Are you staring up at someone's backside? 🤔

Charting Your Own Path: Tips for Crafting Your Career Goals

Jun 18, 2023

Hey Friends,

Greetings from a bright and sunny Netherlands. Temperatures range between 20-27 degrees Celsius and we have been having some fantastic weather the past couple of weeks.

I was reflecting on the events of the week that concluded, and I went back to a few conversations with a few people who were applying for certain jobs and reflecting on their career paths so far.

In the past couple of months, I’ve found myself in the position of being called on to provide input or guidance to people who were either offered new roles or were interested in some roles that have caught their attention.

But before we get into that…

What do I (You) really want?

Have you observed people make many career moves to navigate the so-called corporate ladder and you often wonder how they do it? What have they done to get that ticket? Did they have to deliver results? Were they in the right place right time? Did their Network help them get there?

A mix of the above might be the right answer, but I have also seen cases where just one of the above may also have been sufficient.

I have witnessed more than a few instances where people didn’t have to deliver anything but there have also been cases of people being in the right place at the right time, or having the right individual to provide support - i.e. networking.

But there are some who also do all the right things and make career strides based on the quality of the individual and the results they deliver. In the past this seemed to be the norm, but of late this seems to be taking a turn in at least some big corporations and there are social conversations mixed in with business conversations which is making the waters a bit more cloudy.

I used to get upset earlier at the injustices of “rules for me but not for thee” but I have matured over the years and realized that my path is unique to me and my quest is to discover what’s best for ME as an individual.

Someone once told me that when you try to climb other people’s ladders, you spend most of your career staring up at someone’s backside. Not the sunshine and roses you were expecting, right?

People have different motivations, principles, and standards, and on some things, you may be willing to compromise, while on others you stick to your guns. This may at times be to the detriment of your career but this is what differentiates you from others.

This is also why when I am asked for advice, then I try to be as objective as possible. Advising on career moves is not easy (at least not easy if you want to be honest).

I try to understand the direction that people want to go and get a perspective of their motivations. These are usually the questions I ask to gauge how much thought and intention people have put into this topic:

What would you define as your ultimate life goal, and by when do you want to get there?

What’s the ideal/ perfect job(s) that you aim for which you think will help you achieve your life goals?

The role that you are interested in for now, will it help you get to your ideal job?

What skills have you identified that are missing from where you are now to your ideal job?

The job you are targeting, will that help you develop those skills?

If you are right now in a situation looking at roles or going to be looking for a change in your role, take a pause and consider some of these questions.

I think clarity of thought in terms of what you really want as an individual is an important point of contemplation. What works for one person may not work for another.

Let me try and explain.

Story Time

Last year I had the privilege of attending a Global leadership conference where we had about 900-1000 of the leadership from across the world together in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was the first time in about 2 years that this event took place and this was just when countries started opening up post the Covid pandemic.

It was a great event, and especially amazing to see a lot of people that you saw over virtual conference calls. I also saw a lot of people who I was surprised to see get to these levels of leadership - to be fair, maybe some of them were surprised to see me as well 😄.

But that wasn’t the point I wanted to make.

In conversations with many of those people, I became aware that some of them were either divorced or separated, focused on careers, and had not had the chance to build meaningful relationships. There were serious personal sacrifices that have been made by each of those individuals to get to these levels.

I met people who were raising small kids on their own and were saying that it is a challenge because they travel quite often and then their kids have to keep shuttling between parents or the ex.

When you look around in your workplace you may find people moving jobs at the speed of light - don’t get too caught up in their moves. Everyone is in their own race. Everyone has different motivations in life, and sometimes they look for things to distract themselves from other things going on in their lives.

I am sure you will find people who have made significant sacrifices in their personal life to be successful at a career. Time on the road for long periods of time, long hours at the office, and being away from the family.

I also know of people who prioritized their personal life and family above that of a career, and that does not mean that they have less focus on their career, rather there are some lines they have drawn for their personal goals.

Taking a look at a few of my closest friends, one of them walked away from a career and prioritized his own personal motivations, and another one has made sacrifices to be close to his daughters and his parents. They prioritized what was more important to themselves as individuals.

There is no right or wrong answer, it is about making sure you have made the choices where you don’t feel regret in the years to come. It is ok to be 50 and single with a high-flying career if that’s what you really wanted and if that is fulfilling to you.

On the flip side, you also should not regret that you said no to career moves and stayed in one location or job for too long. You can’t have everything you want without having to make some compromises or sacrifices - and even then you won’t have everything you want.

I used to work in Dubai till about 8 years ago, and the people I used to work with back in the day are still in Dubai because they didn’t want to pay taxes by moving to another location and losing some of the comforts they enjoyed today. They are doing the same or a similar job for the last 10-15 years. Of course, they want career growth, but to do that they will have to step out of their comfort zone and be willing to make sacrifices. So they sacrificed their career growth to have an income with no taxes - you can’t have everything you want.

What Steps can I take?

Coming back to our main topic of charting your own path, take a moment to understand where you really want to go.

Making a plan together with your significant other and having joint goals might be a great way to stay focused and keep each other honest. If you don't have a significant other (yet) then make a plan with intent. Below are some steps that I can recommend to help build that plan:

Focus on your path: Try to become a better version of yourself and focus on your path of improvement. You are multidimensional when you compare yourself to yourself, but only one-dimensional when you compare yourself to others as that is the only dimension you see. Stay true to your personal motivations.

“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday rather than who someone else is today” - Jordan Peterson - Rule #4 from 12 Rules for Life

Long-term play: Making choices with intention will over the longer term pay more dividends than chasing that shiny object for the short term. Have a longer-term strategy and try to connect your current state to your ideal future state. Your personal life and career are connected and dependent on each other to get you to your life goal.
Identify Gaps (The What): To get to where you want to go, you need to know what are the key gaps that need to be filled. Instead of just jumping into different programs, spend time identifying the areas you need to focus your attention on. I know of people who want to do all the courses in the world to show that they are constantly working on self-improvement, but this is more optics than really having focused improvements.
Address the Gaps(The How): If you need to build a new set of skills, then start reading up, attending courses, and seek challenges that help build those skills. If you need help with a network, plan 2 hours a week to meet new people who can help you build that skill. If you need advice on how to navigate situations then get a coach - ideally, pay for one because when you pay for something you take it more seriously.
To move from one job to another sometimes you need to build certain skills such as managing a team, managing senior stakeholders, building executive presence, etc. Find avenues where you can get to work on these or ask for advice from people who have experience.
Take stock of progress: Every three or six months evaluate progress on your plan. Be critical of yourself and judge whether there are things you could have done more of or differently.

So are you staring up at someone’s backside or have you decided to climb your own ladder?

I am sure if you follow the above with a bit more intention, you will take ownership of your own ladder and have a more fulfilling life. End of the day it is about making sure you have no regrets related to the choices you have made for yourself.

Avoid comparisons with others as you only see the dimension visible to you, and the only person who you can observe in all dimensions of life such as friends, family, work, etc. is yourself.

There is no harm in course correcting if you find yourself on the wrong path right now, but please do take action now, rather than three years from now.

Do you have a plan for your life, or have someone in your life who is helping you build that plan? Please let me know. If there are topics here that you would like me to dive into deeper, then please do let me know.

By George!

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