Authorpreneur Dashboard – Halimah Madeline Bellows
Champion Your Career
Self-Help
Champion Your Career: Winning in the World of Work by Halimah Bellows addresses the needs of a new generation of career seekers in a rapidly changing economy and job marketplace. Designed as self-paced career development workshop in book format, it provides self-assessment tools to enable individuals to explore their personal passions, values, strengths and skills along with sound strategies and resources for decision making, goal setting and networking to begin a fulfilling new career. About 493 characterw
Book Bubbles from Champion Your Career
Verve Up Your Values
If you feel your life is unfulfilled and unhappy or has too much conflict in it, then it may be that you are leading a life that is not in accord with your own core values. The question is: Do you know your own personal core values? Do you know whether or not you are expressing them in your daily life?
Jump Into Your Job Search: The Interview
You must be familiar with the position and the organization so that you can demonstrate how and why you will be an effective worker. Refer to the notes you made as you networked with people and reviewed print and online materials (see Section 4: Networks & Contacts). Obtain information, if you can, on the person you will be meeting with and the schedule for the interview period. If you can find out about your interviewer(s) (e.g., name, title, background) in advance, you will be able to use this information during the interviews.
Develop Dynamic Decision Making Strategies
Finding a career that’s right for you is a process. As you know, we all change during our lifetime. What’s right for us today may not be right for us in five years. People change careers in America generally between five and seven times in a lifetime. This is just something to bear in mind so you don’t get caught up in the dead-end thinking of, “This is my choice and I have to stick with it for the rest of my life.” You don’t because you grow and as you grow you may change and you may find what was rewarding to you once may not be rewarding at a later time.
Clarify Your Choices
People change their careers for a variety of reasons. They may not have made a wise choice initially. Or, the career they selected no longer exists. Or, they want to match their changing values and needs to a new set of career possibilities. These are just a few examples. Although there is no simple solution to finding the right career path for you, there are simple steps you can take utilizing all of your resources to make a good decision. Take advantage of any opportunity to consult with the important people in your life. Often other people can identify skills and qualities that you possess even if you can’t see them in yourself. Discuss your questions and concerns with friends and family and, if you are a student, be sure to schedule a one-to-one appointment with the career advisor on your campus.
Finding Meaningful Work
Creating a life of your own design, based on your known passion and sense of purpose, takes boldness, but the rewards of greater self-pride and just plain delight are worth it! Many of us have lost sight of our dreams, ideals, talents and passions in order to stay in survival mode, to support a family, or to live up to others’ expectations. This path has led us to feel restless and unsatisfied, even though perhaps all our material needs are taken care of. You can expect life to get a little bit crazy as you explore and play with new beliefs, concepts and connections to form your new life based on your own values, passions and personal definition of your life’s purpose. It will take courage and determination to answer the questions honestly in this chapter. So, as you take this journey of self-exploration, now and throughout your life, it will be easier with a circle of supportive friends as you let go of what no longer serves you. Few people have uncovered their passion and purpose by themselves. As you follow your intuition or inner guidance, you will be able to engage more fully in your own life from a place of true strength, and at the same time support others as they strive to do the same.
Recognizing Your Strengths
In order to find out what will make you happy at work or in your time away from work, you need to discover your talents and your strengths. People sometimes confuse strengths with skills. The basic difference is that skills are learned. You learn how to drive. Driving is a skill while your strengths or talents are innate, natural abilities. You may find you have natural talents in many different areas. When you see a little kid creating an amazing drawing or painting you say, “That kid is a natural.” It’s automatic. The child knows how to do it. Take my son, for example. He has natural talent for using the computer. It’s a gift of his. He taught himself desktop publishing because he was interested in it. He wanted to learn it. But he didn’t go to school for it. He got on and he played and he played and he played and now he can do all kinds of stuff with desktop publishing. He didn’t actually have formal training. Skills can help you perfect a talent and make it better. Developing skills can help you find your personal style. If you’re an artist, you may have a natural gift or strength for drawing or painting but you still need to learn technique.
Verve Up Your Values
Core values reflect what is truly important to us as happy, healthy individuals. Core values relate to the heart of our being. They relate to the sacred essence of what we want to manifest in this world. When we honor our values regularly and consistently, life is good. When we are living from our core values, we feel fulfilled. Our values serve as a compass, pointing out what it means to be true to ourselves, and providing a sense of authenticity, self -respect and peace. Many people cannot express what their five to ten core values are and thus are living lives unconnected to them. This ambivalence can lead to a life of unhappiness, discontent, conflict and unease. Some may feel conflicted because they are trying to live a life according to the values of a certain company, religious or political organization, or the values of their friends and colleagues or their partner rather, than living a life according to their own core values.
What Career is Right for you?
To answer the question “What career is right for you?” there are three important answers to seek out: 1. What are your interests? What do you love to do? 2. What are your values—professional as well as personal? 3. What are your skills and talents? Defining Your Interests: To help define them, you can try this assessment developed by Richard Bowles, based on John Holland's Holland Code. The Holland Code describes a process that divides all people and all jobs into six distinct categories. 1. Realistic: Athletes and mechanical people who prefer to work with objects, plants or animals, or like to be outdoors. 2. Investigative: Scientists, people who like to observe, analyze and solve problems. 3. Artistic: Artists and musicians, innovative, creative and those who like unstructured environments. 4. Social: People who work with people; teachers, guides, counselors. They care and they are very good with words. 5. Enterprising: Managers, influencers, persuaders, lawyers. 6. Conventional: People who like to work with data in a systematic way. They are numerical, have clerical ability, and pay attention to detail. The exercise begins as you imagine that you are at a party where people from these six categories are grouped together around the room. Notice which group you are drawn to join first. Imagine spending time with these people and see how that feels. Now see
Jump Into Your Job Search: the resume
The purpose of the résumé is to get an interview. It is like an advertisement: it should attract attention, create interest, describe accomplishments, and invite a person to contact you. The average amount of time an employer takes to initially scan a résumé is 30 seconds. It is very important that it be brief, one page if possible and two pages at the most. The résumé tells a potential employer what you can do and have done in the past, who you are and what you know. It also states what kind of work you seek. The key is that the résumé must provide enough information for the employer to evaluate your qualifications and become interested in inviting you for an interview.
Knowing Your Dependable Strengths
You want to use your dependable strengths as much as possible on the job. Knowing your dependable strengths will actually give you greater employability. It will give you renewed motivation. It’s like finding and growing your best self. The process is really powerful because you tell other people what your good experiences have been and they’re going to feed back to you descriptions and qualities of your strengths and skills and talents. Look for a pattern of experiences that you’ve had throughout your entire life. Of course you have to enjoy them. And of course, you must use it in the future to feel satisfied and happy. That’s really the fundamental principle. The ideal is to really focus on your strengths to the fullest.
Power Up Your Passions
In fully uncovering and embracing our passions, we find a deeper purpose that gives a richer meaning to our lives beyond gratification of our egos. A calling is like an organism, a living entity, with a purpose all its own. It drives us toward authenticity and aliveness. Saying “yes” to a calling tends to place you on a path where half of you doesn’t think it makes a bit of sense, but the other half knows your life won’t make any sense unless you participate in certain activities that automatically draw out your passion for life. You’ll also find that the bigger the calling, the more likely it is that it will fling opposing energies into your life. For example, one part of you will want to awaken, while another part wants you to stay in the comfortable, safe but unfulfilling lifestyle.
Verve Up Your Values
“The degree to which we live our lives in alignment with our core values is the degree of fulfillment that we will experience.” Core values reflect what is truly important to us as happy, healthy individuals. Core values relate to the heart of our being. They relate to the sacred essence of what we want to manifest in this world. When we honor our values regularly and consistently, life is good. When we are living from our core values, we feel fulfilled. Our values serve as a compass, pointing out what it means to be true to ourselves, and providing a sense of authenticity, self -respect and peace.
Recognizing Your Strengths
In order to find out what will make you happy at work or in your time away from work, you need to discover your talents and your strengths. People sometimes confuse strengths with skills. The basic difference is that skills are learned. You learn how to drive. Driving is a skill while your strengths or talents are innate, natural abilities. You may find you have natural talents in many different areas. When you see a little kid creating an amazing drawing or painting you say, “That kid is a natural.” It’s automatic. The child knows how to do it.
Clarify Your Choices
Although there is no simple solution to finding the right career path for you, there are simple steps you can take utilizing all of your resources to make a good decision. Take advantage of any opportunity to consult with the important people in your life. Often other people can identify skills and qualities that you possess even if you can’t see them in yourself. Discuss your questions and concerns with friends and family and, if you are a student, be sure to schedule a one-to-one appointment with the career advisor on your campus.
Retire With Fire
To have a quality retirement, you need to incorporate the qualities and elements you would miss most from your work life as you enter into your retirement. You need to explore your interests and be ready to discover and experiment with new ways of thinking, behaving and engaging with others, based on your self-exploration. The questions and exercises in this chapter will help to stimulate a dialogue within yourself as well as between you and significant others so that you can extract new understanding about your needs and wants and gain a sense of what you would like to pursue in the future. The goal is for you to have the best possible retirement.
Power Up Your Passions
Because your work life takes up a significant part of your adult life on a day-to-day basis, it is completely vital to bring your passions and the meaning you give to your life’s purpose into your work environment. Defining your purpose is the first step in doing work that you love; work that encourages you to grow as a human being. In fully uncovering and embracing our passions, we find a deeper purpose that gives a richer meaning to our lives beyond gratification of our egos. A calling is like an organism, a living entity, with a purpose all its own. It drives us toward authenticity and aliveness. Saying “yes” to a calling tends to place you on a path where half of you doesn’t think it makes a bit of sense, but the other half knows your life won’t make any sense unless you participate in certain activities that automatically draw out your passion for life.
Verve Up Your Values
My favorite saying about core values is: “The degree to which we live our lives in alignment with our core values is the degree of fulfillment that we will experience.” Core values reflect what is truly important to us as happy, healthy individuals. Core values relate to the heart of our being. They relate to the sacred essence of what we want to manifest in this world. When we honor our values regularly and consistently, life is good. When we are living from our core values, we feel fulfilled. Our values serve as a compass, pointing out what it means to be true to ourselves, and providing a sense of authenticity, self -respect and peace.
Changing Careers With Courage
Any kind of change takes courage. People want to stay where they are comfortable. However, in order for you to be truly satisfied throughout your work life, your career needs to change and grow with you. Your Holland Code—the three job categories you are most attracted to—may change throughout your life. In fact, they most likely will change. Statistics show that people change careers up to three times throughout their lives—and some people pursue as many as seven careers. We are different people at age 20 than we are at age 30, 40, 50 or 60. We look at life differently and our values change too. That is why identifying your values is such a key part of career development.
Power Up Your Passions
Because your work life takes up a significant part of your adult life on a day-to-day basis, it is completely vital to bring your passions and the meaning you give to your life’s purpose into your work environment. Defining your purpose is the first step in doing work that you love; work that encourages you to grow as a human being. In fully uncovering and embracing our passions, we find a deeper purpose that gives a richer meaning to our lives beyond gratification of our egos. A calling is like an organism, a living entity, with a purpose all its own. It drives us toward authenticity and aliveness. Saying “yes” to a calling tends to place you on a path where half of you doesn’t think it makes a bit of sense, but the other half knows your life won’t make any sense unless you participate in certain activities that automatically draw out your passion for life.
Retire With Fire
We can live from choice and design even in retirement and nurture positive attributes in ourselves as well as others. Look back at your answers and consider how realistic your beliefs are about retirement. How can you change the beliefs that are unrealistic or inaccurate? What contributions are you ready to make in creating a successful retirement?
Become Your Own Career Champion
Some people might make the decision to accept a 50 percent satisfaction level from their work life, because perhaps they happily leave their job at the office and then come home and pursue a hobby like playing music. You need to look at your own workday to determine if you are able to make a 50 percent job satisfaction work for you, or if you feel you are stuck in a dead-end situation. As you know, you have two sides of your life: your work life and your personal life. What you should aim for is to blend the two together to come up with a TOTAL satisfaction level. If your work life and your personal life do not add up to a high enough level of satisfaction, then you might be ready to look at a career change. Either way, this book will help you determine what your basic needs are for happiness in the workplace, as well as your personal life. Then it will help you move on to a higher level of overall satisfaction in your life.
Verve Up Your Values
Many people cannot express what their five to ten core values are and thus are living lives unconnected to them. This ambivalence can lead to a life of unhappiness, discontent, conflict and unease. Some may feel conflicted because they are trying to live a life according to the values of a certain company, religious or political organization, or the values of their friends and colleagues or their partner rather, than living a life according to their own core values.
Power Up Your Passions
As we listen more to our intuition, we come into conflict with the status quo and others’ expectations of who we are and what we should be doing. A natural consequence of aligning our own values and integrity is that we will inconvenience someone, including ourselves! Creating a life of your own design, based on your known passion and sense of purpose, takes boldness, but the rewards of greater self-pride and just plain delight are worth it! Many of us have lost sight of our dreams, ideals, talents and passions in order to stay in survival mode, to support a family, or to live up to others’ expectations. This path has led us to feel restless and unsatisfied, even though perhaps all our material needs are taken care of. You can expect life to get a little bit crazy as you explore and play with new beliefs, concepts and connections to form your new life based on your own values, passions and personal definition of your life’s purpose. It will take courage and determination to answer the questions honestly in this chapter.
Retire With Fire
The Five Stages of Retirement It has been observed that there are basically five stages to retirement. By understanding these stages you will find it easier to deal with the emotional component of retirement, a pivotal transition from an active work life to creating an identity outside the work environment. These are:
Power Up Your Passions
Because your work life takes up a significant part of your adult life on a day-to-day basis, it is completely vital to bring your passions and the meaning you give to your life’s purpose into your work environment. Defining your purpose is the first step in doing work that you love; work that encourages you to grow as a human being.
Clarify Your Choices
Although there is no simple solution to finding the right career path for you, there are simple steps you can take utilizing all of your resources to make a good decision. Take advantage of any opportunity to consult with the important people in your life. Often other people can identify skills and qualities that you possess even if you can’t see them in yourself. Discuss your questions and concerns with friends and family and, if you are a student, be sure to schedule a one-to-one appointment with the career advisor on your campus. Now is the time to begin a self-assessment process that will give you more choices, broaden your options, and give you the confidence to know you are on the right career path.
Change Careers With Courage
Statistics show that people change careers up to three times throughout their lives—and some people pursue as many as seven careers. We are different people at age 20 than we are at age 30, 40, 50 or 60. We look at life differently and our values change too. That is why identifying your values is such a key part of career development. This process involves asking and answering questions of yourself about what is important to you, and observing what you feel passionately attracted to (as well as what you feel passionately repelled by). 10 Reasons for Pursuing Your Ideal Career....
Verve Up Your Values
All of us have values that, consciously or unconsciously, guide our choices and actions. Throughout our lifetime, some of our values may change depending on our age, our friends, work, hobbies, or other factors. Some values, however, have not changed and will not change, despite our exposure to diverse political, religious, and cultural influences. These are our core values and the ones we want to focus on here. My favorite saying about core values is: “The degree to which we live our lives in alignment with our core values is the degree of fulfillment that we will experience.”
A Wake-Up Call to Meaningful Work
Within the past decade or two, people have been talking about “worthy work.” People don’t just want a paycheck anymore; they want more than that. In Zen and the Art of Making a Living, Laurence Boldt writes about three alarm clocks in relation to waking up to our life’s work. First, there is your internal clock, the desire for creative self-expression. This alarm goes off when you feel stuck, stifled or bored in your current work situation. You have talents and abilities that are not being fully used in your job‥ Maybe they’re even being fully ignored! You go to work because you have to, not because you want to. When the internal alarm goes off, you think, “OK, I have to start moving on and doing something else. What are my passions? I have to find my purpose.”
Retire With Fire
We no longer want to “retreat” or “withdraw” into endless days of leisurely activities that yield little meaning or purpose. Many people in their 50’s and 60’s are looking for a kind of “renaissance,” to discover what gives their lives true meaning outside of their work life. Many consider travel abroad for pleasure, educational opportunities, or to better the world by volunteering at the different international agencies that are available. Others will volunteer locally to make a difference in social services with which they feel a kinship, both as a way to contribute and also as a way to stay connected to a larger community—a goal that is vital to anyone who wants to remain healthy throughout their retirement years.
Develop Dynamic Decision Making Strategies
Generally, the most effective decision-making strategies are those that are considered safe strategies. When you analyze your options carefully and then decide which is the better alternative, this is called a “safe strategy.” I like what I call a “combination strategy,” which involves using your intuition along with your analytical powers. By all means use your intuition. If something feels good, go for it. But there is also an analytical component where you do your homework by going to the library and the internet and going on informational interviews and asking questions about aspects of the job that are important to know.
The 30-Second Networking Commercial
Networking can be easy and more comfortable for you if you have a 30-second commercial prepared. Also known as an “elevator speech,” the commercial is a short synopsis of your skills and experience in a format that could be delivered in the length of time you might spend going between floors with someone you met in an elevator. It is your first chance to introduce yourself with the goal of getting the listener to ask you for more information. Commercials are made to sell things and you are marketing your strengths and talents to potential employers.
Verve Up Your Values
Many people cannot express what their five to ten core values are and thus are living lives unconnected to them. This ambivalence can lead to a life of unhappiness, discontent, conflict and unease. Some may feel conflicted because they are trying to live a life according to the values of a certain company, religious or political organization, or the values of their friends and colleagues or their partner rather, than living a life according to their own core values. If you feel your life is unfulfilled and unhappy or has too much conflict in it, then it may be that you are leading a life that is not in accord with your own core values. The question is: Do you know your own personal core values? Do you know whether or not you are expressing them in your daily life? Values Mining: The Jewels of Finding Fulfilling Work Let’s go jewel hunting for core values by considering the following question:
Power Up Your Passions
In fully uncovering and embracing our passions, we find a deeper purpose that gives a richer meaning to our lives beyond gratification of our egos. A calling is like an organism, a living entity, with a purpose all its own. It drives us toward authenticity and aliveness. Saying “yes” to a calling tends to place you on a path where half of you doesn’t think it makes a bit of sense, but the other half knows your life won’t make any sense unless you participate in certain activities that automatically draw out your passion for life. You’ll also find that the bigger the calling, the more likely it is that it will fling opposing energies into your life. For example, one part of you will want to awaken, while another part wants you to stay in the comfortable, safe but unfulfilling lifestyle. So what is your calling? What feelings come to you as you imagine fully with all of your senses, living your life with passion and purpose?
Focus Your Future - Career Moves
Aim for at least 70 percent job satisfaction. When the figure starts to go down to 50 percent job satisfaction, it means that half the time something is not right, something is out of place. You then must start looking honestly at your situation and determine if you are “stuck” in the job. Some people might make the decision to accept a 50 percent satisfaction level from their work life, because perhaps they happily leave their job at the office and then come home and pursue a hobby like playing music. You need to look at your own workday to determine if you are able to make a 50 percent job satisfaction work for you, or if you feel you are stuck in a dead-end situation. Aim for a blend of your work life and your personal life together to come up with a TOTAL satisfaction level. If your work life and your personal life do not add up to a high enough level of satisfaction, then you might be ready to look at a career change. Either way, this book will help you determine what your basic needs are for happiness in the workplace, as well as your personal life. Then it will help you move on to a higher level of overall satisfaction in your life.
Become Your Own Career Champion
This book is designed to help you understand that you have the power to be your own champion. You can create your own positive perspective with the messages you play in your inner dialogue and then manifest those messages in the material world. You can do this for yourself. Do not allow other people to tell you, “Don’t do this” or “You shouldn’t do that” or “This is not good enough.” Instead, you can say, “I know what works for me. I can make my own life and I can champion my career. I can make it happen for myself. I can be successful at whatever vocation I choose.”
Summon Your Strengths & Skills
Recognizing Your Strengths: In order to find out what will make you happy at work or in your time away from work, you need to discover your talents and your strengths. People sometimes confuse strengths with skills. The basic difference is that skills are learned. You learn how to drive. Driving is a skill while your strengths or talents are innate, natural abilities. You may find you have natural talents in many different areas. When you see a little kid creating an amazing drawing or painting you say, “That kid is a natural.” It’s automatic. The child knows how to do it. Take my son, for example. He has natural talent for using the computer. It’s a gift of his. He taught himself desktop publishing because he was interested in it. He wanted to learn it. But he didn’t go to school for it. He got on and he played and he played and he played and now he can do all kinds of stuff with desktop publishing. He didn’t actually have formal training. Skills can help you perfect a talent and make it better. Developing skills can help you find your personal style. If you’re an artist, you may have a natural gift or strength for drawing or painting but you still need to learn technique.
POWER UP YOUR PASSIONS
The bigger the calling, the more likely it is that it will fling opposing energies into your life. For example, one part of you will want to awaken, while another part wants you to stay in the comfortable, safe but unfulfilling lifestyle. So what is your calling? What feelings come to you as you imagine fully with all of your senses, living your life with passion and purpose? How do we know what our passions are? How do we uncover what brings us to a greater understanding of what our purpose is? And once we know our passion and purpose, how do we express them in a work environment so that our life is continually being fulfilled? This chapter will lead you down a path of self-discovery through exercises and questions to reflect upon your own personal definition of your passion and purpose in life and in work. What is required is an open mind, a willingness to explore, and setting time aside regularly to reflect on the questions provided here. A growing intuition also will inherently bring wisdom to guide you toward making more gratifying career choices.
CLARIFY YOUR CAREER CHOICE
Consult with the important people in your life. Often other people can identify skills and qualities that you possess even if you can’t see them in yourself. Discuss your questions and concerns with friends and family. Students can also meet with a Campus Career advisor. Now is the time to begin a self-assessment process that will give you more choices, broaden your options, and give you the confidence to know you are on the right career path. A self-assessment will clarify your characteristics, interests, values and skills. It will define your strengths and your weaknesses. Looking for a match between these and the work you are considering is the most important step you can take before you write a résumé or begin the search for a job. In fact, when the time comes to write your résumé and prepare for a job interview, you will find the task easier if you have completed the self-assessment process first.
Summon Your Strengths & Skills
Recognizing Your Strengths During "Stay at Home Orders" can be a good time to recognize your strengths. In order to find out what will make you happy in your work or in your time off of work, you need to discover your talents and your strengths. People sometimes confuse strengths with skills. The basic difference is that skills are learned. You learn how to drive. Driving is a skill while your strengths or talents are innate, natural abilities. You may find you have natural talents in many different areas. When you see a little kid creating an amazing drawing or painting you say, “That kid is a natural.” It’s automatic. The child knows how to do it.
Become Your Own Career Champion
The theory of career development has not changed over the many years I have been doing this work. To answer the question “What career is right for you?” there are three important answers to seek out: 1. What are your interests? What do you love to do? 2. What are your values—professional as well as personal? 3. What are your skills and talents? All of the career tests, assessments and services are designed to determine this fundamental information. Defining Your Interests One way to develop a strategy for finding work that meets your fundamental goals is to take a very close look at where your interests lie.
Finding Your Dependable Strengths
You want to use your dependable strengths as much as possible on the job. Knowing your dependable strengths will actually give you greater employability. It will give you renewed motivation. It’s like finding and growing your best self. The process is really powerful because you tell other people what your good experiences have been and they’re going to feed back to you descriptions and qualities of your strengths and skills and talents. Look for a pattern of experiences that you’ve had throughout your entire life. Of course you have to enjoy them. And of course, you must use it in the future to feel satisfied and happy. That’s really the fundamental principle. The ideal is to really focus on your strengths to the fullest.
Passion & Purpose
Purpose relates to finding and sharing our gifts and talents as only we can uniquely express them. Living in passion and purpose is so important to our needs as humans that, without these elements being fulfilled, most people will live empty, meaningless, depressing lives. Because your work life takes up a significant part of your adult life on a day-to-day basis, it is completely vital to bring your passions and the meaning you give to your life’s purpose into your work environment. Defining your purpose is the first step in doing work that you love; work that encourages you to grow as a human being.
Develop Dynamic Decision Making Strategies
Finding a career that’s right for you is a process. As you know, we all change during our lifetime. What’s right for us today may not be right for us in five years. People change careers in America generally between five and seven times in a lifetime. This is just something to bear in mind so you don’t get caught up in the dead-end thinking of, “This is my choice and I have to stick with it for the rest of my life.” You don’t because you grow and as you grow you may change and you may find what was rewarding to you once may not be rewarding at a later time. You have to embrace the change. But the career development process remains the same each time you make a change. The first question you need to answer is, “Who am I?” That’s the bottom line. Then you have to know what your interests are and what you are passionate about. You need to explore your values and assess your skills, your strengths, and your talents.
Focus Your Future
I think I just had this gift, a natural ability that drew others to come and talk to me and to tell me their problems. Somehow they knew I would listen and that I would be non-judgmental. This natural ability followed me the rest of my life in the careers that I have chosen—as an educator, career counselor, and coach. I have always wanted to listen to and be of service to others. People have always fascinated me and the world of work fascinates me as well. By marrying the two as a career counselor/coach, I bring together my innate abilities and passions and the skills that have naturally flowed from me since I was a child. This experience has given me the special joy that comes from championing the causes of other people and providing support that can help them discover new aspects of themselves, while watching them expand and develop. Life is full of obstacles and there are times when we all need someone to champion us; to be in our corner to cheer us on and guide us in finding effective solutions to our problems. Sometimes, however, we have to do that ourselves.
Become Your Own Career Champion
Life is full of obstacles and there are times when we all need someone to champion us; to be in our corner to cheer us on and guide us in finding effective solutions to our problems. Sometimes, however, we have to do that ourselves.
CHANGING CAREERS WITH COURAGE
We learn something from everything we do. When things don’t go well, I always ask myself, “Okay, so what’s the universe trying to teach me by giving me this experience?” Try not to think about your work life so much as a career but more as an opportunity to grow and to know yourself more fully. Then you can have more fun building your resources with more detachment. If you can view the work of finding your right livelihood as play, as life lessons to be learned, all with an attitude of detachment, then you will be more open to all opportunities—expected and unexpected—that come your way. Here are some WISE WORDS ABOUT CAREER CHOICES from Abraham Hicks. “A very good career choice would be to gravitate toward those activities and to embrace those desires that harmonize with your core intentions, which are freedom and growth—and joy. Make a ‘career’ of living a happy life rather than trying to find work that will produce enough income that you can do things with your money that will then make you happy.
Summon Your Strengths and Skills
ou can use skills to enhance your talents and strengths. When you are at work, you want to combine all your talents, all your strengths, and all your skills. Generally, when we first talk about talents, you find your talents and strengths in things that you love to do. So what you need to do is to look at the tasks you do. Identify the tasks that you absolutely love. Someone said—and I love this quote–-“A talent or strength is a present or gift that we have been given by Nature.” It’s a natural ability. We do not have to think about it. It’s there in us already. Just think about this: Some people are naturally talented at sports. You’ve got recruiters going to all these high schools. What they’re looking for is someone who has natural talent. Talent is like an innate ability. It is just part of who you are. Sometimes you may not even realize that you have it. Sometimes talents can be hidden. So if you want to look for talents, you first have to look at what you enjoy. What do you enjoy doing? What do you enjoy thinking about? What do you enjoy learning about? And what do you enjoy as a process?
Decision Making Strategies
People change careers in America generally between five and seven times in a lifetime. This is just something to bear in mind so you don’t get caught up in the dead-end thinking of, “This is my choice and I have to stick with it for the rest of my life.” You don’t because you grow and as you grow you may change and you may find what was rewarding to you once may not be rewarding at a later time. You have to embrace the change. But the career development process remains the same each time you make a change. The first question you need to answer is, “Who am I?” That’s the bottom line. Then you have to know what your interests are and what you are passionate about. You need to explore your values and assess your skills, your strengths, and your talents.
Verve Up our Values
All of us have values that, consciously or unconsciously, guide our choices and actions. Throughout our lifetime, some of our values may change depending on our age, our friends, work, hobbies, or other factors. Some values, however, have not changed and will not change, despite our exposure to diverse political, religious, and cultural influences. These are our core values and the ones we want to focus on here. My favorite saying about core values is: “The degree to which we live our lives in alignment with our core values is the degree of fulfillment that we will experience.” Core values reflect what is truly important to us as happy, healthy individuals. Core values relate to the heart of our being. They relate to the sacred essence of what we want to manifest in this world. When we honor our values regularly and consistently, life is good. When we are living from our core values, we feel fulfilled. Our values serve as a compass, pointing out what it means to be true to ourselves, and providing a sense of authenticity, self -respect and peace.
Decision Making Strategies
Finding a career that’s right for you is a process. As you know, we all change during our lifetime. What’s right for us today may not be right for us in five years. People change careers in America generally between five and seven times in a lifetime. This is just something to bear in mind so you don’t get caught up in the dead-end thinking of, “This is my choice and I have to stick with it for the rest of my life.” You don’t because you grow and as you grow you may change and you may find what was rewarding to you once may not be rewarding at a later time.
Retire With Fire
To have a quality retirement, you need to incorporate the qualities and elements you would miss most from your work life as you enter into your retirement. You need to explore your interests and be ready to discover and experiment with new ways of thinking, behaving and engaging with others, based on your self-exploration. The questions and exercises in this chapter will help to stimulate a dialogue within yourself as well as between you and significant others so that you can extract new understanding about your needs and wants and gain a sense of what you would like to pursue in the future. The goal is for you to have the best possible retirement.
Verve Up Your Values
“The degree to which we live our lives in alignment with our core values is the degree of fulfillment that we will experience.” Core values reflect what is truly important to us as happy, healthy individuals. Core values relate to the heart of our being. They relate to the sacred essence of what we want to manifest in this world. When we honor our values regularly and consistently, life is good. When we are living from our core values, we feel fulfilled. Our values serve as a compass, pointing out what it means to be true to ourselves, and providing a sense of authenticity, self -respect and peace.
Power Up Your Passions
In fully uncovering and embracing our passions, we find a deeper purpose that gives a richer meaning to our lives beyond gratification of our egos. A calling is like an organism, a living entity, with a purpose all its own. It drives us toward authenticity and aliveness. Saying “yes” to a calling tends to place you on a path where half of you doesn’t think it makes a bit of sense, but the other half knows your life won’t make any sense unless you participate in certain activities that automatically draw out your passion for life. You’ll also find that the bigger the calling, the more likely it is that it will fling opposing energies into your life. For example, one part of you will want to awaken, while another part wants you to stay in the comfortable, safe but unfulfilling lifestyle. So what is your calling? What feelings come to you as you imagine fully with all of your senses, living your life with passion and purpose? How do we know what our passions are? How do we uncover what brings us to a greater understanding of what our purpose is? And once we know our passion and purpose, how do we express them in a work environment so that our life is continually being fulfilled?
Clarifying Your Choices
Although there is no simple solution to finding the right career path for you, there are simple steps you can take utilizing all of your resources to make a good decision. Take advantage of any opportunity to consult with the important people in your life. Often other people can identify skills and qualities that you possess even if you can’t see them in yourself. Discuss your questions and concerns with friends and family and, if you are a student, be sure to schedule a one-to-one appointment with the career advisor on your campus. Now is the time to begin a self-assessment process that will give you more choices, broaden your options, and give you the confidence to know you are on the right career path. A self-assessment will clarify your characteristics, interests, values and skills. It will define your strengths and your weaknesses. Looking for a match between these and the work you are considering is the most important step you can take before you write a résumé or begin the search for a job. In fact, when the time comes to write your résumé and prepare for a job interview, you will find the task easier if you have completed the self-assessment process first!
Focus on Your Future: Recognizing the Need fo
If you are already working, there are three main reasons why a career change might be right for you. First, it could be that you have the right job with the wrong company. For example, you may love the work you do as an administrative assistant, but you may not like the philosophy of the company, or you may find that you cannot stand behind their mission. Their values are not a match for yours. If the environment, including the people, is not a good fit for you, even the right work you do will feel like you’re in the wrong job. The second reason could be that you have the wrong position in the right company. In this case, you should look at your passions, interests and skills and find a way to put them to use in your own position or in another job within the same company. For some people, it might be about finding time outside of work to make use of those skills. The third reason that career change might be right for you is that job security is an illusion. Y
Verve Up Your Values
All of us have values that, consciously or unconsciously, guide our choices and actions. Throughout our lifetime, some of our values may change depending on our age, our friends, work, hobbies, or other factors. Some values, however, have not changed and will not change, despite our exposure to diverse political, religious, and cultural influences. These are our core values and the ones we want to focus on here. My favorite saying about core values is: “The degree to which we live our lives in alignment with our core values is the degree of fulfillment that we will experience.” Core values reflect what is truly important to us as happy, healthy individuals. Core values relate to the heart of our being. They relate to the sacred essence of what we want to manifest in this world. When we honor our values regularly and consistently, life is good. When we are living from our core values, we feel fulfilled. Our values serve as a compass, pointing out what it means to be true to ourselves, and providing a sense of authenticity, self -respect and peace.
Retire With Fire
To have a quality retirement, you need to incorporate the qualities and elements you would miss most from your work life as you enter into your retirement. You need to explore your interests and be ready to discover and experiment with new ways of thinking, behaving and engaging with others, based on your self-exploration. The questions and exercises in this chapter will help to stimulate a dialogue within yourself as well as between you and significant others so that you can extract new understanding about your needs and wants and gain a sense of what you would like to pursue in the future. The goal is for you to have the best possible retirement.
Change Careers with Courage
Any kind of change takes courage. People want to stay where they are comfortable. However, in order for you to be truly satisfied throughout your work life, your career needs to change and grow with you. Your Holland Code—the three job categories you are most attracted to—may change throughout your life. In fact, they most likely will change. Statistics show that people change careers up to three times throughout their lives—and some people pursue as many as seven careers. We are different people at age 20 than we are at age 30, 40, 50 or 60. We look at life differently and our values change too. That is why identifying your values is such a key part of career development. This process involves asking and answering questions of yourself about what is important to you, and observing what you feel passionately attracted to (as well as what you feel passionately repelled by).
Become Your Own Career Champion
This book is designed to help you understand that you have the power to be your own champion. You can create your own positive perspective with the messages you play in your inner dialogue and then manifest those messages in the material world. You can do this for yourself. Do not allow other people to tell you, “Don’t do this” or “You shouldn’t do that” or “This is not good enough.” Instead, you can say, “I know what works for me. I can make my own life and I can champion my career. I can make it happen for myself. I can be successful at whatever vocation I choose.”
Summoning Your Strengths and Skills
Recognizing Your Strengths In order to find out what will make you happy at work or in your time away from work, you need to discover your talents and your strengths. People sometimes confuse strengths with skills. The basic difference is that skills are learned. You learn how to drive. Driving is a skill while your strengths or talents are innate, natural abilities. You may find you have natural talents in many different areas. When you see a little kid creating an amazing drawing or painting you say, “That kid is a natural.” It’s automatic. The child knows how to do it.
Jump Into Your Job Search
If you have done your homework in assessing your own values, skills and strengths and researching the current job market, you will find that these next steps in your job search will help you build the confidence you will need as you begin approaching potential employers.
Retire With Fire
In taking your first steps to retirement, ask yourself, “To what degree do I feel I am emotionally detached from the strivings and accomplishments of the work I am about to leave behind?” How much do you see yourself defined by your work? How much is your personal worth invested in your work world? By reflecting on these questions you will gain a clearer understanding of what you need to do to redefine and redesign your life in the process of retiring. Even if you plan to continue working on a part -time basis, your leisure time will increase. So you will be focusing on making a smooth transition from full-time work to more leisure time. After you have explored the qualities you highly enjoyed in the workplace, consider ways to fulfill those same needs in your increased leisure time. This will make your transition much less stressful and uncertain.
Verve Up Your Values
If you feel your life is unfulfilled and unhappy or has too much conflict in it, then it may be that you are leading a life that is not in accord with your own core values. The question is: Do you know your own personal core values? Do you know whether or not you are expressing them in your daily life? Values Mining: The Jewels of Finding Fulfilling Work Let’s go jewel hunting for core values by considering the following question: What in your life is important to you? Step 1: Don’t think about your answers at first. Just write down whatever comes into your head no matter how strange, amusing or worrisome it may seem. These first answers are probably your intuitive answers; sometimes those are closer to the truth than answers that you “think” about. Step 2: Now think carefully about what is important in life for you. Take some time to consider your answers
Powering Up Your Passions
Too often we do so many things for others and get so involved in our really busy lives that we neglect ourselves. If you have been multitasking—doing a variety of things at the same time—you may be producing a lot of stress. Slow down. Stop. Give yourself time to pull yourself back and say, “Okay, all this is going on, but where am I? Who am I? Where do I want to go? Who do I want to be?” Next, take a look at where you are now with regard to your “zest” for life. When you are engaged in expressing your passion and purpose, you will automatically experience vitality.
Nourishing Your Network
Having more education or a better degree is not necessarily going to get you the job you want. There are a lot of variables here. Basically your success in landing a job lies in your ability to assess the totality of your life experiences and relate them to your career goals and the job opening you are pursuing. Then you need to be able to “sell” yourself to the prospective employer in the interview. Instead of thinking you have to get another degree, look at the skills you have and the ones that are transferable into different occupations. Then put your package together and market yourself.
Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Your chances of achieving success in carrying out the actions you choose will be greatly enhanced by your ability to effectively set goals that give order and direction to your efforts. Here are the qualities that need to be considered in effective goal-setting: S – Specific. Your goals should be stated in detail, not in vague terms. M – Measurable. Your goals should be stated in language that includes definite quantities so that the degree of your success can be evaluated. A – Achievable. You need to be realistic about what you can actually do and avoid setting yourself up for failure R – Relevant. Make sure that the goal aligns with the actual outcome you want to achieve. T – Targeted. Give yourself a realistic, definite time frame for carrying out the action. The more often you apply the guidelines of S.M.A.R.T goal-setting to results you want to achieve, the more you will become accustomed to doing it automatically. Whenever you think of a result that you want to achieve, you will begin to think of it in terms of goals that are specific, measureable, achievable, relevant and targeted.
Becoming Your Own Career Champion
As you move through this process you will see that when you show up to work, you get to decide how your situation is going to be. There are no victims in the career development ladder unless you choose to be one. The inner voice that says, “I have to get a job,” gradually shifts to be more about, “I want to do something that feels good to me, something that serves me. I want to be in an environment that’s nurturing and productive.” Career Development Theory The theory of career development has not changed over the many years I have been doing this work. To answer the question “What career is right for you?” there are three important answers to seek out: 1. What are your interests? What do you love to do? 2. What are your values—professional as well as personal? 3. What are your skills and talents? All of the career tests, assessments and services are designed to determine this fundamental information. Defining Your Interests...
Retirement Planning
To have a quality retirement, you need to incorporate the qualities and elements you would miss most from your work life as you enter into your retirement. You need to explore your interests and be ready to discover and experiment with new ways of thinking, behaving and engaging with others, based on your self-exploration. The questions and exercises in this chapter will help to stimulate a dialogue within yourself as well as between you and significant others so that you can extract new understanding about your needs and wants and gain a sense of what you would like to pursue in the future. The goal is for you to have the best possible retirement.
Power Up Your Passions
As we listen more to our intuition, we come into conflict with the status quo and others’ expectations of who we are and what we should be doing. A natural consequence of aligning our own values and integrity is that we will inconvenience someone, including ourselves! Creating a life of your own design, based on your known passion and sense of purpose, takes boldness, but the rewards of greater self-pride and just plain delight are worth it! Many of us have lost sight of our dreams, ideals, talents and passions in order to stay in survival mode, to support a family, or to live up to others’ expectations. This path has led us to feel restless and unsatisfied, even though perhaps all our material needs are taken care of.
Wotk Values
What are your work values? If you’re unhappy at work, it is likely because your values are not being met in the workplace. For example, if you value autonomy and independence and you have a boss who is constantly looking over your shoulder, you’re not going to be happy there as the situation is totally opposed to who you are and what you value. The job may be fun, you may like the work, but you either need to change your job or change your boss or, possibly, adopt a reframing attitude to bridge the gap between your values and the way your supervisor and coworkers value you. Your Work Environment Ask yourself what work environment will give you a combination of the values that matter most to you. Once you have determined the top three to five values you hold important, brainstorm on your own or with friends and research which jobs would likely meet most of these values. Working with others on all stages of research and development is extremely helpful.
Clarifying Your Choices
Many people try to fit into jobs advertised in newspapers or other sources. The employer today has many qualified candidates from which to choose. You will be seriously considered for a position only by showing the employer that you know who you are, what you can offer, and where you are going. You will need to commit some time to prepare your personal inventory. Your honesty and the quality of your work will predict your level of success in getting the right job. Write out your answers and the conclusions you come to as a permanent record of your thoughts and feelings. This data then becomes an important resource as you continue in your career planning and work search activities.
Reetiring with Fire
Now, for the first time in history, most people can expect to be in “retirement” for 15 to 30 years. It is generally accepted that after the stages of growing up (from birth to age 20) and building a career and family (from age 20 to age 60), retirement is now considered a wonderful new stage called “the Bonus Years.” We have this gift of time, combined with our skills and talents, to create the best stage of life for ourselves.
Clarifying Your Choices
Although there is no simple solution to finding the right career path for you, there are simple steps you can take utilizing all of your resources to make a good decision. Take advantage of any opportunity to consult with the important people in your life. Often other people can identify skills and qualities that you possess even if you can’t see them in yourself. Discuss your questions and concerns with friends and family and, if you are a student, be sure to schedule a one-to-one appointment with the career advisor on your campus.
Develop Dynamic Decision Making - Strategies
Finding a career that’s right for you is a process. As you know, we all change during our lifetime. What’s right for us today may not be right for us in five years. People change careers in America generally between five and seven times in a lifetime. This is just something to bear in mind so you don’t get caught up in the dead-end thinking of, “This is my choice and I have to stick with it for the rest of my life.” You don’t because you grow and as you grow you may change and you may find what was rewarding to you once may not be rewarding at a later time.
Jump Into Your Job Search: The Resume
The Cover Letter Decide on the focus of your letter, tailor your information to the reader, and make sure that all the points keep on topic. Base your correspondence to employers around what you can do for them, not on what you want them to do for you. Let your enthusiasm be apparent. You do not want to lose the reader’s interest before he or she finishes the page. Avoid the words “as you can see,” because the reader may not be able to “see” the point the way you do.
Acknowledging Your Core Values
All of us have values that, consciously or unconsciously, guide our choices and actions. Throughout our lifetime, some of our values may change depending on our age, our friends, work, hobbies, or other factors. Some values, however, have not changed and will not change, despite our exposure to diverse political, religious, and cultural influences.
Recognizing Your Strengths
In order to find out what will make you happy at work or in your time away from work, you need to discover your talents and your strengths. People sometimes confuse strengths with skills. The basic difference is that skills are learned. You learn how to drive. Driving is a skill while your strengths or talents are innate, natural abilities. You may find you have natural talents in many different areas. When you see a little kid creating an amazing drawing or painting you say, “That kid is a natural.” It’s automatic. The child knows how to do it.
How You Fit In
Although the internet is a powerful tool to add to your job search arsenal, don’t neglect traditional strategies such as networking, company research, a winning resumé, and thorough interview preparation. Take advantage of resources such as: • Professional and Trade Publications–There are thousands of magazines, journals, and newsletters with information about specific fields or industries which may also contain job listings. • Newspaper Advertisements–By analyzing ads you can unearth valuable information relating to today’s job market. You may want to consider subscribing to a major newspaper in your chosen area when involved in a long-distance job search. You can learn of current salaries, pick up buzz-words to use in cover letters and at interviews, and find out which skills, qualifications, degrees and work experiences to emphasize in your resumé and cover letter. Some newspapers provide web pages where they include jobs that were advertised in recent editions. • Job Search Jump Starts—Libraries are a bountiful source of information about career development and labor markets.
Nourish Your Network
The concept of networking is simple: It’s letting people know that you’re in the job market and telling them about your interests and the kind of work you are seeking. Networking is also about asking for advice and assistance in achieving your career objectives. What networking does is to tap into the hidden job market. This market is approximately 80 percent of the jobs that are available every day and do not get advertised.
Nourish Your Network
The concept of networking is simple: It’s letting people know that you’re in the job market and telling them about your interests and the kind of work you are seeking. Networking is also about asking for advice and assistance in achieving your career objectives. What networking does is to tap into the hidden job market. This market is approximately 80 percent of the jobs that are available every day and do not get advertised. It is a myth that all jobs are advertised. If you think about it from the perspective of most employers, when there is a job opening within their company what are they going to do first?
Recognizing Your Strengths part two
In order to find out what will make you happy at work or in your time away from work, you need to discover your talents and your strengths. People sometimes confuse strengths with skills. The basic difference is that skills are learned. You learn how to drive. Driving is a skill while your strengths or talents are innate, natural abilities. You may find you have natural talents in many different areas.
Recognizing Your Strengths
In order to find out what will make you happy at work or in your time away from work, you need to discover your talents and your strengths. People sometimes confuse strengths with skills. The basic difference is that skills are learned. You learn how to drive. Driving is a skill while your strengths or talents are innate, natural abilities. You may find you have natural talents in many different areas.
THE COURAGE TO CHANGE YOUR CAREER
Your dream job will allow you to tap into your unique talents. Your skills and strengths are gifts that come naturally to you. If you are in your ideal career, it will feel like a perfect fit. It will allow you to express yourself fully and you will notice that your work will feel effortless. Your work will give you energy instead of draining you. If you’re not doing work that’s right for you, you will probably feel drained and tired when you come home. But if you’re doing what you love, you will feel energized by it instead of exhausted by it.
Choosing Well
Moving forward boldly with your decision-making process is essential to your success in your career and in all aspects of your life. Career coach Linda Markley () notes, “Many people put off making choices either from a fear of making the wrong choice or simply not getting around to it. Paradoxically, not making choices is harder work in the long run. If we make the big choices about what we want in our lives we have a direction, a blueprint against which we usually make the small choices (like what to pay attention to, what to do next) more obvious.”
Passions and Purpose
In fully uncovering and embracing our passions, we find a deeper purpose that gives a richer meaning to our lives beyond gratification of our egos. A calling is like an organism, a living entity, with a purpose all its own. It drives us toward authenticity and aliveness. Saying “yes” to a calling tends to place you on a path where half of you doesn’t think it makes a bit of sense, but the other half knows your life won’t make any sense unless you participate in certain activities that automatically draw out your passion for life.
What Are Your Core Values?
All of us have values that, consciously or unconsciously, guide our choices and actions. Throughout our lifetime, some of our values may change depending on our age, our friends, work, hobbies, or other factors. Some values, however, have not changed and will not change, despite our exposure to diverse political, religious, and cultural influences. These are our core values and the ones we want to focus on here.
Clarify Your Choices
Although there is no simple solution to finding the right career path for you, there are simple steps you can take utilizing all of your resources to make a good decision.
Career Choices
When you do what you love, you believe in it. You want to do more of it. You feel you are making a difference and you feel happy about doing this work. Sometimes you’ll think about your work and it will bring about change in your life or help to clarify something else that’s important to you. Very frequently, if you love what you do, you’re going to wake up in the morning and say, “Do I really get paid for doing this?” A dream job follows your wants instead of your “shoulds.” You’re listening to your intuition and to your heart instead of solely to your rational mind. When you listen to what your intuition says, then you will find that the rest of your life will start to rearrange itself so that you can truly be who you are and enjoy a truly meaningful life.
Your Career
Generally, when you do what you love, you believe in it. You want to do more of it. You feel you are making a difference and you feel happy about doing this work. Sometimes you’ll think about your work and it will bring about change in your life or help to clarify something else that’s important to you. If you love what you do, you’re going to wake up in the morning and say, “Do I really get paid for doing this?” Your dream job can feel more like a hobby than a job!
Retire With Fire- The five stages of retirement
It has been observed that there are basically five stages to retirement. By understanding these stages you will find it easier to deal with the emotional component of retirement, a pivotal transition from an active work life to creating an identity outside the work environment.
Part Two of Values Mining: The Jewels of Finding F
By answering the second question you can help uncover the real or underlying value for you. So for you, perhaps money is not the real value; perhaps the real value is “security” or “being successful” or “being independent” or “being able to provide for my family.” It’s always helpful to anchor or relate the values you express to real world situations. If you say you value “honesty” or “teamwork,” write down what “honesty” or “teamwork” would mean in terms of your behavior and how it would impact others.
Values Mining: The Jewels of Finding Fulfilling Wo
Many people cannot express what their five to ten core values are and thus are living lives unconnected to them. This ambivalence can lead to a life of unhappiness, discontent, conflict and unease. Some may feel conflicted because they are trying to live a life according to the values of a certain company, religious or political organization, or the values of their friends and colleagues or their partner rather, than living a life according to their own core values. If you feel your life is unfulfilled and unhappy or has too much conflict in it, then it may be that you are leading a life that is not in accord with your own core values. The question is: Do you know your own personal core values? Do you know whether or not you are expressing them in your daily life?
Retire With Fire
We have this gift of time, combined with our skills and talents, to create the best stage of life for ourselves. The greatest mistake, however, is thinking that our retirement years will be happy and perfect without any planning or preparation. It’s magical thinking that will lead to depression, disappointment, and even declining health. This chapter is about how, when you’re approaching your retirement years, you can reinvent yourself and allow or effect a transformation into a fulfilling new life.
Focus on Your Future
This book is designed to help you understand that you have the power to be your own champion. You can create your own positive perspective with the messages you play in your inner dialogue and then manifest those messages in the material world. You can do this for yourself. Do not allow other people to tell you, “Don’t do this” or “You shouldn’t do that” or “This is not good enough.” Instead, you can say, “I know what works for me. I can make my own life and I can champion my career. I can make it happen for myself. I can be successful at whatever vocation I choose.”
Doing What You Love
As we listen more to our intuition, we come into conflict with the status quo and others’ expectations of who we are and what we should be doing. A natural consequence of aligning our own values and integrity is that we will inconvenience someone, including ourselves!
Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals
This process takes courage. What we’re talking about is a leap of faith. Go through this process as many times as you need to in order to become clear on who you are, what you want, and what your interests, values, passions and purpose are. Then develop a strategy to test your choices for your next career path. Your chances of achieving success in carrying out the actions you choose will be greatly enhanced by your ability to effectively set goals that give order and direction to your efforts. Here are the qualities that need to be considered in effective goal-setting:
Does Your Career Blend with Your Personal Life?
If your work life and your personal life do not add up to a high enough level of satisfaction, then you might be ready to look at a career change. Either way, this book will help you determine what your basic needs are for happiness in the workplace, as well as your personal life. Then it will help you move on to a higher level of overall satisfaction in your life.
Dynamic Decision Making Strategies
Decision-making is a process—a process that can be so short as to be almost instantaneous or one that can so completely involve your thoughts as to lead to paralysis. The process presented in this chapter of my book will enable you to select the appropriate strategy for various situations step by step.
Our Core Values
My favorite saying about core values is: “The degree to which we live our lives in alignment with our core values is the degree of fulfillment that we will experience.” Core values reflect what is truly important to us as happy, healthy individuals. Core values relate to the heart of our being. They relate to the sacred essence of what we want to manifest in this world.
Recognizing Your Talents and Strengths
Talents and strengths are related; they work together. An example of a talent could be the ability to organize people, to motivate people. There are people who are linguists. They don’t have to work too hard at learning a new language. They just pick up a language naturally. You can learn a language, yes, and it is a skill, but some people have what we call natural ability. Some people pick it up one, two, three and others just struggle. It’s a natural ability to be a linguist, to learn languages. For some people it just comes and it flows. So that is basically how you can recognize a talent.
Changing Careers to Fit Who You Are Now!
People change careers in America generally between five and seven times in a lifetime. This is just something to bear in mind so you don’t get caught up in the dead-end thinking of, “This is my choice and I have to stick with it for the rest of my life.” You don’t because you grow and as you grow you may change and you may find what was rewarding to you once may not be rewarding at a later time.
Changing Careers Takes Courage
Any change takes courage. To be truly satisfied throughout your work life, your career needs to change and grow with you. The job you are most attracted to may change throughout your life. Personalized career coaching exercises will assist you to explore your passions, values and recognize your strengths and skills. Once you have those, you will apply strategies for determining your desired career.
A Wake-Up Call to Meaningful Work
If you’re stressing out over people and situations that you absolutely believe you have no control over, it is time for an emotional adjustment either by shifting your attitude or shifting into a more satisfying work experience.
Find Out Where You Fit
Although the internet is a powerful tool to add to your job search arsenal, don’t neglect traditional strategies such as networking, company research, a winning résumé, and thorough interview preparation. Take advantage of resources such as: • Professional and Trade Publications–There are thousands of magazines, journals, and newsletters with information about specific fields or industries which may also contain job listings.
Become Your Own Career Champion!
You can create your own positive perspective with the messages you play in your inner dialogue and then manifest those messages in the material world. You can do this for yourself. Do not allow other people to tell you, “Don’t do this” or “You shouldn’t do that” or “This is not good enough.” Instead, you can say, “I know what works for me. I can make my own life and I can champion my career. I can make it happen for myself. I can be successful at whatever vocation I choose.”
Change Careers With Courage
Any kind of change takes courage. People want to stay where they are comfortable. However, in order for you to be truly satisfied throughout your work life, your career needs to change and grow with you.
The Importance of Self-Assessment
Whether you are a college student with little or no work history or an experienced worker seeking a new career direction, finding your way through the maze of career options available today can be daunting unless you have clarity about the choices that are appropriate for you. This clarity can be gained only through careful and honest self-assessment of your personality, your values your strengths and your skills.
Passion and Purpose
Many of us have lost sight of our dreams, ideals, talents and passions in order to stay in survival mode, to support a family, or to live up to others’ expectations. This path has led us to feel restless and unsatisfied.
Defining Your Purpose
Defining your purpose is the first step in doing work that you love; work that encourages you to grow as a human being.
Finding Your Dependable Strengths
Finding your dependable strengths is a very powerful process. The first step you have to take is to identify your life’s good experiences, because your dependable strengths will emerge through these experiences.
Do What you Love to Do and Never Work a Day in You
If you are doing what you love to do, it allows you to be your true self all of the time. Think about it. It really takes a tremendous amount of energy on a daily basis to not be authentic at work. Sometimes we feel we have to take on a sort of “false persona” to fulfill the job requirements. Your ideal job will enable you to be who you are and not waste any energy.
Nourish Your Network
The concept of networking is simple: It’s letting people know that you’re in the job market and telling them about your interests and the kind of work you are seeking. Networking is also about asking for advice and assistance in achieving your career objectives.
Recognizing Your Strengths is Key
In order to find out what will make you happy at work or in your time away from work, you need to discover your talents and your strengths.
Verve Up Your Values
All of us have values that, consciously or unconsciously, guide our choices and actions. Throughout our lifetime, some of our values may change depending on our age, our friends, work, hobbies, or other factors. Some values, however, have not changed and will not change, despite our exposure to diverse political, religious, and cultural influences. These are our core values and the ones we want to focus on here.
Defining Your Purpose
Defining your purpose is the first step in doing work that you love; work that encourages you to grow as a human being. In fully uncovering and embracing our passions, we find a deeper purpose that gives a richer meaning to our lives beyond gratification of our egos. A calling is like an organism, a living entity, with a purpose all its own. It drives us toward authenticity and aliveness.
Change Careers With Courage
We are different people at age 20 than we are at age 30, 40, 50 or 60. We look at life differently and our values change too. That is why identifying your values is such a key part of career development which involves asking and answering questions of yourself about what is important to you, and observing what you feel passionately attracted to (as well as what you feel passionately repelled by).
Passion and Purpose
Creating a life of your own design, based on your known passion and sense of purpose, takes boldness, but the rewards of greater self-pride and just plain delight are worth it!
Become Your Own Career Champion
You can create your own positive perspective with the messages you play in your inner dialogue and then manifest those messages in the material world.
