How Can I Be More Successful In My Career? Part 4 of 4

This might seem an ‘odd one out’ in the four articles focused around Top Tips for a Successful Career, but reflection is a key part of success. Staying motivated is essential to drive your career forward and often we find ourselves at a dead-end wandering what we’ve done and what we have actually achieved on the journey so far.

Part 4 of 4: Reflecting on Progress 

Taking time to look at the bigger picture will also help to bring you back on track with the goals you have set and identify where you may have veered off in another direction. On the other hand, you might be making loads of progress and when you achieve a milestone or a reach a goal you power on straight into the next challenge without looking back.

While it’s great that you might be making some strong progress, taking the time to reflect of your achievements is as important as reflecting on where you might be struggling. Those small wins that are leading you to that ‘end goal’ (if there is one) need to be recognised. Pat yourself on the back once in a while and treat yourself to a good dose of reflection to see how far you’ve come.

So, how does one reflect? Self-reflection is a common term these days and I’m not about to go into a tirade of meditation techniques and your inner-most thoughts. Fear not. But on that note, there are some great meditation tips out there and as a meditating newbie I highly recommend. Back to this article, and here are some options to get some reflection time in when you find yourself speeding through life at 100mph or when you’re lacking the oomph to keep moving forward with your career goals.

Using paper:

•         Grab a piece of paper and draw a line across the middle of the page (landscape) with an arrow head at one end. At the other end write the date exactly 1 year ago – e.g. 16/01/18.  
•         Above the line, write everything you have done over the last year that comes to mind, starting from the date 1 year ago and making your way along the line through the months up to today.
•        The aim is to write things you have completed e.g. projects, courses, hobbies, events, new connections, travel etc. Anything. But be specific so you will know what they are if you looked back at this in future.
•         Below the line, write the things you would like to have done over the past year, again aiming to move along from 1 year ago and through to today.
•         This might take you 10 minutes or it might take you an hour – the point is to get down on paper things you have done and things you want to do.
•         By doing this, you have a one page summary of achievements and goals that you can use to identify where you have made progress as well as where you might want to focus your goals moving forward.

Using your thoughts:

•         Ok so this is a little bit similar to meditating but before I dipped my toe into it, I simply took 10 minutes out of my day every Friday and Sunday to think about the week.
•         Friday was for looking at what I had done that week at work as well as on a personal level that made me progress in some way.
•         Sunday was for looking ahead at the following week about to start and set mini goals on what I wanted to focus on and achieve in the coming days.
•         Just 20 minutes a week broken down into 2 x 10-minute chunks and I found myself making much more progress than I had before bringing in this exercise.

Using other people:

•          To clarify ‘use’ in this context isn’t to use in a negative, conniving way for your own gain…
•          By this I mean talk to other people who you interact with regularly and get their thoughts on different areas of you
•          This might be daunting but if you can speak to 3 people, potentially a work colleague, a friend and even your line manager, and ask them how they would describe your progress over the last year you’ll be fascinated by the results.
•          It does expose you to hearing potentially concerning mumblings and delays in answers but it will be interesting to hear what others say when they reflect on YOU over the last year.

That wraps up our How can I be successful in my career series - check out next week's blog for more top tips on your skill development!

@theiamhub