​You may not have been lucky enough to choose the right career from the beginning. You might wonder if there’s still time. Yes, there’s still time, but it’s important to make an effective plan for a 2020 Career Change. It’s necessary to be thoughtful, but you must also be a person of action.

MAKE A LIST OF YOUR STRENGTHS AND SKILLS.

• Unless you have a lot of money in the bank or a spouse with a great job, it’s important that your career change be successful. Now isn’t the time in your life to experiment on something with little chance of success. Your golden years are rapidly approaching.
• Make a complete list of what you’re good at and what you’re an expert at.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY?

• The path to success consists of combining what you enjoy with your skills and expertise.

 
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO LEARN?

• Any career change will require new knowledge. Have you considered the costs associated with a career change? Where can you get the training you need? Do you need to go back to school? Take an online course? Take a part-time job in the field? Put in time as an intern?

 
WHOM DO YOU KNOW THAT CAN HELP?

• You may have a friend, family member, or former employer willing to give you a chance in the career you desire. Assuming you’re at least 40, you’ve gotten to know a lot of people over the years. This is one of the advantages you have over the 20-something crowd. Leverage your resources.

 
CONSIDER BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR.

• This may be the only field that actually doesn’t care at all about your age. In the past, entrepreneurship required a brick and mortar store or office. That’s no longer the case. It’s easy to set up a business online at a minimal cost. Entrepreneurship is blind to your age.

 
ENSURE THAT YOUR FINANCIAL HOUSE IS IN ORDER.

• It can take a while to get back to your original income. Do you need to downsize your lifestyle? Do you have sufficient savings to make the leap to a new career?

​You can change careers after 40. However, the level of risk increases with your age. Ensure that you are able to handle the risks. There’s still time to enjoy a career that you love!

​Working at home gives people the flexibility to be at home, while still being able to collect a paycheck. But, does working at home automatically make you get more done?

Many people dream of being able to stumble out of bed and begin their workday. They argue that since they don’t have the commute, they can start right away and essentially work during the time others would be using to commute. The argument is that it’s less stressful not to have that commute hanging over them.

Being able to spend more time with your family is another benefit people associate with working from home. You can be home for the children. You’ll be able to get involved with their schooling and studies.

People who work at home learn that it has unintended challenges associated with it. For instance, while it’s nice to be around your family, are they letting you get your work done? Are you spending too much time with your family that is taking away from your responsibilities to your job? Are you using any time management apps to organize your time?

You need to work with your family to set up boundaries. This means you should dedicate a space like an office that you use to work. When you are in the office, your family needs to understand that interruptions are off limits, unless it’s an emergency.

You will also need to handle interruptions by neighbors that may visit. While some of your neighbors may be commuting to work, there are more people working from home today. This means that many of your neighbors are working from home as well. It’s tempting when you see them outside, to see what they are up to, etc. It’s okay to do this once in a while, but don’t let it interrupt your job.

Job burnout can happen just as easily when working from home as it does when you commute to the office. In fact, companies may expect more from you when you work at home and your time is going to be more scrutinized. You may end up working more hours even when you factor in the lack of commuting. Your boss may be inclined to call you up after work hours and ask you to handle some tasks.

Use the right tech tools to make your work easier. Learn more about how to be more efficient and how remote teams are managed. We are all going through this change together.

You read that being more efficient will make your company more competitive. That seems to make sense, at least from a theoretical perspective. You accept the premise and decide to hire an efficiency expert to evaluate and recommend improvements to your business.

It seems like the right thing to do, but how do you go about finding experts who are qualified? This activity seems as though it can contain subjective judgments. If you are not familiar with what efficient measures are, you are at the mercy of the expert. This is true with most experts in any field. However, efficiency experts are likely to be expensive.

The first step when considering any candidate is to get some information about them. This could take a bit of detective work. It may require you to reach out to other companies who have used the candidates and are satisfied with their results. This may be easier said than done as many businesses remain tight-lipped about services or companies they use to improve their operations. They either want you to believe they didn’t hire anyone, or they don’t want you to have access to the same people who helped them. Thus, they simply won’t respond to your inquiries.

At the very least, find out how long the company you are considering has been in business. Is the company new? If so, this won’t give you confidence in the company’s experience. When you find companies who have been around for a while, ask them about any special licensing they can show you or high-level certifications they have obtained. Try to find out if these credentials are common for this type of service.

Try to gather up as much information as you can online. If there are complaints, you can be certain you’ll find them via search. If there are only a few complaints, it could be competitors who are bashing the company for the sake of keeping them from getting sales. However, if there are many complaints, this could be a good indication to stay clear away from the company.
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You want to be able to measure significant efficiency improvements with any expert you decide to use. Make sure you are comfortable with what constitutes improvement and insist on guarantees. As mentioned, this service is going to be expensive, so you need to be able to recapture the costs through successful implementation of his or her advice.

​You hear all the time that you or your company needs to be more efficient. But, do you know how to accomplish that? Efficiency seems like a word that is thrown at as the end-all be-all answer to problems within an organization. Without a proper plan, the likely result will be confusion and chaos. The following tips can help you when you are given the initiative to be more efficient.

Time Management
If you and your team are not managing your time efficiently, you are going to find it hard to move the company forward. The team will constantly be missing deadlines and playing catch up. This makes the group look bad and causes undue stress on the team. The likely result will be high turnover at times when team members are needed the most.

Learning
Always be on the lookout for how to improve your job or your teams’ jobs. This often requires learning new skills. The more you learn, the easier it will be to find alternative methods that work better.

Organization
If your office environment is cluttered and there is no sense of organization, it can impact the productivity of the entire group. There are professionals who can assess your current situation and make recommendations on how to improve the environment. This can include such aspects as desk clutter, filing, and even ergonomic issues and proper placement of fixtures or furniture.

Automation
When you find ways to automate, this frees up your staff to work on more important tasks. Mundane tasks that eat away the time of your staff are the best candidates for automation. It is possible to go overboard with automation which can cause slowdowns when the automation processes fail. Try to determine the best tasks to automate without overdoing it.

Delegate
If you are micromanaging the work of your team, you won’t have time to handle your own tasks. Your team won’t respect the fact that you are doing tasks that they should be doing. You hired them for a reason. Let them get their jobs done. It’s okay for them to come to you when they get stuck. But, you should guide them rather than simply doing everything for them.
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Outsource
With corporate cutbacks, delegating may not be easy to accomplish. Companies are expecting their employees to do more with less. But, managers still need to get their work done. In such cases, it may be worthwhile to consider outsourcing some of the tasks of your team. The benefits of outsourcing are that it does not increase the company’s headcount.

​If you want to know the best time management system available, the answer is, choose one. This may seem like a cop-out to you. But, it’s like a gym membership. What is the most expensive gym membership available? The one you never use.

Time management systems are going to have similar traits from one to the next. Whether one is better than the other is largely dependent on who is trying to get you to use theirs. If you find a time management system, give it a shot and see if it is right for you.

The key is to find one. That is going to be one of the main components of increasing your efficiency. If you read about a particular system, implement it for a couple of months and see how it goes. But, and this is crucial, keep going. The worst time management system is not having one. You will be spinning your wheels if you go this route.

Time management is going to take discipline and good habits, especially if you haven’t been doing it. You need to get started, and you continue using it. If you are one that believes habits form in 28 days, then use your system for 28 days. Just make sure you have something in place that allows you to evaluate that system. Hopefully, you will be experiencing higher productivity during that period.

Don’t get discouraged if you stop using your system. Maybe it isn’t the right one for you. Find another one. Ask colleagues and friends for suggestions. Just make sure you “get back on the horse.” Once your time management system is habitual and useful, there will be no stopping your progress.

When you discover a time management system that works for you, become an advocate. You can help others and in the process help yourself. If you and your team are operating more efficiently through the use of proper time management, your company becomes a bit more efficient as a result. Who knows, your team may become the model for the company. Stranger things have happened.
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One outcome that is highly likely is your team will get recognition. You will get your tasks done faster and will be able to take on more than you were able to before. You and your team will prove to your management that you are capable of taking on bigger and better tasks. It’s all possible with the help of time management.

It seems counterintuitive to state that you could be more efficient by wasting time. But, the truth is, when you allow yourself some flexibility in the process, you have the potential to make efficiency happen.

This is not to say that you can spend six hours out of an eight-hour day wasting your time. You need to keep the ratio skewed to being productive. But, trying to get too much done without having some “you time,” is going to burn you out.

The phrase wasting time is actually a misnomer in this case. What you are doing is setting aside some time to be creative or to get some exercise, etc. It could even be a time that lets you clear your head by taking a walk or sitting in a room by yourself to get away from the grind.

People make proclamations that they are too busy to waste time in the manner specified. But, that could be a huge mistake. When you set aside that time to do something out of the ordinary or spontaneous, you often discover ways to do your main tasks better. For instance, suppose you went to the gym during your lunch hour, and you took a class. In the class is someone who is involved in the same kind of business you are in but works for a different company. You both get to talking and become friends. Then, you exchange ideas and in the process discover information that you incorporate into your work.

This exchange may not have happened in your workspace. Sometimes, it takes outside entities to get our creative juices flowing. Therefore it’s always a good idea to look for different ways to accomplish the same tasks or talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to on a routine basis.

You will need to make sure this time-wasting process if it can be called that, is limited to a small percentage of your day or your to-do list. You still need to get your work done. But, there is a reason why companies don’t harp onto their employees when they take some time to socialize in the coffee room, etc. Even within different departments, you can expand your knowledge base, and that is good for the company as a whole.

Some people will go overboard with this and end up being late on their deadlines. Avoid this at all costs. Set goals for the day that give you a certain amount of time for yourself after completing a large portion of your daily routine.

Merriam-Webster: an inclination of temperament or outlook.
Dictionary.com: a particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling, or opinion, especially one that is preconceived or unreasoned.
Collins Dictionary: is a tendency to prefer one person or thing to another, and to favor that person or thing.

Biases, conscious or unconscious, seem to be what many people are talkimg about these days. Biases include both favorable and unfavorable ideas, knowledge, and assumptions that affect the way we engage with the world. They are the things that your subconscious “knows” that you don’t even realize are informing your decision-making process. Every person on the planet holds unconscious biases that affect their behavior, preferences, and even their treatment of others. Most don’t even realize it.
 
If you want to break out of your comfort zone, you’ll need to recognize, accept, and study potential unconscious biases because they could be causing you to make incorrect decisions.

We are a product of our birth, upbringing, and experiences. While human nature is very similar across all cultures in many ways, in other ways, we are very different because our ideas, knowledge and assumptions are not always clear.
 
This is most noticeable when it comes to classism, racism, and even sexism. Even though it’s a volatile topic, it is helpful to shine the light on these types of biases because they are so obvious. For example, we all know that the statement, “Men are stronger than women” is not true. Just like we know that the statement, “Women are better parents than men,” is not true.
 
Even if, in your experience, the men you’ve encountered are stronger than the women you’ve met, and all the women you’ve known were the primary parents, doesn’t mean that it’s true in all cases. You must accept that you have this bias based on your experience and that while it may be true, it may also not be true.

The more you engage with a diverse group of individuals, the more likely you are to be exposed to other legitimate ideas than your own or those that have formed among your your network. Look around you and try to meet and expose yourself to people outside your group by joining book clubs, taking a course, or learning a new language. Whatever you can do to learn more about human nature and people such as traveling for example, will help you expose your own biases and solidify their existence.
 
When you learn about other cultures and the ideas other people have outside of your own race, religion, and sex, you’ll uncover many cultural stereotypes that you have about them and that they have about you. Being open to learning about these ideas can really help open your mind and your world. It also does wonders for your career. Many jobs require knowledge of other cultures. As you  continue to learn about and from other cultures, let them learn from you too by being open about your own assumptions and biases. They will appreciate it and you’ll really change your and their worldview.
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​While you are learning about other people, places, and things, it’s important that you explore your inner thoughts and ideas. Recognize that you only control one person and that’s you. You control your thoughts and your behavior, and you can only improve all of that by learning more to overcome your biases so that you can push through your comfort zone.

The more you focus on yourself, your own thoughts, and behaviors, the more you realize how your behavior and actions affect other people, places, and things. This is an amazing power because once you realize the power, you do have to affect change and make an impact by overcoming these unconscious biases you’ll really and truly break through your comfort zone.

There are many definitions associated with the word discipline. Anything from orderly conduct to punishment is on the list. Some people swear by its necessity and others run away from it... I decided to look up the meaning online. Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers multiple ways to define discipline as a noun. I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that it begins with "Control gained by enforcing obedience or order"... So, there is indeed something to be gained through discipline. That's all I needed to see !

As you know it takes discipline to build good habits and to really get the most out of life. These things work together and while this may sound simple, it is not always that easy.
 
When you have discipline, you will find it easier to commit to performing a certain task. You may have set yourself goals that you want to meet. Discipline does not come naturally and it takes time and effort to build good habits. You can always start with tiny habits and ease yourself into a new system.
 
The thing with discipline is that you do not always see your results immediately. This can be a little daunting to some people, you are putting in the hard work without seeing any results. This can easily make you feel like giving up.
 
Discipline includes self-control and you must stay motivated even after setbacks in order to reach your goals. A great example of this is with weight loss and exercising. You have to be motivated and exercise regularly to achieve results.
 
The best way to form a good habit is by repeating the task or activity over and over again in a disciplined way. The more you do something the easier it becomes. You stop viewing it as a chore and becomes your second nature.
 
Another ingredient to help you form and keep your good habits is that of motivation. You require motivation to stay disciplined. There are many modes of motivation.
 
A way to build motivation is through the desire to change, it comes from deep within you. Once you have this type of motivation your willpower and discipline levels will increase.

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​Regardless of the nature of your goal, the more control you have over yourself, the more successful you can become.
 
Try these ideas to enhance your self-discipline:
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• Stay in the present. Avoid thinking about the unpleasant activity until it's time.
• When you do think about it, focus on your motivation for the goal.
• Make your task as easy as possible. The smaller the barrier, the more likely you are to perform the activity.
• Make the task enjoyable in some way
• Start on one small part of the task and let momentum help move you forward
• Stick with it. Set a goal for continuous improvement rather than perfection.
• Take it easy on yourself. Feeling bad makes most people less capable, not more capable.

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Merriam-Webster Dictionary uses two other ways to give a difinition of discipline. They are as follows:

• Orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior
• Self-Control

​That said, one may may think that developing discipline is about limitations. This thought has probably been reinforced by previous attempts at changing our bad habits. Actually, it can be very empowering to develop discipline. Think back to when you managed to make a change in conduct or pattern of behavior that was successful, how did you feel? When you overcome obstacles and accomplish something with consistent work, you feel like you can do anything.
 
When you are not self-disciplined, you often do not accomplish your goals and feel like you are not worthwhile. You tend to put yourself down more and in general have a more negative outlook on life.
 
Successful people do not get there just because of luck. They make goals, plan how to achieve them, and then develop the discipline to accomplish those goals and plans.  They do fail, they do have obstacles, they may even modify the goals or go in a different direction based on working on those original plans.

If you want to succeed, you need self-discipline. You may want to form good habits such as regular networking, active listening, reading more books, and/or continually taking professional development courses. You can accomplish these goals if you focus on one or two at a time, and consistently act on those goals over time.

You can work from home with just a laptop, an internet connection, and a will to succeed. But why scrub it when you can work from home like the boss you are!
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Invest in some basic tech gear that makes working from home easier and you’ll get more done, your family life will improve, and you’ll feel like hopping out of bed every day to get into your perfect work environment.

First, let’s talk about your workspace. In a perfect world, you’ll have your own home office room resplendent with your favorite art, a large lounge chair, and your exclusive personal things, but most of us don’t have such luxury. Most of us work where we have to.

What you can do is ensure that one area is a dedicated, permanent workspace when you need it to be. Don’t work in the living room. You at least need comfortable office furniture if you’re going to be sitting at a computer all day every day. A large desk, supportive chair, and some storage space for files are prerequisites. Get rid of any clutter every day.
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Some people like to include a vision board beside their desks to write notes and post pictures of your long-term dreams and aspirations. It’s just something you can find yourself turning to when you need to stay motivated while working from home.

As I’ve gotten older, I find that noise distracts me more. I remember listening to loud music when studying as a teenager but now I prefer a more tranquil noise environment so that I can completely concentrate on my work. This tranquil environment can be particularly elusive when working from home.

Besides closing the windows and barring the door, noise-canceling headphones can be a great option for getting into and staying in your zone. Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are under $400 and allow you to adjust the active noise-canceling function on a scale from 0 to 10.

For good noise cancellation without that high price tag, Soundcore Life Q20 headphones are around $60.

The next thing that will supercharge your home office is a large monitor or a multi-monitor setup. I currently use two 24-inch monitors – one positioned vertically and one horizontally. The vertical setup allows for easy reading of documents when I’m performing research.

Having a second monitor or a single monitor with lots of screen space can really speed up a lot of the work you need to perform, as you don’t constantly need to swap between applications.

If your line of work requires good color reproduction, such as photography or graphic design, you’ll need a monitor with an IPS panel. If you plan to use the monitor for gaming on your downtime, you might want to choose a high refresh rate monitor (144 Hz.) with support for Nvidia G-Sync or AMD Freesync.

Computer parts come and go, but a good monitor might stay with you for over a decade, so it’s worth paying a bit more on your monitor setup at the outset.

For most entrepreneurs working from home, sitting at the computer typing is the majority of the work. Unless you’re working on photo or video editing, most of the time you don’t need a really beefy computer. What does make life a little sweeter is a good mechanical keyboard and a good quality mouse.

Most keyboards you’ll see in the wild are ‘membrane’ keyboards. These feel somewhat soft and don’t give you much physical feedback on when you’ve fully activated a key.

Mechanical keyboards, on the other hand, have spring-loaded switches that give you tactile feedback. You should find typing for long hours on a mechanical keyboard is more enjoyable and you’ll even be able to type faster after some practice.

A nice mouse and mouse pad just feel better when they fit your hand well. You won’t need to click the buttons so hard, either, so your fingers will thank you in the long run.

Do note that mechanical keyboards tend to be a bit louder than membrane keyboards, so if you’re going to be working beside someone trying to sleep they’re not going to be too happy about a mechanical keyboard coming into the house.

Heaps of other tech out there can make working from home more enjoyable, but focus first on the items that you’ll use all the time and you can’t go wrong.

• “Success doesn’t come to you; you go to it.” — Marva Collins

• “The expert in anything was once a beginner.” — Helen Hayes

• “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot

• “No matter what you’re doing, try to work at that task like it’s your dream job.” — Russell Simmons

• “Take risks: If you win, you will be happy. If you lose, you will be wise.” — Author Unknown

• Persistence in a job search pays off. “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

• “All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” — Earl Nightingale

• “The best way out is always through.” — Robert Frost

• “We can change our lives. We can do, have, and be exactly what we wish.” — Tony Robbins

• “Success comes when opportunity meets preparation.” — Zig Ziglar

• “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” — Estee Lauder

• “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell

• “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” — Walt Disney

• “One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” — Arthur Ashe

• “What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” — Stephen King

• “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao Tzu

• “Don’t look back. You’re not going that way.” — Author Unknown

• “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt

• “Let your past make you better, not bitter.”  — Author Unknown

• “Believing in negative thoughts is the single greatest obstruction to success.” – Charles F. Glassman

• “Live less out of habit and more out of intent.” – Amy Rubin Flett

• “Success only comes to those who dare to attempt.” – Mallika Tripathi

• “There is simply no substitute for hard work when it comes to achieving success.” -- Heather Bresch

• “The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.” — John C. Maxwell

• “Hard work is the price we must pay for success.” — Vince Lombardi

• “Hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but improves its chances.” — B.J. Gupta

• “Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted. — David Bly

• “Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.” — Jim Rohn

• “Success takes time to build, don’t wait.” — Rosie Pope

• “The key to success is to start before you’re ready.” — Marie Forleo

• “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill

• “Every success story is a tale of constant adaptation, revision, and change.” — Richard Branson

• “The secret of success is constancy to purpose.” — Benjamin Disraeli

• “Success is not the key to happiness; happiness is the key to success.” — Herman Cain

• “Success demands singleness of purpose.” — Vince Lombardi

• “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but don’t quit.” — Conrad Hilton

• “There are only two rules for being successful. One, figure out exactly what you want to do, and two, do it.” — Mario Cuomo

• “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” — Vince Lombardi

• “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier

• “Action is the foundational key to all success.” — Pablo Picasso

• “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” — Jim Rohn

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• “Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.” — Dalai Lama

Great success! You learned to be self-motivated. It was not easy, but the goal is met…right?
 
Don’t be so sure. Just because you figured out how to stay motivated from within, it does not mean the game is over, and you’ve won the chase.
 
Just as life has its ups and downs, people have their own ebbs and flows. You may have a few setbacks and that’s when you have no clue how your mind can change.
 
Perhaps it sounds too challenging, but let’s be realistic. As a self-motivated individual, if you’ve made it this far it means that in the past you must have had to be realistic with yourself. You’ve done this before! The chase is not over – you’ve just started a new level, a new phase of life that you’ll have to conquer. Here are 5 ways to stay motivated after facing a setback. 

​If you did the same things for your entire life and never made changes to your approaches, you probably wouldn’t make much progress. When you feel like you hit a roadblock, view it as a chance to figure out a new way around it.

​Not everyone makes you feel great. Whether it’s a personality conflict or someone who brings you down, if you feel like you’re leaving a social situation with more negative feelings than positive ones, it might be a good idea to check out of it altogether. Those people definitely won’t lift you up and help you get back on your feet.