Dr. Jim Bailey - Career, Business and Life Coaching

Pressing on Toward Your Upward Calling

Pressing on Toward Your Upward Calling -

Pressing on Toward Your Upward Calling Dear Friends, This past week I learned that my friend (and former client) Stephanie just landed her dream job working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. Like the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in our own backyard, LANL’s primary mission is to provide scientific and enginee...

Are You Being Held Captive?

Are You Being Held Captive? -

Are You Being Held Captive? Dear Friends, My friend John rubbed his jawline as we talked. When I asked if he’d injured it, he told me that he’d been grinding his teeth at the oddest times. “Yesterday I was mowing my yard and realized I was clinching my jaw”, he explained. “Of all things”, he continued, “I’m thi...

The Problem with Self-defined Identity

The Problem with Self-defined Identity -

The Problem with Self-defined Identity (Warning: This article is a close as I’ll ever come to an editorial. The views in it are shared to provoke thought, not to convert.)   In the aftermath of last week’s shooting at Covenant School in Nashville many people are asking why such things are happening so often in our nation. March 27th...

A Different Understanding of Attention Deficit Disorder

A Different Understanding of Attention Deficit Disorder -

A Different Understanding of Attention Deficit Disorder Yesterday I received an email from a man with whom I’d met to talk about career coaching. He’s a married middle-aged guy with three kids and has made a good living in his chosen field, but recently he’s been restless and his work doesn’t hold his interest like it did. His email came a week a...

An Argument for Do-Overs

An Argument for Do-Overs -

An Argument for Do-Overs When I was a kid my family lived in Houston, Texas, and I had a great life. Our neighborhood was full of kids and we did what kids did in those days: riding bikes, exploring the woods, catching toads that lived under a hollow tree in my yard, and fishing in the drainage canals near my school. On wa...

Does Your Life Feel Like Ground Hog Day?

Does Your Life Feel Like Groundhog Day? -

Does Your Life Feel Like Ground Hog Day? Dear Friends, Outside of the big holidays on the calendar there were three minor ones I looked forward to when I was a child: Saint Patrick’s Day – because my mother had informed me that I was Irish on her side of the family. April Fool’s Day – because what’s better in a boy’s life than ...

Real Reasons People Quit Their Jobs (a.k.a., Building Meaning into Your Work)

Real Reasons People Quit Their Jobs (a.k.a., Building Meaning into Your Work) -

Real Reasons People Quit Their Jobs (a.k.a., Building Meaning into Your Work) Dear Friends, During and after the Pandemic a lot of people quit their jobs. As you might expect, quite a few (36 percent) left for higher pay and better benefits, but there are several reasons people quit that may surprise you. According to a McKinsey and Company survey, most people who quit jobs i...

Want to Live a More Meaningful Life? Start by Writing Your Eulogy

Want to Live a More Meaningful Life? Start by Writing Your Eulogy -

Want to Live a More Meaningful Life? Start by Writing Your Eulogy Dear Friends, I always start these emails this way because I’m blessed to know most of you as my friends, not just as clients or business associates but friends. As my friends you may have been aware that, in addition to my career and business coaching practice, for several years I’ve been the ...

Veterans Day and The Voices Telling Us Who We Are

Veterans Day and The Voices Telling Us Who We Are -

Veterans Day and The Voices Telling Us Who We Are Dear Friends, Last Friday was Veteran’s Day so I took some time to reflect. I have a deep respect for the people who put themselves in harm's way to protect the freedoms many Americans take for granted. For a season I led therapy groups at a VA hospital and became intimately familiar with the lon...

Are You Perfecting Your Craft?

Are You Perfecting Your Craft? -

Are You Perfecting Your Craft? Dear Friends, Yesterday my daughter and son joined Sloan and I as we ate Sunday lunch at the round oak table in our kitchen. Both of them left home years ago but live in Knoxville and it was a fun “Waltons” moment in a crazy week. They both started a new chapter in their respective careers in th...

The Choice of Passive and Active Free-time Use

The Choice of Passive and Active Free-time Use -

The Choice of Passive and Active Free-time Use Dear Friends, For most of human history having “free time” was rare. Most people performed labor in the home, on the farm or in trade vocations without the concept of taking a day off or a “holiday”. Then came the Industrial Revolution and, with it, the development of “leisure”. For the ...

Taking Advantage of Fall Possibilities

Taking Advantage of Fall Possibilities -

Taking Advantage of Fall Possibilities Dear Friends, Maybe it's because I’m a former professor, but to me the beginning of the school year always feels like the beginning of the year. Fall feels full of potential and possibilities for things to begin, grow and develop, if you can get some momentum. Sometimes the greatest obstacles to t...

The Cart and Horse of Your Vocational Identity - https://mailchi.mp/4a3651112e33/building-an-identity-that-withstands-lifes-challenges-14164579

Your 20s aren’t a time to push pause, they’re a fleeting opportunity

Your 20s aren’t a time to push pause, they’re a fleeting opportunity -

Your 20s aren’t a time to push pause, they’re a fleeting opportunity Dear Friends, I’m increasingly working with young adults who’ve been arrested. They don’t enjoy the freedom to go where they want to. They’re fearful that they’ll make a misstep and get themselves into trouble. And they worry that their futures may be forever altered by the decisions they....

This is Crazy!

This is Crazy! -

This is Crazy! Dear Friends, Summer is finally here and I’m going to do something crazy. For sixty days, from today until August 7th, I’m offering my Career Coaching for Students for only $525. That’s 25% off the regular price of career coaching for high school juniors, seniors and college students! In fact,...

Finding Your Own Story

Finding Your Own Story -

Finding Your Own Story Do you ever wonder why your life, your story, your journey, doesn’t seem to go like other people’s?   I spend a lot of time listening to people’s stories. Their stories reveal things about them – their perspectives, their strengths, their expectations and hopes, and the ways they perceive t...

How to Grow Through Your (Mid) Life Crisis

How to Grow Through Your (Mid) Life Crisis -

How to Grow Through Your (Mid) Life Crisis The other day I was talking with a friend from church, and he apologized for not taking advantage of my services several years ago when he “went through a Midlife Crisis, if there really is such a thing”. I assured him that Midlife Crises are as real as any other personal crisis (over a quarter ...

What's a POA and Why You Need One

What's a POA and Why You Need One -

What's a POA and Why You Need One For the past seven weeks I’ve been heavily involved in caring for my father. He has Parkinson’s Disease and it interferes with his balance and movement. In February he fell and actually did that thing our mothers warned us about – he broke his neck. After surgery and many weeks of rehabilitati...

Persistence is a Tool for Attaining the Life You Want

Persistence is a Tool for Attaining the Life You Want -

Persistence is a Tool for Attaining the Life You Want Yesterday a client and I discussed his mixed feelings about a conversation he’d had with a businessman from the community. The young man is having conversations with a variety of my business friends in an attempt to narrow his choices in a college major. (Investigative conversations are a great di...

You Were Made for More! (Part 4: Life Practices to Get More Without Going Crazy)

You Were Made for More! (Part 4: Life Practices to Get More Without Going Crazy) -

You Were Made for More! (Part 4: Life Practices to Get More Without Going Crazy) “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” ― Lao Tzu “Chance favors the prepared mind.” ― Louis Pasteur

You Were Made for More! (Part 3: You Live What You Believe)

You Were Made for More! (Part 3: You Live What You Believe) -

You Were Made for More! (Part 3: You Live What You Believe) “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”                             ― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

You Were Made for More! (Part 2: Defining Your Personal Code)

You Were Made for More! (Part 2: Defining Your Personal Code) -

You Were Made for More! (Part 2: Defining Your Personal Code) “People are working harder than ever, but because they lack clarity and vision, they aren’t getting very far. They, in essence, are pushing a rope with all of their might.”                                                                        – Dr. Stephe...

You Were Made for More! (Part 1: How do You Know What “More” is for You?)

You Were Made for More! (Part 1: How do You Know What “More” is for You?) -

You Were Made for More! (Part 1: How do You Know What “More” is for You?) Do you ever get frustrated, discouraged or even depressed because you have a deep sense, a gnawing in your heart or gut, that you were made for more? I do.

When Life Delays Your Plans - A Christmas Story

When Life Delays Your Plans - A Christmas Story -

When Life Delays Your Plans - A Christmas Story An important part of my work with career counseling and business coaching clients is to help them set targets for what they want to accomplish or see happen in their work and personal lives. I do it to help them establish a focus or goals that they can work toward – positive targets that they can ...

How to Achieve Greatness in Your Work Life

How to Achieve Greatness in Your Work Life -

How to Achieve Greatness in Your Work Life “There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything.” – Steve Jobs   “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” – Margaret J. Wheatley   A couple of months ago I wrote an...

So happy to have been married to this wonderful girl for 32 years. Isn't she a peach!

Seriously, I am one lucky guy. I Love you Sloan!

Using “The Great American Labor Shortage” to Your Advantage.

Using “The Great American Labor Shortage” to Your Advantage. - https://mailchi.mp/231e8d2732af/use-the-labor-shortage-to-your-advantage-5362243

Using “The Great American Labor Shortage” to Your Advantage. At a Panera Bread location where I frequently meet with clients, August usually brings a steady stream of job applicants from local high schools and the University of Tennessee seeking part time work. But this year, the stream is only a trickle. A manager at that store recently informed me that he.....

Are These Two Things Keeping You from the Life You Want?

Are These Two Things Keeping You from the Life You Want? - https://mailchi.mp/bcc5ff035f35/these-two-things-are-crucial-to-your-work-life-5293955

Are These Two Things Keeping You from the Life You Want? Last Thursday I had fascinating conversations with a twenty-two-year-old prospective client and a sixty-year-old business owner-operator. Though they were miles apart in life experience they shared common traits – neither were very self-aware and neither understood why this has a negative effect o...

Secrets to Make Virtual Learning or Work Fit You - Become a Free-Range Chicken!

Secrets to Make Virtual Learning or Work Fit You - Become a Free-Range Chicken! - https://mailchi.mp/78cf882562f7/make-virtual-leraning-and-work-fit-you-5281955

Secrets to Make Virtual Learning or Work Fit You - Become a Free-Range Chicken! Over the past year I’ve received emails, texts and phone calls from dozens of parents and clients who’ve informed me that they or their child has struggled in work or school ever since the pandemic forced most of us to work by video. It’s become a very common problem. After we overcome the lea...

How Can You Become the Hero of Your Own Story?

How Can You Become the Hero of Your Own Story? - https://mailchi.mp/a63ed94c0c31/become-the-hero-of-your-own-story-5201811

How Can You Become the Hero of Your Own Story? I’m a big fan of the Ben Stiller movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In it Walter is confronted by the stark difference between his daily life and the fantasy life he lives in his daydreams. As the story progresses Walter takes on more of the character of his fantasy self, only to find his “b...

Are You Using Your Work to Control Risk and Avoid Pain?

Are You Using Your Work to Control Risk and Avoid Pain? - https://mailchi.mp/69ca27c74dec/are-you-using-your-work-to-control-risk-and-limit-pain-4929943

Are You Using Your Work to Control Risk and Avoid Pain? Recently I’ve been giving thought to humanity’s problem with control and risk avoidance.   To be honest, I’ve been uncomfortably confronted by my own love of control. In the past several days I've had five different clients cancel appointments at the last minute. Whether it was for legitimate...

Identifying Your Desires: Keys to a Fulfilling Work-Life

Identifying Your Desires: Keys to a Fulfilling Work-Life - https://mailchi.mp/990b06b74c5e/identifying_your_desires-keys_to_a_fulfilling_work-life-4915731

Identifying Your Desires: Keys to a Fulfilling Work-Life A vital area that’s often ignored when choosing our work (or other important facet of life) is how it aligns with our deep-seated desires for our lives. Refusing to listen to these puts a person at risk for living our lives blindly stumbling through jobs, relationships, and life situations withou...

What’s Your Value Proposition to the Work World?

What’s Your Value Proposition to the Work World? - https://mailchi.mp/00cdf0fd4730/whats-your-value-proposition-to-the-work-world-4765115

What’s Your Value Proposition to the Work World? What’s Your Value Proposition to the Work World?   I now give almost every person I work with an exercise to help them determine their Vocational Identity Statement. The Vocational Identity Statement (or V.I.D.) is a way to tell someone the roles and tasks you are gifted to bring to the work worl...

Waiting and Hoping in the Middle of Your "Wasteland"

Waiting and Hoping in the Middle of Your "Wasteland" - https://mailchi.mp/3a2646a315d9/wating-and_hoping_in_the_middle_of_your_wasteland-4680531

Waiting and Hoping in the Middle of Your "Wasteland" I just finished taking another Covid-19 test, the one with the swab up your nose. It’s not fun. I get the test weekly because I help care for my dad who has medical problems and is in the high-risk group. I’ve decided it’s worth it if I can help make his life a little easier and give him hope ...

To Make Real Changes Get Yourself a Guide

To Make Real Changes Get Yourself a Guide - https://mailchi.mp/ed7e57117d4f/to_make_real_changes_get_yourself_a_guide-4654179

To Make Real Changes Get Yourself a Guide I was actually a college professor when I began practicing Career Coaching. Many of my student advisees had no clue which college major they should choose. Wanting to help them I talked with the career support services staff at my university. They simply had students complete two tests and gave them...

Five Quick Fixes to Increase Your Productivity

Five Quick Fixes to Increase Your Productivity - https://mailchi.mp/0dce43947c86/five_quick_fixes_that_increase_your_productivity-4602895

Five Quick Fixes to Increase Your Productivity One idea I share with every client is to “learn your strengths and constantly look for opportunities (and jobs) where you can spend the majority of your time using them.” It’s a simple rule that helps guarantee you will be making the contribution to the world that you were designed to give. Th...

Does Your Personal Brand Match Your Vocational Identity?

Does Your Personal Brand Match Your Vocational Identity? - https://mailchi.mp/12e0da0e7ed7/does_your_personal_brand_match_your_vocational_identity-4571971

Does Your Personal Brand Match Your Vocational Identity? If you meet someone for the first time you might get asked, “what do you do for a living?” Many of us believe our job title is an easy way to summarize who we are. But there is so much more to us than our job titles and responsibilities can explain. In fact, your job is merely how you choos...

Augment Yourself and Increase Your Impact

Augment Yourself and Increase Your Impact - https://mailchi.mp/306771e08c92/augment_yourself_and_increase_your_impact

Augment Yourself and Increase Your Impact Augment is a strange word that we rarely use. The dictionary defines it as to “make [something] greater by adding to it; to increase.” Ironically, it’s a word I use fairly often when talking to clients about attaining the work-life they want the most.   A principle I use in Career and Busines...

Does Your Identity Need Coronavirus Protection?

Does Your Identity Need Coronavirus Protection? - https://mailchi.mp/3aaed4767813/ensuring_your_works_legacy-4357871

Does Your Identity Need Coronavirus Protection? The last few weeks have been challenging for all of us. After a period of decreasing cases the Coronavirus has rebounded, leading to ballooning infection rates and increased restrictions on our social interactions, our work and our college studies. Those who’d anticipated a return to “life as no...

Are These Keeping You from the Career (and Life!) You Want?"

Are These Keeping You from the Career (and Life!) You Want?" - https://mailchi.mp/6830d170655b/ensuring_your_works_legacy-4268095

Are These Keeping You from the Career (and Life!) You Want?" The other day I was talking with a friend/client who expressed her fears about whether she would get a job she desperately wants. As we talked it became clear that her fears weren’t just reservations I should dismiss because they were unlikely to happen – they were things she truly believed abou...