Is It Time For Your Career Annual Check-Up?
As a professional career coach, I’ve learned that a lot of people don’t consider their career plans as often as they should. Why not take a few minutes to look back on the past year and gain some perspective on what you’ve learned and accomplished? Conducting a personal annual career review is a wonderful career coaching exercise provided that you look at the big picture. Your annual career check-up should touch on issues close to you and how you really want to live your life, and it should also include the creation of a plan for next year.
Ask yourself eight questions during your personal annual career review:
1. With my job: How happy have I been?
2. With my personal life: How happy have I been?
3. How happy have I been with what I do for myself?
4. Did I do something that expresses my most strongly held values regularly?
5. What is one thing I would change about my job if I could?
6. What do I wish was there that I left out of my life?
7. Who is a person whose life I admire?
8. What should your game plan for the next year of your career look like?
A positive end has a good goal. It should be something you want, not something you think you should do or hate. One of those goals that sounds nice is “I am going to exercise more.” But this will end up on the back shelf undoubtedly. Instead, set goals like: “I will walk for 30 minutes three times a week. I am going to find exercise of some kind that I enjoy.”
A good strategy should move you toward something that you find enjoyable, fulfilling, productive, and rewarding. What do you find especially fulfilling in your life? What do you do that makes you lose all sense of time? Increasing what you find meaningful in your life can have a significant positive benefit for you, and for people around you.
A good strategy should move you away from people and things you find unfulfilling, meaningless, unproductive, or unrewarding. Who do you hate talking on the phone with and what do you not enjoy doing? What feels like a waste of time in your day? If you give yourself a sense of internal control over what happens to you in your life, you will learn to decrease what you find unrewarding.
While you “can” make your goals a reality and lead the life you desire, change is difficult. Take baby steps toward your goals, and remember, don’t hesitate to contact a professional career coach for guidance and support. A smart investment is to hire a career coach. We can work with you, help you achieve your goals and decide what is most important.
