Career Management - Control Your Destiny, Manage Your Career

Live up to your dreams. Most people live up to their incomes instead of up to their dreams and a life of fulfillment. They let yearnings for ephemeral status and instant gratification derail the work it requires to bring life's dreams to reality. Commit to your dreams and more importantly to the pursuit of plans that will bring them to life.

Commit to your enlightened self-interest. You are somewhere in the midst of a half century work life, in which the statistics tell us, you are likely to have three or more distinct careers and on average will change jobs about once every four years.

Strategic career moves don't just happen, they begin with an awareness of the reality in which they will be pursued and the commitment to learn the strategies that will make them happen.

Make this the year you cease blind loyalty to a corporation that has none for you. In its place commit to enlightened self-interest and the long-term economic survival of " Me Inc."

Protect your job and boost your employability. Protect the job you have, for the security it brings and as a foundation for future growth. Everyday, technology changes the skills you need to compete in the workplace, so if you are not consistently developing new skills, you are being paid for abilities that are rapidly becoming obsolete.

There are a number of ways to maximize your skills, but the first steps always involve

1. Competitive analysis. Collect job postings for the job you hold now. Develop the skills that make you desirable to this employer and other companies.
2. Identify your next step up the professional ladder. Collect some more job postings for this promotion job title and do a GAP analysis between the skills you have and the skills you need to develop for that next step; develop these skills.
3. Talk to your boss, let him or her know you are committed to your job and making a difference with your presence in the department; ask about ways to improve your skills and performance, ask about how you can help.
4. Implement the advice, and follow-up informally every 6-8 weeks to communicate both your commitment and progress; this establishes credibility and visibility where it counts.
5. Look for problems that need solving, be alert for vacuums and volunteer to fill them. Make every effort to demonstrate that you are a committed team player.

Visible commitment and consistent skill development will result in inner-circle membership, better assignments, better raises, a more secure job and greater potential for promotion. Simultaneously, you will become a more desirable professional to other employers, further protecting your economic survival. Commit to execution of programs that secure your professional viability.