How to Figure Out Which Skills You Need to Learn to Improve Your Career

By Scott H. Young

In my course I teach with Cal Newport, we encourage students to cultivate rare and valuable skills in order to improve your career.

Among the countless ways you could potentially improve your career, we focus on this approach for a few key reasons.

First, actually increasing the value you provide employers, clients and customers directly impacts your bargaining power. While many other suggestions (networking, resume building, credentials) also matter—they tend to change how you are perceived. Learning rare and valuable skills changes what you are.

Second, the more valuable you are the easier other parts of career development become. If you have a really useful portfolio of skills, networking and office politics becomes a lot easier. We like to associate with top performers, and so those who have rare and valuable skills tend to also have more allies and contacts.

That being said, this often raises a challenging question, which skills should you learn to reach this kind of enviable position?

Figuring Out The Skills You Need

In our course, we cover an in-depth method of interviewing people ahead of you to do this basic kind of research. However, in this article, I’d like to cover a few simpler methods you can use to get a relatively decent answer about which skills you should learn.

Method #1: See What Bosses/Clients Complain About

A good way to assess which skills are both rare and valuable is to see which problems are not getting solved (even though people struggle with them) in the actual marketplace.

Talk to employers and clients who work in your career space. Now ask yourself, which problems do they complain about, but struggle to solve?

If you can answer this, the skills you need to build are the ones which solve those problems.

This resolves two possible failures when trying to identify career skills to learn. The first is picking skills nobody really wants, or ones which they aren’t willing to pay for. If people never complain about something, chances are they don’t really value it fixed all that much.

The second failure is picking skills which are too competitive. Again, if people aren’t complaining about a problem, chances are they have no problem finding people to solve it at a reasonable price, indicating that the skill of solving that problem may not be all that rare.

 

Method #2: Ask What Top Performers Do (That Normal People Can’t)

 

Pick someone whose career you admire in your field. Now ask yourself what this person can do, that you cannot. What do you notice?

If you took over the job of the person you admire, what things can this person do that you don’t know how to do, or you think you wouldn’t be able to do as well?

Sometimes, this will point to readily available skills you need to master. Technical skills, social skills, industry experience and knowledge. Other times it will point towards assets that this person has built over time that you may need to cultivate—reputation, client networks, success track records.

Given the things this person seems to possess, you can then start working backwards and ask yourself what you’d have to learn or cultivate to match them. What would you need to get a lot better at, to do as they do?

Method #3: Do a Career Inventory

 

The final method isn’t to look at employers or top performers, but to examine yourself.

Write down a list of all the things you bring to the table when seeking a job in your field. This should include the core things you’re able to do, in terms of work, and also the secondary skills which support the main ones (people skills, reliability, organization, etc.).

What could you change about yourself to make that portfolio of skills more valuable to a potential employer or client?

Many professions have a common pattern whereby the early part of career development involves cultivating direct skills (programming languages, design software, writing talent) and the later stage involves cultivating supporting skills (leadership, networking, reliability). This is often because when you start, you are a resource to be managed, but as your career grows, you spend more of your time managing and connecting the resources in other people.

Doing a self-assessment can often help you identify gaps in your current skills which would cause you to be overlooked. You may also notice areas where you have decent skills, but not high enough to make them a strong selling point to a potential employer or client.

Now Learn Those Skills!

Once you’ve gone through the above three methods, you’ll find a few skills worth exploring. Now you actually have to go out and learn them.

Source of this Article :
Thanks to Mr  Scott H. Young for the article who is the author of this article

 

How to Pass an Interview Part Three

 

Powerful Job Interview Tips From A Recruiter –How to Pass an Interview Part3

 

By Biron Clark

Part III: Tips for After Your Interview

Once your interview is done and you’ve left the room, there are still a few things you should do to boost your chance of getting a callback.

These interview tips will help you impress the employer AFTER the interview.

Always thank the interviewer

You want to thank your interviewer when you leave the room and send a thank you email the following day. 

Showing appreciation for the employer’s time goes a long way, and it’s one of my favorite interview tips because it requires no talent; just effort.

Act interested but not desperate while waiting for feedback

Sometimes you won’t hear from the employer for many days after your interview.

They might need to meet more candidates, or might need time to finalize their decision.

I’d recommend wrapping up your interview by asking when you can expect to hear feedback. That way, you won’t be too anxious waiting at home.

If that time passes, it’s okay to follow up with the employer to get an update from them. But be patient and never sound needy/desperate. Delays happen.

If they tell you, “sorry, things are taking longer than we expected and we are still making our decision,” the worst thing you can do is act frustrated or upset. This isn’t going to help you get hired!

The best thing you can do is keep applying for jobs while you wait. It’s never smart to wait around for one single employer because so many unexpected things can cost you the job or cause a delay in the process.  (Budgets change, people get promoted inside the company and they no longer need an external candidate, etc.)

So that’s another one of my favorite interview tips – when you finish one interview, try to get more lined up! Don’t stop interviewing for jobs until you’ve signed a job offer. 

Use These Tips for How to Pass an Interview and Get More Job Offers

If you’ve followed these job interview tips, you’re in great shape to pass your next interview and get the job offer.

Don’t forget: Motivation, interest, and how you explain yourself and the reason you’re interviewing are just as important as your actual resume/skillset. I can’t stress this enough in terms of important job interview tips to remember!

Reading this article won’t change your professional skills. But it can change something far more powerful- how you come across in the interview room.

You can beat out somebody with more experience and a more impressive resume because job interviewing is a separate skill that you’ve spent time mastering.

How to Pass an Interview Part Two

Powerful Job Interview Tips From A Recruiter –How to Pass an Interview Part 2

By Biron Clark

Part II: Job Interview Tips

So, you’ve mentally prepared yourself with the interviewing tips from Part I. Now let’s talk about how to pass a job interview in the moment.

Describe your work history BRIEFLY

Most interviewers will ask you to give a quick walkthrough of your background at the start of the interview. That’s why I mentioned reviewing your resume beforehand. It’s a pretty commonly overlooked but it’s one of my favorite job interview tips and it’s so easy to do!

If you’ve prepared a good, brief narrative of your career, you can impress them right off the bat. What got you interested in this field? What have you accomplished recently?

But it has to be concise. Nobody wants to hire somebody that rambles on or sounds scattered, and that’s the biggest mistake people make with this relatively open-ended question.

Spend most of your time on the recent portion of your career. Go through the beginning rather quickly. 2-3 minutes total should be your target.

Explain why you’re interested in interviewing with them

After walking them through your resume, you’ll probably be asked why you’re looking to make a job change, and/or why you’re interested in their company in particular. This is where the research you’ve done pays off. You should already have two specific reasons for wanting to interview with their company.

When explaining your reason for job searching in general, I mentioned one example of how to turn a negative into a positive in Part I. Here are 2 more examples:

If your current company has no room for upward growth, say that you’re looking for a job with more room for upward growth. If you don’t like your coworkers, say you’re hoping to find a team that’s more collaborative. See the difference? You’re saying the same thing without sounding negative.

Whatever you say you’re looking for, be prepared for them to ask why you can’t get that in your current company. Just answer by saying that you don’t think there’s an opportunity to get this, and you considered this before starting to look externally. Simple and easy. That should end the line of questioning.

Answering technical questions- don’t freak out

After the basic questions, you’ll get into the meat of the interview. The content and questions here will vary based on the job, but here’s what you need to know about how to pass the job interview:

A good interviewer will test your limits. Especially if it’s a position involving some type of technical knowledge (math, science, engineering, etc). The only way they can find your limits is if they ask something you don’t know. So stay calm when you get this. Here’s what to do:

Try to work your way through the question as much as you can. Your thought process is often more important than answering correctly, so tell them what you’re thinking. Ask questions to clarify if needed.

Seeming genuine, thoughtful and honest can go a long way. It’s more important than answering any one question correctly.

Preparing yourself for how you’ll handle a question you’re not sure of or didn’t expect is an important piece of how to pass an interview. You can prepare for questions all day, but you still might hear something you weren’t ready for.

Ask your own questions at the end

You should ask a lot of questions after the interviewer has finished their own questions. How are you going to decide if you want the job if you don’t find out any info? The best job candidates are evaluating a company, not just trying to get a job in the first company that wants them. Once a company realizes this, they’ll treat you like a top notch candidate and try to sway you to join them.

Here are over 100 great questions you can ask the interviewer.

If you meet with 4 people, you should ask questions to all of them. It’s okay to repeat a question, but don’t tell the last person, “so-and-so already answered all my questions.” I’ve done this in the past and wasn’t offered the job. Lesson learned.

Some of the best questions are opinion-based questions because you can ask the exact same question to as many people as you want. Example: “What’s your favorite part about working here? What is the biggest challenge/difficulty you face here?”

Always act like you want the job

You have one goal in any interview: Convince them that you’re the best candidate for the job and get invited to the next round.

So you should be selling yourself in the interview, not deciding if the job is desirable.

Then you can go digest the info and make a decision once you get home. If you start using this approach you’ll have a big advantage throughout the entire interview because you’ll have one single thing to focus on. Other applicants will be juggling everything at once.

Don’t ask for feedback on the spot

I’ve seen people recommend that you ask for feedback or concerns at the end of the interview.

Something like this: “Based on what we’ve discussed, is there any reason you wouldn’t consider me for this job?” Horrible advice. Never ask this. Ever. Or anything like it.

First of all, they just finished interviewing you. Give them time to think. You’re going to go home and decide whether you’re interested, they need time to think too. Don’t put them on the spot like this.

Also you’re bringing the negatives to their attention. You’re literally asking them if they can think of a reason that’d stop them from hiring you. Even if they do think of something, they won’t tell you for fear of a lawsuit.

I like to say something like this instead: “If you need any more info from me or have any questions later, don’t hesitate to contact me.”

How to Pass an Interview Part One

 

Powerful Job Interview Tips From A Recruiter –How to Pass an Interview Part 1

By Biron Clark

If you think most hiring decisions are based on hard experience and qualifications, better keep reading. A resume gets you in the door, but how you interview determines whether you’re offered the job.

This article will cover 2 types of job interview tips to help you pass a job interview and get the job you want:

• Interview Preparation– steps you should take before your interview.
• Job Interview Tips– the best strategies to use during the actual interview.

These are the best interview tips that I know, from close to 5 years working as a Recruiter.

After you finish this article you’ll know how to present yourself better than the competition and pass a job interview a majority of the time.

Part I: Job Interview Preparation

Each step below will prepare you for the actual interview. None of this is very time consuming but it will set you apart from everyone else applying for the job, making it easy for the company to decide who to hire (you!)

Here are the basic interview preparation steps to remember. I’ve put the estimated time next to each one.

Research the company (5 minutes)

 

Know what they do, know how they make money. You’re not expected to be an expert, but knowing nothing about the company makes it look like you don’t care. Talent doesn’t matter at this point, you will not get hired if they think you don’t care. 

All of this research can be done on a company’s website and on Google.

To learn the latest on a company, try typing the company’s name plus the word “news” into your search bar.

 

Think of two reasons you’re interested in the company (10 minutes)

 

Use the company research you’ve done to come up with a business-related reason you’re excited about them. It could be a new business model, new clients, new partnership, etc.

Actual example: I recently had a phone interview with a tech company that was built as a review/info website. They recently started handling transactions instead of sending the buyers out to other websites to complete the transaction. I read this in the news and mentioned it as an exciting development and a really good business move. The interviewer was extremely impressed that I had read the news, and understood the implications.  Total time spent researching: less than 3 minutes.

Along with one business reason, try to come up with a secondary reason too. Maybe community involvement. Or company culture. Almost every company has a blurb about their culture on the website. Read it and mention what you read as a secondary reason for being interested.

You’ll seem extremely well-prepared and well-rounded for having two very different reasons.

 

Think of an explanation for why you’re job searching (5 minutes)

 

Companies will often choose someone less talented if they also seem less risky or if their motivations make more sense. I’ve seen it first-hand.

Don’t lose out on a job to somebody with less skill than you. Prepare some legitimate reasons why you want to make a move (without talking negative about your current employer). Here are some examples:

• You’ve accomplished ____ in your current role and you’re ready for a new challenge
• Your company’s direction has shifted and you feel it’s time to join a new organization
• You’re interested in a different type of product/service
• You’re looking for a larger or smaller organization

You can get more specific based on your situation. These are general ideas. If you do a good job with this you can beat out applicants that have more experience than yourself, because they’re not using these strategies most likely.

Get familiar with your resume (5 minutes)

 

This is one of the more important interview preparation tips, and one of the easiest. Glance over your resume if you haven’t in a while. Be ready to explain past job changes in a positive light. If you left a job because your manager was horrible, say that you went to an organization that had more supportive management. It’s all about how you phrase it. More examples on how to deliver this in Part II.

Also think of a couple of challenges and accomplishments in your last 1-2 positions. Interviewers love specific examples of accomplishments.

That’s it, you’re done with Part I. At this point you’ve already done more than 80% of job applicants, and you have good answers prepared for some of the most common interview questions.

Please check the blog for 2nd Part in Next Week

 

Negotiating Your Compensation – Part One

By Ford R. Myers
President, Career Potential, LLC

 

When it comes to compensation negotiation, there is a lot to say and a lot to learn! Therefore, this article is divided into three sections. Part One is below. Parts Two and Three will be featured over the next two months.

Let me begin by asking you a few questions

• Have you ever heard people say that they “just can’t do salary negotiating?” Or, that “negotiating compensation makes them uncomfortable?” (Perhaps you’ve even said these things yourself!)
• Do you find it easier to negotiate the price of a car, a house, or a business deal than to negotiate your own compensation?
• Why is it that people have such a difficult time successfully negotiating their compensation?

The reason we can’t or won’t negotiate is not because we’re incapable of doing this, but rather because we just don’t know how! No one ever taught us how to do it, and we never learned “the rules of the game!”

This is a very serious subject, but for now let’s look at negotiation as a game. And as with any game, we can’t win if we don’t know the rules!

After more than 25 years working as a Career Coach, helping thousands of clients dramatically increase their earnings, I’ve identified 21 critical negotiation guidelines that I want to share with you right now. So, here they are:

1. Do extensive salary research, preparation and practice beforehand
2. Defer salary discussions until an offer seems imminent
3. Discuss salary only with the ultimate decision-maker
4. Get the employer to state a salary figure or range first
5. Wait until a firm, written offer is on the table before negotiating
6. Discuss salary only after you have fully described your relevant accomplishments
7. Know your strategy before attending the negotiation meeting
8. Always negotiate the offer, no matter how good it seems initially
9. Finalize the salary first, before negotiating other items such as benefits
10. Never misrepresent your former salary
11. Don’t confuse salary with the full compensation package
12. Avoid tying your potential salary to your old salary
13. Use silence as one of your most powerful negotiating tools
14. “Fit” is more important than financial compensation
15. Leverage one offer against other offers if possible
16. Be patient and disciplined throughout the process
17. You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate
18. Never accept or reject an offer on the spot – do a thorough analysis
19. You can only win at negotiation if you’re willing to “walk away”
20. Be sure the compensation package you finally accept is a “win-win”
21. Maintain a positive, upbeat attitude and enjoy the “game”

I suggest you review these “rules of the game” frequently throughout your job search – and throughout your entire career!

Remembering all these rules can certainly feel overwhelming. So let me give you a formula to follow, which will simplify the process considerably:

 

The Formula for Success

P + P = P

What does this mean? It simply means:

Preparation + Practice = Power

You see, the problem with most candidates is that they have no POWER in the negotiation game. They believe, and therefore act as though, the employer has ALL the power and they, as the candidate, have no power.

This is no way to enter into any sort of negotiation! Through your preparation for interviews and your practice of the techniques covered in this article, you will show-up with equal power and influence over the outcome of the negotiations.

In addition to knowing the 21 rules and your simple formula for success, you’re going to need to learn some of the specific responses to tough interview questions. Interviews can be very challenging in general, as I’m sure you know – but the most difficult part of the interview for most people is when the conversation turns to compensation! If you’re like a lot of my clients, you’ve asked yourself, “What do I say when the interviewer asks me how much salary I want? Or … “How do I respond when if I’m asked how much I’ve been earning?”

This part of the process does not have to overwhelm you, or cause undue anxiety. In fact, if you’ll just learn the following guidelines and responses, you’ll handle yourself like a pro and generate very positive financial results.

The guidelines I’m about to share are for you to use when negotiating with employers (not recruiters).

In the first round of negotiations, the subject of salary may come-up for the first time. So, when you’re asked:

“What salary would you require” or “What were you making at your last job”

I suggest you reply with one or more of the following phrases:

“I think salary is a very important topic and I would be more than happy to discuss it once a mutual interest has been established.”  (Get back to discussing your accomplishments)

or, you could say …

“Your company has a very good reputation, and I’m sure the compensation package will be fair enough to keep me motivated and productive.”  (By the way, what is the salary range for this position?)

or, you could say …

“Based on my accomplishments, I would like to be paid at the same level as other employees of my caliber.” (What is the salary range for a person of my caliber?)

or, you could say …

“Regarding compensation, I am flexible and willing to negotiate once we have developed a mutual interest.”  (Get back to discussing your accomplishments)

or, you could say …

“If we decide that I am the right person for this job, I am sure we will be able to come to an agreement on compensation.”  (Get back to discussing your accomplishments)

or, you could say …

“At this time, I am most interested in determining if I am the right person for this job. If there’s a fit, I’m sure salary won’t be an issue.”  (Get back to discussing your accomplishments)

or, you could say …

“Are you making me an offer?”  If so, what salary range did you have in mind?  NOTE: Only use this response at the later stages of the interview process – perhaps in the 2nd or 3rd negotiation meeting.

So, why do I suggest using these specific phrases? Because they work!  I have coached many, many clients through successful salary negotiations, and they’ve consistently reported to me that these responses won them the compensation packages they wanted!

Be sure to read Part Two of “Negotiating Your Compensation.” Look for it in next month’s edition of “Your Career Advocate!”

Source of Article: 

https://careerpotential.com/career-advice-article/negotiating-your-compensation-part-one/

 

Overcome the Fear of Success

By Anastasiya Goers,

“He is able who thinks he is able.” ~Buddha

How would you answer the question: “Are you successful in life?”

I know many people who would say that they are not successful; at least they have not reached success in the areas that feel important to them. I have been one of those people.

One day I asked myself “What keeps me from being successful?” It took me a while to come up with the answer but I realized that I was holding myself back.

Why? Well, maybe I was afraid that when I started something I would fail. Maybe I was afraid that I was not “one of those people” who get everything they go after. Maybe I felt that I didn’t deserve success in life.

The truth is that I didn’t believe that I was able. I was not able to be successful, able to be happy, or able to fully enjoy my life. Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

If you want to be truly successful in life (and who doesn’t?) then first of all you have to learn to believe in yourself. If you do not think that you can be successful, then who will?

Life success does not mean that you will not fail but it means that your mistakes will teach you something and show you a better way to get what you want.

These are the tips that have helped me get over the fear of being successful and finally believe in myself:

1. Be positive.

Negative thoughts are like Miracle Grow for fear and self-doubt. Stay away from negative people and you will decrease the amount of negativity in your life at least by half.

Practice daily gratitude, write down all the positive events in your life, practice mindfulness and you will notice how your negative attitude will start melting away.

2. Continually remind yourself that you are part of something larger than you.

Fear often has to do with worrying about uncertainty, feeling out of control, and wondering what your life’s purpose is. When you realize you are part of a bigger picture, even if you don’t fully understand what that is, it’s easier to ascertain that you both deserve and need to be successful and happy.

You do the right things, you help people around you, you make being  a good person a priority, and you know that this isn’t just about you—it’s also about the bigger picture that you’re part of. These thoughts always give me the courage to try something new and believe that my life is successful because of the doing, not the outcome.

3. Take time to find your authenticity.

Do you have a lot on you? I’m sure you do, and I know that you are doing your best at doing what you have to do. But do you know who you are? Do you know what makes you happy? Do you know your passions?

Do you take time to reflect on your life and figure out your purpose in this world? Unfortunately, most of us get so caught up in responsibilities and goals that we forget to enjoy our lives.

No matter how busy you are, you must make time for yourself. It can be just 10 minutes a day, but this time must belong to you. If you give yourself the luxury of free time then you will notice that the rest of your responsibilities will get easier.

You will be a better parent. You will be able to come up with creative ideas at work (and finally get that promotion.) You will be able to take better care of your health. You will reduce your stress and experience the joy of living.

4. Create your success library.

Sometimes when we lose trust in ourselves we just need a little bit of inspiration to push us in the right direction. There are plenty of ways to find inspiration, but we forget about them when we need them the most.

Create a library of quotes, save articles and success stories that have inspired you, create a library of inspiring movies and videos, or create an album of your fun and happy memories. Turn to this library whenever you have self doubts.

5. Learn.

People are always scared of what they don’t know. My first job was in a web development company. I was scared to death during my first day at work because I didn’t know anything about web and blogs and the words CSS and PHP seemed like medical terms for lethal diseases. I was forced to learn about everything and now I feel absolutely at ease online.

If you have a fear of something you just have to educate yourself about it. It is like walking into a dark room. At first you feel scared and don’t know what to expect but once you turn the light on, everything gets clear and simple.

6. Live in balance.

No matter how important success might seem to you, it is still important to follow it with balance; otherwise your journey towards success will turn into an obsession that will ruin everything that you truly love in life.

Success is not a destination. It’s a journey, and it’s important that we take each step feeling grounded and balanced. Spend time with your loved ones, enjoy your hobby or follow your passion, take care of your health and grow spiritually. This is the meaning of true success, the one that you can achieve only in balance.

I think that you are able to be successful. It is your right and purpose in life to be successful in whatever you are doing. If you believe in that then nothing will ever stop you from living a balanced and joyous life.

Discovering Your Purpose and Reaching Your Potential

By Jazmin Treadway,

The word “capacity” has many definitions. It can be summarized as the maximum measure of innate potential and the ability to understand and demonstrate one’s optimal capability and power in a specified role.

Ultimately, capacity is your gauge of purpose and potential. How much is in you? How much are you utilizing, and how much is untapped?

The capacity of a storage item—how much it can hold—depends upon size, depth, sturdiness, adaptability, and intended purpose.

These ideas are relevant to us in determining how we can fulfill the true longing of our hearts, continue to push the limits of our fears, and boldly meet our own capabilities for living well.

Size is the expanse of our dreams and visions for our lives—the boundaries we see or do not. Depth is the infiniteness of our soul’s desires and our connection to something deeper.

Sturdiness pertains to the strength of our resolution and integrity—the beliefs that sustain us in spite of everything. Adaptability is how willingly we are to follow our own paths and deal with uncharted territory.

An intended purpose—that’s when we know without a doubt what we believe we were made to do. Then it’s not a matter of how, but rather how soon.  How soon will you wait to step into this perfect fit, this divine capacity?

It’s a funny thing about purpose: Once you know it truly and completely, you are invincible, because no one can stop you from living your design.  It is your birthright, your gift from and to the universe and to humanity.

Six years ago, my current life and future destiny collided in a classroom at the University of Southern California. Sitting amidst my collegiate peers, I listened to a graduate student speaking about a career in occupational therapy.

To most, including me, it was your typical professional spiel, and I must admit that I listened halfheartedly at best.  It wasn’t until about a year later, stalled by circumstance, that I found my way back to that memory.

In revisiting the topic with a new mindset, I saw what I had missed before. Before me was a golden opportunity to serve my distinct purpose in this world. I was fortunate enough this second time around to have the clarity, courage, and wherewithal to step out of my life and re-route.

That was when I realized that occupational therapy was my calling.

The reflection on my own capacity came to me one morning as I plugged my iPod into my computer.  It was only 1/8th full, revealing a vast and seemingly endless potential for media storage.

I wondered how often we walk around like our iPods—either underutilizing our potential for wisdom, love, passion, and desire, choosing to operate at only a small fraction of our capacity; or perhaps, even worse, unaware that in harnessing and storing the right information, we can learn to maximize our lives to fulfill our potential and promise.

What I came to realize is that, despite everything, capacity itself is not flexible. Rather, it is determined and measured in relation to what goes in, how much space things take up, and how much is left for everything else.

This means that no matter how much potential we have holding on to the right things, by holding on to the wrong things, we take up vital space and give the illusion of limitations.

Unfortunately, we have all fallen victim to external viewpoints, social pressures, public opinion, and private criticisms. We allow those thoughts to inhabit our minds, often leaving us feeling exhausted, drained, and far below a functional capacity for this life and its challenges.

We are left drowning in the negative self-talk, stuck among the constant comparisons and envy, the “why me” questions, the stifling fears, and the seemingly paralyzing self-doubt.  All these things ultimately deplete our energy and keep us stuck in dissatisfaction.

We must understand that our whispering instincts and subtle longings can create a surplus of love and passion if we learn to listen to them.

We must recognize the things, people, and situations that rob us of our ability to do more and invest more.

We must give ourselves permission to let go—to release the people and things that hold us back and cloud our minds, hearts, and souls with inefficient thoughts, behaviors, and energies.

And we must instead embrace self-love, wisdom, hope, passion, beauty, creativity, and simplicity so that we may determine our true capacity and live life to the fullest.

Happiness results when an understanding of intention and design meets a commitment to living out that purpose.

Then we can just allow the knowledge that this is what we we’re made for to guide our hearts, souls, thoughts, and hands.

When we understand our talents and potential and follow our internal compass, it’s a lot easier to stay self-assured when dealing with challenges.

I see this so clearly now as I look back on that life-changing and decisive moment.  Two years into my career as a pediatric Occupational Therapist, working daily with children with Autism, I know that I am operating at full capacity.

My work fills me with unbounded love, joy, and passion, and it constantly challenges my perspective on the world.

I have no doubt that I can continue to make my mark on this world if I continue to follow my intuition and passions. We are all in the midst of a journey, and it is never too late to turn around, re-calculate, and pursue what you believe to be your destiny.

So I ask you: Are you limiting yourself or operating at full capacity? If not, where does your heart lead you, and what steps can you take today to start heading there?

You’ll Never Be “Ready,” So Stop Waiting

By Matt Duczeminski,

Throughout our childhood and early adult years, we’re conditioned to think we need to be “ready” to take the next big step in life.

Our teachers won’t let us get too far ahead of where they think we should be in terms of knowledge.

Our parents try to protect us from ideas and truths they think we’re not ready to learn about.

We, ourselves, hold back when faced with major decisions that we don’t believe we’re ready to make.

We’re constantly told we’ll understand certain things, or be able to do certain things, when we’re older—as if the passage of time alone is enough to teach us everything we need to know about life.

This way of thinking has a hugely negative impact on the way we live our lives.

For one thing, some of us feel we are ready to move forward in life, but are constantly being held back by societal norms. Additionally, there are those of us who never take the first step toward our goals because, despite being told by society we are ready to do so, we don’t believe we truly are.

—

The night I graduated from high school, I broke down into tears.

It hit me all at once as I returned home from the school-sponsored “All Night Graduation Party”: I had no idea what I was going to do with myself after walking across that stage.

Throughout my first eighteen years on Earth, life simply happened to me. I didn’t need to make decisions on my own. As long as I did the work that was given to me, I was passed on to the next grade.

Though I did well enough in school, had succeeded at many after-school jobs, and felt pretty good about my life in general, I didn’t feel as if I was ready to take the next step.

It was intimidating to think that everyone around me had a plan for the rest of their lives while I had no clue what I wanted to do. I figured if I was going to move away, spend thousands of dollars, and commit to learning a specific set of skills, I had to be 100 percent certain that it wouldn’t end up being a mistake.

It never once occurred to me that most of my peers were just as apprehensive about their future. But while I wasted time waiting until I was “ready” to dive into college, they dove in knowing they’d figure it out along the way.

—

I ended up attending a local two-year community college that fall. I figured I would “get the prerequisites out of the way” before narrowing my focus on specific coursework.

If I’m being honest, that’s what I told others—and myself. In actuality, I spent two years doing the bare minimum to pass my classes. I barely gave any thought to my future.

It’s not that I wasn’t interested in the material. It’s that I didn’t see myself ever doing anything with the information I learned.

I continued to believe that I’d know what to do “when the time came.”  

I failed to realize that I should have been using the prerequisite classes to help me figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, rather than simply taking courses just to fill up my schedule. Instead, I skated through four semesters of community college without truly learning anything that would help me get anywhere in life.

—

I was one of the last of my friends to move out on my own. For years, I had convinced myself that I wouldn’t be able to make it in the “real world.” The thought of living paycheck-to-paycheck and in debt scared me to death.

Once again, I never once stopped to think that all of my friends also owed thousands of dollars on car payments, college loans, and more, but it didn’t stop them from taking the next steps in their lives.

While my peers were well on their way to building a life for themselves, I spent my early twenties mistakenly believing it’d be better to put my life on hold and have money saved up for when I was “ready” to move out than to just do it and get busy living.

—

We all know that hindsight is 20/20, and time is our greatest teacher. But if we wait for time to teach us how to live our lives, we’ll have missed the opportunity to take advantage of these lessons.

We need to have confidence in our abilities, and faith in the notion that taking immediate action will result in much greater gains than if we were to wait until “the time is right.”

There are a few ways we can make this happen:

Stop Comparing Yourself to Everyone Else

If you constantly compare your accomplishments to others, you’ll always find a way to be disappointed. This disappointment can lead to self-doubt and feelings of unpreparedness.

As I mentioned before, I wasted an enormous amount of my twenties thinking that everyone else around me somehow had it all together while I was barely staying afloat.

I kept wondering when I would finally have the confidence and abilities needed to move forward in life—as if these things would just come to me one day.

I now realize that confidence and ability comes from active practice, and the reason many others around me may have been more successful was because they didn’t waste time hoping for something to come to them; they put in the effort to make it happen.

Identify and Challenge the Excuses That Hold You Back

“I don’t have enough money.”

“I don’t have a well-paying job.”

“I don’t know what I want out of life.”

“I’m not quite ready yet.”

Since there are innumerable ways things could go wrong when stepping out of our comfort zones, it’s possible to create an inexhaustible list of excuses to stay stuck, and seemingly safe.

But we must realize that most, if not all, of the excuses we make are temporary roadblocks, not concrete walls. Even if it takes a little extra effort, there are ways around them.

If you don’t have enough money to go back to school, or are stuck in a dead-end job, you might default to thinking you’ll never make something of yourself. But instead of wallowing in your sorrows during the time you have to yourself, you could sign up for cheap (or even free) online workshops to help you spring into the next chapter of your life.

If you don’t know what you want to do with your life, chances are it’s not because you don’t want to do anything. (It’s more likely that you want to do everything!) Unfortunately, too many of us allow our indecisiveness to manifest in stagnation, and we end up letting opportunities to try new and exciting things slip away from us.

Yes, we should be wary of the possibility that things won’t always go swimmingly in life. But if we let the fear of being unprepared for such contingencies stop us from taking steps forward, we’ll never get anywhere at all.

It’s okay to not feel like you’re ready to make big moves in life. We all feel that way at times.

But sitting around waiting to “be ready” won’t get you anywhere. You need to actively go out and get the experience that will prepare you for the next step.

Maybe you aren’t ready to take a giant leap into the next chapter of your life, but that doesn’t mean you should stop taking baby steps in the right direction altogether.

We tend to measure our worth by our major accomplishments: graduations, first jobs, marriages… the list goes on. But we often fail to realize that none of these things happen overnight. It’s through the little steps we take leading up to these major events that prepare us to take the giant leaps that define who we are.

As long as you continue to press forward, you’ll eventually get where you want to be.

Time will not prepare you for what’s next in life. Only your experiences, and the lessons you learn from them, can.