Here's how you can propel your career forward with strategic thinking.

(1) DEFINE YOUR LONG-TERM GOALS Identify where you want your career to be in the future. Setting clear, long-term objectives that align with your personal values and aspirations is crucial for directional clarity and sustained motivation. (2) ENSURE GOALS ARE AMBITIOUS YET ACHIEVABLE Balance ambition with realism. Your career goals should stretch your capabilities without setting you up for frustration. Achievable goals foster confidence and continuous progress. (3) USE YOUR VISION AS YOUR NORTH STAR Let your career vision guide all your professional decisions and actions. A well-defined vision helps you navigate challenges and remain focused, driving you towards your career aspirations consistently.

Think about your values, strengths and interests. What kind of work excites you? What problems do you want to solve? Future-think: Imagine yourself 5-10 years down the line. What kind of role do you see yourself in? What impact do you want to have? The more detailed your vision, the more powerful it becomes. Don't just say you want to be successful, define what success means to you Piensa en tus valores, fortalezas e intereses. ?Qué tipo de trabajo te apasiona? ?Qué problemas quieres resolver? Piensa en el futuro: imagínate dentro de 5 a 10 a?os. ?En qué tipo de rol te ves??Qué impacto quieres tener? Cuanto más detallada sea tu visión, más poderosa será. No te limites a decir que quieres tener éxito, define qué significa el éxito para tí

Propelling your career forward with strategic thinking involves a proactive and planned approach. Start by setting clear, long-term career goals and map out the steps necessary to achieve them. Regularly assess industry trends and required skills, and align your learning path to stay ahead. Cultivate a strong professional network by connecting with mentors and peers who can provide insight and opportunities. Embrace challenges as opportunities to demonstrate your capabilities and adaptability. Prioritize tasks that align with your career objectives and delegate or set aside less critical tasks.

Vision crafting (defined) is the process of conceptualizing and articulating a clear and inspiring vision for the future of an individual, team, or organization. It involves defining goals, values, and aspirations, and communicating them effectively to align and motivate stakeholders toward a common purpose. Now, simply apply this to yourself. Craft your vision, stay focused, and help everyone around you cross the finish line with you.

The key to effective goal setting is specificity, relevance, measurability, achievability, and time-bound nature. Goals should be clear, meaningful, quantifiable, realistic, and have a deadline. Regular review and adjustment ensure alignment with priorities and progress tracking, fostering motivation and accountability for successful attainment. While SMART goals are common, this process breaks goal setting down even further.

One of the most important things is to define your criteria for making decisions. Comparing a few options (e.g. job offers, or paths) is insanely hard to do as most are apples to pineapples. Evaluation > Comparison Take a moment and write down how you'll evaluate options, selecting no more than 5 criteria. Then put them in rank order of importance. Often using a simple spreadsheet to score the options can help (google Kepner Tregoe).

There are so many great ways to stay informed with all of the podcasts, articles on LinkedIn, and books available. Many corporations offer their own learning platforms which can be great places to source relevant information to help you stay informed and add value.

The mind truly is a terrible thing to waste. It has been said that as one thinks, so is he. So, the idea of continuous learning is synonymous with personal growth.

In all of the strategic focus training we do at LEADx, one of the most critical skills is the ability to "step back and forth between the dancefloor and the balcony." You have to be able to move fluidly between "being strategic" and "executing." You also have to become skilled at recognizing when to do one vs. the other.

Plan to invest both time and money into your career. Why, because ~95% of professionals don't so simply by doing this you'll be ahead of the pack! There are often things that employers won't or can't pay for, but they will certainly advantage you. For instance, pay to get a decent portrait or headshot taken. Perhaps its upgrading to a podcast-level microphone for when you work from home. Or even designing your office to have an appealing visual background. Also, buying tickets to events, like a gala or a conference, where you'll expand your network can be high ROI. Take yourself seriously by putting your money and time into an investment you believe in -- yourself!