Initial Thoughts on How to Turbocharge Your Career This Year

If you are like most business professionals, chances are that you bought many books, tools and resources that you haven’t yet used. I can see you nodding your head, saying, “Yes.” I am nodding my head right along with you. When you think about it for a second, you realize that you had a very good reason for making the purchases in the first place. You are going to use those books, tools and resources you already invested in, to Turbocharge your Career this year.

Avil’s Story

You can use my situation as an example. When I decided to read books that will teach the 10 key skills for future jobs, so I could carefully craft book summaries, I knew that it would be very expensive to do so.

Books can be very expensive, especially print books. And some e-books are not much cheaper than the print version. To get the process started, I decided to check the books I already owned. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how many books, I already owned on most of the key skills that I had not yet read.

Related Post: Strategic Reading Challenge at a Glance: Get Key Skills to Succeed

This did not only cut down on the expense of having to buy new books, but I was reminded of why I bought the books in the first place. The content from the books took me in directions I could not have imagined, which will benefit those who buy my book summaries when they are ready for sale.

Not all the books I would consider to be winners after reading them. But most of them are, and are what I consider to be somewhat off the beaten path. My newfound knowledge, if effectively applied, have the potential to turbocharge my career this year.

And it is not just books that I rediscovered. While reading Curate This, a book I bought over two years ago, the author mentioned CurationSoft, an effective and affordable software to create curated content. I purchased lifetime access to the software nearly two years ago, yet I had forgotten about it. CurationSoft is now a web-based application, so I contacted the owner and now have access to the new and improved version. Additionally, I also bought lifetime access to TrafficFresh, another curation software. Using both software, I think I can create some very good curated blog posts. And in fact, these software tools proved helpful when I did a curated post on each of the 10 key skills needed for future jobs.

Additionally, to give you the best of me, I want to create value-packed blog posts. I am helping myself by helping my readers. I bought a blog evaluation about six months ago, and one of the comments, was to niche down my blog.

After much thought, I have decided to target professional business women 35 to 49 years old. But during this somewhat long process to get here, I was reminded of a Pinterest course I bought the summer of 2015, as well as blogging books, and courses that I bought in 2016.  I bought these courses because I wanted to get more traffic to my blog. The realization for me, is that I have to make the change by using the books, tools, and resources, I invested in to catapult my career. Since I first wrote this post on Birds on the Blog, I have been taking some of the courses and they are quite good.

I have to say though, that I recently received an email from a reader, and he asked me to reconsider my target market. He suggested that my target market is “business and personal development book junkies and their organizations.” What are your thoughts, do you agree with that assessment. His email to me was well thought out and I am reflecting on what he has to say.

Through it all, I am reminded of the statement, that you have everything you need to move to the next level in your life. Perhaps you cannot see it because you have forgotten about what you already own. Set aside time to take an inventory of the books, tools and resources you already own, that if used, would likely turbocharge your career this year.

How to Turbocharge Your Career This Year

Think of where you would like to take your career in the next few years. This is important because you have to plan for success. What are the next two job positions that you would like to hold? What new skills do you need to acquire to succeed in the future roles?

Turbocharge Your Career This Year with Book You Already Own

Scan your bookshelf to determine if you already own books on the topics you have to learn. Additionally, check your mobile devices for e-books that you already own. I found many excellent books inside my Kindle app. If you have forgotten the descriptions of the e-books you already own, quickly go to Amazon.com for a reminder of what each book is about. Commit to reading at least 25 pages each day. This allows you to read approximately one book a week.

Turbocharge Your Career This Year with Courses You Already Own

When you buy a course, what system do you use to store the information. The first thing I usually do is to create a folder in Dropbox. I scan the folders, and am usually reminded of the course. If a folder looks unfamiliar, I open it. There are times when the course is web-based, so I will not have a folder in Dropbox. In this case, I have a folder called Courses in my email. If the course was very expensive, it will have its own folder.

Based on the system you use, conduct a scan of the courses you bought. In some cases, you may have to look through your digital and print receipts. As I am writing this, I am reminded that some of the courses you bought are physical products, so you may want to check through those as well. I usually opt for digital downloads, so I forgot about DVDs.

Turbocharge Your Career This Year with Software You Own

There are many awesome software that will make your day more productive. And you may even own a few of them. If you are someone who doesn’t save programs to her desktop, then chances are, out of sight is out of mind. If this is the case, and you are unsure of what software you currently own, take a few moments to scan the program folder on your hard drive. You might be amazed by what you find.

Turbocharge Your Career This Year with Apps You Own

I have a lot of apps on my smartphone and iPad. And quite a few of them are paid apps. I just scanned these apps as I am writing this post, and was once again reminded of some of the apps that I really like, but have forgotten about. Once again, scan your apps to see if there are any that can help you to achieve your career goals this year. I have a few speed reading and productivity apps that I had forgotten about.

Turbocharge Your Career This Year with Subscription Services

I’m a lot better with these services than with the other tools and resources that I have mentioned. For instance, I subscribe to Easy Product Displays (affiliate link), which makes Amazon products look beautiful in your blog posts. I have a subscription service to build my email list. And a ton more. But recently, I have been evaluating some of these subscriptions to find out if I need all of them, and I don’t. Do a scan to see if you really need everything that you subscribe to. Will any of the services allow you to turbocharge your career this year?

Final Thoughts on How to Turbocharge Your Career This Year with Products You Own

This was a fun post to write because it focuses on using what you own to get to where you need or want to go. Set aside the time to discover long forgotten books, tools, and resources that can help to accelerate your career. Although you sometimes make impulse buying decisions, there are many times when you buy a product or service because you see the value they offer to you professionally. This is a friendly reminder to take the time to explore what these products and services have to offer.

First Published on Birds on the Blog!

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