What did you want to be when you grew up? Are you still searching for the answer? Are you where you want to be in your professional life or is something missing? Developing a career vision statement will help bring your ideal career into focus. Unlike a career "mission statement", which puts the focus on where you are currently; a career "vision statement" helps you to create a mental image of yourself in the career you really want - the career that will bring you fulfillment and joy.  Your vision is a "picture" of what you aspire to, and what inspires you, in your work life. The following steps, adapted from Randall S. Hansen of Quintessential Careers, will put you well on your way to creating a career vision statement that will inspire and motivate you. 1. Carve out a chunk of time. Career visioning cannot be rushed. The practice of visioning is something that may take several efforts before things begin to align and you start getting a grasp of your ideal future.   2. Review your mission statement and core values. While you can certainly create a vision for your future without reviewing these career planning tools, it helps to examine who you are now and what drives you today. [Learn more about creating a mission statement and about understanding your core values.] 3. Suspend logic and pragmatic thinking. With a career vision, anything should be possible. Turn off any negative feelings or logic filters that might block you from thinking "big" and outside of the box. Open your mind to envisioning future possibilities outside of today’s reality.   4. Try visioning exercises to help get your creative juices flowing. Think deeply about the following question(s) and answer each as authentically as you can: How do you define career success? Are you achieving some level of success in your current job? What type of job will help you achieve complete career success? What would you want to do today if all your bills were paid and you had relatively unlimited cash reserves? What would your career be like if you had the power to make it any way you wanted? What you would like your obituary to say about your career accomplishments and the types of impacts you left with the people you worked with? If absolutely no obstacles stood in the way of your achieving it, what would you most like to attain in your career? Who are the people you most admire? What is it about them or their careers that attract you to them? Imagine yourself in the future at a point in which you have achieved great career success. What is it that you have accomplished? What does your life look like? Do you feel as though you have a gift or calling? How can you share this gift or best answer the call in a way that will fulfill you? What's the one activity you most love? Is it part of your career? If not, how can you make it part of your career -- part of your career passion? Where would you like to be in your career in 5 years? In 10 years? In 15 years? What makes you distinctive in your current work -- and can you leverage that uniqueness to achieve a future you desire? 5. Assemble the pieces and put it all together. Write your career vision using one sentence or a concise paragraph. Consider writing a short vision statement along with a short description of how you currently see yourself accomplishing your vision.  What are the steps you might need to take to reach your goal? 6. Keep your vision visible. Once you've created your career vision statement, copy it and place it in various locations.  Read it and say it aloud often. Imagine yourself achieving the vision you have for your career. 7.  Review your Career Vision Statement periodically. Take into account that your vision can, and most likely will, change as you move closer to it. You should periodically review your career vision statement and make any adjustments that you feel are necessary. Ed4Online has hundreds of Career Training, Professional Development, Personal Enrichment and Behavioral Health and Human Services courses to help bring you closer to reaching your Career Vision. Visit our website today! https://ed4online.com/ Sources: http://www.quintcareers.com/career_vision.html http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/learning/career-development/goal-setting/career-plan-vision       

What do a nurse, an electrician and a security guard all have in common? The answer is that at the end of the day they all need to have well-developed writing skills to do their jobs correctly. In fact, you could really say this about any job—from a nuclear physicist to a custodian—and it would remain true, because even if a job doesn’t focus on writing, there’s almost a certain guarantee that an important aspect of doing the job right includes being able to communicate well through writing.  "But I can’t write very well!" Most people realize their dislike, love or indifference to writing in a high school English classroom and unfortunately, it’s usually determined by the grade they got on their first big essay. Sadly, many people’s confidence (or lack thereof) when it comes to writing is deeply engrained in the grades they got in school—but this isn’t a good benchmark for writing in the real world. Those people who say, "I can’t write well" or "writing was never my thing," are often convinced of this after struggling with one type of writing and, thankfully, writing essays is rarely going to be part of your job in the real world. There are more types of writing than just researched-based writing: learning about something and regurgitating it back for a grade. In fact, the writing you did in school can be some of the hardest writing you ever do! Writing for a job By this point, you’re probably wondering how writing for a job is any different than any other writing you’ve had to do over the years. A fair question and one that’s easily answered with three important points: First and foremost, you’re probably going to be writing about something that’s interesting to you or something you like, and it’s much easier to do if you’re engaged in your topic. For example, if you love your job as an electrician, it means two things: you know exactly what you’re doing and you can explain it to someone else. When you’re writing out a work estimate, that’s exactly what you’re doing: talking about what you love and explaining it to someone else! The same holds true for any job. Next, something to always keep in mind when writing for a job: there’s a good chance that you’re going to be writing for the benefit of other professionals who understand you and what you’re trying to say. As a nurse, for example, if you’re monitoring a patient and you record in their chart that their CRIT levels were slightly higher than normal at 2:30pm, you’re communicating something important to fellow medical professionals, who understand what you’re trying to say—you don’t have to worry about going into a lot of depth because the basic concept is already understood by everyone who will read your writing. Finally, writing in the real world is often a lot easier to comprehend topically—in most cases, you’re writing about what you see or what happened. Unlike school where you need to pick a topic, research the topic, create a hypothesis and find data to support or refute your ideas, real world writing is often an explanation of what’s already known. As a security guard writing up an incident report for example, all you’re going to need to do is explain the facts—facts you already know! The importance of good writing skills All of this is to say that any job you have will involve writing to some degree, but more than that, it will require that you have the abilities needed to write properly, descriptively and thoroughly. Writing is one of the best ways to communicate, but it can also be one of the most misunderstood if your objective or information isn’t clear. A grammatical error in a patient’s chart can compromise nurses’ ability to tend to that person; a component of an electrical estimate that’s missing could result in you doing the work for free; and not filling in a security incident report thoroughly could result in missing facts that cause a case to be thrown out. Writing shouldn’t be something you’re scared of, it should be something you accept and practice. Embracing your writing abilities and improving them or polishing them as needed will put you ahead of the curve when it comes to being successful in your career and make you a more qualified candidate for any position you’re looking to pursue! Find the skills and the words will come So now the only question that remains is "how?" How do you practice or gain the skills needed to be a better writer? The best answer for this comes in the form of learning and knowing the concepts you’ll be talking about first. If you understand what you’re talking about and know what needs to be said, you’ll already have the words you need to say it in the right way. Writing will come second nature, just like talking. In fact, compare the two: which did you learn to do first, talk or write? If you can talk about something, you can write about it because all you’re doing is putting words on paper! At the end of the day, your ability to write about something is a product of understanding it—it’s a key facet of professional development and it fits consistently with any other skill you’ll learn about your intended career.   This is a guest blog post written by Kyle Danowski, Senior Editor of ProPRcopy. ProPRcopy delivers high-quality press releases, blog content, articles and website content.       

When setting Career Development goals, it’s important to clearly define your goals as well as the steps necessary to achieve each and every one. By taking the time to set effective career development goals, you can measure progress and track yourself getting closer and closer to the career you have envisioned for yourself. This will not only keep you motivated, it will also help you feel more self-confident along the way. The following are some tips for setting effective goals: 1.    Be positive. Frame your goal in light of something you want to obtain, rather than in terms of something you want to avoid. For example, set the goal of improving your writing skills in order to start a career as a blogger working from home as opposed to not getting stuck behind a desk at a dead-end job at a large corporation. 2.    Set realistic goals that you can achieve and that are in your own control. Make sure your abilities and skills are compatible with your long-term goals. 3.    Prioritize. Put your goals in order so that you know which ones to focus on first. This will help you concentrate on one task at a time and keep from feeling overwhelmed. 4.    Write your goals down and post them various places so that you will visually be reminded and motivated to achieve them. 5.    Be specific. One might say, "I want a better job." What does that mean? Is that a job in your current industry or a new profession? What steps must you take to achieve that goal? 6.    Tie an action to each goal. If your goal is to learn more about a chosen field, then the action tied to that goal might be to research online career courses, training opportunities, attending a career fair, shadowing a professional, etc. 7.    Break down your goals into smaller tasks. You will feel successful when you accomplish each task and then feel motivated to continue.   8.    Make your steps measurable. When you set a goal you must include a time frame for achieving your end goal. You should also specify timelines for each step along the way. For example you can determine "I want to have completed my first online course in 9 months and my internship in 18 months." 9.    Be reasonable.  Are your goals reachable within your time frame? Be reasonable - don't set yourself up to fail. 10.  Be flexible. Occasionally you will encounter obstacles to completing your goals. Don’t give up; just modify your goals accordingly. However, also recognize that if a goal stops being important to you, it is okay to cross that one off the list. This frees you to move on and pursue only the opportunities that are most important to you. Ed4Online has hundreds of great online courses to help you achieve your goals: Our Personal Enrichment Courses are 4 weeks long, instructor-led with open-enrollment. Our courses cover everything from Business to Teaching & Education, Healthcare to Legal --and everything in between. We have hundreds of Professional Development Courses to help you to improve your skills and get that great promotion! Professional development is essential to your career development. View our catalog today; you are sure to find a course that fits your needs! We also offer hundreds of Career Training Courses in a wide variety of fields; Business, IT, Medical and Healthcare. Improve your skills and success by taking one of our courses today. Many of our courses prepare students to sit for national certification exams in their field of study.  Sources: http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/learning/career-development/goal-setting/career-plan-vision http://careerplanning.about.com/od/settinggoals/a/goal_setting.htm         

Online education, also known as distance learning, consists of taking classes via the internet. More and more students are taking online classes because of the flexibility and convenience they provide. Students can login to their classes and complete assignments anywhere, any time of the day. Online education, when done right, is no easier than education provided in a brick and mortar building. However, to be a successful online learner requires a certain skill set. For some, these skills are innate. For others, they may need to be learned and practiced. Self-Motivation: In a classroom on-campus, teachers and classmates provide support and motivation to one another. While many online programs offer chat rooms and student support resources; it’s up to the individual student to sit down, focus and stay motivated to study and complete assignments on time. If self-motivation is not a skill that comes naturally to you, perhaps you should look for courses that offer more structure - such as blended, or more instructor-directed online courses. Successful online students are motivated, proactive, committed, determined and persistent. Self-Discipline: One of the key benefits of taking online courses is the flexibility to complete assignments on your own schedule. However, this type of learning requires tremendous discipline as most, if not all, of your study time will be independent. Students need to be organized and skilled at managing their time, prioritizing tasks and setting deadlines for their work.  If you suffer from procrastination or consider yourself somewhat disorganized, you will need to learn new habits to help you be most successful in your online course. Successful online students are disciplined, organized, focused, and able to create and stick to set schedules. Self-Reliance: As mentioned, online learning is also referred to as "Distance" learning. Although students may have virtual contact with mentors, instructors or other students, there will be much time spent alone online and this may wear on a student psychologically. If you know that you need group settings or a more social learning environment, look for courses that incorporate in-class group work and interaction.  You may also look for extracurricular groups or study groups to help foster that sense of human connection. Successful online students are independent, self-sufficient, and comfortable being alone during their course time. Ed4Online is committed to student success! We offer an online student center as well as career coaching resources to our collegiate-level career course students through our Student Services Department. We also have implemented a tutoring program for three of our most popular online education courses: Medical Terminology, Anatomy & Physiology and Pharmacy Calculations, with plans to offer online tutoring capabilities for an expanded range of courses in the future. Discover the Ed4Online difference today! Sources: http://www.comparetopschools.com/education-resources/priming-online-education.aspx?subid=twitter https://ed4online.com/blog/readying-yourself-online-education?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=FeedBlitzRss&utm_content=Readying+Yourself+for+Online+Education       

We all want to live full and productive lives, but sometimes, we just don't know where to begin. A Life Skills Coach is someone who helps people work through challenges and changes in their lives. The Life Skills Coach offers training of certain skills that help people handle problems and questions that commonly occur in daily life. For example, a client may need assistance with career direction and development, personal fulfillment or help after a life change such as divorce or job loss. The term "life skills" refers to skills that can help us live a better quality of life and help us reach our goals. A coach's job is to work with clients to enable them and help them find the answers to their problems themselves, to make decisions that will improve their lives. Perhaps after reading this you are reflecting on the need for the services of a Life Coach. Or, perhaps you are thinking that this might be the perfect career for you! Ed4Online offers training in the field, with Level 1 and Level 2 courses or a Complete Career Training Program that includes both of these courses along with supplemental training to provide you with extra training in the field. And, upon successful completion of our Life Skills Coaching Level 1 and Level 2 courses, students will be prepared to sit for the NCCB national certification exam to become a Certified Life Skills Coach (CLSC). Check us out today! Life Skills Coaching Level 1 Life Skills Coaching Level 2 Life Skill Coaching Professional Program         

Mental Health Technicians work with mentally, developmentally, or emotionally impaired individuals. A technician works under the supervision of a mental health care team including psychiatrists, psychologists, registered nurses, social workers, counselors and therapists, while also providing direct assistance to patients. Duties of the mental health technician may include assisting patients with personal grooming and participation in educational, recreational, and therapeutic activities. The mental health technician also may socialize, assist, and observe mentally ill patient behaviors and record patient’s conditions.   Mental Health Technicians may also help people reach goals established in a therapeutic plan for their care. This might involve working on goals in personal care, independent living, health care, and social, recreational and employment activities. There are a number of opportunities for specialization in this field. The mental health technician/aide may specialize in helping mentally disturbed children. Others may work in drug and alcohol abuse or crisis intervention. Another area of specialization is working in community mental health. If you are interested in exploring a career as a Mental Health Technician - we have the course or program for you!  Read more below to find out how Ed4Online can help you obtain the training you need to get started in this worthwhile career. Ed4Online Courses & Programs in the Mental Health Technician Field: Mental Health Technician Mental Health Technician Associate Program Mental Health Technician Specialist Program   Sources: http://healthcareers.sd.gov/documents/Career%20Fact%20Sheets/Mental%20Health%20Technician.pdf http://www.ehow.com/about_6303727_mental-health-technician-job-description.html http://www.flahec.org/hlthcareers/psychtec.htm http://work.chron.com/mental-health-technician-job-description-17448.html           

The impact we have on the environment and the awareness of the benefits of going green continue to grow - even small changes make a difference!   Implementing "green" into your home and workplace may be easier than you think. And implementing "green" into your career may be even easier! Ed4Online offers a wide variety of courses in the green industry; from becoming an Alternative Energy Specialist to exploring Green Interior Decorating, your next career step might just leave behind a green footprint! Here are a few easy ways to incorporate green practices into your daily life: When you are not using it; make sure it’s off. This goes for televisions, lights, radio, computers, and laptops. Reuse and recycle.  Check with your city to find out what items are recyclable and how to get them to the curb or pick up location.  Donate items instead of adding them to the landfill.  Many areas have some type of "free cycle" program to advertise items that you want to get rid of. Reduce paper waste.  Cancel your newspaper subscription and read the news online, share magazines with friends and neighbors or leave them in doctor’s offices for others to enjoy. Print on two sides of the paper at work and home. Sign up for paperless billing and pay your bills online. Conserve water.  Turn off the water whenever possible while brushing your teeth or washing dishes at the kitchen sink.  Oftentimes, we don’t realize how much water is going down the drain.  Adjust your thermostat.  Adjusting your thermostat by one or two degrees while you are home can have a huge impact both on your electric bill and on the environment.  Maintain your appliances.  Cleaning the coils under and behind your refrigerator, cleaning the lint trap of your dryer; all of these things help those units to run more efficiently, saving on electricity. Use reusable grocery bags and recycle the plastic bags you get from stores. Replace household cleaners and detergents with green cleaning products.  There are more and more options available and they are easier to find than ever. You can even make your own! If you are building or renovating your living space or your workspace, utilize green building principles wherever possible.  Use low VOC paints and furnishings.  Source and incorporate salvaged materials from other projects.  It’s a beautiful and cost-effective way to reduce your carbon footprint.  If renovating is out of the question, take steps to upgrade your home to be energy efficient; improve insulation, seal duct work, caulk around windows and doors to reduce air leaks. Replace your light bulbs with Light-emitting diodes (LEDs).  They are energy efficient, produce less heat and even last longer than other bulbs. Support Green Businesses - or maybe even start your own! Interested in working in a Green Career? Ed4Online offers many Green Industry courses; many of which prepare the student to sit for national certification exams in the field. Check out the sampling below and visit https://ed4online.com/course-list/green-energy to view the rest! Alternative Energy Specialist Green Interior Design Specialist Green Management Green Marketing Management LEED Green Associate Training Course Photovoltaic System Professional Renewable Energy Specialist Solar Water Heating Specialist Sustainability Professional Wind Energy Professional Ed4Online makes "going green" even easier!       

There are plenty of reasons to go green—landfill issues, greenhouse gases, concerns about air and water pollution, and damage to the ozone layer are just a few. Take a look at a few of the actual numbers and percentages below to get a feel for how even the smallest of changes can have a large impact on the environment. 1.5 acres: the amount of rainforest lost every second to land development and deforestation, with tremendous losses to habitat and biodiversity. 137: the number of plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That comes to about 50,000 species a year! 3 trillion: the number of gallons of water the U.S. would save each year if every household invested in water-saving appliances. 86.6 million tons: the amount of material prevented from going to landfill or incineration thanks to recycling and composting in 2012. 17 trees: Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 2 barrels of oil and 4100 kilowatt hours of energy - enough to power the average American home for six months. 113,204: the number, on average, of aluminum cans recycled each minute of each day. 95 percent: the amount of energy saved by using recycled aluminum scrap to make new aluminum cans. 1 pound per hour: the amount of carbon dioxide that is saved from entering the atmosphere for every kilowatt-hour of renewable energy produced. 35 percent: the amount of coal's energy that is actually converted to electricity in a coal-burning power plant. The other two-thirds is lost to heat. Remember, change begins with you. "The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it." Robert Swan As awareness continues to grow about the benefits of green energy; opportunities for a successful career in the Green Field will continue to grow as well. Ed4Online has many programs and courses designed for those interested in a Green Career. Many of our courses prepare the student for certification exams in the industry. Please check out our catalog here to learn more! Sources: Consumer Reports, Environmental Health Perspectives, Raintree Nutrition,Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and EPA Water and EPA Recycling,Worldwatch Institute, Energy Information Administration, Ready, Set, Green, Earth911.org, The Telegraph, Yahoo! News, TreeHugger         

Below are 3 career myths adapted from the Academic and Career Information Center at Kansas State University. MYTH #1 There is one perfect career for me. FACT: There may be several careers that appeal to you and that match your abilities, interests, and core values. MYTH #2 Choosing a career means deciding what I will do with the rest of my life. FACT: Most individuals can anticipate one or more career changes during their working lives. MYTH #3 I should choose a career based solely on what's currently "hot" in the job market. FACT: It is better to choose a major/career because you have a genuine interest and talent for it. While career assessment tests cannot tell you exactly what field you should choose, they can help you to learn more about yourself and how you can best tie your abilities and interests to possible career options. An interesting self-assessment tool is the My Next Move O*NET Interest Profiler, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (there are many other free self-assessment tools online as well). Ed4Online also maintains a Career Inspiration Board on Pinterest - visit us there, click on a quote that appeals to you and have fun discovering the careers behind that image!       

We live in a world that is constantly developing and growing with new technologies, discoveries, and places to see. Because of this, it has become our human nature to want to experience everything and see for ourselves what the future has to bring. Realistically, many of us won’t. Many of us are afraid to leave this world one day and lose everything we have earned especially family and friends. But, we must come to the realization that life can bring unexpected situations that we may not be prepared for. However, what if we can be prepared? April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day that exist to inspire, educate, and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning. If we are unable to speak for ourselves, then who speaks for us? Do our family members or healthcare providers know our wants and wishes? Advance care planning is the process of preparing and making decisions for any future health-related implications where we are unable to speak for ourselves. There are two main types of advanced directives, a healthcare power of attorney and living will. The healthcare power of attorney is the person delegated to speak on our behalf while the living will is the written document that states our wants and wishes. With these two directives, we can be prepared for the end of life situations.  "There may never be a good time, and certainly when you are being admitted to a facility, that’s the worst time to be thinking about these choices so just pick a day," said Chair, Nathan Kottkamp, of the National Healthcare Decisions Day. Advance care planning gives us control, relieves family members from guessing and making irrational decisions, and most importantly, we can acquire a piece of mind. Don’t let an unforeseen situation affect you negatively because you weren’t prepared. Open the conversation to family and friends, and start your advance care planning. Sources: http://www.nhdd.org/#welcome http://www.nhdd.org/public-resources#where-can-i-get-an-advance-directive http://www.caringinfo.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3278 http://endlink.lurie.northwestern.edu/advance_care_planning/why.cfm