There are so many components in not only working out your life plan but also any new business ventures and career paths that it is hard to know where to begin. I found this to be a problem in writing this book as well. I originally had this discussion slated for the Chapter 16 slot. After I started working on it, I decided that it made much more sense to move it all the way to Chapter 1.
When I start writing a book, I first come up with an idea. Then I write a Preface or Foreword to see if I can formulate something that even remotely sounds interesting. Even after I write this first chapter, I am still not sure I am going to write the book. The next step I take is to make up my Table of Contents. If I can’t come up with enough ideas for unique chapters, I discard the whole idea and move on. If I do come up with an interesting Table of Contents, I then write my Introduction in which I discuss the organization and the flow of the book. The Table of Contents is not set in stone and cAn be quite fluid. It mainly serves as a working template. I can add or delete chapters or reorganize them and even retitle them. I do this as I learn more about the subject I am writing on. I obviously can’t do all the research in the beginning because in a lot of cases, I don’t know everything about the subject I am writing on. I chose topics to write on that I am interested in and want to learn more about. I am sure that this is a departure from what many other authors do. Frankly who cares what they do, this is my life and these are my books. I write them for my own benefit. I am not a full time author and, as a result, do not need the royalties from my books to live.
The reason that I have discussed how I write my books because it also pertains to how I live my life. People tend to at least try to find a job or chose a career path which involves doing something they like to do or are good at. Unfortunately this doesn’t always work out they way you plan it. That is why you have to be flexible and to also have back-up plans, the more the better. Not every guy can be a photographer for “Playboy” and not every gal can be a ballerina. Don’t get all your “knickers in a knot” about the examples I just used. They are just some ideas that came to mind. Besides there are many more where that came from.
Just because you are good at something, it doesn’t mean that you can make a living doing it. I was good at running but only the best runners in the world can actually make a living doing that. I am also a pretty good photographer but the same holds true here as well. With the exception being wedding photography. While you have to be good, the bar is not quite as high. Even though you think you are good at something, you have to be honest with yourself. You also have to ask yourself will someone else be willing to part with their hard earned money for your services?
Specialized training or a certification will add credence to your claims. The more certifications you have the more likely someone will be willing to pay for your work. The same holds true if you are producing a product. The higher the quality it is the higher the price you can command for it. The greater the amount of demand there is for it, the higher the price you will get.
Unfortunately for me the advent of digital cameras made it easier for even amateurs to produce quality photos. Photos that just a few years earlier only professionals were taking.
Lucky for you and I, industrialized countries like the U.S. are quite complicated and require a vast number of people with specialized skills and training. So the chances that you will find something that either you are good at doing or enjoy doing are very good. People with a general education tend to not do as well., while people with special training are in greater demand. The only problem with specialized training, is that it all too frequently can become obsolete. That is why many people find themselves changing careers later on in life. If this happens to you, don’t worry it is not anything that you did wrong, it is just the nature of the beast. The more technically advanced the society becomes the more likely this will happen.
Who knows a skill of yours might just come to be in demand. To succeed in our society today, you have to be flexible and willing to take risks. You also have to be just a little lucky as well.