Use the Library
One of the best sources of information are books; books at the library. Libraries are full of all the information in the world that can make you successful.
Where to start, you ask?
Biographies and Autobiographies
Thousands of amazing people have lived before us. Times and situations change, but people are the same throughout generations. Read biographies and autobiographies about people you either admire or would like to better understand.
Seneca was a Roman Philosopher who lived in the first century AD. He had a brilliant mind and he wrote about a wide variety of topics. Although he died in 65 AD, his advice is as accurate and helpful today as it was 2000 years ago. How cool is that?
The great thing about biographies and autobiographies is that you can learn from the successes and failures of others, without having to go through those yourself. Yes, you will make mistakes in life, but you don’t have the make the same mistakes other people have made!
George S. Patton
During World War II, one of most victorious leaders of the Allied Forces was George S. Patton. Would you like to guess why he was so successful?
The reason for Patton’s success was that he carefully studied every battle ever fought (in known history) for each specific battlefield. Since his "theater of operation" was Europe, there were well-documented battles.
Patton learned the mistakes made, why the winners were victorious and all that was important. When he and his army went into combat, they had all the advantages learned from a thousand years of history.
Read biographies and autobiographies to absorb the wisdom and commit to memory, learned lessons relevant to you. You won't be disappointed.
Summary
Coaching yourself will take real work, persistence, and resources.
Choose your role models carefully. Adopt traits and skills that will make you the person you want to be. You can do this for both your personal life and career.
Read biographies and autobiographies to learn from others.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Who is someone I know that's smarter or better at something than I am?
Would this person make a good role model for me?
What skills and traits would I like to learn and adopt?
(Ask these questions as many times as needed, to create a list of role models).
Additional Resources
WikiHow Article–How to Choose a Role Model
US News and World Reports-"6 Tips for Choosing a Good Role Model"
US News and World Reports-"7 Types of Friends You Need to Break Up With"
TutorialsPoint.com Article-"What You Can Learn from Biographies"
Chapter 3: The Right Questions
“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.”
~ Thomas Berger
Lesson 2: Ask the Right Questions
Life, career, relationships, problems, everything is about asking the right questions. You need not know everything, but you need to be able to find everything.
The way to find everything is by asking the right questions. You should learn how to ask about the right thing, at the right time, to the right people.
How many times in your life have you wished you had asked more of the right questions before deciding?
Some Questions are Tougher than Others
Years ago, Bob sat across from an employee on his first day of work. He was new to the company and wanted to get to know all the employees he had just been given to manage. He started with these questions: “Where do you want to be in your career in 10 years? What would you like to be doing?” There was a dead silence, and a puzzled look on the employee’s face. After about 10 seconds, he said “Ah,... I don’t know.”
The second, third and fourth person gave Bob a similar answer. The fifth person said, "I'd like to be a manager someday." Eighty percent of his employees had no idea where they wanted to be in their career or what they wanted to do in 10 years. (These people had already been in their careers for 5 to 15 years).
Have you asked yourself this question yet? Where do I want to be in my career in 10 years? If so, write your answer down as a statement in your notebook:
“In 10 years, I want to be
If you don’t have an answer that’s okay. Most people don’t know what they want or where they want to be in 10 years–this concept just seems too far away for most people to consider. In reality, 10 years is right around the corner and when it gets here, you will either be happy or unhappy about your career situation. Which would you prefer?
Identify where you would like to be and what you would like to be doing in 10 years. Why should you know where you want to be in 10 years? Because in 10 years you will be somewhere, doing something. Shouldn’t it be where and what you want?
The alternative is to buy a lottery ticket and just let things happen.
Lesson 3: Career Focused Questions
The toughest question to answer is the one for which you have no knowledge. Here are some tough questions:
Where do I want to be in 10 years? How will I get there?
Where will I end up if I stay in the current career path?
Am I doing what I really love to do?
Can I do something else or is it too late?
Where do I want to be in 10 years?
Only you know what you want in life and in a career. So you need to be honest with yourself and have enough of the right information to make good decisions. Next, you must build a well designed and thought out plan. Then you must carry out that plan until you reach your goal.
If you don’t know what you want to be in 10 years, it will require work to figure it out. One way is by taking inventory of your interests and looking at career paths that already exist. It is paramount that you enjoy work and are challenged by it. Otherwise, you won't be superb at it or successful.
Here is a website with tons of useful information about careers: https://www.onetonline.org/.
If you do not know what you want to do, you can take an interest assessment and use the resources on this website: https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/ACINet.aspx.
This website can help you see what other jobs you can do with your current skill set:
https://www.myskillsmyfuture.org/.
Another way of deciding what you want to be in 10 years is by doing short interviews with people at different career levels at work area that interests you–be it Marketing, Engineering, Medicine, Art, whatever. It is easiest to interview people at your current company, but you can talk with anyone you know that works in your career area of interest.
Again, what questions should you ask? Here is a starter list:
Can you give me an overview of your career and how you got to your current job?
What do you like about this job?
What do you dislike?
If you had to start all over, how would you prepare to have a job like this one?
What specific skills do you use?
What skills do you wish you had that you could use?
If you were in my position, what questions would you ask?
What else would you like me to know?
What else? (Continuing to ask “What else” is a subtle way to engage their brainstorming. There may be 10 more “what else” or none. It depends on the person). Always ask this question until the other person runs out of answers.
After the discussion, thank them for their time and expertise. Take good notes and research anything you learned about in the discussion. After two days, send an email thanking them again.
Brainstorming Exercise
Everyone has a little voice that tells them things. You might call this “your subconscious.” One of the simplest ways to answer the question of “Where do I want to be in 10 years?” is by brainstorming. Here is one example of brainstorming:
This exercise will help you identify people you know and admire a
t your company (if employed) or at one of your previous companies. Once you have identified these people, answer this question: What is each of their current job titles? Write the job titles on the worksheet provided. Download free PDF Files.
Next, research those identified jobs on the Internet. In the search engine, you can type the job title and the job description and press the Enter key. For example, if one job is a Marketing Director, type "marketing director job description" into the search engine.
The results page should provide many links to current job descriptions in that field of interest. Read several of those descriptions.
Next question: Do 70% of these job descriptions seem like something that would interest you?
If the answer is yes, you can interview people that have that position (see above).
If the answer is no, look at the next job description on your list (worksheet is available online: Download free PDF Files) and repeat the process.
How will I get there?
In Maine, there's a saying: “You can’t get there from here.” That is also true for plotting your career–you can’t plot it from step 1 to step 10 (start to completion). Plot your course in reverse, step 10 to step 1–it is much easier.
For example, to be a Director of Information Technology, you first need to be a Technology Manager. Before you can be a Technology Manager, you need to have some Senior Engineer (either Software, Hardware or Firmware) experience and complete management training (the more formalized the program, the better). To be a Senior Engineer, you first need 5 or more years as an Engineer. To be an Engineer, you first need to have either a strong proven technical background or a Bachelor's of Science in one of the Engineering areas or both. There will be additional skill sets you will need to develop to be fully proficient.
Does that make sense?
If it doesn’t make sense, here is one more example: Consider an upside-down pyramid. The top is the largest section titled “Director of Information Technology” and requires the most experience and knowledge. At the bottom is “Engineering Student”. You most likely will be in one level between the top and bottom levels. Each job has a description of all required tasks and skills.
Once you identify the tasks and skills, you can put these in your professional development plan, as appropriate, so that when your opportunity arrives, you will have the required skills.
Where will I end up if I stay in the current career path?
An easy way to see a career path is by looking at your business organization and the people more senior than you. You can also look at lateral paths. For example, if you are in Marketing, you could look at a Sales organization and the paths it can provide. If you are an EMT (Emergency Management Technician) but you’re tired of riding around in an ambulance all day, you might work in a Hospital Emergency Room and becoming a Nurse.
Where you end up is anyone’s guess or a place of your choosing. If you want it to be a place of your choosing, you need an excellent plan. Also, you need a strong network of business and professional contacts (more on that later). This is the best way to get to a place of your choosing.
The destination may change. That's okay. The important thing is to keep moving forward in your chosen direction. If you adapt and react to opportunities and take whatever comes along, you will get somewhere, but it will most likely not be where you want to be. Eventually, you may even box yourself into a corner.
Am I doing what I really love to do?
Your answer should be yes. If it isn't, you need to find something else to do.
If going to work, doesn't “fire up your engines” and get you exciting about the coming day, that’s no way to live. But before you leave this job, first determine the cause of your feelings. The reason can be any or all of: the Manager, the Job, or the Company.
It’s the Manager
If you’re in a position, assess why you are unhappy. If you like the work, but not the person you work for, no worries. Managers don't stay in the same organization long. The average time for a manager is about 18 months.
Likewise, if you love your manager that’s fine. Either way, this manager will go somewhere else soon. (See the section on Managing your Manager).
Does that change your perspective on the job you are doing now?
It’s the Job
If the problem is the job and not the manager you have several choices. These choices include:
Find another job function that's more interesting in the same organization. Sometimes spending time cross-training in a different job can be an eye-opening, enjoyable and fruitful experience.
You can find another job in another organization at the same company.
You can find another job in another company (but if you like the company, that may not be the best choice).
You can talk with your manager, develop the relationship and trust equity. When the manager leaves, they could take you with them.
Your manager may help you find another job that better suits your interests at the current company.
Does that change your perspective on the job you are doing now?
It’s the Company
If the company or its culture is the problem, know this: it will not change and rarely will get better while you are there, unless there has been a large event that's causing a paradigm shift. There are excellent companies, okay companies and companies you should just run from. Sorry, but that’s the truth.
What do you do if the company is the problem? That’s up to you. If your manager insulates you from most of the problems, consider yourself lucky, those managers are rare. Leaving the company may not be the best choice.
If you’re working at a company where management micromanages everyone, or it’s a toxic work environment, the best way to proceed is to update your resume (which should always be up to date), and talk with your friends and outside colleagues about their company. You can do informational interviews with them as discussed previously. Choose your time to leave ONLY after you have found and accepted another job because it is always easier to find a job when you have one.
Often the best jobs found are through other people and they do not advertise these positions to the public. The reason for this is managers like to hire either people they know and trust or by personal referral within their own department.
You can look at company ratings on these sites:
www.GlassDoor.com
www.indeed.com/companies
Either of these sites will tell you the good, the terrible and the downright ugly about almost any company in the United States. Read a lot of the reviews to look for common themes and problems. Don’t just look at the number or star ratings. The good stuff you want to know is in the comments that people write.
One thing to keep in mind: no company is perfect, nor are the people that work there. So using sources like Glass Door help narrow down a list of companies to consider. Those websites are not the only source of information. Use your network to find people that work at companies of interest and speak with them about their company. Offer to buy them coffee and meet them as their schedule permits.
Questions (open-ended when possible) to ask:
Can you give me an idea of what it’s like to work at your company?
How long have you worked there?
What’s the corporate culture like?
Have you worked with the same people for years, or do people usually move around or leave the company after a year or two there?
What do you like about this company?
What do you dislike about this company?
How long do you think you will work at this company?
What are the benefits besides salary available at your company? What do you think about those?
Also, ask questions you think are helpful to understand the company. You should know within about 30 minutes if this is a company you want to consider or if it’s a company to avoid.
Can I do something else or is it too late?
The short an
swer is “Yes,” you can do something else. Unless you are at the end of your career, it isn't too late (and even then many people create a “second act” or career for themselves). It may take more work, persistence, creativity and lots of thinking, but it’s definitely possible to do something else in your career at almost any time.
The important questions to ask yourself are:
Why am I asking this question?
Why am I unhappy or unfulfilled?
Am I prepared to do the work it will take to change careers?
What do I know about the career of interest?
Summary
In your career, it is very important to have a 10-year plan. Build the plan in reverse so you start with the end goal and work your way back to your current position. Define requirements and skills you must gain for each step of the plan.
Only you will make your success happen. The way you make it happen is by asking the right questions and acting on the answers you learn.
If you are unhappy at work, it is important for you to figure out why–It isn’t always the company.
You can change your career and life. It is up to you.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Do I have a 10-year plan?
Am I keeping this plan updated?
If I could develop one skill this year, what would that be?
If I could change one thing in my career this year, what would that be?
Are there any obstacles to my adding a skill or changing one thing? If so, how can I overcome those obstacles?
Additional Resources
Forbes Magazine-"Changing Careers: Signs You're Ready For A Change, And How To Make It Happen”
Glassdoor.com-"6 Things You *Don’t* Want to Hear About Changing Careers (But Need to Anyway)"
TheBalanceCareers.com – “10 Steps to a Successful Career Change”
Don’t Work Stupid, Coach Yourself Page 2