Challenge Accepted

Mindset and Habits for Thriving 
in The Workplace
Career Development Book 

Who is this book for? 

Jon Isaacson and The DYOJO are working on book number five. The working title is Challenge Accepted: Mindset and Habits for Thriving in the Workplace

Challenge Accepted is an attempt to share what I have learned up to this point in my life and career with those who are starting or looking to improve theirs. 

The purpose of this book is to help you expand your field of vision for what is possible (mindset) and elevate your habits so that you can achieve your goals. There are Three Stages in this book written for anyone willing to embrace (or accept) the many challenges life provides. 

• For some of you this means understanding what goals are and how to develop them - read from the first section Getting Ready (Stage One). 

 

• For some of you this means taking the next steps towards getting your first job or preparing to promote - you may want to skip ahead to Getting Started (Stage Two). 

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• For some of you this means putting what you have learned to the test and pursuing advanced opportunities - you may want to skip ahead to Getting Beyond (Stage Three). ​

For the reader, whether you are starting your professional journey or looking to elevate your opportunities in the workforce. Challenge Accepted will broaden your perspectives and help you pursue your goals with greater success. 


For parents, guardians, and teachers I believe Challenge Accepted is a resource you can hand to young people as they build a life for themselves. You can be confident that this publication is an additional voice echoing your many encouragements. 

For the manager or business owner I believe this book is something you could hand out to new hires and confidently say, “Challenge Accepted will help you understand how to be a value in our company and help you chart a path for success.” ​

Help us get this book into the hands of young professionals

If you are interested in helping us get copies of this book into the hands of young professionals in your community, please fill out our contact form below.
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• We would like to help students and young  professionals acquire a FREE copy of they are interested.
  
• We would like to make bulk copies available at a discount for classes, groups, and organizations that help student and young professionals thrive in the workplace.
  
• We would like to make video and live presentations available to groups of students and young professionals.
  

If you would like to contribute to this effort please contact The DYOJO today. 

Book For Growing Your Career

What is this book about? 

I am not the brightest bulb in the bunch. I did pretty well in my school studies but wasn’t a standout in the sense that I had scholarship offers from colleges begging me to continue my scholastic journey with their institution. I enjoyed playing sports but wasn’t the most talented. I did “win” a few best-effort awards. I played mostly B (JV) or C (Intramural) team sports. Once I acquired my license and tasted the freedom that making my own money brought, I committed to working. 

At work, I found that accepting the challenge of doing my best wherever I was employed helped me enjoy the work and achieve better results. Life is difficult and many things can seem impossible, but if things were easy they would not be as exciting to overcome. If making a better life for yourself were easy, everyone would be doing it.  

• You do not need to be exceptional to make a difference. 
• You do not have to have your life figured out by the age of 16, 18, or even 21 to be successful. 
• You will need to embrace the challenge of life if you want to define, pursue, and achieve whatever success means to you. 

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after high school, other than I had some general ideas which I will explain further in this book. I was fortunate enough during my youth to have been provided some basic ideas about how to work (aka work ethic), exposed to people who made positive career choices and hadn’t made significant mistakes with long-term consequences (see Three Internal Holdbacks). These items helped me land some early jobs, achieve some initial success in those entry-level positions, and build confidence for seizing upon advancement opportunities. 

If the idea of living with the challenge of entering the workforce and advancing your career appeals to you, I believe this book will be helpful. You can read this book all the way through or you can keep in on your bookshelf until you need a small spark when you are facing a challenging scenario. Just in case this introduction is all that you ever read, I would like you to remember these three things. 

The Three Be’s Challenge yourself to build a foundation for life by developing these core character traits, I call them the Three Be’s:

• Be honest 
• Be hardworking 
• Be willing to learn  

I have hired, trained, and promoted numerous young people who came to my businesses with little to no prior skills. It is my ongoing belief that if you are honest, hardworking, and willing to learn, we can teach you to be successful in anything. On the other hand, if you are not willing to be honest, aren’t willing to work hard, and you aren’t willing to learn, there is little that we can do for you.  

• Whatever your goals are, if you bring the Three Be’s to the table you are going to have a fighting chance.   
• If you aren’t sure what you want to do after high school or with your life as a young person entering the workforce, focus on the Three Be’s and you will be building a solid foundation for success. 
• If you start working and you are unsure of your abilities, develop the Three Be’s and you will find that you stand out from the majority of your peers. 

One thing you should consider if you are not exercising these three character traits now, it will be that much more difficult to develop them later in life. What you do now will become a habit. Bad habits are hard to break. So, if you aren’t being honest, you aren’t working hard, and you are not willing to learn, those negative habits will become rooted in your life. The longer you practice these three things, one way or the other, the more natural they become. Good habits take consistency to form. 

Being honest, hardworking, and willing to learn will not guarantee success but they will set you up for greater opportunities.  

This short book was written to encourage young people entering the workforce to keep working hard, recognize your opportunities, and provide you with a few tools that will help you along the way.  

I challenge you to read this book, do you accept? ​ ​

Getting Promoted At Work

Jon Isaacson and The DYOJO are working on book number five. The working title is Challenge Accepted: An Open Letter To Young People Entering The Workforce. 

Challenge Accepted, was written for:

• The high schooler trying to decide what route they want to take after they graduate 
• The college age person entering the workforce who wants to get a quality job
• The young worker who wants to develop their career advancement opportunities

Early Feedback for This Book:

This is a book that every young person should read. Challenge Accepted will also help tons of others that need a reminder of what it takes to succeed and the mindset needed to achieve their goals.  - Rico Garcia, Jr, Restoration Domination Podcast 

Choosing a career path, setting goals, and formulating a plan of action are things we all struggle with non matter what age, but more so for our youth. Challenge Accepted​ helps to clear up the uncertainty by addressing and laying out a core framework to have success in anything you strive to do. Jon's 3 B's of success are perfect reminders for all of us that with a little hard work, honesty, and willingness to learn, we can mitigate some of the bumps in the road we are destined to face in life and equip ourselves with a framework to achieve success. - Benjamin Ricciardi, Ironclad Restoration Marketing