5 Tips To Help You And Your Family Members Find Better Careers

The job market seems to be taking off. If your industry hasn't seen great income gains, maybe it's time to look for better ways to earn for your family. Now may be a good time to review what it would take to get more training, a new license, or another tool to help you learn more.

1. Keep Learning

Take a hard and honest look at what you do in your free time. Are you playing the same old games on your phone or are you reading BIPOC News and learning something new?

If sitting and reading doesn't work for your life right now, consider adding audiobooks to your routine. A good audiobook can provide you with a lot of information while you cook dinner, walk the dog, or clean the house.

Your self-improvement time doesn't have to be all technical. For example, you can study ways to build better habits. A habit is an automatic action that you don't have to think about or focus on. Take the pressure off your brain by lowering the number of decisions you need to make each day. Choose what habits would benefit you most, then build them.

2. Focus On Your Strengths

We all have actions or skills that come more naturally to us. Someone who loves to read may always understand the assembly instructions for a piece of furniture, while someone who has strong skills as a visual learner may just be able to figure it out by the pictures.

In addition to focusing on your strengths, figure out workarounds for your weaknesses. If you have gotten in the habit of tossing out the instructions before you start that furniture assembly, read it to yourself, out loud, paragraph by paragraph. When you finish one page, read the instructions again. Someone who can't really understand the pictures could fold the page and just study one section until they get it.

3. Work At Reading People

For example, if you have strong technical abilities and attention to detail, these electrician skills may lead you to a career in building or home repair. However, you will still need to be able to work with people.

When a homeowner is stressed about a problem, you need to be able to be calm. If a co-worker is frustrated with themselves, you need to know when to help and when to let them work through their challenge. The ability to know when to speak up and when to let folks blow off steam will serve you in every aspect of your life, not just your career.

4. Be Willing To Be A Newbie

The best way to learn something is to break it and then fix it so you truly understand it. If you've got strong language skills but are not great at math, you may know a lot about word processing but nothing about spreadsheets.

In your free time, break spreadsheets. Use one tab to build a calendar so you learn how the formatting tools work. Use one tab to copy out an old check registry or tally information from old bank statements. Practice tabbing to move sideways and entering to move down. Learn to build a simple formula.

There are many videos and tutorials on how to use unfamiliar computer programs. If you give yourself the option to really mess things up, you will have more confidence. Fix it, learn, and break it again.

5. Get There First

If you can get there first, do so. This may mean that you're the first person to pick up a new job ticket or the person who is in charge of loading up your work vehicle. It may mean that you always make the coffee.

Showing up early gives you time to clear your head. It may allow you to put your most productive brain time to work as you build your career. To that end, know yourself. If you're super sharp at 6 a.m. but unable to focus after 9 p.m., you're probably not cut out to be a bartender.

Your career is always a work in progress. Stay flexible and do your best not to tie your value to your income. If you need to cut back to part-time to get more schooling, it may be time for a talk with your current employer.