Dear James,

After receiving your advice I was left speechless for some while. I cannot express how thankful I am to you for sharing your insight.

As you had noticed, I was leaning a bit towards the [fast rising startup] decision and needed a confirmation I am heading in the right direction. I have to admit I was just scared that whatever I decide, I will regret missing the other opportunity. However, you not only gave me this encouragement, but you also contributed with remarks about issues I was not aware of, or because of being emotionally involved in the decision, I could not notice.

Now, it all makes much more sense to me and the decision  became somewhat easier:  before I had a feeling like choosing either option meant some sacrifices, but your argumentation shows me, that working at [top tier automotive brand] does not close the door for a [fast rising startup] career in the future. Therefore, my decision will be to work for [top tier automotive brand].

Yet again, thank you for your great help and giving me the confidence I needed.

Best regards,
G.L.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!
(This is part of the No Box Thinking™ Series)


Elephants are considered one of the strongest animals on earth and in places like Thailand it's not uncommon to see one elephant compete against forty or more men in a tug-o-war contest with the elephant easily winning! 

Many elephants are also utilized in the forestry industry and it's an amazing sight to see an elephant easily and deftly pick up a massive log and effortlessly move it about like a mere toothpick. 

Not once or twice, mind you, but all day long and in the scorching heat. 

With such power and stamina an adult elephant could easily snap any ropes or chains used to subdue it. Yet why doesn't the adult elephant do this? And how can such a powerful animal be so easily controlled by an infinitely smaller human wielding only a stick or through the simple pressing of feet or heels into the elephant's neck or ears? 

Well, it all comes down to the elephant's mental conditioning and the shaping of expectations it has received and that has been implanted into it. Many humans would call what the elephant mentally engages in to be a "self-fulfilling prophecy." 

Since an adult elephant is so powerful and could easily break the biggest ropes or chains, trainers begin to condition the elephant at a very early age not only to not want to do this so but also to THINK that it is NOT able to do so.  Effectively to not even consider breaking the chains or snapping the ropes as an option.

Why? Because once we deem something to be "impossible" to do, we no longer attempt it. Our own thinking and thought processes, therefore, become a set of mental chains. 

As a baby, the elephant is often restrained with a substantial piece of rope or chain which is so strong that the baby has no chance of breaking it or escaping. As the baby pulls on the restraints it quickly realizes it cannot get free so it tries less and less frequently and less and less heartily to do so during each attempt. 

As the elephant grows in size, the diameter of the restraints can be reduced since the elephant has now been conditioned to believe that trying to escape or break the restraints is futile. 

Eventually the elephant no longer even attempts to break the restraints as it is now fully conditioned so that the presence of the restraint alone, rather than the tensile strength of that restraint, signals to the elephant that it is incapacitated and cannot move.

At some point, this restraint could be as thin as a piece of twine. 

In other words, the trainer has created a set of unbreakable mental chains for the elephant that the elephant cannot overcome! 

Humans, like elephants are also susceptible to these mental chains. Sometimes we create them ourselves. Other times they are given to us by friends, parents or relatives however well meaning they may be. 

We are taught various myths and memes  (the restraints) during our formative years and then these restraints are constantly waved in front of us to remind us of our inability to move freely through life. 

This is done through the usage of rituals. These rituals can be mores or folkways, comments from friends or family, even imagery beamed into our homes by satellite tv, found on DVDs or in our daily newspaper. 

What mental chains are holding you back?
Would you like to break them?
How will you break them? 

Knowing that they exist in the first place is the major step forward. 


(James originally posted this online on August 16th, 2004 but it is even more relevant today than it was 9 years ago. Several slight modifications from the original have been made)

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


What keeps you awake at night?

Uncertain which career path or job offer is best for you?

Finding yourself undermined or irritated by a snarky co-worker, office bully or  a manager that wants you gone? 

Not sure how to negotiate the best offer, close an interview or accelerate your career? 

Wouldn't you like to get a good night's sleep? Sure, so tell what's on your mind.
This expert advice column is your chance to ask anything and for free!  

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


How hasn't heard this advice before?

"Fake it 'til you make it!"

And while this may appear to be sound advice, we'll briefly explain why it's a loser's mentality and how very dangerous it can be.

First, by using the word "fake it" we are engaging in negative internal talk.

Think about it. 

Fake something. 

Why? 

Why would we "fake" something?

Second, if we are "faking" something, do we even care about what we are doing?
It suggests that we don't.

So rather than "fake it 'til we make it", what we really want to do in these circumstances is to identify an appropriate model for success and then work at it for as long as it takes until we are able to fully and completely internalize and integrate that particular success model.

The key is to deliberately choose your success model and to be as principled as possible while you work to fully and accurately internalize and integrate it.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


Do you know what often separates candidates who thrive when searching for a new job from candidates who struggle or continually come up empty handed?

Here it is.

Candidates who struggle when searching for a job are often controlled if not enslaved by  their ego, pride and social fears while they harbor an unhealthy fear of failure. To top it off, these folks are more often than not both approval and validation seeking and subscribe to success limiting myths and memes.

Unsurprisingly, these folks find the job search very difficult, uncertain and often fraught with stress and anxiety all while yielding very few job offers if any.

What is the solution?

It's critical l that candidates let go of their ego, pride and all social fears while reframing  any "fear of failure" as excitement and adventure. Approval-seeking behavior must also be killed off while the veracity of all memes must be continually revisited and discarded when proven untrue.

A candidate who is able to do this is well on his or her way to becoming unstoppable.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


We are pleased to announce that Career OverDrive's website content and content archives are now fully indexed & searchable!

This will enable easier and more complete access to all of our content.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


Here's our basic philosophy:

I. We Focus On What's Fun & Effective:

• Winning is fun.
  
• Being in control is fun.
  
• Efficiently learning battle-tested and battle-proven techniques is fun.
  
• Being emotionally dissociated from a situation or the outcome of the situation is fun.

II. We Minimize Or Eliminate What Isn't Fun Or Effective:

• Re-inventing the wheel isn't fun.
  
• Spending inordinate amounts of time to learn something, especially of dubious value, isn't fun.
  
• Forgetting what you learned isn't fun.
  
• Not knowing how to apply what you learned isn't fun.
  

In a nutshell, what we've done is to identify the most important skills, the heavy-hitters, that you'll need to maximize the  enjoyment of your current work, career and life.

We've then boiled this down, tempered and honed it, until its been battle-tested and battle-proven.

After that we've created an entire system around it so that all of our training offers something like this:

• A universal framework.
  
• Specific and easy to understand principles.
  
• A series of powerful strategies.
  
• Easy to learn and immediately usable techniques.
  

On top of this we teach not just the "how" but also the “why” so that you can quickly understand not only when and when not to apply this material but also how to deftly apply and calibrate it to an infinite number of real-world situations. 

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


What Is Career OverDrive!
When people initially hear of Career OverDrive! one of the first questions they ask is this:

"What  exactly does Career OverDrive! do and what does the motiff of Career OverDrive! represent?"

"Is it speed or aggressiveness?"

The answer is neither. 

Think of Career OverDrive! as analogous to the overdrive system in a car. It's about efficiency and sustainability of a given speed, that is, the ability to maintain a certain speed with minimal engine rotation and a more efficient usage of energy (gas).

And so it is with Career OverDrive!.

Specifically we want you to help you accelerate your career and to reach a cruising speed as quickly as possible but to do so in a way whereby you are not burning yourself out but enjoying yourself - for the long haul!

Sure, we won't lie to you. They'll be plenty of hard work and some sleepless nights ahead, but that will be the exception rather than the rule. And all of that effort you put in now will pay off many times over, far into the future.

What To Expect?
On our journey together, expect to be challenged, to grow, to reconsider and to be taken through the entire lifecycle of both your current job, your next job and your career. 

Starting from career planning and development, through career paths, transitions and change, onward to high-impact resume development and high-performance job searches (either working with a recruiter, doing it yourself or using a blended approach). 

Continuing with high-impact interview preparations, salary negotiations to your onboarding. And once you’ve landed your dream job, we’ll work to ensure you keep it with our Psychological Jujutsu ™ communications training featuring influencing, persuasion, negotiation, assertiveness and leadership. 

Lastly, given today’s “rough and tumble” if not cut throat corporate environment, together we’ll  work our way through office politics and organizational power dynamics ensuring that you not only survive and thrive but triumph. 

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


Hi and welcome to Career OverDrive!

We're really glad to see you here and here's an overview of what we'll be doing.

Together we'll explore high-performance career development, acceleration, transitions and change, specifically targeting high-impact job searches (with or without a recruiter as well as introducing our unique blended-approach), interview preparation & salary negotiations, Psychological Jujutsu™  as well as office politics and organizational power dynamics.

• Crush Any Interview! ™
• Crush Any Career! ™
• Psychological Jujutsu ™
• Fire Your Recruiter! ™
• High-Impact Resumes