I spent 38 + years in my career in management and leadership of employees very interested in what career is best as well as a successful corporate objective.
This included coaching, mentoring, and assisting in employee development plans. My ultimate goal was to build future leaders who could take over my job.
And replacing me did happen on many occasions over those years.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a famous French writer, once said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Achieving career success requires more than luck, more than hard work — it requires a plan.
And the great part is that your plan doesn’t have to be difficult to create or complex. Here is my (simple) advice for creating your very own career development plan:
When it comes to improving career success, here are my 18 ways to build the best opportunities for success in a corporate career.
Choose your passion. You know you’ve discovered your passion when you love what you are doing. But wait a minute. Nothing is that simple is it?
On the flipside check out what Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon, tells us:
” One of the huge mistake people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves. You don’t choose your passions. Your passion chooses you”.
Are you continue working to find what you love to do? Perhaps starting with your personal development? A very good idea these days … where to change is the name of the game. Aim high. Explore. Stretch your boundaries. Let yourself fail some. But be sure and put learning in your skill bag.
All of these are useful to remember for growing knowledge of your enablers for success. Enablers for success that are essential for your personal and professional development and in doing what you love.
We are all aware of Steve Jobs Stanford commencement speech given in 2005, where he talks about doing what you love. It is a classic talk on this subject. He encourages his student audience to keep looking and don’t settle.
Jobs goes on to say as with all matters of the heart; you’ll know when you find it. Ah, but finding it.
To do something well, you have to like it. That idea is not exactly novel. We’ve got it down to four words: “Do what you love.” But it’s not enough just to tell people that.
Doing what you love is complicated. And often unattainable for some.
I recently read an interesting book on the topic of how to find what you love to do. The book is by Cal Newport: So Good They Can’t Ignore You. The themes in Newport’s book are bound by a common thread: the importance of ability.
His thesis is that the things that do a great job great are rare and valuable.
If you want them in your working life, you need something rare and valuable to offer in return. In other words, you need to be good at something before you can expect the job that you love.
The best career test.
Mastery by itself is not enough to guarantee your love and satisfaction: The many examples of well-respected but miserable workaholics support this claim.
The main thread of the argument moves beyond the mere acquisition of useful skills and into the subtle art of investing career capital into the right types of working life traits.
The path to what you love – at least as it concerns what you do for a living – is more complicated than simply answering the classic question “What should I do with my life?”
So here is the kicker from this book: when it comes to creating work you love, following your passion is not particularly useful advice. In fact, it is seriously flawed.
It not only fails to describe how most people end up with compelling careers but for many people, it can make things worse: leading to chronic job shifting and unrelenting angst.
Apple Computer was decidedly not born out of passion, but instead was the result of a lucky break – a “small-time” scheme that unexpectedly took off. Probably works that way for a large percentage of us, doesn’t it?
Think of it in another way: The most likely predictor of someone seeing their work as a calling is the number of years spent on the job. The more experience they have, the more skills and expertise they have developed and the likelihood they are to love their work.
The happiest, most passionate employees are not those who followed their passion into a position, but instead, those who have been around long enough to become good at what they do.
If you haven’t found your passion yet, get up off your butt and make a change in your life. Travel the world. Try new activities and jobs.
Meet new people. Learn a new language. Learn a new form of art or an instrument. It’s a long journey to find your passion, but the first thing you need to do is step out of your comfort zone.
Be sure that you are:
Low maintenance
Make sure you are low maintenance and represent minimal overhead. Know what tasks to take on and which ones to avoid.
This will create more value to be freed up and let you do more valuable things.
What career is best … establishing a vision
Invest time to imagine what the future is going to look like and how you’ll need to adapt to fit into it. Remember though, vision without action is a daydream.
No matter how big your plans and dreams, they’ll never become reality until you act on them.
Maintaining a positive attitude
Learn what attitude is, what aspects of your life are controlled or directed by your attitude, and how to determine your attitude at any given moment.
Know what specific strategies make a positive attitude a permanent habit in your life.
What career is best … using your initiative
Always be on the lookout for actions that have been overlooked and show initiative to get them done.
What career is best … building strong relationships
Build beneficial relationships with many people. Networking and making friends is the name of the game.
Key takeaways
As you progress in your continuous learning and development, keep in mind growth is a long-term, not a short-term endeavor.
In reality, it should never end. It should be pursued consistently throughout your career, day by day.
Don’t settle for less than you know you can achieve.
And remember; keep your happiness and a balance of work and life at the top of your list. Everything will pivot around them.
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy continually improving your continuous learning?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on learning from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
