{"id":7167,"date":"2018-11-18T11:05:53","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T15:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=7167"},"modified":"2018-11-18T11:07:40","modified_gmt":"2018-11-18T15:07:40","slug":"what-my-dog-taught-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=7167","title":{"rendered":"What My Dog Taught Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Start the day with gusto.<\/strong> Zena wakes with a mission. She\u2019s motivated.<\/p>\n

And she\u2019s determined to motivate me. She stands beside my bed, rests<\/p>\n

her head on the mattress, her eyes level with mine, and stares piercingly,<\/p>\n

willing me to get up.<\/p>\n

Focus on a task<\/strong>. Zena\u2019s singular ability to concentrate all her mental<\/p>\n

and physical energy allows her to achieve winning performance. Throw<\/p>\n

a Frisbee, ball, or stick, and she\u2019s off, tearing down the field, knowing<\/p>\n

instinctively when to pivot and leap to catch it. She dives with abandon<\/p>\n

into ponds, and swims with the strength and pure beauty of a canine<\/p>\n

athlete, making a direct beeline to her goal in record time.<\/p>\n

Stay present<\/strong>. Zena is wholly present, in the moment, with all her<\/p>\n

being\u2014a state that comes naturally to her. Her attentiveness to what<\/p>\n

she\u2019s engaged in is never clouded by her future ambitions or the need<\/p>\n

to return emails, to tweet, or to juggle three jobs at once to keep her<\/p>\n

business prosperous.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Zena, Photo by Kerry Hannon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Value yourself and charge accordingly.<\/strong> Zena doesn\u2019t do anything for<\/p>\n

free. She gets paid in the form of barter, of course, but she gets paid well<\/p>\n

for her services. There are no pay cuts, layoffs, or furloughs in her world.<\/p>\n

Look at what goes right. Zena concentrates on the positive aspects of<\/p>\n

her job. She doesn\u2019t dwell on the negative or complain or whine about<\/p>\n

the long hours when she\u2019s parked under my desk while I work and her<\/p>\n

talents aren\u2019t being put to their best use. In a nutshell, she\u2019s optimistic.<\/p>\n

Push in fresh directions<\/strong>. Zena is always on the lookout for new<\/p>\n

opportunities. She takes advantage of every walk. Smells and sounds lead<\/p>\n

her from one new place to another with openness and a fresh sense of<\/p>\n

excitement. She never fails to gain from social gatherings and networking<\/p>\n

events with her dog pals. She rarely turns down an invitation to a dinner<\/p>\n

party at our friends\u2019 houses.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Zena and Kerry Hannon; Photo by Elizabeth Dranitzke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Network more<\/strong>. Zena may have a comfy job running our homes and lives,<\/p>\n

but that doesn\u2019t mean she stops networking. She\u2019s proactive about her<\/p>\n

networking efforts\u2014attending events and reaching out to professionals<\/p>\n

in her field whose work she respects. She is always going out for walks<\/p>\n

to reconnect with longtime contacts, even those she has known since<\/p>\n

puppy kindergarten\u2014anything she can do to keep old relationships solid<\/p>\n

and grab opportunities to build new ones.<\/p>\n

Go places.<\/strong> Zena knows the importance of travel, of going new places and<\/p>\n

experiencing new sights, sounds, and cultures. Each time out the door, out<\/p>\n

of the comfort zone of her fluffy dog bed and the safety of her fenced yard,<\/p>\n

she learns valuable skills\u2014and maybe even gets some insights into how to<\/p>\n

manage me better. She trots out to the car and pops in without looking back.<\/p>\n

No questions asked. She props her front feet on the console of my Subaru<\/p>\n

Outback and stares fixedly out the front windshield as if to say, \u201cWhat\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go!\u201d<\/p>\n

Excerpted with permission from the publisher, John Wiley & Sons, from Love Your Job: The New<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Rules for Career Happiness <\/span><\/strong><\/em>by Kerry Hannon, \u00a9 2015 Kerry Hannon.<\/p>\n

To discover more about Kerry and find links to her other books, click here<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Share<\/a>