Your career is made up of choices. You choose what you want to 
do, where you will do it, and what type of education will get you 
there. Some of your choices empower you and others hold you back. 
Either way, you have power over what you choose in your career.

The challenges in your career, in most cases, arise not by 
accident, but from the choices that hold you back. For example:

* You chose to complete a project on your own. Your choice 
holds you back because you alienate others, rather than build 
a supportive network.

* You choose to send an e-mail while you are angry. Your choice 
holds you back because people remember your rash decision.

* You choose to work all the time. Your choice holds you 
back because your schedule drains your energy, clouds your 
perspective, and casts a shadow over your relationships.

* You choose to coast through your career. Your choice holds 
you back because you lack direction and focus.

No surprises. So why are we so surprised when things go off 
course, or when we are faced with a major problem in our career?

We do not intentionally make bad choices. We make choices based 
on the information we have at the time. We weigh our options and 
believe that our choices will turn out for the best. But what 
about the choices you are making today that you know are not good 
for you? Or, when you know in your gut that it's time to make new 
choices and you are not? You can change your choices if you want 
to.

How Do You Make Better Choices? Follow These Five Steps Below:

1. Make Peace With Your Past Choices

We've all made dreadful choices. It's part of life. Sometimes, in 
order to make a good choice, you have to know what it feels like 
to make a bad one. The consequences of a bad choice can be a good 
motivator reminding you to not make that choice again. It's 
important to make peace with the past choices so you can move 
forward. By closing the door to your past, a new door can open 
to a brighter future.

2. Look For A Pattern

If your career is not all you think it can be, ask yourself 
what choices brought to where you are today. Subtract from your 
thinking everything that other people "did" to you. Subtract your 
"bad luck." Focus simply on the choices that you've made.  Then, 
look for a pattern in your choices. Identify the recurring theme 
that holds you back.

3. Decide To Make Better Choices

Until you decide to make better choices, your choices will 
continue to work against you.  Resolving to make better choices 
is crucial. It is the first step towards having focus and 
determination. Can you make better choices simply by saying you 
will make them? Why not? Your thoughts and words are powerful 
and career changing.

4. Start Making Better Choices

Start today with a single act. Stop yourself when you are about 
to slip into your familiar pattern of bad choices. Replace that 
choice with a more positive action. One action leads to another, 
which leads to another. Before you know it, you are making better 
choices. The one small choice you make right now, that you have 
no proof will make a difference, and are afraid to take, is the 
action that done over time will lead to better choices and a more 
fulfilling career.

5. Ask For Help

As a career coach, I've noticed that the people who are suffering 
the most in their career are the ones that are working on their 
careers by themselves.  You are not meant to work on your career 
challenges by yourself. Yes, you may want to begin alone. (Most 
people do.) But when you find that days, weeks, months, and years 
are going by and you still have the same problem, make a promise 
to yourself that you will reach out to someone who can help you.

So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might 
as well be a life you love!  

Deborah Brown-Volkman is the President of Surpass Your Dreams, 
Inc. a successful career and mentor coaching company that has 
been delivering a message of motivation, success, and personal 
fulfillment since 1998. We work with Senior Executives, Vice 
Presidents, and Managers who are out of work or overworked. 
Deborah is also the creator of the Career Escape Program™ and 
author of Coach Yourself To A New Career: A Book To Discover 
Your Ultimate Profession. Deborah Brown-Volkman can be reached 
at: http://www.surpassyourdreams.com 
http://www.career-escape-program.com 
info@surpassyourdreams.com, or at (631) 874-2877.