Think and Grow Rich 8: Make your own career decisions

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/amylovesyah If you are at the place of choosing or changing careers, pay attention to one of the most important decisions you will make: where and for whom you will work. Of course we would pay attention. We would protest quite loudly if asked whether we were letting someone else decide our future. Let's find out by answering and scoring these yes-no questions. The scoring key is below the questions: 1. Have you researched an employer for whom you want to work? 2. Have you asked a contact for the name of someone who works at that company? 3. Have you found that person and asked them about the culture, work, and people? 4. Have you conducted an informational interview or a career development interview with a decision-maker? 5. Have you maintained contact with these people even if the company had no openings? If you answered yes to none of the questions: You're still standing in the parking lot. Yes to one question: Sitting in your car but it's not running. Yes to two questions. Keys are in the ignition. Yes to three questions. You're rolling. Yes to four questions. You're humming along in the right direction. Yes to five questions. Zoom-zoom. If we put off planning and deciding what we want, we are letting someone else decide our future, our lifestyle, and our financial destiny. ______________________________________ Think and Grow Your Career, Part 8 of 10 "Ninety-eight out of every 100 people working for wages today are in the positions they hold because they lacked the definiteness of decision to plan a definite position and the knowledge of how to choose an employer." Napoleon Hill wrote those words during the Great Depression in the best-selling business book of all time, "Think and Grow Rich." Over the course of 20 years, Hill interviewed and observed many of the most affluent and successful people of the early 20th century to find a recipe for success. In the book, he offers eight steps to success: 1. Desire 2. Faith 3. Autosuggestion 4. Specialized knowledge 5. Imagination 6. Organized planning 7. Decision 8. Persistence Step 7 is Decision, in Hill's own words, the mastery of procrastination. More than risky ventures or life in the fast lane, lack of decision causes failures, and Hill says we are all caught in its web at one time or another. We just can't make up our minds. We put it off. We find something else to do instead. We are too busy to get around to it. Those are the times we are not in charge. Keeping a job search or career change on track requires a dedication to ourselves we may not be used to. Perhaps we put others first. Perhaps our plans are not thorough enough. There are a thousand reasons that a search unravels. Find out what yours are and replace them with habits of perseverance and planning. Then, follow the five steps above to determine who qualifies to employ you. Copyright © 2010, Jeri Hird Dutcher. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Reprinted by permission of Jeri Hird Dutcher, nationally certified career coach and resume writer.