Staying Grounded When Life is Unpredictable: An 8-7-2-3 Kolbe A Index Result Unpacked | Private Sessions

You stick with what you know works really well. You prevent chaos from happening, and you're also a person who creates systems and structure. I mean, is that true for you?

I think that's pretty spot on.

Meet Cam, currently on a full-time job hunt. He's built to stick to a plan and avoid surprises. Today, we're talking about how to stay grounded when life is unpredictable. Have a pattern to your day, because with your seven in Follow Thru, that initiating strength to create and live within systems and structure, for you, it'd work much better if it's like, "Nope, whether I need to or

00." Whatever the steps are, hold yourself to it.

You have to be able to put yourself in very uncomfortable situations, whether that is cold calling, cold texting, cold emailing, simply putting yourself in front of a hiring manager without introduction. I have really just had to challenge myself to be uncomfortable.

Yes, you have to do things that are uncomfortable, but wherever you can, find the continuity in things. Just go for it. Just put yourself out there. Your Kolbe A™ Index is fascinating, and I have to, right off the bat, I'm just gonna say I know you're kind of in between jobs for your career job. And with your Kolbe result, look, I mean, it's a stressful time for anybody, but I think it's even more stressful for you than the average person because you're what we call a Chaos Controller. So you stick with what you know works really well. You prevent chaos from happening, and you're also a person who creates systems and structure and operates most naturally kind of within a plan or a system. And when you are in between what you wanna be doing as a career, that… I mean, that can be extra frustrating for you because it's like, what's the plan? What's the system? What's the structure? Does that sound like… I mean, is that true for you, or do you think it… you're pretty easygoing, like, "Oh, no, I'm gonna be fine"?

No, I think that's pretty spot on. I do like to command a space. And so yeah, it… chaos can definitely be destabilizing, but I have found that over… throughout my experience in my career that gained the skill set to ground myself throughout the process. So it's definitely been a shift.

Yeah. What are you doing now to, as you described it, ground yourself during the process?

I think you have to be able to put yourself in very uncomfortable situations. And whether that is cold calling, cold texting, cold emailing, simply putting yourself in front of a hiring manager without introduction can be very difficult for many. And so I have really just had to continue to challenge myself to be uncomfortable, and it has also garnered the most result, is by putting myself in those uncomfortable situations. So I think over time also seeing results continues to influence my action.

What's your process for making you do it, the getting… putting yourself out there and, talking to hiring managers, doing all the cold stuff that's uncomfortable?

I'd like to say that I just do it nowadays.

Do you have a plan or a system or a process for it?

Yeah, I've definitely have established a process. So there is extensive research that I need to do in order to approach someone. I don't like to have surprises. And so making sure that I'm doing my due diligence prior to just saying, "Hey," is important. And it also gives me that reassurance, and it also showcases my interest to whoever I'm wishing to make a connection with.

Sounds like you knew yourself pretty well before you took a Kolbe Index. I mean, when you got the results, was it surprising, or was it like, "Yep, that is me. This is dead on"?

I always question the results. And so I feel like it is spot on in terms of it provided a lot of predictability. But at the same time, I was like, "What did I answer that put me in this category?" And I go back trying to figure out historically what steps I took in order to get this result, and I can't pinpoint the science behind it for myself just yet. But that's where I'm finding interest in the report.

Millions of people have discovered their natural way of taking action. What's yours? Go to kolbe.com and take the Kolbe A Index to find out. Okay, so Cam, just your full Kolbe result, eight in Fact Finder, seven in Follow Thru, two in Quick Start, and three in Implementor. I mean, I'm hearing a lot of different things in there. But when you talk about trying to pinpoint it and looking into it, a lot of that's your initiation and Fact Finder. So we talked about your chaos controller part. We also talked about your systems and structure. But Fact Finder is the research, the information part of you, and you lead with that. And that's why when I heard you talk about your process for, going through the job search. And you started with, "I research all these people. I wanna know about them before I get in front of them." I'm really glad you're doing that because you need to. I think a lot of times when I see people procrastinating, it's almost because, well, I won't… I'm not gonna make that phone call or send that email out yet because I don't have enough information, and then they just don't get the information because it might be hard to come by, or just whatever. It's just an easy way to go, "Yeah, I would email them, but I don't know all the things I need to know." But you're doing that, so I love that you were already tapping into that strength in Fact Finder where you do need to get information and details and facts and put things in historical perspective, which is what you're talking about with Kolbe. Part of me wants to say, "Ah, just let it go. Don't worry about it." But that would be silly for me to say because that's you. You need to find out more and get more information. Another thing I'd say with you and your job search and where you're going, and this is advice that is commonly given, but for a lot of people it doesn't work, and for you it's to have a pattern to your day and your week because with your seven in Follow Thru, that initiating strength to create and live within systems and structure, without a job to provide some of that stuff, sometimes it's like, well, it really doesn't matter. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I can get up. You don't have something scheduled, it's like, well, I can get up whenever and maybe I'll do some of the… No. For you, it'd work much better if it's like, nope, whether I need to or not, I'm

00, and I have my coffee, and then by 8:30 I'm doing my research,

30 I'm sending out emails. And whatever the steps are, have them in a schedule. Put them on your calendar. Hold yourself to it and I'm very much different than you. That would be really stressful for me to… I mean, I'm more of a, "Hey, I'll set targets." Like, I've gotta email 10 people, but it has to be by the end of the day, and I don't have a structure within that. Whereas for you, you can set the same goal. It's like, I need to send out 10 emails, but you also need the system, the plan, the structure of when you're gonna do it, and the sequence. Like, first I'm gonna do research, then I'm gonna do drafts, then I'm gonna, do my second draft, then I'm gonna send them out, whatever it is. But, do you find yourself doing that already or is that, would that be new if you created that?

No, it's kind of like, yeah, peel back the curtain into my life. I am very structured. I start, the alarms are set. I have in my mindset a workday, the things to get done. And even in the job search, been able to obtain contract work. And it's funny that I'm a loss control independent contractor. So I am going out in the field still and making sure that I am still very present and available, not just for full-time work, counseling, coaching, and I have to have that in order for me to feel like I have had fulfillment out of my day. But at the same time, I am… It's nice that you say that I can also share the 10 emails that I need to get off my, on my low-hanging fruit or checklist, and I will set those goals if I am in a space where I am overwhelmed, where I feel like I've put too much on my plate or… So I do use those to stabilize myself when things start to get what I would feel to be hectic or busy. But really, it's just me building up my plan.

Another thing I wanted to ask you about with your strength and what we call Implementor, which is that, it's the yellow line that you looked at in your result. Your strength, you're a three in Implementor, and Implementor is all about how we deal with the tangible, tactile, three-dimensional world. So for you, you imagine, you envision, you build things conceptually more than you build them physically, but you talked about with the contract work you're doing, being out in the field. What is that like when you're out in the field?

Well, I'll back it up a little bit into like the earlier parts of my career, and my career has always been very kinesthetic, like I'm very hands-on. I actually started my career in theme parks and water parks, and I was a water park director and an operator for quite a bit of time, and all throughout the country. I've spent time in Chicago and Philadelphia and Cleveland and, and now out here in California. But I've touched on a lot of different hospitality spaces. But hospitality in general, you're guest-facing, you are always having some type of interaction with stakeholders, whether they're internal or external. And so you're always kind of like on stage. And so I always have to make sure that I have this vision in a, in a way that I have to look 10 steps ahead because we always wanna make sure that we're going beyond some type of expectation for our team members or for our guests. And I think that just means that I have to get creative. And I think sometimes I can be black and white maybe in my approach, but I think Implementor here does highlight the fact that I can get… I like to be proactive, and I like to make sure that I am able to bring the big picture together.

Yeah, I mean, for you, and again, the Implementor, the way we use the word, I mean, Implementor can mean different things, so it's not implement as in how you carry things out. But it's really dealing with the physical parts of building, constructing, versus, as I was saying with you, it's less about physically building and constructing and more about, describing, envisioning, imagining. And with your eight in Fact Finder, I'd say with the combination when you're doing stuff, in a physical environment, 'cause that's… I mean, we all, live and operate in the real physical environment. But for you, it's almost more about the data and information that you collect in that environment rather than the, "Oh, I'm gonna, physically change stuff." And if that was part of your job, it was part of your job. It's not that your Kolbe result means you can't do those things if you're called on to do it, but it's less natural for you. What's more natural for you is, "Oh, let me figure this out. Let me gather the information." And if it's, if it is data, like, "Oh, let me, let me see how many times I can… Can I run people through this faster? Can I give them a better experience? And let's measure that by a customer service survey rather than just, getting kind of an overall sense of it." I… That's where you would really shine, is being able to get that information.

Yeah. I definitely, once you highlight that, I do. I gather a lot of information, and I author standard operating procedures for a whole multitude of things, and I have to be able to communicate clearly in that writing so that my stakeholders can then have the same vision and be able to execute it. So I think, yeah, you're very right. I'm there authoring the procedures and then being able to share that with them, and they take it from there.

So thinking about other than just work stuff, how do you see your Kolbe results play out in your personal life?

I'm a professional swimmer, so, eh, my alarm

00 AM every single day to go out and ocean swim or pool swim, and I swim about 18 miles a week. So I can see that my day is always planned. It doesn't matter if it's a weekday or a weekend. I have a start and a finish. So yeah, I think my Kolbe report even really does reflect my personal life too, is, I stick to what I'm comfortable with. I'm not afraid to introduce new things, but I definitely start with point A and end at point B.

How do you collect data to track your swimming and progress you're making and all that kind of stuff?

There's plenty of technology nowadays that we can utilize, but I'm wearing some gear that it's tracking all of my health metrics along the way, along the swim. I'm wearing all sorts of, yeah, all sorts of gear. I have a Garmin that'll take my GPS location across the shoreline and, it'll track my distance and speed and also, the currents and all of that fun stuff. So it gives me plenty of data. I even split it up by pool and ocean, so I dive deep.

Yeah, my guess would be you get teased for being obsessive about analyzing all the data.

Yeah. I'd say quite a bit of people around me, they'll ask me, "What'd you do today?" And, "What was your time last week?" And they find interest in it, too, so it's always fun to share.

Well, I love that you have those people who are genuinely interested and ask, so you get to share the information. There are definitely times when people ask and they don't necessarily want to hear the answer, but-

Yep. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Another thing that I've seen is with technology, so I don't know that I'd mentioned it, but I'm also an eight in Fact Finder. Technology that has come along to give us way more access to way more data is just, it's fun. Like, for people like me and you, where we really gravitate toward getting all the information, one thing that I will kind of, it's a little bit of a caution, but it, you can take it too far. And I'm sure you know that, and there may have been times when you have taken it too far, but your too far is a lot further than it would be for most people. So if anything, there are times where other people are gonna tell you, "You know what? Just let some of that go. Just get in the pool and swim for the love of it." And what they may not be getting is you have a love for the stats and the data and the information, even if you're not using it to, "Oh, I've gotta get 2% better." I mean, maybe it's not always competitive for you, and if it is, that's fine too, but for people who are on the other end of the spectrum in terms of gathering and sharing information, for them it would be like a necessary evil. Like, "Oh, okay, we've gotta get all this information and track it because, it'll help me learn or get better, but I wish I didn't have to." With you, it's almost the opposite. With you, it's, "No, I wanna look at this stuff even if it doesn't make me better. It's just something that I do and connect with." So sometimes you might need to put those voices out of your head if people are telling you to just let that go, don't bother tracking it. Like, no, go ahead, track it. Even if you don't swim professionally or competitively anymore, I'd still say for you, track those fun swims too, because you'll get something out of that.

Yeah. Absolutely. I would say that there is shared caution at times when I feel like it's a necessity, and they may not see it the same way. But it's, it almost doesn't feel complete unless I have taken in all of the information and record it, and it almost feels like, you know, I didn't do it at all if not so.

So a couple of those things that I'd encourage you to listen to politely, but then kind of most of the time ignore, are things like, "Oh, don't overthink it, Cam." Like, no, you think things through thoroughly. Now, look, again, I said ignore it most of the time. I know there are times when, yes, it can become a bad loop where you really, truly overthink it. But in terms of looking at information and doing research, just, keep doing that. Another one is just go for it. Just put yourself out there. Like, especially you think about job searches, and you're, you were saying, yes, you have to do things that are uncomfortable because you've, you gotta put yourself in front of people who you haven't met, and if that's uncomfortable, that's uncomfortable. But wherever you can, make it a system and a structure, and find the continuity in things. So with your Quick Start, that chaos controller where your strength is to find what's working and stick with it, keep, allow yourself to do that. Yes, you're putting yourself out there in novel situations and with new people, but find the connections. And that's where, as I said, if you've got the plan, and it sounds like you do, and a schedule, stick with all that. Another thing is deadlines. With your Quick Start and your Follow Thru, deadlines can be a good motivator for almost anybody, but there are subtle differences. So for you, it's not like a, you're coming right up to a hard deadline. It's definitely not that you don't get motivated and aren't most productive when it's just kind of an all of a sudden, oh, end of the day, you have to do this, Cam. Other people might try to motivate you like that where they just drop something on you thinking, "Oh, it's last minute. He's just gonna have to do a bunch of stuff." That's not as helpful for you. So when you can control it, give yourself more time. Yeah, it's a hard deadline, but it's three days from now, or the end of the week, or whatever that is, so you've got time to work through the process and get to it, and get all that stuff done. So yes, a deadline is still good, but for you it's that planned, systematic, structured deadline, not just an all of a sudden like, ah. Like a… And I guess I'll contrast that. What I'd do for myself sometimes is I'll just come up with something like, "Okay, David, you can't take a break until you've done these seven things." And it might take a long time, and that means I'm not, I can't go to the bathroom, I can't eat, I can't, whatever. And for me, that's motivating because it is last minute and I just came up with it. But for you, that's not gonna work as much. It's that planned out one. What other reactions did you have when you read your Kolbe result?

I went through a few of your other viewers, or excuse me, your other guests. And I was really trying to, I guess, understand my difference compared to most of my scores compared to some of your previous guests seem to be a little bit more rigid. And so I guess I was really curious. Again, I think it goes back to what I initially said. I just, I don't know what I put down that would have made me be someone who is systematic. But I know that about myself. So I guess I felt like, a lot of what I was reading felt true, but then I also just was questioning why mine was so different compared to some of your previous guests.

Yeah. Well, so with your eight in Fact Finder, it's not surprising to me that you would kinda question it and think about where did it come from. That's… I mean, a lot of people do that, but it's most prominent among people who are initiating Fact Finders, like you and me. Well, it's like, "Oh, I'm gonna ask some questions. I'd like to know this. And I'd like to do a little research on why that's the case." So, not surprising to me. In terms of how you answered, it's basically when you are asked if free to be yourself, you more often choose the answers that align with getting information or being able to construct a system rather than being open-ended and adaptable. So you drive things to closure rather than that. If you start five projects, actually you don't usually start five projects. What would be typical for you, again, when you control stuff, is, "I'm gonna start a project. I'm gonna see that project to the end, and then I'm gonna start my next project and I'll see that one to the end." I mean, we all live lives where we don't have that luxury of literally just doing one thing at a time. There's always multiple events and demands on our time. But you're more like that. But you definitely bring things to closure when you start it. So for example, like with swim training, if you set a goal for, you know, "I'm gonna do a particular thing." Maybe it's a particular swim that you're gonna do, like an ocean swim. You need to do that ocean swim, and if something comes up and, oh, you know, I got an injury so I couldn't compete that particular swim this year, you're gonna do it next year. Like, I just know you. You're gonna have it on your calendar and be like, "You know what? It's really bugging me that I got injured and I couldn't do it last year. I'm gonna do it this year." And that's even if it's not a professional requirement, like a sponsor expects me to do it or something. It's just in your head that I've gotta do that. So when you are answering the questions, you will pick the responses that align more with that, whereas other people, they just don't do that. They operate in a different way, so they answer the question, the opposite way from you.

No. I liked how you were able to specify it's the free to be me type questions where I close myself off to one option.

Well, and it's always important to remember you aren't always free to be yourself, so that's why when we ask the questions, that's the framework is always when you do have the freedom to be yourself, or think about how you operate when you have that freedom. But your results, they're not about what you can or can't do. I mean, you can operate in ways outside your Kolbe strengths. It's just long-term, that's not the best situation for you or for anybody else. So you want to put yourself in a position where you're gonna succeed, where you get to tap into those strengths, so your Natural Advantage™ becomes an advantage and not just something that, well, it would've been if I could've used it, but I don't get to use it.

I like how I do feel not necessarily constrained by the results, and it's great that you point out too that it's not conducive for me to work long-term under those types of conditions where it would not be good for the outside stakeholder or myself. And yeah, I've observed that a few times throughout my career and even in my personal life too.

Well, great. Well, I hope this has been helpful. I've enjoyed chatting with you and going over your results. Before we go, any other questions?

No. I look forward to continuing to follow along and learn more about how these types of exercises can help me grow both personally and professionally. So I really thank you all for your time and your willingness to evaluate my results with me because yeah, it's been very insightful and very appreciated.

Great. Well, thanks again and good luck with the job search and everything else.