Hope in 140 pages
During my lifetime I’ve been surrounded by caring, intelligent, helpful people and that covers right up to the present moment. I hope this is true for you also. And may this brief article be just one portion of that good in your life.
In conversations during my getting back on my feet I came across two friends who left me with two wonderful challenges expressed in three comments: tell them you provide hope in 140 pages; ask them if they are looking for a book or are they looking for a life; and help your readers/audience to believe in themselves.
Providing hope in 140 pages caused me to look at Crafting a Successful Career from a different point of view. I looked at the basic flow—defining success for you, finding a job, finding a mentor, getting good at what you do, building your network, understanding and using sponsorship, performing, and creating Plan B and Plan C—and decided that’s exactly what this book does. It says, “Hey, be sure you don’t live with someone else’s definition for success. You have one in mind that suits you; live with it!” Then it goes on to speak of getting a job. Here, I’ve grown that segment quite a bit in my most recent talks to groups of people in transition and to new college graduates just entering the workforce. I dwell a bit more on the interview and their presentation, relying a bit on Roshini Rajkumar’s Communicate That! book I found so helpful. And since I’m confident something will open up, I encourage my readers to find a mentor to help them get attuned to the way business is conducted in their new surroundings—a little defense to go along with their great offense. And I take it way beyond that. Bottom line: there’s hope, people. But you have to have a plan. Then execute it.
Mine is not just a book, it’s a way to look at your career life. The same is true of Roshini’s Communicate That! and Harvey Mackay’s Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door, and Gaye Lindfors’ Find a Job: The Little Book for BIG SUCCESS.” You’re not looking for just a fun book. You’re looking for something that will work for you to have a productive life that provides the balance you are looking for, where you get to work hard and well, you get the rewards that accompany a job well done, and you have time and energy to pursue the other things in your life that make you, you. These aren’t just books; they’re means to an end. I encourage you to read them and to employ the principles they suggest—the one’s that work for you.
And once you cast your die, live with it. You’ve made some good decisions in the past. You know what it was like when you were appreciated, when you did well, when stuff was working. Well, you have an opportunity to do it again here in the job search, the job itself, the crafting of a successful career. Stay with it! You’re on the right track. And if something doesn’t work—fix it and move on. You know the drill.
Hope really does spring eternal. Just a thought.
