The Psychology of a Career

One way to achieve a great Career – is to create your own Ladder

What does “having a career” mean? It means taking ownership of your life, actively shaping, and managing it - by identifying specific goals.

This is how a Goal Works

When you set a goal, it gets parked in your subconscious. With the goal sitting in the back of your mind, you then start to recognise things that you can act on (by seeing, hearing, and reading) to move you closer to your goal. If you didn’t have the goal in your mind in the first place, then these things usually go unnoticed. After you have set the goal, it is absolutely essential to recite it to yourself as often as possible – to keep it both in the back and front of your mind.

Setting Your Career Goal

Firstly, set only one goal with a specific time period (5 years is good), make it a harder goal. Make sure that the goal is realistic, is something you are passionate about or really interested in and something you can tie back to your day-to-day life. That makes the goal extremely sustainable long-term because it directly affects your quality of life and the things you care about. 

Your goal is not locked in stone, you can always change it later as you learn more, and your experience grows – this is self-correction. The decisions you make today, influence what you become in the future. The trick is to make decisions today that you will not regret tomorrow.

Create Mini Goals

Break down the goal into smaller short-term targets. By doing this you achieve multiple successes in your pursuit of the goal. This triggers the brain’s reward system and drives you to keep going. You may set a goal to achieve in 5 years. That’s a long time to commit and wait unless you can see results along the way.

By creating mini goals, say every 12 months, you get consistent positive reinforcement that keeps you motivated to the end. Aim to identify potential opportunities, such as short courses, development programs, on-the-job training, or guidance from a mentor. Combine your true strengths, your natural talents with skills you have learnt or can learn.

Make your Goal a big one

Make your goal a stretch goal, something that you really want. Don’t worry if you think it’s too big or you can’t achieve it, that’s work yet to be done. Don’t settle for 10 if you can get 100 but be realistic – try to match your goal with your strengths – your natural talents and interests. (In my case I had a hobby in electronics and was passionate about IT). The most common mistake people make is to focus on improving their weaknesses. Instead, concentrate on what you are naturally talented at so that you can go from good to great. Ideally, these are also activities that you enjoy. People who use their strengths at work are more energetic, confident, healthy, creative, satisfied, and engaged.

The worst thing that can happen to you is that you fail to achieve your goal, but in most cases, you will still have achieved something greater than if you had no goal at all. Avoid being tempted to take the safest option, set a tough goal, challenge yourself.

Align your Goal with choosing what sort of life, you want

First of all, it helps if your goal has some real meaning, such as attaching it to the kind of life you want. When I decided at the outset of my career that I wanted to become an IT Manager, at the same time I decided that I wanted the following – as a kind of reward. 

·     Tangibles: Having enough money to comfortably live, to buy an old style, large federation home, a luxury car, and an overseas holiday each year.

·     Intangibles: A job I am passionate about, a job that is more like a hobby. The ability to continually learn and the opportunity to become and be a recognised as an expert in my field.

Create your own reasons for achieving your goal, do not base it on reasons given by others. As time goes by, add new reasons if necessary and self-correct. In my case after a year or two I added “I want to teach people” as it was something that I really enjoyed.

People who set Goals succeed

For many people, setting goals is unfortunately like making New Year’s resolutions which all too often fade. To make a goal work, you need to treat it like forming a new habit, and the only way to do that is by repetition. In my case, I recited my goal each morning in the shower until such time I was consciously and subconsciously always aware of it. With that done, I started to quickly recognise things that were useful in helping me achieve my goal. Steve Jobs understood this as well, 3 personal qualities stood out in his life: - Clarity of purpose, destination, and goals, which he cited were essential to success. 

Maximise every Opportunity

You may occasionally find yourself in a position of having to decide whether to volunteer for a tough assignment or take a new job within or outside of your department. While these situations have risks, you determine which risks you want to take to reach your career goal. Be open-minded and consider taking risks because “playing it safe” might make it harder for you to achieve your career aspirations. Show that you are capable of handling increased responsibility.

Build a Network, join LinkedIn

Building a network takes time so start early. The best and easiest way to meet and get to know new people is to be curious about them. Practice introducing yourself, especially if you are shy or do not like work related functions. “Hello, I’m Russell, I was just noticing your tie and wondered where you got it from?” Working to get to know people, allows people to get to know you.

There’s no getting around it: Networking is important, not essential – but important.

There is almost unanimous agreement among researchers that building and nurturing relationships with people — current and former colleagues and people we respect in the business — provides a strong medium for a vibrant career and a cushion for when the unplanned happens. 

Think of the people you work with every day, the people you’ll ask, “Why isn’t the printer working?” or “Have you tried the new coffee place down the street?” Think of this as your local network.

Then think of co-workers you run into on a regular basis; these are people you have a working relationship with and know well enough to have an occasional conversation. You might call them your outer circle. Next, former colleagues and old bosses. They might be your extended circle. 

Initiate conversations with your manager. Talk to them about where you want to go and what you want to do. Ask your manager for assistance in noting your strengths and the areas you need to develop in order to get to the next step. Ask for feedback as you work toward this end.

Don’t be afraid of failure, it’s how we get better

Your career journey won’t be a straight line to your goal, failures along the way are usually inevitable. You might apply for a role and not get it. But instead of giving up and feeling defeated, ask why you didn’t get the role and what you should work on in order to be better positioned for it in the future. Get comfortable being uncomfortable and know that “failures” offer your best learning opportunities.

Build your Brand

With the explosion of social media and the gig economy, branding is important not only at the corporate level but also at the individual level. It's called personal branding. Your personal brand is the unique combination of strengths, skills and experiences that make you who you are and allows you to stand out from the crowd. Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Always be very professional, if you have a professional Facebook Page, do not post pictures of your cat or what you ate for lunch. Keep it to work and career related matters.

Use social media to promote yourself – again in a very professional manner. A great way to market yourself is by creating a standalone personal website. All you need to begin is a simple layout with an “about” page and a blog. Share content consistently across your personal social media profiles to position yourself as a subject matter expert. If your website has an opt-in, you can even create a weekly newsletter. You may also consider starting a vlog or your own podcast. The essential things are to target the right audience and continually increase your visibility.

What separates you from the competition and makes you unique? Figure out your brand differentiators and try to fill a void rather than follow the pack. Ultimately you want to be your authentic self, showing potential employers how your strengths and skills are uniquely differentiated from others, while also sharing your passion, along with supporting work examples and accomplishments. If you have a personal website, maintain your CV on there for all to see – it pays to advertise.

Finally, look the part—pay attention to the people in the position you are seeking. How do they dress and carry themselves? Watch those who are successful at what you aspire to do and make appropriate changes. This aspect is very important – pay attention to it. You only get to create a first impression once – so make sure it’s a good one.

My Case Study

I speak from experience. I first started setting myself career goals when I was 23. My first career goal was to “become an IT Manager within 5 years”. I recited this goal each morning in the shower.

I then set mini goals, some of which I added one or two years later. In my case these mini goals were:

1.    To improve my writing skills. (I did a Journalism short course.)

2.    Find a mentor. (I asked the head of an IT Bureau.)

3.    Learn as much as I can about IT. (I became a Systems Analyst and Systems Programmer along the way.)

4.    Manage a project. (I built an MVS Mainframe Data Centre, staffed and implemented it.)

I achieved my first career goal and also became the youngest IT Manager in the country in the process. One of the Computer Magazines at the time wrote this up, proclaiming me as the start of a new wave of IT Managers. One thing is certain, I would never have achieved this outcome if I had not set myself a goal.

I set my next 5-year goal as: “I want to be a private IT Consultant, who stands out from the crowd.”

Having achieved my first 5-year career goal, I set about creating a second. I decided that I wanted to become a private IT Consultant (with a name to match) within the next 5 years – that would be when I was 28, a big ask at the time as all of the IT Consultants I knew were all in their forties.

I was at a BBQ one day and overheard a guy talking about his new job – he was going the be the host of a Drive Time Radio show on a prestigious Radio Station. I introduced myself and asked about his upcoming show - what sort of things did he intended to talk about. I said I could talk about home computers (which were new, just starting to happen in fact.) I got the gig and did radio for 6 years – raising my professional profile and differentiating myself from other consultants. The Radio work led me to meet a Media Agent, this resulted in my working as a Television Presenter on various programs and writing for Newspapers and Magazines. The Radio, Television and Print activities made me stand out from the crowd, with people seeing me as an expert. During this time, I started to be chased by different companies to work for them, so my Consulting career really took off and I had also differentiated myself from the Consultants pack.

I achieved my second 5-year goal, again within 5 years, and thereafter I set a new goal every 5 years. The best bit about this I found was that as time went by, I became better at achieving my goals.

I finished my IT Consulting 10 years ago which prompted me to find a new goal. Many people told me that I should write about my experiences, especially with High-Performance Teams – so I set a new 5-year goal to “become a globally recognised Management and Teams expert.” Something that I am currently doing and I’m happy to say – that I am on track.

You need to Work Hard

There are no two ways about it, to achieve just about anything in life requires hard work. If you are not prepared to do the work, there is little chance of achieving your goal. Think about all the times you have seen interviews with famous people and industry leaders, they invariably get asked what it is they attribute to their success, and they all answer ‘hard work’.

My Tips for working hard:

1.    Learn about Time Management, structure and wisely use your time.

2.    Make it a habit to always do the boring or hard stuff first to get it out of the way.

3.    Start your day early, the morning hours are the most productive.

4.    Always put in the maximum effort you can.

5.    Let your work speak for itself.

6.    Be kind to people – even those you don’t like.

Things I Learned along the Way

1.    You are either Engaged or Disengaged with your goal

It’s like life – you are either growing or dying.

Some people wrongly believe that great careers are really and truly just a matter of luck – but nothing is further from the truth. If you actively engage in managing your career, then in all likelihood it will turn out the way you want. If you actively disengage in managing your career, then it will turn out the way other people want.

Then there are people who believe that to have a great career, you have to pursue your passion, you have to pursue your dreams. I believe this is wrong, all that is really important is to: - 1. have a goal and 2. Be engaged with it which means - be determined. Being determined is how you engage with your goal, it means looking into any and all possibilities and opportunities, it means exploring and educating yourself along the way. It means going down rabbit holes and running into lots of dead ends. 

Engaging with your goal means being addicted to it, asking yourself “How many times a week do I ponder this idea?” If the answer is rarely or not often, then be honest with yourself and give up the goal, but when doing so – make a new one.

2.    Keep a Journal of your Activities

Identify the projects and tasks you find deeply satisfying (as opposed to ones that gratify you in the short term). Do you feel fulfilled when making presentations to your clients, for example? Are you energized when mentoring and coaching junior employees, thinking about how your present efforts contribute positively to their future?

3.    Self-correct as necessary and don’t get locked in

If you are not making progress towards your goal, consider changing it and making a new one. Don’t lock yourself into something unless you are making progress. This applies to jobs you hold, if a job is moving you towards your goal -stick with it, if it’s not – change job.

4.    Make your own Luck

It’s easy to make your own luck. Luck is simply ‘Hard Work meets Opportunity’. If you are working hard, developing new skills, building up your strengths and continually learning then you are doing everything you can to succeed. By doing these things, when an opportunity presents itself – you are ready to grab hold of it – that’s luck.

5.    Stay Positive

Staying positive is a powerful tools in any career development process. Good things come to those who (plan) and wait. Negative career thoughts are linked with depression, increased job avoidance behaviour and low job satisfaction, and decreased employment seeking. Further, negative career thoughts have demonstrated relationships to career indecision, career indecisiveness.

6.    Stay Informed

Careers thrive when people keep up with changes in their fields. In every endeavour there is new technology, new “best practices,” changing regulations and previously unforeseen challenges. Most jobs fall into a pattern over time changing in incremental ways. Staying on top of changes in your field helps keep your career goal on track. You may see an unexpected opportunity when a job opening is posted. Or it may tell you that it’s time to get out of our job before it changes for the worse. Some ways to achieve this are:

1.    Subscribe to professional Magazines.

2.    Enrol in Workshops and Training sessions. 

3.    Do Short Courses in different subjects to educate yourself.

Summary – How to have a great Career

1.    Set one goal at a time with a set time period, 5 years is a good period.

2.    When you set a goal, it gets parked in your subconscious, and you then start to recognise things that can move you closer to your goal.

3.    Break the goal down into mini goals along the way.

4.    Recite your goal daily until it is firmly in the back and front of your mind.

5.    Align your Goal with choosing what sort of life you want.

6.    Make your Goal a big one.

7.    People who set Goals succeed.

8.    Build a Network, join LinkedIn.

9.    Build your Brand.

10. Work Hard.

Russellfutcher.com