A good career should not be stagnant and that’s why a progress assessment from time to time helps to ensure that you are not sitting on your laurels or selling yourself short. Here are some standard questions to ask yourself.
Where did you want to be by now?:
This ought to be as clear cut as possible ‘I want to be a boss someday’ is too woolly to be measured. Boss of a team? An organisation? If so what type of organisation? Did you want a role that allowed you to apply more of what you are naturally good at? How can that guide the next stage of your career?
What’s the reality of your career now?:
How far is where you are now from where you wanted to be? What would it take for you to get on the right track? What are the potential opportunities that you can anticipate or could create for yourself. What personal growth could you achieve? How big should your goals be? What sacrifices are you prepared to make to achieve these goals ?
How did you get to where you are?:
For the future to hold more, you need to understand how you’ve operated. Did you proactively follow a plan that brought you here or did you just land where you are by chance? Either way, what gave you most satisfaction along the way? What was your least favourite activity and why? What could have been better?
What needs to change and quickly?:
The better future won’t just happen, you have to increase the chances of that happening. What better choices can you make? What bad habits must you drop? What sensible risks might you be willing to take? What support do you need to move forward?
Now take action:
Do a career status check
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