Your career passion

The levels of interest and excitement of people while at work varies from person to person. While some may feel that they are not on the correct path and they perennially run the risk of problems. On the other hand, people who are passionate, dynamism is automatic for them. The truth is that your zeal or your tedium is entirely contingent on you; and whether you move forward, stagnate or get pushed back is your own doing.  

Are you avid about your career? Do you realize the significance of having and developing career passion? Do you seek to see your career advantages multiply and usher in job contentment?

Workplaces today are different from they used to be two decades back. Everything is so rapidly changing that even a small quality has the prospect of a career opportunity. If you are able to enthuse yourself with regard to your work, you will certainly be able to make your life a stable one. However, the question is, how do you do it? Instead of trying to stroke enthusiasm and fervour around your career, you should make serious efforts to find out different factors that prompt you to be enthusiastic and fervent.  This will facilitate reaching newer career pinnacles.

I have been associated with an extremely proficient woman who had a very smooth career sailing for about a decade. But thereafter, she saw the end of the road. This condition made her re-think about her prospects and how best she could make use of her experience differently. So, she took a break and deliberated over various aspects of her career journey till date that offered her satisfaction. She was hardworking and capable of taking challenges head on. All along, she was known for her dynamism to lend new life to stagnating projects. It was her persuasive skills that made her influence others. And she did find for herself a fresh opening and is today holding a senior position – something that she had never envisioned.  Her professional satisfaction is sky-high and her future is evidently secure.

The above story ought to be serving as an inspiration for all of us to appreciate the need to be aware of the basic elements of our career that bolster passion and ardour. If we work with enthusiasm and not give up, fresh prospects will keep surfacing on a regular basis – all this despite the state of changes and flux at workplaces. Eventually, you will be able to attain a high degree of job security and thus remain in command of you career vehicle and career journey.

The importance of your career enthusiasm is indeed great and the manner in which it contributes to give you a good professional image is also great. In case you disregard it, your job will seem to be a dull and boring activity. The feeling of regret that you experience will always serve to remind you that you could have done better. Therefore, you must direct efforts to make the occasion into a memorable one. It is all about knowing your capabilities and what you seek to do. This will bestow the desired zeal in you on your professional front.

There is no way that you cannot be inspired. All you need to do is some brainstorming by asking yourself the following questions, drawing inferences and applying mid-term corrections:

·  Do you visualize that you will get pleasure if you embark on a new venture?

·  Do you envisage that any new undertaking will be stimulating for you?

·  Do you cheer whenever you put the last touches on any assignment?

·  Do you rejoice on completion of a work?

·  Do you love to hear people speak of contentious issues confronting them?

·  Do you feel the urge to help others overcome their challenges?

·  Do you get satisfaction if your boss accepts any of your proposals?

·  Do you feel important if you are called to contribute to somebody else's endeavour?

·  Do you feel happy if you induce the thought process of a client?

·  Do you derive pleasure if you hit upon an out-of-box approach to implement a project?

Remember that the most powerful weapon on earth is a human soul on fire. People will always throng to see you glow, so you do not have any option but to set yourself ablaze. Today, organisations tend to ignore individuals who do not ignite. If you are not passionate about your work, you will come to be regarded as a measly dormant individual with a similar likelihood, just like the primer of a cartridge that is of limited utility before the hammer strikes it to give out that crucial spark. Since passion and zeal drive accomplishments, one has no option but to put your heart and soul into anything that you undertake to do, ensuring concurrently that you remain pragmatic in your approach. You should chase your passion because without it you will lack energy and without energy you will be a big naught. 

Be a cut above others at work

Who does not want to be a leader at work? Every person, young or old, senior or junior aspires to get into limelight and be recognised as a cut above others. But to be able to carry that tag attached with one’s name, you need to be knowing the path on which you are moving, actually be moving on it and guiding others to do likewise. That is the essence of leadership. 

How do you go about achieving a position or status wherein everybody looks upon you? There are many techniques, some time-tested and some purely theoretical to do so. The following tips can be beneficial in this context:

· Shoulder responsibilities: If it is your desire to be an 'influence' at work, you need to take responsibility for possibly everything that has your signature on it. Remember that the price of greatness is responsibility and no action springs from contemplation, but from a willingness to shoulder responsibility. Accepting responsibility is mandatory to achieve success. This implies that so long as you are associated with an assignment, you are accountable for its failure. You need to accept responsibilities for all fiascos. There is nothing wrong if you go wrong, so you should accept responsibility for going wrong.

· Think win-win: You should always think win-win. The environment around you may believe that it is only through exploitation that a person can win, but you need not subscribe to such an ideology. On the contrary, you should have faith in yourself –a faith that can bring about a total transformation in the thought processes of your seniors, colleagues and subordinates alike. Without being offensive, the clout of upbeat influence that you may behaving on others should be made the most of. You should also exploit the sway that you are capable of wielding by way of boosting motivational and enthusiasm levels.

· Take reasonable risks: They say that a ship in harbour is safe – but is that what ships are meant for? Remember that if you have to eat an egg, you have to break the shell. So, if you want to win, you have to risk loss. Let not the scares of being derided make you a coward. Always keep a fruit tree in mind - if you want the fruit, you have to get on to the limb. Identify for yourself that crucial aspect that you believe in and that you are willing to take risk for. You may take simple risk like volunteering for an assignment that everybody else wants to stay away from. Be like a turtle - stick your neck out and you will move.

· Reduce your plans to writing: Somebody said that every written word is a victory over death. A leader at work is required to do something extraordinary and be active. If you want to be a leader at work, make that plan. If at all there are any brain waves that you get, reduce them to writing. These jottings may not be a map of action by any standards. If you do not write those thoughts, you will have no body to remind you about them. Therefore, jotting them down is the best way to keep a record of them.

· Seize opportunities: You will find opportunities to lead in abundance; efforts to generate them need not be made, even in the most difficult times. You simply have to be on the watch and if an opportunity knocks, you still have to get up from your chair and open the door. Today, opportunities exist in abundance but people are not qualified enough to clutch them. But yet people miss out on them because hard work is a prerequisite. Remember that you have to be out there waiting to grab an opportunity, even if it is one refused by others for any reason whatsoever.

· Accept criticism in correct spirit: If you are not open to censure or denigration, you are simply living your life without a meaning. You ought to be open-minded and receptive to ideas. Such ideas come for free and could be in the form of simple clues on how to improve oneself and fare better in life. This is precisely what a leader wants - regular response and reaction. The final proof however, lies in enduring criticism without any umbrage. Just as pain in the body is like ringing an alarm bell against disease, criticism invites your attention to the countless shortcomings in you and your workstyle. With criticism come newer ideas; and with newer ideas, a leader does not stop dead.

· Explore new ideas & options: They say that from what you get, you can make a living but from what you give, you can make a life. And that is exactly how you should be unlocking yourself. You must share your ideas and views with others. If you can understand your vulnerabilities, a stage will come when you will start appreciating them even. The cycle will thus go on – new ideas replacing old ones on a continuous basis. It may perhaps surprise you, but it is a fact that a majority of new ideas will come to you from your critics as also supporters, who obviously do not harbour any expectations from you. With more and more options available to you, you will be thrilled to experience an extraordinary intellectual strengthening. And that is how you will take on the mantle of a leader at work.

Your desire is the key to motivation, but your resolve and will power for an unalterable pursuit of your goal, which ought to be a commitment to excellence is what will enable you to attain the success that you seek. Remember that you will be what you repeatedly do and therefore, being a cut above others is not an act, but a habit.

Be a team player to succeed at work

No organisation ever wants any member of their staff to have differences among one another for any reason whatsoever. A friendly working atmosphere is every management’s valued need and therefore, companies want employees who are at ease working with others as by themselves. And anybody who does not fit into a team is unwelcome and sooner or later, finds himself out.

It is an established fact that no person can perform in a watertight compartment. A common goal is what is essential to succeed in all assignments. And that is made possible by working in a team. Employees, irrespective of their position or seniority certainly seek diversities in ideas and views, which, per se are enabled only if teamwork and team spirit prevails.  

Today, it is essential that individual penchants are cast off and substituted with those that encourage cooperation and collaboration. People who have all along been loners, notwithstanding their competence levels should start recognising and accepting the significance of and pledging to teamwork.

Functioning in a group implies that there are different forces acting on the prevailing atmosphere. There are bound to be wavering viewpoints with support to varied methodologies of executing tasks assigned. People will, in their own wisdom have different priorities. Under such circumstances, one should be tolerant and display good listening skills. Several never-thought-of options could be mooted and one should be amenable to them. And if one does not display a flexible approach, colossal problems in executing tasks will be encountered.  The following tips will help towards working in a team:

· Respect & admire others: The most important aspect is to respect the suggestions and viewpoints of others. In this game, there is no age factor, issue of experience or personal proximity that is involved. A conscientious person needs to be considerate to every team member, junior or senior, young or elderly and novice or experienced alike. Equal opportunities have to be afforded to all. It should be remembered that more often than not, out-of-the box ideas originate from quarters that are least expected. Another related but highly significant issue is caring for the time of fellow workers. If there are internal deadlines to me meet, there can be no alternatives. Punctuality and doing one’s homework ought to be the guiding principles.

· Shed all stringency & rigidity: The rudiments of teamwork are found in a flexible approach. One needs to have and adjustable working disposition. There are many people who like to be slow but steady. They are not impulsive, unlike others who exert in bits and pieces. Team work means convergence of ideas and adoption of an acceptable course of action, divergent notions that may be existing notwithstanding. The beacon of adaptability should always be functional. But giving in or acceding to others more than what is essential is incorrect too. One may be fairly reasonable and circumstances may exert pressure to succumb. There is no justification to unwarranted succumbing to external pressure tactics, when one is reasonable enough in put across viewpoints. Anybody who does so evidently ignores output considerations.

· Share & contribute: A bunch of individuals thrown inside a ring do not necessarily display teamwork or work in harmony. But it should not be forgotten that parts and fractions add up to more than their sum total. Hence the need to play a team game cannot be overemphasized. A healthy competition is an inescapable requirement in a team. But when such competition gives way to intra-team rivalry, volatility pervades the environment. Spirits of mutual trust or collective esteem take a beating. The focus should be to share everything available and everything possible - from thoughts to resources. Working for personal motive should be a big no-no and any tendency to climb the ladder individually should be discouraged. It is working together in harmony towards the achievement of a common objective that should never be lost sight of. Doing so will offer a wide spectrum of solutions to problems, several options and courses of action and more importantly, well-arrived at decisions.

· Be candid in your communications: The prime causative factor of success of a team is frankness with which ideas are exchanged. But regrettably, unambiguous communications continue to plague setups as a result, misgivings and misunderstandings creep in. People who are effective team players invariably do not conceal things. They are forthright and convey their points of view honestly, be they within the group or outside it. Calling a spade a spade is alright, but it should be done with due diligence. All communications are a two-way process. Speaking out one’s mind in a candid fashion also calls for listening patiently and accepting feedback, even if it is negative. But more significant is to put such feedback to good utility, that is, to become a better team player.

· Display interest & dedication: A person who is disinterested or who lacks perseverance is never welcome. Any individual having a focus of attention that lies elsewhere cannot fit into a team. So if one has to part of a tea, it has to be in letter and spirit. And if there happen to be deviations, the same will manifest in changed behavioural patterns. Any indifferent or unconcerned attitude will not go unnoticed. Dedication calls for sincerity of effort. It also means playing an active role. It is no point standing in the galleries like cheerleaders. What will matter is being where the action is. A my-horse-also-ran disposition is worthless and a person harbouring it is a non-performer.

Strength lies not in similarities but in differences. And if the differences come together, it is a good start; if they keep together, it is progress; and if they work together, it is success. Remember that no one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it. That sums up everything.

Your capabilities are your greatest assets

Are you yet to taste success? Are you sure that you will be successful in the foreseeable future? If the answer to any of these questions is not realistically optimistic, your career is not on the correct track. Therefore, you should leave no stone unturned to work towards achieving success and not waste your valuable time hoping that it will come on its own. You simply cannot keep waiting for the day when you will be able to rejoice and say that you made it happen.  

You need to understand what successful people are made of. They are all determined and assertive. Both these attributes kindle positivity. Successful people plan for their so that they are not taken by surprise at any given moment.  Most people are unable to emulate them and opine that success comes to people only if they are well-connected or luck favours them. They are unable to appreciate the success achieved by them and the causative factors that brought it about

Remember that success is not contingent on luck and that there is no stipulation on who will taste it and who will not. However, attaining success is no child’s play. If you follow certain basic tenets, you too can be successful. And any deviation from them will make things difficult from you. These imperatives are:

· Always count on success: Most of us have serious doubts on our own capabilities and forget that having confidence in own self is inescapable to achieve success. There should be an assertion from within that one can really do anything to attain success. Nobody will ever do that for you. It is only confidence alone that facilitates getting over difficult situations and in the process infuses optimism for a bright future. Can anything be done to acquire or increase confidence? It may take perhaps less than an hour to get to know where you stand; a written introspection will put the facts straight. You should jot down what your career has been all about in a candid manner and how you perceive your ideal life. A truthful account, will indicate to you a fairly detailed and meticulous depiction of the life you desire to lead. Whenever you experience a feeling of dejection or sense that your confidence level is going down, this description should automatically be thought of.

· Adopt a dynamic mode: Having reposed confidence in yourself and ascertained a model of success in your career, it is high time to search for and get a hold of specifics and essentials. One should now be considering how to march forward to make that model into a reality. The moment you have drafted a line of action, you have won half the battle. For example, you may be seeking to change your career. Are you suitably qualified for it? It is likely that you may require going through additional training; the costs involved for the same should be planned for. A pragmatic evaluation of these issues should be made note of along with what you steps you should be taking. A dynamic mode implies implementing those steps.

· Bestow yourself with success: Successful individuals do not postpone making efforts. Their confidence manifests when they assert by saying only "I will". If you have made up your mind to do something and have decided on how to go about it, you just have start doing it with all the strength at your command. You may get distracted but then determination entails not falling prey to such interruptions and interferences. This would call for a great degree of steadfastness and the ability to decline, when the situation so warrants. For a person who lacks nerve, it is indeed difficult to decline, cry off or refuse; but with little effort, this quality can be acquired.

· Be aware of your primary concerns: You may have made a plan and are totally committed to implementing it. But there would be various contingencies and alternatives too. There is thus a need to categorize them in a viable priority. If the plan made by you is pragmatic, a fairly long list of actions required to undertaken by you will be evident. However, you may not be able to undertake each and everything simultaneously. When to do what or what to do when, this is what needs to be decided by deliberating on each of them. Issues related to their criticality and time required to take them to their logical conclusion will have to be considered. Actions that are considered as not having immediate impact can well be put off for implementation subsequently.

· Be forward looking: There is nobody who can expect a bump-free career journey. There will be moments and circumstances when you will not be able to act at all. Such inability will be brought about by several reasons; you could well be plagued with fears and reservations as also difficulties. If you are prevented from working with the desired enthusiasm, you should start reflecting on the plan that has been made earlier. Efforts should be directed to get the best from the first step itself. It is important that you keep the larger mosaic in mind and in the process, view your efforts that have been put in. This would serve as a motivation to not only move forward but also be hopeful about the shape of things to follow.

The crux of the matter is that one should be strongminded, unyielding and unwavering in your life. Your capabilities are your biggest assets and you need to be confident of them.

Embark on a rousing & stirring career

Career selection has always been a knotty issue. In the present times, when practically every sphere of activity stands altered to a commercial pursuit, the state of affairs stand further complex and complicated. Therefore, one should weigh various factors in a holistic manner before going in for a career that is truly stimulating and suitable in relation to one's own likes and likes.  

There were times when career selection was based on conservative considerations. Today, most ordinary leisure pursuits and pastimes can be converted into highly profitable and rewarding careers. But in case if one is in doubt about what is fascinating and gratifying, the eventual outcome will be unhappiness and job dissatisfaction. Therefore, it is extremely significant for every person to discover the career that is most suitable and in conformity with his or her likings.

If you seek a career that is interesting, stimulating and lucrative, you need to reflect upon some factors in detail. In this context, some techniques are:

· Identify your real interests: Every individual has varying inclinations and innumerable interests; it is only that one interest is greater than the other. Such proclivities tend to change with age. That is why a kid interested in drawing today may shift attention to music tomorrow and eventually become an artist. With the passage of time, one gets to become more mature and resultantly capable of coming to a final decision regarding what they want to do in life.

· Search & survey: An ideal career can well be one of your leisure activities. Should it be one that does not serve you well, like a hobby, you can change it. Therefore, when selecting a career, you should always consider one that is your hobby or fad or an extension of it. In doing so, your entire career selection process becomes trouble-free and uncomplicated - something you can get pleasure from for certain. There is one more exciting method to discover your fascinations – reflect over the likelihood of you taking up a particular career without any remuneration. If your response is positive, there is every possibility of the same being a first-rate career option.

· Know your skills and talents: If any pursuit attracts your attention or you happen to take interest in a pastime, it does not imply that you possess the requisite capability to take it up as a career or line of work. Know-how and proficiency are two different things; combined together they mean skills. You have to make certain that you acquire the necessary skills for the career that you want to take up. Mere possession of skills is not sufficient; you also need to upgrade them on a continuous basis because they will eventually prompt you to continue with a career or not. Traits like or related to headship, voluntarism, sincerity, organizational ability or administrative acumen are helpful in deciding what career you would like to embark upon and continue with.

The career that matches your personality and skills flawlessly can be best weighed up based on the under-mentioned factors:

· Your outlook: The attitudinal requirements of each profession are different and in some cases, quite poles apart. While one may call for a very social outlook attitude, another may necessitate a very reticent attitude. It all depends on how much public dealings or social interaction and principled behaviour or upright functioning that could well be the qualitative requirement of a job. Since individual ideals vary from person to person, it could well be that you may land up in the wrong place. Therefore, you will have to take into account the kind of approaches and mind-sets that are at ease with.

·  Realistic issues involved: It is next to impossible for any person to embark on a career without considering involved financial angles. In fact, everybody looks at his or her career from the point of view of financial rewards that it offers. And it is correct to do so because remuneration is one of the most important factors in career selection. But it is necessary to make certain that hobbies and leisure pursuits should be pragmatic and practical for being taken up as a career. This evidently calls for an improvement of one's knowledge base to the level of a career as soon as possible.

· Your own commitment: No job allows for more than usual free time. One will have to work and contribute. You will have to make your mind up on whether you can work for six, eight or ten hours on a daily basis. Ab initio, men and women may not accord priority to their domestic affairs, but in actuality, particularly in long-term perspectives, it is the family that needs to be accorded top priority. Therefore, you will have to decide on the number of hours you would be willing to work daily and how progressively they can be augmented so that your career graph indicates a rise.

· Encompassed intricacies & viabilities: More often than not, a person who is interested in a pursuit may not be actually inclined to take it up as a career. Even if he or she is, no indications are generally displayed. To illustrate the point, you may be very fond of good food, but that does not mean that you can become a good chef. Likewise, you may be quite adept at working on the computer, but it does not suggest that you have the potential of a computer engineer or a software designer. Considering all these aspects, it is crucially indispensable to have an idea with fair amount of exactitude whether a career being thought off is actually viable or not.

An important aspect to be borne in mind is that bad career options are not irrevocable. At any stage, you can well decide to repeal your earlier decision, but to be able to do this, you should evaluate your achievements on a regular basis. It is only then will you will be able to make up your mind on your next step.

Remain unbeaten in your career

“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.”

                                                                       - William Jennings Bryan

In this world, you are like an athlete on the track – all set for the sprint. You always aspire to remain ahead of others and win. But if you do not, you do not achieve success in the true sense of the word. You have to be the Number 1 because it is only then that you will be regarded as an outstanding performer at work. Staying ahead of others not only implies acquitting yourself well at work, but also directing your gung-ho gains.

What should you do to handle your competitive edge over others? You should be serious about your career and conduct periodic appraisal to make certain that everything remains on course. Three things that you should not lose sight of are:

· You must regard your career as big business: You may not be the owner of the setup where you work, but you should consider yourself as one. Today, with economic slowdowns looming on the horizon, retrenchments, reorganizations and realignments have become quite common in the corporate world. Under such circumstances, it is you and you alone who should remain in command of your career. Your company can of course help you to a limited extent. Therefore, it is essential that you think that you are managing a single man run business or regard yourself as a self-employed baron. Your designation is of no consequence; what is important is your contributions at work. Accordingly, you ought to do some serious introspection and ask yourself questions related to what precisely you are doing; the eventual outcome that you seek; people who are interested in your pursuits and achievements; and if you are aware of your skills and value.

· You must upgrade your qualifications: How trained are you to take on the challenges of work? Your name may be towing a line of qualifications, but the question is, whether they are relevant to your current work or not? To be able to brace up for the contests that plague workplaces, you need to every so often check your folder. You should evaluate your position vis-à-vis others in the context of your qualifications - knowledge and expertise. Such an evaluation therefore, compulsorily entails concluding if you have improved your skills over the years so that you can gear up for the daunting future. In case you find that you need to do something more, put together a plan for the same. You should always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Being content with being better than others is good, but not adequate; you should try to be better than yourself. It is all about becoming a better version of you.

· You must promote yourself at work: Your workplace will continue to change and you will have to adapt yourself to altered conditions. While the game per se will not change, the rules will. You will thus be required to be enterprising, remain on the scene and refrain from any sort of rigidity. Those days are gone when you could remain in your chamber attending to routine work. Remember that unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. You will now have to make additional contributions and also focus on what your boss wants or what your colleagues do. You will have to make yourself central to all activities, including decision-making. You will find the results of your endeavours encouraging which, should be used for the projection of your image.

Assignments that make you known to all, inter alia include raising a new team and taking it to excellence; superintendence of a project that involves new expertise; and jobs that entail developing external contacts and utilizing them for organizational benefit. To sum up, you have to learn the rules of the game and having done so, play better than anyone else. Do not impose any restrictions on yourself. There are many people who do that and fail to go further than what their mind thinks. Essentially, you have to remain ahead of others.

The crux of the matter is that you should never limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as you mind lets you. Remember that your own determination to be successful is very important and that whatever you believe in, you will achieve. Your future is contingent on what you do today. It is essential that you visualize a picture of a successful outcome in your mind.

Set your career course right

When you decide on a career path to be adopted, you also set professional goals for yourself. You develop an action plan for attaining such goals. Put differently, you frame a system to get to your preferred place or position. An important constituent of the process of choosing a career path is contemplation to honestly assess your predispositions, adroitness and abilities. As you move along in your career journey, some features of your career path may change either due to changed predilections or circumstances. But if you have a larger professional aim behind you, making crucial judgements with accuracy and unambiguousness will become easy.

Selecting a career is perhaps the most significant resolution of your life. It could be prompted by various factors like giving wings to your passions, trailing an all-time fantasy or getting into a parental or family pursuit. Though much is contingent on how vibrant and definite is your career path, careful planning could cause you get into a lifetime employment. There are several works that call for special qualifications, the acquisition of which can be a long drawn-out process. If you are clear about your career path, you can fruitfully focus on your training and education. A comprehension of the needs of the path that you select to follow will offer you time and scope for preparation for the career that you seek.

There are three important factors that impact various facets of your life and career alike. They are:

· Career planning: A career path is actually a long journey and not a singular conclusion. All careers have indicators available en route; it is essential that you comprehend the chronological steps of the career path that you decide to walk on; this will make you adept at gaining familiarity with know-how and moving ahead gradually and progressively.

· Final targets to be achieved: When you embark upon a career path, you locate yourself at a pedestal from where you can visualise your future objectives. This facilitates knowing about various appointments that you aspire to hold and the remuneration that you are seeking, besides making attempts to enlarge your contact base. If you have aims and objectives, you will stay fixated on them instead of switching jobs meaninglessly.

· Family issues: The profession you elect to be in can be an imposition by itself in terms of your place of residence and even time of settling down in matrimony or starting a family. If you choose your career path carefully, you will be able to make significant decisions of your life without much hassles. Work will always be hectic, demanding and nerve-wracking. To that extent, striking a satisfactory balance between it and your life is essential; in fact, such balance helps in reducing work-related strain.

So, how do you go about choosing a career path? Here is what you should do:

· Know your predilections: Mulling over your interests is the maiden step of career selection. This also entails analysing your ingenuity and interests. The career path that you set your foot on should be the one that goes with your inclinations, disposition and concerns.

· Evaluate your preparedness: After you have generally decided on a particular career that inevitably has to be in consonance with your interests, you must ascertain what qualifications are essential to pursue it. Depending upon career to career, the qualitative requirements can vary. But whatever, they may be, you will have to work your way to acquire them. How prepared are you? This is a vital question that will have to be deliberated upon and planning done for acquisition of skill-sets and other qualifications.

· Focus on your work mission: Having familiarised yourself with your interests, you should begin your quest for a suitable work in those fields. It would largely depend on what your interests are and where they lie. You need to next look exhaustively into various choices and opportunities available to you based on the path that you have decided to trudge on.

· Look for appropriate jobs: Having decided upon your career line, you will now have to explore job possibilities in it. Today, the internet is an excellent medium for searching jobs that correspond to your selected career. You will also have to view across various job options to know what they entail and what they offer in terms of remuneration. Informational interviews and internship will stand you in good stead.

If you decide on a particular career path based on whatever you have discerned or found out, it is necessary that you also decide to be suitably qualified for jobs that are available in that particular field. That is precisely what planning is all about. You need to envision things in their correct perspective so that you start moving in the direction of your dream job. 

Envy retards your career progress

Successful individuals remain focussed on utilising their creativity, resourcefulness and leadership qualities for the growth of the company they work in. There are many people who however, compare themselves with others; in doing so, they squander away their valuable time. They try to be what they know they are not and hence are not successful in making any headway in their careers.

Envy and covetousness are natural but terrifying feelings that cannot be avoided; and come to us more often than not. But they can always be kerbed. In their over-enthusiasm to do well at work, quite a few men and women have a habit of bungling their jobs, careers and lives because they cannot resist the anxieties and pressures that upsets them when they attempt to ape others or vie with them. Their desperation leads them to catastrophic situations.

The finest method to progress in your career is to maintain your individuality and know what you are and what you stand for. You also need to prop and buoy up your skills and capabilities. While you can place some reliance on mentors to show you direction, but you have to be at the wheels of your career at all times. If you are green-eyed, you run the risk of shattering your career for several whys and wherefores. Today, everybody is self-centred and you do not find many people who are truly solicitous about towards others. The world is full of impressionists and self-regarding people who are engaged in letting down others in their quest to do well. The truth is that the need to be skilful is extraordinarily forceful and which necessitates an enormously enterprising outlook. Under such circumstances, people decide on getting into a rat race to upset others and craft a picked up image vis-à-vis settling down on their own distinctiveness. Such a disposition triggers disgruntlement and thus envy permeates down to every sphere of activity.

It is envious people who always look for acknowledgement and appreciation; and not significance. They do not want to make any valuable effort to make the world a better place; on the contrary, they feel pleased being part of hoi polloi. Average that they are, averageness is what they agree to take in their lives. The suspiciousness and spite that vexes them do not inspire anybody; it merely contours them.

Given the fact that the world has become a global village today, it is necessary to recognise workplace diversity and yet stand out in your own way. Distrust and envy are indications of an utter absence of appreciating your own uniqueness and are purely trepidation generated by a feeling of worthlessness. It is therefore necessary that you be appropriately confident to enjoy that uniqueness and self-esteem. You may not be capable to overcome the feelings that engender jealousy, but you can surely rework your viewpoint towards things to make your life devoid of any envy. Given below are six reasons why envy retards your career progress and why you need to curtail it:

· Dormant authority: Anybody who wants to do anything has to come up to it, which they fail to. Their failure is primarily because their focus is on others and not on themselves. You must make serious efforts to enhance your brand image and value so that you earn a reputation for yourself.

· Lack of drive: If you drift away from your own individuality, you will lose out on your ardour and keenness. Motivation is always a result of your upright opportunism and awareness; and which calls for fusing your know-how and directing your efforts to remain ahead.

·  Inability to compete: When you focus only on rivalling and outdoing others, you fail to be determined. Your fervour gets slayed and so does your career. Any lack of a competitive spirit makes you believe that others everybody else is dangerous. You fail to identify opportunities, leave aside grasping them. You thus become blind and devoid of any visualisation.

·  Poor social attitude: If you are resentful and covetous, you can never nurture amity, trust and solidarity. Friends and friendship will always evade you. You must therefore, deliberate on different methods to share your skills with others rather than highlighting impairments brought about by jealousy during interactions with them.

· Drained joy & pride: Envy and discontent are complementary. When envy surpasses you, dejection sets in and your self-confidence gets battered. You get trapped in a self-created mess that hinders all growth prospects.

·  Diminished self-trust: If you are overwhelmed with animosity, you will not find any reason to count on yourself too. To be successful in your career, you have to count on yourself and if you do not, you cannot endorse yourself or your skills. Resultantly, you hamper your own prospects of growth.

No two people are alike and therefore, there will be many men and women who will be better than you in several fields. Your aim should be to articulate your individuality and uniqueness; and make use of them for rewarding intents on a continuous basis. You should not waste your life comparing yourself with others; on the contrary, you should make the most of every chance that it affords to learn from others, as perhaps they do from you.