Weh'yee Barkon’s Post

As my daughter gets ready to graduate and enter college and eventually her career and living life on her own I wanted to share a few pieces of advice I’ve learned along the way to her and all her peers. As you enter your career and all the things that life will throw at you along the way keep these three things at top of your mind: 1. Personal Accountabilty - own everything you do; the triumphs and the mistakes. I have learned way more from the mistakes I’ve made along the way than I have from the triumphs but own them and be accountable for your actions as they will impact your peers. 2. Work ethic - have a tireless work ethic and goal to succeed at all you do. Always be willing to partner with others to make things better, offer to help others when they need help even if it’s not part of your job because one day the person that needs help may be you, and remember that your name is your BRAND! People will always remember who steps up when things need to get done and who’s willing to help. Nothing worse than hearing these words “Sorry that’s not part of my job description or what I do” and yes I have heard those words ALOT in my career. And the last one and one of my life mottos: 3. Figure it out - have a “FIGURE IT OUT” mentality. Life and no career will prepare you or hand you a manual on how to handle every possible scenario that can be thrown your way. You have to be willing to roll your sleeves up sometimes and just figure it out on your own and not wait for someone to show you how to do it. This will open you up to SO many opportunities as future employers want people who can think on their own and people who are willing to make decisions (good or bad). There is no such thing as a wrong decision - the only wrong decision is INDECISION! Congrats to my beautiful daughter on her upcoming graduation and her mom for doing an AMAZING job raising her while I’ve traveled around the country for work!!

I’ve considered 25+ careers in the last 4 years. Some were impossible to carry on with. Some were unrealistic. Others were average. My criteria has changed over the years. I know I don’t want a traditional career path. Especially one based on what I studied (law). I know a career doesn’t just involve a job. It could be a business too. I know I don’t want to slave away at an 8-5 for decades helping someone else achieve their dreams while neglecting my own. I know I don’t want to hoard my unique blend of knowledge by not putting myself out there. I know what I don’t want. Now I’m on a journey to discovering what I want. This is my mission: To build a unique & fulfilling career based on my changing interests and growing skillsets. --- If you: - share similar interests and skill sets - are on the same journey (or about to be) - want to know where I’ll end up on this journey Follow me.

📣Career Flashback! I was browsing through my old journals this morning and found this list on page 1 inside my first journal since I’ve started my career here at Northwestern Mutual. I have accumulated many journals throughout the years. I saved all of them and I like to mull through them on occasion. They are full of important things, powerful knowledge and good reminders. They always recenter me when life tries to pull me elsewhere. This page was from way back when I was deciding my next career move before joining Northwestern Mutual, I wrote down my list of things I wanted out of my career and life for that matter, and used it as my anchor to decide where I was going to find professional alignment. Versus the other way around - letting the job decide it for me. That never works by the way…. I cannot stress enough that jobs are not your purpose. Don’t chase jobs. They will always disappoint. I wanted to be in control of where I wanted to go and knew I needed to create clarity and alignment for it to happen. Most call this think time. So important by the way! The biggest career advise I can ever give to someone is take the time to plan for the things you want in life and your career and don’t just take jobs. Most careers will not check all the boxes, but a majority of the boxes of what you really want should be checked. It’s where you will flourish the most!

5 years into my full-time career, earlier this year, I was let go of my job for the third time. I share this openly because as a first-generation college graduate and professional I grew up with a fairy-tale about university degrees and white-collared jobs being the ultimate security blanket. And in just 5 years this fairy tale has crumbled, teaching me that the only security blanket I can hold tight onto are my skills and my relentless belief in myself. Ten years ago I thought I would have long been an attorney by this point in my life. Ten years ago when I embarked on my college journey my career endeavors had titles tied to them because that is what I had been exposed to through the public education system. Ten years ago I could not have imagined that I would navigate my way through these experiences. But ten years ago I also could not have imagined that I would be entering my second and final year as a Master’s candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Through all the uncertainty, the only thing I am certain about is that I have set of skills and a passion for connecting individuals to the resources they need to improve their lives. Most importantly, I constantly find myself pushing for more because I believe deeply in our human ability to make our world a more equitable and happier place. With this said, if you are navigating the experience of losing your job (especially as a first-gen professional) I would love the opportunity to connect with you. In my experience, it's not something we get prepared for and it can be a quite isolating experience. There are 6 months of 2024 left, here is to taking back ownership of our own journeys and not leaving it in the hands of others. Believing in ourselves one day at a time, especially on those days when it feels hopeless to keep believing. Let us believe in our own mission before we believe in someone else's mission statement.

Graduation season is coming, y'all. Here are some great, practical ideas and tips from Joel Dietz, SPHR SHRM-SCP to help you help your favorite graduate navigate a world with endless, and often overwhelming, career options.

This is a great article about making a career change in your 50's and why it's not too late. "The days of working for one company for your entire career, getting your gold watch and retiring to Florida are long gone. People are living longer and stronger. And most professions have experienced unusual twists and turns in recent months. Working in the same industry or job function for your entire career is getting rarer." https://lnkd.in/gwfw52ts

The hardest career to quit is the one you are GREAT at. It is easy to rationalize staying. Sure, you never thought this was what you would be doing but it turns out you were really good at it. You've done great work and the promotion(s) and recognition kept coming. It feels good to be great at what you do. You are on the "fast track" and already invested several years maybe decades into this career. Plus you don't want to let anyone down who has supported you along the way or counts on you now. You should just be happy. But there is that whisper of discontent. An intuitive knowing that this is not where you are meant to be. You might tell yourself that inconvenient voice will go away. But it won't. Because that voice knows you are capable of more. It is reminding you that you deserve to find fulfillment AND achieve excellence in your career. Just imagine what you might be possible if you gave life to that voice 💛

I was so chuffed that one of my clients from nearly 4 years' ago, booked a session with me, from our Christmas Gift promotion. What a treat to hear how the work we did is still having an impact on her 4 years' later. And now that she is again, faced with a crossroads, she has tapped back into the work we did together to get the clarity she needs. After a 30-minute session together, Brooke now has clarity on which career option excites her the most and what her 'next career steps' are. I don't ever guarantee this outcome after only 30-mins with a client, however because Brooke had done our Career Blueprint program, we had so much to leverage. Brooke shared her gold from our 30-min Clarity Session: To ditch 'fear thinking and focus on the 'best choice for me'. Hearing her career path options reframed and presented back, with what is most important for right now, 'made my heart sing'. Listen to my intuition. Quality of time with family, outweighs 'quantity' of time, when balancing my desires to have a career. If you, are like Brooke and would love to gain Career Clarity & Direction. I invite you to join our 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 & 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢-𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, Starting on 22nd Jan through to 30th Jan. For only $33, you will: 🚀 Learn HOW to get 'unstuck'. 🚀 Identify your skills that are transferrable to other careers. 🚀 Gain clarity & direction in what your ideal (dream) career is. What are you waiting for. Register now via this link: https://lnkd.in/e4DxcaPF

I was so chuffed that one of my clients from nearly 4 years' ago, booked a session with me, from our Christmas Gift promotion. What a treat to hear how the work we did is still having an impact on her 4 years' later. And now that she is again, faced with a crossroads, she has tapped back into the work we did together to get the clarity she needs. After a 30-minute session together, Brooke Meldrum now has clarity on which career option excites her the most and what her 'next career steps' are. I don't ever guarantee this outcome after only 30-mins with a client, however because Brooke had done our Career Blueprint program, we had so much to leverage. Brooke shared her gold from our 30-min Clarity Session: To ditch 'fear thinking and focus on the 'best choice for me'. Hearing her career path options reframed and presented back, with what is most important for right now, 'made my heart sing'. Listen to my intuition. Quality of time with family, outweighs 'quantity' of time, when balancing my desires to have a career. If you, are like Brooke and would love to gain Career Clarity & Direction. I invite you to join our 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 & 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢-𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, Starting on 22nd Jan through to 30th Jan. For only $33, you will: 🚀 Learn HOW to get 'unstuck'. 🚀 Identify your skills that are transferrable to other careers. 🚀 Gain clarity & direction in what your ideal (dream) career is. What are you waiting for. Register now via this link: https://lnkd.in/eAWCgnSU

‘During the journey we commonly forget its goal. Almost every profession is chosen and commenced as a means to an end but continued as an end in itself. Forgetting our objectives is the most frequent of all acts of stupidity’ - Friedrich Nietzsche Sound like anyone’s career? What you want from your job and the time you’re willing to commit to it will change over time. Taking the time to step back and assess whether the role you’re in fits with the life you want is crucial if you’re going to avoid the most frequent of all acts of stupidity. And I say this as someone who spent more than a decade going after roles I didn’t want because it’s what I thought I should do. #lawyers #careers #careergoals