Conclusions from the Career Strategy Webinar
This article is written for all those who went onto our recent Career Strategy webinar. But I’m sure that anyone who is inherently interested in building their career will also find this article useful, even if they had not been on the call. Following feedback from some participants, I shall structure this article as such:
1. The overall big picture of what I was trying to say 2. Recap of the 6 lessons learnt
3. Ask if you REALLY want to build a fluent career 4. What next? Some of you might find that I am repeating what I said on the call, but I do hope that it gives you some new insights as you can reflect on my words in this article. So, let’s dive right in…
1. The Overall Big Picture
Some of you have found that my talk was a little disjointed, and that the big picture was not articulated strongly enough. You are right, and I apologise. In essence, what I had been trying to say is this,
If you want to enjoy a successful career and not regret your career decisions at the end of your life, then you must manage it from TODAY.
This is calling you to look at your career in a more strategic manner. A strategic issue is one which impacts more than just you, has implications far into the future, and with a high opportunity cost. So you will see that your career decisions are certainly strategic, and hence you need to make good strategic decisions with it. Else, you will end up with regret.
Now, many of the examples I gave on the call may be foreign to you, may be too big for you - e.g. a director of an IT department or a high-flying lady in the financial service industry who left her large role to start a family – and somehow you might not be able to identify with them.
That is true. Yet, I wanted to share those stories with you not to show you that it happens only to people at this level, but that even people at this level are affected by career decisions. And some make good decisions while many others make poor decisions. What I had not wanted you to think is that it affects ONLY people at this level; it affects people of ALL levels and if we don’t manage it at the lower job levels, we will certainly not be able to manage it at the higher job levels!
Many people go through their career just jumping from the first opportunity onto the next one, typically with 10s or 100s of ringgit more a month. But when they finally decide to be serious about their career, it is too late. They would have made too many bad decisions to be given the best jobs, and they will never be able to earn as much, or do as well, or enjoy as greatly, as their friends who had taken their career seriously from the start.
So, if you forget everything from the webinar and from this article, don’t forget this key big picture:
If you want to enjoy a successful career and not regret your career decisions at the end of your life, then you must manage it from TODAY.
2. Recap of the 6 lessons learnt
The 6 key lessons learnt are: A. Don’t take a long-term risk on a short-term situation. Your career is a long-term entity. For some people, it is their WHOLE life! Do you think it is wise to risk your career on a short-term event like caring for a sick parent or going on a year-long trek around the world? What you do in the short-term shows to people your priorities and if you can risk the long-term health of your career (or life!) for a short-term gain, then people will not see you as being strategic, and they might not offer you a significant career role. That is why you should not risk a long-term entity on a short-term situation.
B. Don’t quit until you know why you are bored, and if your current company can offer you something to be excited about.
Many people get bored in their job. Boredom is a sign that either the job is not suitable for you (it is too small) or that you have not stretched yourself to the fullest. Hence, if you are bored, find out why, and if indeed the company you are working at now can put you on a role that can challenge you. It is only when your company cannot offer you that solution, should you then look out to another employer.
C. You will need the growth mindset to overcome the fears that grip your career plans.
Changing jobs is always fearful, since we are so used to the comfort and relative safety of our current job. Finding a new one is like stepping off from a perfectly good airplane into the wide-open space, 1000 feet above ground. Yet, if you never step off the plane, you will never be able to experience the tranquility as you glide down to the earth in a parachute. The key to overcoming fear and getting at the right career path is to embrace the growth mindset. And if you have not already done our growth mindset assessment, do it here…
D. Career Fluency ensures we do not become stagnant and redundant in our career.
Career Fluency is a concept we developed to describe when one’s career path is on a smooth, upward trajectory. This is important because, given a choice of one candidate whose career is on an upward trajectory and another who is on a downward one, guess who the employer will hire? Of course, the one who is going up! So you too, need to build your own fluent picture in your LinkedIn profile and in your resume.
E. Build in more value as you rise in your career. Remember, value is not what you think you are worth, but what your potential employer is willing to pay.
Do you want to be paid more and more with each new job? Then you have to continuously build your value – that value that your employer who will part with good money for!
F. Planning! – The key to keeping pace. Don’t let life stages creep up on you; plan for it!
Finally, making life stage decisions is important; but we need to plan for it, allowing us to build our career while we still build our family!
These summaries were in relation to the questions asked. But if I now take a step back and rearrange the lessons learnt, this is what I will say; If you want to enjoy a successful career and not regret your career decisions at the end of your life, then you must manage it from TODAY...
Career Fluency is the concept that ensures we do not become stagnant and redundant in our career. It allows us to build in more value as we rise in our career. Planning! is the key to keeping pace. Don’t take a long-term risk on a short-term situation; so don’t quit if you are bored at work until you know why you are bored; and if your current company can offer you something to be excited about, take that opportunity, while you build in more value as you rise in your career.
Ultimately,
If you want to enjoy a successful career and not regret your career decisions at the end of your life, then you must manage it from TODAY.
3. Do you REALLY want to build a fluent career? For many people reading this or listening in on the call, they are not sure they REALLY want to build a fluent career.
To some, getting the next job that pays RM200 more is all they want, then do they REALLY need to build a fluent career?
To others, working in the family business selling tarpaulin is expected of them, and that is what they will do. If that is you, then do you REALLY need to build a fluent career?
Yet others are easily satisfied with life, are happy to let each day pass similar to the day before for the next 30 years until they retire, then do they REALLY need a fluent career?
So the key question here is,
“Do you REALLY want to build a fluent career?”
You got to seriously ask yourself that question. You got to ask whether earning RM30,000 a month is something that you REALLY want. You got to ask whether seeking out new and exciting jobs is REALLY what you want. You got to ask yourself whether you REALLY want to provide overseas education, condo living and expat lifestyle to your spouse and your children.
Because you need to remember, these need to be worked for. They require you to go beyond your current self to embrace a bigger you. It would require that you embrace and build the growth mindset, since that would set you up for success. It would mean that you must INVEST in yourself, because no one else will.
Do you REALLY want to build a fluent career?
4. What next? If you said YES to the above question, and if you are truly convicted with that, then here is what you will need to do….
Do the growth mindset assessment, if you have not already done it
Sign up for the FREE career coaching
Register for the Career Strategy Workshop on 25 & 26 April.
And what will the Career Strategy Workshop do for you?
uncover your Career Intent, and what defines a successful career
dive deeper into the drivers of the growth mindset that make or break a successful career
identifying - and working with – the constraints of our life and career
create different scenarios that might help or hinder your career – and create answers for that!
Build your fluent career plan and write it in your LinkedIn profile and resume
commit to your plan of success from today!
At the end of the workshop, you will master the drivers to have a successful career until the day you retire and say, “I have finally done it!”
This workshop will empower you to get the career that you dream about!
Anyway, since it comes with a moneyback guarantee, what have you got to lose? Unless of course you don’t REALLY want to build a fluent career.
And that is perfectly fine.
But,
If you want to enjoy a successful career and not regret your career decisions at the end of your life, then you must manage it from TODAY.
Click here to sign up for the workshop .... you are backed by the moneyback guarantee afterall! So what's stopping you?