How To Choose Your Path In Life

Why is it we commence down one path, whether it be a new career, new business, relationship choice, a location to move to a particular area or even undertaking a new hobby? The simple reason you may say is that it is of interest to you or the thought of it attracts you. So you make the move and in a couple of months, a year or a few years you start to consider a change may be appropriate. So you make another life change and so the cycle continues.

On the other hand you live a life where you are secretly frustrated with the state of your lifestyle whether it be a career or relationship but for some reason don't decide to make a change. This may lead to what is deemed a 'mid-life' crisis.

In the research I have undertaken there is a good reason for both events. It is due to not aligning your values with your actions and not being conscious of the decisions you take. For example, a person is offered more money at a new organization and though they know the hours will be longer, the work more stressful and less rewarding they decide to accept for the money (something many of us do). However after time the money is not enough motivation and she thinks of leaving....this is the start of 'career confusion'. Why this occurred is that though money is important it is not the most important value or perhaps not even the fifth most important. Perhaps lack of stress, job satisfaction, learning, time with family and freedom rate above money. However with the emphasis put on financial stability these days the search for more money can confuse our priorities.

The answer is don't confuse your values with the values society thinks it has put on certain things, such as financial security, affluence and formal education. Though they may be your values the way to live a successful life is to follow the path of values that are important to you. Unless you rate and rank these values, and are conscious of them, your decisions will not represent what you truly wish for.

Career Survival and Success

The 1970’s were about manufacturing, the 1980’s the start of big financing and M&A activity the 1990’s IT and the introduction of biotechnology. The first seven years into the 21st century has seen a continual evolving and development of our society’s progression into new territories, breaking old boundaries and creating the need for new resources and skills. Medicine, education, IT, finance, communication….you name it the last six years have seen major changes in all areas. In fact more has changed since the turn of the century then in the 25 years prior. It can be expected that change will continue to occur at ever increasing rates in the future and the only limits are our own imagination. We continually see on the news today of major corporations laying off thousands of staff at a time and new industries being created. Motorola, GM, AOL….companies are reducing staff numbers because those resources are no longer required due to technology, demand for those services is reducing or because the roles may be outsourced to other organizations - domestically or overseas. So at any one time thousands of workers are without work in their field of expertise. It is not a simple matter of getting work at another firm…demand is most probably reducing across the industry. So it means that we must find new careers and jobs. Resource reallocation, as I see it, is necessary for the long-term survival of society in that it must keep evolving. Reallocating economic resources are necessary for our society to develop. It has happened throughout history and is an integral part of the evolvement of our society. However as the rate of societies development increases so does the rate of resource re-allocation. It is said that 75% of jobs in ten years time have not yet been created simply for this reason. At this time job security is non existent and you cannot rely on your position being required for the term of your working life. However whilst job security is no longer a part of our society, new career opportunities are available more than ever. Change is not a bad thing if you can take advantage of it and prepare yourself by taking the necessary action. There are a number of key things you must address to adapt to our changing society and to be able to take advantage of these shifts.

1. Mentally accept that change going to occur

Change is something we need to embrace and integrate into our lives. It is not enough to accept status quo because it is not realistic and not something you can control. A major contributor to a human’s stress levels comes from attempting to control something over which they have no control. Change is one thing you cannot control. What you can control is what you decide to do about it. The study of neuro linguistic programming (NLP) is extremely useful here for the reason it assists you to speak a language that changes your thought patterns. Basically the language you use impacts our thoughts so by utilizing language we can prepare our mind for the challenges ahead and not stress out.

2. Be aware of your skills, interests and values

If you are not aware of what you are good at, where your knowledge can be applied, what you enjoy doing and what is important to you then what are you actually doing with your life. There is a difference between existence and living and this is it. Adapting to change means you must be flexible - however you must be aware of your core skill set, interests and know who you are. Flexibility is manipulating these core areas to fit the current environment. A combination of assessments such as Myers Briggs and Strong Interest Inventory can lay the foundation for this knowledge to be discovered and explored.

3. Make a plan for the future

So you now know who you are and what you’re good at. Now what? Being aware is not enough you must next plan for the future. Planning is not dreaming….planning involves detailing measurable steps over a timeline. Setting a plan is not about restricting your lifestyle. In fact planning allows you to focus on what is truly important and ensure that you spend the time necessary on those tasks crucial to achieving your goals. A dream is a goal without actions….we all dream and for 99% of us we look back over all our dreams at some stage and think ‘if only I had done this or that’. Time management is a crucial component in ensuring a plan is successful. If I asked the question ‘how many hours do you spend in a week on tasks that do not benefit you in anyway’ I would put money down on the fact that you do not know. Studies have shown that the average person wastes 20 hours a week on tasks that are not important, valuable or even truly enjoyed. It is just time gone and time is one resource we can never get more of. So for a plan to be successful each task must be assigned a specific time, duration and frequency.

4. Take small actions today for tomorrow

We now have mental control of ourselves in adapting to change. You are aware of what you like and your skills. We have a plan to take advantage of change; whether it be starting up a new business, learning new skills, putting plans in place to shift your career slightly or plans to really steam ahead in your current career and ensure success by being at the head of the pack. Now reality hits that you have too much on your plate and change may be overwhelming. Your personal life suffers, you get confused and it is this moment where many of us turn to our old habits, no matter that they are not the best for us in the future, because they represent security. The secret is to put in place small tasks that you can manage and adapt to over a period of time. For example you cannot wake up and sell your house tomorrow. Well for 99.9% of us we cannot. Selling a house takes time, thought and preparation. You plan for the fact that you wish to sell your house at some point in the future. Same goes with career management. You plan and act so at a preconceived date in the future you can make that shift. A career and business coach can assist in this process by helping you evaluate your career management and development strategies, help quantify and explore the results of your personality and career assessment results and assist in putting in place the actions you need to take for the future. A key benefit of having a coach is that they are your personal ‘mirror’ being there to ask the hard questions and ensuring you are pushing forward even when times get tough.

5. Network with different generations

There is much debate between younger and older generations about the work styles, attitudes and motivations of each other. The older generations feel the early Gen X and Gen Y workers expect everything for nothing, want the perfect work/life balance and work for themselves not the organization. Gen Y feel the older generations are too rigid in their work style, work out of habit rather than desire and want respect based on seniority rather than performance. However there is much to be learnt by each generation from the other and for that reason it makes perfect sense for each generation to network with each other. The experience of the older generation combined with the exuberance of the younger generation is a strong combination.
In conclusion ignoring change is not really an option in today’s society. Even those who fight against change eventually change just because everything evolves around them. It’s those very people who do not adapt as everything appears foreign, strange and unwelcome. Those who prepare for change are mentally ready and have the plans and skills in place to take advantage of the environment in which they live. Inherently this leads to financial and emotional success and growth which are key areas over which we all seek control.

Success Versus Achievement

Success assumes achievement at something. Achievement, however, does not necessarily equate to success. An achievement is simply something you have undertaken to perform and have completed - an action. It is not a success unless that achievement is attached to a personal value or belief that defines it as a success. To validate that statement consider a job promotion in a job or career that you care little about. To be promoted is an achievement to be sure - however there is little feeling of success after that initial excitement wears off. Take it one step further…look back over your life at all your achievements then consider how successful you consider yourself to be in your life.

Fulfilment does not come from achievement, it comes from success; a combination of achievement of something that you value, belief in, alignment with ‘who you are’. Then how do you ensure fulfilment? You must understand your values, beliefs, understand who you are as a human being. All the great people from history Aristotle, Da Vinci, Einstein, Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali…..they all knew who they were and what was important to them. Without that they would not have achieved what they did and by their own account lead successful lives. Consider how you define success and achievement…..we speak of success when it aligns with our values and interests. Achievement is simply the completion of a task.

The next step is to find out who you really are. This by itself is not the easiest thing to do because you need to somehow validate your findings/results. There are a number of assessments, namely Myer Briggs, SSI, etc that provide you with answers covering your personality, career and personal interests. It is also explored from trial and error. It is not the results of the assessments themselves that are most important, rather that it provides you with a starting place from which you can validate and assess the results. From this stage, as you consider the results your inward thinking allows for you to evolve your understanding of yourself, what is important and what you should prioritize in order to lead a fulfilled life. For example you may consider recognize that you’ve achieved much in your career but at the sacrifice of family not a success. On the other hand living a great life with a family might be defined as a successful life. It is common for a professional career coach to assist with this process as they will assist in exploring what is important to you, what it would mean for you to be experiencing a life of things you value and help you plan the necessary actions to achieve what it is you want.

Many of us achieve consistently but are never fulfilled because the achievements do not mean anything to them. We see people like that each day and wonder why they do not love their life or their achievements. It is because their achievement has not crossed across to success and thus fulfilment. All is not lost and it is never too late to reassess what is important to you. The two most important things you can do is; honour your life enough to want to make it as fulfilled as possible and take action today to give yourself the best chance of succeeding.

Why The Trend Is Your Friend

Each day we read about yet another multinational organization planning to lay off another few thousand of its workers in the name of organizational efficiency and corporate survival. Whether it be the car manufacturing industry, telecommunications, banking and now with Cadbury being the latest, consumer goods it appears the wealth of the shareholders and indirectly the board of directors is more important than the welfare of the worker. Outsourcing and automation has and will continue to impact the direction of the economic marketplace.

However don’t dispair as from every change there is a new opportunity and evolvement of our society is what makes our species what it is today. The opportunity you gain from being laid off or choosing a new career direction is to grow as an individual and be involved in a new career that is part of the ’new’ economy. See, whilst the government is all about training schemes and private colleges are creating new courses at an ever increasing rate, none of this is useful if the new skill you learn is not going to survive in the near future. For the very same reason you wouldn’t want to work in the Toyota assembly line after being laid off from GM, you do not want to walk blindly into a new career only to find out three or five years later that there is again no demand for your skills and services. In todays society, where it is said the computing power of our machines doubles every 18 months, choosing a new career is not just about interest and passion, it is about identifying the career trends that are in demand.

The trend in demand is always your friend until of course it no longer in demand - then you must look for a new trend. In finance, politics, education, religion….being involved with the trends that work guarantee that you will be taking a step forward. Trends will change so don’t think I’m stipulating sticking with the one trend…..in reference to your career you must always be alert to whether your career is in demand and for how long will it be in demand. External forces, such as automation and outsourcing are seeing career trends commence and dissolve at an ever increasing rate. It is advisable to speak to a career expert who can assist you in identifying new trends. Here at Dynamic Life Creations, our mission is not only to help you explore your interests and goals but to provide information on future career trends.

Successful Occupations Are Those In Demand

Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting that by 2010, there will be 10 million more jobs than skilled workers to fill them.

According to employment services firm Manpower, 41 percent of U.S. employers are having difficulty filling positions because of a lack of available talent.

So far this year, retailers, health care providers, educational services, accounting firms and leisure and hospitality companies have been among the industries consistently boosting their payrolls. Strong demand for workers and higher wages in those sectors could absorb some of the fallout from the housing slump and downsizing in the auto industry.

“Even though we expect some weakening due to the downturn in the housing market and auto industry, that will be offset by the tight labor market and wage growth in other industries,” says Sophia Koropeckyj, economist at Economy.com.

Here’s a look behind what’s fueling demand in some of the hottest sectors:

Hospitality
A hotel building boom and strong volume from both business and leisure travelers is boosting hiring in the hotel industry. Hotels posted their highest occupancy rate in a decade last year, according to Smith Travel Research.
Construction activity is soaring, with the number of new hotel project starts up 64.2 percent last year from 2005, according to data from PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
“Hotels are busier with more guests and new hotels are being built to meet the increased demand,” said Bjorn Hanson, hotel industry consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
The government reported that leisure and hospitality firms added 22,000 jobs in April, with lodging and food services firms accounting for the majority of the gains. Hanson says hotels are experiencing challenges in hiring at all levels. “They need general mangers and directors of sales and marketing, as well as hourly workers,” he said.

Retail
For the second year in a row, sales representatives topped the list of hardest-to-fill jobs, according to a Manpower Talent Shortage survey of 37,000 employers released in March.
Many of those sales rep jobs are in retail. But not all jobs are lower paying hourly or part-time gigs. Positions such as assistant store manager average $39,100 a year and retail buyers average $47,900, according to Payscale.com. Though overall retail trade jobs were down 26,000 in April, according to the government report, clothing, furniture, electronics and sporting goods stores all added jobs.

Education
Teachers showed up as No. 2 on the Manpower Talent shortage survey. There’s a huge demand for teachers, particularly in science and math, as public school teachers who entered the profession in the 1960s and 1970s retire and the new-teacher dropout rate hovers near 50 percent.
Alternative certification programs are helping to speed up the process of becoming a teacher but the supply isn’t keeping up with demand. Salary.com projects a 14 percent growth in teaching jobs over the next 10 years.

Health Care
The graying of America and long life expectancies continue to spur growth in the healthcare sector. More than 37,000 healthcare jobs were added to the economy in April, according to the government. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is also projecting that demand for jobs in healthcare - from nurses and therapists to researchers and lab technicians - will be above average for all occupations through 2014.
About 3 out of every 10 new jobs created in the U.S. economy will be in either healthcare and social assistance or private educational services, according to the BLS.

Accounting
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 continues to boost the need for auditors and compliance experts to help companies with regulatory compliance and accounting transparency.
The growth in auditors and compliance experts has reduced the supply of experienced staff accountants and financial analysts who earn an average of $75,000 a year. In April, the government reported that 2,100 accounting and book keeping jobs were added to U.S. payrolls