So, what do you want? What’s your success?

What is your mental picture of success?

In as much as we have said that career success is a journey and not necessarily a destination, that does not remove the need for visioning, planning and goal setting. No matter where you are in your professional life, you need to have some sort of plan or goal that you aim to reach.

I hate planning. Not my strength, not my passion. I loathe executive retreats with their endless workshops and discussions on ‘Quarter 1 strategic plans’. I once worked for a firm that required yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily plans. If management ever stopped ‘planning’ and started ‘doing’ they’d be dangerous!

That said, I have to admit there are benefits of a clear vision and (adaptable) plans to reach the goal. I call mine a ‘direction of travel’. Clarity of what is important for the future. I don’t see a specific role, but instead my direction of travel has always focused around a set of non-negotiables. Complexity, decision making, accountability, scope of role. These formed the vision for my career – not so much specific roles and timeframes to meet them.

Remember the exercise that you performed earlier, the one that had you imagining yourself as a success and other successful people? You should do that again, but this time, pay attention to as many details as you can to that fantasy. Who are you in those scenarios, why do you imagine the people you do as representations of success? As much as you can, try to write these details down. This should help you determine what matters to you as career success. Success in your career is personal to you, it could mean personal fulfilment, it could be fame, it could be respect, or many other things. Knowing what you consider success would help you to determine how to approach your career development plan.

I’ve met people who use vision-boards for the same goal. They find pictures that represent the important elements of their goal or vision and create a collage for their home-study, bathroom mirror or bedroom. It’s a very visual way to focus the mind. I wish I had their creativity or time!!