If you were boss of your career, would you be doing things differently?

You are.  And you should.

The days of keeping your head down, doing what you’re told, and working in one place for 40 years are gone.  Those days are never coming back.

If that is news, you urgently need to start reading Seth Godin’s blog.  Or any one of a dozen other books or blogs I can suggest.

From his post, The Agenda, which I am quoting in full:

The agenda

The job of the CEO isn’t to check things off the agenda. Her job is to set the agenda, to figure out what’s next.

Now that more and more of us are supposed to be CEO of our own lives and careers, it might be time to rethink who’s setting your agenda.

You are in charge of your career prospects. You need to take charge.  Become your own CEO.

If you are in public accounting, you may or may not be able to change your client load and schedule, depending on where you are in the organization.

That doesn’t matter.  No matter where you are, no matter how many or few years you’ve been in this cool industry, you can take charge of your continuing education and your own learning.  An incredible amount of stretching and teaching material is available for free on the Internet.  Full-length mind-expanding stuff can be had for a mere $15 or $25 at Amazon or the nearest chain bookstore.  Read a brain-building book every month.  Maybe every two weeks. 

You can take charge of your future direction and where you’re going down the road.

You can take charge of your attitude and quality of services to deliver to your boss, your peers, and your clients.

Become your own CEO.  The CEO of You can make things happen.

P.S. Mr. Godin doesn’t allow comments on his blog. In one of his books (Small is the New Big), he says this is so he doesn’t have to deal with trolls and so others will expand on his ideas.  That is why I quote him in full.  Check out his blog!

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