Focus on Your Professional Development

Each of us has a choice, accept what happens in our careers or take actions that position us for success.  Your career success begins with you.  While this is obvious to most, to some it isn’t and they approach their careers by passively accepting their careers, rather than taking a proactive approach to managing their careers.

What do you really value?  Time with your family and friends?  Having a fulfilling career?  Being able to use your talents and passion?  You know whether you’re in a place that uses your talents, lights your fire and provides the benefits to support your desired lifestyle.  Perhaps you are in a position that you love.  If so, you may even want to ask yourself if it’s sustainable and if not, what can you do to position yourself for the future?  Does your position enable you to live a life that supports your value system while providing you opportunities for learning and growth or other attributes that you value?  If not, you may want to explore if there’s anything you can do to realign and reposition yourself to live the life you want.  Perhaps it’s time to reflect upon your mission statement.  Your career success does depend upon you. Life is short and precious.

Photo by Thomas Hawk, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.