“No one cares about your career more than you do.” – This was told to me early on in my career. After 20 years, I would agree. Ideally, your manager or leader would invest in this area of your development. The best leaders do, yet in our pressure filled work environment this may not happen.
I will never forget the day I landed one of the largest deals in company history and then found myself in despair. I loved the people I just did not enjoy the work itself. I had to make the change and understand why I was in despair.
As we close out 2019, it is a good time for career reflection and trajectory setting. Below are a few career principles and books that were helpful to me. Here are a few key career principles:
Caused Vs. Caused Upon: When you are caused you are intrinsically motivated by a vision or a purpose. This cause will drive you to wake up in the morning and putting in the extra time. There is nothing wrong with aligning yourself to someone else’s cause, as long as the course is compelling.
Think Strengths Not Weaknesses: Consider what you are good at vs. what you are weak in. That does not mean you should not seek to develop your weaknesses. Your future role or job should emphasize your strengths.
Dwell on Interests Not Passions: The word passion is loaded. Consider what you are most interested in as this will be the place that you develop experience and skill in. We tend to develop in the areas we find most interesting.
Career Books
1. Born For This – By Chris Guillebaeau – He emphasizes the 3 career components needed to hit what he calls the ‘career jackpot.’ Joy, Flow and Money. Joy is doing what you like to do. Flow is about skill or what you are good at. Money is being paid for both joy and flow. All three are critical.
2. Getting Unstuck – By Timothy Butler – Butler emphasizes the fact that we often encounter an endless cycle of the impasse. We push through when we know we need to make a change and then the unresolved issues emerge again. We typically push through, thinking that this is the right step, meanwhile in the deepness of our souls we recognize that a change must occur. His career tools and exercises are invaluable.
3.The New Adventures of Johnny Bunko – By Dan Pink – One of the main ideas in this book is to pursue work that is about a Fundamental Reason or important to you. Most of the time, we pursue work hoping it will lead to something else which is an Instrumental Reason.
2 Tools To Gain Clarity
Ideal Day: This is like waving the magic wand and defining your job the way you want it to be. This exercise should include what you are doing? who you are with? what environment you are in? outcomes you created and the emotions you feel. This exercise if done completely, could serve as your career vision.
Career Leader Assessment: The assessment is generated by Timothy Butler and is one of the best career development tools I have ever completed. It can be found here.
As you close out 2019, remember that it is indeed your career and path. What will be different for you as you enter 2020?