People come to me all the time because they are unhappy in
their careers and are not sure what to do about it. They tell me the reasons
they don’t have what they want; the economy, their company; some are even
honest enough to blame themselves.  They
are all facing tough challenges, either internal or external.

When you have an unresolved challenge in your career, it
affects your whole life. You think about your challenge all the time, and in
many cases, it consumes and defines you. You want more and are willing to do
the work; you just don’t believe it’s possible. Or, you don’t how to get there.

I believe that people do not move forward in their careers
for 2 reasons. Once you overcome and push past these 2 items, you are ready to
go.

So what are these 2 items? See them below.

1) FEAR

Everyone is afraid of something and fear is normal.
Actually, fear can be a good thing, because it protects you from harm or
getting into damaging situations. But, fear is negative when it paralyzes you
and keeps you from taking action. For example, fear of making a mistake will
keep you from trying something new. Fear of looking bad in front of friends and
family will keep you from expressing your true career wishes to the people in
your life. Fear of failing will keep you from succeeding.

It’s important to recognize fear for what it is; a scary
thought that turns into an emotion, that in turn, stops you. If you can
remember that a thought is just a thought, without judging it, then your
thought does not have to keep you from moving forward anymore.

Many people believe they will act when fear goes away, but
fear doesn’t disappear on its own. You eliminate fear by talking yourself
through it. That’s how you push past fear, you become your own savior and tell
yourself that it’s ok to be afraid, but it’s not ok to stay where you are. Fear
goes away when you switch your mindset to pro-active, rather than re-active.

2) LOGISTICS

While fear covers the thinking portion of your problem,
logistics is the set of steps you take to move your career forward.

Say to yourself, “here are the steps that I’m going to
take” and then take them.  If you
take these steps on a regular basis, you will reach your career goals. If you
don’t take these steps, you won’t. If you take these steps here and there, you
may reach your goals, or you may not. And, if you do, it will take a long time.
Some people stop at logistics because they don’t know what
steps to take. Again, this is normal. Write down what you do know and begin
there. Put these steps in your calendar and start moving forward. What you
don’t know turn into a question. For example, “I don’t know who to
call” becomes “who can I call that will point me in the right
direction?” You are not supposed to have all the answers, so expect that
you will be reaching out to people who do.
Logistics also is about taking one step a time. Small piece
by small piece. You may want to rush to the finish line, but slow and steady
wins the race.

So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it
might as well be a life you love!