Odyssey Plan Assignment
Please submit it using the Turnitin link at the bottom of this folder.
Requirements for the Project:
Reflect on what this current part of your life means to you and where you think you would like to be in 5 years. Your approach could be goal-oriented, inspirational or explanatory. You may use any format, incorporate bullet points and charts as helpful, or simply write a double-spaced essay. You may fill in charts from the DYL book and include them with your explanation, or use your own approach and just talk about how you developed your plans.
Discuss the steps required to achieve your goals, a timeline for what you need to accomplish over the next 5 years to be successful in your preferred career in detail and why this plan is the best fit for you. You will need to describe the 3 options you develop, as well as your final conclusion on how you might integrate things from your 2 new alternative plans into the path you are currently following. List the resources that will help you get where you want, with milestones, and describe how you will know when you have arrived. Grades will be based on thoughtfulness and thoroughness, not your writing approach or what kind of career you choose.
Recommended Process:
- Look over your strengths assessment – what are you good at? Think about the assignments you have done over the term – do you like working in teams? Would you prefer a traditional company with lots of levels for promotions and structured activities, or one that has a more egalitarian culture and lots of change?Would you like to be an entrepreneur? Re-read CH 3 in DYL. Using an approach like the energy engagement worksheet or a list of your daily activities, think about what kinds of things really bring positive energy into your life. What gets you going? What makes you feel a sense of purpose? What brings you joy? When do you experience “flow”? Skim CH 8 – is there a way you could design and/or obtain your “dream job” that you haven’t seriously considered?
- Using some of the DYL Odyssey Plan worksheets (there are examples of how to use them in CH 5) or your own approach to taking notes, come up with 3 career plans:
- The career path you are currently following, as you hope it evolves over the next 5 years
- What you think you’d do if that current path doesn’t work out for some reason
- What you have always dreamed of doing, if you didn’t have to be practical
- Step back for a moment and see if you can think of ways to integrate things from your alternative career plans into the plan you are currently following to make it richer and more flexible. Or, if you realize you’d rather switch to one of the new alternative plans, write about how you can do that.
- Do a “force field analysis” as discussed in CH 18 of your text. What forces are helping you to achieve your goals? What forces might be getting in the way? How can you reduce negative forces and increase supportive ones to help you achieve your goals.
- You may wish to include any feedback you got from the Career Center staff, faculty, close family/friends, or mentors during the year, and how it has or will help you.
Your life is a work in progress. Things often work out differently than planned, so you need to be prepared for flexible responses and change. But it’s good to have an idea of where you want to go, or at least which direction you want to head. Hopefully reading the DYL book and doing this assignment will help you with that.