5 Reasons you're not reaching your career goals (and how to fix them)
ErinBlythe "EB" Sanders
Career Coach | Speaker | Consultant | Find work that works for you! @ ebsanders.com/free-stuff
Stop me if this seems familiar. You've been trucking along, progressing in your career and getting that incremental raise each cycle.
All your friends think that you’re totally killing it and that you’ll be in the corner office in no time.
However, ?you're nowhere near being where you actually want to be in your career.
How does that make you feel? Confused, wondering “Why not”? Like you’re on a hamster wheel? Like you don't even understand why you got into designer dog grooming in the first place?
Read on to learn why you’re not seeing the mind-blowing career progression results you've been promised by the old narrative before you head down the a shame spiral!
Ready to learn all about how to reach those career milestones you stay up late thinking about?
Grab yourself your emotional support beverage bottle and that extra smooth pen you stole from that hotel bar that one time.
Throughout my (many) years working in the career space, I have learned a thing or two about why people aren't getting the job satisfaction they’re looking for.
Often it comes down to one of these 5 reasons. Knowing the what and why is often the first step in getting the level of happiness in your career that you desire.
Pssst, if you want more tips on how to reach your goals, join my weekly newsletter where I send actionable career advice directly to your digital doorstep. It’s where I share exclusive behind-the-scenes strategies and tips on creating a career you love.
Reason #1. You Find Yourself Comparing Yourself to Others?
You must have heard that “comparison is the thief of joy,” right? That's exactly what's happening when you measure your results against those of literally anyone else.
First thing’s first you have to stop measuring your life with somebody else's ruler! As I used to have to say all the time when I was teaching “Eyes on your own paper!”
You never know someone else’s reality and their actual day to day. You have to create your own markers for your own reasons for anything to have any actual meaning.
Reason #2. Sometimes You Let Your Career Happen to You
Friend, this is a judgment-free zone, so you can level with me on this.?
Do you have a career plan? Like a thought out, detailed, roadmap of what you want to accomplish?
I thought not. It's time to create one! ASAP
If you don’t engage with your career with intentionality, someone else will be deciding how it looks.
Related: There's a nifty little workshop on how to do this available here.?
Reason #3. You Don't Understand Your Goals
In order to make your dog proud of your career accomplishments, you have to get clear on precisely what those goals are.
I like to have my clients? follow the easy 3-step system outlined here:
Do you need a helping hand with this process? Kaitlyn did. My work with Kaitlyn started when she was? at a similar place to where you are now. After 90 days, we had worked together to get her from being lost in the big pond to succeeding in her work as a marketing executive.
Reason #4: You're Not Being Your Own Advocate
Whoa, hold your horses there, friend. I'm not saying you're not working hard enough!
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Quite the opposite. ?What I’m saying is that you could be working (and struggling) less. But, it’s going to take a bit more work up front.
Once you’ve defined your idea of success and decided to be intentional with your career, you have to be the one to put things in motion.
Can you think of an area within your way of working that could benefit from you focusing on an outcome you want (instead of what’s simply expected)?
I know that when I wasn’t intentional with my career and just assumed it was taking care of itself, it was really hard to move forward the way I needed to.
I, like most people, assumed that you put your head down, did the work and then the raised and promotions and recognition happened as part of due course. Um. Very big no there.?
It wasn’t until I started speaking up, advocating for myself and working towards the career plan that I’d mapped out that I began to achieve the career outcomes I was looking for (and making the money I wanted.)
Seriously, once you tackle this, everything changes.
So try to step back, be objective, and look at ways you can be intentional with your career and advocate for the advancements you want to make. Your future self will thank you!
Reason #5. You're Not working With a Coach or Mentor
Do you insist on going it alone?
Then you may be getting caught in the same thought loops because you don’t have a sounding board. No, your 3 legged rescue pup does not, in fact, count.
Perhaps it's time to find a mentor or hire a coach to take a closer look at where you may be going wrong - objectively.
Many people find that the money they invest in a coaching service is earned back multiple times.
You may have noticed that all of these reasons for not achieving success with your goal-getting are self-created problems. Which is great! Because it means you can fix them.
At first, that may seem daunting to fix. I absolutely used to feel the same way. When I finally 1. Started being intentional 2. took ownership and 3. started working with a coach, my goals began to take shape and I was able to achieve (and even exceed) them.
That when I knew I wanted to take everything I learned along the way and start helping other people achieve their career goals.
If you want to finally start knocking those career goals out of the park, you can contact me here.
Not ready to take the coaching plunge?
I also have a free newsletter full of tips to help you in achieving everything you've ever wanted.
Want more career goodness? You can find me and those helpful career hints on social media at Instagram , TikTok , and Pinterest .
Yours in go on goal getter! goodness,
EBS
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EB Sanders?| Career Coach for Creative Types
Unsatisfied with your work? Start HERE ?now!