It’s always good to be ahead of the curve.  Pushing your way through the crowd of angry job seekers like a mob scene out of “The Walking Dead,” you have the right to want to move past the rest of the herd.  It’s not that you aren’t ambitious.  But even a hungry zombie needs a break every now and again.  When you are just plain TIRED and you’ve been at this for a while, it’s okay to just chillax your search and sit this round out.

We all need to detox from one thing or another in life.  Whether you are cleansing your system from years of alcohol, drug or food addictions or you are looking to just rid yourself of the emotional toxins that have built up from years of wear and tear, you may feel the need to cleanse at some point in your life.  One area you might want to consider purging is the emotional and physical drain on your energy and psyche caused by the stresses of work. When your work environment resembles a toxic waste dump, it’s time for a career cleanse.

Like the man in the photo, “SALESMAN, Short, Fat, Bald, Single, Broke, Needs Real Job” you can paint whatever picture you like of yourself that does not mean you will get a job.  How you see yourself and how others see you may mean the difference between getting a “real” job offer and one you make up inside your head.  How you paint your job picture is up to you but realize you get what you put out there like it or not.

When it comes to figuring out what makes sense for you in how you handle your career, there are a few basic principles that might help.  It does not matter whether you are starting out or have been at this job thing for a while now.  What matters is how you arrive at your destination and what are the values you bring along with you to work everyday.

It’s important to find out what makes you tick, but realizing that there are some fundamental outliers at play helps you to manage your expectations and come to the table ready to be present and make the most of what you have to offer.  If you are tired of being pushed and pulled and feel like a leaf in the wind blowing from one vacant lot to another, try applying the “Four C” principles to your career and see if you it provides you with a foundation on which to build your career castle.

Denial is a mask, a shroud, a garment we wear when nothing else seems to fit.  It’s what keeps us in place, holding on long after we forgot why we were holding on in the first place. Denial represents protection against the unknown. What we fail to recognize is that denial is just another form of perception.  It forces us to face our fears hoping to garner some control over any loss we are all destined to face.

When it comes to finding ways to sabotage your career efforts think of how a poor Thanksgiving turkey wound up a sacrifice for the joys of your holiday meal.  It’s not so much that you have to be plucked, sucked and tucked to fit into your turkey suit, but what have you done to help escape your fate?  Here are five sure fire ways to slaughter your career in any season.

These are three sentiments we have all felt at one time or another when it comes to how we may feel about our careers. Recently an executive stated these words upon leaving her high profile job that was not by choice. She was listening to her gut when she knew the job held a dream, a challenge and a headache.  You have undoubtedly been in a similar situation at some point in your own career, but what do you do to talk yourself down from the ledge when all you want to do is jump?  Are you resigned to working in a less than perfect work environment?  Have you given up on your ideals and principles in order to get a paycheck or placate the boss?  Do you know who are you anymore and does it matter so long as you still have a job?

When is it time to mourn the death of your career?  You’ve been dragging around your tired job like a mourner wears a black arm band only to realize it’s time to mourn the loss and move on.  You can’t keep wishing it wasn’t so.  Living in a state of denial about the death of your career is not going to help you move forward and join the ranks of the gainfully living and employed.

Before you turn into a cast member from “The Walking Dead” know that you can manage the loss of your career and let it RIP.

We all like to be right.  Some like it for the sake of being right as others like to just make a point.  When you are on a job interview or perhaps when you are presenting to a client, you may not always see eye to eye. It’s okay to disagree because guess what, despite what you may have heard, the client isn’t ALWAYS right.  It may be hard to put yourself in a position where you have to argue your case, especially if you are on a job interview, but knowing where you stand and what you stand for depends upon how secure you are in your beliefs.  It might be nice to placate your client but in some cases, realizing you know best and following your instincts may be your best defense.

When you think about the past year what are you most grateful for?  Are you grateful for the job you have or the one you expect will come?  Are you still wishing for something big and wonderful to come into your life?  Opportunities abound and the future lay bright and sunny but do you ever stop and give thanks to what you have today?