Career Zen Chap 01

C a r e e r   Z e n
by Larry Daly,   'The JOB DOC'

Chapter 1.   Your CAREER, Your LIFE WORK

You will spend most of your life making a living. If you are now age 25, for instance, you have 40 years of work ahead before retiring at 65. Many people work long after that. Think: "Long haul; lots of opportunity time." Think: "I have ___ work years ahead."
Write in, up there, the number of working years you have left between now and your projected retirement. Do you really want to suffer in bad jobs all those years? Of course not. What to do?
If you want all of those years of work to pay you the most, give you what you want out of life, and to use your abilities and talents to best purpose and least waste, it's all up to you. You can do it.
Your life belongs to you. Nobody else. So what you do with it is up to you. You are either a self-made success, through smart action, or a self-made failure, through inaction, and making stupid mistakes.
Most 'career' schools and courses teach you the details of daily work in a specific job. That's essential, but just the beginning. A career is much more than a job. Doing the same job over and over in different places is not a real career. None of them teaches you what to do to really get ahead, and build a career, after completing that schooling and entering the workforce, and none of them teaches you the people skills you need. That is where and when your career actually begins, because everything we do in our careers is in the context of other people.
So I wrote this book to help you after schooling and training, after starting work. (I do not coach job seekers, only those who are already working, and realize that they are wasting their time and energy and lives.) I wrote it to help you with the real life details on how to get ahead, on the job, in your chosen career.

Building and Upgrading Your Career
Success is not an accident, and not automatic.
Most people are exploited. They work too hard and too long for too little. The few who understand the concept of a career go farther and get back much more for much less time and effort invested. Which kind are you?
Career success is more than being punctual, clean, properly attired, polite, cheerful, and willing. It's more than being good at a job, more than being a hard worker, knowing your business, having good skills and experience.
So, repeat after me: Success is not an accident. Success is not automatic. Not guaranteed. It is not magic. Not miracles. No angels or fairy godmothers will save you. This book can help a little. I can help a little. But in the end, it's all up to you. Self-help is the only real help.

Careering is An Art and A Science
Lifelong 'careering' is a subject in its own right, to study and practice like any other subject (typing, computer programming, mechanics, etc.). No matter what kind of work you do, in art, science, technology, manufacturing, retail, wholesale, government, or any other occupation, the same basic careering rules and tools help you get raises, promotions, and better jobs, get you ahead, bring you success.
Those rules and tools are what we will study here.
Careering is the process of planning and intentionally building a whole and progressively better professional and personal life, through a number of better and better jobs, and doing certain other things, over all your working years. Your career life is a continuing process, never finished, a work in progress.
Day-to-day technical details vary from career to career, but ALL careers have 90% in common: [1] working with other people, [2] toward the goals of those employing you, [3] for wages and other rewards, [4] year after year.
Success in these things comes from doing them better, taking courses and reading books to increase your knowledge, improving your abilities and talents, setting goals, selecting from all the available jobs out there those few which will get you to your desired goals. It is dealing effectively and successfully with people of all kinds, making useful alliances, and knowingly trading your time and efforts for the rewards you seek.
Careering is not just taking whatever jobs come along and hoping for the best.

The Career, Defined by Results
Success in any career depends upon helping your company achieve its goals, whether they are to increase profits, decrease costs, produce a new product or service, or whatever.

Big secret:
Trying doesn't count. Success depends not upon what you do, but what result you achieve by doing it, and not for yourself, but for your employer.
For example, instead of showing he got to work every day on time for fifteen years, clean, properly attired, and was well liked, the resumé of a career professional shows he increased the company's profits x percent in x months, cut costs x percent, headed a sales team penetrating a new market to achieve x dollars in sales per year, or other goals he attained for his company. A careerist tells what results he achieved -- not what he did and how, but the results of his actions. A person who aims for and gets results is worth much more than a salary, and gets much more.
This may be hard for some people to grasp, but it is true:   Your employer does not care what age or sex or color you are, but only what you can do for his company in gaining profits, growth, or other desired results. There is no glass ceiling. Either you produce desired results, or you don't. Your success is built on those results.
By understanding this distinction, and building a resumé full of results, you are saying to the next company, "I can help you, too, to achieve results like these toward your goals!". That's what they want to hear. You get the job. You have a career, the result of results!

How This Book Will Help You
This book will help you learn careering, just as I help my clients in my Personal Career Coaching Practice (212.876.5483), and save you several hundred to several thousand dollars in costs, and years of frustration and failure and dead ends. I will show you how to get and show results, and make your employer value and want you more than any other applicant or person, for what he believes you can do for him that any other person cannot, such as increase his volume, or reach a certain market, or raise his profit or bottom line, or whatever his business (and your career) is all about.

Career TIP of The YEAR:
Why do companies really hire some people and not others? The greatest secret in employment is: They hire you for their reasons, not yours! They don't hire you because you need a job, but because they need someone to do something for them. If you can't show them that you can do that job, whatever it is, you can't get a job there.
So, to get a raise or promotion, or a better job, you are going to emphasize the benefits of your abilities, from the employer's viewpoint.
When we advertise any other product or service, we stress what it will do for the buyer: Lowest Price. Economy (save the buyer money). Availability. Convenience. Personal Attention. Information. Service. Quality. Durability. Guarantees. Emotional Satisfaction. Diversity. Customer Support. Contract Terms. Results. Speed. Size. Color. Fast delivery. Ease of operation. Bells and Whistles. Etc.
Just so, in presenting yourself to an employer, selling yourself, you will do the same -- emphasize what you (the product) will do for the employer and his company. He is the buyer. You are your own product!
How can you show them you are a better 'buy' than someone else? I help you develop your selling 'features', in this book, and in my personal coaching.
You don't need magic or tricks. Common sense, hard work, some ambition and dedication, and a bit of study and analysis and creativity, will get you the best results.
It's not only what you actually do, but also what the employer believes you can do for him, like what buyers believe a product will do for them, that makes you worth more to him. Most any two competing brands on any shelf are really pretty much alike these days, but if the buyer believes that one is better than the other, she will purchase that one. In actuality, you may not be all that much better at what you do that someone else doing it, but if the prospective employer believes you are, he will hire you. Much of any sale success is achieved by creating that belief, through promotion, hype, spark, glamor, sizzle, appearance, availability, etc. Same with careers. You are going to have to work up some touch of specialness about your product (yourself) to help sell it.

Message: You Are Your Product.
Repeat after me: "I am my own unique product. I am my own valuable service. I can sell myself by making my employer believe that I am special, unique, better than any other. I can do this (job, work, etc.) better for him than anyone else can. Now, what is it, exactly, that he needs, wants, desires, and can't do without, for his goals?"
No matter what job you now hold, you can make more at it, and get promoted to a better job, mainly by improving yourself, and your job performance, and building the buyer (employer) belief in your value to him. Taking courses, training, and doing other things I will show you in this book, you can develop some special aspect to make yourself more valuable to your employer, in his mind, thus worth more to your company (and yourself), and begin to really build your professional career.

Jobs, Careers, and Professions, Defined
JOBS are strictly salary and hour based, usually pay less than $50,000 a year, with little or no travel, little or no shares or investment or other connection with the company or employer, little or no after - hours unpaid work, few or no required educational courses, little or no certification or licensing or permits or other professional qualifications, and little or no social content, such as networking with new clients. It is usually a reasonably easy job, often 90% physical and 10% or less intellectual and information oriented (though there are many exceptions). The worker has little or no control or influence over his working conditions, other work factors, or his future. He can easily be replaced (often by a machine!), and his options are few and of low value to himself.
A CAREER will usually start in the $50,000 range and can bring in substantially more, especially if in some sports and entertainment fields, where it may run into the millions of dollars a year, and is usually much more difficult work, as much intellectual and information based as physical, may involve a substantial amount of travel, and substantial investment of unpaid time, especially in networking with other people, and in study and other intellectual involvements, or physical training, or some unusual talent or experience, etc. There may be substantial shares or other income from shares and other sources (residuals, as in entertainment) in addition to the work immediately hired for. The careerist has a substantial control over his or her future, and often over the working conditions, work done, and other related considerations. More often than not, the careerist will direct others, and have managerial input in the direction of the work and results. Sometimes a careerist is very difficult to replace, being a unique talent, such as designer, politician, political or economic analyst, writer or other artist type, performer, athlete, etc. with some rare ability.
A PROFESSION is usually very highly paid, usually about $100,000 a year being a minimum, and several million a year possible, and, if in corporate management, such as CEO or founder, may have an almost unlimited earning ceiling (example: Bill Gates). The professional usually has ownership stock or equity in his business, major input in the management of it and direction of its future, as well as almost complete control over his or her own future. The initial position may be a licensed and controlled position such as doctor, lawyer, or architect, after years of specialized training, with the individual achieving success through his own initiative and ambition. The actual paid work may be only 10% of the professional's later output and effort, with 90% being social and networking activities among other leaders in the local or larger communities, in his or her professional associations and beneficial organizations, and in the government. There may be substantial travel, and much dealing with other VIPs, often on a worldwide basis, with any given project taking years to complete rather than producing immediate results, and final success resulting through the soft arts (cooperative people arts) rather than in technology or hard arts.

Your Future
How many working years have you ahead? Do you want to make the most of them? Or do you want to be used and exploited, and cast aside at retirement age, a tired gray and broken shell, like so many other people you see around you every day? It's up to you.
To build a future, a successful career, in any field, you must have:
[1] specific long- and short-term career goals;
[2] personal ambition;
[3] some business sense;
[4] results orientation;
[5] the power of peopling;
[6] an effective self-promotion plan;
[7] substantial resourcefulness;
[8] a touch of creativity;
[9] a few strategic affiliations and alliances;
[10] an aura of expertness and professionalism,
[11] and/or other people who do have these, to help you;
. . .and some guidance, coaching, rehearsal and practice.

You can develop all of these, starting right now, right here.
I can help you learn, practice, and become proficient in these, and much more, and help you learn all you need to know to achieve personal career success in your field and build the life you want to live. Start right now by using paper and pen on the side as you read this book. First, score yourself on a scale of 1 (little or none) to 10 (professional level) on each of the 10 items above, and the following:

6 Basics
In any business today you need at least six things before employers will hire you for good jobs at good salaries:
You must be literate, able to read and write well
You must be able to think
You must be people literate
You must be business literate
You must be computer and hi-tech literate
You must be team-work literate

If you already have all these, you don't need this book.
If not, I will try to help you in these pages, as I have many others in my private Personal Career Coaching practice: 212 876-5483.

My Career Is Your Career
My goal in writing this book is to help you get a raise in three weeks, a promotion in six weeks, a better job in twelve, and to build your career into success, all your life, in the real world of people and work and money. And how to best use the one tool you already own, but so few use well: Self-help. Self-help is the best help. Self-help is the only real help. (If you are not fully willing to help yourself, this book can't help you, I can't help you, and probably nobody else in the world can help you.)
I can coach you in developing your own:
> Contacts
> Introductions
> References
> Support, advice, guidance
> Develop your salary and terms Negotiation skills
> Your best career strategies
> Practice your Networking skills
> Improve your Interview skills through Video Rehearsal sessions
> Help you select the most appropriate formal education (school, college, or special courses), or join my L-Teams Program and learn things no one else teaches
> Help you with your Image
> Help you develop your self-Promotion plan (you truly thought getting discovered happened by chance?)
> Help you get discovered (by the employers you target - again, no accident)
> Bypass personnel and HR departments, meet company owners and presidents personally, socially
> Set and achieve practical goals and methods
> . . . and much more.

How? Briefly: First we set your goals, not carved in stone, but flexible and general.
Then we choose specific jobs and positions that will help you achieve them.
Then we choose a list of specific companies to target. We study these targets in detail; the management styles and the decision-making methods of the top people at each company, (from study of periodicals in your career specialty).
Then we promote your value to them in filling a need they have.
When you go in for the interview, you are prepared, armed, not going in blind with little more than guesswork and vague hopes.
Every company is always looking for good people. Always. Long before they advertise any particular job. If you can help your target companies see how valuable you can be to them, the rest is just a matter of settling the terms.
Your goals determine the next steps of your plan, your promotions and moves there, and the jobs to go after next, and your life program after that. Life is an ongoing process, taking the rest of your years, and you can do many things to make that time useful and valuable to you. That is careering.
Today companies come and go. America is so big it has more than 9,000,000 companies employing more than 100,000,000 workers in 1998. Whole industries rise and fall and new careers emerge as new scientific discoveries are made, technology evolves, new products are invented, and processes evolve. For example: twenty years ago the computer was just a hobbyist's toy, and ten years ago the Internet and its potential were not even imagined, and hundreds of computer job functions and titles simply did not yet exist. Digital imaging and telephony are now going through the same process, and half a dozen other high - techs are in the pipeline. More companies, jobs, and needs open every day. The future is wide open to you.
During your career, you'll not only change jobs and companies, but also fields of occupation two or three times, because of today's speed of change. To not adapt means you become extinct.
So you will keep your eyes open, your mind flexible, and plan your continuing education to stay ahead of the big changes.
To build a successful career today you need much more than any US school or college teaches.
Our present educational system was designed back in the 1800's to help immigrants and illiterate workers get simple factory jobs. It cannot even give you enough essential cultural and business knowledge, let alone mastery of the six basics above, to prepare you for success today, or future careers. It also trains you to work for others, not for yourself, and to follow rules, not think for yourself.
To develop a real career, you need much more than our schools and colleges can give you. Constant self - re - education is going to be a big part of your careering process.
You must be ready, willing, and able to afford the time, effort, and money, to raise yourself. It's not easy.
You don't do all this work for getting a clerical job, but when you aim higher, the results are worth the effort.
What is it worth to you to boost your salary another $10,000 a year? Or go for a $50K or $100K position?
Would you invest $1,000 to make $10,000? Sure! Of course.
That is what education is. Investment. In yourself. In your future. Part of every dollar you earn must be re-invested in yourself, your education, your career, and your future. This is not done all at once. You plan it out over years, to make it fit within your financial budget. If you budget 10 cents for on-going education out of every dollar you make, every year, that will guarantee spectacular raise and promotion results all your life. Even your loose pocket change put aside every day will add up to hundreds of dollars a year, so you can afford several courses, a dozen books, special tutoring or coaching, subscriptions to professional periodicals, or whatever else you need.
In a tech world you need technology: a personal computer, phone and fax/modem, and access to the Internet and WWW, either through a local service provider or AOL, CompuServe, etc. (Don't use Prodigy.) You can find great jobs without a PC and direct access, but it is harder and takes longer. Most of the best employers are now looking for the best help on the Internet first, before they place any help wanted ads, believing that if you're smart enough to be there you are a lot better than the average applicant. True!
You must have some personal contacts, and be able to develop more. First, you need at least three to five good friends, who care about your future (besides parents or guardians). You need to develop the employers you have worked for before, people from school and sports and hobby and other interests, and all the other people you already know. Each of them is a potentially valuable contact you already have, but may not realize it. Then plan what other social, political, business and other contacts you will need, and what organizations to join, and the rest of it, for your future career development. This is a task that will go on for the rest of your life. Every person you ever meet is a valuable resource. To each of them, you are also a valuable resource, when they need contacts, jobs, promotions, etc.

Hard Work
I don't lie to you.
If careering was easy, any lazy fool would be a success.
Look around you - what do you see? Losers! Most job-seekers only hope for a job. Once an employer sees that you are serious, prepared, dealing from power, a professional, a careerist, not a begging beginner, he will take you seriously.

The 67 Most Common Career Problems
Like most people, you will or may have already experienced some of the following career problems. To help you overcome these and their effects, you must first identify and define the problem, and your particular career and personal goals, before choosing solutions. In my practice as the JOB DOC, my first task is to examine my client's career symptoms, like a doctor examines a suffering patient, according to his or her problems. That is your first task, also. Here's how:
First, you need help. This is an exercise you should do with two other people you respect and trust, preferably one male and one female, and at least one of them older. Make them partners in your self-help task. You must listen to their opinions, no matter what they say. Don't fight or argue. Listen especially hard if you disagree. They might be right!
(The Zen Careerist becomes a good listener, and a slow and seldom speaker, and never an antagonist forcing his will on others, at any time. Most people are 90% lip and 10% ear. The intelligent person is 90% ear and 10% lip.)
To help you do this, try the following method. This will change it from the kind of adversarial situation in which you must argue and defend yourself, to an impersonal and non - threatening fact - finding situation. This also narrows problems from abstract to specific, enables more effective and workable problem - solving, and involves everyone's cooperative participation more deeply than the shallow traditional adversarial interview process.
Pretend you and your two helpers are three employers. Change your names to something impersonal, like Green, Brown, and Black, at X Company. You three employers are examining and discussing this job applicant or a promotion for a present employee.
We are going to call him Dan. You are no longer Dan. You are now an employer. You used to be him, but no longer. Now he is just a stranger named Dan, and you do not know anything about him at all, except what is in his application, resumé, or job dossier. This is important: if it's not there, written down, it does not exist.   So make sure Dan's record is complete and up to date.
Dan is applying for a job, or is working for you, being considered for promotion, or whatever the situation may be in your real life.
In the following Checklists (A, B, C) you three employers are to check off problems you feel may apply in Dan's career, note some specific details you feel will help understand or explain each, and suggest a possible solution or two for each problem. Also, reorder these in importance as the most, second, third most important problems for Dan to start working on right now.
You may interview Dan if necessary, but it is better to just try and evaluate his value to your company based on what you already know about him. If he did not put something in his resumé, then you do not know it, and too bad for him. He is only one of many applicants for the position, or employees, and should not get any special consideration, any more than anyone else, just as in real life.
Let's say that Dan is not perfect, but among the best of the applications you have gotten, so you are probably going to take him, or keep him, or whatever, but only with provisions and conditions that he improve. When you have completed lists A, B, and C, choose from the solutions provided in Checklist D, according to Dan's needs in Checklist E, mixing and matching solutions to Dan's particular problems, goals, and so forth. Also, make up a formal Checklist F, of what your company needs in, and from, it's employees, also prioritized, against which you can impartially evaluate Dan and every other employee or job candidate. Dan might also want to make up a Checklist G, on what career specifics he wants from a company he is in or seeking to join.
Good luck.

Kinds of Problems
Let's use the Checklist method. There are basically only three kinds of Career problems:
Checklist A: People Problems
Checklist B: Job Problems
Checklist C: Personal Problems
... and only a few kinds of Career solutions:
Checklist D: Career Therapy, Possible Solutions
Checklist E: Personal Needs, Desires, Goals

Checklist A: People Problems
Most people have more difficulty with other people than with anything else in life, from boss and co - workers and spouse and family members to dealing with the public and everyone else, so we work on that angle first.
Does Dan believe he has an evil boss? Is the boss overbearing, dictatorial, won't listen, dismisses Dan's problems and complaints as insignificant, without full consideration? Does Dan's boss have a one-sided, poor, or no relationship with his workers? Is he insensitive, lacks care about or feelings for workers? Does he make them look stupid and feel foolish before others, humiliate or embarrass them in public, etc.? Is he ignorant and uncaring of what each of his workers wants out of the job and out of life (advancement, challenge, security, recognition, reward, autonomy, etc.); uncaring about employees' personal problems; can not negotiate; does not give retraining, upgrading; keeps workers down, etc.? Or does Dan just bring out the worst in him? Why? How does he treat others? Deal with others? How does Dan affect the others?
Does Dan have problems with difficult, lazy co-workers who take credit for Dan's work; lack of teamwork; no sharing partnership environment; each out for himself and screw everyone else; office politics, favoritism, etc.?
Do others have problems with Dan, as in above?
What are Dan's relationships with peers, superiors, and others, and how do they apply? (See my Peer Relationship Evaluation Charts in Chapter 2.)

Checklist B: Job Problems
Problems with pay itself, or in relation to work value; pay as the only measure of reward instead of job satisfaction, time off, recognition for effort beyond duty, good ideas, etc.?
Does Dan lack motivation, incentive, purpose, goals?
Does Dan feel lack of recognition, or of being used, exploited?
Lack of support in Dan's daily work? How much?
Does Dan feel this is a cheap company -- lacks tools, parts, cheap with office supplies, too much dumb paperwork to fill out just to get staples or post-its, etc.?
Does Dan feel that there is little or no advancement opportunity there? Lack of preparation and development by company for promotion to better positions?
Does Dan feel there is low employee morale, general and in specific areas? (What is the employee turnover for Dan's company or department? It may be indicative.)
Does Dan have little or no autonomy or empowerment to make his own necessary decisions? (One example: "I know the computer program best for purposes of my work, but the management culture formed a committee to choose a program for everyone; it's an abortion, no good for my needs, and cost $3000, ten times the $300 one I wanted and truly still need.")
Does Dan feel little or no security in this job or company? Fear of losing his job sooner or later, no matter how good he is in his job or how hard he works; that when it is his turn he will be downsized, job eliminated, replaced by a machine? Company is not faithful to Dan, just using him?
Does Dan's company reject or ignore better solutions, ideas, innovation, creativity, proposals offered by him and the other worker(s)?
Are there rigid and/or unfair work rules, inflexibility, bureaucracy, paperwork?
Hard hours, terms, no flex-time?
Sexism, favoritism, unfairness, other intangibles such as a glass ceiling, corporate cultural barriers, power cliques, etc.?
Identity loss. Anonymity. Dan can't stand out and be seen as an individual, human being, a unique person.
Has Dan's company ever, or recently, brought in a new person over him, not as good, zapping his hope of promotion, and Dan feels anger, hurt, betrayal, loss of incentive?
Have there been other broken promises, explicit and implicit?
What else? Be specific. Describe in detail.

Checklist C: Personal Problems
Does Dan have stress, carpal tunnel syndrome, or other work-related problem, due to negative work environment?
Does Dan lack education, special courses, college, or has the wrong education for his career goals?
Does Dan have poor writing, math, computer, other vital 'career' skills? Medium? Good? Outstanding?
Does Dan lack work experience, in general or in a certain necessary field?
Does Dan feel he has few or no salable abilities needed by employers, companies, or no general or special training for a particular position or career?
Does Dan feel he has no time or money for training; courses needed are unknown, too time consuming; travel difficult or too expensive, not a worthwhile investment?
Has Dan simply never thought of himself in a successful 'career'; he always just had 'jobs'? Why?
Dan wanted to be artist, writer, other creative type, didn't realize or see that artistic life as a career, per se. Saw in terms of each piece of his work as being unique, not as or from an overall professional viewpoint, though eventually wanted to become successful in general, meaning a certain amount of money and fame over a period of years. Dan thought of a 'profession' or 'career' as being a factory - like repetition production, the antithesis of each piece being a unique artistic creation.
Dan wanted his own business, not to work for others; felt that working for others, as in a career, as slavery, dependence, too many restrictions, all for their profit, not his?
Dan wants to withdraw from society and the cruel insensitive world, and become a hermit or monk.
Dan doesn't know how to get started in a "career".
Dan has no teacher, mentor, guide, supporter, coach, to show him how and help him get started in purposeful direction. Theory and idea are fine, but what to actually do first, second, etc., and how, is not quite clear to him?
Dan doesn't choose and target specific companies to work for, just uses a passive or shotgun approach, sends the same resumé out to every want ad address, or every company in his area; depends too much on luck and chance?
Dan has no personal or career goal, no overall plan or career path design; no map from here to there; no interim steps, no specific objectives or measurable achievement stages at each step.
Dan has few or no references, referrals, documented abilities.
Dan has no good contacts, no networking skills or desire. Does he know they are necessary?
Dan has few, or no, specific career role models, no personal career success examples in his life, to emulate.
Dan's previous efforts / experiences failed, humiliated, disheartened him.
Dan feels passive, apathy, inertia; lacks initiative; can't get moving; lacks desire, motivation; can't see himself as a success; can't fully invest self and time into his work; feels useless, depressed; no end in sight; no real / lasting achievement possible; bad job fit; no final picture.
Dan feels some fear - maybe he is timid - shy, in general or in certain social or business environments.
"I'm just a . . ." (worker type?) (Assumption of unworthiness?)
"Careers are just for (some people, other people?)" (Assumption of impossibility for him, personally?)
Does Dan feel that he gets no personal support from others, family, close friends, or they discourage any ideas, initiative, tell him, "why can't you just be like everyone else?"
Dan feels hurt, offended, angered, by some personal (or impersonal) act or words by superior, management, co-workers, others in company, or by customers, acquaintances, friends, other people. Did not deserve that. Is Dan oversensitive? Or slightly paranoiac?
Dan feels he just can't win. The status quo is best, others know best, best to not fight the system, society; maybe get hurt; don't push, don't strive . . .; just keep your head down and shut up and survive.
Business (in general, and especially 'big business') is evil, bad, exploitative, phony, rigged, a conspiracy.
Dan just wants a 9-5 job, not any big deal career, to not get involved. He just wants to go home at five and on Fridays and not have to think about the job or work problems.
Dan feels or sees no critical event, need, or other spark to trigger action, is just coasting until the 'right time'.
Dan feels that maybe he's in the wrong career, unhappy, hates the work, the people he must deal with every day, no meaning or personal satisfaction to it, just wants to put in his time and collect a paycheck; maybe too late to change.
Dan knows that quality family time and personal development, and other personal goals are as important as work, but work demands leave Dan no time/energy for them.
Dan knows that money and success do not equal satisfaction; can't buy happiness; not enough by itself, need psychological dividends, too, but . . .
Dan has 'Lockup', close to panic, fear of failure, fear of success?
Dan is unable or unwilling to make changes and keep up with technology and corporate goals and new methods; "What for?"
Dan is in the classic 'Golden Trap': Can't afford to quit, no matter how much he despises work, boss, etc. His financial and family obligations are so high and expensive that he must keep his well-paying job. He must keep up to afford what he has, is not willing or able to give it all up and go back to lower level life style.
Dan is in the classic 'Silken Trap'; a.k.a.: Success Trap; he makes so much it would be sheer idiocy to quit, take a job paying less, no matter how much he loves another work. His family, friends say stay, save up, hold on as long as possible, then do what you want, then being able to afford it. But his present lifestyle won't let him save, either - he must spend it all to keep it!
Dan is in the classic 'Power Trap': Must work, achieve, to prove self, to himself and others; doesn't know what else to do in his life. He's probably macho, Type A personality.
Dan knows that business is not all there is, that it is like a game or sport, that those who run it are out for themselves as much as the company, though their personal goal is power, fame, wealth, or whatever, often deliberately hidden, but he will not or can not play that game, maybe doesn't know how, or may be morally opposed to it.
Dan is appalled at his insider knowledge of shoddy product / service just to make sales even if it isn't what the customers want; and sneaky, manipulative, deceptive advertising and sales practices making customers buy. Seeks a higher quality over quantity, morality, absolute, or within practical limits. Is Dan too naive or idealistic?
Dan has 'Option Shock' or 'Analysis Paralysis': there are too many choices to evaluate & decide; doesn't want to commit his whole future, make the wrong choice, get locked into a bad deal; applicable to goals as well as careers, jobs, homes, spouses, etc.
Dan has unrealistic and unrealized (-able) expectations, tarnished dreams, rude awakening to harsh reality, disillusionment; usually due to lies by others, educators, media hype, his own hopes becoming self - promises.
Dan feels he does not make enough money for all the hours and personal effort invested; has nothing permanent or worthwhile to show for all of those years and decades of devotion to work (or fear of not having it to show -- just as bad or worse -- a self - fulfilling prophecy).
Dan can not make enough money (or time, other options) at one job - no one job solves all his financial problems, meets all his needs. Needs second job, or what?
Dan is simply not as greedy or needy, tough or ruthless, as he thought he was when he got into this present situation. Wants to get out, but . . .
Dan's job is making him mean, petty, nasty, miserable, depressed. (Can his job make him sick? Yes!)
Dan has total confusion - targets and goals keep changing, altering, always as far away. Is he on a wrong career track? Will he have to start all over? Waste all his time and work? That's too depressing to contemplate.
Dan has 'Burnout' or 'mid-life-crisis'. No more pleasure from or interest in the present job or career; no challenge from it, etc. What else to do? Will he career crash? Self destruct? Take company and others down with him?
Dan can't keep jobs; maybe he is too impatient, wants too much too soon; is impractical?
Dan feels uninvited, a stranger, unwanted in his company or group.
Other: _____________. Explain:

Checklist D: Career Therapy
Are any of the following exercises or possible solutions, as is or altered, applicable to any problems in Checklist A, B, or C? Not all career problems require therapy; some will work out in time, or not exist elsewhere, or with other people.
a. 1. List all the bad things about Dan's job, boss, company, or past jobs, etc. 2. To be fair, also list and discuss all of the good things about his boss, job, company, or former jobs, etc. Most companies have employee evaluation forms. That works both ways. Create an evaluation form for Dan to use on his boss and other executives, and his company, on things such as the above, and including employee turnover, leadership, manipulative bosses, honesty and integrity, vision, etc. (First try to make and use your own evaluation form, to see how difficult it is, then evaluate Dan's bosses and company on my forms, 212.876.5483)
b. 1. See my reading and study list. 2. Meet as many people as possible and use my character / personality analysis form on them. 3. Realize that people can only be what they are, by training, personality, intelligence, perception, status, background, their other limits, and the needs they have and others put on them, etc., and that individualism and change are largely prohibited by society, and perception of you as an individual is strictly curtailed by the speed and pressure of fast daily life and their own personal stress and concerns. 4. Learn to apply and use the 15 basic practical principles of interaction so as to stand out to each of them and be recognized and affect each of them as an individual, in which case they must recognize you as an equal and brother-sister-partner-in-life against the common problems and enemies you both face.
c. Pay / terms Problems: 1. Learn when, how, and with whom to negotiate in regard to pay and conditions and terms. (Your immediate boss or the person hiring you seldom has the power to actually negotiate such details, but must do and follow what he or she is told are rigid and inflexible terms, given those things as edict, and usually regarding no more than dollar and hour amounts -- in reality, all job details are usually quite flexible, if you can get to and negotiate with the appropriate person.) 2. Learn how to create a title and job description that is worth much more, for doing the same kind of work or very little more, and if you can build a department under you, etc.
d. They're right, if you can hold on for a while. Otherwise, make a decision, use self-discipline, and do it the hard way. Also, play my 'Poor Man Game'. [Make it a game of being poor, deliberately pretending to be cheap, racking up points -- design your own scoring system -- for every dollar you can pinch or put aside, a la Hattie Green, Rockefeller (only gave away dimes), etc. Say to people, "I'm cheap, not poor!", and if you have enough, they believe it, are still respectful, or think you are crazy, which is still better in our present society than truly being poor. If you are smart and aggressive at it, you can sock away a lot before dropping your disguise and going for what you really want, then able to afford it.]
e. Lack college or other special education. Choose the appropriate education for your desired career - at age 20 you have a 45-year work life (to retirement at 65) so you can learn anything you want, if you budget the time and money. Your work life, now to retirement, is ___ years.
f. Lack experience (Catch 22?): Do volunteer work, take temp, part time, intern jobs to gain necessary experience, and study, write, speak, publish, to become an expert.
g. Lack motive, goal. Use visualization and other motivation development skills to establish or build it. If bad Self Esteem problem, promptly go and see the appropriate kind of coach, therapist, or other professional.
h. Lack contacts; loner. Join and participate in groups, business associations, etc. (See my 6 Week Career Coaching Program.)
I. Lack role models, examples. Use my methods of joining and making contacts and networking, to meet, study, choose the best kind of role models for your goals.
j. No career path plan or design: Use my goal-setting Generator, pacing, breaking down into steps, related activities, per my whole career therapy program in the following pages.
k. Wrong career, job. Admit mistake & get out; take a part time job in something you like, do intern and volunteer work there, then make the switch when you are sure, and ready, by going full time there and reducing present job to temp, part time, or contract work, or quit cold (diplomatically, on friendly terms, to keep good references).
l. Timid, shy, fear: (To cure awe of boss, other executive, just picture him on his doctor's exam table - getting his annual proctological exam, bare bottom exposed . . . )
m. Lack of references, referrals: Use joining and volunteering, internship entry positions, make contacts, develop a network, do p/t work, build experience, develop a total plan based on specific needs, use self-discipline, just a few good contacts will do, if the right few. Take courses to build contacts, collect certificates and references, get referrals through school placement net, become an expert.
n. Lack of targeted companies: develop a logical attack plan, using reference & research sources, goal setting, study of industry, business or trade publications, other people, to select targets. Research. Plan. Prepare. Then go for it!
o. Passivity, apathy, inertia, lack of initiative, assumption of unworthiness, assumption of impossibility: If simple, use motivation therapy. If deep problem or complex, or clinical depression level, consult professionals for the appropriate emotional help. First see your physician, as it may be just vitamin lack or other minor physical problem.
p. No team or support, no teacher, mentor, guide, supporter, coach. With the help of a good friend or two, sit down and create a 1 year plan, working out what you need, item by item, studying others, reading and taking courses for networking, building relationships, joining organizations, etc. (Otherwise hire Larry Daly, 212.876.5483 to coach you in all this, and more, either by the hour, or using my 6-week Program or full year S-Teams Program, customized to fit your career goals, personal needs, abilities, etc.)
q. Poor writing, math; lack other 'salable' abilities needed by the company. Take appropriate courses, finish college, join my program, etc.
r. Belief in status quo is best: Read Entrepreneur, Success, other appropriate magazines to disabuse you of this idea, and find motivation. There are at least 40 good publications, as well as several hundred books, that can show you how others beat the status quo, reinvent their lives, and create their own success, in any and every field of human endeavor. Your life IS up to you, nobody else.
s. Controlled by system to not push, strive; Abandon your faith and belief in the present system, and the right of others to make decisions for you. Your life is your own. You can and must make your own decisions, take charge of your own life, choose your own goals and paths.
t. Lack of a critical event or other spark to trigger action; Motivate with sense of crisis, drama, time passing, others need you, as appropriate. Try group therapy, or joining acting or sports groups, get involved in competition, other motivational activities.
u. Option Shock, Analysis Paralysis - Too many choices to analyze, choose; overwhelming; fear of making wrong choice and getting locked into wrong one. Must self-discipline yourself and get help of others. T here can be no order, logical or temporal or other, without self-discipline, tenacity, study, hard work, goals. Realize the harsh truth: there is no magic bullet, no simple easy quick solution for real life problems, no guarantees that any one exact thing will work, and no other. It is going to take time, hard and critical thinking, hard choices, give up something to get something else, taking chances and gambles, some of which are going to be losses just as others will work. Education and culture today discourages critical thinking and self-discipline in reality, though paying lip service. You must save yourself.
v. Fear of career track change, lack necessary experience for career desired -- diverse experience can be asset, if properly sold to a potential employer as such. Others change career tracks without loss, and usually with profit, so you can, too.
w. Fear of losing job; insecurity: Take part time work or do home work, etc. [CAREER RULE #1: Never ever depend upon just one job - ALWAYS have at least two sources of income, in case you lose one, which can happen to anyone at any time, especially today with so much downsizing and uncertainty, and from which to begin a career change(s), if needed, and to (re)balance your life, etc.]
The above is not an exhaustive list - there are many more things that can be done - but it's a good enough start for now. I offer additional Career Therapy and Coaching alternatives in my private practice. Call 212 876-5483.

Checklist E: Personal Needs
Ask Yourself: What Do I Truly Need Most? Second most? Third most?
Want do I really Want Most? Next? Third?
Choose and write down only three items each, and mark them N1, N2, N3, and W1, W2, W3.

Money (Just enough to pay bills and put something aside for emergencies, or substantial earnings, or are you truly seeking Great Wealth?)
Security (Feel lost, seeking anchor, meaning, significance?)
Time (maybe flextime, to take care of children, family, other personal problems, education, etc.)
Autonomy, independence, relief from rigid rules, freedom to make own decisions?
Attention, Recognition, Respect, Admiration, Fame
Love, Friendship, caring relationships
Prestige, position / promotion (to a certain job or the corner office?) or (unrealistically?) want Real Fame, as in sports or movie stardom?
Power over others? Overt, or behind scenes (sans responsibility for results?)
Physical challenge or physical hardship relief or ___?
Creative challenge, latitude in art, writing, etc.?
Intellectual challenge, knowledge, . . .
Achievement, building something permanent or even great, significant,
Calm (surcease from pressure and stress; withdrawal from world, hermetism, rejection of all others, work, social structure; serenity, escape from people demands, sex, responsibility, etc.?) Check diet, depression, other cause.
Altruism (selflessly do good, fix ill, overcome evil, unrealistic expectations, martyr complex? See if religious, or other unrealistic motivation, belief)
Excitement (Is the monotony, tedium, terminal boredom, killing you?)
Simple respect, civility. Rodney Dangerfield jokes about it, but many people take this very seriously, and it is often the basis for lawsuits, even for people 'going postal'.
Other: (Explain)
Once you have done ALL of these, you will be ready for Chapter Two.

--- End of Chapter One ---
Click Here to go to Chapter Two

Click HERE to go to the Introduction
Click HERE to go to Table of Contents
Click HERE to go to Chapter 1    Your Career, your Life Work
Click HERE to go to Chapter 2    People Study
Click HERE to go to Chapter 3    Your Career in Context
Click HERE to go to Chapter 4    Setting Your Career and Life Goals
Click HERE to go to Chapter 5    Long Term Career Development
Click HERE to go to Chapter 6    Career Strategies and Tactics
Click HERE to go to Chapter 7    Realistic Expectations
Click HERE to go to Chapter 8    Your Personal Career Support Team
Click HERE to go to Chapter 9    Team Management; Research and Writing
Click HERE to go to Chapter 10   How to become an Expert
Click HERE to go to Chapter 11   Miscellaneous, and Executive Summary
Click HERE to go to Chapter 12   Your Personal Career Research Resources
Click HERE to go to Chapter 13   Those Awful People At Work Problems
Click HERE to go to Chapter 14   Assumptions and Expectations
Click HERE to go to Appendices
Click HERE to go to Bibliography
Click HERE to go to Index
Click HERE to go to Personal Career Coaching FAQ
Click HERE to return to my HomePage, to access COP and other documents

Careerists, please contact me directly to obtain your own personal printed copy of Career Zen, more complete and up to date, especially with the latest on Internet career information sources and research.   Note that Career Zen is privately published, is only for my clients, and is not available in any bookstore or from any other source.

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