Stage a career coup

What do you plan to do with your career? Do you want to continue wherever you are or do you intend changing your career? Do you have it in mind to move somewhere else where you may get a higher appointment, have an opportunity to earn more and be more contended? Perhaps you seek to work in a more challenging environment, apply your current skills more meaningfully or acquire additional qualifications.

You may be prompted to do a career change by several factors. However, the major one is undoubtedly your desire to realize the unfathomable capabilities that are inherent in you. The following three initiatives will stand you in good stead and help you succeed in your career:

·  Assess & appreciate:  You need to figure out where you stand today and where you would like to be tomorrow. There will be none who would seem to not be in the correct slot – by virtue of their good luck and the influence that they were able to exert. To bring about such circumstances, you have to work hard. Getting into an ideal job calls for keeping your wits about; keeping your eyes and ears open; maintaining poise; having resolve; and understanding yourself. The maiden step therefore, is to know your inclinations, talent, qualifications, capabilities and expertise. Based on them, you should be able to discern organizations that would take you and identify appointments that could be tenable by you. You will have to research seriously and evaluate acutely all the pros and cons of a career before actually taking it up.       

·  Believe & build:  It is essential that before you start, you should be clear about the wherewithal necessary to take you where you seek to be. You need to plan, even if it is a broad-spectrum one. Remember that if you have a dream, you still need a plan to make it an actuality. Every activity has six components – five Ws and one H – what you intend doing, where you want to do, who would you like to be doing with, why you want to do it, when you will prefer doing it and how you would be going about. Your plan should also encompass these aspects and may extend to a period of ten years or even more. It could well entail gaining an employment, acquiring additional educational qualifications, starting a business venture or simply going around the world. The aim of making a plan is to maintain focus on your doings by having an arrangement for execution. The journey will have its ups and downs; and you will have to modify your plans from time to time. And of course there will also be pleasant developments that will usher in other changes as well, necessitating alterations to your plan. You may embark on something altogether new and what you never thought of initially. That is what the spice of life is all about; you will realize that mid-term corrections will bring about satisfying expansions too.  

·  Compose & combine:  Having made a plan, you need to identify ways and means to get into the movement mode. It is all about putting your plan in place by deciding on the best option available to you. You would have done some things already without having realized them. But there will be numerous ones that call for serious contemplation and effort. Career success demands time, judgment and vigour. If you have a mentor, you will be guided in all your actions. His or her partnership will be valuable; you should clarify all your doubts. It is important that you commemorate every inch of success and not get disillusioned; if there happens to be dull moments, you should work harder still to recover from them. In other words, you should not abandon the wheel and remain at the helm of your plans. You should strive to pursue excellence and nothing below it.

Opportunity is rather difficult to recognize; it will never beckon you. It is a bird that will never perch. You will find it tough to distinguish its knock from other raps in your life. You have to be out and seize it – by its very beard because it is bald behind. And once you clutch it, you are on the way to stage a career coup.