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11 Costly Mistakes Career-Seekers Make Without Even Knowing It

September, 2003

Bill Dueease

Most people spend approximately 25 percent to more than 67 percent of their waking hours working. Eventually, most everyone will want to work in a career that they enjoy doing and are paid well enough to live a prosperous life. Yet, far too many people end up being miserable in their job and find themselves stuck in a career that they did not choose and do not like. Falling into an unhappy work rut does not have to happen and can be corrected. By avoiding the 11 mistakes below you will make your next career move the one you've always wanted.

1. Following the normal trial-and-error career selection process.
Many people follow the same trial-and-error path to work. You take a job that appears to be the best opportunity and try it out. You adjust to what your bosses and the company want in hopes of advancement. You eventually discover that you are stuck in a job or a career that you really don't like.
2. Following a career path to please others.
Many other people feel obligated to follow a career to please others or that they feel they should pursue. Spousal influence, peer pressure, family tradition, parental pressure, society pressure and other outside pressures are frequently allowed to dictate career paths. In these situations you end up working to suit the needs, wants and expectations of someone other than yourself and deep conflicts will arise.

3. Failing to focus first on what you want and enjoy in your ideal career.
You have your own inner wants, needs and feelings, but you have undoubtedly suppressed them to suit others and to conform. Many times it is easier to follow how others view you than to look for and accept the truth. You end up in an unhappy career that you followed because of confusion about who you really are.

4. Failing to discover your true passions.
Most people are passionate about doing certain things, but have suppressed feeling them because of a number of reasons. Your passions are still with you and you probably do not recognize or understand them. You will know you are passionate about doing something when you become naturally excited even about the thought of doing it and more excited about doing it.

5. Failing to discover your true desires and priorities.
Most people do not take the time to discover what their desires and priorities are in life. They seem to just go with the flow and hope that they are heading in the right direction. People tend to suppress their desires for the sake of others. An example of a desire is: wanting to work outdoors with people. An example of a priority is: placing your family first. Developing your ideal career around your desires and priorities will relieve you of much of the stress you feel today.

6. Failing to discover your true values.
Everyone has his or her own value system. Unfortunately, people rarely look into them and more often than not accept the values imposed by the companies they work for. Just look at the damage caused to the many employees of Enron, World Com, Global Crossing and others whose beliefs did not agree with the misguided values of the CEOs and higher executives. Were all of the employees misguided? Certainly not. Most had very honest values but were penalized anyway.

7. Failing to discover your true talents.
Far too many people determine it is necessary to incur pain and suffering to earn a living. Yet, the most productive and enjoyable work positions are ones that come naturally and are easier to do because they fit your talent and skill levels. You will enjoy working, be much more productive, and generate more quality results when you maximize the use of your talents at work. Your increased productivity and higher quality results will attract greater rewards for you.

8. Failing to create or find the position that matches you.
Unfortunately, many people who know what their ideal income position really is choose not to pursue it. Either they feel guilty pursuing it, or they feel that it is unattainable, or more frequently they do not know how to get it. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to be happy in your work. You want to find or create the position that will allow you to fulfill your passions, desires, values and talents. Believe it or not, the more you know about yourself, the easier it will be to create or find your ideal position. You will also be very surprised about how easy it is to actually get the position you love.

9. Failing to get help from the right person.
People are led to believe that they can easily look within themselves and discover what is there on their own. Self-help books and assessment tests claim that reading the book or taking the tests will reveal all you need to get your ideal career. Yet, both methods fall very short of actually getting to the truth. They only partially cover a very limited percentage of the issues that are important to discovering your ideal position. Discovering what you really want, what your true talents or values are is not a self-help process.
We humans cannot see our face without using a mirror or a photographic image. Just as you must look into a mirror to see what you really look like, you must have another person act as your objective mirror to see what you really want to do and be in life.

10. Believing you will discover your inner self overnight.
You have spent your entire life suppressing and overlooking your inner wants and values. You have also developed an opinion of yourself that was partially if not almost completely imposed upon you by others. It will take time to dig into and sort through everything to actually discover the truth about you. With the help of a person who will care enough about you to provide you with an objective mirror, you discover the key truths about yourself in three to five months. Otherwise, it might take many more months and even years.

11. Failing to recognize that your career wants and needs will change.
Many people think that because they finally found the position that they really like that they will want to stay in it forever. The position that is ideal today will probably not be ideal in a couple of years. Why? Because your passions, desires, priorities and needs will most likely change with time. Your values, or at least your understanding of your values, might also change.

Provided as an educational service by Bill Dueease of The Coach Connection. You may receive a free copy of the article "9 Secrets to Getting the Job You Really Want" by contacting The Coach Connection at (800) 887-7214 or (239) 415-1777 or coaches@findyourcoach.com





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