Changing your Master Plan

In the past, I wrote about creating a Master Plan, and then went over the Paco Master Plan.  Now I'm going to write about forgetting everything I wrote.

You see, Master Plans are there to serve you – you're not there to serve your plan.  Remember; you are in control; if something doesn't work, get rid of it, and move on.

Anita Johnston wrote a good analogy for this.  Imagine you fall into a roaring river, and as you flail around, your hand brushes against a log that is floating downstream.  Quickly you grab hold of the log and it saves your life as you rush through the cascading rapids.  Finally, you make it to a calm part of the river, and now you can swim to shore.  But wait a minute – as hard as you try paddling, you can't seem to make any headway towards shore.  That's because you're still holding on to that log.  But, you think, that log is what saved your life when going through the difficult periods.  Yes, that's true, but now as you try and make progress, it's holding you back.

Master Plans are the same way.  They help give you direction in your life and get you going in the difficult periods.  But as you shift focus or learn more, the plan that you so painstakingly prepared may no longer serve you.

Take my situation.  When I created my Master Plan, I felt that the most important thing was to move to Oregon.  I was willing to take any job just to get there.  But as I've done my research, I've decided that my first priority is to get a job in the academic advising field, regardless of the location.  As I changed my focus, my plan needs to change as well.  As I explore the “how” of finding a job in the field, I've started to apply for jobs near where I live, as well as conduct informational interviews in this area.  It's much easier to accomplish this than trying to do informational interviews 16 hours from my house.  Parts of my Master Plan have been rewritten, and my success has increased as well.  If I had continued to focus on the Oregon job hunt, it would have been much more difficult to reach my goal.

Now, does that mean my original Master Plan was faulty?  Not at all.  It was the best plan I could create with the resources I had.  I learned a lot from my two weeks in Oregon.  One of my recent job interviews stemmed from an application I submitted while on my trip.  And my plan changed as a direct result of my experiences in Oregon.  My plan changed my course of action, and my course of action changed my plan.

So by all means, continue to create a Master Plan.  I have one, even if I haven't updated it online.  It gives you direction.  Just don't be afraid of changing that direction when your personal goals change.

Me in 30 Seconds

As I talked about yesterday, it's important to have a prepared 30-second introduction – this is mine.  Remember, though that each time is different, depending on the person and the situation.  Below are two general examples of what I might say in two different situations.

So without further ado, I give you –

Paco In 30 Seconds!*

1.  Informational Interview
Scenario 1 is for an informational interview.  These are interviews I've set up beforehand.  I've never actually met these people, but I have emailed them to introduce myself, inform them that I'm coming, and why.  This 30 second introduction is to reintroduce myself, and let them know where I'd like the conversation to go.  I walk into their office, shake their hand, and when we sit down, I say, “Let me tell you a little about my situation:”

I've been teaching English to international students for the past 6 years, and I'm currently working on the NACADA Master's degree in Academic Advising through Kansas State University.  I'll be done in December,  and I'm looking at full-time advising positions at colleges or universities, preferably working with non-traditional students.  What I'm doing is learning more about what I should be doing to be marketable when there are openings at schools like this one.

From there, we just go wherever the conversation leads.  I have some questions in mind, but with a good introduction, things just seem to fall into place.

2.  Introductions at a Conference
This is a new one for me, but it's what I worked out at the recent advising conference.  At the breakfast or lunch table, before a meeting started, or even while standing in line, I would look at another person's name tag, say their name, and ask them which school they worked for.  This would inevitably lead to them asking my name and my school.  This left a perfect opening for my introduction as follows:

I'm not actually with any school.  I'm getting my Master's degree in Academic Advising through Kansas State University, and am looking for an advising job right now.  I've been working with international students for the past 6 years at a private ESL school, but am trying to make the transition to full-time advising at a college.  I'm at the conference to meet other advisors, hear their experiences, etc.  How did you get into advising?

From there, I would learn more about their experience, and they would ask more about my story and hopefully they would remember me as that one guy who crashed the advising conference.  It worked at least once, as I received an email from one of them yesterday, telling me of a job opening.

So there you go.  This is me.  I wouldn't recommend plagiarizing my exact introduction, but I hope this helps you see how to do it.


*Actually, when I timed these, they were more like 18 seconds.