When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers .

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'  The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.'

(Author unknown)

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$19K is what a job search could possibly cost an unemployed person looking to make a $50K salary…… $77K is what it could possibly cost an unemployed person looking to make a $100K salary.

(Read the rest of the article in Job Search - What Does Unemployment Really Cost? - TheResumeBridge.com 11/17/08)

"Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time,' is like saying, 'I don't want to.'"
-- Lao-Tzu

Most often, our first reaction, when someone asks us to do something, is to say "no". And most often, this is the correct response if we have a full plate and we are happy with what we are doing.

But what if you don't have a full plate, and/or are not as happy as you would like to be in your work, and/or there is (long term) value for you in what is being asked of you.

Please this post The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Beers.

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(COPY/PASTE and personalize this post in your personal/community blog.)

Which job will I choose?

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1. Step 1: Awareness/Engaging: Become aware and engage yourself in the need to make a choice
2. Step 2: Know yourself/Understanding: Self-assessment
3. Step 3: Exploring: Identify alternatives
4. Step 4: Evaluating: Get information about identified alternatives
5. Step 5: Choosing: Choose among alternatives
6. Step 6: Reflecting: Review your decision, reflect, and modify, if appropriate

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(Top, Bot)

Step 1: Awareness/Engaging: Become aware and engage yourself in the need to make a choice (More)

I need to decide which job I want.

(Top, Bot)

Step 2: Know yourself/Understanding: Self-assessment (More)

But first, I need to understand who I am. (Copy the following links from or to "My LifeWork Portal".) I believe that this step is the most important because you will not be happy with your lifework/career/job choice if you do not know yourself.

1. My Values
2. My Interests
   1. My Career Cluster
3. My Skills
4. My Temperament
5. My Job Search Plan

(Top, Bot)

Step 3: Exploring: Identify alternatives (More)

1. My Job Search Strategies
   1. O*NET exploration
2. Possible jobs
   1. (Job A)
   2. (Job B)
   3. (Job C)

(Top, Bot)

Step 4: Evaluating: Get information about identified alternatives (More)

1. Review the following resources for the "attributes" you want to use to evaluate each job.
   1. http://www.uwplatt.edu/careercenter/resources/ChoosingEvaluatingOffers.html
2. List the attributes in the table below and add a "Weight" in column "A" for each attribute.
3. Make a copy of the following table for each job you are considering.
4. Assign a value in column B for each attribute in each job and calculate the "Weighted Score" in column C

Job A: (description)
Attribute	A = Weight	B = Value	C= A*B = Weighted Score
Location	4	3	12
Salary
Benefits
Working Conditions
Advancement opportunities
Security
?
?
?
TOTAL			87

 

(After you have identified all the attributes in the table above and assigned a "Weight" in column "A" for each attribute, make a copy of it for each job you are considering and paste it here. In the example in Step 5 below, you would have three copies of this table for Jobs A, B and C.)

(Top, Bot)

Step 5: Choosing: Choose among alternatives (More)

Weighed score for jobs under consideration

1. (Job A) = 87
2. (Job B) = 92 <- Choice
3. (Job C) = 57

(Top, Bot)

Step 6: Reflecting: Review your decision, reflect, and modify, if appropriate (More)

1. Does your selection of Job B feel right? If not, check/modify your attributes, weighting, and value for each job and recalculate. If the "Weighted Score" is even, then listen to your gut.
2. Create/update My Current Job after you have been in your new job for a while. Make a note on your calnedar to review/modify it each year. This will give you a good head start when you begin your search for your next job

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Click your browser's BACK/Return arrow to return to the post that brought you here, or return to

• My Job Search Plan <-- My LifeWork Plans <-- My LifeWork Portal
• My Current Job

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Periodically check this link to the template for this post to see if it has changed.

If you have an improvement for this template, please add a comment, and the tag "A decision making template" to the "Keywrods" section of your decision making post(s).

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Not all individuals approach decision-making in the same manner, there are numerous different styles of decision-making. One author (Dinklage, 1969) suggested that there are "Inner-Reliant" decision-makers, who take responsibility for their decisions and there are "Other-Reliant" decision-makers, who try and transfer the responsibility for their decisions to other people. ... ( the eleven (11) styles and more at  http://www.careers.unsw.edu.au/careered/planning/decide/decMakingStyle.aspx)

Ed:  This LWPS blogging platform is designed for the "Planning Decider - where our strategy is based on a rational approach, with some balance between the cognitive and emotional: "I'm weighing the facts"." style decision maker.

Now that you know how to create your posts and organize them, we want to use this section to emphasize the  importance of constantly developing each of your posts so they reflect who you are at this instant and what you want.

It is not enough to jot down a few thoughts, or prioritize a list. You must look at each post periodically and ask yourself if what you said in it relfects the way you feel right now. If it does not, you need to revise it.

You also need to lok at how you have organized all of your posts to see if that organization still serves you. Does it give you easy access to all of your posts? Do all of your links still work?

We call this process the 4Rs for 'Reviewing, reflecting, revising, and reintegrating'.

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Go to the next milepost of What is an aggregating post? or return to this milepost in the Roadmap.

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https://sites.google.com/site/lifeworkplanningservices/lifework#TOC-Understanding-Informed-and-considered-career-decisions-

Informed and considered career decisions lead to higher incomes, fewer bouts and shorter durations of unemployment, better matches of person and work resulting in less turnover, better health for the employee and the employee’s family, and fewer instances of work-related stress, depression, and violence, which lead to savings in training, social welfare, criminal justice, and health-care costs.

Informed and considered career decisions  "... represent a match of person and work in which the individual’s skills, interests, values, beliefs, and purposes fit, align with, inform, and contribute to work, and work contributes to the individual’s well-being and life goals."¹

Informed and considered career decisions are the product of a career development process that includes

1. creating awareness of options,
2. exploring possible career pathways,
3. reviewing available information,
4. clarifying interests, values, and skills through assessment,
5. reflecting upon experiences,
6. relating education and training options to occupational goals,
7. experimenting through work sampling, volunteering, or employment,
8. consulting with knowledgeable people in the field of interest,
9. formulating plans for education, training, career entry, and retraining,
10. making decisions and refining plans,
11. implementing and adapting plans, and
12. applying the career development process throughout the lifespan.¹

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Go to the next milepost of "Knowing Yourself" by creating posts about your values, interests and skills or return to this milepost in the Roadmap or return to the home page at "lifeworkps.com".

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¹ Gillie, S., & Isenhour, M. (2003). The Educational, Social, and Economic Value of Informed and Considered Career Decisions. Fall 2003, http://inpathways.net/_acrna/iccd-sub1.pdf (p. 18) extracted 4/14/2008. Also see this topic in Career Development Forums.

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(COPY/PASTE and personalize this post in your personal/community blog)

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1. Resources to help me create, develop and maintain my resume(s)
2. Versions of my resume(s)
   1. My VisualCV  (More about My VisualCV)
   2. My Resume for ...
   3. V2
   4. ...

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Click your browser's BACK/Return arrow to return to the post that brought you here, or return to

• My Job Search Plan <-- My LifeWork Plans <-- My LifeWork Portal

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Periodically check this link to the template for this post to see if it has changed.

If you have an improvement for this template, please add a comment.

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1. CIDS (Career Information Development Systems) - Use America's Career Network state locator to find state-based CIDS at the bottom of each states information webpage.
   
   1. For example, here is Washington's ACRN webpage, and the Washington CIDS - WOIS - is listed at the bottom of that page. Most Washington schools offer WOIS.
      
2. Job search/job banks - CareerOneStop - Select your state in the upper right corner.
   

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Click your browser's BACK/Return arrow to return to the post that brought you here, or return to

• My Job Search Plan <--My LifeWork Plans <-- My LifeWork Portal
  

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(COPY/PASTE and personalize this aggregating post in your personal/community blog)

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1. My top ten tasks and tools
2. My Current Job
3. My Resume(s)
4. My Job Search Strategies

Additional job search resources

1. List of job search sites with advanced search capabilities.
2. Advice from
   
   1. CareerOneStop
   2. How to Job Search from The Riley Guide,
   3. 10/3/09 - Using Google to search for a job

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Click your browser's BACK/Return arrow to return to the post that brought you here, or return to

• My LifeWork Plans <-- My LifeWork Portal
• Roadmap

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Periodically check this link to the template for this post to see if it has changed.

If you have an improvement for this template, please add a comment.

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