Alex Plinio was recently interviewed by The Ladders, a United States-based company providing career news, advice, and tools and an online job search service. Erica Lamberg, a business, health, and travel writer whose work appears in Gannett, US News & World Report, Bankrate, MSN, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Reader’s Digest and NBC News, spoke with Alex about the book Time To Get Real! The interview appears in full below:
This book is for anyone who has felt betrayed by their career
January 1, 2020
Written by Alex J. Plinio and Melissa Smith, acclaimed business leaders and life and career planning specialists, Time to Get Real!: Turning Uncertainty into an Action Plan for Personal and Professional Success features instructive case studies, illuminating stories, interactive exercises, and motivational quotes that may enable readers to a path to personal satisfaction and success. The book offers a useful The Life and Career Planning Model which helps one target priorities and may provide an impetus to
move a reader forward in a positive direction.
Ladders spoke with Alex J. Plinio regarding the new book. He said his answers reflect tandem thoughts of co-author Melissa Smith.
What motivated you to write the book and why?
Alex J. Plinio: The people we meet and talk to are anxious to get their careers and lives in order or may feel stuck. Some are executives in good jobs but feel unfulfilled. Others are managers who feel trapped where they are. Almost all appear busy and stressed. Some hold two or more jobs, others are out of work and feeling desperate. A lack of personal fulfillment, financial worries, and fear of the unknown keep them up at night. Many feel victimized by their circumstances – betrayed by the economy, company layoffs, personal responsibilities that have to be managed, or lack of sufficient financial resources for retirement. Others are just starting out on their career journeys and some are close to retirement. They all desperately want to have control of their lives.
We wrote this book for people who want to be more intentional about directing and controlling their lives and careers. Research has shown that managers, executives, everyone wants more coaching. Our book provides a low cost, proven methodology to help people move toward their personal vision.
How can individuals manage unforeseen challenges with resilience, confidence, and self- direction?
Alex J. Plinio: Once an individual has completed a well-documented strategic plan for their life and career, they now have substantial information through which new challenges can be seen and managed. The plan provides resilience because it is ready to use immediately. It allows an individual to have confidence because they have already thought about major aspects of their life such as their values, their next job, their mission, and where they expect to end up in several years. Self-direction comes from the individual exercising decision-making based on their life and career plan.
How timely is this book?
Alex J. Plinio: We were compelled to write this book because the stakes are simply too high to ignore. Surviving and thriving in this new economy demands a disciplined, enduring approach to one’s personal life and career management.
What are you trying to accomplish with this book?
Alex J. Plinio: Succeeding in this new economy takes a lot more than luck and playing by the rules. It requires that the reader approach his or her life like an astute leader to create their own strategic action plan, a safe harbor, to weather the velocity of change and propel them towards a personally successful future. It means they have to get real — and now is the time. Because if readers do nothing, the unknown future will control them.
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