A career resolution is exactly what it sounds like: a resolution for your career intended to help you grow into a better professional. At Work It DAILY, we believe that you need to work on your career every day (yes, you do, in fact, need to "work it daily"). So, everyone should make a career resolution or two along with those other ambitious personal resolutions. They can be little things like learning a new skill or growing your professional network, or bigger goals like landing a promotion or getting a new job.
But how do you know what kind of career resolutions to make?
You can begin by asking yourself, "Am I where I want to be in my career?" If your answer is "no," you need to take a closer look at your career goals.
Here are five more career questions you should be asking yourself this new year to figure out how to grow your career and become the professional you know you can be.
1. Am I Proud Of My Job Title?
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You could be a janitor or a neurosurgeon, it doesn't matter. If you aren't proud of what you do for a living, there's something missing: passion and purpose.
Career burnout is real, but sometimes it's deeper than that. Our passion at 25 won't necessarily be our passion at 40. And that's okay.
When we are passionate about what we do, we are proud because we are doing what we think is important, what we love doing. We feel a sense of purpose. We are adding value to and making a difference in this crazy world—in a small, but significant way.
Every job is important. No matter what your job title is, if you aren't proud of it, and don't feel like you can leverage your strengths as a professional in the position, you should absolutely change that. Identify that one problem you want to find a solution to and go after it. What are you waiting for?
Remember, the only bad job is the one you aren't passionate about, the one that isn't allowing you to leverage your professional strengths and reach your potential.
If you don't know what your professional strengths are or what kind of work you'd find purposeful and fulfilling, we recommend taking our free career quizzes.
Take the quizzes now to learn your unique combination of professional strengths and how they can help you get better career results so you can be proud of what you do.
2. Do I Feel Secure In My Career?
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This is a bit different from job security. Actually, job security doesn't exist. Every job is temporary. Think you can stay in the same job for decades and then retire? Think again. While that may have been commonplace for past generations, today's workforce and job market are completely different than what they were a decade or two ago.
So what does it mean to feel secure in our careers? When we believe as professionals that we can add value wherever we are.
You are a business-of-one. A company won't want to invest in you if they don't know the kinds of services you provide, the kind of value you could add to the organization, and the problems you could solve for them. Here are some examples of questions that will help you determine if you're secure in your career:
- Are you adding value at your current job?
- Are you honing your skills, expanding your network, and building your personal brand?
- Do you feel confident that if you lost your job, you'd be able to find a comparable one in the same field?
- Do you feel confident you'd be able to demonstrate to potential employers how you add value?
Since every job is temporary, it's extremely important to constantly work on our careers and ask ourselves these questions frequently so we always feel secure in our businesses-of-one.
3. Will I Be Able To Achieve Wealth?
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When most people think of "wealth," they think of dollar signs and anything that you can attach a monetary value to. Our jobs help us build wealth. We're not going to tell you that money isn't important. Of course it is! It allows you to live the life you want to live. In many ways, money equals freedom.
But the truth is, there are other forms of wealth that are more important that you can't attach any monetary value to.
Real wealth comes in the form of family, friends, hobbies, experiences, knowledge, and community. If you don't have these things, money will never fill that void.
So, is your career allowing you to build this type of wealth? The intangible kind? Or are your relationships suffering because of your job? Is your work-life balance nonexistent? Do you have any time to pursue hobbies, learn, or volunteer?
Your career should never inhibit you from achieving real wealth. The best job isn't the one that pays the most. It's the one that pays the bills and gives you enough time to live, too.
4. Do I Have Any Regrets?
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Just asking ourselves this question can be difficult because maybe we don't want to know the answer. Acknowledging that you regret something in your life is the first step to making a change. Guess what? There's still time to chase your dreams!
If you do have regrets, that doesn't mean you haven't been a successful professional. That also doesn't mean you haven't had a good career. You could be the most successful person, but if you never got up the courage to start that business, make that career change, or go back to school, you'll most likely think, "What if?" for the rest of your life.
You'll never know if you don't try. Don't be afraid of failure. Life is just one big experiment, and it's your job to learn from those experiments. That's how you discover what works and what doesn't. That's how you discover what's possible.
And even if you do "fail," that's an incredibly more valuable experience than waiting out the clock on a mediocre career. So, don't give up on your dreams just yet.
5. Can I Reach My Full Potential In This Role? In This Career?
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When we feel like we have more to contribute to society, that's a sign we haven't yet reached our full potential. Do you feel like you're wasting your potential at your current job? Do you think you'd reach your full potential in another career?
Really think about what you want your professional legacy to be. It's a lot harder to get up in the morning when you don't find fulfillment in your work. When it comes time for you to retire, are you going to look back on your career and feel like you could have accomplished much, much more with those 50 years?
Everyone has unique gifts, skills, and expertise. When we focus on developing ourselves as individuals, as businesses-of-one, it's a lot easier to share those things with the world. Give yourself a chance to reach your full potential. If you haven't taken our free quizzes yet, your results will help you do just that. You may be surprised by what you can accomplish.
Before you get back into the same routine at work this year, we hope you take a few minutes to ask yourself these career questions. Listen carefully to how you answer them. You may need to make a career resolution or two.
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Small steps are often overlooked in this speed crazy world where everything must be fast, needed now and the faster you achieve your goal the better. And you cannot really say slow is better and that some things take time in this age of speed. If you do, you are at risk being looked upon with scornful eyes. How you dare even suggest that, they say.1. Small Steps, Not Giant Leaps
Well, I am here to tell you to take small, steady steps. I am sure you want success fast. The faster the better, right? As I get older, I am not really sure if there is a finish line. Because if there is a finish line, what then? I tend to see career or life as a series of marathons now. So, take little steps instead of one giant leap. There is no such thing as a giant leap to career success.
2. Distance is a Series of Small Steps
You must remember that distance can be covered by a series of small steps. It can also be covered by a flutter of fast paced sprints. But the difference is, if your finish line is finite - then well, you know the type of stamina you need in order to cover that distance. Do you? That is an important question.
When I first started working, I did not know where I will be 17 years later. You may have a general idea but life takes you on many surprises. Do not be shocked this race you are participating in takes many forms and detours.
I am in favor of small steps as it allows you to cover a greater distance while conserving energy and being able to enjoy the view at the same time!
3. Patience
Sure, easier said than done. Patience some say is an over rated virtue. I am not sure I agree. You need lots of patience on your journey to career success. And if you buy into the small steps philosophy then you will need even more patience. Things take time to reveal themselves to you. Especially good things that appear bad initially.
4. Keep Walking
So long as you keep walking, there is no stopping you from where you want to go. The image of Forest Gump running comes to mind. Of course that is an exaggerated example but do imagine, if you take small steps and do not stop, how far can you go in the span of time you have? People who think about sprinting do not know that you can run out of stamina before the finish line reveals itself. Worst of all, the finish line they imagine for themselves is actually a mirage. Then what?
5. It’s Okay to Detour
When you take little steps, it is okay to take a detour. Such is life and such is work too since work is a big part of life. So, it’s okay to explore a little. Make wrong decisions and learn from it. Most times, what we like, what we are good at, and our talent does not reveal itself when we do the safe thing. It rears it’s head when we least expect it.
6. Potholes, Humps and Uneven Surfaces
It is also easier to navigate the road when you take little steps. Especially one that is filled with potholes, humps and uneven surface, which appears to never end. But it’s okay, because when you take small steps you begin to understand the character of these roads.
7. Who Knows What’s Ahead
You don’t. At best you have an inkling of what you want and you pursue it. The secret is so long as you take small steps, conserve your energy and be patient, eventually the finish line will be worthwhile.
That is how it is; you make a decision and take a risk. Who knows where all your effort to plan, to act upon the plan will take you? But with small steps you know you will get there.
Yun Siang Long, or Long as he is popularly known, spent 16 years in 3 multinational ad agencies where he also trained people in areas of career management. Read more » articles by this approved career expert | Click here » if you’re a career expert Image from Shutterstock
