Career Success and the Proximity Principle | 5 Minute Video

How can you take control of your career? Ken Coleman, host of The Ken Coleman Show and author of The Proximity Principle, offers a guide for discovering and seizing the right opportunities.

#proximity #proximityprinciple #kencoleman #career

📲 Take PragerU videos with you everywhere you go. Download our free mobile app!

Script:

I was stuck in a job that I couldn’t stand.

I wanted out in the worst way.

Not because I wasn’t making enough money. I was.

Not because I hated my boss. I didn’t.

But because I wasn’t doing what I was meant to do. And I could no longer convince myself otherwise.

Every day, every week, I experienced the slow death of boredom, counting down the clock to Friday, dreading Monday.

It was no way to live.

My story is hardly unique. It may even describe you.

And if you haven’t yet started your work life, it might describe what you fear most.

But I have some good news, a way for you to take control of your future.

I know this idea works because I used it for my own career and have helped countless people use it for theirs.

The idea is called the Proximity Principle.

It’s deceptively simple:

In order to do what you want to do you have to be around the people who are doing it and in the places where it is happening.

That’s the Proximity Principle.

So, how can you put the Proximity Principle into practice?

The first step is to seek out five types of people. Each one has an important role to play in helping you move forward toward your goal — your dream job.

One, “the professors.”

I don’t mean actual professors, but people who know their stuff. They are scholars of your desired field; they love to teach, and they are willing to teach you.

Two, “the professionals.” These are the people who have made it. There’s a reason for that. Read their biographies and anything they’ve written. Watch them on YouTube. Emulate them. They’re your model — what you aspire to.

Three, “the mentors.” — individuals who care about you and want to coach you. Mentors are not the same as professors. These are people who will take you under their wing; who will tell you hard truths you need to hear. They will offer guidance and accountability. Whether they say you’re doing great or failing badly, you know they mean it.

Four, your peers. They, like you, are trying to make it. They, like you, are placing themselves in the right places, around the right people. Peers will challenge you to realize your potential. They will push you, and you them. This is healthy competition and it’s good.

Five, “the producers.” They are similar to the professionals, but the producers are builders first. They take risks, start companies, create jobs. More than anything, they produce opportunities. One of them may be for you.

Okay, that’s a lot. You’re not going to gather this team overnight. It will take weeks or months or even years. And this is just the first part of the Proximity Principle. I said it was simple -- I didn’t say it was easy.

So, let’s move to the second part of the Proximity Principle: where you need to be.

One, start where you are. You don’t have to drop everything and move to the big city right away or maybe ever. Everything you need to begin is more than likely in your current zip code. You just have to look for it. Seek every opportunity to track down the people you need to meet. They may be people you already know or people the people you know know. You get the point.

Two, you need a place to learn. Take the classes, get the certifications, apply for the apprenticeships or internships that will get you closer to the job you want.

Three, you need a place to practice, a place to convert your education into execution, a place to test yourself before you “step out on stage.” This is where you’ll hone your craft. There’s very little risk involved at this point, but there’s also no substitute, no shortcut, for spending the hours necessary to develop your skills.

[MegaTeeruk]

I am "successful" in my field - technology - and really enjoy mentoring people trying to get into the field. I'm maybe 10 years from retirement so it feels nice to help others on my way out, especially people like myself who came from poverty.

[AshleyRDB]

Love the mash up. Never thought I would see Ken Coleman here!❤👍

[asdfasdfasdf]

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

― Seneca

[CaptTambo]

This formulaic approach fits well for extraverted people as it stresses the importance of being socially engaging. However, if you are introverted, or just hate dealing with people in general, you will find this process particularly frustrating and discouraging.

[karrisajoss]

I have done all this: schooling, steps, gleaning skills, getting experience, connecting to people in fields interested in, long study hours, applying on line, but nothing ever got me the tv anchor job, or the superintendent or the judge. Tried from age 18 till recently. Praying for God’s will, timing and connections. I’d really like to work in the legal field as a judge.

[Kyle-xtip]

sweet. I have someone from each category in my life at work. I'm currently trying to transfer to a department and I have these people in my corner. I'm waiting to hear if my transfer has been approved. everyone who matters says I have the job, but until it's in writing I'm going to curb my enthusiasm.

[Zedetnik]

Selfishness is the core of the American dream. This video proves it.

[writereducator]

The proximity principle looks sensible but it assumes people know what their ideal job would be. A person probably needs to try out many different things to discover what fits.

[cskj]

Many of us have to do very unpleasant work to get paid.. especially as opportunity shrinks due to the malfeasance of our gov.

[DavidJYuan]

Great seeing Ken here! I've been listening to him on the Dave Ramsey Show.

[TheRadioAteMyTV]

Machiavelli's The Prince laid out the most common sense path to success ever written. It's 78 pages of the way it should be and the way it really is and it's up to you which path you dare take. I honestly don't know a single person of great merit who has not read it.

[kingifrit]

after grad school it took me 2 years to find a really good job that i really wanted. but i did it. things will get better now that the baby boomers are retiring

[davidgggggggg]

I liked Mike Rowe’s PragerU advice better. It’s more realistic.

[freethebirds]

It depends on what your passion is and what you want to do. Some will never be financially feasible, like some performers.
Others are not just a job you can start doing. All I want is to be a reading specialist/interventionist. I have the degrees, I have the related experience, I know the people, I work in the field, I'm in the "talent pool" of my current employer. The jobs aren't there. Or anywhere right now. Unless I was willing to move hundreds of miles away. Which I can't because of family obligations. But until there are positions opened for hiring, I'm stuck. I'm still teaching reading in 2 part-time jobs, but I don't make enough money, and I have no autonomy over the work.

No matter how successful someone is, as soon as they become a motivational speaker I don't believe them anymore.

[TheRadioAteMyTV]

This video is a call back to all those hucksters in the 1980s who promised to teach you all the great paths to success as soon as you bought a ton of cassettes from them to keep them rich. His mannerisms that of a southern baptist preacher and 80s hucksters, just too much.

[andreweden]

My problem is that the field that I'm most passionate about doesn't even bring in enough money for anyone to live on. People always say that money isn't everything, and of course it's not. However, I wasn't born into a situation where I can afford to pursue a passion that doesn't earn any money. I would be so happy if I could just have a career in something that's lucrative, and pursue my passion on the side. Oh, how I wish "boredom" were my only problem! I could handle THAT!😂 I have a degree in the historical performance of early classical music, and my particular passion is performing music of the Late Middle Ages.

[eekay]

And if you got the time, read "Mastery" by Robert Greene. It's a 600+ page book, but well worth Malcolm Gladwell books as well.

[freecat]

Yeah, you need to start making videos about how to rebuild after a catastrophe. Maybe their grand-kids can use this video, so put it in the vault.

[jamieh.]

Success is also God's Divine Providence.

[julonkrutor]

This is are the same things my father told me ^^

And i mean point for point ;-)