Start Managing Your Career or It'll Manage You

A person’s career can feel rather expansive, and we’re told it’s one of the most important factors of a good life. That’s a whole other topic, but let’s face it: sometimes our careers feel looming, large, disconnected. Especially when we’re thinking about these 30-plus years of our lives, your career can feel overwhelming in its fullest form. 

But there are ways to turn your career into a purpose-driven one, filled with achievable goals and a true sense of accomplishment. 

Let’s talk more about how.

Brainstorm and Look Inward

Take a look at your skill set and who you are as a person. What are your genuine interests, strengths, hobbies and/or values? How have these shown up in your career so far? Have they shown up at all?

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses is fundamental to career growth. Knowing your strengths allows you to leverage them more effectively and to position yourself in roles where you can truly excel and find satisfaction. But recognizing your weaknesses is equally important as it provides a clear path for personal development and improvement. This self-knowledge forms the basis for informed decision-making in your career.

Next, effective goal setting is critical for your career advancement. With a thorough self-assessment, your goals can be more aligned with your true capabilities, interests, and values. This alignment ensures that your career objectives are both realistic and fulfilling, providing a clear direction for your professional journey.

Last, with a deep understanding of your strengths, weaknesses and goals, you can craft a strategic career plan that serves as a roadmap for your professional life. This plan helps in making deliberate choices about job opportunities, education, and skill development, ensuring that each step you take is in service of your broader career ambitions.

Stop and Reflect

What are you truly curious about? What educational experiences or certifications have you already acquired? What are you excited to learn more about next? Having a growth mindset means believing that your abilities aren't innate but can be improved through effort, learning and persistence. A growth mindset is all about the attitude you face challenges with, how you process failures, and how you adapt and evolve as a result.

In her book Mindset, psychologist Carol Dweck describes how these two different mindsets make a big difference in our performance and happiness.

Fixed-mindsets: actions are governed by fear of judgements, failure, being “found out.”

Growth-mindsets: actions are governed with motivation for truth because you know that’s the fastest path to get you where you want to go!

It doesn't matter how skilled or capable someone is, with a fixed mindset, you can still fall victim to the potential trap. Career paths are rarely smooth or linear. A growth mindset fosters resilience, enabling you to persist through inevitable setbacks, failures and rejections. Instead of giving up or feeling defeated, someone with a growth mindset learns from these experiences, using them as stepping stones towards their goals.

Take Oprah: her career in media began with a job at a local radio station while she was still in high school. Her willingness to embrace this opportunity, even though it was outside the conventional path for someone of her background and experience, demonstrated her belief in growth and development. And her early career in television was anything but smooth. She was demoted from her job as a news anchor because she was deemed “not suitable” for television news. However, instead of giving up, she took this as a learning opportunity and transitioned into daytime talk, where she truly excelled. This pivot is a prime example of using setbacks as a basis for your next phase of growth.

Fixed: Ugh, I messed that up! They must think I’m terrible at my job!

Growth: I’m glad my manager gave me those tips; my future projects are going to be better.

Get Informed and Don’t Stop Learning

Where are you currently drawing new information or inspiration from? How can you expand the river of information to gain more inspiration and knowledge in the areas that you’d like to explore further? Here are some ideas:

• Podcasts

• Articles 

• Courses 

• Information Interviews 

• Educational Programs 

• Career or Industry Specific Books

Being informed in career management contributes to strategic decisions, adaptability to industry trends, skill development for market demands, and leveraging networking for opportunities. It's essential for staying competitive and aligning career moves with evolving job market dynamics.

SMART Goals

We’ve talked about these before. But SMART goals are key to making sure your goals are informed, relative, actionable and ultimately achievable. 

Specific – Your articulation of what is possible or what you’d like to “try on” is not vague. Get specific.

Measurable – Break down big targets into smaller, measurable chunks, and suggest how you might achieve them.

Attainable or Achievable – Can you get where you want to be with the resources available to you? What barriers might stand in your way? How will you overcome those barriers?

Relevant or Realistic – Honestly assess your current circumstances and bandwidth. Do you need to make adjustments? Where can you tweak your goals to make sure they are relevant and realistic?

Trackable or Time Bound –  Set a target end date. This creates a sense of accountability and helps you to know when to measure your progress and when to evaluate and adjust course if necessary.

Bonus “ER” = SMARTER goals = E is for Evaluate (and re-evaluate) and R is for Readjust (continuing to revisit and revise goals)

Bonus “S” = SMARTS Supported – Use your supports. Your manager, mentors, family, online resources, and anything or anyone else that might help.

Here’s an example of SMART goal tied to a promotion:

Not a great SMART goal: “Get promoted next year”

A good SMART goal: “Get promoted to a role with more managerial responsibilities while providing me with support to develop my manager abilities, but still gives me the ability to interact with external stakeholders within 12 months, even if it doesn’t result in a wage increase”

Build the Plan 

Imagine you are standing at the edge of a cliff, looking outward at another cliff across the way. On the other side, you have a vision of yourself and the direction you’d like to take. The courses, books and programs that you’d like to check out to build on your skill sets. The people you’d like to sit down with to gain a deeper understanding of various career directions that are appealing to you. The next job that you’d like to apply for. Now imagine yourself building a bridge across, step by step. What are the steps you need to take to move forward?

Here are some examples:

• Update your resume.

• Reconnect with professional references.

• Complete informational interviews.

• Register for a course or program.

• Volunteer or attend networking events.

• Complete additional occupational research. 

It may sound like a lot of work (and it is!) but the work can help transform your career into a purposeful one, one that makes you proud and encompasses your strengths, interests and passions. If nothing else, it should at least help ignite some excitement about the prospect of working for the next few years. We all deserve to feel successful in our careers. Maybe not all the time, but every so often, absolutely. With a little bit of career management, we can definitely lay the groundwork for those celebratory days. 

If your career is dragging you down or you’re looking to make a change and don’t know where to start, did you know that Reimagine Work also offers career coaching? Our sister company, Brave Work, is designed to help you make those next critical decisions. Let’s get started!