Discover the best time to focus on Career Development

I get a lot of people who are at the point of wanting to quit their job or very close to it when they decide to get coaching support in relation to their career. Some people have been working in a job for years that really doesn’t work well for them. The assumption I see people making time & time again is that they focus on their career when they decide they want to change jobs. If you’ve been reading my blogs / watching my videos over the last while, you’ll notice I’m an advocate of continuously making small changes to get to where you want to be & what you enjoy. This is one of the reasons that I propose people focus on their career continuously rather than expecting one big massive change in their career at the point when things really aren’t going well. While massive change can happen in your career (I’ve quit two jobs without having a solid plan in place although I wouldn’t recommend this for everyone), give yourself the best possible chance of succeeding in the least stressful way but making small changes along the way. When is the best time to focus on career development? All the time – take control & own your own career.

Consider career coaching like going to a personal trainer to help you focus on bringing exercise into your routine, then after some personal training sessions you’re in the habit of doing some exercise & you can do it yourself. It’s the same with the career coaching that I focus on. You can get support to focus on your career & once you’re on the right track then you can keep your focus on it as part of your life habits. Career coaching can help to build confidence in the role that you are currently in or if you find yourself drifting or stuck in a job, then it can help you to get clear on what you do want in your career.

When you focus on your career only when you want to change, I find people are sometimes thinking “I wish I did this three years ago” or “I wish I had volunteered for that project at work because that would have given me the experience I want now” or “I wish I had taken on the additional study 3/5/7 years ago because that would have given me what I want now.” If we’re just trudging along in our day to day & not fully clear on what we want, then we may not always be making the right decisions to help us to get to where we want to be.

Ask yourself these questions:

Do you have an idea of where you want to be with your career in the future?
Do you have a plan for your career for the next 10 years?

When you look 10 years ahead do you have an idea of what it is that you want in your career? Have you linked this career plan back to what you want in your life?
By doing this, you can make sure that you are making the right decisions now to help you get to where you want to be in the future.

Have a career goal for yourself (for next 10 year)
Link your career plan with your life plan

Don’t just focus on the job title, focus on what you want your day to day to be like. What successes you want to have; what experience you want to have, what learning you want to get; what you want to be known for. Really consider how all of this links back to the lifestyle that you want to have as well – what’s the salary you want to earn? where do you want to be located? do you want the option to be able to move?

By focusing on what you want / what you’re aiming to achieve & by being clear on those things you can start to make daily decisions on what you want both now & in the future.

Don’t worry if you don’t how you’re going to do all of this, that is what you can work your way through & learn & enjoy it all along the way.

If you want to talk through your career plan, feel free to set up a free introductory call – https://amaresults.com/introcall

If you’re interested in having a career development workshop in your company / with your team, feel free to get in touch info@amaresults.com