Owning Your Career Starts with Vision

Do you know where you are going with your career?

(You can listen to an audio version of this article on my podcast, here).

A lot of people don’t. But you would probably never get into your car or on a plane or even start walking someplace unless you had an intended destination and knew exactly where you wanted to go. In fact I bet for most of the smaller actions in your life, you have a goal or plan in mind. But for our careers, we often have no idea.

And that’s ok. I’m not here to preach to you that you must have a clear plan for where your career is going. Early in our careers, most people have no idea what they want to do. I know I certainly didn’t. I was just drifting and trying things and most of the time just trying to make some money.

But can you imagine how much better things would be if you did have a vision or goal in mind? Because with an intended destination, then you can start making a plan and have more confidence in the actions you take. And the cool thing about having that vision and plan is that nothing is ever set in stone. Unless you are signing a contract to joing the military or law firm as a partner, you can almost always change your mind later.

I have personally changed my vision and goals many times in my career. Early in my career, I thought my big goal was to be a successful company executive. To be the CEO of a big company one day. Then I started to dabble in entrepreneurship and thought maybe I could start a company and make a lot of money. When that didn’t work, I shifted to just wanting a career I liked and eventually found consulting. Then I decided that as long as I was making enough money to get by and enjoyed my life, that was all I needed. Except it wasn’t.

I realized I wanted more. I wanted to run my own business. So I left the consulting company to become an independent consultant and started chasing money and freedom.

Along the way, I realized I had the potential to make a big impact on people and the world and I changed my vision and goal to something bigger.

As you can see, I’m simultaneously a bad example of how to plan your career and a great example to show that we can always change our minds and pivot in our careers. The problem was that for many years, I was so unsure of myself and where I was going and didn’t truly know myself or what I was capable of.

I didn’t ever have a plan. But you can. Things will definitely change, and opportunities will come along, but the more we have clarity in where we are going, the easier it is to make a plan and have confidence in the moves we are making.

What Should my Vision Be?

When you are sitting down to set your vision and make a plan, I think it’s important to first remove any pressure. You are not being graded or judged and you can always change your mind. And your vision does not need to be grand. Some people may set a goal or vision to one day be CEO or a Partner in their firm, while others may say they just want to enjoy their job and work reasonable hours so they can spend more time with their family. There is no wrong answer. The key is to have something down so you know where you’re going (or trying to go).

Let’s say you currently work in marketing, but your dream is to work in sales or HR, you probably aren’t going to get there unless you declare it to yourself and start making a plan.

This vision can look as far out as 20 years down the line or as close as 2-3 years. The point is to have an idea of where you want to go with your career and then use that to guide your decisions.

A Vision can Help Guide You

While not everyone has clarity on where they want to go or what they want to be when they grow up, it can be really helpful. Probably the biggest reason to have a vision or plan is that it helps guide important career decisions. Depending on how long you’ve been working, you have probably experienced a few of these critical decisions already. For example:

• Your company or boss offers you a promotion or a new job doing something different than what you’re doing now
• Your boss tells you that you are not meeting expectations and won’t be getting the promotion you wanted
• A friend invites you to come interview for a job at his or her company
• A recruiter reaches out to you about a job you are qualified for
• Your spouse or significant other gets a job offer in a new city
• You have children or health issues that cause you to reconsider how much you are working
• You have one too many bad days at the office and decide you want to make a change
• There is a leadership change in your company and your priorities or job description changes and becomes different from what you signed up for or are used to.

All of these things are real situations that happen weekly all over the world. And any time one of them occurs, how you respond may have a big impact on the rest of your career. But most people don’t have any kind of vision, plan, purpose or values to help guide their decision and just go with their gut (or more likely, what their boss or friends recommend). I know because I have been in a couple of these situations.

Let’s look at one that I think happens pretty often. Jennifer is doing a great job in her job in finance. She exceeds all expectations and gets along great with the team. So her boss comes to her one day and offers her a promotion to a director to a director role that will provide her with more money and more authority, but also take more time (she will have to put in more hours to learn the role and get everything done).

Many people are happy to take this trade off or accept it just because they feel like it’s the right thing to do or so they don’t disappoint their boss or company. Besides, everybody wants to move up and make more money, right?

But what if Jennifer’s dream is to work in HR or Marketing. She loves people and making an impact or wants to learn more about marketing and things it would be a lot more fun. Or she is just bored with finance and wants to try new things.

There is nothing wrong with accepting that promotion and like I said before, life is more flexible than we think and we can always make a change. But accepting that promotion and starting that new job as a director of finance would certainly make it harder to make that shift to HR or marketing later.

If Jennifer has spent time reflecting on her strengths and desires and where she wants to go in her career and she knows she wants to try moving to HR or Marketing, she could use this as an opportunity to have a real conversation with her boss (if she hasn’t already) and say something like “I am so grateful for this opportunity and I’m sure it would be really valuable for my career, but I have been thinking about trying to get into HR or Marketting and I’m wondering if we can make a plan for me to do that instead.”

Now every company and situation is different and I don’t know how open Jennifer’s manager would be to this conversation, but the point is that Jennifer has a vision for what she wants to do and is taking ownership of her career by starting this conversation instead of just accepting whatever comes her way.

So you can see that without a vision or plan, Jennifer probably accepts this promotion or blindly accepts advise from her boss or colleagues. But with a vision and plan, she can pause and decide if it fits into her plan and then make a more informed decision.

 A Vision Can Give Peace of Mind

Things can and will change (more on that in a moment) but until they do, it’s nice to know where you are going. I read once that tranquility and peace are often found in identifying our path and sticking to it (Daily Stoic). This means knowing where you want to go, staying the course, making adjustments as needed but not getting distracted by living a life suggested or demanded by society or other people.

Things Change

As I mentioned previously, nothing is set in stone and things can change. Maybe Jennifer gets what she wants and moves to HR. And after a year or two working in HR, she decides that its not what she thought it was and wants to move back to finance. Or maybe she gets bored and wants to try marketing or sales or start her own business. Or maybe she has children and decides to be a stay-at-home-mom. There is nothing wrong with any of these things as long as she’s intentional with her decisions.

Some say the only constant in life is change. We know that the economy is going to change, your company will probably change leadership at some point, jobs will be eliminated or created, and your personal situation will change as well. The days of accepting a job at 22 and working in that role or function for 35 years until retirement are over. Studies show that most people will have at least 7-9 job or career changes in their lives so don’t worry about things changing. Just because you decide at 25 that you want to be company CEO one day does not mean you have to keep pursuing that goal five years later when you have kids and decide you’d rather spend more time with them.

The other thing about time is that it provides more clarity and wisdom. Time does not necessarily make people smarter or better looking but it does usually bring wisdom. Which means that with more experience, you can make more informed decisions. And I can tell you from experience that at 25 I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life or career but at 40, I have a ton of clarity and know absolutely what I want to do. And even that might change. Because at 40 I know I’m still just getting started and 20 years from now I might be doing something completely different. That’s ok.

The world and your life are going to continue to change and I want you to be ready for it. That means set a vision but remain flexible and be ready for change.

How to Set your Vision

Setting your vision does not need to be scientific or a long process. It really just involves you pausing or reflecting on what you want to do or who you want to be. This means set some time aside with a pen and notebook and no distractions and just write down the things that you enjoy about your current job or career and all the things you don’t like. Then write down the things that might be missing from your career that you might want. After that, write down some jobs (if any) that are attractive or intriguing to you that you might like to try.

A book I recommend that can be helpful with this process is called ‘Designing Your Life’ by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans from Stanford Design School. This book walks through the process of design thinking to figure out what you want to do with your life or career and design a career that is more fulfilling and meaningful. Burnett and Evans teach readers top “think like a designer” when designing their life and career and this process can be helpful in deciding where you want to go.

Once you’ve gone through this process and written down your likes, dislikes, pros, cons and potential career options or big goal, it can be helpful to get feedback. Talk with your family and friends who know you best and ask them some questions. Where do they see you going? What potential do they see in you? What ideas do they have for you?

Note: You absolutely do not need to follow the advice of your family and friends. This gives you data but just because your mother says you should be a lawyer or take that promotion does not mean you have to do it. You live your life for you and nobody else. Obviously if you have a spouse and kids, they get extra weight for your decision, but if you are over 18, you don’t have to choose anything or do anything just because your parents think that is what you should do. There are too many people out there working in careers and living lives they hate just because it is what their parents wanted. OK rant over.

So, assuming it comes from people you trust (family, friends, colleagues, boss, mentors, coach, etc) getting feedback can be really useful because the people around you might see strengths or opportunities that you don’t see in yourself. More on this later.

Finally, be willing to sit down and have a conversation with your manager (if you have one and you feel comfortable) and ask about the options in front of you. Where does he or she see your career potentially going or what options might be available to you. Again, you don’t have to follow the advice of your manager (they may have a bias of their own) but hearing about those options can be helpful.

Finally, once you’ve considered all of these options and made a decision, write it down, tell a couple of your closest friends (and your manager if you feel comfortable) and then start making a plan for how you want to get there.

If your goal is to move up the chain and earn a more senior position in the company doing something similar to what you are doing now, then your plan may be to put your head down, accept all assignments that come your way and be the best at your job you possibly can. But if your plan is to switch careers entirely, then you need to start writing down the steps that will get you there. Who do you need to talk to? What education or skills with you need? Remember that a vision or goal without a plan is just a hope.

This goal and plan will come in handy when big opportunities and decisions come your way. But remember, as I said before, nothing is set in stone and everything can change. The key is to have an idea where you are going but remain flexible so you can react when opportunities come your way.

Live Your Life for You

So many people in this world are living their lives for other people. They have chosen jobs or careers or lifestyles to impress or appease their parents, friends or family. They basically let someone else dictate what they do for work and how they live their life. This is true for every person who wanted to be an artist or musician or athlete or architect or entrepreneur, but their parents told them they need to get a “safe” or lucrative job like doctor or lawyer or accountant instead.

There is nothing wrong with those jobs. Most of them pay well and provide some great security. And for some people those jobs are their dream and that’s what they truly want to be doing. But many people end up in jobs because that is what their parents tell them to do and they don’t want to disappoint their parents.

I have been through this as well. And I don’t want to take anything away from what your parents or family have given your or done for you. They probably raised you and fed you and maybe they even paid for your college tuition. But unless you took out a loan from them or promised them something in return, you don’t actually owe them anything. And the entire point of this book is that you take ownership of your career and life and live life for you and nobody else, so you may see me harp on this a few times.

I have been there. After college, I moved across the country and discovered entrepreneurship and tried some things that probably scared my parents. And I was always worried about disappointing them. But I continued to live life for me and do what I want, and I have never regretted that.

I bring this up because you may be in a job or career that you don’t enjoy or is not part of your long-term vision and if this chapter of the book has caused you to start to think of other things you can do, I think that’s great. But you’ve got to be prepared for some potential judgement or pushback from your parents, family and friends who might not agree with your decisions. Remember, it’s not their life. It’s yours.

You can tell them that while you value their experience and advice, and you appreciate their love and support, you ultimately get to decide what you want to do with your life and your current dream or desire is to do X.

They may not like it but if they truly love you, they will always be there to support you.

I know this is hard, so if you need extra motivation, consider this: I strongly believe that at the end of your life, your biggest regret(s) will be the dreams you didn’t fulfill and chances you didn’t take. You probably won’t sit around reflecting happily on how you played it safe or did what other people (your parents) told you to do. More than likely you’ll lament the chances you didn’t take, the times you didn’t stand or speak up for yourself or the times you did what other people wanted you to do instead of what you truly wanted to do.

This is what drives me every day and motivates me to take chances and do scary things. And this is why I continue to try to find ways to inspire and motivate others to take ownership of their careers and lives. I want you to live life for you.

What is Your Vision?

OK, now it’s your turn. What is your vision or big goal for your career? What do you really want to do? What makes you excited about the future? Where do you see yourself in 10-20 years?

Here are some examples to inspire you:

Examples

For inspiration, here are some examples:

·     “I want to become a CFO of my company or big company”

·     “Become an expert or authority in marketing”

·     “Get into HR and help improve human performance in the workplace”

·     “Become a stand-up comedian and make people laugh”

·     “Provide value while limiting hours to spend more time traveling or with family”

·     “Become more knowledgeable about business and gain experience in different functions”

·     “I want to run my own business”

·     “I want to retire early”

Refining and Getting Feedback

Ideally, you’ll have some great ideas here. Refine them down to 2-3 and think about what is truly most important for you to achieve. Only you know the answer. But ast mentioned earlier, you can also seek feedback from colleagues or friends. Ideally you will do this exercise with one of them (if you haven’t told your colleagues and friends about this book, please share it and ask them to do the exercise with you). This will help you with feedback and accountability. Bonus!

When you have your answers and/or if you need help, be sure to join our free Facebook group and share what you’ve come up with or where you need help.

Summary/Key Takeaways

In this chapter, we discussed the importance and benefits of having a vision and knowing where you are going. Remember you would not get into your car or start walking somewhere without a destination in mind. Pilots don’t start flying planes without a specific destination and plan. You do not have to have a specific goal, but it definitely helps provide clarity and inform decisions you make when opportunities come your way.

Set your vision by spending time writing down the things you enjoy doing, the goals you have for your career, your priorities and values and where you might want to be or what you might want to be doing in five years. Then check in with friends, colleagues or family members that you trust and whose opinions you value to get their advice and feedback.

Remember that things can and will change so don’t worry about being held to what you write down. You can always change it and nobody is going to judge or grade you.

Finally, remember that nobody cares more about your career than you do and that you need to live your life for you and nobody else. It’s possible your parents may not like or agree with your career choices but that’s ok. They have their careers or lives and you have yours and though you can and should remain grateful for all they have done for you, the fact remains that you do not owe them anything. 

You can listen to an audio version of this article on the Talent Development Hot Seat podast.

Andy Storch is a Talent Development Consultant, Coach, Facilitator, Speaker and Connector. He is the host of two podcasts including The Talent Development Hot Seat and The Andy Storch Show as well as the founder and host of the Talent Development Think Tank conference and the author of the forthcoming book, 'Own Your Career, Own Your Life'.

Andy is on a mission to get the absolute most out of life and inspire others to do the same.