Play More Often

I believe success is measured in terms of happiness. How happy you are with your life depends upon the quality of the time that you spend living.

Spending 8 hours a day in an environment that is miserable will carry over into your home life. The stress that is experienced can cause a variety of emotional and physical problems which, to me, roughly translates into a slow death.

On the other hand, spending most of your time surrounded by things that inspires you keeps you young and vibrant. The carry over effects from this environment helps you thrive. Things seem that much brighter and problems, because no one is immune, seem easier to tackle.

When your interests and talents overlap the line between work and play begins to disappear and what you are left with is a very large playground. Enjoy more of your life and dream big!

Choosing Your Major

It's the first day of class routine: go around the room and say your name, your year, and your major. Without fail, there are one or two quiet freshman who will embarrassingly admit that they are undecided at the moment, amidst the pre-med students and double majors. I was one of those freshmen. I remember feeling so intimidated by these people who were my age, and yet somehow had it all figured out already. I was scared that I would never be able to figure out what I wanted to major in, let alone be so confident as to pick up a second major, or even a minor. A year of college came and went, and with it I discovered my true interest in psychology and chose that as my major, and am currently trying to decide on a minor. I hope that my story serves to quell some of the nervous feelings that many first-year college students have when they attend classes for the first time. Even though I am a sophomore, I still do not have my mind completely made up on what my degree will say, but I am much closer to making that final decision. The point is, it's okay not to know exactly what you want to do when you are just starting college. In fact, when I was touring different schools, I learned that most students change their major three times before they graduate!

When I expressed my anxiety about finding my major to people, they always told me, "Don't worry, your major will find you." My advice is similar, but not exactly like that. I do believe that there is a serendipitous aspect to it, but I think that the "it will find me" mentality encourages laziness. My advice is to check out all of the classes your school offers in many different departments, and sign up for anything that sounds remotely interesting. Once you get yourself into those classes, your true interests in certain subjects will become apparent, and you can eliminate others that weren't quite what you thought they would be. So, I guess my advice is that your major will find you, but only as long as you are looking for it.

If that doesn't work, there are still more options. If you are feeling lost, it is important to know that there are people out there who want to help you discover your passions. Those people are the caring professionals at Dream Big-call them!

--Jillian Tessier

Getting Paid to Play

Those people out there who know me personally knows that I love what I do for a living. I have often told people that I feel really fortunate to find something that essentially keeps me young and vibrant. I love studying the brain and the behavior it directs. This may sound boring to some but to me I feel like I've won the lotto!

One of fun things I get to do is develop new brain exercises that target particular areas of the brain (This is helpful when the patient has focal deficits and only needs to target a particular cognitive domain such as verbal memory).

The tasks that I come up with are game based. That means that instead of doing boring repetitive cognitive exercises my patients get to play a variety of games that are chosen based on their deficit (damaged brain processes).

Sometimes I come across a game that seems so outwardly simple that when I stop to take a closer neuropsychological look I realize that this game is a power gym for the brain. For example, games that require multiple actions being conducted tend to exercise the frontal lobes or executive functions (think higher order functions such as multitasking and abstract reasoning skills). If time is involved, then add in mental processing speed.

I can go on and on about which games are the best to improve fixed or divided attention, verbal and visual memory, visuospatial abilities, etc. I will also come up with assignments that are game based such as juggling (this is good for integration of left and right side, visual perceptual, proproception, balance, hand eye coordination and it realives stress).

Quality of life is directly related to how you feel about your job. If you love what you do you will be a more happy individual. Life is way too short to waste it on feeling miserable.

I encourage all of you who are unhappy with what you do to make a commitment to find what you're good at and begin to persue it. It's never too late to die happy!

Help, I need someone to talk to!

This is what I heard the other day from a city college student. My intern Jillian and I went to visit the local city college career counseling office to determine what kind of services they had to offer their students. I wanted to see if they would be more helpful in person versus on the phone. I gave my intern an assignment the other day where she had to "cold call" various city colleges to inquire about their career counseling services. Her experience was not a good one. Check out her blog from the other day.

Anyway, we showed around 3:40pm to see what kind of services and help they offered their students and also to let them know about Dream Big Career Center's 3 Step Program to success. As I reached for the door knob, one of the counselors came out and began to lock up (they close at 4pm). I asked if I can have a 5 min conversation with someone just to get a quick overview of what they offered and to share our info with them. As I was asking to speak with someone, a young man approached and asked to speak with a counselor. He said that "the lady told me to show up here after 3:30." The counselor said that there is no one at this time to help him and that he should have come earlier.

He stared to tell her that he had to take time off from work just to come by today and that he could not ask to take more time off. I could hear the concern in his voice and the urgency that he really needed some assistance. The counselor did not budge and continued to tell him that "sorry, come back another time." He glanced at his watch and began to make his way back to the administration building.

After he left in a huff I could see another student making her way toward us. I turned to the counselor and asked if I can speak with someone in charge. She said, "Oh, he's out of town and I'm not sure when he'll be back...sometime in the next 2 weeks." I said, "ok, can I get his card." At this point she yelled into the office and I could hear another voice. The other voice said, "I don't know where his cards are or if he has any."

As they were getting me the information the other student came up to the door, "Hi, can I talk with someone?" The counselor, looking annoyed, said "we're closed and we're booked." The student noticed the office hours and made the comment, "It's not even 4 yet." As she turned and walked away I felt very sorry for the students who make the effort to get some guidance only to be turned away.

I think back on my experience with my guidance counselors and realized that nothing has changed. The same poor quality of services exist now as before. If you are a student reading this, remember that no one will care about your future more than you so you have to make that extra effort to get to where you want to go.

I chose my Dream Big team not only because they are bright and talented individuals but they care about helping people. This is an important and rare attribute. We are your bridge to where you need to go and we want to see you do great things.

If you have been disappointed with your school's services come and talk with us. We are here to help you. Call (818) 992-3113 for assistance.

Know Your Talents!

I noticed lately that a lot of young adults, say 19 to mid 20's, are coming to see me for psychotherapy. These individuals are depressed because they lack the direction they need to be successful in life.

A common statement that I hear is, "I don't understand what my problem is, I was a good student in high school. I just don't know what happened in college." I've heard this before from very bright young people. What happens in college is that you get to make a lot more decisions about your future then when you are high school.

Their stories about picking classes that "sounded cool" bring to mind a feeling of looking for treasure without a map. I think to myself, haven't they learned from their many hours of video game playing? You need the map to find the treasure. However, they are wandering aimlessly hoping to run into treasure instead of going after it.

How do you pursue something in the dark? In order to reach your goal you need to take a good look at yourself. You need to know what you like, what your strengths and weakness are, and how you feel about your future. As I mentioned in a previous blog, having a negative outlook makes it more difficult to succeed.

The first step to being great is knowing your talents!

Networking, Student Style

From the perspective of a student, networking is a nerve-racking idea. In my head, I imagine networking as simply going up to someone I've never spoken to before, introducing myself, and launching into a conversation into which I subtly slip my positive qualities, hoping the person I am talking to will be just the one I need to connect me to that perfect job. Up until now, I have succeeded in avoiding networking altogether, telling myself that it isn't really necessary for students to do anyway. My sister is starting to look at colleges, so over the weekend I visited two campuses with her. These campuses are different sizes, and therefore have varying levels of connections they can offer their students. One is small, and boasts class sizes capped at 40 and a professor adviser for each student. The other is on the complete opposite extreme, with lectures of 400 and a "we don't hold your hand" mentality. This got me thinking about my own college experience, which is practically identical to that second school. I do not have the luxury of attending a small private college that will automatically connect me to the perfect person who will offer me the perfect job. There are many other students who are in the same situation that I am. For us, the responsibility to find that person falls onto our shoulders. This brought me right back to networking. I realize that it can apply to students as well. It can mean talking to a professor one day after lecture, simply to ensure that he or she knows my name. The truth is, professors hold office hours for a reason, and that reason is to get to know their students. With this new perspective, I am beginning to see that getting to know a professor can have many positive results. Maybe I will just have a conversation with an expert in an interesting field, but maybe that professor will remember me when he or she is doing research and ask me to be an assistant. No matter the outcome, I think as students we need to realize that networking isn't so scary after all!

--Jillian Tessier

IDK By Paco Arespacochaga

If you’re into Internet chat and phone text abbreviations, you probably know what IDK stands for. If not, IDK stands for I Don’t Know! LOL! (And that stands for Laughing Out Loud).

The phrase “I don’t know” has been used so many times and in so many context that most of the time, the underlying tone gets diluted in translation.

One example could be a parent inquiring to a child, who is in high school, what he wants to take up in collage. Answer: I don’t know.

Most often, the parent lets it go and brushes it off as something the child will one day wake up to and discover what he wants to take up in collage. Or maybe what he wants to be down the line. Or maybe he won’t. I don’t know.

Another example could be a son or a daughter asking a parent to help them discover what they should do with their lives. Answer: I don’t know.

With all the sludge in an adult’s head, it commonly happens that a parent will simply say “I don’t know” to brush off a child's inquiry. Or maybe he won’t. I don’t know.

And then there are the in betweens that get in the way of what really matters.

Such is the case of life. We don’t know much. And that's because we don't know we can know more! We can! We just don’t want to or we just don't take the time to discover ourselves, our surrounding and our purpose.

Or maybe, we’ve been branded or name-called something else and we just don’t know how to get out of the stigma. And because we’ve gotten used to what people think about us, we just decide play the part for the rest of our life.

Don’t embrace these excuses!

Do yourself a favor. Ask yourself if you’ve exhausted all possible options. Give yourself the opportunity to KNOW. Give yourself the opportunity to find ways, means, tools and support groups to create your roadmap to success. Listen to the negative but don’t let it control you. Throw 'em away. Listen to the positive and let it fuel you.

If you don’t know where to start, there are people professionally trained to help you. It’s like going to the gym for the first time, there are trained pros willing and able to help you start and help you reach your physical goals. Such is the case for your emotional and mental goals as well.

“I don’t know” is such a lazy excuse. No one’s buying it anymore. It’s time to reclaim what is yours. Don’t be scared. Dream Big!

Calling the "Other Guys"

As an intern for Dream Big, I was given the daunting task of calling a list of Southern California community colleges and finding out what type of career counseling services they offer their students. After making it through about half of the list, I started noticing a pattern. Calling the school would automatically send me to a pre-recorded message from which I would have to listen for the counseling department's extension, type in the sequence of numbers, and hope I was attempting to connect to the right place. Sometimes it would lead me to another recording, but other times, after listening to a nice variety of hold music, an actual live person would answer!

There were really two types of people who would be on the other end of the line. One was the "I've been answering the phone all day and I really don't want to talk to you" type, who would quickly direct me to the website and hang up. The other was more enthusiastic, and actually took the time to listen to what I asked. However, after calling many schools, I realized that they all offered a very similar collection of services: an assessment, a counselor with whom you can make an appointment, and some career books.

I put myself in the mindset of a community college student who is trying to contact my career center. I am feeling lost because I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life. I am having trouble picking classes because I'm not even sure what I want to study. When I learn that my school has a career center, and I am ecstatic. Finally, someone to help me! When I call, I am immediately discouraged by how difficult it is to connect with a person and by the limited number of resources my school has. How will I translate what the assessment says I would like to study into a career?

It is important for these students to know that they are not alone. Armed with that knowledge, these students need to look outside of their schools and find someone who can truly help them. My intention is not to insult these schools; I realize that they are understaffed and underfunded. Those unfortunate realities are the reasons why students need to know there are other resources out there, resources like Dream Big. Dream Big has more to offer these students, as far as connections into internships, hands-on interview training, and resume building.

Although frustrating at times, I realize now that this was not a futile exercise. Dream Big, equipped with a wide variety of unique tools, now knows what students want and how to reach out to them in a better way. As a student myself, I know I want what Dream Big offers-access to every possible resource in order to embark on a career path, and encouragement that that path is the right one for me.

--Jillian Tessier

Life has an Expiration Date

Most people will spend hours searching for the best deal possible in order to save themselves a few extra bucks. To me, I would gladly part with the extra dollars if it means that it saves me time. I have always believed that you can make more money but you can never get more time.

My belief that life has an expiration date, just like the milk that sits in your refrigerator, motivates me to live my life to the fullest. I am in action doing what I love ALL THE TIME. I am a neuropsychologist by trade or, a better descrpition, Brain and Behavior Specialist.

Every morning I get up and look forward to seeing my patients. They are amazing people who come from all walks of life with all types of emotional and behavioral difficulties and I get to help them get better. I derive so much joy out of their progress that I feel guilty taking money in exchange for my services. To be honest, if I didn't have bills to pay I would offer my services for free.

The inspriation for Dream Big came from the love that I have for my "work." Dream Big is about the potential for greatness. I believe everyone has something that they love and are great at; however, not everyone knows what that is or have the right tools to tap into their potential. I think all people would gladly choose a path that is well thoughtout and planned, especially if the end result is a better quality of life for a longer period of time.

Ask yourself this question, if you had the right tools and information to be great sooner versus later, wouldn't you take that route?

Efficiency and Inspiration

The definition of efficiency is the accomplishment of a job with minimal expenditure of time and effort. To this I will add a minimum expenditure of money, since we are all interested in that too!

How efficiently are you finding your way through life? How many times have you thought about or started toward a career only to find that it wasn’t what you had expected it to be? How much time, effort, and money have been wasted through this process?

Let’s look at this from the beginning. There are many new careers available today that weren’t here yesterday, and there will be even more tomorrow that will be someone’s “Dream Career.” We start learning what we want to do very early on by watching what others do and how they enjoy their careers. What do our parents do? Do they enjoy it? Would I enjoy it?

We go on and start our summer jobs and internships. Are these our careers? Not usually, but they are experiences that lead us to our careers. Again they give us an idea of what we like and what we don’t about our jobs.

Before we know it we are being asked to decide our futures and pick classes that will provide us the knowledge to be great in the future. But have we had enough experiences and learned from enough people to know what we want to do? Many do not.

The cost of higher education is rising and a four year degree is taking five to six years because many students can’t afford to get it finished in four years. Don’t you want to be sure that your time, effort, and money spent on education results in your “Dream Career”?

How much further can you go when you get your career right the first time? Would others look to you as an inspiration because of your success, drive, and ambition? Could you be the next Doogie Howser M.D.? How about the youngest C.E.O. of a large company? What about starting your own company and providing the public something they need, but didn’t know it yet?

These are all possibilities that you can achieve with the right direction on how to find and get your Dream Career.

Make your life efficient and inspiring so that others will follow you! Dream Big and enjoy your Dream Career!

~Dr. Jon Herbert

NEWS FLASH: You Only Have One Life to Live (and Remember) By Paco Arespacochaga

Religion, belief and faith aside, the practical truth is you only have one (1) life to live! Yet, in spite of this, most of us are guilty of not living our lives to the fullest. We tend to settle for mediocrity.

Think about it. With the exception of a small percentage of the human race, most of us simply go through the motion of a “day”. We have subconsciously blurred our understanding of the difference between having a JOB and having a CAREER. We get caught in the errands of the day, whilst sacrificing the planting the seeds of tomorrow’s career. And at the end of every day, we say goodbye to our peers and simply say, with the slightest tinge of sincerity, “Have a nice day!”

Did it ever occur to you that “Yesterday” is gone forever? The truth is… “Today is the beginning of the rest of your life!” It’s a statement that should ring loud and clear and true in the four corners of your soul.

That being said, not being able to do the things you have been wired to do is really bad for you. It’s bad for animals too! Can you imagine a thoroughbred horse being asked to do the task of a donkey or a different kind of horse? That horse would have sunk into depression.

And you know what!?! That’s the state you and I will be in if we continue to do the things we really don’t like doing.

One doesn’t have to “dump and jump”, meaning dump the current state where in and jump into the state we are suppose to be in! Most of us can’t afford to do it that way because of financial obligations and other related issues. If you’re part of the majority, stick with your job to remain stable, however, jumpstart your future career by starting it as a “hobby”. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the transition will be. Why? Because you began to do what you really wanted to do! And time does fly when you start to have fun!

Doing what you love to do also always clears your mind. It also gives you a sense of fulfillment. It starts you at another level in your life. It develops in you a sense of passion.

Remember, passion is contagious. If people around you feel your passion, they will get excited! And then be interested in what you do. But then again, maybe you’re just deadbeat scared to move ahead that later on down the road, you begin to realize that you’re better off just having a job.

How do you want to look back on your life when you are lying on your death bed? When your end is near, you can look back at your life with regrets. Or you can look back at your life with joy and laughter. That choice begins NOW!

Take action of your "What if" thoughts.....

"What if......?" when put together, these two words can provoke a colorful thought and image within the minds of several of us. At moments, these "what if" thoughts seem endless when you begin to deepen the pondering of where this "what if" thought can lead to. We sit on our couch, as we watch Discovery channel, or listen one of our favorite tunes on our IPod.....thinking ...thinking. We catch ourselves smiling about the success of this "what if" thought, sometimes leading to a little victory dance while in the shower. Then you go to bed.........wake up the next morning......and that "what if" thought is no longer in existence. There is no life to this "what if" thought, and there is not one piece of this great "what if" thought jotted down anywhere, nor did you share this potential opportunity to anyone. Poof!......gone.

"What if" thoughts can be a barrier or wall if you do not take or know the next steps in bringing these "what if" thoughts to life. Make these opportunities exist and happen! Take time right now to think about an individual that you know of that has succeeded. Do you think this person arrived at their success by stifling their thought process at a point of just a "what if" thought? Majority of your great success stories begin at a moment of thought, but it took great work and commitment for each of these individuals to strive towards each of their goals, whether they set short-term or long-term goals along this success path. However, no matter what path they took, I am sure each great individual overcame challenges along their path to success.

I do not want to sit here and give you a blueprint as to what the next step is in making your "what if" thought exist outside of your head. I believe each individual has made such thoughts exist today by utilizing a variety of planning skills and tools. What I challenge each one of you to do is to choose an idol of yours that has succeeded. Find out what their "what if" thought was that sparked their road to where they are today, and what they did to get there. Next, utilize a plan of action or tool that this idol of yours used, and make an attempt to apply this plan of action or tool to your "what if" thought........ Make it happen.

~Rich Lorton, M.A.
Program Director of Dream Big Career Center

Internships: More Than Just Fetching Coffee

In our current economic climate, searching for a job becomes a daunting task. As a college student whose only job experience was working for her dad, finding a summer job was even more overwhelming. That's when I decided to switch gears-I stopped trying to get hired at Starbucks and started trying to find a way gain real experience in a field for which I actually have a passion, psychology. I ultimately came in contact with Dr. Conover and became her intern, but only after sending out copies of my resume to everyone I could possibly think of that might have been able to help me. This summer experience has taught me just how important it is for students to put themselves out there. In college, we have learned not only how to be hard workers, but have also cultivated a true enthusiasm for our area of study. We would be a valuable asset to any office! However, the work force will not know how much we have to offer, or even that we exist at all, unless we tell them. I have learned that you cannot have the attitude that an opportunity will simply fall into your lap, instead you have to go out and chase what you want. Sometimes it feels awkward or uncomfortable, like you are "selling yourself" to a potential employer, but I have learned that it has tremendous results. I truly believe that a summer internship is the best way I could have spent my three months at home; I am gaining invaluable knowledge both through observation and practice, as well as forging contacts that I know will extend far beyond August. Therefore, I would strongly encourage every single college student to actively seek out an internship in a field that they enjoy. It may seem like a lot of hard work, but it will ultimately be an extremely rewarding and positive experience.

--Jillian Tessier, intern for Dr. Conover

Tricking Your Brain into Making Lasting Changes

How do you ensure you stick to that diet or stop smoking cigarettes? One way is tricking your brain into thinking that there are so many more changes that it has to reorganize. For example, changing your environment by rearranging furniture or moving art work around gives your brain a surge of new information. When there is at lot of information your brain will integrate and make adjustments. In comparison, if you make only one change your brain will attempt to pull you back into the routine because its' job is to keep things predictable and easy. Therefore, if you want to make permanent changes the best way to go about it is to make many changes at once!

Reducing Anxiety by Using Positive Perspective

When is comes to changing careers or even changing jobs the level of anxiety some people experience can be so severe that it prevents them from moving forward in their life. Sometimes just thinking about being in a new situation or meeting new people causes a physiological response tantamount to spinning out of control. In order to overcome your anxiety you need to have a positive perspective because how you feel about your future determines your outcome. Viewing change as something positive gives you the momentum and energy that you need to make that leap forward!

Here's a quick exercise that helps you discover whether your perspective is negative or positive. Write out all the positive and negative aspects to changing jobs, careers or even what you like or dislike about yourself. If you find it easier and faster to write out the negatives or you have more negatives versus positives on your list then you are naturally a negative thinker. Those of you who are negative thinkers need to work harder at changing your perspective because for you it's counter intuitive. Keep your list of positives handy so when you are feeling that urge to doom and gloom you have something better to reflect on.

Greetings!

This blog is to reach out to people who are not inspired and hate their job. I want to tell these people about Dream Big Career Center, a program dedicated to helping others identify their passions and talents in order to achieve a higher quality of life. We believe everyone has a potential for greatness. If you are interested in tapping into your potential and starting on your path to greatness call us for a free consultation. We have the talent, tools, and resources to help you.

Dream Big Career Center
21900 Burbank Blvd.
Third Floor
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
(818) 992-3113