Careers don’t just happen, and success needs to be planned. That’s the message of this short piece. Some people make their high-flying careers seem effortless, don’t they? But maybe they are just very good at concealing the hard work that’s going on beneath the surface? There’s a stark choice open to anyone with talent; you either drift along and see what happens, or you make a plan and aim for something. Let’s suppose that drifting is not what you want.
Tip one; make a plan.
That involves thinking about your personal objectives and working out what you need to do to achieve them.
The fundamental thing about planning is that it’s the process that counts. That’s true in business as well as in your personal plans. If you think through the things you want to achieve, and work out the steps you need to take, you will be well placed to react intelligently to whatever happens in reality.
Tip two; write your plan down.
Remember the old business motto- “if it’s not in writing it didn’t happen”. In this case, if you don’t write your personal plan down you’ll probably not take it seriously.
Tip three; don’t rely on others to do the planning for you.
Big companies often have “career planning” functions, which mould their people to meet their future needs.
If you decide to join a big company, make sure that your personal needs and their corporate ones are well matched. For example, if you want to travel the world but the company wants you to be a long term resident in your home country, you might want to think twice about joining them. Don’t let short term pay, or the prestige of the company, pull you in a direction you’ll later regret.
Tip four; be honest with yourself.
This plan is between you and you! So make an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Then work out whether your strengths can be sufficient to get you where you want to go. Chances are, you’ll need to do something about your weaknesses.
Tip five; take action now.
All high flyers are action-oriented. They get a reputation for getting things done. Don’t be afraid of making quick decisions when you have to. It’s usually better to get something mostly right today than completely right next month.
But if you have the luxury of time, use it wisely. Don’t avoid the issue until the last minute, then make a quick decision!
Tip six; be prepared for the unexpected.
It’s a nearly universal law in planning that even the best of plans will not survive contact with the real world. Things will happen that you don’t anticipate. But look back to Tip one, above. If you have made a plan, and gone through the process properly, you will be able to assess quickly if the unexpected occurrence can be used to your benefit. You will be in a position to judge risk, and take action.
And finally, please remember that English is the international language of business, the media, and the academic world. You can “get by” with moderate English, but to “get on” you need to read it, write it and speak it well. The AIM team are here to help. Call them now for an assessment.