Defining Career Success: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself in the New Year
The fresh slate of the new year is a fantastic time for updating goals, rethinking commitments, and taking a deep, ponderous look at where you are and where you want to be, both personally and professionally. And the new research that LinkedIn just released couldn’t be more timely. While there are many methods and opinions folks use to define success, my personal take is that it really doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, I think it boils down to five key questions. 1. What does success look like to you? LinkedIn research found that success means different things to different people, and 87% of Americans say that it isn’t about what you accomplish, it’s about what you inspire others to do. So, when you ask yourself this question, take a holistic view—not just a career or business view. Because for most of us, even the most fulfilling career is a means to an end. Think about what motivates you and gets you excited. Envision success in your life. Perhaps it’s about spending quality time with your family, like 53% of LinkedIn respondents. It may be about having time to explore South America or freedom from financial worries. Maybe it’s about making a difference in your community or turning a beloved hobby into a business. Whatever it is, brainstorm and write it all down. Next, think about how each item on that list makes you feel. Does it inspire you? Are you energized? Does it feel deeply meaningful? Let your imagination delight in all the wonderfulness that each success item offers. Prioritize these items and then focus on the ones that rise to the top. 2. What are the successes in your life? It’s important to take stock of and celebrate past successes—even the small ones. Sometimes successes are unexpected results of another goal you were trying to achieve. Sometimes they are partial successes. The key here is to really take the time to get them on paper and remember them. Perhaps you were able to take more time off work to spend with your kids. Perhaps you were able to pay down debt or you spent time mentoring at-risk youth. Maybe you ran your first 5k or learned a new skill. According to LinkedIn, 89% of Americans ranked “learning a new skill” as their top career goal in 2018. Writing down your successes offers a couple benefits. First, it’s encouraging to see all your successes laid out before you. It’s a reminder you that you are moving forward, which can be hard to see amidst the daily grind. Second, it’s important to see patterns. It helps you to identify areas in your life that you are drawn to and areas to continue focusing on. It also helps you to highlight gaps and areas where you might be able to make meaningful headway. Prioritize your list, putting the items that are most compelling at the top. 3. What are some areas of dissatisfaction in your life? It’s also important to look at areas of dissatisfaction. What were your struggles? What are you frustrated about? What would you change if you could? Perhaps you didn’t save as much money as you’d hoped to or you missed out on too many of your kids’ soccer games and swim meets. You may have put on a few pounds. Whatever it is, make a list of the key, nagging areas of your life where you’d like to see greater success and, again, prioritize that list. 4. What are your specific goals that will lead to success? Now is the time to look forward and set some SMART goals (or systems, if that’s your preference) that will help you achieve success. With your three lists, you’re probably seeing some key patterns and categories emerge that can help you define your goals. My recommendation is to keep it simple. Pick up to three goals that you feel are most important and wrap some simple, meaningful language around them. The shorter the better (Melinda Gates chooses one word for the entire year). Then keep your goals visible. Put them on your laptop wallpaper. Write them on a sticky note. Just make sure you keep these goals in front of you throughout the year. 5. What actions can you take to achieve greater success? Now that you have your goals in place, it’s time to put simple actions behind them. If your goal is to make a difference in your community, your action may be to sign up to mentor at-risk youth or deliver meals to the homeless. If your goal is to spend more quality time with your family, perhaps your action is to work on task delegation skills at work or find a new job with less travel. If your goal is to reduce debt, your action may be to start a side business or bring your lunch to work every day. Be creative but find real actions you can take to achieve success in the new year. If you need additional inspiration, take a look at LinkedIn’s findings to see how others are defining success. You might be surprised at what it looks like!
Finding Your Why: How to Discover Your Professional Purpose
Before you can create the perfect personal brand you have to understand who you are. Why do you do what you do? What’s your professional purpose? Some call it their “manifesto,” others call it their “mission statement,” but what I’m talking about is what drives your need to do what you do beyond earning a paycheck. What helps us get out of bed in the morning? What helps you be better at what you do? What is it that separates your job from your career? How do you want to feel about your impact on the world down the road? If you’re building a business, I’ll bet you’re working beyond the typical 40-hour week. You could tell me this -- and I might be impressed -- but if I knew why you were doing it, it would make you and your brand more compelling for me, both as a colleague and maybe as a future customer. Once you find your personal purpose, you’ll be able to create the personal brand.Finding Your Why: How to Discover Your Professional PurposeThe two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.- Mark TwainHow I discovered my professional purposeMy story started back in school when I realized I had a talent for acting, singing, and writing. First, it was school plays, music festivals and talent shows, where I poured my heart and soul into something I knew I was good at. Next I took drama classes at university, and then the bright lights of the London theater, television and film called to me after three years of honing my craft. Unfortunately, the acting jobs came few and far between, and I spent six years selling teddy bears at the Harrods department store. Finally, at the ripe old age of 29, I knew I needed a new career. The Internet was pretty new, so I did a course in HTML and managed to find an editor role at the search engine directory LookSmart. My duties included writing 55 website reviews every day – short and sweet descriptions of what users might find if they clicked on a link. After that, I was promoted to traffic manager helping our European sales people get display ads live across the LookSmart network. When LookSmart folded in 2003, I spent some time at a digital advertising agency before Microsoft came calling, and I spent the next seven years of my career working in an evangelism role. This translated into writing, speaking, video creation, and other ways to communicate to an audience looking to be informed and inspired. It was during those years I discovered what truly made me tick. My desire to act and write had little to do with being famous or earning loads and loads of money. What I really enjoyed – what got me out of bed in the morning – was the love of communicating, inspiring and educating people and businesses to do their very best work. So, if we parcel this out, my purpose had these elements: I wanted people to have a great experience.I wanted to help people.I wanted others to be successful.And soon my professional purpose was born, which reads:To inspire and educate people and their businesses to be successful by applying digital marketing strategies that focus on social media, digital PR and personal branding both online and in-person. That’s it. Short, sweet, but true.Past signposts define your future pathNow, it’s your turn. What’s been important to you throughout your life is often a gateway to finding your current professional purpose. Sometimes it helps to go back to your childhood to see what made you tick. For instance, have you always loved sports, drama, movies, music, sci-fi, comic books, video games, or riding horses? Picking out the qualities that have always been important to you is great way to identify the things that make you tick now. Ask yourself some questionsWe should take a step back and ask ourselves some questions. You can start by asking yourself a few of these:▪ Why is it that you do what you do?▪ What thrills you about your current job role or career?▪ What does a great day look like?▪ What does success look like beyond the paycheck?▪ What does real success feel like for you?▪ How do you want to feel about your impact on the world when you retire? You could also ask yourself these follow-up questions:▪ What do you hate about your current job role or career?▪ Why don’t you do something else?▪ What does a bad day look like?▪ What is it you don’t enjoy about your job and why?▪ What does failure look like beyond the paycheck?▪ What does real failure feel like for you? Once again, it’s essential that you know your professional purpose before you tackle your personal brand.If you don’t take control of your brand image and who you are, someone else will. Often, the simple process of taking a step back and taking stock of where you are at and where you want to go can answer a raft of questions that can point your professional career in a more meaningful and satisfying direction.Find your why and the rest will follow.