Choosing a Career – Applying the ASAP Method

Gary Crossley, a specialist in career transitions, offers that we should strike a balance while selecting a career to pursue. Sound advice for striking the required balance is to use the ASAP method of career choice:

         A = Assessment
         S = Skills
         A = Analysis
         P = Preparation

He is not trying to rush things "As Soon As Possible". Rather, he illustrates four critical steps to success that have to be carried out in a timely and deliberate way.  If you work through these four items you are likely to make a wise choice good for your particular situation.

Read more of Gary's thoughts on this matter at http://informationanthology.net/CareerMentor/Choosing-Career.html.

Take Priority Action

Action is the fuel of success. One begins with a vision, refines that vision into goals, refines the goals into plans, and refines the plans into daily actions.

Marianne Van Weezep has written a very good introduction to this topic. She says action has to be derived from priorities and that priorities should be grouped in three categories. Our choice of action needs to be based on an objective understanding of priorities.

See more of what Van Weezep has to say on this topic at http://informationanthology.net/CareerMentor/Priority-Action.html.

Differentiating Yourself

Standing head and shoulders above the crowd is necessary for career success. Here are two quotes to think about:

If lots of things were easy, anyone and everyone would do them. The term for this, commoditization, really means nobody makes any money doing it. It's the hard that keeps average participants away from some things, and makes the effort of the few who tackle the problem and deliver results valuable. The way to financial success is to take something hard, so much so, few other people can do it, and make it look easy.

    - Don Dingee, Editor, Industrial Embedded Systems Magazine

A successful person disciplines themselves to do regularly and whenever necessary those things that most people do not want to do.

    - Daniel R. Murphy, Coach, Self-education and development

Read more of Murphy’s thoughts on this matter: http://informationanthology.net/CareerMentor/Aim-At-Success.html.

Be Encouraged

You can achieve considerable success in your career. It is possible to overcome what most people call discrimination, accidents of birth, and late blooming as you continue down the path you prefer. But, you will find that it is not something to be done casually. There are no get-rich-quick schemes, no 90-day wonders, and no labor-free approaches to a successful career. If you want success, you have to reach for it. That reaching takes time and effort: a continuous cycle of studying, learning, working, and producing. In this personal enterprise, you will find great joy and solid employment opportunities.

That this is true is demonstrated by my own experience. You can read about that in a longer article: http://informationanthology.net/CareerMentor/Encouragement.html.