"We save for rainy days when it comes to our bank accounts but don’t do anything to protect our careers from the storm"
- Do Over, page 11
"Relationships + Skills + Character x Hustle = Career Savings Account"- Do Over, page 7
My biggest take away from Do Over was the importance of building your Career Savings Account (CSA).
Very simply, these are the areas that you need to invest in over the course of your career to be equipped to handle the career bumps, jumps, ceilings and opportunities that you may encounter.
Think of it this way. Most of us have some money saved as an emergency fund, right? Well, think of your CSA as basically the same thing. This “Career Savings Account” will be your security along with your ammo to help get you through, navigate and take advantage of the various job obstacles that you might encounter throughout your career. Your career savings account is made up of:
Your career will take twists and turns, but investing in these four buckets positions you to be successful in any scenario. I think we would all agree that these are straightforward components of what it takes have success in any area, not just your career.
The problem lies in that you’ve probably never applied these CSA components directly to your job. When you come to a point in your career where you experience a career bump, jump, ceiling or opportunity, you’ll need investments in each of these areas to get back in the career game quickly and successfully.
"It’s hard to read the label when you’re inside the bottle"- Do Over, page 94
Most of the skills we possess, we don’t think of as “skills”. To us, they are just things we do. Let me give you an example. I am in sales and my job requires that I cold call prospective clients. To me, it’s just a part of the job. I pick up the phone, I call the client and explore whether or not it makes sense to potentially do business together. No biggie to me. But, having the ability and nerve to just pick up the phone, make that call and succeed in making that call, is a very valuable skill. That is something I can take with me no matter where my career leads me.
Does that make sense? Good. Now it’s your turn. Acuff gives the reader a very simple, two-step exercise to help self-assess the skills that we do have.
First, take out a stack of note cards. Now, all you do is write one skill you currently have per card. Jon is going for quantity not quality here. Now answer the follow questions, individually, until you can’t think of any more to write. Then move on to the next question…
Next, look for patterns and group those note cards together.
I know, I know, these self-awareness exercises can be challenging to sit down and actually do. But this exercise is so simple and powerful so just do it!
What I often find is that we’re too hard on ourselves. We downplay our own skills and abilities in a way that can be detrimental to our long term growth and development. The reality is that each one of us is more capable than we think we are. That is a profound truth, and the more we’re able to realize that fact the more confidence we’ll gain and the more success we’ll have.
"Awareness is critical because like relationships, not all hustle is created equally."- Do Over, page 228
I am a firm believer that hard work is a critical factor in success of any kind. However, hard work alone won’t get you to where you want to be. You must be working on the right things relentlessly over time to get the results that you want. I absolutely love the quote above from Acuff, so much that it bears repeating: “Awareness is critical because like relationships, not all hustle is created equally”.
Again, this all comes back to the premise that we must be working on the right things to get us to where we want to end up. Now how exactly do we do that? Easy. Put your head down and work hard, but every so often raise your head to make sure that you’re going in the direction that you want to go. Hustle with awareness, otherwise, that hustle will get you to the wrong place fast. As Acuff writes, “You don’t have to know the exact path, because nobody does, but are you roughly headed in the right direction? If you want to be a musician and you’re a pharmaceutical sales rep working seventy hours a week, not playing any music, stop kidding yourself.”
For most of us, we’ll spend about a third of our lives working. That’s a staggering percentage and I would think that number will rise. That time should be invested in doing something that we love, in a career that best suits our personalities and our skills, and fulfills everything we desire out of a career.
Jon Acuff has authored three books, including the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Quitter,which has helped thousands of people bridge the gap between their day job and their dream job. Jon’s wildly popular blog, StuffChristiansLike.net, has more than 4.5 million readers worldwide.
