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How to develop - and execute - a long-term career plan

Let me tell you about Susan, and how some clear-headed planning helped her focus. Susan had owned and operated a travel agency, before she married and had two boys 19 months apart - and for several years she was quite content being the stay-at-home mom. By the time her boys one after the other went off to kindergarten and grade school, Susan’s world had shrunk to pea-size - at least in her mind. She felt trapped in the life of domestic goddess, and she was starved for adult human contact - besides her husband, that is.

She didn’t have to work for the income - her husband owns a very successful business, and the family wanted for nothing. But Susan’s life was devoid of external intellectual stimulation - beyond raising her children and running the household, she felt she wasn’t contributing. As we discussed her ideas about work, she expressed a strong desire to help people. Particularly people going through a difficult time - through counselling, therapy, psycho-social assistance. Having owned her own business, she couldn’t really see herself working for someone else - she dreamed of opening a private counselling practice. Her husband was very supportive, but at the same time he was sceptical about the feasibility of her ideas. Susan herself had difficulty imagining how to realize her dream - and was overwhelmed by the process: where to start?

Step by step, we broke down her goal into manageable objectives:
1. Research the educational and experience requirements to set up a private counselling practice
2. Talk to successful private practitioners, and find out how they got to where they are now, ask for their help and guidance, and for introductions to people who might help you with (3)
3. Volunteer with a ‘crisis help line’ or a ‘crisis shelter’ to familiarize yourself with the actual day-to-day aspects of the work and to get practical experience
4. Enrol in a certificate or diploma program, parallel to the volunteer activities
5. Pursue paid counselling work through an agency or a company involved with employee assistance programs
6. Parallel to (5), enrol in a degree program to obtain at least a Bachelor’s degree - or if possible a Master’s - in Counselling Psychology
7. During the two or three year’s (combined (5) and (6)) gaining experience with an agency, develop referring contacts with social services agencies and corporate benefits insurers
8. Hang out your shingle!

We parsed each objective further into tasks, and we set out all these tasks, objectives and goals against a timeline. In other words - we turned a vague, unspecific dream into a detailed project plan; what Dr. Phil calls: “Putting your dreams on Project Status”. The project runs over 5 years - and Susan is now - February 2006 - half-way, enrolled full-time in the first year of a Master’s program, and doubling up on her courses. A part-time nanny was hired to share the workload of childcare, and to enable Susan to volunteer part-time at a women’s shelter. She is well on her way to achieving her goal of opening up her practice in the autumn of 2008.

Last updated on Jan 30, 2006 at 11:06 PM
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