Game Plans for
Life
Think
about the big picture
for your career and life – there is more to it than just a
job!
There
are huge changes underway in the labour market. You will find
in the future...
- Less permanent
jobs will be available
- Increased
likelihood of part-time, casual,
contract and self-employed work
- Increased job
changes with periods of
unemployment or underemployment and less vertical career ladders within
organizations
- Expectations of
higher outputs and longer working weeks for
those in full-time employment
- Increased demand
for continual learning and
interpersonal and teamwork skills
- High financial
rewards if you are offering the
current in-demand skills and reduced real financial rewards otherwise
Even
more radical changes are possible... see Global
Career Threats
for some scenarios.
The
gap between the winners
and losers on many levels in this game we call the “global
economy” is increasing.
We may not often like the changes to the job market
but there is good news also. There are greater than ever opportunities
for career success, wealth and making a positive difference if you play
the game smart.
If
you want to be one of the
winners and perhaps even be in a position to assist others in the game
you need to consciously develop your game plan for your career-life.
There
are three broad
potential strategies for your career-life game plan in the 21st
century: 1) wealth creation, 2) rewarding work, and 3) voluntary
simplicity.
Game
plan 1
– Wealth Creation & Management
Wealth creation is
about increasing your power on
the physical level by developing intellectual, physical, and financial
assets which eventually give you the time freedom and the resources to
live your purpose independent (if you choose) from a paid job.
You
will be in a much better situation if
you educate yourself more broadly and deeply in the
wealth
creation area well before you find your job on the line. Few people
these days really want
to do the same thing their whole working lives so having an effective
exit
strategy from your job can be a great thing anyway.
The
downside to the whole wealth thing in
our culture is that most of us are highly vulnerable to status anxiety
and the wealth creation books and seminars tend to reinforce and
exploit this anxiety to get us to buy their service or product.
Career-Wise works from the perspective that real wealth is broad based
and includes the health, peace of mind, sense of community and lasting
friendships needed to enjoy the possibilities money provides.
Game
plan 2 – Rewarding Work
“Life
is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well
better find some way that is going to be interesting.”
Katherine
Hepburn
Identifying
the types of work most likely to be
personally rewarding is the focus of the tips in the first section and
what career counsellors normally help their clients with. The basic
idea is that to be successful at your work you need to enjoy it, or
even better, have a passionate love for it.
The
strength of this game
plan is that if you, at least, like what you do, you’ll
probably be good at it and engage in the necessary life-long learning
to stay in demand in the job marketplace.
But
be warned –
rewarding work often doesn’t come easy. You may need work
hard, make some sacrifices and some smart choices to find or create
your rewarding work.
Game
plan 3 – Voluntary Simplicity
In
the voluntary simplicity game the emphasis
shifts from consuming to relationships, family, well being and
creativity. To have self-directed power over your career-life you need
to recognize and separate from advertising and social conditioning
which pushes you to over-consume and become controlled by your debt.
This
is not about living in
poverty. It’s about being a conscious consumer rather than
just a conditioned consumer. Do a Google search on the words
“voluntary simplicity” for a heap of ideas and
resources on this game plan.
Most
people are best served by combining these three strategies or
individual game plans. How it will best suit you to integrate the three
game plans will become clearer as you self assess and define your
purpose and vision.
To be successful in applying them you will need to educate yourself
over the long-term in each of these three areas.
For more on these
game plans including how to apply them see The Complete Career Change Kit.
