5 Factors in Your Unique Design
The better you understand you, the better you can see how to maximize your
career. Most professionals in career planning and development consider 5 factors.
Your Gifts
1. Experiences – Your history – personal, educational, vocational
2. Abilities – What you do best – talents, knowledge, skills
3. Personality – How you do best what you do – natural behavioral traits
Your Passions
4. Interests – What you like most – people, places, things, activities
5. Values – What is important to you – life purpose and principles
Love What You Do
Employ your passions, as well as your gifts. Research from If It Ain’t Broke,
Break It by Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Patler, proves the point:
“A team of researchers followed a group of 1,500 people over a period of 20
years. At the outset of the study, the participants were divided into 2 groups:
• Group A, 83% of the sample, was composed of people embarking on a
career path they had chosen solely for the prospect of making money now
in order to do what they wanted later in life.
• Group B, the other 17% of the sample, consisted of people who had chosen
their career paths so that they could do what they wanted now and worry
about the money later.
The data showed some startling revelations:
• At the end of the 20-year period, 101 of the 1,500 had become millionaires.
• Of the millionaires, 100 of the 101 were from Group B, the group that had
chosen to pursue what they loved.
The key ingredient in most successful projects is loving what you do. Having
a goal or a plan is not enough. Academic preparation is not enough. Prior
experience is not enough. Enjoyment of your life’s work is the key.”
37 Step Three Aptitude