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by Mark Fierle (Author)
My objective in this short book is to give my readers some thoughts, ideas, and tips to help with transitions that come their way. Believe me if you live long enough there will be plenty.I don't consider myself a guru or expert in this area, just using my real-life experiences as well as research I encountered when first deciding to embark on writing of this nature. It's been quite a venture."Floating like a feather all over the place, never knowing where you are going..." as said in the Forrest Gump movie.Does this sound like anyone you know? Believe me most of us are like this. Doesn't matter if you are graduating from high school or retiring after working for fifty years. Change is always difficult no matter the age.It seems that transitioning from one portion of our lives to another is both a time of elation and a time that we say, "Okay, what now?" It's like going from the known to the unknown. For many it is stressful. We'll talk about that. A career counseling friend of mine used to tell me all the time that most people follow what others in their scope of life do in their career. If their father or maybe their grandfather was a doctor, they focus on becoming a doctor, nurse or somewhere in the medical field. How about if their father was a coal miner, they become a coal miner. In New York City, many Irish become firemen as well as police officers. Why? Because that's their family tradition. Farmers beget farmers, accountants beget accountants, nurses beget nurses, military begets military etc. etc.Fortunately, in today's world we are open to a plethora of info and some of this traditional stuff is going by the wayside.As for me, I'm always interested in what people have in mind at all stages of their lives, whether this be after graduating from high school, preparing for college, getting a job, moving from one job to another or getting ready to hang up their spikes as old baseball players do and so forth.Recently I've heard asked and been asked, "What do you think comes next?"This from many different people.One of the most unusual was from a computer tech guy in India who learned I was in the career business and expressed an interest in starting his own business. The problem was he had no idea of what kind of business or what it would take to get a business started.Now how in the heck would I know what's happening in India?Here's how I handled it. Not having a ready answer, I said, "What do you really like to do?" and "Can you make a living doing it?"Of course, there is much more to it than that, at least I gave him something to think about if he was serious.It was interesting as he also said that while he makes good money now as a tech, he just can't seem to get ahead. I asked, "Why?"He said, "I get some money, then I spend it."Here is what I suggested. Most people do the same thing, that's why they don't change and ultimately end up not achieving what they hoped. The way to ensure you achieve what you desire is to pay yourself first and play later. This can be money, education, and experience in your desired field. Make a plan that you can achieve, then stick to it, no matter what. Figure out what you need, how long it will take and go for it.The object is to pay yourself first and play later, rather than play first and pay later as the old Mastercard ad promoted. Hope he took my advice. Self-image has a great impact on what comes next.
