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Your Own Fast-Track Career Action Plan – For Free!

Are you afraid your skills are increasingly becoming redundant? Do you feel like you’re stuck in a rut, going nowhere? Worried about competition or experiencing a career crisis? These powerful tips from Reid Hoffman’s book, The Startup Of You is by far the most powerful antidote I personally have found to solving any kind of career crisis and taking back control with confidence.  So, here goes the action-plan

Today

• Update your profile on LinkedIn so that your summary statement articulates your competitive advantages. You should be able to fill in this sentence: “Because of my [skill/ experience/ strength], I can do [type of professional work] better than [specific types of other professionals in my industry].”

• How would other professionals you work with fill in the above sentence (i.e., describe your competitive advantage)? If there’s a gap, you either have a self-judgment problem, or a marketing problem.

In the next week:

• Identify three people who are striving toward aspirations similar to your own. Use them as benchmarks. What are their differentiators? How did they get to where they are? Bookmark their LinkedIn profiles, subscribe to their blogs and tweets. Track their professional evolution and take inspiration and insight from their journeys.

• Go on LinkedIn or Twitter, search for your employer and other companies you’re interested in, and “follow” each of them. This will make it easier to track the emergence of new opportunities and risks.

• Write down some of your key assets in the context of a market reality. 
      BAD: I excel at public speaking. 
      GOOD: I excel at public speaking on engineering topics, relative to how good most engineers
      are at public speaking.

In the next month:

• Review your calendar, journals, and old emails and get a sense for how you spent your last six Saturdays. What do you do when you have nothing urgent to do? How you spend your free time may reveal your true interests and aspirations; compare them to what you say your aspirations are.

• Think about how you’re currently adding value at work. If you stopped going to the office suddenly, what would not get done? What’s a day in the life of your company with you not there? That may be where you’re adding value. Think about the things people frequently compliment you on—those may be your strengths.

• Create a soft-asset investment plan that emphasizes learning about growth markets and growth opportunities. Maybe this means taking a trip to China, attending a conference on clean technology, or signing up for a software programming course. Email your plan to three trusted connections and ask them to hold you accountable. Budget money to pay for these things, if necessary.

Network Intelligence

Meet with three trusted connections and ask them what they see as your greatest strengths. If they had to come to you for help or advice on one topic, what would it be?


Repeating this suggested approach at least once every year should ensure your continued success as a top performer in your domain. 

I’d personally advise that you read Reid Hoffman’s The Startup of You for even more powerful insights. I believe it can easily turn out to be your best personal investment with the best value for money compared to any high-priced corporate training programme, conference or networking event!

Indian reader -  Buy on Flipkart   |   Buy on Amazon  

International  reader - Buy on Amazon  

Pro Tip: Gift this book to your boss!

PS- If you found the piece useful you can support and/or thank me by using the links above to buy your copy or gift it to your friends. 

Image Courtesy: http://www.slideshare.net/uolssds/career-plan-example
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