Career Roadmap Quotes

Mitchell Maxwell’s Maxims • You have to create your own professional path. There’s no longer a roadmap for an artistic career. • Follow your heart and the money will follow. • Create a benchmark of your own progress. If you never look down while you’re climbing the ladder you won’t know how far you’ve come. • Don’t define success by net worth, define it by character. Success, as it’s measured by society, is a fleeting condition. • Affirm your value. Tell the world “I am an artist,” not “I want to be an artist.” • You must actively live your dream. Wishing and hoping for someday doesn’t make it happen. Get out there and get involved. • When you look into the abyss you find your character. • Young people too often let the fear of failure keep them from trying. You have to get bloody, sweaty and rejected in order to succeed. • Get your face out of Facebook and into somebody’s face. Close your e-mail and pick up the phone. Personal contact still speaks loudest. • No one is entitled to act entitled. Be willing to work hard. • If you’re going to buck the norm you’re going to have to embrace the challenges. • You have to love the journey if you’re going to work in the arts. • Only listen to people who agree with your vision. • A little anxiety is good but don’t let it become fear, fear makes you inert. • Find your own unique voice. Leave your individual imprint on the world, not a copy of someone else. • Draw strength from your mistakes; they can be your best teacher.

No one else is going to pay you what you deserve unless you insist on it

Being in charge of your work life doesn't mean you always move with assurance and sublime self-confidence; it means you keep moving, continuing on your own path, even when you feel shaky and uncertain.

Importantly, nothing in this book is an advocacy for one type of career, industry, set of knowledge, or field of study. The practical methods in this book are not like a map with the journey and destination laid out, but like a set of tools, helping you to be a better architect of your professional life.

You have nothing to feel regret about or to feel embarrassed about. Whatever you have done in your life has led you to this spot—so you can learn from it! You

Getting altitude means giving yourself permission

The most common mistake you'll make is forgetting to keep your own scorecard. Very little at work reinforces your ability to do this, so you will have to be vigilant. When evaluators give you an assessment, they are just guessing at who you are; they certainly are not the ones who know your potential. They can rate you and influence you, but they don't get to define you. That's your most honorable assignment: to define, every day through the way you deliver your work, the scope and nature of your inherent abilities.

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When you start to think of all the possible options that might blend with your ideal work identity, you become more confused.

Some of you are looking for change but aren’t sure what that change looks like. You know your current situation isn’t a good fit for your skills and talents.

You have to be willing to change what you are doing and try different approaches.

You will naturally assess your fit into that job and company along the way. You will be automatically looking at each of these opportunities through the lens of whether or not you will be happy.

You can also use the experience level filter in LinkedIn to understand what level the job is at. This will help you decide what tier of job level you want to go for.

Only the people who get you, deserve you.

Breaking new ground is never easy. When I embarked on this career, I had no notion how to do it. There were no road maps or guidebooks. There were few local role models or contacts I could call upon, except my teachers, so I had to learn to be creative and resourceful. I think that the American proactive mentality really helped and taught me to not wait for something to happen but to get out there and make things happen. I learnt quickly that I had to carve my own path.

The path that Wallace followed was an accelerated version of a three-phase journey that awaits most founders as they try to bounce back from their venture’s failure. The first phase is recovery from the emotional battering that the shutdown inflicts. The founder must cope with the grief, depression, anger, and guilt that can accompany any major personal setback—often, as with Wallace, while confronting the stark reality of having no income or personal savings. During the second phase, reflection, the founder ideally moves beyond blaming the failure on others or on uncontrollable external events. Through introspection, she gains a deeper understanding of what went wrong, what role she played in her venture’s demise, and what she might have done differently. In the process, she also gains new insights about her motivations and her strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur, manager, and leader. In the final phase, reentry, the founder leverages these insights to decide whether to pursue another startup or choose a different career track.

When we are blind to systemic causes of problems, all the solutions we try will likely make matters worse. —Ester Derby

My mission in this book is to shift the way you look at yourself, and to remind you of the power that you have to run your own life and career. That

Know that it's okay to make your dreams and your career a little smaller in order to have the complete life you want.