Occ-You-Pational Success: Launch to (rough?) landing

Career Launch: Which probably, if you are a typical worker-be, started out, not only with a degree of promise..."potential" (see 8/12 for full description) but lots and lots of ad-vice -- some of which may have been found in accounts by an actual person representing that career path-way, who visited your classroom in grade school, and eventually by visiting various tables or even a space allowing for a little more discretionary convo, "booths" at a "jobs fair" in H.S. and perhaps for those that ventured farther in their formal education, when "recruiters" visited your campus throughout the academic year...unless you found your-self graduating at what were referred to as "lean" times -- when employers had the upper hand, and you found yourself leaning on your folks longer than (they) intended...

Defining, refining "Success!" Which is only important if you want to realize it..."Success", that is. And on the flip side, it's just as important to define what you mean by "fail-Your" -- the latter being as much a focus in may advanced schools of business, as something not to fear, avoid...depending, of course, on how you, your-self come to define it, and refine it as you proceed on your path-way, which for some is quite linear ("I majored in the biological sciences, went on to med school, did my required residency, and went on to start what we still call, practicing...which ended up kind of full circle like they told me...watch one, do one, teach one...") Experientially more similar than different, in many job categories, with just a bit of variation in language -- like when I, myself, worked in a steel fabrication plant one summer, and told "You idiot, that's not how I showed you...#%^*!!! " At least that's what I think he said, given it was in a different tongue....lashing. You can all relate, right? So much for occupational guidance...And other careers, of course, take a much more circuitous route, as you may follow a so-called "whim" or you may have to what career counselors nicely term "re-invent" yourself, after being "let go...furloughed...laid off..." whether with a lots of advance notice ("Our company, after many years and generations of family ownership...will be closing its doors") or more often, a more abrupt, rude interruption, at least a detour to my original path-way...when career counselors, well-meaning other individuals in my work life remind me..."Remember, necessity is the mother of all inventions..." Thud.

In any Case, Event: No matter when this post may find you, whether you're just starting out (your day, before work) or at the metaphorically, now over-used term "the end of the day" -- the latter perhaps a pause for reflection on how this particular day went, or your entire career, after you finally decided, chose a retire-meant date, after which you may even had second thoughts or prompted by that "mother of all inventions" again, and found yourself either longing for more, or just for the even more universal practical reason of "making ends meet" came "back out" of your temporary lounging (as in Tom Brady style?) ...I, in the context of occupational guidance, start and end the convo with some simple definition of "success" as: Find something that you at least find a bit interesting, if not enjoyable, that keeps you coming back for a sustained period (not necessarily 30+ years, but let's say 3 years, to justify all that education and/or training) and make what, in current terms we can all agree is a "reasonable living" (i.e., meet your so-called obligations and have a little "fun money" left over)...Sound like success to you? If not, go ahead and offer up one of your own...and revisit it from time to time, to see how you are measuring up...

Time tested, age-less: There are so many idioms about what a "calling" might look like as well as "purpose driven" and "meaning-full-ness" in the context of jobs, careers, that I can't in the limited space and your attention spans, address them sufficiently...only to say that I start and end each day by at least trying to devote part of the day by: 1) finding a way to make a difference on behalf of another 2) to recognize it if/when it appears, and then, the hardest step...3) act on it...In this way, whether or not your job is bringing you a load of satisfaction or a heap of...you can still find meaning, purpose each and every day.  Simple, eh? And, by the way, many of you that have been searching for the solution for the old proverb, attributed to Confucious..."Find something you love to do and you'll never work another day in your life..." If true, then exactly how do I use, burn off some of my "potential" energy...and why-oh-why, did the Chinese, as shared this AM on the news, decide to stop publishing the rates of youth unemployment...is it to save them from getting burned out job seeking or in a more protectionist manner, save them from just getting bummed out? It's up to you to decide...your own definition and ways to seek job satisfaction...