Building Your Career in the 2020s

 

Life is simple, get the things you want that will make you happy. If only it was that easy.

In a world of social media and information overload, it's easy to feel like you are falling behind. How can everyone have so much going for them and I'm not? The truth is, what we see is only what people choose to share; we are craving acceptance and validation.

For most people, it's a culture shock going into the workforce. We move from trying to fit in, developing friendships and finding our place in communities to a world that focuses on accomplishments and impact to punch our ticket.

This causes new entrants to the workforce to develop pleasing habits. We want to be liked, we want the validation, and because of this we fall into a mode of doing the job / doing what we are told and will start limiting of thinking and focus for the future.

It's said that the biggest benefit someone gets from higher education is "learning how to learn", as a general statement, I agree with this. What I suggest to you then, is that the most successful people aren't the smartest people in the room, they are the ones that best learn how to deal with discomfort.

Discomfort forces you to adapt, change and grow. It is what will help you stand out, help you achieve better results, and get noticed and supported when you want to take those next steps in your career.

Here are some of the most helpful things I have learned along my journey.

1. Develop your self-awareness. This one took longer for me to appreciate than I care to admit. No one will ever know you better than you know yourself; the challenge is that it's easiest to lie to ourselves. Put the effort into two main buckets.
   First, get to know the person you are. We all have extremes with a lot of grey in between. Be brutally honest with who you are, it's the canvas that everything else is layered onto.
   Second, know what it is that you want to achieve or where you want to be. More importantly however, know WHY.
   
   
2. Ask a lot of Questions. You might find me a bit special, I do feel that one of my superpowers is asking better questions; it has contributed immensely to my career success.
   I encourage everyone to try this. Staying curious ans asking more questions with a focus of deep understanding immediately makes you more effective at work. It also highlights how many people DON'T ask enough questions. Most people prefer comfort, the certainty of doing things how they have been told to ... don't be most people.
   
   
3. Look to your peers to help you. Yes, that's right, I am encouraging you to admit you don't know how to do something. The crazy part, that's ok. I'm fortunate to have been leading teams for some time now. I can tell you, I have never been impressed by anyone spending weeks to figure something out on their own when they could have gotten the same understanding by asking the person in the next department over.
   You will have a lot of opportunities to solve problems in new and innovating ways, don't waste time and attention when you don't need to.
   
   
4. Accept Feedback. To be clear, criticism is not feedback, so don't get confused. Feedback is someone sharing an opportunity for improvement with you that is rooted in good intentions. It is wicked hard to give someone feedback when it relates to gaps in performance or skill-set, so when someone gives you proper feedback, you need to be able to step outside of the emotional response and understand why that person (or group) feels a certain way and has the perception they do. While not everyone's read on you will be correct, if it starts coming from different people, it probably is.
   
   If you think everyone in the room is the problem, you are most likely the problem.
   
   
5. Slow Down. When we start our career we are overly eager. We are defaulting to that pleasing behaviour and we often rush in and try to prove ourselves. Make sure to make room for yourself to be able to think, to evaluate ... re-evaluate. People will ask for your yes all the time, it's ok to say that you are not sure, don't know or need to think about it.
   
   
6. It's a two way street. Your relationship with your boss is as much your responsibility as it is theirs. That means you should not engage in blaming your boss for your challenges (just in the same way that they need to figure out how to connect with you - we are all unique after all).
   Since you cannot control other people, you need to focus on what you can influence. What type of person is your boss? What are his/her needs? When does she seem happy or unhappy with something?
   Effectively managing up is one of the best skills and biggest gifts you can give yourself. Check your ego, it won't make anything better.
   
   
7. No one is responsible but you. I can tell you that over the last 15 years of my career, I have rarely seen people take the right level of ownership for their development. There is a dogma that people adopt, that their employer will see their value, will want to build their career and as such, will plan out all of the required training and circumstances to make sure that you stay on track to becoming the next CEO.
   Absolutely. False.
   No one will ever have as much interest in your career as you do. You need to do the work. You need to find ways to keep learning. Build your own career capital.

 

There's all kinds of other topics that branch out from the ideas above. Starting with those will give you a leg up on those that are still walking around, eyes wide shut.