Career Starter Pack
Some people burned out of their will in pursuing their dream career. They started the new career path with enthusiasm but they ended up being regret of the career choice. It seemed they need something to get back them to the right track. It might be caused by an internal or external factor.
I will share with you the external factor that can help to keep you stay on the career track. I use the word starter pack to visualize this external factor.
What do you think about the starter pack?
Yap. It’s like something we need to have or to use in our life. It’s the same as the career journey. We need the starter pack to keep us feel motivated, encouraged, or energized.
To be honest, I started my career with confusion. I thought about my choice. It felt like there was a better career path out there. I wondered how my career choice could make me happy.
It brings me to the topic of the starter pack that I will tell you right now. I regret it because I started my career without it. That is why you must have it. Without a starter pack, you will walk on the career journey without clear motivation. You might be walking the wrong way.
The career starter pack is anything that supports our career whether people, tools, or things.
1. Sparring Partner
Every people might have a sparring partner in their field. He is someone who able to practice something with us together. Sometimes, we learn from him because he is better than us.
When you decide to be in one career position, you can find a sparring partner who is the same as you. If you are a photographer, you can find other photographers who understand photography. If possible, try to communicate with them.
Challenge:
- Contact one sparring partner to practice.
2. Mentor
A mentor is different from a role model or sparring partner. Even though he is someone who has the same expertise as you. A mentor is like a teacher. He has lots of knowledge and experience. He might have been in the top career position right now. He has been successful. It means he can teach you directly to follow his success path.
When you want to improve your knowledge and expertise, you can find a mentor you like. You can learn from any mentor but choose the right mentor because not all mentor fits you.
Challenge:
- Contact a mentor to learn.
3. Skill-set
Is there a job that doesn’t need skill at all? Of course none.
Every job needs a specific skill to execute the process and help us to get the work done. Whatever your job right now, it’s better to improve your skill and acquire the new skills you need.
Try to find out a skill-set in your field that can help you improve your work and performance. It will benefit you for the long-term result.
Challenge:
- Learn new skills.
4. Learning Resources: book, podcast, video
The last starter pack is learning resources. It helps us to improve our capability. These learning resources can expand our knowledge and expertise. You can use it as an alternative if you haven’t found a mentor yet.
Book
There are huge information and knowledge in a book. Let’s find the right book. You can read ten books related to your job. If you are an entrepreneur, you can read ten books about business and entrepreneurship.
Why ten books?
Because reading ten books on the same topic will help you to be the fast expert. Although, reading three books is enough. But I recommend you to read ten books.
Challenge:
- Read one book per week or per month
Podcast
The podcast is another medium to develop our capabilities. It can be an alternative for you who doesn’t read books or doesn’t have enough time to read. Busyness is not an excuse anymore because you can learn from podcasts anywhere from your smartphone.
There are varieties of podcast topics you can listen to. But you can choose a specific topic that relates to your job.
Challenge:
- Listen to one podcast per day
Video
Video is the biggest platform to learn and to find entertainment stuff. It’s good to find the appropriate channel on youtube. I suggest you watch a video to develop yourself. Don’t let your time flies by watching entertainment videos all the time. Even though it can release dopamine hormone when we watch entertainment but it’s better to release dopamine by finishing your current project. The effect is the same but the result is different.
There are educational channels that you can subscribe to. From knowledge to the know-how videos. I believe it’s worth your time.
Challenge:
- Watch a tutorial or how-to videos, then apply them.
You can prepare those starter packs before you come back to your career journey. Let me give you an illustration:
For example, your career path is to be a street photographer. Now, you have to find a sparring partner and a mentor who has expertise in street photography. Don’t worry if you pay for him/her as long as it’s affordable for you. Consider choosing the right mentor. Try to ask him about the specific skills you need to acquire. Practice it much as you can. And ask them anything about a career in street photography. After that, find additional knowledge about street photography from books, podcasts, and videos.
I believe you can be the best version of yourself if you prepare those starter packs. And finally, you can reach the top career position someday.
The career starter pack is what we need in our career journey because we can’t survive alone. We need people and tools that can help. Those are the ingredients of our permanent success.
What else? Is there any starter pack that I haven’t mentioned?
Don’t be hesitate to leave me a comment. Thank you, fellas.
