Embrace a long-term perspective

Long-term perspective is the amount of time you take into consideration when determining present actions. If you want your career to develop well, you have to take a long-term view and act in line with that approach.

Start with the end in mind: Have a long-term goal. Hard work helps, but making the right choices is crucial. For example, if your aim is to be a senior executive in a  financial services firm in the next five years, spending the next three years in the fashion industry might not necessarily help you develop the top-end skills you need.

Be prepared to sacrifice: Bear the good ‘pain’. For example, foregoing buying that new item so that you can take that professional magazine subscription instead? Or skipping your favourite movie for a mind-enriching conversation? These ‘sacrifices’ increase your value and improve your future opportunities.

Think through consequences: Before you implement decisions, consider the consequences. You won’t be able to determine the impact of every decision, but neither should you just do things anyhow. Ask yourself; what will happen if I don’t take that action? How can I minimise any potential negative consequences? Why is the decision the best course of action?

Think and work strategically: Focus only on high-priority and high-value activities and spend sufficient time on them. Practise forward thinking and pursue what’s consistent with your values and what you are trying to achieve. Don’t just do what comes to mind or what you feel like doing in the moment, but things that will move you forward.

Practise self-discipline: This is getting yourself to take action regardless of whether you feel like doing it or not. Tough call but without behaving in a disciplined way, you are likely to derail. So, have a plan that has specific targets, take stock regularly so that you can improve and without fail, do something daily to support your goals.

Now take action: Write down what you want to achieve in the next three years.