Your Personal Skills Inventory

If you are at all concerned about losing your job - and today who isn't - it might be time to conduct a personal skills inventory, and rethink not only your job but your career. During the month of November 2008, over 500,000 Americans lost their jobs, driving unemployment levels to the highest point in 14 years, almost 7% of the population. These are staggering numbers, and something that everybody who works for a living should be concerned about.

The recession that we're currently in is here to stay and is building up to full force and effect. Most financial experts agree that the recession is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. For that reason, people need to be thinking now about their financial future, and how they're going to deal with the coming hard times. Before we even discuss or think about the concepts of wealth preservation and wealth creation however, we first need to consider how we intend to generate an income in these difficult economic times.

As you think about your personal situation, a logical place to start is to reevaluate what you do for a living, and the joy and satisfaction you get from it. Many people find themselves working in a career or at a job that they initially got into out of necessity, graduating from school, and taking the first thing they could find. Over the years, their career has grown but not necessarily in a direction that they would prefer, or that they want. This is the reason why so many people undergo a midlife crisis-they find themselves in a situation that they no longer enjoy, and that is not fulfilling their personal needs. Due to the amount of time that you spend at work on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, it's important that you enjoy what you do for a living in addition to making the money that you need to live.

A skills inventory can help you assess what you do well, as well as what you enjoy. Start by writing down the things you're good at, and be detailed. Follow that list of skills with a list of the things that you enjoy doing. If financial conditions dictate that you change your job and that you find a new source of income, you might as well take the time now to align what you do for work with what you enjoy doing.