C A R E E R Z E N
by Larry Daly, ‘the Job Doc' Your Personal Career Coach
How to Get Raises, Promotions, Better Jobs, Solve Your 'People' Problems, and
Build Your Career, Fast (Without Sucking Up, Brown-nosing, or Kissing Butt )
Here is serious help for the ambitious working person. You CAN get a raise in 3 weeks, a promotion in 6 weeks, a better job in 12, and career success in a few short years. But ONLY if you are willing to work hard, and do WHATEVER is needed.
To wait passively and be deserving is not enough. To expect fairness is to court lifelong despair. Life is not fair. Life is situational. This book is not for those who react and let life govern them. It is ONLY for those who anticipate, plan, and use life for their own ends and purposes.
This is not a 'nice' book, not politically correct. It contains unpleasant truths many people cannot accept. (Trying to integrate facts that contradict beliefs will mess up your mind and emotions. Ask yourself: "Were those beliefs taught to me to control me, make me passive, obedient, productive, 'well - adjusted', like a machine?")
If you expect success without cost and effort, you are wasting your time here. Go now to where that does happen; this book is not for you. Only those who can discard lies, see clearly, accept facts, and think for themselves will appreciate this knowledge and be able to use these tools.
Success, as a Zen Careerist, requires discipline, hard work, study, bravery, daring. Success in any art or science, any field of human endeavor, demands whole - hearted dedication.
If you are truly ready to work hard, welcome.
The title of this book, CAREER ZEN, is an oxymoron, a contradiction in itself, the dichotomy representing the great American concept of self - achievement, versus the Asian concept of passive acceptance of whatever 'fate' or karma or chance may have in store for one. FORWARD
Many Americans have a strong belief in fate, but most of us also have the knowledge, and many everyday examples, of those who achieved great things in spite of many obstacles.
Why did I choose such a confusing title?
Because I sincerely believe that anyone who is seriously interested in pursuing a career in America today can learn much from the principles and practice of Zen, but by also discarding or ignoring those parts not applicable to your goals and our American assertiveness.
I am not talking about sitting on pillows in uncomfortable cross legged positions for hours, nor the long periods of meditation, nor the mystic or exotic spirituality of Zen, nor the cute catch phrases such as one hand clapping. Some of those are often fascinating in themselves, and may hold water in the East, but are often absurd in our Western business and personal achievement context.
I have spent years in the Far East and appreciate their cultures deeply and with great affection, learned much there, met some of the most wonderful people in my whole life, and did and still do hold their ways in deep respect.
However, like you, I live and work in our much more aggressive Western world, where we lose out substantially if we remain passive and spend too much time communing inwardly rather than acting outwardly. (I believe that too much obedience and passivity are already taught us in our schools and colleges and other cultural institutions, in order to keep us obedient consumers and less trouble than we could otherwise be.)
ZEN represents self - discipline, something which has extremely high practical value in developing yourself for success in any career you may choose to pursue in your future in any nation and time.
My choice of Zen practices is selective, fundamental enough to truly represent most of the basic concepts of the original, thus legitimately Zen usage and teachings, yet I will not teach or preach any at you, as such.
For instance, one of the things Zen teaches is relationships, which begins with the self. This is so obvious that even the ancients (Plato?) said, "First, know thyself". Yet, without constant conscious reminder we often overlook it when it is most needed. I have failed this way many times, and so will you. Learn from this error. We are all slightly different, but basically still so much alike that by studying yourself you can know a lot about all other people.
Another benefit of Zen techniques is helping you to de-stress, ways of dealing with the demands of your job, family, money, time, and other pressures involved in achieving any kind of career success.
Another benefit of Zen is to drill you in slowing down to think before responding, so that your responses are for your benefit, and not reactions triggered by others to make you act before thinking, which many ads and other stimuli try to do, to their benefit and your loss. Think before buying. Don't buy before thinking. You will learn.
Another Zen benefit is learning to hold yourself accountable for your actions and responsible for yourself.
The Zen way is silent and deep, not the shallow and often contradictory denial - based or rationalizing public Mea Culpa of the West, and much better, and much more effective toward obtaining results. You are what you do.
Another benefit of Zen in your careering is the breathing and posture and other physical aspects, some of which I learned on my first trip to the East at 17, and have used ever since. The health of the body affects the health of the mind and the emotions, so it must be cultivated in every way possible. I love my depraved bacon and eggs and other Western 'abominations', and cannot abide certain Eastern offerings, but it has been well documented how much more healthy some of their eating habits can be, so you must make up your own mind on how far to go there.
Zen teaches balance in all things in life. In today's world of so many instantly available excesses, nothing can be more valuable to you and your mental and physical and emotional health and thus to your career success.
Lastly, Zen teaches concentration, paying attention to small as well as large things, to people and to beauty, to function as well as to design, to simplicity and to complexity. That is so valuable in any career.
In short, some of Zen is very practical, and those parts of it are what I will use and concentrate on in this book and in my private career coaching practice. If you like incense or gongs or Eastern wear, you are free to indulge in them, but I am concerned here about only what will help you achieve success in your career. Using the principle of simplicity, I try to strip down to the basic essentials to get the most benefit, quickest.
One of the problems I had with Zen is that it is so slow. Deep, but soooo sloooow. I have always been so impatient that I never got much out of chopping wood and drawing water and sitting still and trying to empty my mind (so I will not bother you with such things), but recently I discovered that all of my life I have been doing much the same thing, by walking! I take long daily walks, usually an hour or more, and often more than a hundred city blocks at a time, during which I clear my mind and go back to basics, and get some of my best ideas. Only recently did I learn that this, too, has always been known to Zen teachers and was called (what else?) walking meditation. No matter how you do it, relaxing and emptying your mind for a short time does work, and it does help you. Have you ever had a great idea or revelation while showering or washing dishes? Maybe running water has magical qualities? I don't think so. Some say TV helps. I suggest that what they are experiencing may be called unconsciousness by overload. Try the simplest method you can. Just open your mind and make room for new ideas. They will come.
If you are as impatient as I was (I've calmed down, a little, at 67), you are doing a disservice to yourself. I suggest that you do find a way to learn patience, and suggest that formal Zen study will help you there. After a while. A loooooong whiiiile. (I have found ways for you to learn it faster.) There are times when patience, like silence, can be golden. And other times when it is plain nonsense. The point is to have it, another tool in your kit, to use or not, as you see best in the circumstance you are facing at any given moment.
You do not have to shave your head and become a monk in some remote cold - water mountain cave to benefit from Zen. Selective use of many of their practices can help you further your career, here in our western material culture.
So the title, CAREER ZEN, actually does fit the purposes of this book.
Read, enjoy, and use what parts of it work for you, toward your career goals.
There are many people who call themselves career counselors and consultants and coaches. About My Personal Career Coaching Practice
One day, long after I had informally started helping others, I considered starting my own coaching practice.
To see what competition I would face, I sent a letter to each of the many career help practitioners in the NY Yellow Pages, as if I was a potential customer, and saw immediately that I would have absolutely no competition.
Out of the 8 million NY population, almost a third of whom work full or part time, and four out of five unhappy in their jobs, I would have more than a million potential customers all for myself.
Why? Because I am offering what none of the others does or can, and it is what a working person needs most if he or she wants to get ahead.
All of those advertisers display their educational credentials. But college courses and certificates and doctorates are not a legitimate substitute for many years of actually working in a variety of jobs, being fired and quitting, practice, involvement, failure and suffering, success, and finally, some enlightenment.
No books or words or courses or diplomas or certificates can replace doing. College graduates don't have much real knowledge about real jobs and working day in and day out, year after year, with no other recourse. No rich person or parent - supported college kid can ever really feel the despair of truly having no money in his pocket and no income, the sheer desperation of not knowing where to sleep tonight or where the next meal is coming from. Then making it. No success is so sweet as that you have achieved over great odds, all by yourself, especially over others saying you could not do it.
I have worked for a living for 53 of my 67 years, starting at 12, in 1945, because my father was injured and out of work at the time, and someone had to bring in money to feed 5 little kids and two parents. I have held more than 36 jobs, one lasting 13 years (many of them concurrently, and not counting jobs lasting less than 6 months), in 11 different business fields, and from entry level to manager and finally boss, owning 2 business of my own, and being partner in 2 others, hiring and firing and teaching and training other people. Having now lost both of my parents and three of my four siblings and a spouse, and kept working through all of it, I have gained the real life suffering and experience that no college can ever teach, that no graduate program can ever impart, and no certificate can document.
So now, when people come to me for help and advice about what to do in their jobs, and need my coaching in how to do it, and how to get ahead, I help them all I can, because I have sat in their seat and walked in their shoes, and because I have been scared, too, and lonely and hungry and tired and confused and in despair.
I help them not out of books and charts and statistical means and averages and types and half - forgotten lectures by paper experts, but out of my own deep personal knowledge and experience, and because I have made all of the possible mistakes and errors and stupidities that one person can make in one lifetime, and learned firsthand what not to do, as well as what does work.
Little did I know during all of those years that I was learning for others as well as myself, and that someday it would be of great value.
You can not imagine how many times I cursed myself, certain that the material between my ears must be of bullet - proof density. I am certain that I could teach a college course in being a professional dummy, because I have made every kind of mistake. And learned from them all. No college theories and book principles are any match for 53 years of learning from real - life mistakes and successes.
Now, when someone calls and comes to my office, I feel that my life has not been wasted, but was only preparation for this moment, getting ready for this person sitting before me, who is in need and seeking the help that only I can give them.
I feel pretty good about all of it, finally.
And this book is the result, written to help you, personally, if I can not in person.
Sincerely,
Larry Daly 5/16/02Larry Daly, The JOB DOC Personal Career Coaching
Office Hours By Appointment Only
Ph: 212.876.5483 Fx: 212.427.8414
Mail: 99 Park Ave., PMB 381-A, New York, NY 10016
E-mail: Larry@Larry-Daly.com or: DalyJobDoc@aol.com (Subject line: "Re: JOB DOC" or "Re: Coach"; no attachments; no spam; all others deleted unread.)
Click HERE to go to Chapter One of Career Zen
Click HERE for FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
to see if my Personal Career Coaching is best for you
Click HERE to go to Table of Contents
Click HERE to go to Chapter 1 Your Career, your Life Work
Click HERE to go to Chapter 2 People Study
Click HERE to go to Chapter 3 Your Career in Context
Click HERE to go to Chapter 4 Setting Your Career and Life Goals
Click HERE to go to Chapter 5 Long Term Career Development
Click HERE to go to Chapter 6 Career Strategies and Tactics
Click HERE to go to Chapter 7 Realistic Expectations
Click HERE to go to Chapter 8 Your Personal Career Support Team
Click HERE to go to Chapter 9 Team Management; Research and Writing
Click HERE to go to Chapter 10 How to become an Expert
Click HERE to go to Chapter 11 Miscellaneous, and Executive Summary
Click HERE to go to Chapter 12 Your Personal Career Research Resources
Click HERE to go to Chapter 13 Those Awful People At Work Problems
Click HERE to go to Chapter 14 Assumptions and Expectations
Click HERE to go to Appendices
Click HERE to go to Bibliography
Click HERE to go to Index
Click HERE to go to Personal Career Coaching FAQ
Click HERE to return to my HomePage, to access COP and other documents
Careerists, please contact me directly to obtain your own personal printed copy of Career Zen, more complete and up to date, especially with the latest on Internet career information sources and research. Note that Career Zen is privately published, is only for my clients, and is not available in any bookstore or from any other source.
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© Copyright 1998 - 2002 Larry Daly, All Rights Reserved
Office Hours By Appointment Only.
Mail: 99 Park Ave., PMB381-A, New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 876-5483 Fax: (212) 427-8414
E-mail: Larry@Larry-Daly.com or: DalyJobDoc@aol.com (Subject line: "Re: CZEN" or "Re: Coach" or "Re: Job Doc"; no attachments; no spam; all others deleted unread.)