Challenge Accepted

An Open Letter To Young People 
Entering The Workforce
Career Development Book 

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

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