Failed out, now what?!

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Question:  Freshman year did not go so hot and my college has stated I cannot return next year.  My parents and I agree that I should take a year off from school.  I want to take the rest of my life off and just go ski and coach, which are the only two things that really make me happy.  I live in the mid-west and the flatness and the weather here really depress me.  I just don't feel like school is for me, but I know it isn't practical to try to be a ski bum the rest of my life.  The very idea though of trying to return to a campus and study stuff I don't care about makes me feel overwhelmed and trapped.  I don't know where to go from here.  

Answer:  It sounds like you do know what you want, you are just asking for permission to do something you and your parents think is impractical.  Let me tell you what I think is impractical, spending four years and 160,000 on a business degree so you can pray to get a job that you don't really want and maybe save up enough money to go skiing 20 days a year (by the time you are 30).

When I was 22 a man asked me what I really wanted to do.  I told him I wanted to travel around and put on presentations about male socialization and violence.  He asked, "Why don't you?"  I thought no one would take me seriously.  I thought I needed a masters degree.  I still gave it a shot but I didn't go after it very hard because I didn't believe I was "qualified".

12 years later I have two masters degrees and the knowledge that no one is going to take me seriously because of those.  Now I do those presentations but I'm not as good at them as I would have been back then because I'm out of practice.

The best education in life IS LIFE.  If you have a dream job find someone who is actually doing it and offer to work for them for free for as many hours as you can possibly spare.  Someone is getting paid to do something that you would pay to do.  I talk to people and coach lacrosse for a living.  Both are things I would pay to do.  If you are passionate about what you do and there is a market for your service you can make a living.

The purpose of college is a sorting machine where the really rich and the really bright meet and partner up as friends, romantically, and for business.  You don't need college for that, you can skip that step and go meet the people who are already where you want to be and form relationships.  College is a great life experience but it is not essential unless you want to go into certain fields which require a special license or certification. 

Dan Miller, author of the book 48 days to the work you love hosts a free pod cast that you can download from itunes or from his website http://www.48days.net/ which gives people advice about how to pursue their dream using practical steps that you can show to your parents.  Use this year to meet people and soak up experience and you will find you get a lot more useful knowledge out of that than any college could have given you. 

When you are the one who has "failed out" it feels like you are all alone and everybody else has their stuff together.  Most of your peers are just going through the motions of going to college because that is what everyone expected.   Many of them will hit their identity crisis in 3 years as graduation looms and they still have no idea what they really want to do with their lives.

Your mission now is to fail forward.  This experience is an opportunity if you can learn from it and use that information to make a quality plan for your future.  When you are feeling overwhelmed take smaller bites and chew, we don't swallow life a year at a time we do it day by day. 

 

How do I get promoted

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Question:  I have been working at my company for three years and I have made two lateral moves but I can't seem to get promoted.  All my reviews are excellent but they seem to view me as a technician and not a leader.  I see other people getting promoted and I wonder what I'm doing wrong.  I'm afraid to push too hard because I don't want to get fired, but it has gotten to the point where I dread going in to work every day.

Answer:  The squeaky wheel gets the grease.  Forget everything you have ever learned about good social skills and being polite.  Get noticed and be willing to ruffle some feathers or get used to being passed over.  

Corporations exist to make a profit for their share holders.  They want their employees to be happy because that makes them more productive but they are not going to give you a big raise and a promotion as a reward for good service.  

You have to work smarter not harder.  You can go back to your desk and spend 20 hours a day making your projects and assignments extra perfect but there is a thing called the law of diminishing returns.  The guy you resent who spent five hours on the project and then went golfing with the boss is going to get promoted ahead of you if his five hour project was good enough to get the job done.  

Step one:  determine the exact position you want and why.  If it doesn't exist write a proposal to create it.
Step two: be prepared to show how you having this position can benefit the bottom line.
Step three:  e-mail your boss and make an appointment to discuss this concept, be prepared for her/him to react by stalling and saying they need to check with someone above them.  Just because you have been thinking about this for a long time do not assume she/he has.
Step four:  update your resume and and start contacting your company's competitors with the same proposed position.  DO NOT just fill out an online application and wait.  DO find the name of your boss's equal number at other companies and contact them directly.  Corporations get tens of thousands of online applications and unless someone is looking for yours it is unlikely to be found.

What is the worst that can happen with this plan?  Your boss says no?  Okay, well you are already looking for a position in another company where you will be valued.

Will a boss really fire someone for wanting to improve the bottom line and advance themselves at the same time?  No chance.  If you are going to get fired it will be because your work is sub par or they have a numbers crunch and need to let people go.

Unless you believe you deserve this promotion and are willing to suggest it you have no chance of getting it.  In addition, it must be presented as a win win for you and your company, because if it don't make dollars then it don't make sense.

Patience may be a virtue, and the meek may inherit the earth, but the assertive will get the raise and the promotion much much faster.