Career Advice with a Financial Twist

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Podcast Summary

Title: Career Advice with a Financial Twist

In this episode, the old jarhead dives into career advice with an insightful financial twist. Drawing from an email he received from a financial planner, he explores four crucial areas for career success.

Key Takeaways:

• Set Clear Career Goals:
• Define where you want to be in the next few years.
• Goals could range from advancing to a management position to achieving technical mastery.
• Example: Our host set a goal of becoming a project leader within two years and it kept him focused and motivated.

• Measure Progress:
• Break down your ultimate goal into intermediate steps.
• Regularly measure your progress and adjust your plans as needed.
• Example: For an advanced degree, outline what needs to be accomplished each year to achieve it within four years.

• Keep Emotions in Check:
• Maintain composure during professional setbacks or when others receive recognition you sought.
• Writing out thoughts can help process emotions and bring mental clarity.
• Seeking feedback calmly can reveal areas for improvement and turn perceived losses into growth opportunities.

• Seek Professional Help (Mentorship):
• Just as financial planners offer valuable advice, mentors can provide guidance on career decisions.
• Find someone who can offer honest, constructive feedback and has your best interests at heart.

Final Thought:

Transform financial advice into actionable career strategies by setting clear goals, measuring progress, managing emotions, and finding a mentor. This holistic approach will undoubtedly guide you to professional success.

Call to Action:

Stay tuned for next week's episode! Don't forget to share this podcast with friends who might benefit from these insights.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
All right, listen up, it's the old jarhead back again
, to give you some greatfinancial advice Advice that is
guaranteed.
What did I say?
Financial Whoa?
That's not correct.
It's career advice, but todayit has a financial twist.
So I'm going to give you somegood advice today, and it's

(00:24):
based on an email I got from afinancial planner on the four
areas to focus in for financialsuccess and I looked at it.
I thought this is a reasonableapproach.
It was basically you set goals,you measure your progress, keep
emotions in check and work withprofessionals Kind of a pitch

(00:47):
to hire them right, but anyhow.
So I thought maybe there's somegood nuggets in here and how it
could apply to your career.
So let's get going on thinkingabout that.
So let's take a look at thosefour areas, those four focus
areas, and how they may apply toyour career.
First is goals.
Bottom line.

(01:07):
You need to set them for yourcareer.
How can you have professionalgrowth if you don't know what
you want to grow to be?
You got to have it right Now.
Growth can be in a lot of ways.
One might be where you want togo from where you are to a
management position.
Another may be more technical,something like becoming a master

(01:28):
plumber or getting your PhD inengineering.
So what you need to do is tothink about where you would like
to be in a period of time suchas maybe a couple to five years,
and then that becomes your goal.
I know, when I started with mylast company, I was hired as a
senior analyst, but I set a goalfor myself to become a project

(01:50):
leader within two years and aprogram manager within five.
Those goals kept me focused onthe sorts of projects and
customers that I wanted to workwith, and ultimately I
progressed faster and I was a PMin about three years, but I
knew where I wanted to go.
So think about where you wouldlike to be in the future and

(02:10):
make that your goal.
So next measure progress right.
Second step it's essential tokeeping your goal.
You need to set intermediategoals.
In my case, my ultimate goalwas to become a PM within five
years, but the step I needed totake to get there was to become
a project leader.
So that was my way of measuringsuccess toward my ultimate goal

(02:34):
of being a PM.
So do the same for yourself.
If you want to get an advanceddegree within, say, the next
four years.
Think about what you need to doover those four years that will
lead to that degree and measureyour progress.
Too many people fool themselvesby setting a far off large goal,
but do not set intermediategoals to measure their progress

(02:55):
and when the time comes closethat they said they wanted to
achieve their goal, they're noteven near where they should be.
Don't be like them.
Set intermediate goals andmeasure your progress and if you
get off track, think about whyyou got off track and how you
can adjust your plans or eithermake your goals different than
you initially intended.
You may have to push your goalsfurther out, but don't beat

(03:18):
yourself up over this.
Just realize that sometimesother priorities, like family
and health, take over and youneed to adjust your final and
intermediate goals.
Do it then.
Get back on track, okay.
Moving on the third one, keepemotions in check.
So this was focused on marketvolatility and the need to stay
the course during periods ofmarket volatility to achieve

(03:40):
long-term financial goals.
Right, okay, roger.
Same thing could be said aboutyour professional life.
Let's say, a coworker gets theadvancement that you want or
somebody gets more credit for aproject that you should have
gotten that recognition for.
You can't let your emotions getthe better of you.
It will do you no good.

(04:00):
This is a good time to write outyour thoughts on your own.
Keep this writing to yourself.
Write them out, maybe even morethan once.
Okay, I found that that helpstoo.
Throw the first one out.
Start all over again.
It settles your mind and givesyou the calmness that is
essential should, for example,you want to talk to your boss

(04:20):
about why you didn't get thatpromotion or project credit.
Asking for this feedback in acalm, professional manner could
do a couple things.
One is make the boss aware ofyour feelings about the
situation.
Maybe she did not realize thatyou wanted a promotion, but the
best reason for this is that youmay learn of a weakness you
have, but you did not know, andso now you can work to eliminate

(04:43):
that weakness.
Now you've turned what youthought was a loss into
something positive.
So keep your emotions in check.
Finally, the focus on gettingprofessional help.
What the financial advisortried to get across was to hire
them to manage your financialinvestments, but for us, I think

(05:03):
this could mean get a mentor,even an informal one, somebody
who can guide you and is willingto give you advice that you may
not want to hear, but need tohear Someone who has your best
interests at heart and is ableand willing to give you the time
.
And it really helps if it'ssomebody you just enjoy being
around.
Okay, so there you have it.

(05:24):
Financial advice turned intocareer advice by the old jarhead
have a goal, measure progress,keep your emotions in check and
get a mentor.
I guarantee you this will help.
Thanks for listening and tellyour friends and look forward to
next week's Bye, thank you,thank you.