Students Of Success

There was a time when five-year plans were all the rage. But that was when workers can still count on signing up with a company for life. In the warp-speed world of technology, five years is an eternity. So how is one supposed to map out one`s career when the business landscape is always changing?

Firstly, a plan is useless but planning is still essential. Instead of a five-year plan, try formulating a five-year vision. In that way, workers can chart a course they would like to follow. For example, today I am on the team; in two years, I would like to be managing it; in three years, I would like to be relocated to build a new team in a new market; and in five years, I would like to be coordinating a group of international teams. Just keep in mind that the course will almost certainly change.

Secondly, workers should not confine their career projections within the framework of their current companies as they did previously. Instead, they should understand that while it is beneficial to set a goal of being a supervisor in five years, you might need to move to another company in another country to achieve it. Construct a portfolio of your achievements and market yourself by including your personal goals along with your career goals. It is important to include financial planning, as one cannot rely on employers` plans to manage one`s money.

Thirdly, workers should identify employment-related characteristics regardless of other factors. The key to planning is for workers to upgrade their own skills and stay relevant in the job market. This applies strongly to the engineering profession. For the first four to five years, the engineer`s plan will be broken into two major periods. The first two years will be learning key technical training and after that the engineer will be placed in the field for a couple of years. The engineer should take advantage of all opportunities to try out different aspects of engineering during these five years. After this incubation period, the engineer would need to be flexible and able to chart his own course, even into overseas countries with strong career growth opportunity.

Fourthly, workers should make their plans incremental and somewhat aggressive. This is very much the case in creative fields such as design and architecture. Creative people are expected to do rather than wait to be told what to do. But even the most creative businesses are businesses at heart. So, a career plan for a designer or decorator should include delving into the business side of projects.

In general, workers must first decide what specific path they wish to take, and then proceed down that road ambitiously, scooping up opportunities when they appear. Long-term plans can be used as guides, but they become folly if they are followed rigidly.

Set your goals. Map out a plan. Create a vision. Then six months later, be ready to rethink those goals.

Author Ken Yap holds directorships in Suwa Precision Engineering in Singapore which represents precision component manufacturers from Suwa, Attisse Pte Ltd which is a business and market research consultancy firm for Japan investors, and SV Tech which sources for printed circuit boards and IC chips from China.

Do you know what intrapersonal communications is? Many have not even heard of the word, yet it can be one of your most valuable tools to achieving your goals. Many ask, “Isn’t that like interpersonal?” No.

Intra means self, getting personal with your self. And I mean intellectually.
Intrapersonal communications is your thoughts & conversations with yourself. And the ones that can benefit you the most are the ones that use all of your senses. You see when you tell your self what you desire and see the image in your mind, you are bring clarity to your desire. When you add in your other senses, of what it feel, smell, taste like etc, you are then reinforcing the importance to yourself.

I think that in today’s society we are taught not to talk to ourselves. There is almost a stigmatism that you are some how not ok if you do. Yet, the irony is that, the successful people in the world, the ones that succeed and achieve their dreams and desires, the ones that are the movers and the shakers, talk to themselves. And they do it daily.

And what are they saying? Several things actually.

They are:
Encouraging themselves when things get challenging.
They know that it can be easy to slide into fear, worry or negativity and that it is important to stay positive. They understand it’s important to look for solutions and be open to ideas to realize that all things are possible. You can’t do this if you are bemoaning what is happening to you.
They also understand that it is through failures that we learn the best and the fastest. They see the challenges as stepping-stones to the next level and they remind themselves of that factor.

As well, they are asking themselves,

• What are my goals for the year?
• What do I want to accomplish?
• What does it look and feel like?
• What are the details?
• When will this be done by?
• How will I achieve this?
• Who’s help do I need?

I have heard from many of them that they will go one-step further and even meditate on the questions they have until they answers or solutions come to them. And sometimes, when they see a solution, they think forward and ask, “And then what? What else do I need to know and do to succeed?”

This is one of the reasons that their success is almost assured. They know what they want and they know how they are going to get it. Their communication skills with themselves, are practiced and followed through on.

I have also noticed that people who don’t speak with themselves, will just quickly make a new years resolution and then forget about it. There is no clarity or details on what it is or how it will happen. There is no emotion or desire driving them towards it. Then another year goes by and they sit and wonder why hasn’t anything changed.

My desire for you is to choose to make 2006, the year that you make a difference. The year that you discover the value and benefits of Intrapersonal Communication. Choose now to find out who you really are. Start talking with yourself today and really get to know yourself on a more personal level.

Maria Boomhower is a Master Communicator and hold a Diploma in the Art of Applied Communication. She has won awards for excellence in her field.
Her background includes: supervision, video production, running sub-press centres, photo-journalism & training. Maria has spent years studying
Quantum & Meta physics to bring in this human aspect of Communication.
Maria has a communication training site at: Falcon Freedom Communiction and an Article Directory at:
Communication Mastery Articles
Sign-up for her valuable and beneficial newsletters.