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career transition&Success paradigms

Written by: Elizabeth Mullen

Article Overview: There was an old paradigm of career success that could be codified as 1) choose one career or company 2) give it ALL you've got 3) move and shake your way to the apex. You could think of it as starting at point A on a pyramid and drawing a line straight up to the top. The only problem is.... it never seemed to work. Only one person could get to the "top." Most others wound up staying staid, loyal and dependent "specialists" somewhere toward the bottom.

career transition&Success paradigms

There was an old paradigm of career success that could be codified as 1) choose one career or company 2) give it ALL you've got 3) move and shake your way to the apex. You could think of it as starting at point A on a pyramid and drawing a line straight up to the top. The only problem is.... it never seemed to work. Only one person could get to the "top." Most others wound up staying staid, loyal and dependent "specialists" somewhere toward the bottom.

Then along came the 80's & 90's and the "Transition Paradigm." Instead of staying with the "company store" their entire lives, competent people began getting educated and switching laterally to other professions. This was necessary because workplaces were no longer secure, hiring and firing, laying off and downsizing. The formula for success in this climate was 1) discontent with the current "company store" 2) flexibility and education and 3) network and self-marketing.

The only problem is, it didn't really work either. Sure there were a few SuperCEO's who transferred from pinnacle to pinnacle, but most individuals were left Striving and Trying to get someplace that they weren't. It was as though they were slingshotting themselves across the way, a little up and over toward Pyramid B-- trying to make a better life. Did it work?

If you are like most achievers, you will say...."a little." That is, most folks likely hit Pyramid B, but not at the top. How could anyone land on such a small point anyway? Not only that, but what does someone say while placing themselves into a slingshot?

Probably something like "I'm in transition." And we all know how empowering that can be...

***
So what is the real solution to these old formulas? What can individuals do to succeed huge and for real? What route is 100% guaranteed to take YOU to the top in your career?

Well first of all, look at what you are doing now and what you have done well, no matter how lucrative (or not). Perhaps you might have something like: fathering, accounting, car sales, and cooking. Perhaps right now you are working in car sales, but poised to leap over (via Transition Paradigm) to accounting and a "better life." Great. Now stop.

Pull yourself out of the slingshot for a moment and look at Pyramid C. This is Your Pyramid. The foundation is drawn in the sand just underneath you -- yet it isn't fully finished. You can see that each corner is represented by one of your "specialties." What could possibly be at the top?

If you are wondering what will be necessarily be the pinnacle of a combination of fathering, accounting, car sales, and cooking, you've got some figuring out to do...

Or do you?

The top of THIS pyramid has never existed before, and only one person can achieve it. So no one can critique it because no one will see it until it is done. Even you. While there is no line between point A and B to get to the top, there is also no competition on the way up. No slingshot is needed to send you over to it, but lots of people will push you upward as you BUILD it from the bottom up.

All you have to do is stop whipping yourself around between other people's pyramids and place the next brick. So where are all those bricks going to come from?! Oh-- that's right-- the place you stand right now is full of them!

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  Forget the Recovery - It's a Transition
  The Secret of Paradigms
  Facing a career transition? You are not alone!
  Concluding with Your Assignment
  Paradigms are Containers for Change

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