Persistency will create a path
My first “real job” was to sell insurance to businesses. It was not my preferred career as an Applied Math & Economics major but the job market was tough and I did not know what to do. I had no guidance around me and also did not know where the path would take me. Fast forward years later, I have a wide range of experience working for various insurance companies in aspects of Sales, Underwriting and Consulting. In particular, many lessons that I learned from sales have allowed me to create my path. I hope the lessons below could help those in search of their career goals.
Nothing beats persistence
I was born with the "stubborn gene". It's both a curse and a blessing. Mostly, I annoy people around me but it has proven to be a successful tool to use. When I missed my deadline to apply to business school, I stubbornly kept my goal and applied next year. I networked, learned from my mistakes and made it happen. You too will need to be persistent in keeping promises to yourself. I have heard that no single person will care more about your goals than You, so it really puts the ownership on the individual.
Be flexible
This is counterintuitive given my point about being persistent because some people may take this as giving up when they face obstacles. This is not what I mean. What is necessary to accomplish difficult things is to provide some parameters that can help you define success. When I started public speaking, I had an unrealistic expectation that my audience would love my material and that I would be booking enough speaking gigs that I would have lots of money for my educational scholarships. When that did not happen, it became apparent that something was not right. I could have given up and started over. But that leads me to my next point...
Know what you can compromise
I was not going to compromise on my goals but now I do not take speaking assignments that do not fit with my mission of helping individuals achieve their career goals. You too will need to set boundaries that you don't want to compromise. You may not want to compromised your time with your family; Maybe location is very important to you or the type of role is most important. You will need time to reflect and learn what is most and least important; This will be your guiding principles when making a decision. If you start compromising on your most important aspects of your life, you may not be happy with your choices. Even if you achieve a "successful outcome".
So there you have it, there are many ways to F.I.N.D. your path and make things happen for you. It's difficult to imagine what the future holds and the journey has a lot of bumps, turns and twists.
What is your next step to keep going and achieve difficult things?