Career Goals: If You Fail to Plan, Your Plan will Fail
One of the most important aspects of your life is establishing what type of career you wish to pursue, as you will spend most of your time at work.
And as you will be doing so, I strongly suggest you choose a career that you really enjoy; otherwise, you will feel like you are earning every single cent.
Most people will go for the big salary and then choose the industry that goes with it, only to discover later in life that they are miserable and wish they could do something else.
If you are searching for an occupation and don’t know which road to take, I strongly encourage you to sit down and ask yourself the one question that will assist you in your decision: Would you choose this career whether you were paid or not?
You see, the trick is finding a career that you enjoy and would do anyway because you will feel like you are not working at all. The best type of job (which stands for “just on broke” by the way) is the one where you can turn one of your hobbies into a regular income because you never feel like you are working at all. The bonus is you will feel as though you are being paid for nothing.
Wouldn’t that be better than working just for the money?
If you cannot find an employer that meets your criteria, then start your own business and the money will come later. The more time you spend on your business, the more enjoyment you will have.
I was fortunate at a young age to be introduced to the music industry, which became one of my hobbies. I spent countless hours for years playing musical instruments, singing and dancing, and was blessed to transform my hobby into a full-blown professional career by the time I was twenty-five.
And for the next twenty-five years, I loved every minute of my so-called “job “. I never really considered myself as having to work for a living, as I would have done it anyway. I never was bored, tired or felt the need to have a vacation, as I was on a vacation all year round. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful way to work and actually look forward to doing your daily duties?
You can and you will, but don’t expect to accomplish this unless you have written goals to guide you on how you can achieve this.
If you want that career of your dreams, this is where a plan of action comes into play. Yes, a road map that will take you step-by-step to where you want to go. One that brings you closer and closer to what you want. Makes sense, but how many people do this? Not many.
Why do people go through life with no plans or goals and get disappointed when they do not reach their destination or dream?
They just wander through life, wishing and hoping that they will get there one day, and that day never comes. Would you board a plane that had no compass or flight plan to tell the pilots where they needed to go to reach their destination?
And when you ask the pilot where the plane is heading, he remarks, “I am not really sure. I am just going to wing it and see where we end up.” It sounds ridiculous, but that is what you actually are doing if you have no goals or plans for how to achieve your dream career (or life, for that matter).
A plan of action keeps you on track when you get side-tracked with life circumstances. It keeps your mind refreshed constantly on what needs to be done to get where you want to be in any area of your life.
Going back to the plane analogy, did you know that when a plane departs from the runway and engages the autopilot to take control, the aircraft is actually off-course 95 percent of the time?
What happens is the autopilot’s job is re-aligning its position every single time the plane goes off-course. And so it is in life. You need your plan of action to re-align your life’s destination and bring it back on course. This way, you are in control of your life and career and not feeling like a victim of circumstances. You take complete control of your career with no excuses. You plan to win!!!
It makes you a victor instead of a victim.
