Tomorrow May Never Come

What if tomorrow never came? What would you regret the most? That you tried and failed or that you never tried at all. What are you waiting for? Are you waiting until after you have finished your studies, waiting until your permanent residency visa is approved, waiting until after your friend’s wedding, or your trip overseas? Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. To be truly successful in your career and achieve your dreams you must grab every opportunity as it presents itself and run with it.

Accordingly, Steve Jobs’ philosophy could best be summed up by 5 key tips to success:

1. Time is limited
None of us can be assured of how much time we will have, so it’s important not to waste a minute.

2. Live your own life
While you can learn lessons from other people’s experiences and career paths you are an individual and must carve your own path to success. No two paths to success are the same so you need to live your own and learn your own lessons.

3. Don’t be trapped by dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from. A dispute, doubt and diverge from the norm. Take advantage of those opportunities that present themselves even if they are not usual. You never know where they might lead you.

4. Ignore other’s opinions
While family and friends may mean well, their opinions may not necessarily be in your best interests. Take the advice of those that have the experience in the field in which you work or want to work in. Let all other advice and opinions wash over you and move on.

5. Follow your heart and intuition
Trust in yourself. Trust that you know yourself better than anyone and you know what is in your best interests. ‘Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.’ ― Confucius.

According to the ABS, you are considered as long-term unemployed if you are over 15 years of age and have been continuously unemployed for a period of 12 months. The repercussions for being part of the long-term unemployed are that you are more and more likely to stay that way. The relevance of your qualifications and relevant skills diminishes and the perception of your employability by employers drastically reduces. While it is admirable to aspire to your dream job perhaps in the interim it is better for you and your career to take a slightly less inspirational role and climb the corporate ladder from the inside.

All too often we see people not taking advantage of opportunities when they can. Don’t be one of them. Make a plan, get professional career help and get the success you deserve. In the words of Nike – ‘Just do it’.