The Personal Priorities Power Grid

The analytical and decision making skills that you have now mastered can also be used in making life’s major decisions. Decisions about buying the right car, buying the right house, or even the right city in which to live can now be made objectively and systematically. By applying the program to more and more aspects of your life, you will begin to feel more in control, and you will be one step ahead on the path to true satisfaction.

The process is the same as in the Employment Analysis, you just use the spaces for different information. The information needed to complete the chart is found, as before, through research and Information Gathering Interviews.

Let’s walk through the process, step by step, using a relocation decision as an example:

• Step 1: Rate your priorities, just as you did when considering a career. Though your criteria will be different, the system operates the same way.

• Step 2: Take your top 10 Priorities and place them across the top of the Power Grid, along with their Ratings.

• Step 3: Make a list down the left side of the Power Grid of the various locations being considered for relocation.

• Step 4: Research completely the information regarding each of your localities based on your Personal Priorities. This will likely require considerable networking and interviewing, as well as research in newspapers, periodicals, almanacs, etc.

• Step 5: Immediately following each research effort, objectively enter your Research Result based on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the most positive and 1 being the least.

• Step 6: Calculate the Score by multiplying your Priority Rating by the Research Result.

• Step 7: Find the Total by adding the Scores horizontally. The Total colulmn will enable you to analyze the relocation option. This will graphically compare each option, and begin a process of narrowing the field.

Example

Al and his family live in Philadelphia. The company he works for is closing their Philadelphia office. He is a successful employee, so the company has offered him a choice to transfer to another office in either San Francisco, CA or Raleigh, NC. Additionally, he could leave the firm and not relocate.

It is apparent that Al should consider leaving Philadelphia. His present position is lucrative and fulfilling, and by moving, he will be able to keep it.

Moving to San Francisco will present two formidable problems, housing costs and the distance from his family. Raleigh’s advantage is based not only on the job opportunity, it offers far more affordable housing and it is within a driveable distance from Philadelphia.

The decision making and career planning skills you have developed will give you a unique advantage in today’s highly competitive job market. You’ve learned how to evaluate the opportunities that come to you, and how to find the ones that don’t. You know the elements that are essential to an effective resume. Most importantly, you’ve learned and practiced strategies to maximize your interviewing impact.

It’s now time to put Success In Action to work. Start building your network, making appointments, and interviewing for information. The more contacts you make, the more opportunities you will have. Above all – persevere!

When you’ve found the job you want, put the link to Success in Action in safe place and don’t forget to open it and re-evaluate your situation every five years or so. As you and your family mature, your priorities will change, and what was a great job five years ago may not be as satisfying today.

This program has been in development for more than 30 years. By giving seminars privately, I have been able to continually improve Success In Action through the attendees’ feedback. Now, I need your help. Write down your suggestions, your comments, your success stories, and send them to me at the e-mail address here. It is my sincere hope that this program is as beneficial to you as it has been to me all these years.

Here’s to your Success!

Jim Shaw

The Shaw Group

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