Within the next few weeks I will make my annual pilgrimage to the Jersey shore for all the obvious reasons and one not so obvious.

That’s when I become a free agent every year and I use the beach time to think about what I want to do in the year ahead.

My career.  My personal life.  My yet unfulfilled dreams.

Sports figures are lucky.  They get to negotiate and renegotiate not only their salaries but where they want to play and how long.  But so many of us just keep going until something happens that makes us have to deal with it.

Like getting fired.  Or burned out.  Or discouraged.

Here’s my mission:

• Do I want to keep doing what I do for a living next year (and for me next year starts in September) or am I ready to make a change?  Add a challenge.  Drop something that is not rewarding.  I had a close call with death this year due to a familial aneurysm I didn’t know I had.  You can believe I am seeing things very differently now that I dodged that bullet so I can hardly wait to see what I decide.

• What am I worth?  Most of us accept what our employers decide we are worth and when they are taking bonuses while cutting our salaries, does that mean we are actually worth less?  In sports, arbitrators use similar situations, skills, accomplishments to determine a player’s worth.  That works for us, too.  How do we perform compared to others?  Not how does a company compensate us.

• What new skill sets do I need if in fact I want to begin to change how I work or spend my time?  Often we just hit up Monster and apply but acquiring new skills are critical to career growth and satisfaction.

• Remember, you are signing a one-year contract with yourself.  You may decide to do what you do for one more year but that’s it which tells you that you have 12 months to acquire the skills necessary to go on.

I love becoming a free agent.

I don’t know what I will decide to do because I’m going to think it through.

But one thing I am NOT going to do is miss the opportunity to become a free agent in a world with so much opportunity.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to social media.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Choose the link below to unsubscribe.