ALT-1 How to Plan your Career Path
Initially when you begin to look in the direction of success and career planning you must first establish your purpose. I believe we all come into this life with a specific purpose a definitive thing that we are supposed to accomplish. Some of us come into this life and at a very early age, two, three, or four years old, we understand what our purpose is. Certainly we don't have all the pieces in place at that age, but we leave clues as to what our purpose is by our activities and the things we love to do, even as a child. In order to be truly successful we must first get in touch with our purpose. Your purpose should line up with your values and it should be those things that you love to achieve and accomplish. These are the things we live and breath and would gladly do for free. Our purpose should represent the place at which we can serve humanity to the fullest extent and utilize our talents and abilities to the greatest dimension.
When you understand your purpose and begin to flow in that direction, you establish excitement, energy, enthusiasm, passion, drive, and direction. You also begin to see opportunities that others don't see. This is the time when you enjoy fulfillment, contentment, happiness, peace, joy and prosperity. You actually enjoy your job or profession unlike 80% of the United States work force that is dissatisfied with what they are doing. Fulfilling your purpose will enable you to walk into your destiny and achieve the highest levels of satisfaction and success that you can imagine. So it all starts with purpose.
If it happens that you did not establish your purpose while in college it is not too late. Sit back take a deep breathe and think about the times in your life you were the most satisfied or those times when you were happy. I remember how I came face to face with destiny, or my purpose if you will. I had graduated from college received a degree in a field of study I had no interest in whatsoever. However, like so many students, we have no idea what it is we want to pursue, so we pick a major based on what someone else has suggested or we simply pick something thinking we can change majors after we find out what it is we really want to do. I started as an accounting major and even though I liked numbers I soon discovered that this was not my passion, so I changed to management and marketing another mistake. After graduating I went from job to job in management, customer service, and jobs as a credit analyst. I did a good job but I did not put my heart and soul into my employment because those areas were not my passion.
As it happened I was working at a credit card company, in customer service when management selected key individuals whom they felt had a promising career with the company, to go through a people development program. It was a sixteen-week program and I along with twelve other individuals got a chance to circulate through all the departments of the organization and speak with the directors of those departments to see how they operated and functioned together to make the organization flow as a unit. As I was going through the program, I heard one of the directors, explain the operations of his department. He talked about motivation, goal setting, the 21 qualities of leadership, and achieving excellence. The talk was so motivating and inspiring I could hardly stay in my seat. I believe it was in that moment that my destiny was formed. I understood my purpose. An hour later we circulated through another department and another director, elaborate on some of the same items. He, too, was very motivating. My heart was racing and I remember thinking hey! I want to do what they are doing. I want to motivate and inspire and encourage individuals to look deep within for the hidden talents and abilities and utilize their various gifts for the accomplishment of their own dreams and goals! I now had purpose and passion in my life. These things were sorely missing before.
My dream of being a professional speaker was fashioned in that moment. The highest level of accomplishment and success starts with the realization of purpose. Do the thing you were created to do and everything falls in line after that, which ultimately moves you Beyond Greatness.
