Career Planning and Detours...

Hi CareerLifer,

Welcome to another Friday Newsletter. I missed you last week Friday because it was during the protest period when the internet showed everyone shege and I could barely open basic websites. Anyway, I am happy to be back.

During the week, while scrolling through people’s pages and seeing different announcements with people sharing their successes, it made me think deeply about somethings: My own never ending detours.

Anyone who knows me very well would know that I am a planner. From planning events to planning my own life, I deserve a medal. However, I have had more detours than my ever-busy planning brain could have thought of. I saw someone achieve a feat and I thought to myself, that was the direction I always wanted to go which I was working towards but life redirected me.

I was also doing some pre-MBA courses and one of the courses talked about pivoting after realizing the initial business plan didn’t work. A lot of us do not understand the importance of embracing the pivoting journey. We tend to mourn that opportunity and plan for too long rather than enjoying the journey.

With Careers, even IF you get to your ‘supposed’ destination, you will still want more and want to get something higher, so why fill your life with constant disappointments when you can ENJOY the journey? We often learn the most from the journey, rather than the destination.

I am writing specifically to someone reading this who is probably frustrated at the number of detours they have had, wondering if they should stop planning or aiming for things. My advice: don’t stop planning. However, please make an intentional decision to enjoy each phase you are at. The journey prepares you for the destination and these detours have some things you need to learn from. There was a time I had issues with my boss (70% was based on the toxicity of the boss and 30% was also an area of improvement I had back then but did not know). It was a journey of self-reflection that led me to realize that and I am glad for that detour because I have never had issues again.?

During the week, I recorded a video sharing my thoughts on doing what you love VS loving what you do, you can watch it here

As I close this wonderful newsletter to my amazing community members, please know that I am rooting for you. I may not know you personally but I am always interested in seeing you succeed in your career. If you ever need to partner with someone in your career journey and speak with a certified career coach who can help you navigate these detours, feel free to reach out via: [email protected]