A fresh approach to curating your career
There's nothing like the start of a new year. Everyone is filled with excitement and anticipation of all the change their resolutions will bring into their lives. Imagine if you took the momentum of starting a new year into every endeavor. Applying the same fresh perspective, vigor, and motivation to your goals year round. It's possible and yet equally possible to get swept up in what everyone else is doing, only to miss out on your opportunity to make progress in your life and career. What if you decided to change your approach to goal setting and achievement today?
Where to start? First, consider that the current way you approach your career goals is not the only way. You can decide to learn a new method and explore other approaches to curate your career. Begin with the end in mind.
How do you imagine your career?
Really picture what you're doing, wearing, and saying.
Where are you?
On a beach, in a boardroom, or a cubicle.
Who else is there?
Are the faces familiar or new to you?
Spending time imagining yourself in your ultimate career provides you not only with the vision, but the sensation of your intended success. Write down everything that you envision and all of the related thoughts and feelings. Organize your thoughts and vision so that you are able to make sense of your ideal career settings.
Next up, work on your game plan. Start with the largest concept and narrow down as you go. For example, identify the type of work are you doing. Do you know the job title, field, industry? All of those details are important and will help you identify approximately how far your current career is from where you want to be. Don't worry if it seems daunting or even unattainable. You have the vision, because you have the ability to make it your reality. What you are outlining is your blueprint for success.
Now that you know where you are headed, work on mapping out how you will get there.
Does your future career require additional training or experience?
Do you need to go back to school or could you obtain a certification that will give you the additional knowledge or credibility you will need?
Take each of the larger concepts and break them down into simple steps to complete. Be sure to apply a timeline to each step. Timelines are built in accountability.
Now that you have an outline of your next action steps, I would suggest doing some research for your future self. Look up roles that are the same as what you are working toward or the closest version you can find. You can do this by leveraging job boards or even your internal careers page at your current job. Take note of details like the qualifications and years of experience required. Keep in mind you never have to match those details exactly, but be sure that what you have outlined in your game plan will align you much closer to what your future career requires. Look for salary information online to understand the pay range for this type of role. The salary information you find will either give you something to look forward to or level set your expectations. Gathering salary information can be complex, because often times the information that is public is not accurate. My best advice is to find at least three sources and use the average figure. If you don't have any friends or colleagues that work in human resources, add that as a goal as well. We all need an ally with knowledge about what's happening behind the curtain. While your HR ally cannot provide you with any specifics of the company they work for, if they are an experienced professional they have a wealth of knowledge that will be useful. Get started and hold yourself accountable.
Share your vision with people you trust. You don't have to share it all, only what you're comfortable with and maybe even just your next step. Your inner circle of career advocates (colleagues, mentor, HR confidant) can serve as both your cheerleaders and accountability partners. We often underestimate how willing others are to support our ambitions. In this instance, you don't have to lead with a specific ask. The goal is to share your vision to increase awareness of your endeavors. If you find that you need support, don't hesitate to ask for it. 'No' is at least an answer, especially compared to overthinking and the anxiety ridden scenarios you are likely to create as an alternative.
Check-in with yourself along the way to make sure you're still on the right path and moving at the pace you anticipated. Regular check-ins will ensure that you don't stray too far from the plan and if you do, it will be much easier to recover. Be sure to celebrate your progress along the way. Acknowledging that you have made progress will fuel your journey and ultimate success. Rest when needed, even if that means shifting to tackle some of the smaller tasks until you have the time or energy to work on more involved steps.
Rome wasn't built in a day and neither are great careers, but it can be done. One step at a time and with a clear vision, you will be able to curate the career of your dreams.
*Written on a snowy day January, by the fire.