Knowing when to make a left when you are going right, or to turn when the road seems to bend out of nowhere enables you to right the course of change when you come to a career crossroad in your search for the perfect job. Given the experience of sudden turns, bumps, changes in the terrain helps you to focus on staying the course even if you are not always sure where you are headed. It’s not as important to always have a clear vision of where your career is headed.  It is important however to manage the obstacles, challenges, opportunities and gifts you come to find along the way.

You may be a high-ranking executive, or someone who is still working his or her way up the corporate ladder, or perhaps you are just trying to break into the business.  Wherever your position on the career chain, you may now or in the future be in a position where you have to navigate the politics of your work environment. Knowing how to maneuver in a complicated system holds the same challenges whether you are a veteran or a newbie in the business.  If you are figuring out your next career move within your own company, or exploring what opportunities might lie elsewhere, remember that wherever you may roam the politically savvy attributes you hone will come in handy along the way.

Which ride would you be?  You can tell a lot about a person by what they do in their leisure time.  You might ask how this helps you in your career pursuits but just hold on to your teacups and let me explain.  Exploring what motivates you personally may help you define what motivates you professionally.  You might seek to balance your lifestyle in a way that supports you professionally.  Meaning you may be on the go at work and desire a more leisurely sport, or you may have a more sedentary job and therefore go thrill seeking during your playtime.

When it comes to your career recovery is it possible for you to garner the strength it will take to to make the necessary changes?  Your career, like most things in life needs time and careful attention in order to change. It just doesn’t happen overnight.  When you are stalled in your career there is one thing you can do for yourself where no one else can help you.  In this, your career is very much an inside job.

When procrastination gets in the way of moving your career forward, you can either sit and let the stomach worms squiggle around inside or actually, get up and get on with finding out what’s holding you back. It’s never easy to make change when it’s something you started or was forced upon you.  Change is as we all know, tough on those who stubbornly fight against it or easy for those who move with the flow.  If you are holding onto something that no longer works for you in fear of the unknown, then procrastination has gotten the better of you.

Not sure if your career path was the one fate chose for you or you chose for yourself?  If only there was a little book that lit up every time you made a wrong turn or career choice.  Wouldn’t it be comforting to have a bunch of men in gray suits and fedoras running around trying to help you get back on track even though your heart or mind or whomever was pushing you in another direction.  Finding your way back to what you know and love is hard enough when you have distractions from life pushing and pulling you in opposite directions.  If you feel your career needs a visit from “The Adjustment Bureau” you are probably not alone.

You may make the mistake of thinking that the only way to change your circumstances is to make a clean break.  Sometimes that strategy helps, other times it can be seen as an over-reaction in your attempt to shake things up.  When you are in doubt about your circumstances, whether you should stay or whether you should go, or think about moving to a new job, stop, and ask, “Could I improve my situation instead?”

Time spent in quiet contemplation sets the necessary foundation to help focus you more than list building and speed-interviewing can any day. When you feel the need to plan ahead, think about slowing down and taking a career sabbatical.

You may be at this job search thing for so long you are beginning to believe the stories they might be saying about you. Maybe they tell you that you are over qualified? Maybe they think you are asking for too much? Or, it could be that you just might be out of the game for so long you’ve lost your appeal along with your confidence? Others may see you as yesterday’s news but you are wondering if in fact your job search and all that it entails has become the stuff urban legends are made of?

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.