January always brings to mind a few new or even renewed resolutions. While the most common are diet, lifestyle, and exercise-related, growing in popularity is a career tweak or two. Refining your work so that it’s more harmonious with your evolving lifestyle is definitely desirable. However, doing so may be a challenge. To help you hone your career resolutions, consider the following qualifiers.
Be specific
If it’s truly a resolution on which you plan to act then it must be defined by specific and measureable actions and outcomes. While exercising more, spending less time on the Internet and eating healthier foods are admirable resolutions, they’re vague. When will you eat healthy? What does healthy mean? And how often will you commit to doing so? Whether or not you keep your resolutions is up to you, but defining the what, when and how increases your odds. For a resolution to work, it needs quantifiable and timely steps, such as reading two books a month or walking 30 minutes a day. And for career resolutions to be successful, you need a specific strategy. For example, if your plan includes building your network, how will you do this? When will this action take place? And what will your “developed network” look like? By providing specific answers to these questions, you’ll increase your resolution success rate.
Find balance
One of the most common career resolutions includes finding a new job. Unfortunately, this plan may result from a bitter year’s end. Perhaps the raise you were hoping for didn’t come through; the conflict with your boss has set your teeth on edge; or your seventy-hour work week is taking a toll on your physical and mental health. Setting hasty career resolutions as a way of escape may land you back in the same unhealthy situation somewhere else. Still, it’s imperative to have a productive and growth-oriented career wherever you are and if that doesn’t describe your current environment then a change is warranted. Regardless of whether your career resolutions include garnering a new title or finding a new organization, ensure there’s a healthy balance between your professional and personal life. Professional burnout is common in a tight economy, so your career resolutions should include a plan for sustaining health, wellness, and inner peace while climbing the corporate ladder.
Hone your skill
Career resolutions should be revisited and polished on a regular basis. We live in a world of constant change so naturally our resolutions will ebb and flow accordingly.
If a resolution includes moving into a financial management role but your institution has put a freeze on promotions, consider modifying your proposal to highlight you as a unique solutions provider. This strategy not only preps you for position negotiation but prepares your targeted search. If your goal is to improve your written communication style then take advantage of skill building opportunities both inside
and outside your organization.
Professional development tracts are readily growing so if the workshop you completed in the beginning of the year wasn’t professionally fulfilling, then explore a cutting-edge webinar or mentoring program next quarter. If a career resolution is important then commit to this effort and remember, don’t be hard on yourself if you experience a setback. There’s always a reason for this golden learning experience. Take a deep breath, hone your resolution then try, try again.
Create excitement
Even the most daunting of career challenges can be exciting when analyzed and retooled after a 360 degree evaluation. Examine all the ways you can add punch to the project, like implementing a personal transformation process, re-branding your service and yourself or develop a career-defining collaboration. This may be a perfect opportunity to partner with someone whom you’ve been eager to collaborate with and who knows where that might lead. Experiment, explore and step out of your comfort zone; in doing so, you’ll embark on exciting ventures that will enhance your professional journey and be met with success.
Kim Monaghan is a coach, management consultant and proponent of “A Healthy Career” (www.aHealthyCareer.com). She is a professionally trained coach, certified resume writer, West Michigan Careers in Transitions Coach and a member of the Professional Coaching Association of Michigan and International Coaching Federation.
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