This Is Not The Career I Ordered™ Blog
Savvy Professional Career Wisdom by Caroline Dowd-Higgins
This is Not the Career I Ordered is read by thousands of careerists around the globe. With savvy tools, inspiration, and resources, this timeless book empowers you to enjoy your career, and love your life!
Celebrating My One-Year Milestone
A year ago, I left a senior leadership role in a large organization to pursue my executive coaching, speaking, and consulting practice full-time. My side-hustle entrepreneurial days morphed into a full-time venture, and I have never been happier. This was not an overnight decision. I had been pursuing my business on evenings, weekends, and precious […]
Older, Wiser, and Career Dynamic
I have several executive coaching clients in their late fifth and sixth decade of life who are navigating a career change due to lay-offs, or company mergers and acquisitions beyond their control. Others are career transitioning by choice and excited about designing a new chapter in life and career. My clients expressed worry about ageism […]
5 Reasons to Think About a Career Change
I’m delighted to share this guest blog post by Michael Davis who runs a website and blog called www.resume samples.net which is a great resource you may find helpful on your career development journey. Thank you for sharing your career change wisdom, Michael! Lots of people eventually realize that they’re stuck in a job that just […]
Be Your Own Valentine
It’s the time of year for cards with red hearts, chocolates, and flowers as Valentine’s Day approaches. It causes anxiety for some who are seeking affection and bliss for others who are celebrating their love with someone special. This Valentine’s Day I encourage you to see it through a different lens. By all means celebrate […]
Perfectionism Part II: 5 Strategies To Overcome It in Life and Career
If you’ve ever struggled with perfectionism, you’re not alone. I’ve talked to countless women, through my coaching and travels, who’ve set the bar so high, in terms of their goals and aspirations, that they’re afraid to make any move at all. Author, Elizabeth Gilbert, calls perfectionism “…fear in really good shoes”. This fear that is […]
Are You a Career Perfectionist? Part I
In my coaching practice as well as in my travels for speaking engagements, I regularly meet women who are terrified of change. They’re afraid to change careers, jobs, or even pursue a promotion for fear of making the wrong move or not measuring up. Many women are standing in the way of their own success, […]
Join Me and The Career Disruptors in San Francisco on February 10th
It’s time to break the rules or create new ones to forge innovative careers in the new normal of this job economy. The Indiana University Alumni Association is doing just that by featuring a power panel of rock star alumni to discuss disruptive innovation, the art of failure, and being entrepreneurial – whether you are […]
How To Recharge, Reignite, or Reinvent Your Career
According to The Conference Board Job Satisfaction survey less than half of US workers are satisfied with their jobs. Now is a great time to ramp up your career reinvention efforts and reflect upon what would gratify you in a career. If this is not the career you ordered, it’s time to jumpstart your professional reinvention […]
How Personal Brand Impacts Your Career: Guest Post Maegan Watson
In my continued quest to empower women with great resources, it gives me great pleasure to introduce Maegan Watson, a personal branding expert who has helped me greatly. Maegan is a wife, sister, yogi, personal branding guru and the founder of My Dear Watson. She has nearly a decade of experience supporting professionals by building […]
Handling Personal Issues On the Job: 4 Tips To Help
In a perfect world, we’d be able to do our jobs without personal issues ever causing a ripple. Our work life would stay neatly in the work compartment, our personal life would stay perfectly in the personal compartment, and each area would behave itself and not cross the other’s boundaries… Of course that’s not the […]
Year End Gratitude: 3 Simple Ideas for Life and Career
To be in a place of gratitude is so good for your heart and soul. In between the eggnog, fruitcake and renditions of Auld Lang Syne, I encourage you to carve out time to appreciate and express gratitude for the people, events, and experiences that have made a difference in your life over the past […]
Give Yourself Two Minutes – Meditate Your Way to Calm
I’ll admit it…I’m a Type A personality—some might even say Type AA. I move at top speed, doing the work I love—coaching, writing, hosting, managing – however, while this boundless energy has been a blessing in my multi-tasking life, it has, at times, been the source of undue stress as well. As a career coach, […]
7 Ways to Improve Your Mood at Work
Jude Bijou, MA, MFT, is a respected psychotherapist, professional educator, and workshop leader who appeared on my show: Your Working Life this season. Her award-winning book is Attitude Reconstruction: A Blueprint for Building a Better Life. I love Jude’s tips about improving your mood at work since we all can relate to needing an attitude adjustment every […]
New on The Job? 5 Strategies to Make a Great First Impression
Changing jobs can be a welcome and exciting transition, but it can be a stressful time as well. A year ago, I had the opportunity to step into a newly created position – becoming Director of Professional Enrichment for the Indiana University Alumni Association – experiencing, once again, what it’s like to be “the new […]
