Failure happens by default, success by design
- Speech excerpt from an address at UNESCO (United Nations) circa 2010, by federal career activist Peter Nguyen from the Canadian delegation
===
In 2005, I had a flash of insight and developed with my sister Zoonie a powerful and liberating workshop to help people design their ideal career. Called "Career Brainstorming," this workshop aimed at:
- teaching people the fundamental elements of a great career
- how to design an ideal career for themselves
A few months ago, I read that every month, 2.6 million people in the U.S. quit their job and go looking for a better job.
It is obvious to me that people are looking less for "job success" but rather are looking for "career success."
Yet, we never took the time to define exactly what a career is.
In our Career Brainstorming workshop, we submit that a career must contain four dimensions:
- your talent (what you're good at)
- your passion (what you feel strong and positively about)
- the world's need (the real need that you are fulfilling in the world)
- your sense of purpose (the sense that what you do is important, that it is meaningful, that it's part of your legacy)
I've shared this framework with so many people, and the reaction of every person is the same: "But of course! That's quite right!" And then they go on to ask me tons of questions about it.
People recognize these four dimensions of a career, yet have never been able to phrase them so concisely before.
The very simplicity of this framework makes it a powerful career design tool.
It it sounds like I'm trying to sell my workshop, don't worry; I'm not!
I'm more than willing to give away this framework and all associated ideas. Why? Because it has the potential to transform people's views about work, their career and the role they play in society.
When I was struggling in 1999 to find my true career, I did not have such a tool to help me. So I did suffer quite a bit and went through periods of severe self-doubt and existential confusion.
This is why Zoonie and I are so excited about sharing this career design framework with anyone who's interested. We believe it can help avoid a lot of confusion and pain and frustration.
However, this workshop is only for people who are serious about finding their ideal career and are honest enough to ask and answer questions such as:
- "Am I really using my talent at work or am I just wasting my time pushing paper and doing computer stuff?
- Do I really feel alive at work or am I just being courteous and polite?
- Do I know the purpose of my work or am I just working for a paycheck?"
The late Peter Drucker, one of my favorite management thinkers, asked this question when people came to him for career advice: "What do you want to contribute?"
The blunt truth -- and not everyone is ready to hear this -- is that most people don't know what they want to contribute. We merely go through the motions day in day out. And then one day, we come to the end of life and look back without clearly seeing what we have accomplished.
Sure, it's hard to imagine yourself at the end of your life and looking back.
But here's an exercise that will help you to clearly see what your career will like: just think about what you accomplished last week, as well as the emotions you felt and the performance you achieved.
Multiply all of that by 50 and you get precisely what your career will be like for the coming year.
If last week was boring, expect 50 more boring weeks.
If last week was stressful, expect 50 more stressful weeks.
If you did not use your true talent last week, expect to NOT use your talent in the coming 50 weeks.
The fundamental thing to remember here is that failure always happens by default, and that success always happens by design.
Unless a person sits down and seriously designs his/her career, it will simply not happen.
Note: if you're interested in receiving (free of charge) the workshop slides that I use during the Career Brainstorming workshop, please write to me at omnidigitalbrain@yahoo.com
posted by Super Peter at 1:15 AM
<< Home