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Listen to Your Parents! – By Arnie Wohlgemut
Choosing a career is never an easy thing. Being told that you can do anything isn’t always the best or even useful advice.
We are repeatedly told by countless self-help and leadership books to follow our dreams! What if that advice isn’t always right? What if that leads us to rise to our own level of incompetence? What if our dreams are unrealistic? What if we pursued a career or business in what we are good at that could fulfill a more realistic dream?
When I was younger I wanted to be a fire fighter, but having asthma quickly ruled that out. Fortunately, I had parents who encouraged us, (my siblings and I), to identify what we are good at and start a career with that skill or ability.
My natural interest as a young teen was in electricity so, I decided to heed my parent’s advice and start there. With the support of my electrical shop teacher Mr. Smith, I found one of my very first part-time jobs, working for an electrical contractor. In my late teens, this lead me to College where I quickly realized that my interest in all things electrical, allowed me to explain electrical theory in simple terms, to my confused classmates. Teaching others came easy to me and I enjoyed it.
In my early 20’s I realized that my understanding of theory and my analytical mind, was best suited for troubleshooting electrical problems. Soon there after, I had a manager who recognized my interpersonal skills and gave me the opportunity to train new apprentices.
I quickly came to the conclusion by the success of myself and others, that I enjoyed mentoring and training. It was fulfilling watching others succeed and benefit from the many different skills that I developed and learned. The rest as they say, is History!
“Being told that you can do anything isn’t always the best or even useful advice.”
My career and my business success all started with the wisdom of my parents. Every opportunity I pursued in my life was because I learned to recognized what I was good at; what energized me; what drains me. I identified my abilities; I didn’t wait for someone else’s assumption of my ability to define my next move.
I encourage you to look at your strengths, your proven abilities and build a career or a business on those. Eventually you will achieve, “Your Dream”.
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