CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAREER/BUSINESS
MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE
tba
You must meet the six criteria, below, in choosing what is best for you!!!!
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The classic: On a freeway trip, the wife reads the map and says "Dear, we're headed the wrong direction!" To which the husband says "oh, but we're making such good time!"
"And we're almost to Chicage." "But, Dear, we want to go to New York, where we have show tickets."
Is that anyway to run a life?
No, but we do it anyway. And the bottom line is that I suggest you not do that on anything that is major!!!!
The definition of productivity lies in getting the best results for the time spent. Efficiency is getting something done with the least effort, but it matters not if we are not doing the right thing (the thing that produces the biggest right results). This is a basic, and core, principle of life: to step back and look at the big picture and to determine what is the right and most productive thing to do to better one's life - and to prevent that which could rob one of the good that could come of one's efforts. (See Living Life As A Life Champion.)
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NOT WASTING LIFE - MEASURING TWICE, CUTTING ONCE
Although we can make changes as we go, it is best to initially (and then with each need for change) go through a process of actually thinking things out. This would seem to be a bit of a "duh, doesn't everybody know that?!", blindingly obvious, unnecessary statement to make.
But the fact is that few people do it.
They let random events and "forces" determine this vital, key part of life - what we do for more than half of our time during the week! Does it make sense to be at the mercy of lack of knowledge, lack of thinking, and lack of effective tools determining a major part of our lives?!!!!?
And many people look back to see that they've blown alot of time because they never bothered to follow through on determining what is right.
URGENCY VS. IMPORTANCE, IMMEDIACY VERSUS BETTER RESULTS
Instead, we, meaning including me, get caught up in the urgency (vs. importance) of what to do next. (We solve the immediate problem of getting "something" and then leave ourselves with the long term problem of being in the "wrong something" - and draining our lives away, not too dissimilar to The Gradually Boiling Frog.)
And we make the mistake of wasting a huge amount of our lives by not following the Carpenter's Rule: "Measure twice, cut once."
Obviously, the carpenter who violates this rule has to throw away the wood that was cut wrongly, but in our lives we cannot (to my knowledge) "uncut" the wood. And we can't "uncut" or "unwaste" the wasted time and life.
FOR SUCCESS IN ANYTHING, FOLLOW THE RULES AND PRINCIPLES!
For success in anything that is important, obviously we must follow good rules. And we must also follow good processes, ones that will effectively get us what we want. (And often we need help to find and determine those rules, plus one heckuva lot of reading and learning.)
One process that is part of the overall process for success is "thinking time", what is often called "Perspective Time". This is where we step back to look at the big picture, all that is going on, how all the pieces fit together.
John Maxwell (and a few others) likens this to viewing things from 50,000 feet up and making your overall decisions from that vantage point. [Trying to see what the weather is like over the next mountain, when you are in a hot air balloon trip around the world, will be impossible at 100 feet up.]
This wisdom applies not only to the path you take for your career or going into a business, but to all of the key parts of one's life! Yet, very few "bother" to do it, as it seems either to be too hard (which it isn't; it's actually easier over time in total) or they, naively, think that they will learn life well randomly, by chance, and from not always reliable sources, without sufficient thinking and reasoning. [Now there is a big, big "duh!" But I fell victim to it, too, especially early on!]
A BIG CAUTION HERE - THIS IS ECONOMICS, AND REALITY
Although we want to be in a career or business that is "palatable" and/or fits with what we like to do, it is important not to forget the purpose of it all.
It does no good to be enjoying your career or business while the repossessors are taking back your furniture and cars. So, you've got to make sure you'll be making enough money to be able to afford a good life style for you.
Similar to the first stage in the Seven Stages Of Business, you want to find out what is wanted and needed by your customers (in this case employer, probably) - and how much they'll pay!
If you earn little per hour, then you will be spending many more hours either working or doing what you could maybe purchase - and you'll lose alot of hours that you could have used for other activities - and to enhance your life. It is therefore necessary to go into something that is an area where you are paid well (i.e. it is in demand) and where you can produce value (which is a basis for the pay anyway!). Somehow some people get stuck in the concept that because they are human beings, or simply present for the moment, that they should be paid well. That is a simple, rather naive, disconnect with reality. Reality is that we are paid for the value of what we produce, adjusted for the plentitude of people providing the same service.
There are many people who do not train sufficiently and who end up having to do low-skilled jobs or lesser-skilled jobs or not-high-skilled jobs. They have lots of competition, since there are so many of them compared to the number of jobs to be filled - and that drives down the price (wages) for their services.
And there is little value created, which, of course, affects how much can be paid!
THE CHOICE IS BASED ON A COMBINATION OF FACTORS
(Don't settle for less or fall into an expedient or easy choice - measure twice, cut once!)
It is presumed, and generally true, that you will be happier and more productive when you are doing a job you are:
__ 1. Interested in (you like to do)
__ 2. Believe in (you feel you are producing something of value to a higher cause or
your customers)
__ 3. Have an aptitude for (you do the job better than most people and/or it is easier
for you to do [meaning not painful or too effortful or too hard to do]
But one that:
__ 1. Provides enough money.
__ 2. Fits in with a workable lifestyle [small business requiring your presence and lots
of hours isn't workable; possibly restaurants, motels, entertainment centers, and
such]
__ 3. And doesn't deplete you for living the other parts of your life.
Can you see that it is improbable that you are sufficiently skilled at this to make a good choice? And that this is an instance where you should follow one of the key principles of being effective in life: use an expert to leverage your choosing well! [Only a fool, once he is aware of this, will not choose this! But we do fall into being fools every time we fail to stop and think of what would be the best process/method of achieving what we want in life.]
AND, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, DON'T...
Don't pick a job or business that will lead your life into mediocrity, not feeling good about yourself, and/or boredom - those are all slow death or, as one person puts it, we become "dead men walking."
Insufficient challenge is the key to deterioration and to never succeeding in going beyond Groundhog Day!!! (Watch the movie if you haven't seen it, before reading about it.)
FIRST, IDENTIFY THE PROCESS
Since one of the less than wise choices in life is to use the advice of the unknowledgeable or partially knowledgeable, I am urging you to implement this process using an expert in the area. [Seems obvious, but most of us fail to operate by this simple truth!]
In order to do this or any similar process correctly we must widen the perspective and the search (which admittedly takes more time than just jumping or being impulsive) and then, and only then, beginning the narrowing down process. The payoff is huge, as it will affect the rest of your life!!!!
__ Discover what your aptitudes and interests are (read the two key books
__ Discover what professions and jobs fits you.
__ Discover which are lucrative enough
__ Find the best opportunities
NEXT, IMPLEMENT THE PROCESS
As part of the process, one must follow through and measure twice and cut once, truly. It will not work to do extensive identification of aptitudes and interests and traits if one does not engage with a professional to support you in completing the process.
FOR A JOB OR CAREER CHANGE
AVOIDING THE MOST COMMON MISTAKE
The most common mistake is having very narrow focus that is limited to what seems immediately available. It causes us to be operating from convenience and immediacy instead of from wide, wise perspective.
An example would be when a parent frequents a business that is a "mom and pop" operation and the son or daughter is looking for a job. The business is available and it seems that the son or daughter is more than willing to do the work. But, actually, little is known about how it would be to operate the business, not from the angle of being successful but from the angle of whether it would be fulfilling or boring or limiting or something else that is harmful or diminishing.
DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF CONVENIENCE. GET PERSPECTIVE! BROADEN THE CHOICES! MAKE A "BEST FIT"! AND LIFE WILL BE MUCH BETTER FOR HAVING DONE IT!
