Emotional Intelligence

YIKES!! HERE COMES LIFE

LIKE THE TIDE . . .

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
From Shakespeare's Julius Caesar


Like the tide ... lives flow with heavy undercurrents, writes Melvin D. Levine in his book,
"Ready or Not, Here Life Comes"

FROM THE BOOK JACKET:

Every parent wants to know, "What will he be like when he's in his twenties?" After decades of observing children grow into young adults, Dr. Mel Levine, nationally known pediatrician and author, addresses the question of why some youngsters make a successful transition into adulthood while others do not.

In recent years, says Dr. Levine, we have experienced an epidemic of career unreadiness as too many young people begin what he calls "the startup years" unprepared for the challenge of initiating a productive life. Parents and schools often raise children in a highly structured world of overscheduled activities, meeting kids' demands for immediate gratification but leaving them unable to cope on their own. Instead of making a smooth transition into adulthood, many youngsters find themselves trapped in their teenage years, traveling down the wrong career road, unable to function in the world of work.These young people have failed, says Dr. Levine, to properly assess their strengths and weaknesses and have never learned the basics of choosing and advancing through the stages of a career.

HERE LIFE COMES
HOW STARTUP ADULTS GET UNREADY FOR CAREERS

"I do not think I knew what to expect [in the transition from school to work]. I always worked during high school; I always worked and made money. My parents made sure I went to work, but at the same time I was spoiled rotten growing up, so I never really had an idea.
It was harsh, a big change to leave the nest and get into the real world and have to take care of everything. I wasn't prepared for what things cost, the value of the dollar, the things you could and could not do."
--S.R., age 27

Lives flow with heavy undercurrents, much like the open sea; they undulate through well-timed waves, such as the preschool period, adolescence, and the so-called golden years of late life. Each arriving era brings its special challenges and opportunities, along with its unique stresses and pressures. A person may or may not be equipped to ride the next wave, to manage the requirements--obvious and hidden--of his or her latest time of life.

A particularly challenging period is the opening stages of a life at work, the school-to-career years, a time that, although rarely thought of as distinct, may be one of the roughest to traverse.
These are the startup years, a pivotal time that claims more than its share of unsuspecting victims. In fact, most people are better prepared for their retirement than they are for the startup of their working lives! For some the startup years commence at age sixteen or seventeen, upon their dropping out of high school. For others the startup may not begin until age twenty-nine, following a residency in plastic surgery.

Many individuals in and around their twenties come to feel abandoned and anguished. They start to question their own self-worth, and they are prone to some awful mistakes in their choice of career or in the ways they perform as novices on the job. They suffer from an affliction I call work-life unreadiness, which may have its onset right after high school, in college, during the job search, or during the early phases of a job or a career.

To buy the Book, go HERE.
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Study Emotional Intelligence at the same time. It all rests on your ability to function, managing emotions of yourself and others for good decisions and good judgment.
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