Advance Your Career (Part 4)

At the end of advance your career part 3, we ended with how to handle difficult situations in your current job. Developing a career plan was the major achievement of the three articles in this series up to this point.

The career plan addresses three distinct sections: short-term, medium-term, and long-term. Long-term is a maximum at 5 years from the present time while the short-term and medium-term are meant to be goals that can be really worked toward.

During the writing and thinking about my first career plan, I took ideas from other people around me who I respected and felt were successful. Asking a few good questions over a lunch or after a meeting might give you some insights as you develop your own career plan. It might also be a good idea to find people who might have some constructive, but respectful criticism. It might help you craft this plan in the short and medium terms to improving the skills which you might be lacking.

The ultimate goal of your career is also something to keep in mind, however. That is, why do you work? Most people work because they need money to pay for their bills and expenses. However, the author of “Rich Dad” would have us think differently and work to learn, not work for money. I don’t think that it is unrealistic to want to be happy and continue to learn and grow in your career up until the very end. It is a sign of stimulation.

For Robert Kiyosaki, the whole goal of working is to learn as much as you can with the goal being eventually to own your own businesses or other assets that make you passive income whether or not you participate in them. Still others don’t need the money really and choose to work to stay busy and feel like they contribute. Again, this lends itself to the idea of stimulation. Obviously, you need to understand the real reasons you work and what kind of job you’d most like to do in an ideal situation. Then, you can plan and move yourself toward that goal. Make sure that you do this hard-thinking up front though because it can really make your path clear as you switch positions.

Its also worth noting that being self-employed is quite different than owning your own business. That is, you can do one without the other, although they often go hand-in-hand. Many people who do start-ups work in the business themselves as some executive or president. If that is something that you are interested in, then be prepared for the kind of lifestyle that entails. If you are happy just being a worker and getting paid, and find that your real passions are outside of your 9-5 life, that is also good to know.

Final Thought

Regardless of your decision, your meetings, career plans, and the skills that you are acquiring should all be preparing you slowly but surely toward that goal. You might even have to make sacrifices like a longer commute, less pay, worse benefits etc. However, if it is a sacrifice you can make in order to move further down the career path you really want, you may find that it pays off in the long run.

Did Advance Your Career (Part 4) Deliver on the Promise?
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