Aug 16
2009

If the corporate world is, indeed, moving in the direction of less and less security and “benefits”, then what are the options?
There’s an old saying “If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting”. The implication being that if you want better, you need to get better. Unfortunately, it’s not even that good any more. Time was, you could keep your head down, put up with the crap and “wait for 30″. Ask the folks at GM and Chrysler how that’s working for them!

Today, the nearest to that is getting hired by a temp agency and hoping they’ll keep you “placed”. How does a lifetime of entry-level pay, no benefits and no security sound?

In “Alice in Wonderland”, Alice is trying to decide:

…
Alice: Oh, no, no. I was just wondering if you could help me find my way.
Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.
Alice: Oh, it really doesn’t matter, as long as…
Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn’t matter which way you go.
…

Perhaps, a more structured approach is called for. My personal experience, and that of many others I’ve known and read of, is that the place to start is with your dreams and then begin to think about plans. Oh, by the way, Goals come between Dreams and Plans

OK, you’ve decided to do – something. Scary, isn’t it? Odds are you need some new skills.

First, realize that the road you are starting down has been travelled by thousands or millions of others. People who’ve suffered as you have and have said “ENOUGH!”. You don’t know it yet, but those people think well of you for having decided to make a change. They know how hard it was for you because they did it too! They want to help you. They teach, they coach, they write books, they make videos, they do everything they can think of to reach out to people like you.

These new skills fall into two broad categories:

Can you do what you’ve decided on by yourself? Probably not! And, it’s way more fun and way less scary with help. Where do you find help? Re-read Chapter 10 of “Think and Grow Rich” by Napolean Hill. Oh, you haven’t read “Think and Grow Rich”? You don’t mean to tell me that your wonderful government school didn’t include this most basic resource in your curriculum? Well, Chapter 10 is about creating what Mr Hill calls a “Master Mind”. You can think of this group of people as your “board of directors”. These are the people that advise you, tell you what you don’t want to hear, cheer you on, listen to you bitch, … When you have truly decided to do, to be something better, you will have no problem finding such a group. Places to start include:

  • Church
  • Civic Organizations
  • Coaches / Mentors