Get In Career Shape

Research suggests that as many as 8 out of 10 employed adults are in the wrong job or career! They are in poor career-shape or have little or no career-stamina.

If you are one of the 8 or your goal is to shape up, it is important to have a good understanding of some basic career management principles for a healthy career workout and to help you make the best decisions about your career on a day-by-day basis.

Career Fitness Tips

Here are 10 proven tips to maximize your career-workout:

  • Set Goals You Know You Can Reach. Keep your goals realistic. Unrealistic goals leave many people feeling like a failure even after a career success. Rather than feeling good about what has been accomplished, many feel dissatisfied because they have not yet attained their dream career. To manage your expectations, set reasonable goals that can be worked on and achieved.

  • Divide your career goals into manageable pieces. Bite off only what you can chew at any given moment. Resist the urge to multi-task when working on your career goals. If you overdo it and push yourself by trying to accomplish everything at once, you will become discouraged and lose your motivation.

  • Work On Your Goals One At A Time. Prioritize your career goals and then work to achieve the first one. Continue to tackle each subsequent goal by completing it before starting the next one. Before you know it you will have accomplished all of your career objectives.

  • Make Modest Changes To Your Work Habits. There are a number of "baby steps" you can take to advance your career. Instead of fantasizing about the perfect career, apply creative thinking and implement a few "quick wins" to boost your career.

  • Develop A Career Roadmap. A career roadmap helps you find the best route or direction to take to achieve your career objectives. List the actions you will take to ensure an interesting, challenging and rewarding career that uses your best strengths and natural talents.

  • Increase Your Focus. To stay challenged and to progress towards your ultimate career goal, gradually increase the intensity and focus your efforts as you follow your Career Roadmap.

  • Make It A "Whole-Person" Experience. Your career is more than just one or a series of jobs. A well-rounded career includes a balance of healthy personal relationships, work, and recreation (fun). To avoid boredom, make sure you include others who have a stake in your career and activities you truly enjoy.

  • Celebrate. Whenever you achieve a goal, do something nice for yourself. Make sure it's more than just a pat on the back or verbal acknowledgement; make it worthwhile.

  • Consult A Career Management Specialist. If you're serious about advancing your career, hire a professional to help you get the most from your career activities and to motivate you to stick with your plans.

  • Get A Career Fitness Partner. Find a mentor or colleague who is willing to be your career fitness partner. Choose someone who will motivate and challenge you when you want to quit. Or, form a support group with co-workers who share similar career interests.

    • As you begin to use these tips, they may at first feel burdensome. However, with a little effort and continued use, they will become second nature.

    Althea DeBrule, entrepreneur and seasoned human resources executive, has focused for more than 30 years on helping people achieve their career goals. Creator of The Extreme-Career-Makeover? and a founding partner of RADSGroup Organizational Consultants, she is recognized for her bottom line and practical application of career development and management strategies in a way that penetrates hearts and compels action. She speaks and teaches with inspired talent, humor and contagious zeal at management conferences and leadership retreats nationwide, and has been featured in CFO Magazine, Strategy@Work, Human Resource Executive Magazine. Althea is the author of Bosses & Orchards, a compelling and candid book about how to make your work relationship with your boss succeed. To discover how you can take your career to a new level, visit http://www.extreme-career-makeover.com/


    More Resources

    Want to Work for Yourself? Those Dream Jobs Dont Just Happen, Theyre Created
    While traveling in northern California last October, I happened to tune into a local newscast. The newscaster was telling his co-anchor that the speaker at that morning's Rotary Club meeting had to cut his presentation short because he was being flown down to Disneyland to carve elaborate Halloween pumpkins for the park festivities.
    Do You Have a Hotsy-Totsy Resume?
    I begin this article with a bit of slang description. Whatdo I mean by a "hotsy totsy" resume? I mean one thatdoes the following for you, the job seeker and apossible employer.
    Should I leave My Job?
    Most of us have to work for a living. Since we spend so many hours each week at our jobs, it's very important that there is a good fit.
    The Executive Resume - Moving Beyond Accomplishments
    There is a major difference between conventional resumes and executive resumes. Accomplishments are usually the center point of a conventional resume (i.
    The Not-So-Effective Cover Letter
    Here's a newsflash: Cover letters work, plain and simple. This is why I'm intrigued by the fact that a) jobseekers rarely submit them and b) hiring managers seldom read them.
    Resume That Effectively Promotes You!
    Imagine for a moment that you have created a wonderful product. You are excited at the possibilities of attaining name, fame and wealth marketing this product.
    Getting Past Fear
    Have you gotten tons of career advice, solicited and unsolicited? You nod when you hear it and think, "Yeah, I know this stuff." So, what else is new?But what have you done with the advice? Fess up.
    Top Ten Networking Strategies To Get A Job, A Promotion, Or Make A Sale
    Whether you are networking to find a new job opportunity, gain a promotion, or close a sale, you have two main goals with the networking interaction:1. To be remembered so that when opportunities appear, people will think of you as the perfect person to handle things,2.
    Get a Job! Tips for Organizing Your Resume
    Whether you're a Vice President of Marketing or a recent college grad, your resume is the 'key' to opening the doors of employment. It is an employer's first impression of you and believe it or not, many hiring officials spend less than thirty seconds reviewing it.
    Career Discovery - Pinpoint Your Ideal Career
    Determine your ideal career--one that's in alignment withyour values, passions, and talents--and discover the workyou were born to doCareer discovery is the process by which a person identifiestheir ideal career path, thus saving themselves a lot oftime (and money) by not pursuing career choices that theywill ultimately find unfulfilling. To find your truecalling, you need to dig around and find the things that areimportant to you--now, and in the future.
    Now, Do You Have Any Questions?
    "Who is that hot babe in the picture?" isn't the type of reply an interviewer expects to hear when he or she invites you to ask questions near the end of an interview. In fact, the way you approach the Q&A session will have a direct impact on the interviewer's perception of you.
    10 Warning Signs That You're Ready for a Career Transition
    1. You dread getting out of bed and going to work.
    The Springtime of Your Career
    Rick Jarow, author of Creating the Work You Love, introduced many of us to the notion of career seasons. When we're struggling with a career, we're most likely to think of winter.
    Ten Careers For High School Seniors Who Hate School
    Let's face it?not everybody likes going to school and high school can be a terrible experience for many students. Whether you're the hands on type who preferred Shop class to English class, or an athlete who liked working as a team more than studying alone, or even someone who liked schoolwork more than schoolmates; the idea of four more years of school is unbearable.
    The Network Within
    When you hear the word "networking", what comes to your mind first?You probably think about going to a job fair or asking all of your friends, family members and acquaintances for jobs.But if you are currently employed, you might very well have easy access to one of the best networks you can have.
    Powerful Phone Interviews
    Phone interviews are de rigueur with many organizations.Companies conduct phone interviews for a number of reasons.
    Fuzzy Headed Job Goals Lead to a Fuzzy Headed Life!
    May I clarify in this article what I believe to be "fuzzy headed" life and job decisions. I believe both are entwined: life and job.
    Resume Tips To Take You From SAHM to WAHM
    When looking for a telecommuting position, it is very important to have your resume in tip-top shape. This is often the only thing that a potential employer has to base a hiring decision on since they most likely will not be interviewing you in person, your resume has to make that great first impression for you.
    Seriously Impress at Your Interview With These 7 Hot Tips
    So you've managed to secure a job interview for a position thatfits you PERFECTLY. Now comes the moment of truth: Are youREALLY ready for the interview? If you've rehearsed what you'regoing to say and know the perfect answer to every potentialquestion, you're half way there.
    CDL Practice Test - Offers Practice Tests To Prepare For The CDL Exam
    As you take CDL practice test, you do become morefamiliar with the CDL test, and being familiarwith the test will make the actual test much lessstressful.In fact, if used correctly, CDL practice testcan be an extremely targeted study tool thatwill precisely pinpoint the areas in which you are weakest and then help you to learn how to combat and overcome those weaknesses.

    More Careers & Employment Information:

    Related Articles

    Stop Searching for A Job and Start Attracting Professional Success!
    1. Assess - Evaluate your skills, interests and abilities.
    Those Little Things
    Moving to another state meant finding a new dentist. I tried one a neighbor recommended who seemed friendly, competent and eager to please.
    Ask Me No Questions, Ill Tell You No Lies
    If only there were no questions involved in getting a job!If you've been following NBC's "The Apprentice," you know who Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth is. She's had the honor of being fired by Donald Trump (and others, according to "People" magazine).
    Creating Traffic Jams
    It's hard to imagine why anyone would pick up a newspaper to find a job any more. With a seemingly endless array of career sites, mailing lists, corporate sites and newsgroups, job seekers have more options online than ever before.
    Working with Recruiters: 5 Critical Words for Candidates
    As professional recruiters working both retained and contingency search assignments, we spend a significant part of our effort preparing both the candidate and the client employer for prospective interviews. Preparing each side to meet and interact removes much of the predisposed tension that is inherent to the interview process on both sides.
    Tips for Requesting a Raise
    You probably think you deserve a raise. But does your boss think so?Here's how to go about convincing your boss that you're really worth more than you're being paid.
    Are Online Degrees Valid to Prospective Employers?
    Online distance learning has gained rapid popularity with the advent of the internet, which has proven to offer great supporting facilities and convenience for online education. However, just like everything else with pros and cons, the internet has also opened doors for the widespread sale of bogus online degrees.
    Job Hunting Tips: Staying Active
    Unemployment is depressing: financial pressures stress you out, looking for work is humiliating, and your fragile self-confidence reels under the blows of indifference and rejection.It becomes harder to get up in the morning, to take care of yourself, to be supportive and loving to those around you, to swing energetically into job search activities.
    Who Should Write Your Resume?
    This is a question we get a lot. It seems rather easy to do it yourself if you have access to a word processing program and printer and feel comfortable writing your job history.
    Employment Law: Unfair Dismissal - Employer Succeeded in Changing Terms of Employment
    Good News for Employers wishing to change the terms of employment of employees, however, employers must still take care.In Scott & Co v Richardson [2005], the Dependant, Mr Richardson, who worked for a Scottish firm of debt collectors, refused to accept his new terms of employment which required him to visit defaulting debtors during the evenings.
    Benefits of Maintaining a Career Portfolio
    Have you ever tried to contact a past employer only to discover they are no longer in existence or your former manager has moved on and been replaced by someone else? Of course, if you are an avid networker this shouldn't be much of a problem when it comes time to provide proof of your experience, education and accomplishments. A portfolio of your career should be developed and maintained using all documentation of your career history in order to overcome any problems that could arise in proving any aspects of your career.
    Interview Preparation Made Easy: Create An Interview Preparation List
    Here's a quick way to compare your own job experience and qualifications with those that your prospective employer is looking for in a specific job position. Make an "Interview Preparation List".
    Get a Life Why Dont Ya?!
    It's okay to take your job seriously, to be a stickler for professionalism, and sure it's wonderful to take your responsibilities seriously. However, you have to be a bit careful when you allow your job to become your LIFE.
    Dont Forget to Say, Thank You
    One of the biggest mistake for job seeks is to not follow up an important interview with a thank you note to the people who interviewed them. Human Resources experts note that as few as 10% of interviewees take the time to say, "thank you.
    Careers-Changing Jobs: The Fantasy of the Ideal Job
    Most people would agree that the concept of a job today is vastly different from that of 20 years ago. Organisations are changing at speed, technology has changed the face and pace of work, and globalisation is pushing every business to examine it's operations in a totally different context.
    Why Culinary Education
    If you are thinking about a career in culinary arts then studying in a culinary school is a must. You may be a great cook but you will never become expert learning culinary arts yourself.
    Acing The Interview
    It's no secret that there is a lot of competition for writing jobs.What makes or breaks you in an interview is more of a mystery that some writers may try to unravel for years.
    How To Write A Job Winning Resume That Puts Yours On Top
    Many people would love to get a better job. And most of these same people have the proper training and skills to achieve this goal.
    Thank-You Notes: An Integral Part of Your Career Design
    There is one little practice that is vital to generating the interest of potential employers. It is critical, but very few job seekers actually do it.
    Is A Career a Calling or Choice?
    How much of our career path is destiny and how much is free will? In my opinion, it is 50/50. We are given a life map at the beginning of our lives, and there are things we are meant to learn, people we are meant to meet, work we are meant to perform.