I often hear people say, “I want to be successful, but don’t know where to start” or “I’ve achieved success in my carer, yet I’m not happy.” And then I ask, “What does career success mean to you?” And many have a hard time articulating their response with much conviction.
It’s common that people lack clarity, focus, and direction, and when you layer on thoughts and actions that are misaligned with your values, this only adds to your misdirected quest to achieve your career success.
A word of caution: It’s going to take some time for you to think about and work on your own path for career success. You need to set aside time and be intentional about the steps you take to achieve this kind of success. This guide can help you get started.
1. Define Career Success for Yourself
Pause. Give yourself time and space for self-reflection.
What does career success mean to you?
This is about defining your idea of success. This should not be based on what you think you “should” do, what others want you to do, or the norms you observe around you.
“A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms” -Zen Shin
When you strip away all your external influences and manage your inner critic, what are you left with? You need to define the type of success that best suits your life situation.
There’s no fixed answer. Everyone is different. Your answer will evolve and be impacted by life events. Here are a few examples of career success:
Work-life balance
Opportunities for growth and advancement
Feeling that contributions had an impact
Now, even as you reflect on the examples above, the descriptions are not specific enough. You’ve got to take it deeper:
What do you mean by work-life balance?
What do you consider to be opportunities for growth and advancement?
How do you like to be recognized for your work? How do you know if your contributions have had an impact?
Let’s take a look at some potential responses to the questions above:
I want more time with my family, and less stress at work.
I want increased responsibilities, to manage a team, a higher income, and the prestige of working at a certain level in the company.
I’d like my immediate leader to send me a thank-you note or take me out for coffee to genuinely express her or his gratitude. I’ll know I’ve made an impact if I get feedback from my coworkers, leaders and other stakeholders.
Further questions to reflect on to help narrow the focus for the above responses include:
What are some opportunities that can help you get traction on getting more time with your family? And decrease your stress at work?
What’s the most important thing for you in the next 12 months?
What’s the significance of receiving others’ feedback?
Now, I’m only scratching the surface with these examples. It takes time to do the inner work and build a solid foundation.
Start this exercise by first asking what career success means to you and then ask yourself meaningful questions to help you dig deeper.
What types of themes emerge from your responses? What keywords or phrases keep coming up for you?
2. Know Your Values
Values are the principles and beliefs that guide your decisions, behaviors, and actions. When you’re not aligned with your values and act in a way that conflicts with your beliefs, it’ll feel like life is a struggle.
There are simple value exercises that can help you quickly determine your core values. Carnegie Mellon University designed a particularly good exercise to help you discover your top 5 values.[1]
Once you have your top 5 values, keep them visible. Your brain needs reminders that these are your top values. Here are some ways to make them stick:
Write them on cue cards or notes and post it in your office
Take a picture of your values and use it as a screensaver on your phone
Put the words on your fridge
Add the words on your vision board
Where will your value words be placed in your physical environment so that you have a constant reminder of them?
3. Define Your Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
When writing your short-term and long term life goals, use the SMART framework: Specific Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Treat this as a brainstorming exercise that will point you in the direction of career success. Your potential and possibilities are limitless.
How you define short-term and long-term is entirely up to you. Short-term can be 30 days, 90 days, or even 6 months. Maybe long-term goals are 4 months, 1 year, or 10 years.
Here are a few self-reflection questions to help you write your goals[2]:
What would you want to do today if you had the power to make it the way you want?
If no hurdles were in the way, what would you like to achieve?
If you had the freedom to do whatever you want, what would it be?
What type of impact do you want to have on people?
Who are the people you most admire? What is it about them or what they have that you’d want for your life or career?
What activities energize you? What’s one activity you love?
Remember to revisit your core values as you refine yours goals:
Are your goals in or out of alignment with your core values?
What adjustments do you need to make to your goals?
How attainable are your goals?
Do your short-term goals move you towards attaining your long-term goals?
Get very clear and specific about your goals to achieve career success. Think about an archer, a person who shoots with a bow and arrow at a target. This person is laser focused on the target, the center of the bullseye. The target is your goal.
By focusing on one goal at a time and having that goal visible, you can behave and act in ways that will move you closer to your goal.
4. Determine Your Top Talents
What did you love doing as a kid? What made these moments fun? What did you have a knack for? What did you most cherish about these times? What are the common themes?
What work feels effortless? What work do you do that doesn’t seem like work? Think about work you can lose track of time doing and you don’t even feel tired of it[3].
What are your desires? Try it out. Experiment. Take action and start. How can you incorporate more of this type of work into your daily life?
What themes emerge from your responses? How do your responses compare to your responses from the values exercise and your goals?
What do you notice?
5. Identify “Feeling” Words You Want to Experience
Do you have tendencies to use your head or heart to make decisions?
I have a very strong tendency to make rational, practical, and fact-based decisions using my head. It’s very rare for me to make decisions using my emotions. I was forced to learn how to make more intuitive decisions by listening to my gut when I was struggling with pivotal life decisions. I was forced to feel and listen to my inner voice to make decisions that feel most natural to me. This was very unfamiliar to me; however, it expanded my identity.
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