Yet another high calibre panel presented themselves at the Dublin Book Festival to share their expertise as Colm Rapple, Brendan Foley and Jane Downes discussed how to get back on track with your career and personal finances. The perfect accompaniment to the positive notes addressed in the earlier entrepreneurial  discussion, Colm, Brendan and Jane painted a bright picture of the future – with people taking control of their own finances and career moves to improve their working and financial situations.

Firstly, Colm offered some practical and essential tips to help with personal finance. For instance, did you realise that you can claim tax credits for medical expenses and rent allowance for as far back as four years? If not, then you can put in your claim now – via form or internet. And with medical expenses although you need to have the receipts prepared, you don’t need to send them in unless requested – so it can be a quicker process than you would expect. In addition, Colm talked about evaluating your finances on a yearly basis and after any major change –a move, marriage – to make sure that you are still on track. And this means checking all forms of collateral. Think about your hidden assets, such as bonds and investments – you may not be able to access these funds but you can move them to make them more profitable in the long run.

Brendan Foley then offered the audience several ways to improve their outlook and achieve successful results, whatever their career path, with advice from his next book, The 5 States of Success; Tools for Meaningful Success in your Career, Business and Life (out July 2011):

1.       Insight – clarity about what you want to achieve so you can go on to achieve it.

2.       Empathy – the ability to connect to other people is a key element of success.

3.       Certainty – having the courage of your conviction to go after what you want. A mixture of determination, dedication and sticking power.

4.       Vitality – feeling healthy and energetic means you can act on what needs to be done. Without action, you cannot achieve success.

5.        Spirit – defined by a clear purpose, you need to have the right spirit, the right approach to be able to create the perfect environment for success.

The final speaker of the session was the refreshing Jane Downes. Reading from sections of her book, The Career Book– Help for the Restless Realist, Jane gave us an insight into her psychological approach towards career management. Looking at the person, their capabilities and their attitudes rather than external factors, Jane maintains that for any career improvement or change, each person has to take responsibility for their own beliefs, actions and behaviour before they even start to sort the ‘details’. CV’s, applications and interview techniques can only be improved, and useful, if a person is physically and mentally prepared – a point which is particularly relevant in modern day Ireland.

What I particularly enjoyed about this session was that all three speakers agreed that it is time for individuals to stop blaming, or focusing on, external factors. This ‘deer in the headlights’ attitude only prevents success. Yes, these are difficult times and redundancies and job loses are scary things. But there is a way to take the opportunity to regain control of our own lives and futures. Responsibility, accountability and action are needed for self improvement – and each speaker demonstrated that it can be done.