Having a Lucid Dream Career
Whether you’ve spent a number of years in school to get your degree or you’ve bypassed that (nearly) lifetime of burdensome student loan debt to work from the ground up in an entry-level position, it is likely that your initial ambition was to survive running the gauntlet of gatekeepers and hiring manager interviews to be offered any reasonable job. Your logic likely sounded something like this: “If I can just get a foot in the door, I will prove my worth and then the Powers That Be™ will recognize my value and quickly promote me to where I know I will be able to make a difference in the organization and be rewarded for my talent and efforts.” …and so it goes.
It is true that Corporate America did, by and large, work in this meritocratic manner for several decades, but that was way back in the 20th century. Even then, someone’s nephew was likely to get the promotion over a deserving candidate—and let’s not even get into sexism, racism, ageism, and all of the other “ism”s that really belie the whole concept. Still, even with those caveats, you had a better shot in the previous century than you do now, but don’t get too discouraged. Just because things aren’t stacked in your favor doesn’t mean you can’t make your dream career a reality. All you need is a bit of strategy and forethought to make it happen.
Something I often discuss with my clients is how if they were to consult with a business to realize its goals, they wouldn’t simply advise the executives to keep their heads down, do their best work and hope an entity would spot it and give them opportunities that would move them forward. No, they would identify the organization’s priorities, do a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), help them articulate what their ideal situation and positioning looks like, and then work backwards from there to where they are now via a project plan with a timeline containing a critical path and milestones that will move them there. “Why,” I ask, “would you do anything different for yourself?”
If you don’t know what career happiness looks like, then identifying it out loud to a friend or on paper is your first step down the path to your optimal future. You should think about:
- What you’re trying to accomplish in your life that will bring you the most happiness and satisfaction.
- What sort of schedule you want – flexible, where you can decide how and when you work, or if you want to work as hard as you can in order to do as much as possible and sacrifice for long term gain.
- Do you want to manage people or work by yourself or with a team?
- Do you enjoy having someone to report to, evaluate your work, and give you feedback?
- The income level you need, want, and believe you deserve.
- What sort of wealth you’re looking to create for yourself and your (future?) family.
- And if building equity as you work will bring you more satisfaction as well as to your retirement goals much faster than living paycheck to paycheck.
Next, consider what have been pain points in your professional life so far:
- Supervisors who don’t value or understand you?
- A corporate mission that doesn’t match your personal values?
- Sacrificing personal time doing the things you enjoy or creating memories with friends and family in order to enrich the company?
- Being assigned busy work instead of something that may contribute to everyone’s success?
- Doing work that makes you uncomfortable such as: cold calling, public speaking, representing things to clients or subordinates that you know are not true, personal errands for your boss, putting together budgets?
It’s important to identify whatever it is that you, personally, don’t enjoy or have negative feelings toward that you would prefer to avoid in the future or delegate to someone else as much as it is to look at what you do like to do and feel you are best suited to carry out.
It is also time to consider if working in Corporate America is going to get you there or whether you should look at it as a learning opportunity, networking environment, and stepping stone to your future and recognize that you are or need to be an entrepreneur who can and should control your own fate and fortune. If your goals are more aligned with that of a corporation, then you should sit down with your boss, or some other trusted adviser in the business, and let them know your ambition for your long-term career path and ask them to help you get there; or let you know if it’s not realistic in that company or even in the industry.
Once you have thought through both the big picture and these details, you are well prepared to craft a project plan for your own life and livelihood. Just as with the business consultation scenario I go over with my clients, it is now your task to work backwards from your ideal career scenario to your current status, determine the steps to take to get you there (lateral moves within your company or with others, promotions, finding partners, venturing out on your own) project the number of years each will take, and set up those “critical milestones” that will ensure you’re making the right progress.
Most importantly, acknowledge that you will undoubtedly face unanticipated challenges, roadblocks, and miscalculations and so you will need to be flexible enough to adjust as you move forward, never losing faith that your blueprint is solid and the journey to your dream career will definitely be worth the endeavor.
Authored by Josh Sklar (jsklar@esourcecoach.com), No-Cost Career Transition Coach and Owner of The Entrepreneur’s Source (Austin)filed under: Resources