No career plan? What?

Over the past two years, I've increased the amount of sharing I do on social media.  I ask questions, I tell stories about what I've learned and most importantly, I learn from those that respond.  I recently posted about a session that I am creating entitled "living in an inspiring career".  A two hour active session that will look into career inspiration and action planning.

The best part about telling the world what I am working on, is that I get back useful information and resources that I didn't have before.  In this recent post,  Scott McVay let me know about this book:

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need: Daniel H. Pink, Rob Ten Pas: 9781594482915: Amaz…

He piqued my interest when he shared a piece of career advice from the book.... THERE IS NO PLAN.

Scott was kind enough to drop the book at my desk.  I was shocked to see that it was actually a Japanese comic book, which I read in less than 30 minutes. 

I really appreciated the quick tips and it really got me thinking...NO CAREER PLAN?  Hmmm.....how would that work??

Here are the key take-a-ways and I highly recommend grabbing the book, I think most can connect to it's quick story and sound advice.

  1. There is no plan.  Successful people will take a job or join a company because it will let them do interesting work in a cool place, even if they don't know exactly where it will lead.
  2. Think strengths not weaknesses.  Build on, and play to your strengths.  An oak tree will never grow apples.  Stop trying to improve on something you're not.
  3. It's not about YOU.  Improve your own life by improving the lives of others.  Help a customer solve a problem, bring out the best in others, help your boss and team succeed.
  4. Persistence trumps talent.  The world is littered with talent, but most people give up too soon.  People with less talent will surpass those with more talent through persistence.
  5. Make excellent mistakes.  Make mistakes from which the benefits of what you've learned exceed the cost of the mistake.
  6. Leave an imprint.  Think about your purpose, do something that matters.  Leave your team, your company, your family, your community better than it was before.

Which one resonates the most for you?

Troy Billings

Messiah Lutheran Church…622 followers

8y

There is resonance is all six points. #2 leads the rest for me. Play to your strengths and understand your weaknesses. Understanding your weaknesses helps you find people for the team who are good at what you are not. When you have a team of people filling each others gaps and playing to their strengths, it's great fun to watch what they can do.

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Marta Kłysz

PigOnTheTable.pl581 followers

8y

Mistakes. First 4 months of my current job are mistakes but the key to the success is: make a lot of them at the beginning, learn and you won't fail in the future.

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Mike Jones

Salute4K followers

8y

#2 do what you do well and take it to the max. Like Nicole said I hope the others on my team bring strengths that fill gaps from weaknesses. Diversity. And getting the most out of people.

Bonnie Holub, Ph.D.

ArcLight, Inc.9K followers

10y

Here's my favorite: It's not about YOU. Improve your own life by improving the lives of others. Help a customer solve a problem, bring out the best in others, help your boss and team succeed.

Kate Ostrem

University of Minnesota -…1K followers

10y

#5 resonates with me because I've actively tried to get more comfortable making mistakes - and really owning and seeing the mistake before automatically turning it around into an "opportunity." Before we can learn from it, we need to be honest about our role in what happened and get comfortable with the discomfort of messing up!

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