New Year, New Life, right?
Most people start the year with specific resolutions, goals, and purposes. Finishing a year makes us think about all the things we achieved and all the things we leave behind. For this reason, it’s usual in almost any culture that during January, people are rethinking what the next step to take in their lives will be, what new habits they will apply, and so on.
We are already one month into this year, and so far, it looks just as unpredictable as the past two. It’s no surprise that many of us wonder, where will this year take our career to? Will we take the reins and bring it to where we desire?
How do we discover what we want to do now with our professional life? Sometimes, the most difficult questions to answer are the ones that have answers that we find within ourselves. Therefore, a little guidance never does wrong.
According to the Harvard Business Review article How to Figure Out What You Want Next in Your Career, there are three main questions to ask yourself when looking for the next step in your career, and these are:
- What do you want to learn and contribute in this next phase of your career?
- Whom do you want to serve?
- At which pace do you want to achieve those goals?
By defining an answer to each of these questions, you should have a clearer notion of the path you want to travel next since these represent the fundamental pillars of motivation when starting a new stage in your work life: a clear purpose, a consumer audience in mind, and the time you are willing to invest to achieve the goals you set for yourself.
This way, you will know what you want to offer, which community to target with what you will offer, and if you will work at an intense or slow pace for it.
Whatever the nature of the change you are about to make, you need to open an internal dialogue in which you can ask yourself what it is you really want and in what way you are willing to work for it. Being clear about the path you will travel will help you focus on this and make better decisions.
Continuing with the testimony and experience of the executive leadership consultant, Ann Hiat, the three aspects of this change that you should be clear about can be defined as purpose, people, and pace. And how can you dig a little deeper inside yourself to get answers to these simple questions? Here we tell you.
Purpose
Finding your purpose, or even re-finding it (in case you used to have one but have now lost it), is a challenging task, requiring a lot of introspection and general internal work. However, we offer you some tips that can help you in this process.
- Recognize your talents and abilities: It’s essential to know yourself and the skills you have to perform in the workplace, which activities you enjoy, which you are passionate about, and so on.
- Recognize what your strengths and opportunities are: As in the SWOT analyses that companies and brands carry out, you must be fully aware (or as much as possible) of the things that you have going for you, which can be an advantage in the market and the labor field in which you plan to develop.
- Define a why for your actions: Everything we do in life is better if we recognize the motive behind the actions, and decisions we make. This motive can become our engine in times of difficulty, in which our perspective is clouded by the challenges that appear in our way and keep us walking towards our north.
Once you have discovered within yourself the answer behind these premises, you will be able to identify that specific north, the objective and purpose of the change you want to make, which will motivate you to offer your service in this new stage of your career.
People
There are certain issues and questions that circulate around this topic that it is very important to take into account in order to find a definition, but mainly, you must identify a figure that serves as inspiration, and a way to become an inspiration/motivation figure for your peers or subordinates. Some questions you can ask yourself to have a better understanding of this point are:
- Who are the people who represent my work ideals?
- Who can be my mentors and guides on this new path?
- How can I inspire other people to undertake this area?
- How can I share my ideals to motivate others?
Pace
This point is determined by the speed at which you seek to achieve these goals and the moment and circumstance of life in which you find yourself. Some suggested questions to define this are:
- What’s your ideal timeline for progress?
- Do you want to lead or provide a support service?
- How often do you want to be required to improve your skills?
With these questions answered, you should have a clearer view of the decision to make next on your career path, and what next step to take, to achieve that newly defined New Years’ resolution.
The next chapter of your professional career should be with us, apply to join our team here.
See more article by Andrea Corona.
