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1
Introduction
Are you happy with what you are doing in life? A simple question that onlyneeds a yes or no answer. Are you happy? Do you drag yourself to work every day or doyou look forward to applying your skills and talents in an environment that energizesyou? Do you work to get paid or do you work to exercise your God given talents? (Themoney is a reward for your hard work) Every day, are you honoring God, your familyand yourself by pouring your talents and skills onto society to help others and to improvecultures, systems, and processes?If you are upper thirty something or early forty something is your job what youwant to do from now until retirement? Can you honestly see yourself in your current jobat the age of retirement?Do you dread Mondays?Do you come home at night in a bad frame of mind?What do you really enjoy doing? Are you passionate about your career? Or doyou only have a job?How does the work you do affect your personality? Do you come homeenergized or does the work sap your energy?Do you hate taking orders? Do you like to be led or do you like to lead?If you are twenty something, are you focused on your strengths and talents or areyou focused on making money?Is your work an extension of your studies in college or are in you in a completelydifferent arena? Do you sometimes feels that you majored in the wrong subject or do youknow for sure that you spent four years preparing for your career?
 
2Are you preparing to have children? If so, are you in a career that fulfills you andmakes you a better person.Do you work to exercise your talents or do you work for money? Do you get paidfor what you know or do or do you get a set amount that only changes once per year?What drives you crazy in life? What pleases you in life? How do these itemsmanifest themselves in your career? Positively and negatively?What do you want your tombstone to say?I will tell you how to decide on a career. But first, you must understand yourself.You must know what you like to do and don’t like to do. You must be honest withyourself about your strengths and weaknesses. If you can’t perform this introspection,then the questions will be hard to answer.If you can analyze yourself, sit down with a paper and pencil and follow theprocess outlined below. I developed this process because I was in the same position youare in right now. I was thirty nine with three children working in a job for a paycheck that was not enough to provide for my family. My wife worked in a job that made herunhappy. I was a hostage to my job. It governed me. I was bonded to the monthlycheck. I knew my strengths and weaknesses but still remained in the daily grind calledthe rat race.In my mid thirties, I went back to school for a masters degree. I told myself thatmy career must be in the right direction before my fortieth birthday. As I write, thebirthday is three months away.
 
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A Career or a Job
There are countless reasons to not versus few reasons to pursue a goal.Seemingly the reasons not to do something dwarf the reasons to act. Needing apaycheck. Health insurance. Being able to pay bills. Sure we need to satisfy dailynecessities but what I have learned from experience and from reading and listening is thatyour career must be what you want to do. It must bring out the best in you. You innerbeing must escape your pores to guide your career. The work should be done with talentsprovided by God. Therefore, we work to honor him. If you aren’t, then first, you areignoring God; secondly, you are penalizing yourself.Why waste your talent? My father once told me that people will pay you for whatyou know. I never listened to him but now know it to be true. Like an athlete thatpractices his skills, you must be practicing your skills every day. If not, they sit dormantand help no one.Faith without works is dead. Do nothing and you will get nothing. Dosomething, work hard and eventually something will happen. It make take time, but staythe course and your effort will be rewarded.I am a big proponent of the five why concept. If you have a problem, ask yourself why five times. This line of questioning will get you to the root of your problem fast.For example, if you are unhappy at home, ask yourself why. I have done so often andthe majority of times answered that my job was making me unhappy. Why is my jobmaking me unhappy? I often listed a multitude of reasons and most dealt with crappyleadership at work and the environment that surrounded me. Over time, I knew that Iwanted to work on my own but was afraid to do so. I even started my own company with
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