Don’t make huge mistakes when going through Military Transition to Civilian. Military personnel who have completed their service to their country and are now attempting and planning to transition back into civilian life and the corporate workforce are not doing so with ease or the success they should. Even in 1999 during the internet boom when I was transitioning to the corporate world it was not easy and I had to fiercely prepare for it to happen. There were certain mistakes made I still regret, and there were other aspects of my transition that I was very successful. Here are some of my lessons learned from my military transition to civilian life:

5 things you must do to prepare for military transition:

1. Plan, Plan, and Plan
   • As soon as I knew that I would not re-enlist for another 4-year tour I began planning my transition. You cannot take being a highly trained soldier, sailor, or airman for granted and think your going to be discharged and just get a job, or just be accepted in the school you want. Life will quickly give you a reality check if you try that one.
   • Get an idea of what you want to do when you “get out”. Whether it is going to school full time, getting a full time job, or becoming an entrepreneur, you need to plan. Sit down with yourself and assess what scenario is going to work best for your future. Ask yourself what you want things to be like 5-years after you get out, 10-years after you get out. Then put together a plan that will get you to that place. Here is a powerful tool I learned in getting me to that point:
     • Begin with the end in mind – I learned this from reading the classic by Stephen R. Covey “The 7 habits of Highly Effective People” and it is a life-changing concept.  Create, imagine, and visualize how you want your future to look at the end of the preselected timeframe. Design the path to the point from the end to the beginning. This is similar to designing a house. First, start with a picture in your mind on how you want the house to look when it is complete, then you draw up the blueprint, and execute. The same principle goes for your life. Dream it up in your head put it on paper and execute.
2. This is your plan, start very general, and begin to fill in the details as you think it through.
   • Really get serious with yourself, because this is your life. You only get one life and this is the time to plan it out at least for the next 5-10 years. So if it looks kind of foggy that’s fine, continue to hash it out in your mind. Use your imagination and dream big, think big with no limitations.
3. Be realistic
   • When you get your biggest dreams and imaginations together in a big picture then make it realistic. You won’t feasibly make One million dollars the next day from your dream session, so make it real. What are you going to have to do to make the dream come true? Do you need lots of money? Do you need more education in the field you want? Do you need to meet certain people? Make it real and put faces and names to the people and things in the dream.
   • Write it down on paper, to start transferring this dream from mind to reality. As you put it on paper you will become more energized. This will be a daunting task because your thought might be coming out faster than you can right them down. If that is the case get a tape recorder to capture your thoughts, then transcribe them later.
4. Give yourself milestones—measure your progress
   • When you get things on paper and rationally organized put dates on them. When do you need to call people? When do you need to have your degree? 1 year milestone, 2 year milestone, 18-month milestones. Milestones will help you track to a certain point or event and evaluate if you have made it there when it arrives. If your early and have achieved the milestone events early then GREAT, if not then get to gettin!
5. Be Persistent
   • Be relentlessly persistent in you pursuit of your future success. Don’t get discouraged by lackluster results. This is your future and potential a point that can make or break the next 5-10 years of your life. So be persistent and don’t quit.