Research your competition on LinkedIN

http://www.careerrocketeer.com/2013/01/5-reasons-you-should-research-your-job-seeking-competition-on-linkedin.html

Helps you to know how to optimize your profile

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I want measurable results at work

I want measured tangible results about what I accomplished and how it helped the business.
I need this to demonstrate my worth.

My current job is not very connected to business new business.

I would like to do more that is involved in getting new business, such as
-blogs
-standards of our research
-experimentation and meta-research
-create some branding of what we offer, our process

In terms of management:
I need a lot of free space about methods of these things
I do best when I have a project and go off and do it on my own, I can do it much faster than other people

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Basically you don't want to factor then cluster

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Clustering-on-Factor-Scores-versus-77616.S.109289868

In the literature people warn against the use of tandem analysis (first performing PCA and than applying a cluster analysis to the first few principal components) 

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If you had to give advice to someone else with your exact challenge, what would you tell them?

Biggest advice: Envision your dream in terms of things that viscerally make you feel good (sensations rather than abstractions or things you want to want).

I've noticed there are things I know I should want, like money and security and all, but what really matters to me physically on a food/sex-type level is simply enjoyable, appropriate mental challenges and freedom to have fun working on them. That gives me an instant rush, and I know that it feels immediately satisfying, as opposed to the other things which are less tangible.

So I would say - envision your goal in terms of getting more of these enjoyable SENSATIONS rather than abstract benefits. This could help to get rid of some of your blocks to achieving it. Envision it as getting more of what you like.

2) Basically design your plan to achieve it so that you get a lot of enjoyable things along the way.
Rather than approaching it in the way that you think you "should," design the steps so that they are something you want to do.

So for me that means diving into particular questions I have with a maniacal pace. Maybe it is a gifted/Aspie thing, but if I'm interested in a qustion I tend to totally exhaust it in the course of one day and figure out everything there is to know about it from all angles.That is far more fun to me than slowly researching something the way other people do it.
Or when it comes to informational interviews, I have more fun setting up a lot of interviews all at once.
I tend to benefit from economies of scale.

which brings me to my third advice
3) Figure out the 1-3 superpowers you have that will help to give you an edge over other people, and leverage them by DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY than others.

For me, those are: reading very quickly, doing things very quickly, and being able to conquer certain topics in a matter of days or weeks.
These are skills I enjoy using. Also the more I do them the better I get at them.

4) another advice - recognize your energy drains and stay out of them.
For me these are:
-Slow processes and having to go slow like others do.... I get so burnt out doing less slowly than doing more quickly.
-Feeling that I have to do things I don't like because they are "good to do"
-Mostly, assuming I have to fit into some mold and stop being different. I guess I am actually fairly gifted and Aspie and have always been different, work at a different pace, and have held myself in contempt for not being able to be the way others are, e.g. "if only I could like meetings and make small talk."
-Basically anything that doesn't give me the freedom to somehow feel like I am acting like myself, I will probably sabotage. Even if I am adjusting to the regular workplace, I would have to do it in some analytical way that was fun for me, with a theory and observations and all.

But the main one is to set it up in terms of what is fun.


*** Maybe make a list of ways that you DO want to approach this goal, that you are excited about, and then make a list of ways you are not going to require yourself to approach it, to help your subconscious see it is not getting roped into something it doesn't want.
PRobably a lot of it is just convincing your subconscious that this is in your immediate best interest and it's not just another stupid thing where you are following orders rather than acting in your best interest.

How does it feel to know one change could make all the difference, but you haven't made it yet?

I am encouraged to overcome it now that I know what it is.

However I also realize I don't feel ready for the change I say I want. I realize I probably could overcome the barrier in a month or less, but I don't feel physically ready to go through the stress of putting myself out there a lot.

I'm trying to think of what would be a positive outcome. I guess I realize that we need resources for people who are gifted but disabled, and perhaps I could start an anonymous blog for that, to help me figure out this balance. Regular career advice does not work for disabled people because we simply can't push as hard and we have to compensate for our disabilities and almost work twice as hard, especially on our images, if we have something unusual about us that others must tolerate.

I guess I want to inspire other gifted, disabled people to make the most of their lives.

I actually wrote a book from interviews with gifted disabled people and I should edit and publish it as an ebook.

I feel great about that, about turning my own search for how to have a good career with disabilities into a general resource for others about how to do this.

There are simply a LOT of gifted people with disabilities: Asperger's, CFS, autoimmune disease, injuries, etc. Maybe I could connect with them. I know that woman who did the standing pose research at HBS was gifted and had a head injury and came back after that. etc.

The biggest problem with this is that any time you venture into disability as a topic, the tone tends to become victimized and excuses-based, and honestly the communities are full of people who really can't work, so somehow I would have to keep this work-focused and in the work world rather than in the disabled world.

What is your biggest barrier to achieving that?

I pre-disqualify myself from career success, because I happen to have some disabilities.... I want so much to have a good career but I haven't really delved into how to use the ADA to my advantage.
I currently work from home under ADA provisions, but I hold off from applying to new jobs because I don't know how to deal with the accommodations I might need when interviewing (e.g. remote interview).

btw I majored in math at Stanford and was a Goldwater scholar and I used to be on track for research grad school and all until I got sick, and there has been a major downgrade in my career aims since becoming disabled.

I guess I'm allowing my assumptions to keep me from pursuing the kind of career I want. On one hand, I see a lot of myself in highly successful people, but on the other hand I see a lot of myself in sick people who are on disability and can't work, and the difference is so great that I can't figure out where I want to fall.

I also have not found the correct "peer group" for myself. I am part of two communities: healthy ambitious people (but the advice doesn't fit since I don't have the health to carry it out, or I need modifications), and unhealthy unambitious people (and I can do better than most of them and I don't want to be kept down). I need to find a group of ambitious people with disabilities to show me how to do this... There are so few! I guess I should look for successful people with disabilities like mine.

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One change I would want in my life

Have the skills and set-up to get more market research and consulting work from home, even though I am stuck having to work from home because I got environmental sensitivity and can't go in most offices!! Find a way to make a good career even with a disability.
Also get into other branches of work and study including workplace efficiency and organizational psychology.

How this would change my life: Have access to more interesting problems to solve, get my hands dirty on more companies' challenges, raise my skill level, and feel integrated where I am working on things that hit home with me and don't feel like work. Feel calmer, knowing I have other options for jobs. Develop professional relationships. Know that I am investing in a rewarding type of career, not just a paper-pushing low-grade one. That's the main thing - be less bored, have appropriate challenges, and invest in a future of not being bored.

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