Guidebook

Guide for the Young Professional & Career Coach

YP: Questions to Ask Your Coach

• How did you find your career?
• What steps have you taken to live a well-balanced life?
• Why or how does financial planning help me live a well-balanced life?
• How has inspiration and direction from Heavenly Father helped you in your career?
• Are there specifics things you recommend for me to maintain my health and wellness?
• What education was required for your career?
• Can a job fair help me find the right career and if so how can I use it to help me?

Coach: Questions to Ask Your YP

• What talents or gifts do you have that can be used to bless the lives of others?
• What aspects of Achieving True Wealth are most important to you?
• Where would you like to live and are you willing to move to advance in your career?
• How important is it for you to complete a college degree?
• Can we talk about why you need a college degree for some of the careers you are interested in and what degree is best for those careers?

Considering Your Personal Purpose

Beginning one’s career can often be a difficult time filled with challenging questions. Which job offer should I accept? Am I pursuing the right career? How difficult will it be for me to adjust to a new town when starting my new job? What does the future hold for me? These types of questions can often prove taxing and require considerable thought and reflection.

Life can be distracting. Just when you think that you have a plan in place, things can change. You find that someone special and his or her career plans conflict with your goals. You have a great job and love where you live, but now may need to move to further your spouse’s career.

When choosing your career, it may be helpful for you to begin with the end goal in mind and ask yourself the following questions:

• What is the purpose of my life?
• What type of life do I want to life?
• What do I need to do to create this type of life?
• What are my long-term goals?
• How will this job or career help me to achieve my long-term goals?
• How can my talents and gifts be used to bless the lives of others?
• How can I maintain a positive attitude during my job search?
• How can I achieve a well-balanced life?

Having a clear and solid understanding of why you are living your life the way you are can give you peace, clarity, and solace—both in hard times and in times of serenity.

Here are a few tips for considering your own personal purpose:

• Look inward
• Everyone has been blessed with unique talents and characteristics and has a unique destiny and role to play in the grand scheme of the world. Look inward to see what gifts and talents you’ve been given and how you can change the world for the better.
• Prayerfully ask God
• He has a plan for you. You may already understand the basic purpose of your life, but He can enlighten your understanding and inspire you to greater knowledge of what you can do and how you can bless the lives of those around you.
• Listen to the Spirit and follow His direction
• Study the scriptures
• The scriptures are the word of God, and through the stories and doctrine found in the scriptures, God has given us a guidebook on what life is all about and how to live and find your purpose.
• Study your Patriarchal Blessing
• Consider the guidance and insights your Patriarchal Blessing gives you in determining your life’s purpose and goals.
• Journal your impressions
• Write down the impressions that you received while doing each of the steps above.
• Consider what will bring you true happiness

We can enjoy our work. Our attitude about work is very important. To some people work is drudgery. To others it is an exciting part of life. One way to enjoy life’s fullest benefits is to learn to love work.

The following story shows how one man saw beyond his daily labor. A traveler passed a stone quarry and saw three men working. He asked each man what he was doing. Each man’s answer revealed a different attitude toward the same job. “I am cutting stone,” the first man answered. The second replied, “I am earning three gold pieces per day.” The third man smiled and said, “I am helping to build a house of God.”

It is important to keep a balance in life between work, recreation, and rest. We should each find the proper balance between work, recreation, and rest. There is an old saying: “Doing nothing is the hardest work of all, because one can never stop to rest.” Without work, rest and relaxation have no meaning.

Not only is it pleasant and necessary to rest, but we are commanded to rest on the Sabbath day (see Exodus 20:10; D&C 59:9–12). This day of rest after each six days of labor brings refreshment for the days that follow. The Lord also promises the “fullness of the earth” to those who observe the Sabbath day (see D&C 59:16–20; see also chapter 24 in this book).

On other days of the week, in addition to working, we may spend time to improve our talents and enjoy our hobbies, recreation, or other activities that will refresh us.

President David O. McKay said, “Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that the power to work is a blessing, that the love of work is success” (Pathways to Happiness [1957], 381).

My Plan for Returned Missionaries

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Achieving True Wealth

When considering a career choice, many people consider which occupation they can reasonably obtain to reach the highest level of income. It may be easy to confuse the accumulation of material wealth with one’s success in life and long-term happiness. One may believe that achieving success in his or her career and building material wealth will ultimately lead to his or her happiness and the happiness of one’s family.

Instead, consider that wealth comes in many forms. By concentrating your efforts to achieve success in one form of wealth, such as achieving material success, you may under appreciate the other forms of wealth that are necessary to your long-term success and the success of your family. We all know of individuals that have focused the majority of their efforts and energy on building a successful career, only to see other aspects of their lives fall apart.

Think about how the pursuit of a well-balanced individual and family life can lead to building wealth in a variety of forms including:

• Spiritual Strength:  The relationship that one has with his or her Heavenly Father and with the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  The faith and testimony one has in God’s Eternal plan for His children.
• Family Members:  The members of his or her family, both living and past.  The bonds and commitments that tie the family together forever.
• Family Happiness: The joy one’s family has by living life fully and richly with a sense of excitement and adventure, sharing time and experiences with one another, and serving God’s purposes.
• Family Values: The core values shared as a family driving their ethics, virtues, character, integrity, spirituality, growth, purpose, and actions.
• Family Legacy: Family traditions, honor, wisdom, and history. The impact one’s family has made in the world by serving God’s purposes.
• Family Trust: The trust, reliance upon, and respect one’s family members have for one another.
• Family Communication: A sense of mutual understanding and empathy allowing family members to communicate openly and honestly with one another.
• Family Health and Wellness: The physical and emotional health and wellness of the family members.
• Family Intellectual Capital: The knowledge and wisdom accumulated and displayed by the family members.
• Capacity for Forgiving: The ability of one’s family members to forgive themselves and others for offenses.
• Social Family:  One’s co-workers, friends, neighbors, fellow church members and other associates that make a difference his or her life.
• Philanthropic Capital: The family’s collective capacity for caring for and serving others in the world.
• Family Material Capital:  The tangible and financial resources used by the family to pursue life to its fullest and to assist others in need.  This is the only component of the true wealth of a family that is both temporal and transitory.

37 Tips for a Better Work-Life Balance

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