Research shows that it only takes three to five years for over 50 percent of working skills to become obsolete. Today’s futurists are now saying that the average high school graduate will have five completely different careers in their lifetime. Not five different jobs. Five completely different careers or professions. What does that mean to you?

It means that you can not guarantee yourself a job or a secure future. Gone are the days of working for a company for 30 years and getting the gold watch. Here are the days of the entrepreneur and fast-paced change. Companies are bought and sold faster than most of us can track. Even doing a great job for a successful company can not guarantee your long-term professional future.

First and foremost, you must treat your career like it is your own business. You contract with a company to hire your services. You must sell yourself to the customer (the company) and then provide the best possible services at the best possible price. You must provide value beyond what is contracted for, and give customer service that is beyond criticism. Remember that everyone around you is your customer - your co-workers, your boss, the company’s customers, other departments in the company.

While this won’t guarantee any one specific job, it will guarantee professional pride and value. It will mean that you can offer your services to any company knowing how valuable you will be to them. Your confidence and personal power will carry you through any job changes or career changes that you choose or are forced to make.

Stay on top of the market that you choose to work in. Read the trade magazines, and the periodicals of business in general. Stay aware of trends in your field. Become a trend maker!

With the way technology is taking over our world, you will need to have technology skills and adaptability. Make sure your creative thinking, decision making and problem solving skills are at their best. These are the skills that will get you through the many changes that will happen in your job and around you on a daily basis. Be flexible and willing to learn. Your openness will increase the adventure of learning and enhance your ability to apply creativity to the demands of a changing world.

I believe it was President Franklin Roosevelt that once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Your fear of job loss and your need for job security will hinder your ability to provide value. It will lower your risk tolerance considerably. In a world of fast paced change, we have to be risk takers. Not gamblers, hoping against hope and betting against great odds. Just willing to make some mistakes along the way, experimenting with new ideas and possibilities - within and beyond our current job.

Post-its - those little pieces of paper that stick just slightly - were a mistake. Today they are the second largest selling office supply product, next to paper clips! Consider the possibility that you could make that next
mistake that becomes an everyday product. When we don’t risk, we don’t learn. When we don’t learn, we don’t grow.

Grow yourself every day. Increase your tolerance for risk and change. Make yourself an invaluable resource or commodity. That is the only guarantee of your future success.