How To Get Your Career On Track with the 20-10 Test

•   If you inherited $20m right now, would you spend your days the same way you spend them now?
•   If you knew that you had only 10 years left to live, would you stick with your current job or career?

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2009 is widely predicted to be a challenging year for business and employees alike. There are lots of problems and lots of questions being asked about the job market, unemployment and the impact on individuals. 

I don't profess to have all the answers, but I do hope to have some very good questions for you this year. Questions which will make you really think about what you are doing. Questions which will help you make the right decisions for you.

The 20-10 test is one such set of questions.

The 20-10 Test

The 'test' is courtesy of Jim Collins, author of the best selling book 'Good To Great', and consists of two very simple (yet powerful) questions for you to answer:

1. If you inherited $20m right now, would you spend your days the same way you spend them now?
2. If you knew that you had only 10 years left to live, would you stick with your current job or career?
If the answers are 'No', that should tell you something....

2009 Goals

Having thought about these two questions, let me ask you some specific questions that will help set some 2009 goals. Goals which will inspire you to take actions towards a career and lifestyle you really want rather than pursuing something you think you 'should' be doing.

If you inherited $20m and knew that you only had 10 years to live:
1. What lifestyle changes would you make in 2009?
2. What career decisions would you make this year?
3. What would you stop doing in 2009? What would you start doing more of?
4. Who would you spend less time with? Who would you spend more time with?
5. What habits would you stop this year? What new habits would you develop?
6. Who would you spend less time supporting and helping? Who would you support more?
7. Where would you spend your spare time? Where would you travel to in 2009?

Reality Check

The reality is that most of you will not inherit $20m this year and I certainly hope you all have more than 10 years left in you!
But it's also true that many of you will feel the sharp end of the downturn - more pressure to deliver, fewer resources, stagnant pay, job insecurity, the threat of redundancy and a challenging time getting back into the job market if you lose your job. Let's not sugar coat things - that's the reality of the market we're in.
But your success this year will depend not on the market, the economy or on what happens to you. It will be much more dependent on how you respond to the situation you find yourself in.

Answering the above questions honestly will tap into what is really important to YOU and help you respond intelligently. The answers will provide some clues as to how you handle many of the roadblocks and set backs that may come your way this year.

How?

Well if the answers to the above questions reveal that your big lifetime goal is to travel and see the world, then being laid off could be the catalyst for you to set off on your travels. If spending quality time with your family is the most important thing to you, then you can use the current uncertainty as a motivator to spend more time with them now, rather than later. If your answers reveal that you're really searching for more meaning and purpose within your career and life, then make it a priority to do something about it this year.

Your Field Work

Within the next few days:
1. Book 60 minutes with yourself to honestly answer the above questions.
2. Scribble down your answers as quickly as you can within the 60 minutes. The time pressure forces you be honest, instinctive and creative. Plus it ensures you actually do this exercise instead of adding it to your 'must do at some point list' which never gets completed
3. Based on these answers commit yourself to just ONE big goal for 2009. The one thing that would change everything if you achieved it

A tough market forces us to face up to decisions we've been putting off. Decisions around what it is that we really want to do, be and have. So if the current market conditions act as a catalyst for you to do the things you've always wanted to do, then the current recession could well turn out to be the very best thing that ever happened to you and your career.

It may well be scary and certainly won't be easy to ask yourself these important questions. But if you have the courage to answer the questions and face up to the challenges that come your way this year, 2009 could, in a perverse way, be your best year yet. Happy new year and my very best wishes for 2009.

By Sital Ruparelia, Cross posted on the 6 Figure Career Management Blog

Comments

[Dan Eustace]

Sital,

This concept of forcing yourself to write down specifically dreams and prioritized desires
can be useful. But often people are faced with mortgages, children's college expenses, citizenship
limitations and nagging debt. How realistic are the dream questions given the "reality check back-drop?"

Would it be fair to pose the "dream questions" with the theme that you might incorporate
your dreams into part of your day or involvement in some organizations?

Get involved, give back, continuously learn new skills might be added before your next breath.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and the opportunity to share ideas.

Dan

[Sital Ruparelia]

Dan , thanks for the comments. Good point. Work and pursuing work and dreams are not mutually exclusive. You can, as you say, incorporate into the day job or activities away from work.

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Looks more and more like somethin' big is goin down.

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