How to build your dream career, step by step
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Take a longer-term view.
Many people look at their career over too short of a time horizon. It is very helpful to zoom out, taking a longer term view. Because in reality, your career path will probably be winding and non-linear. And your career will be with you for a long time.
It is best to think of your career as something that you will continue to do for most of your life. Even once you “retire”, you will still need to spend your time making contributions that matter. You cannot just stop everything; you will rot. Humans get meaning from doing things that matter, whether or not they are getting paid for them.
If your view of your career has too short of a time horizon, you can only imagine that it continues to be very similar to what it is today, with maybe a few tweaks. Because it takes time and energy to really switch things up.
Once you have decided that you should take a long-term view of your career, how do you figure out where you want to take your career? After all, there are so many options.
I will walk you through a framework that I use with clients, one that I have seen work first hand.
Steps to building an amazing career.
- Know your values. While it may not be obvious how this relates to your career aspirations, knowing what is most critically important to you about how you want to live your life is the key to making effective decisions. If you aren’t clear on what really matters to you, you can find yourself chasing the wrong dream.
- Map out your ideal day. Lean into your imagination and intuition on this one. Reflect on what a perfect day would look like for you. And I mean a “real” day, not one that is actually more of a vacation. Too many people think that an ideal day is laying on a beach sipping margaritas. That might be fun to unwind for a week, but it certainly is not an actual lifestyle that one should aspire to. Write out what your ideal day looks like. What time would you wake up? How would you be spending your time? What sort of activities would you be doing? With who? Where are you living? Get as specific as possible.And write it down.
- Reflect on what your current strengths are, and what skills or habits you would need to further develop if you were to be living your “ideal day” that you mapped out in the previous step.
- Pick one skill or habit to develop or improve over the next quarter. And then map out what concrete actions you are going to take consistently to build that habit or skill. Commit to doing this for the next 90 days. It does not need to be some sort of massive leap; in fact, it’s better if it is smaller. Just commit to something that you can do to advance in building up that skill or habit. This will become a goal for the quarter. Write it down somewhere you will see it every day.
- Track your progress on your commitment. Don’t get discouraged if you miss a day or two. If you slip a bit and miss out on doing what you had committed to doing, remind yourself why it is important to you to develop this skill. Re-read your description of your ideal day, and imagine how you will feel living that way.
- Take some notes, maybe in a journal, about how you feel after you kept your commitment to yourself. How you feel after having done the activity will provide valuable feedback if you are on the right track.
- After the 90 days have passed, reflect on how you feel about having developed the skill or habit that you were working on. Do you feel that you have the skills and capabilities needed to live out your ideal day? If not, pick the next habit or skill to develop (or re-commit to the one that you were already working on).
Just keep iterating on this process until you have all the skills, habits, and capabilities required to allow you to fully live out your ideal day.
Don’t keep waiting, thinking that you will get to this later. Life is too precious to waste. If you keep putting all of your time and energy into a career that does not bring you what you need, you are on the path to an eventual burn-out. It is only a matter of time.
If you commit to the above process, your success is not in question at all. It is inevitable. Using this approach will allow you to build the career and life of your dreams.
Quotation that I have been pondering
Seth Godin is a legend, and I love so many of his quotes. He has a way of condensing big, important truths down into bite-sized nuggets of wonder.
Below is one such example that has been on my mind this week.
We naturally seek to point to others or to external circumstances when our life is not going how we wish it were. But there is a harsh – and empowering – truth. Our lives result from the choices that we consistently make. Every day, you are building the foundation for a multitude of tomorrows.
Ensure that the actions you take today – and every day – are leading you in the direction that you seek to go.
Journal Prompt
Very often in life, we allow other people and external factors to have a profound impact on how we feel. This is disempowering. We should try to avoid allowing external factors to have a meaningful impact on how we feel and think. Easier said than done, but the first step is in realizing that you are giving control of your well-being to someone else.
Which leads to this week’s journal prompt.
I encourage you to sit with these thoughts and note whatever comes to mind, without judgement. You can later determine how you want to respond and what changes you will seek to make to restore your power.
Happiness is not something that happens by chance because of external circumstances. It is an inside job that starts with the decision to be grateful of where you are and where you are taking your life.
Have an amazing week in which you move yourself forward. And remember that “better is always possible”.
Tim
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