Succeed in Your Career This Year

by Learning from the Past

I love the feeling of pressing the restart button, looking at future opportunities, and starting anew. This is a great exercise at the beginning of the year, but really, it can be achieved at any time of the year that you thoughtfully consider moving forward in a different way.

2021 was a challenging year once again, with all the effects of the pandemic. 2022 is now challenged by a war claiming lives and disrupting the world in so many ways. To say we have made it through this time is truly an accomplishment. My heart goes out to those of you who have experienced personal loss and difficult change due to these unprecedented times.

BUT WITHIN THE CHALLENGE, EVERY YEAR PRESENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN.

Looking back on the last 12 months, what successes did you achieve in your career? What were the challenges, and most importantly, what are 3 things you learned about yourself in your career this year?

It’s important to look back and see what you have learned.

What I personally learned in my own career for the last 12 months was:

1. Take more risks – they don’t always work, but then they do! And I learned from each of those risks.
2. Progress not perfection makes the grade! I continue to challenge the perfectionist within.
3. Expand my reach by writing more, segmenting readers, and continuing to offer different programs. It worked for me on a small-scale last year; what can I do this year?

What have you learned?

As you define your learnings, think about your future. What do these learnings suggest for the next 12 months? Can you leverage these into goals?

For example, I have several clients currently who are dealing with a bad boss. These clients bring many years of experience to their leadership roles and have managed demanding managers previously. However, some of these bosses begin to redefine just how bad a boss can be!

What can you learn from this type of situation?

One of the learnings is to realize that you have limits and aren’t paid enough money to take on a crazy boss. (Wish I had learned that in my own corporate career!).

Another learning is that it is about the boss and not about you. This is something I did learn from bad bosses. After a lot of analyzing, and owning my part of the relationship, I learned that the bad boss was rarely my problem, and usually their own. But it became my problem as long as I chose to stay there.

In my clients’ cases, several learnings have developed. One has wisely chosen to work elsewhere. Another has decided to embark on their own business. Options exist! The key is that you can’t change bad bosses and they can do more harm than good!

You gain perspective by looking back and understanding your learnings.  The hope is to take yourself out of the situation and look at this as an opportunity to learn. You learn from successes as well as failures.  Continue to put yourself in the classroom of learning about yourself.

Perhaps you are in the situation as many many of my clients are, looking for a change. You’ve all heard about The Great Resignation and it’s a true phenomenon. The pandemic of these last two years has taught us something. In some of my client’s cases, it’s about needing to seek a new career opportunity. That new opportunity might be focusing solely on remote work. Or perhaps taking a different position in the company. Or changing careers altogether.

What has the pandemic taught you about the work you are doing? Is it time for a change?

Having to juggle the demands of work/life balance in a remote setting has become a learning opportunity for many of my clients. I’ve helped clients renegotiate remote work with their employers so that they can be there for the on again off again school situations out there. And sometimes, just because they work better remotely!

Working from home is an experience in seeing how we can truly separate work from home!

For myself, when I close my office door at night, I try to focus on being done for the day. Yes, I still look at my iPhone, but it’s not as bad as it was in corporate life when I lugged my laptop with me at night throughout the house! I’ve learned to put a boundary around my workday.

Have Work/Life balance opportunities come into sharper focus for you? What have you learned?

We focus so many of our efforts on delivering results for our companies. What about results for your career? Have you taken the time to set a vision for your career and brush up that LinkedIn profile and/or resume?

As a career/executive coach, many clients reach out to me when they need the resume and LinkedIn in good working order, and this is fine. But, working on these deliverables, these results of your career, are great to do at any time regardless of whether you are looking for a new job or not. You’re taking the time to drive your Brand and Career Narrative as you would like it to be now and in the future.

Did you learn anything in the recent past about your commitment to working on your career? Are there some considerations for this year that you would like to pursue?

You may want to look at  setting a vision for the future, and that’s great. But take a little time to consider what you have learned. Are there opportunities in the learnings that can propel you in your career even further this year?

ACTION CHALLENGE:

Take some time to consider and write down what you have learned about yourself in your career. Use this knowledge to create a beautiful new future ahead for you.