Personal Action Plan

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 476.

III. AFTER READING

v Agree or disagree with the following statements. Give reasons for your answers:

1. Life isn't logical or fair.

2. People need luck to succeed.

3. Skills and persistence alone won't guarantee success.

4. The best plans need revisions.

v Illustrate each kind of luck with examples from your own experience.

v Read your personal action plan. Which items are applicable in our circumstances and which are not? Why?

To begin creating your own luck, take the following steps:

ü Review your luck. When have you been lucky? How did you influence your luck? Which one of the luck skills have you used before? Perhaps you landed an internship by networking with a friend or professor. Build on a luck skill that you've used by planning to use it again soon. For instance, research alumni who are working in your field and call at least two of them during the next month.

ü Talk to other people about their luck. The more stories you hear, the more ideas you'll have and the more motivated you'll be to apply them.

ü Focus on developing one skill at a time. It's unrealistic to believe you can learn everything at once. Select and try one skill on a limited basis. For instance, if you choose risk-taking, take manageable risks at first. Try undertakings where you have little to lose and a lot to gain. Then build on your successes by taking increasingly larger risks.

ü Keep a success journal. Each week, write down your successes, the role luck played in achieving them and the skills you used to influence your luck. Not only will you pay more attention to the impact of luck on your successes, but you'll also track improvements in your luck skills.

Don't expect to take advantage of luck immediately. Learning to work your plans and plan your luck takes time and patience. But by being open to luck and aware of its role in your search, you'll start recognizing opportunities that might have eluded you previously.

v Do you have any piece of advice on creating your own luck you would like to share with your peers?

v Look through the article Schmooze and You Won't Loose on page 91 which is a guidance for “Review your luck” section of the Personal Action Plan. Do you have contacts with former alumni from your university?

v Look through a Newsletter on page 92 issued by a Career Development Center. What information might you use in planning your luck if you were an American student?