I’m going to completely contradict myself today, so hang on. In a previous post I stressed the importance of 10,000 hours of practice in order to achieve mastery in a given field, implying that if you are a student that wants to succeed in a particular arena, or if you are a parent wanting to help your child become successful, devote most of your time to a single effort. Is a singular focus in the teen years the right thing? Does this set a child up for career success? I’m beginning to think not. A singular focus in one thing may
Have no clue what to do when to prepare for college admissions? You’re not alone. Recently, two parents and their high school senior were in our office seeking our assistance in vetting different college programs. They were shocked to hear that most admission deadlines in order to be considered for scholarships were less than two weeks away. In addition, they had already missed a few early acceptance application process deadlines to schools that were at the top of their list. Preparation for college can be a daunting process, with many students and their parents caught at the last minute with
The first step in finding your light is to know yourself. The three pieces of knowing yourself involve discovering your talents, passions and values. We’ll start first with identifying your talents. There are many ways to define and identify talents, but for the purpose of career exploration and development, I think they best way to identify your talents is to define them in the way that employers do. After all, the whole point of knowing yourself is so that you can be able to find a career that you enjoy doing so that your light can shine. KSAOs – Knowledge,
As a child, I remember singing “This Little Light of Mine” in Vacation Bible School. My favorite part was when we got to sing, “Hide it under a bushel, NO! I’m gonna let it shine!” I think I, in part, loved this section of the song because we got to yell the word, “NO!” when yelling was hardly ever allowed in church or at any other place for that matter. Now as a career and leadership coach, I find that I love this part of the song because shouting a resounding “NO!” to hiding your “light” under a