"Your career is literally your business," said, Theodore Levitt, author and educator.
These are challenging times ... and tough times.
What makes the situation so much more difficult is the way people handle these tough times. Like others, the possibility of downsizing and company lay-offs is REAL.
The key question that each of us should be asking is: "What am I going to do?"
Be careful not to shift responsibility of job preservation or career enhancement on someone else. And that, my fellow agents, is a dangerous position to take. In "Choose Greatness For Your Life Today," I read, "We must stop (seeking to blame) external people and forces in our lives and begin consciously choosing appropriate responses."
So I ask you, are you taking responsibility for yourself, your job, and your future? Or are you simply sitting on the sidelines, hoping things work out? A call to action: Take responsibility for making good things happen.
As writer Sara Henderson says, "Don't wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel. Stride down there ... and light the bloody thing yourself."
So what are the appropriate responses to these challenging, insecure times? (Here comes the "born" instructor in me...)
1. Focus on your replacement value?
*If you're ever going to have control over your career, you must have an answer to each question. They are as follows:
a) What am I going to do to increase my value in the market place?
b) What am I going to do to demonstrably increase my value to my current employer? Or to my clients and customers?
c) What am I going to do to increase my value to prospective future employers?
d) What am I going to do to make myself so valuable that I'm the least likely to be cut or the last to be cut?
2. Stop the excuses
* "There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than achievement." These people will never turn into great success stories.
3. Refuse to settle for "good enough."
*Focus on 5 things that will make you more valuable to your employer or your customers.
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"Reprinted with permission from Dr. Alan Zimmerman's 'Tuesday Tip.' As a
best-selling author and Hall of Fame professional speaker, Dr. Zimmerman has worked with
more than a million people, helping them become more effective communicators on and off
the job. To receive a FREE, subscription to his 'Tuesday Tip' articles, go to http://www.
DrZimmerman.com. Or contact him at 20550 Lake Ridge Drive, Prior Lake, MN 55372."
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