Save your career from being crippled

The environment will always have many people who have always aspired to accomplish big things in life and luck has favoured them. There will also be a horde of people who, by virtue of their own actions have crippled their careers. Career success thus, is all contingent on how you go about achieving it. 

You may have big dreams vis-a-vis your career, but if you do not set about on your career journey in the correct direction, you are likely to attain any of your objectives. But with if you set well-defined goals for yourself, act boldly, know yourself well, put in hard work and communicate your views in a candid manner, you will be able to prevent your career from being crippled.  Some factors of influence that will help you shape your career for the better are:

• Have well-enunciated objectives: Objectives that are well-defined are necessary to excel in life. You should have no doubts about them as also everything about them that matter. And then you should go after them relentlessly. The major reason why people are not successful in their careers is their inability to relate their penchants and skills with them. And of course, they do not learn from their mistakes too. If you are aware of yourself and what you want to do, you will be able to identify more opportunities. The need to have a clear mind and be self-confident at all times should be understood so that you do not miss out on good opportunities coming your way.
• Make your apprehensions contribute to your success: It should be understood that all feelings of alarm and helplessness are not conducive to your career interests and wellbeing. You should be aware of your strengths and hence learn to display your capabilities. When you shoulder responsibilities with seriousness, you will automatically do that.  The truth is that doing so is the only way to advance in your career; any botches should be seen as learning experiences. You will realise that there will be several distractions and influences at your workplace and they will impact your productivity, but you should not let them have the better of you. But if you act to the contrary, you will see success becoming a distant dream. You will thus have to rise up to the occasion and take initiative to make all your fears as a propelling factor for your success.
• Know what you stand for: If you want to have no ambiguity about your aspirations and ambitions, you should be fit enough to safeguard your boundaries and know what your priorities are. There are scores of people who understand their fortes and objectives very well, but fail to move ahead in their career. There could be many reasons for this, but the major one perhaps is an increased tendency to live in a world of fear and uncertainty. You will have to overcome them so that you are strong enough to uphold your needs and have no reluctance in demanding them, if necessary.
• Maintain a high degree of dedication: You should always try to generate positive situations for yourself even if people around you view you with doubt. Dedication implies work with enthusiasm and in organisational interests; the foregoing will also call for embarking on difficult and unusual courses of action. It is essential that you view matters in their correct perspective and when things appear to be moving off-track, corrective actions should be initiated, even if that necessitates seeking help from others. Maintaining a high degree of dedication implies working to accomplish your objectives with steadfastness, but concurrently being amenable to advice and suggestions. You should remember that people who know what their shortcomings and make efforts to overcome them do well in all their pursuits, careers and life alike.
• Nurture good relationships: It is also essential that in your move forward, you do not remain self-centred; displaying due consideration to others will always stand you in good stead. You cannot advance in your career if you work in a vacuum. Your efforts have to be directed to network with others and nurture good relationships. Man, by temperament is a social being and therefore, you must realise the need to help and engage others to be successful. The foregoing will be rendered easy if you share common principles and enjoy the confidence of others. It is important that you do not move around with haughtiness or fall prey to sycophancy in any form. You should also guard against exerting your authority in a negative manner.

You can be successful in your career by adopting various means. But if they are not founded on values and consideration, you will run into problems. And when that happens, your career journey will become an extremely bumpy ride; at the end of it, you will feel as if you have not achieved anything. Therefore, it is necessary that you make efforts to ensure that your career does not get crippled.

Make your career more meaningful

All men and women feel that they ought to work hard to be successful in their careers and to have an effect. But whether or not they do that is an issue that has a big question mark. However, if they do, there is no way that they will not do well in their jobs and careers alike.

It has generally been seen that with the passage of time, people become disinterested and start hoping for the best, but without any efforts on their part. They suffer from feelings that things will automatically be falling in place. The fact is that such people are simply mediocre, are present wherever they are just for the heck of it and fail to exert themselves adequately. There are many people who do not take initiative and need to be goaded to act. All such people fail to make any impact and hence make no difference.

If you are one who wants to make a difference, you just cannot be lackadaisical and casual. You cannot afford to take things easy and yet hope that you will excel. You have to make a difference and make an impact. And nobody will ever do that on your behalf; the hard work has to come from you and come from within. The foregoing means that you have to adopt positive methodologies at work; you will find that your satisfaction levels will rise enormously and you will be more prone to be creative in your work applications. You will be able to make your career more meaningful. 

The above notwithstanding, the million dollar question is, “How can you make your career more meaningful?” You can certainly infuse your career with renewed vigour and contentment if you are:

• Purposeful & determined:  If you are not determined and purposive, you will always suffer from indecisiveness and fail to advance in your career. Therefore, you should be firm and unswerving so that you can accomplish whatever you seek to. A  feeling of resolve will also help you appreciate the good qualities in others and view them positively; and in the bargain, not regard yourself excessively. And once that happens, you will become more dynamic and take appropriate initiative at all times. You will thus stop looking for undue guidance and directions from others and gradually gain full control over your career. The feeling of satisfaction that you will get when you are at the wheels of your career will bring about new feelings of enthusiasm and zealousness; and you will get to possess and display immense logic. A potent action plan will take you to the moon.
• Perceptive & discerning:  When you make an endeavour to be insightful, you release yourself to the world of imagination. And when that happens, you start thinking out-of-the-box and get brilliant ideas. All ideas that cross your mind should be made a note of; subsequently, you must reflect on the likely people who will be impacted by your initiative. A record of all such people should invariably be made so that you can envision them with clarity. The way you ought to proceed so that you are able to generate that telling impact on them will also have to be worked out in fair detail; the course of action that you decide should then be followed without any deviation.
• Effectual & decisive: You cannot wait endlessly for a chance to come your way to make an impact. There will be opportunities galore and you can take appropriate initiative any where and anytime for the simple reason that you are well aware of what and how you are required do. The people who you are going make an impact upon are already discerned by you; al you need to do is to start proceeding to deal with them one by one and keep moving ahead. There prevails among us a fallacy that it is difficult to focus on others if the focus is on ourselves too. The truth is that your zeal and fervour rises when you shift your focus from yourself to others. If that happens, you will encounter better prospects and opportunities. And if your career happens to be at a point that is not in harmony with your ambitions and you want to get out of such a disheartening situation, opportunities existing around you will put everything in order.

It should always be kept in mind that your resolve alone will help you distinguish between the impossible and possible. It is no way that your skilfulness and perseverance will not pay dividends. Remember that all glorious accomplishments are brought about by firm determination and not luck. If you are determined, you will make be able to your career more meaningful. 

Plan to realise your dreams while at college

     Your years at college are important for your career. You get armed with a degree alright, but you also expand your range of interests, activities, and knowledge. You may not acquire specialised knowledge, but the knowledge that you acquire help you to embark upon a career. However, your degree cannot be regarded as passport for success.

Graduating from college and entering the workforce is a seemingly difficult possibility. You spend around three years figuring out what your future should be like and what you should do to make that happen. Perhaps you may realise that the workplace of today is plagued with intense competitions and that you will face then from your friends too. You would surely like to be ahead of them before you actually begin your job search. 

If you plan your career while at college, you will be  beginning the race with an advantage. It is not necessary to gain a big lead, but your thinking has to be strategic for sure. A well-thought of career plan will facilitate a confident navigation through crucial options available to you at the college itself. The prime constituents of any career plan are self-awareness vis-a-vis decisions required to be made and your own personality. You will also need to develop a mental portrait of how the working world functions and identify various methods by which you can make useful contributions.

The basis of your career choice will be discovery and informed choice. If you devote time to ponder about what is significant to you, you will perhaps get to know the nature of work that you can take up; you can then draft appropriate objectives to make certain that you graduate within the desired timeframe. You will thus find direction and will be able to establish a career path at the earliest and start earning and deriving job satisfaction without undue waiting. Today, you can get to see highly qualified people banging their heads against the wall to secure a good job. The predicament gets reduced if they remain determined. What is required is a plan, without which, you will continue to live in a world of uncertainty. But before that, you need to make a career decision which can be brought about by grabbing various opportunities offered by your college to prepare yourself for the career of your choice.

The degree of difficulties that you will face as you move ahead in your career journey will  increase; it is then that the importance of your plan will come into play. Most college students fail to understand this truth and the fact that it is your first job that will set your bearings on a path that will be difficult to modify later. And if at all you decide to switch over to a different career, your predicaments will multiply because of non-availability of suitable jobs. To overcome such problems, the earlier you get to know your cup of tea, the better it will be. The best way out will be to follow your passions and take up a job that is in harmony with them.

You will need to set objectives for yourself and which you should vow to accomplish within pre-decided timeframes. Impractical objectives, lack of resolve and an absence of a schedule will prompt you to act on simple conjecturing. Therefore, you need to decide where you need to go; otherwise you would not go anywhere. Your objectives will also need to be also need to be spurred to allow you to head in the correct direction and make correct decisions. However, you need to remember that formulation of objectives alone will lead you nowhere; you will have to draft methods which when adopted will facilitate their accomplishment. 

Having found out what you seek, you need to allot precedence to different initiatives required to be taken by you. Most of your desires and actual proclivity will be in sync and hence your objectives should be pertinent to them. Your objectives can be further narrowed down and which can be researched to put you on a sound footing.

Remember that true education begins when you enter college and the first fruit of success that you taste its your first job. You cannot afford to rejoice indefinitely thereafter but understand that achieving further excellence will be in your career interests. Your career journey thus goes on; you will set new objectives, gain new skills and have newer job options. It is essential that as time passes, you refine your objectives as also methods to accomplish them, But following your passions will always stand you in good stead.

Imperative initiatives to succeed in your career

        How do you plan to address your career and all its issues?

Are you content with whatever you have achieved or do you want to switch careers?

Do you have plans to move to different organisation that offers you a raise?

If the answers to the above questions are in the affirmative, then you want an environment that is more challenging, offers greater responsibilities. You also have on your mind plans to to acquire new skills.

It is essential that you understand what your strongpoints and capabilities are. If you fail to do so, you will be prompted to do a career change. The foregoing notwithstanding, initiatives on your part that will boost the prospects of your career are:

• Evaluate your aspirations pragmatically: It is essential that you understand where you stand today and envision the position that you seek to be in a couple of years from now. If you work hard, things will be smooth sailing for you. However, to make certain that your career journey is indeed smooth all throughout, you will have to secure a good job. This will call for being alert at all times. displaying a composed conduct 24/7, maintaining calm and remaining unnerved. You will also need to understand yourself well. In the light of the foregoing, the first initiative that should be forthcoming is to make efforts to know what you are cut out for. You penchants and capabilities will dictate the choice of organisations that you should be joining and the appointment that you ought to secure. Towards this end, you will have to really work hard, carry out extensive research and examine in detail different career options available to you before embarking on one.    
• Be confident & move ahead: Before you star moving ahead, you should understand in detail the resources that you require to take you to the final destination of your career journey. In this context, extensive planning will be required so that you are able to fructify your dreams.Your plan should include solutions to what, where, how, who, why and when issues as pertinent to a period of ten years. 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 dings 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 realise that mid-term corrections will bring about satisfying expansions too.  
• Formulate an all-inclusive action plan: Once you are ready with your plan, you will have to identify how precisely you will take the first step put and thereafter maintain momentum of your advancement. It is all about putting your plan in place by deciding on the best option available to you. In all probability, certain actions that you have planned to take may have already been taken by you. However, there will be many that you have not deliberated upon at all; they are the ones that you should be focussing your efforts on now. Career success demands time, judgment and vigour. If you have a mentor, you will be guided in all your actions. Any association with a mentor is always precious and you should go all out to clarify any and all doubts that you may have.  

       It is important that you catalogue and remember every instance of success that you accomplish; and when success does not come your way, it should not be a cause of any disappointment. If at all, some disappointment comes your way, you should work harder still to beat it. To put it differently, you should remain in firm control over yourself, your career and your plans. Your focus should always be to excel in each and every sphere that you work in.

Remember that it is not that easy to recognise opportunities; clutching them is all the more difficult because they will never coax you to come forward. You have to be anticipate opportunities and be present at the right place at the right time to grab them. Thereafter, you will have to work your way up!

Your career advancement & you

Who is responsible for your career advancement? You, or your company, or both? Your company could be responsible too a certain extent, but it is you and you alone who is liable for it. You need to dynamically take part in all activities pertinent to your  career for the simple reason that it is you alone who understands whatever you aspire for. The degree of motivation that you have and the standards that you have achieved is also known to you best. But regrettably, many men and women shirk from this important responsibility and do not take any onus for their career development.

If you want to have worthwhile opportunities for good career prospects and to accomplish your career objectives, it is necessary that you be clear about what your initiatives ought to be. You need to chart out a course of action in detail so that you are able to reach a position that you aspire to. If you are working for an organisation, you should match your own objectives with those of your company. Any failure to do this will result in failure and which will bring about a drop in your performance; and give rise to disappointment and frustration.

Your move forward will also be contingent on the encouragement and guidance that you receive. Sans them, all your planning will be of little use. This pepping-up is best done by the organisation that you work for. Therefore, your seniors also need to be aware of how and what you envision and seek to achieve. If they know them, your strengths and fortes can be made good use of; and transformed into productive actions on ground. And concurrently, you too will be able to find opportunities that will be in harmony with your penchants and capabilities - all within the precincts of your company’s focal areas.

You may harbour some ambitions and your company may have some too. It is essential that you are aware of your organisational objectives and the course it is adopting to move towards their realisation. Therefore, your company should spell out its requirements to all employees so that they can be synchronised with individual aspirations of employees. If your company does all this efficiently and smoothly, your productivity, as also of other employees will rise leading to faster accomplishment of organisational objectives. You should always keep in mind that it is teamwork that will bring about success, though your own capability, sincerity of purpose and capacity to perform optimally will also matter. In the light of the foregoing, today most companies are laying great emphasis on the career advancement of their employees and providing them opportunities to acquire additional qualifications and experience. 

If your company displays interest and shows concern for your career advancement, they will also exercise control over you and initiatives taken by them. If that be so, you must place trust in your company and your seniors; and also look for stable mentors who can help you to find out gaps and also bridge them. It is only with this intent that companies are increasingly ensuring that there employees are better poised to face challenges by making them undergo learning and development programmes.

It is a mistaken belief that your promotions are an indicator of your career advancement. You should understand that career advancement is not only about vertical growth, but also acquiring proficiency in different fields as well. Career advancement is truly achieved if you can acquit yourself well in domains more than one. You should be absolutely clear about one issue - the need to understand that it is your skills alone that will prompt your success. Therefore, you should make efforts on a continuous basis to acquire new skills and also update your present ones. 

Today, organisations are finding it rather difficult to deal with the issue of attrition of employees trained by them. While your loyalty towards your company may call for sticking on to your job, it may not necessarily be so. There could be malfunctions and defects in the assignment of duties. To overcome this issue, companies implement a retention strategy, which inter alia, entails engagement of employees on a regular basis, keeping their individual needs into consideration. Recognitions bestowed upon for good performances and periodic counselling are part of this strategy.

You must understand that you can be successful if you clutch opportunities in time. As explained above, companies are becoming increasingly disposed to generation of a working environment wherein employees realise that their career advancement interests are being taken care of. If that be so, the responsibility to make certain that your career advancement takes place is yours.

Displaying spirited leadership at work

Today, the global economy and workplace environment being what they are, widespread apprehensions have caused the collapse of many organisations. A situation like that generates stress among employees at all levels which in turn makes them adopt an indifferent approach towards their surroundings. Resultantly, you do not find them giving vent to their views solely because it is question of their survival. In the light of the foregoing, there is a need to have leadership that is bold, sprightly, confident and  decisive.

Men and women who have the courage to move forward, possess inbuilt initiatives and are willing to accept change are bound to emerge as successful. You need to be capable of manoeuvring through tough discussions, giving convincing answers even when supporting data is not available  and be in the forefront of new projects. It is only then that people will follow and model themselves on you. If you desire that your subordinates should be plucky like you, you will have to focus on developing and displaying the following qualities:

• Being face to face with reality:  You should disregard all tendencies to avoid commitment and self-revelation; instead be courageous enough to look all problems straight into their eyes. You will fail in motivating your team if you keep yourself all of from ground realities. Needless to say, you will then not be able to perform well.
• Accepting criticism in the right spirit:  Every person has strengths and vulnerabilities; the vulnerabilities have an impact on one’s interpersonal relations and ability to work well in a team. You should accept criticism in the correct spirit. It may not be easy to accept honest remarks, but they certainly can boost your capacity to anticipate and cope up with difficult situations.
• Being frank & forthright in your communications: If there is a clash of interest and viewpoints, candid expressions can cause avoidable discontent and confrontations. But the advantage in frank and forthright communications is that you can successfully get past ambiguities and issues of significance, even though they might not be appreciated. The channels available to you for communications should not be allowed to slump, even if you are unable to clarify doubts raised by others. Use of jargon in any form should be avoided. It should be your endeavour to pass down all information, but just in case you are unable to do so, you must admit to your act of omission.   
• Encouraging positive differences of opinion: Most leaders, irrespective of the number of people under them are expected to know everything and clarify every doubt and counter every opposition that could be raised. You should invariably welcome positive opposition; in doing so, you will increase your team’s potential to deliver as also tell the environment that all divergent views do not go unconsidered.
• Being unrelenting to act when productivity suffers: Several leaders have a tendency to overlook issues that concern a majority of people; defying them is a Herculean task for them. But when the situation is allowed to boil, a crisis situation develops and productivity takes a beating. Therefore, whenever any subordinate is unable to perform, he could well be shifted or in the worst case, asked to leave. Unrelenting actions in the wake of productivity plummeting will always be in organisational interests.
• Being resolute and maintaining transparency: In situations where the future appears uncertain, people generally tend to follow a zero error syndrome; the present is protected at all costs. You need to envision better ways and means and come up with greater determination to handle such tight-spots. The need will also be there to maintain transparency, with contingency planning being done to put things on course, should there be deviations. Many people feel insecure in voicing their views and action plans in difficult situations; and as a result thereof, fail to advance forward. Therefore, it will stand you in good stead if you remain in a dynamic mode at all times. Remember that liability always starts from the top and percolates down. Therefore, the need to be accountable in shaping the performance of others in tune with your beliefs needs no emphasis. You should not hesitate to acknowledge hard work being put in by others. If somebody performs well, his or her efforts should be appreciated. Remember that a proficient person is always inclined to take more blame than acclaim; the environment will know the truth, come what may.

A good leader is never on the lookout for compromises; he works hard to nurture them.  In the present day world, spirited leadership is all about camaraderie and collaboration. As an individual, you should try to be a yardstick of quality, more than anything else.

Resolve all predicaments of career choice decisions

As young boys and girls pass out from college armed with a degree, mixed feelings are experienced by them. They are both happy and worried - happy because of the degree and worried because of the uncertainty of the future. The feeling of euphoria that is generated because of the fact they are graduates may tend to subdue the feeling of worry. And hence there is some element of anxiety, though it does not come to the fore. 

Statistics indicate that nearly half of fish graduates fail to find a suitable job immediately after leaving college. Therefore, it is no surprise to see them struggling to get into a job as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the manner in which the youth goes about hunting for a job adds to their predicaments. Their career choice satisfaction is influenced greatly by their capability to arrive at good career decisions.

Making career decisions entails two different methodologies. The first one involves deciding on and pursuing a course of action that meets minimum individual needs to accomplish an objective. Boys and girls who adopt this method are quick to secure the very first job that meets their fundamental aspirations and which comes their way. The second method is to carry out detailed evaluation of all available options and then select a career that is most suited for them. 

All people who research career options in detail encounter unusual challenges while making career decisions. They suffer from a limited capability to sensibly and pragmatically examine different career options and arrive at the best one. They strive to to evaluate each and every option that supposedly qualifies to meet their own standards before making a final decision. This process demands more time and more often than not, the process turns out to be a vexatious exercise. The circumstances are similar to a highway from which several roads branch off; a motorist is confused on the turn he should take. Likewise, if you have many options available to you, you will get confused and eventually end up combatting only question marks. A thought process like this is unlikely to yield positive results; it can even impact your health and wellbeing. Therefore, any initiative to make colossal efforts just to identify that single, ideal career opportunity from amongst a horde of them can result in inconvenience and even harm. The confusion that prevails leads to predicaments that tend to obstruct your decision making ability.  

To resolve all predicaments associated with career choice decisions, there are some issues that you should understand and deliberate upon. They are:

• Have a practical approach to the employment scene: You have to view the employment scene as it exists with pragmatism and come to terms with the prevalent tough conditions. Things will be moving at a fast pace, though you may feel otherwise. Identifying your ideal opportunity and also clutching it are both monumental tasks. It is thus incumbent on you to have a practical approach towards everything and accordingly make small adjustments to your aspirations.  You should keep in mind that a sensible and practical approach towards your hopes and desires will increase your comfort and satisfaction levels, especially those pertinent to the choice that you make.
• Be determined & purposeful: If you are required to arrive at a decision, there should be nothing that prevents you from doing so. You cannot keep delaying the decision by reflecting on the pros and cons of it endlessly. If a decision-making process is unduly put off, the degree of consternation and worry that will afflict your mind will be extreme and severe.  Therefore, you must set a deadline for yourself in this context. You should always remember that a decision that you make is binding. However, no career decision is absolute and hence, can be modified at any subsequent stage. 
• Take responsibility for your decisions: It is necessary that you focus on the positive fallouts of your your career or job choices. Unnecessary reflection on and brooding over missed opportunities serve no fruitful use.  Whatever has happened is primarily because of your inability to comprehend things and make a decision. Your efforts should thus revolve around only upbeat issues so that your career advancement and the happiness it offers to you is made possible and expedited.  

You will certainly taste success if you advance in the direction of your dreams with conviction and confidence. If that has to be the case, you need to have no doubt whatsoever about what you seek in your career and life alike. You will have to work tirelessly to accomplish your goals. In the light of the foregoing, making good career choice decisions is dependent on your self-awareness. However, you must rely on your instincts too and consider what your inner voice tells you.

Delight in your work when you cross fifty

In any organisation, everybody does not reach the top. It is at some stage or the other that one feels that further advancement is ruled out. This generally happens when one is around fifty; it is at tis phase of life that one realises what work and life is all about and also the importance of striking a balance between the two.

Today, the workplace environment has changed. New technologies have been dovetailed into working methodologies. Somebody who is elderly may not be conversant with all of them as compared to youngsters. But that does not men that the elderly should compulsorily retire. In fact, adjustments should be made to facilitate drawing pleasure from one’s work. Any person who has crossed the age of fifty needs to display additional flexibility and accept changes. The following tips can be of great use:

• Be mentally & physically robust: Elderly workers face various obstacles and the best way is to remain as young as possible. This can be achieved by including physical exercise in one’s regimen and maintaining a positive outlook towards life as a whole.
• Know yourself well: You should be well aware of your personality traits and preferences, including those that help you in remaining happy. Such knowledge will facilitate in making sound decisions.
• Plan for years ahead: There is every likelihood that you neglected other aspects of your life. and focussed more on your work. If the same is applicable to you,there should be no feeling of guilt. Now that you have some time at your disposal, it will be worthwhile to spend a portion of it reflecting over how you intend keeping yourself busy in the coming years.
• Be pragmatic in your approach:  Having lived nearly two-hires of your life, you cannot think of becoming the Head of State. You should set for yourself simple objectives so that you can delight in the benefits that accrue upon their accomplishment.
• Assist & help others: You should know what your strengths are and how they can be put to good use so that others benefit from them. Now is the most appropriate time to understand that you too can benefit if you help others. It is necessary that you boost the fulfilment of your own potential.
• Appreciate the younger generation: It is your moral duty to appreciate youngsters. You must help them out if they get stuck. It is only then that they will genuinely respect and help you.
• Handle worries sternly: All changes are worrisome and pose problems of adjustment. You should discuss changes being experienced by you frankly with all concerned, including with your loved ones at home. 
• Don't be unnecessarily concerned about material possessions:  At the stage of life that you are, you would have surely done well for yourself. Therefore, money should not be an important consideration, you cannot disregard it altogether because you still need it to live your life well. But you need to focus more on your personal satisfaction, doing things that you have been unable to do and playing a useful social role.
• Use your networking to your advantage: You should realise that walking your career path when you have crossed fifty may not be possible all by yourself. You will have to seek assistance from others and for which, your networking should be utilised to gain information and advice.
• Don't be rigid: With the passage of time, you would have become used to some methods of doing thing. Nw that things are different, you need to shed that rigidity and find new ways to make small adjustments so that you are able to achieve the best.
• Don't rule out possibilities: The stage of life that you are at does not warrant a regular nine to six job for you. You should explore all available options to keep yourself busy and do some rewarding and gainful work.  Some feasible alternatives are mentoring and part-time job to keep yourself busy and still have an earning. Even self-employment is not a bad option at all. But remaining in a permanent job is always an attractive proposition.

Your life as a person who has walked the earth for fifty years plus can turn out to be the most precious happening if you are certain of what you can do and accomplish. It is advisable to be blind worries and not pay attention to inconsequential matters. Helping others will offer you solace and contentment; and hence you should not shy away from doing it. And of course, spending your valuable time with your family will surely give you immense satisfaction, something that people your age always look for. 

Conduct yourself professionally at your workplace

Many people think that the workplace is a busy place and your professional conduct there will hardly get noticed. All that is required of you is to perform your job well. But the fact is that all eyes are on you; any unprofessional behaviour will be picked up and impact your career. 

How do you conduct yourself professionally at your workplace? In fact, anything that you do from the time you enter and the time you leave has to be impeccable. If you adhere to thee following, you will come to be regarded in high esteem by one and all:

• Dress appropriately: Irrespective of whether the dress of the day is formals or casual, you should invariably look smart. If there is no dress code prescribed, you must select clothes that gel with the nature of work. Remember that dressing well is a form of good politeness and good manners.
• Be punctual: Coming late to the office or for any meeting will portray your lackadaisical attitude. Others will think that you have scant regard for their time. You must be present at the venue for any activity or event at least a couple of minutes in advance. Remember that if you are early, you are on time and if you are on time, you are late. 
• Don't tell lies: Any action that smacks of deceit and duplicity will project you in adverse limelight.  You need to be always frank and honest in your dealings.  If you lie and others come to know about it, they will never trust you. Even if you tell the truth, doing so with bad intent is as bad as telling lies.
• Maintain a positive disposition: It is well known that negativity is communicable and infectious. Your negative outlook will serve to pull down others and you will not be appreciated, including by your boss. But if you have to take up a stand, you must do so, but must offer recommendations for improvement. You must avoid being a perennial cribber. Remember that your positive disposition will lead to positive outcomes.
• Don't grumble: There are moments when everybody has mood swings. You must hang your bad mood on the peg at home. If your work per se is the reason for your bad mood, then you must introspect to determine corrective actions required. You must build up trust, reduce stress, amplify gratitude and mute your grumbling.
• Stay away from gossip: You may get to know many things about others, including their private matters. But sharing it with anybody at your workplace is best avoided. Maturity demands that you stay away from all tittle-tattle and whispering campaigns. It needs to be understood that talking about people behind their back speaks more about you than them; therefore you do not be a party to any gossip mongering.
• Don't use unparliamentary language: Foul language has no place at your workplace. It will surely offend others. As a guideline, something that you would say to your parents, you should say it at your workplace. Remember that a person of dignity will never use unparliamentary language and display of professionalism at workplace is all about maintaining your dignity. 
• Own your mistakes: It may be difficult alright, but you must have the courage to own up your mistakes and take appropriate remedial action to offset the harm that they may have done. Repetition of mistakes will project you in poor light. If at all you err, you should not point fingers; if there happens to be collective responsibility, your acknowledgement should prompt them to admit theirs too.
• Help your colleagues: You must share the load of your co-workers. After all, anybody’s success at the workplace manifests everybody’s success and speaks well of every person at the workplace. But you must guard against being adamant to help out; if somebody desires to be left alone, you should not insist on helping him or her.
• Don't get into an altercation: Because a workplace is all about people, there will be disagreements; you may even disagree with your boss. But you should not become irate. Any inclination to raise your voice should be curbed as also resorting to intemperate actions. You must put across your views calmly and if they are not accepted, there is no point n being unduly persistent. And most importantly, you should always avoid getting into a physical contact.
• Avoid discussing your personal matters: There is nothing wrong in confiding something in a close friend, but you must guard against telling everyone. You need to be wise and prudent about whom you engage in a conversation, more so when the subject happens to be your personal life. 

Demonstrating professionalism is important for job advancement, recognition and to show others that you are supportive. Professionalism is not a tag that you attach to yourself. It is a description that others apply to you. And that is what should always be borne in mind while you are at your workplace.

Be aware of your deficits & overcome them

Having a fat bank balance, enjoying a high social status and wielding power cannot be interpreted as signs of being successful. You may still harbour unfulfilled desires and aspirations. On the contrary, you may have none of these and yet be contented with your life. While possession of some qualities boost the prospects of a successful career, there are some that ensure that your career is in perennial doldrums. The general tendency among people is to overcome the latter category, little realising that in the process, they wreak havoc with their careers.

You could be excelling in your career or not doing so well. You could be passing through any stage of your career. Under all situations, you should remember that some deficits will invariably put your career at risk and as a result, you may suffer immense disenchantment and dissatisfaction. Five major deficiencies that can your impact career adversely are:

• You harbour a rigid approach to things: The boundaries that you draw for yourself and the values that you subscribe to, help you to face challenges. But they cannot be sacrosanct; with the passage of time, they may become redundant and hence need to be reviewed. As human beings, we are intelligent and possess inherent capabilities; but we get disillusioned when people do not support us. You need to be open to suggestions and new ideas; in other words, you have to be openminded and flexible. The world is changing fast and it is imperative that you not only accept, but be part of the change being witnessed. And when you shed rigidity, opportunities will come knocking at your door. 
• Your social skills are not up to the mark: If you lack social skills, life will never be smooth sailing for you. On the contrary, if you possess good interpersonal skills, you will be able to nurture good associations and collaborate effectively with others. You need to communicate with sincerity and be genuinely willing to accept new ideas. But if you are arrogant, sceptical and suspicious, you will find that these nasty qualities will continue to surround you because the people around you will beam out your own perspective. In order to draw out the best responses from people, you need to exhibit your best bearings. And for that you need to improve your social skills at work.
• You are not enterprising: Success will continue to elude you if you do not take initiative. You have to be enterprising in all your endeavours, which may be difficult if you are relatively junior in your company.  The fact is that you cannot bask in the sunshine without taking risks. You simply cannot afford to rest after delegating work. Being enterprising and dynamic calls for shedding apprehensions.You should not be unduly worried when additional responsibilities are assigned to you. Remember that new initiatives on your part will serve to propel you on your career path.
• You fail to see mistakes as learning experiences: The process of learning occurs when you acknowledge that you have committed a mistake or when you admit that you do not possess a specific skill. If you do not learn from your mistakes, you will repeat mistakes. You need to be thus forward-looking and develop good judgement; this will only be possible if you introspect.  Mistakes that you commit should also be viewed as opportunities for self-improvement. Your career will move in the correct direction if you can identify your mistakes and initiate corrective actions.
• You tend to avoid accountability: Responsibilities can be avoided by you, but then the adverts effects of the same will be yours to justify. When things do not move in the correct direction, you simply cannot go about criticising people or circumstances. You may not be responsible for whatever has happened, but if you evaluate why it took place, you will realise that the adverse fallout offers you a bundle of opportunities to do things in a different way. Well, negative results, if they have to be there will be there, but your character will come to be defined by the manner in which you respond to it.

You can overcome your deficiencies and thus open up new windows of opportunities for your career advancement. The need to accept change positively needs no emphasis because any and everything that will happen in your life will be brought about by what you do. Therefore, pyou too must change and adapt to emerging challenges that ushers.