Our research reveals that the single biggest challenge in any career transition is simply getting people to change their behavior. Since we can control emotions and we know fear is the strongest emotion of all, the way to reduce the amount of fear a person experiences during a career transition is by educating individuals in making sound, logical career decisions with timetables attached to them, directions and timelines being the two critical components.

Here’s a personal story to illustrate the importance of timelines and directions: During a morning break at a seminar I was conducting, I was approached by an individual on my way back to the stage and he told me that he was very inspired by the seminar. He then shared with me that he wanted to become a speaker more than anything else.

“Why don’t you see me after the seminar is over,” I replied, “and we can talk about it.” He didn’t know it then but at that moment a foundation of leverage was laid that had the potential of dramatically changing his career and his life.

When the seminar ended, it was just the two of us, and as we shook hands, I looked him in the eyes and said, “So you want to be a speaker, do you?” With confidence he said yes. Then my eyes turned serious and with an earnest tone in my voice, I asked, “So, when are you going to be one?” He definitely wasn’t prepared for that question. As a result, he blurted out, “I don’t know.” Then, with calm certainty I replied, “If you don’t know when you’re going to be a speaker, you’ll not do the things today that will help you become one tomorrow.” I could sense that he was both staggered and inspired in that same moment. “Pick a date,” I continued, “and put it in your planner. Then write it on the back of my business card and give me the card.”

Just like that, the hammer had fallen. The moment of truth had arrived. With little certainty he selected a date, wrote it on my business card, and handed it to me. I looked down at the date and then said, “If you don’t call me by this date to tell me you’re a speaker, I’ll call you and ask you why you haven’t held to the commitment you just made to yourself.”

There are many ways to determine your purpose at work, but it’s been my experience the most effective way is to answer one question: What’s important to me about being successful in what I would like to do?”

Determining an appropriate career change starts with defining the word success, because that’s the paradigm with which most people identify. But success has many different meanings to many different people. That’s why it’s important to know what success means to you. Ultimately, the answer to the success question will yield deeper distinctions, stronger motives, and authentic reasons for wanting to be successful --- and that’s where you discover real power in your pursuits. Dig deep. Don’t stop with the first thing that comes to your mind. The deeper you search, the more accurate and more profound the impact of your answer. Here’s a formula that shows how the success question delivers a powerful foundation on which to build one’s career:

Money = Freedom = Time = Making a difference

While this example initially says that making more money is the definition of success, when delved deeper beneath the surface, a person can determine that the reason to make more money is the freedom it creates to spend more time with people. After digging still deeper you discover that the real motive for spending more time with people is wanting to make a significant difference in people’s lives. Bingo! The definition of success (and the wellspring of pull power) is making a difference in others’ lives. As a result of this discovery, you can now enter your work place each day knowing that your purpose is to align your actions in such a way that at the end of the day you’ll have made a positive difference in the lives of the people with whom you have done business that day --- something you have unlimited opportunity for as a professional, something that your clients can trust implicitly, something you can achieve independent of financial success.

If you’re willing to dive beneath the surface to determine your true purpose, you too can build your career upon a rock-solid foundation. As a result, not only will your attitude be changed but you’ll also find a new power available to you. A power that will not only eliminate fear of the unknown but will also pull you through the rough waters and guide you into occupations from which will spring forth an ocean of true success and fulfillment.

Joe Hodowanes, a career strategy adviser in Tampa, Florida, offers a free resume and career analysis. Fax your resume to (813) 936-0201 or email it to jmwanes@jmwanes.com For questions, call Joe at (813) 936-0091 or visit www.jmwanes.com on the Web. All Job Search Advisor articles on this website are the property of www.jmwanes.com (J.M. Wanes & Associates). You may download
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© 2006 J.M. Wanes & Associates.