How to Reinvent your Career
If you work long enough, something along the way will probably happen to you. You will work with a co-worker who drives you crazy, a boss that doesn't get you, or an employee that keeps you up at night.
It's all a part of the working world.
At other times, things will happen to you that will throw you for a loop. Your job is eliminated. You are fired without reason. Your industry goes away. This is when it's important to take stock in who are you, what you want out of life, and where you want to go next.
So, how do you get yourself back on track; find your passion and purpose again, and reinvent the next phase of your career? You soul-search and ask lots of questions.
You Make Time to Think
Reinvention cannot happen without thought:
A clear picture of where you want to go next cannot come to you unless you create time to think about it. This time is what will allow you to get in touch with yourself and your priorities.
One of the main reasons your off track right now, is because you've been "busy," too busy to make time for you. This does not mean that you have to allocate days or weeks of thought to nothing else; BUT regularly taking an hour here and there will make a tremendous difference.
Ask yourself, "When will I make time to think about what I want?" Notice that I am not saying to ask yourself whether you will find time, but rather when you will make the time. It is essential to be assertive with yourself.
Once you have made the time, find a quiet place. Sit down and take deep breaths, as many as you need to instill a sense of calmness. Your mind will want to wander, but you must bring yourself back. Remind yourself why you are doing this. You want something better in your career. Focus on the importance of this to your career, and channel your thoughts in this direction.
You Ask Yourself What You Want:
Reinvention happens when you decide what you want, and then take action to get it. Without an end in mind, you will wander aimlessly; and as long as you are aimless, you will be wasting time. You will feel lost. You will be like a stray leaf, going wherever the wind takes you.
Ask yourself the following questions:
If it was impossible to fail, what would be different in my career?
What type of job would I have?
What would I be responsible for?
What type of boss/co-workers/team would I have?
What kind of hours would I work?
What type of company would I work for?
What sort of culture would the company have?
What city would I live in?
How much money would I make?
How would I handle stress, my workload, and deadlines?
How would I successfully be balancing work and life?
There is no right or wrong answers to these questions. The answers are what are true for you-not what someone else wants for you, but what is in your heart. Listen to yourself, and your answers will be the perfect ones for you.
In addition, don't let past mistakes or choices cloud your answers. It's not too late for you.
You Turn What You Want Into A Vision For Your Career:
A vision is a picture of where you see yourself in the future. Your picture can describe where you want to be in a day, a week, a month, a year, or even farther into the future.
All goals are reached in the mind first. You see yourself both achieving that goal and experiencing the satisfaction it will bring you once you are there. This picture is what will help you to persevere during times of doubt. It will help you with your reinvention. Your picture will give you purpose, power, and excitement. Your picture will give you a reason to get out of bed every day.
Here's an example of a vision:
I will have a career that energizes me. I will work for a company that cares about its people and be responsible for projects that make a difference. I will be paid well for my contributions. I will have a great relationship with my boss, co-workers, and staff, and work with supportive people. I will work in a location with plenty of sunshine, for no more than eight hours a day. I will commute no more than a half-hour each way. I will feel calm when everyone around me is stressed and I will wake up every morning looking forward to the day.
Remember, reinvention is a journey. One day you may have no idea who you are anymore, and on another day, you will be grateful for the events that have transpired in your life because you have become a person you truly love.
(India Halla Bol)
Tips for Board Exams
Believe in yourself: If you have prepared well for the exam, do not worry unnecessarily. Only, make sure you have the right perspective. If you think that anything less than 90% is a failure, you are creating unnecessary stress for yourself. Don’t bottle up: Confiding in someone you trust is a great way of alleviating stress. Right perspective: The board exam may seem to be the most important thing right now, but in the bigger scheme of your life its plays a small role.
STUDY TIPS
- Enrich your environment with light, inspiring messages, flowers and plants.
- Avoid distractions. This will help you to concentrate better.
- Discipline yourself. There is no substitute for self-control and discipline. It is not a restriction of your freedom. Instead, it enables you to be a confident learner.
- Be persistent.
- Analyse the task and divide it into smaller study tasks to experience success.
- Take frequent tests to evaluate yourself.
- Use your intelligence to create study tools to learn and memorise.
TIPS ON HOW TO REVISE
- Keep aside enough time to revise so that you don’t get into a situation of lastminute cramming. This approach will boost your confidence and reduce any pre-exam stress
- Work on a timetable so that you can track and monitor your progress. Make sure you allow time for fun and relaxation so that you avoid burning out
- As soon as you notice you are losing concentration, take a short break
- Experiment with alternative revision techniques so that revising is more fun and your motivation to study is high
- Don’t drink too much coffee, tea and soft drinks. The caffeine may blur your capacity to think clearly. Eat healthy food. The nutrients will help you
- Regular and moderate exercise will boost your energy, clear your mind and reduce stress
- Try out yoga or other relaxation techniques. They will help you stay and sleep better. That will improve your concentration level
Sky-High cut-offs all set to end from DU
High cut-offs at Delhi University (DU) may soon become a history. The varsity has set up a high-powered committee to review the undergraduate admission process, which recommended that entrance tests are to be conducted for admissions to all streams in the coming few years in place of the old system of cut-offs. If the Academic Council approves, it could become a reality by next year.
The soaring cut-offs in DU has made the university out of bounds for average students and led to considerable criticism in recent years. A member of the committee said, they have recommended that all admissions in future are done through entrance exams, especially to science courses. Students who want to pursue bio-sciences will be admitted through scores obtained in the centralized All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) and those who want to pursue physical sciences will be admitted through scores of the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).
The member further added that English, BBE and journalism which already holds entrance exams for admissions, all the courses in humanities and commerce, should also hold its own entrances in the same pattern.
This will streamline the process. Students will be better suited to the course they pursue as they have cleared a test and not arbitrarily taken up a subject, the member said.
The 16-member committee was set up by the university in November last year to review the admission process and suggest changes to make it better. It includes principals from various DU colleges such as SRCC (Shri Ram College of Commerce), Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Miranda House and Kamala Nehru as its members.
It has also recommended that admissions through both sports and ECA quota should be done individually by colleges instead of a centralized process.
While this recommendation may take some time to turn into reality, the suggestion to take receive application process online could be implemented this year. The committee has also suggested that application forms be made available online from this admission season.
Surprisingly low paying jobs
It’s no surprise that fast food workers, cashiers and amusement park attendants don’t pull in a pretty penny on the job—but did you know most legislators, models and TV announcers earn fairly small paychecks, too?
Forbes combed through data gathered annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a division of the Labor Department, to find the 10 most surprising low-paying jobs. The BLS culls its information from surveys it mails to businesses, and it releases its Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates Data each May. The report shares information about hundreds of occupations, including hourly and annual wages, total numbers of workers in the profession, and the states and metro areas that pay the best. To make the cut for our list, the average pay of employees in the profession had to be less than $50,000—when you’d think it would be more.
Marriage and family therapists are mental health professionals who typically diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders within the context of marriage, couples and family systems. The job requires graduate training (a master’s or doctoral degree) in marriage and family therapy and usually at least two years of clinical experience, but on average they end up making just $47,530 a year. The bottom 10% of these professionals make a meager $23,870 a year, on average.
Stay away from New York, Wisconsin and Colorado if you’re planning to pursue a career in the field. You’re likely to make less than $36,200 in those states. Instead, head to Hawaii, Rhode Island or Alaska, where the average annual pay is over $66,000. (Pay is generally likely to be higher in states where the cost of living is higher.)
Other professions that you probably thought paid more than $50,000 a year: Radio and TV announcers and reporters. Announcers generally speak or read from scripted materials, such as news reports or commercial messages—but their voices and personalities earn them only $39,910 a year, on average. The mean pay is as little as $16,590 for the bottom 10% of them. You’ll make less than $27,000 working as a radio or television announcer in Wyoming, Oklahoma and Vermont—but you’ll earn $93,690, on average, in Washington, D.C.
Pay isn’t much better for reporters and correspondents. Those pros gather news by interview, investigation, or observation and share it with the public. Reporting and writing stories for newspapers, magazines, radio, television or other mediums will put $43,780 in your wallet each year, or just $19,970 for the bottom 10%.
Reporters in D.C., New Jersey and Massachusetts make, on average, over $60,000 annually—while those in Arkansas, Iowa and South Dakota earn an average yearly pay of less than $28,000.
Embalmers, firefighters and private investigators also earn less than $50,000 a year, on average. You might expect to make more for a job that requires sanitizing and preserving the deceased—but apparently preparing bodies for interment will only earn you $44,280, and the bottom 10% make a measly $26,630.
You’ll make an inadequate $47,730, on average, risking your life to help save others’ by controlling and extinguishing fires in emergency situations. Ten percent of firefighters will only earn an average of $23,050 a year doing this important job.
Private investigators and detectives “gather, analyze, compile and report information regarding individuals or organizations to clients, or detect occurrences of unlawful acts or infractions of rules in private establishment,” according to the BLS site. They do it all for a skimpy $47,830 annual paycheck—or $25,760 for the bottom 10%.
Scoring points for Commerce Subjects
CRUNCH TIME Study according to weightage given to topics by CBSE but don't forget the evergreen NCERT books
Experts say it is now time for Class XII students to judiciously divide their remaining time among all subjects.
While this could prove to be a daunting task, the CBSE Board has allotted a weightage to certain topics for all subjects in the Commerce stream that students must abide by while preparing for the exams.
MATHEMATICS
Calculus: 44 marks Vectors and 3-D Geometry: 17 marks Algebra: 13 marks Relations and functions and probability: 10 marks each linear programming: 6 marks.
“Students must remember not to let even one day go by without practising the subject. They should spend at least an hour on it everyday till the exams begin. In the days before the maths exam, they must do one sample paper everyday at least, “said Charu Duggal, who teaches maths to senior secondary classes.
ACCOUNTANCY
Calculus: Accounting for share capital and debenture: 25 marks Accounting for partnership firms: 20 marks Accounting for not for profit organizations: 10 marks Accounting for partnership firms 5 marks
“Students must practise continuously and systematically. Filling up registers is not a solution, but if you know the highlighted points well, it amounts to doing 50 questions in one go. Practising sample papers is also a must to manage time well,“ said Sonali Bajaj, who teaches both Accountancy and Business Studies to Class 12.
BUSINESS STUDIES
Calculus: The Business studies paper is divided into two parts. While the first part comprises of questions from Principles and Functions of Management and carries 60 marks, the second part comprises questions from Business Finance and Marketing, carrying a total of 40 marks.
As per CBSE recommendations, the important topics in Part A and B are: Organizing and directing: 10 marks each Staffing: 8 marks Planning, nature and significance of management: 7 marks each Marketing: 14 marks Financial management: 12 marks
“Students tend to leave this subject for the end, which is a very wrong practise. They must consistently keep doing Business studies because it involves a lot of learning. Doing it at the very end will just confuse students,“ added Bajaj.
ECONOMICS
Calculus: Consumer equilibrium and demand: 18 marks Producer behaviour and supply : 18 marks National income and related aggregates: 15 marks Determination of income and employment : 12 marks Forms of market and price determination: 10 marks Money and banking: 8 marks Government, budget and economy: 8 marks Balance of payments: 7 marks Introduction: 4 marks.
“Since economics is a very scientific subject, the concepts must be very clear and students should know the diagrams and graphs by heart and they must also be well labelled.
Students should not leave out any topics, especially the ones which have a higher weightage. This will help them score,“ said Rashmi Srivastava, head of social science department, Springdales School (Pusa Road).
However, despite all the specifications and guidelines that students are required to follow to ace the exams, teachers still stress on the fact the students must know their NCERT textbooks to be able to write the appropriate answers in the board exam since the papers are structured as per the content provided in these books.
With little time left to go through any new topics, experts and teachers say students must also brush up their basics across all the subjects and go through them on a regular basis to avoid any confusion before the main exams.
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