The Proximity Principle

Ken Coleman is a career expert and his radio show, The Ken Coleman Show, is a nationally syndicated career show which aims to help listeners get something more out of their careers. He is also the host of the EntreLeadership podcast where he helps listeners grow their businesses, pursue their passions, and move towards achieving greatness. Ken Coleman previously worked for Dave Ramsey in his company Ramsey Solutions and he frequently guest hosts The Dave Ramsey Show. He is the author of One Question: Life-Changing Answers from Today's Leading Voices. Ken Coleman is a graduate of Liberty University.

How do you make your dream job a reality? That's the aim of the Proximity Principle.

"The Proximity Principle" is that you find opportunities to do what you love by getting around the right people and being in the right places. This is more than moving to Hollywood if you want to be an actor or to Silicon Valley if you want to start a tech firm. You also have to apply the right practices to make great connections happen.

To activate the Proximity Principle, all you have to do is ask yourself three questions:

1. Who do I need to know?
2. Where do I need to be?
3. What do I need to start doing?

1. The Right People. The people who can help you land your dream job are out there working hard at this minute. They're focused on their own careers but if you can find them and get some of their time, they can make some impressive opportunities open up for you. You just have to find a way to convince them to help you on your journey.

By and large, there are five specific types of people who can help you and who you should try and interact with:

2. The Right Places. You don't learn to climb a mountain by going straight to the summit. Instead you trek into the foothills and go to the basecamp where you acclimatize, organize your gear and check the weather. Once everything aligns you then set out to summit. It's the same with your career and getting your dream job. You'll need some places to practice and learn first away from the limelight.

In practice, there are five places you will need on your climb to your dream job:

3. The Right Practices. Once you know who you need to be around and where you need to put yourself, the final challenge is to just do it! You have to put your stake in the ground and make the right things happen.

To stop dreaming about your dream job and start doing something about getting it, apply these four principles:

I approached this book with an open mind since the concept of moving to Hollywood if you want to work in the movies seemed pretty straightforward really, but I was impressed with the detail Ken Coleman added. I think the idea that you position yourself in proximity to where you're trying to head in your career has much broader application deserves respect. It has more horsepower than it appears at first glance.

The ultimate aim is to do work that matters and to have a career that aligns with what you're passionate about and good at. It's quite stunning to think that 70 percent of the workforce hate their jobs and live for weekends and time off. Using the Proximity Principle to find a job that you enjoy rather than dread every day has got to be a good investment of your time.

I also liked the idea that rather than moaning and complaining about your job, you should use this principle to get moving in the right direction. The emphasis on action is welcome and timely for today's business world where there are so many new jobs opening up all the time. In my opinion, this is a good book with a solid message. My compliments to the author, Ken Coleman