Think about Martin Luther, Michael Jackson or Bill Gates. What is the secret of their perfect careers?

Listen To Your Heart Rather Than Your Head

The fundamental secret of a perfect career search is: first listen to your heart and not to your head.

When you listen to your heart, then you are able to make decisions that you will be happy with.

Assess Yourself

Assess your talent and potential objectively. Then assess the skills that you have acquired during your formal education and professional training.

Figure out what skills you have acquired so far that you will carry to your new career. Then probe deeply into your inborn personality traits, your natural interests, inclinations and attitude. Find out how you are going to use these resources to your benefit.

Once you have done some soul-searching, you have already come upon the second most important secret to the perfect career search. Now, if you are not sure how you are going to assess yourself in a realistic and objective way, don't hesitate to get professional help, from a career counselor or other expert.

There are also a variety of tests available today that help you develop a clear idea of where you stand in professional terms.

Have a Vision

Many people mistakenly believe that you have to have some psychic powers to have a vision. Completely wrong!

If you have mastered the above two secrets, you are ready to apply the third secret to the perfect career search. Having a vision gives you a sense of purpose, something to aspire to.

Whenever you stray from your chosen path, your vision will put you back on course. Even if your weaknesses outweigh your strengths, your vision will give you the power to convert those weaknesses into strengths. Your vision works like a catalyst in a chemical process.

Now that you are in the possession of the secrets, you can forge ahead and never look back.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions - Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.