How Did I End Up Here?
Charting Your Career
Do you sometimes think about, “How did I end up here?” You may have asked this question after experiencing the impact of a reorganization, restructuring, downsizing, the outsourcing of your responsibilities, or an unfavorable relationship with a new boss. You may be considering a new assignment or new job. You may also ask this question when you get the feeling that your job is not satisfying, the feeling that something is missing or that your life is out of sync.
Migrating through a career is like embarking on a journey. Without a map, you can travel many miles and end up in a place that you do not want to be. A career plan enables you to determine where you want to be and how you are going to get there. Your career plan is your personal roadmap. Your career plan will enable you to:
- Do what you enjoy.
- Use your strengths and the resources at your disposal to your advantage.
- Establish a purpose determined by you for what you do each day.
- Focus on what is important to you rather than what is important to others.
- Establish a filter for making decisions that impact your life.
- Manage the whole you, maintain harmony between your career and the other components of your life.
- Respond rather than react to events, developments and the actions of others.
Following is a sprinkling of sage to guide the development and execution of your career plan.
- Others may have opinions on what you enjoy. However, only you know what you enjoy.
- We can sometimes pursue what we do not have instead of using what we have. (Why drop the bird in your hand to chase the one in the bush?)
- Your daily actions are your priorities. (John Maxwell)
- There are 3 types of relationships that you can have with others: Island, Parasitic and Symbiotic.
- In an Island relationship, individuals believe that the do not need anyone else to achieve what they want to achieve. (If you believe that, I have some prime ocean front property in Arizona that I want to sell you at a bargain price.)
- In a Parasitic relationship you give, others receive and you get nothing. (You are the apple for the worms.)
- In a Symbiotic relationship you give to others but you receive something beneficial to you in return. (I call this operating in the Green Zone.)
- You may receive many offers or opportunities. The question is “Where will this lead me?” (You will have doors open for you. Are they doors to a hallway to something you want in the future or are they doors to a closet that boxes you in?)
- There are several components of your life. In addition to your professional career, components include family, community, finance, community, hobbies/interests and spiritual. These components operate like the systems of your body (circulatory, digestive, nervous, respiratory, etc.). When one system does not operate properly, it can impact the operation of other systems.
- When you react to events, developments and the actions of others, you do or say things that create more issues and problems. When you respond, you deal with the moment without creating baggage with which you will have to deal later. You view the moment in a context that serves what you want to achieve or happen for you.
Success does not happen by chance.
We all live according to a plan…..Our plan or someone else’s.
Would you like to plot the path to where you want to be rather than letting events, developments and the agenda of others determine your destination? Contact Fields of Success to schedule a discussion. Fields of Success offers complimentary coaching sessions.
Linwood Bailey is a career coach and the author of The Business of Me: Your Job … Your Career … Your Value. The Business of Me provides a career management and information resource designed for today’s business professional. Since 2008, Linwood has enabled business professionals to manage their most important economic asset—their careers. Linwood, the been there coach, provides innovative career management solutions derived from his 34 years of experience managing functions and people in multiple industries, regions, and corporate cultures.