1. Make a point of learning throughout your lifetime. Technology is changing the workplace so fast that many careers for the next generation do not even exist yet. Keeping pace requires continuous learning.
2. Develop a “personal why” that gives your work meaning. A larger sense of meaning or purpose enhances your resilience. It gives you a reason for getting out of bed and helps you to couch setbacks in a larger perspective.
3. Separate who you are from what you do. Realize that a job is just one facet of your identity and a career is just one aspect of your life.
4. Cultivate a broad network of relationships, both personal and professional. People who have a strong professional network are less dependent on a single organization because they have more work opportunities.
5. Be a shape shifter. Don’t be afraid to question and then change your definition of yourself or your career.
6. Nourish creativity by taking a break from utilitarian tasks. We get stuck in habitual patterns because we don’t let ourselves take a break. Find ways to get away and clear your mind.
7. Recognize your power of choice. Be aware of the choices that you are making and that having the courage to act on these choices are a source of freedom.
8. Make decisions and take action despite ambiguity or uncertainty. In today’s work environment there is so much change that people get paralyzed by ambiguity and insecurity.
9. Examine your relationship to money. People who have a more relaxed attachment to money and to concrete status symbols have more freedom to consider a variety of career options.
10. Realize that job security is dead. Assume that you are self-employed whether or not you are currently employed by an organization.