How can you use setbacks to grow in your career goals?

Extremamente necessário identificar a causa para saber solu??o do ocorrido, tirar como aprendizado, e em seguida criar novas estratégias para seguir seus passos. Na nossa carreira, assim como na vida, acontecem imprevistos que devemos corrigir e seguir a caminhada.

Identifying the root cause is crucial: It allows you to reassess your career objectives and adjust your approach. After experiencing a setback with a Marketing Coordinator position, I seized the opportunity to reflect on my industry alignment. I turned to the Career Center at my alma mater, the University of San Diego, taking the MBTI assessment and exploring potential careers that aligned with my personality. Additionally, I conducted informational interviews with professionals in roles that intrigued me. This process led me to pivot towards a career in Career Counseling, prompting my decision to return to grad school. Today I dedicate my life's work to help others find fulfilling and rewarding careers - using setbacks as opportunities.

Setbacks can never be overcome till we understand the cause. Introspection is key here. Take your time to reflect on what didn’t work for you and then plan to improvise on or eliminate the shortcomings. Knowing the root cause early on saves time and effort. It’s better to put your energy to good use and solve the underlying problems.

One way I look for causes is by examining the results. The results resemble the causes. If I trust the law that says "same makes the same", and the 2nd law which says "the result is bigger than its cause", then it's much easier to identify it and look for tangible solutions. The most useful solution after identifying the cause is to figure out the steps to stop the cause, and better, do its opposite.

Setbacks can be powerful growth catalysts in your career. They force reevaluation of strategies, inspire resilience, and improve problem-solving skills. For example, a project failure might reveal knowledge gaps, prompting further learning and skill development. Or, a missed promotion might motivate you to seek feedback, leading to performance improvements. Every setback is an opportunity to build tenacity and adaptability, qualities highly valued in any career path.

Depois da autoanálise o Feedback é uma poderosa ferramenta de crescimento e desenvolvimento pessoal e profissional. Um feedback construtivo, claro e honesto é uma verdadeira bússola para refazer o caminho e entender como o erro/ falha pode ser um meio de aprendizado. Investir em autoconhecimento ajuda muito a forma como o profissional pode lidar com o Feedback e aproveitá-lo ao máximo.

Setbacks in your career can be valuable learning opportunities. When facing challenges, seek feedback from colleagues or mentors to gain insights into areas for improvement. Constructive feedback helps you adapt, refine your skills, and ultimately grow, contributing to your long-term career goals.

When you seek feedback from others, make sure you are ready to receive it. Go into the discussion with an objective assessment of the issue and your role in it. Let the other person know that you want feedback around a specific problem. Then let them talk and give their feedback. Now is not the time to defend yourself - you have asked for this feedback, so receive it. The next step is for you to ensure understanding about what you have heard. Summarize, rephrase, and ask clarifying questions about the feedback you heard. Then commit to the person a single action you are going to take based on their feedback. It is the best thanks anyone can receive for putting themselves on the line for you.

New goals are mandatory. But they should mirror your life vision! How do you want to live your life? And what are the goals to set to ensure that you will get to live as you deserve?

SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-constrained) are critical to set if you want to make progress on your setback. The key is to break down your major goal into smaller SMART goals. Don't let your smaller steps take much time - the more progress you can see, the more you will be inspired to continue towards your goal. If Building Your Network is your goal, for example, make a SMART sub-goal as follows: "Add one [measurable] new person to my network [relevant] this week [time-bound] by scheduling and holding a 30 minute informational interview [specific, achievable] with someone new in my target career."

Yes, you could change the goal, and most often, it is not really about the goals but the plans you set towards achieving them. Your plans may have been unrealistic or you were probably more stuck on the plans than with the goals. Achieving a goal requires some navigation, charting the course and sometimes course correcting along the way. Avoid falling in love with your plans because they can change, and should change as you grow and get more clarity. Review your plans periodically and see if they are still relevant to the goal, otherwise change them.

Keep up with the market’s needs and trends but also with your heart’s wish Make sure you choose a career according to your true identity and that you will make an inventory of the skills this career requires! Always look at the 3 professional dimensions when thinking of your career: 1 know how 2 skills 3 identify

Before you acquire new skills, be sure they are relevant to what you need. Ask people in your career of choice what THEY use and how they developed them. Getting the skills is one thing - practicing the skills, however, is even more important. Find ways to use your new skills - volunteer, do small projects, do pro bono work to show you can use this new skill.

One obvious setback we’re all familiar with was the adjustment to the pandemic. Companies and people that resisted online schedules and platforms were soon forced to adapt or leave. Many lost their jobs and are still struggling to recover. Through all of this, we must see how setbacks can be used to learn and grow. Personally, I learned a lot about online meetings, breakout rooms, and the need to recognize what work/life balance was. Change is constant, it’s just that the level of change was much greater and on a larger scale in the past three years than anytime before that. By expecting adjustments, and dare I say looking forward to evolving, we stay sharp and current.

Ever heard the term "the career ladder?" Well, go ahead and un-learn that. Career development isn't linear. It's more of a web or a cloud. And there is always more than one option on the table for you. The most successful people are the ones who are able to adjust quickly. Changes in your career path are opportunities. Yes, financially and emotionally this might seem pretty awful to you in the moment. Do what you need to do first. Then take a breath, grit your teeth, and find your next opportunity.

Mudar traz sentimento de medo, receio, tudo que é novo nos remete a ter maior aten??o e é normal, porém n?o pode nos paralisar. Devemos olhar n?o só pelo lado negativo, mas avaliar as demais op??es, e ter a mente aberta a olhar o novo que pode resultar em mudan?as surpreendentes. S?o nesses momentos que nos descobrimos mais fortes.

Change isn’t a part of life, life is change. The sooner and more effectively we learn how to ride the wave of change, the more likely we’ll be to achieve success in our lives. No matter how you define success! So when any adversity at all in your career takes place, take the time to feel how it feels, but then ask yourself: “What can I learn from this to put myself into a more desirable position?”

As humans, it's in our nature to be afraid of change. It's like we're programed to think that when something HAS to change it must be BAD. But, that's NOT the case. If you reexamined those moments in your career and life that changed, they probably all worked out in your favor–in the end ;-) Yes, you know it's true! For example, If you weren't laid off, you probably would have stayed at that soul-crushing job FOREVER. Or that time the new guy got your promotion AND the impending layoff of that position 3 months later. What was his name again? Greg? It's like my favorite book about change, Who Moved My Cheese, says, "The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese." Yeah, who wants old stinky cheese anyways?

In my field of vocational rehabilitation counseling, there's only two outcomes after the initiation of services under an approved individualized plan for employment: (1) successfully rehabilitated and (2) unsuccessfully rehabilitated. When we close a case as unsuccessfully rehabilitated, staff naturally feel bummed out about it. When I was a VR Counselor many moons ago, my consumer (or client) with schizoaffective disorder decided she wasn't ready to re-enter the workforce so we mutually agreed to close her case. Yes, I felt bad about the outcome, but I saw my consumer's personal transformation as a result of substantial counseling and guidance and I focused on that success. After a few sessions with me, ... (see next contribution)

At times, career setbacks unveil themselves as divine interventions, shielding us from worse outcomes. I've personally weathered several unpleasant setbacks in my career. Looking back, I realize these challenging moments were blessings in disguise. They not only tested my resilience but also guided me toward unexpected avenues, ultimately strengthening my journey. Trust the process. Acknowledge that setbacks often pave the way for growth. Patience and perseverance are key. Keep faith in your abilities and the journey ahead.

Something I've found really helpful is embracing the wholistic growth that comes from dealing with a career setback. There is the improved ability for nuanced conversations, development of one's capacity for empathy when engaging people dealing with similar circumstances. There is also acquired depth which will become useful for mentoring people. All of the above can help one develop resilience, as well as capacity to show up over-prepared at the next try.

An important question to ask when dealing with setbacks is to ask yourself 'how would I do this differently next time?' It's exactly the kind of question that interviewers using a critical incident approach will ask in a job interview. Use your learning from your setbacks to give you great material to prepare for job interviews, so you don't get floored by such a questions.

Your career setback can become a minor event in your career if you take action : learn, upskill, get mentoring or coaching on the comptencies, mindset, behavior you are missing. Show and be aware of your ability to bounce back, learn and grow. You will also be more indulgent with other colleagues, collaborators you will work with, who have also been through a career setback.

This relates directly to building resilience in your professional life, because really, everything is a learning opportunity in disguise. Setbacks can really hurt, but there are endless lessons they can teach you. For example, they can uncover hidden values, work preferences, untapped skills, and new opportunities. In my experience, I’ve taken positions that turned out not to be a vocational match. That “setback” taught me so much about what I craved from a work environment, and I was able to make much better decisions about what work I wanted to pursue going forward. It was a real game changer and filled me with motivation.