why? My mindset changed. I know, I know… People always talk about mindset, it’s powerful, change your thinking, blah, blah, blah… Personally, I need practical examples; and that’s when I remembered this story.

A former co-worker of mine once told me that her goal was never to work out. Never to go to the gym. Her goal is to go to the parking lot [of her gym]. See if she got to the parking lot, she’d find a parking space; if she found a parking space, she’d get out of the car and go into the gym; if she went into the gym, then she’d work out. But her goal could never be to go to the gym and work out because it was a goal with too much power.

Does this translate into breaking things down into smaller pieces? Absolutely. But for me, it makes infinite more sense and is much more relatable. Going to the gym conjures up so many thoughts, many of which can be negative: I’m not in shape, everyone else can keep up in the class better than I can, other women are skinner, etc., etc., etc. But seriously, how much energy does it take to psych yourself up to go to a parking lot? I’d venture to say, pretty little.

So I applied this technique to my resume. Overhauling and updating my resume was too daunting a task. Instead, my goal was to print my resume in its current format. I did carry it for a couple of days–to and from work–not doing anything, but making sure I had it with me. And then I looked at it and noticed some wording I needed to tweak. Then I realized I needed to add new skills, accomplishments, responsibilities, and update numbers. The next thing I knew, my resume was covered in red (my editing color of choice), having been updated by hand. Well, if that’s the case, all I had to do at that point was type up the changes. So I did.

Now, is my resume done? No. It needs new formatting and it still has to be sanctioned by my career coach–the true test (she made me re-do the first one, TWICE, and resume writing was MY side job). So this week’s goal, one of them, is to find a format that works for me and drop in my information. Parking lot translation: Sit at my computer.

(FYI – I’ve already printed out 6 different formats to inspire me.)