Tips for Work and Life with Andrew LaCivita

Do you feel like you're driving through your life or career with the emergency brake on ? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses how to visualize your way to success! Get full post, summary, audio, quote cards, and more at: http://milewalk.com/mwblog/how-visualize-way-success SUMMARY Have you ever felt like you were driving through your life or your career with the emergency brake on? It feels as if no matter how hard you work at something, you're simply not progressing as quickly as you'd like? Today, I want to talk about a daily exercise I've practiced religiously—visualization. And, provide some insight into how to visualize your way to success. Five minutes of this every day will improve your life dramatically. When did that gray hair and eye wrinkle show up? I never notice my face change from day to day. Only when I look at pictures from a few years back can I see the transformation. Much of your life is like this. Your career is like this. Your marriage can be like this. While most people prefer to slow the aging process, many want to accelerate their lives and careers. Much like the unnoticeable change with age, your progress from day to day becomes imperceptible. Oftentimes, you'll feel better about your advancements if you take time to look back at where you were one, three, and five years ago. That'll help your psyche a bit. I'm sure many of you are like me. You feel where you've been is history. You care more about getting where you're going—and you want to get there is a hurry! First Step: Before you look forward, take a deep breath and spend a few moments realizing (yes—realizing) how far you've come and all you've accomplished. In fact, spend a few minutes every day doing this. What's the best way to get from where I am to where I want to go? There are few key principles to understand to help you quickly get from where you are to where you want to go: Identify where you want to go. Make sure you're working toward something you love. Believe you can accomplish it. Identify. The first is you'll get where you're going faster if you know where you want to go. It also helps to know where you are. Don't laugh. Most people are in a much better starting position than they realize. Love. The second is you'll make greater leaps in life by doing small things you love than doing big things you don't. You need to enjoy yourself each day because your passion and optimism will fuel getting things done. Most importantly, don't let what you can do stop you from doing what you were meant to do! Believe. The third is you need to believe you can get there and be unafraid to jump in! At least once a day, I think about this fantastic quote from American Naturalist and Essayist John Burroughs. He said, "Leap, and the net will appear." (If you're really ambitious, check out The Art of Seeing Things: Essays by John Burroughs and You'll See it When You Believe it by Wayne Dyer.) You believe it. Then it happens. It's never the other way around. Where's the 5-minute thing you promised me? I'm in a hurry… Okay antsy pants. Visualize yourself at your end-state even though you don't know how to get there. Imagine yourself at your "destination." What's it like? How does it feel? How does it sound? What will the end-state allow you to do? Imagine this for five minutes. It's okay to dream, but you're more likely creating a reality. "Five minutes" means you can do this in the shower, on the train, or wherever. It's best to do it in a quiet location. This visual of you in all your glory will have pull power—it'll feel like it's pulling you toward it. In actuality, you'll be pushing yourself toward it one step at a time. There are really only two steps required for the greatest level of success: the next step and the extra step. You simply need to know what you need to do next to move toward your destination. Putting a little extra effort along the way will separate you from the masses who are unwilling to do that. Picture the end-state, what it's like, how it feels, how is sounds, and what it will enable you to do. You need to do this repetitively as you work toward this transition and evolution. That will help you do this one-day at a time. Then take what you've identified as the next step. And take it. One step at a time. One fantastic resource to help you visualize your future is Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want. It's a great book by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy. I hope you enjoy it. Like this episode? Please share it via social media and review it on YouTube on iTunes! I can keep this blog and all future videos and podcasts ad-free and sponsor-free ONLY because you share my work! Please share or subscribe to my podcast and YouTube channel too! Want more advanced material? Join the milewalk Academy and grab some of the free offerings that support the instruction in this post! Thanks! Andy

Are you confused about cover letters? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses the goals of a cover and a four-sentence structure that can't miss! Get full post, summary, video, audio, quote cards, and more at: http://milewalk.com/mwblog/4-sentence-cover-letter-gets-job-interview SUMMARY Modern-day cover letter is your introduction—of any kind—to the employer. There are essentially three ways this occurs: Cover Letter Email (with attached resume) Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Your "cover letter" has three goals: Explain why you've contacted the employer. Provide insight on who you are and what you offer. Show enthusiasm and interest in hearing (back) from the employer. You can accomplish these three goals in four sentences, which I discuss in the video. You can also grab the free download to see the exact format! If you have haven't seen How To Build the Ultimate Professional Resume, check it out because some of the cover letter content references your resume. GIVEAWAYS DOWNLOAD: The 4 Sentence Cover Letter: http://bit.ly/2aYVb3k You can also get the Interview Intervention Book Experience, which has much more and includes an eBook, audio, chapter note, guides, and many aids related to job interviewing! Like this episode? Please share it via social media and review it on iTunes! I can keep this blog and all future podcasts and videos ad-free and sponsor-free ONLY because you share my work! Please share or subscribe to my podcast and YouTube channel too! Want more advanced material? Join the milewalk Academy and grab some of the free offerings that support the instruction in this post!

Have you ever wondered the best way to target companies in your job search? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses how to target the best companies in your job search! Get full post, summary, video, audio, quote cards, and transcript at: http://milewalk.com/mwblog/how-target-best-companies-your-job-search SUMMARY I'm amazed at the laser-like focus job seekers have on finding a job by target only "jobs." You join a company. You don't join a job! Regardless of whether you desperately need a job, would like to find an alternate job, or want to evaluate the market to review better opportunities, I suggest to first target companies. Here's how to target the best companies in your job search. For most, the company you work for will have a far greater impact on your overall professional growth than the individual responsibilities you perform in your particular job. Think about it. Would you rather have absorbed the pedigree from being part of a NFL Super Bowl team or would you rather be the ace pitcher on a MLB team whose record is 62 wins and 100 loses? I'm going to help you get started... THINK About your profession, industry, and organizations you could work for About your competitor Start generating a list of companies in your field (or targeted field) you could investigate Review the companies' career sites GOOGLE Don't knock simple google searches. Set up google alerts for companies within your sector SOURCES Public Companies: SEC's Edgar Site has public annual information on the companies (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml) Private: Site's or offerings like Hoover's (http://www.hoovers.com/) BEST OF LISTS There are so many: Check out the DOWNLOAD for my favorites! Forbes Inc. 500 and 5000 Best 100 Companies to Work For BOOKS & BLOGS Find authors and bloggers in your space They'll comment on the industry trends, companies, etc. LINKEDIN You can search You can review company pages You can see if you know anyone who works there JOB BOARDS Look at the openings Look at the reviews COMPANY EVALUATION SITES Glassdoor Vault Wetfeet Giveaways DOWNLOAD: "Best Of" and "Fastest Growing" Lists Coming Soon! You can also get the Interview Intervention Book Experience, which has much more and includes an eBook, audio, chapter note, guides, and many aids related to job interviewing! Listen the rest of the podcast for complete instruction so you can fully embrace thanking the employer! Like this episode? Please share it via social media and review it on iTunes! I can keep this blog and all future podcasts and videos ad-free and sponsor-free ONLY because you share my work! Please share or subscribe to my podcast and YouTube channel too! Want more advanced material? Join the milewalk Academy and grab some of the free offerings that support the instruction in this post!

Wondering how to get your college resume noticed? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses This One Trick That Will Make Your College Resume Stand Out! I've seen over a half-million resumes during my career and have a great trick for college students and recent graduates to ensure their resumes stand out. Below are This One Trick Will Make Your College Resume Stand Out video and podcast highlights! PRELUDE: If you didn't see How To Build The Ultimate Professional Resume, check it out for many more details, which overlap with collegiate resumes. http://milewalk.com/mwblog/build-ultimate-professional-resume-andrew-lacivita/ This trick helps overcome the most common resume mistake: placing a worthless objective statement at the top of the resume. DOWNLOAD: Download Your Ultimate Collegiate Resume Template with instructions so you can follow along! https://milewalk.leadpages.co/leadbox/123432753f72a2%3A17fd80be1346dc/5680219105001472/ Remember, your resume has one goal: To entice a prospective employer to speak with you. This requires you to show what you offer, not ask for what you want. Even starting with your education doesn't buy you much because employers care about so much more than your schooling. The Trick: At the top of your resume, include a Profile of you. This is a quick snapshot of you as a person and soon-to-be full-time professional. Your goal is to provide a one-paragraph, high-level overview of you as a student and part-time worker. This helps employers develop of picture in their minds regarding who you are and what's forthcoming in your resume. You want to entice them. Keep in mind; this is your "sales copy" of you to get them interested! Example: State University graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Psychology minor. Held various summer jobs and internships focusing on sales support activities. Served on several university and fraternal committees. Built additional sales-related capabilities via school fundraising activities and other volunteering efforts. You want to include reference to these four items: School Major/Degree Work Experience Generalize Extracurriculars The benefits: Appears more professional than collegiate to the employer. Demonstrates maturity, which is currently one of the biggest complaints by employers regarding college graduates' lack of readiness for the workforce. Builds excitement for the employer as they start to review your resume. Provides an element of uniqueness because very few do this. See the video, podcast, or transcript for more details. Check the Tips for Work and Life Blog® for additional articles on resume writing. Go to: www.andrewlacivita.com Giveaways! You can also get the Interview Intervention Experience, which has much more and includes an eBook, audio, chapter note, guides, and many aids related to job interviewing! Listen the rest of the podcast for complete instruction so you can build a killer resume! See a complete transcript below. Like this episode? Please share it via social media and review it on iTunes! I can keep this blog and all future podcasts and videos ad-free and sponsor-free ONLY because you share my work! Please share or subscribe to my podcast and YouTube channel too! Want more advanced material? Join the milewalk Academy and grab some of the free offerings that support the instruction in this post!

Interested in developing a killer resume? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses how to build the ultimate professional resume! I've reviewed more than 500,000 resumes during my career and have developed an optimal resume format that works for 95% of the workforce. Below are the How To Build The Ultimate Professional Resume video and podcast highlights! Your resume has only one goal: To entice a prospective employer to speak with you! Your resume does not: serve as a vehicle to ask for what you want or relay what you'll do if the employer hires you. Use emails, cover letters, and the job interviews to convey those messages. DOWNLOAD: Download Your Ultimate Professional Resume Template so you can follow along! See the video, podcast, or transcript for greater explanation and rationale of all the following sections. Contact Information Name: Use first and last names only. Address: Street Number, City, State, and Zip Code Phone: Use your cell with a professional voicemail greeting. Do not use your home number with the kids yelling or dogs barking in the background. Email: Use a personal and polished email with your name (johnsmith@gmail.com). Do not use nondescript formats (ilovebirds@gmail.com). Career Profile In this section, include one or two very short paragraphs, which identify: Who you are What you've accomplished Summary of proficient skills Don't include what you want because you want to get them excited! In the video and podcast, I provided two dissimilar examples of how to aggregate your careers (including a sales professional and hostess examples for illustrative diversity). Career Highlights In this section, include three to four significant accomplishments. You'll hit home runs if you focus on the three key areas companies care about: Generating revenue Saving costs Optimizing their infrastructure and processes to operate more effectively In the video and podcast, I provided additional examples. Work Experience In this section, outline the following information. The video and podcast have substantially more insight to the rationale and details. List work history in reverse chronological order (never organize by functions performed across companies). Place company name on left side with one sentence description of company immediately underneath. Indent titles/roles underneath company and description with one or two sentences to aggregate accomplishments at the position. Detail accomplishments and responsibilities within each position. Employers think in terms of time and chronology. They want to see career progression within and across companies. Education List your school(s), city, state, and date of degree or anticipated completion date. Extracurricular and Volunteer Activities Identify any relevant participation, activities, and experience. Check the Tips for Work and Life Blog for additional articles on resume writing. You can see the full post, video, and transcript here: http://milewalk.com/mwblog/build-ultimate-professional-resume-andrew-lacivita Giveaways! Download the FREE Your Ultimate Resume Template Professional Edition with instructions based on today's episode! You can also get the Interview Intervention Book Experience, which includes an eBook, audio, chapter note, guides, and many aids related to job interviewing! Like this episode? Please share it via social media and review it on iTunes! I can keep this blog and all future podcasts and videos ad-free and sponsor-free ONLY because you share my work! Please share or subscribe to my YouTube channel too! Want more advanced material? Join the milewalk Academy and grab some of the free offerings that support the instruction in this post! Thanks! Andy

Have you ever had these challenges when thanking an employer? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses how to write a thank you that gets you hired. There are typically four challenges: 1) How to thank the employer 2) When to thank the employer 3) What to say in the thank-you 4) What medium to use (handwritten, email). There are two most important aspects of the thanking process. There are two keys you need to know about thanking somebody to make it effective: speed and thoughtfulness. Speed is how quickly you respond to them after your interview. I recommend 24 hours. Thoughtfulness is the level of effort and care you put into the words you place into the thank-you. What messages are you're sending? You realize three benefits when you thank the employer. There are three benefits of writing a thank-you. 1) You Get To Thank Them: Whenever you're preparing your thank-you note, you should open with thank you so much for your time and I really enjoyed meeting you. 2) You Get To Sell Yourself: Right after you thank them, add your own unique identifier. Put in your sales pitch. Reinforce why you're the best candidate for the job and why you're such a great fit. 3) You Get To Reassure the Employer You're Interested: The third benefit is to reassure the employer of your enthusiasm and interest in the position. For a complete summary, detailed transcript, fun quote cards, and more related to this podcast episode, visit: http://milewalk.com/mwblog/write-thank-you-that-gets-you-hired To download the FREE Winning Thank You Template with instructions, click here: https://milewalk.leadpages.co/leadbox/140def953f72a2%3A17fd80be1346dc/5660007156678656/ If you enjoyed this episode, please comment and share! Thanks! Andy

Have you ever wondered why you're unable to fulfill your purpose even when you're so clear on what your purpose is? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses 4 must do's to fulfill your purpose! Ever since I did my first podcast titled, The First Thing To Do When You Want to Change Careers, I've been getting messages via social media and directly from people commenting they feel have clarity on what they want to do, but can't seem to fulfill it. They can't seem to get it to work! I read, "I feel like I know how, but I'm not quite sure what I'm not doing." I thought as I was remarking back to these listeners and readers there are four (must do's) that absolutely have to be done in order to truly fulfill your purpose. There are four must do's to fulfill your purpose: Sacrifice [First things first. You need to be willing to give up—a lot.] Learn [You never stop being a student.] Believe [You must believe in yourself no matter what.] Focus [With a vision, your why, and the how, you'll be focused.] For a complete summary, detailed transcript, fun quote cards, and more related to this podcast episode, visit: http://milewalk.com/mwblog/4-must-dos-to-fulfill-your-purpose/ If you enjoyed this episode, please comment and share! Thanks! Andy

Have you ever wondered if I would have only known then what I know now? It makes no difference who you are, this has happened to you. It's happened to me. No one escapes this feeling at some point. Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses how to ask brilliant questions to make smart decisions! Any time you've made a poor decision, at least one of two things was wrong. You either had a faulty decision-making process or you didn't have accurate or complete information. Anytime you're asking questions (in a job interview or questioning someone as it relates to business), you can prepare yourself by first asking three questions: What do I want to know and why is it important to me? How will I ask it? How and when will I use the information? What do I want to know and why do I want to know it? Your whys are such great places to start because that's what you care about! Why would start in any other place? How will I ask it? Adding your rationale at the end is the key to getting the insight you want as quickly as you can possibly get it. The sooner you get the information you need, the more time you create to ask additional questions. How and when will I use the information? Any question you ask that yields information you can immediately use to sell yourself or make a decision is short-term. Any question you ask that yields information you'll ponder is long-term. It comes down to: The quantity of your inventory of questions (What will I ask?) The quality of your inventory of questions and their alignment to your needs (Why is that important to me?) Their structure and effectiveness in yielding the information you want as opposed to what the other party thinks you want (How will I ask it?) The benefit of knowing the information (How will I use the information?) When you will use the information (When will I use it to make a determination?) For a complete summary, detailed "transcript," fun quote cards and more related to this podcast episode, visit: http://milewalk.com/mwblog/ask-brilliant-questions-make-smart-decisions/ If you enjoyed this episode, please comment and share! Thanks! Andy

Have you ever wondered how to unlock your true potential? Most people focus on igniting the wrong things. What if you knew how enhance the three keys—that already exist within you—to reach the level of happiness and success you want? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses how to unlock your true potential! Here they are: 1. Share yourself. Sharing your own story connects you to the rest of the world. Sharing what you learned and how you were transformed benefits others even if they might do it differently. 2. Be yourself. This is what keeps you connected to you. There is no greater struggle than when what you think, say, and do are not in complete harmony. Think about those times you felt out of sync or not yourself. What was missing? Likely, it was that congruence. 3. Give yourself. This is what connects you to higher powers. It also, oddly, provides the greatest return. This starts with contributing your efforts fully to what you're going to do and give to the rest of this world. This is giving everything you have to your calling. Giving yourself—which yields the highest results—requires four components/characteristic: - Strategy: You have a strategy for where you're going in life. You seek an understanding of why the world works the way it does in this area. You question everything. You take nothing at face value. - Mindset: You maintain a particular mindset. You understand limitations are something of the mind, not the universe. - Practice: Once you have your strategy and no-limits mindset in place, you practice to perfection. By practice, I don't mean brute force. Brute force or mindlessly working hard will never overcome intellectual laziness. You practice with an extreme sense of deliberation. You practice your craft well past the point of being able to do it perfectly. You practice it to the point you couldn't possibly make a mistake because you are so dialed in. - Discomfort: You seem to live in a continual state of discomfort. Of course, I'm not talking about living in pain, but continually pushing yourself so that every day you're a bit uncomfortable because you're constantly trying new activities and undertaking new projects that progress you. You embrace this discomfort because you know it will make you a great pioneer. For a complete summary, detailed "transcript," fun quote cards and more related to this podcast episode, visit: http://milewalk.com/mwblog/unlock-true-potential-3-keys-podcast/ If you enjoyed this episode, please comment and share! Thanks! Andy

Have you ever wanted to change careers? Have you ever questioned your field of study? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses the best first step to take when you want to make a career change. There is one really common reason you want to change. You're not doing what you love or what makes you happy (anymore). You have two major obstacles to making this type of change successfully: You need to become self-aware. You need to determine whether your current employer, current career, prospective employer, or prospective career can actually satisfy your (self-awareness) needs. Your prescription for part one: Write your "headline" or purpose. Start with what you want to be or build in general terms, but do not include how you'll accomplish it. Determine why you want that headline. Challenge yourself regarding why you want this and whether your reasons will change in the face of imminent adversity. Identify your "what and why combinations" you need to stay happy as you work to fulfill your headline. Make sure you: Identify your criteria and not someone else's. Include as many criteria (your what/why combos) as possible. The more the better. Make each item as low-level as possible. That is, develop them down to the lowest level of why by continually asking yourself why (on each criterion) until you can't ask why any more. For a complete summary, detailed "transcript," fun quote cards and more related to this podcast episode, visit: http://milewalk.com/mwblog/first-thing-want-change-careers-podcast/ If you enjoyed this episode, please comment and share! Thanks! Andy