Breaking free from your hamster wheel! Easier said than done. Especially when you are in this circle of negative thinking. In the thought pattern of: “I can’t do much about it; this is how it is, and I need to cope with it”.
Or are you questioning yourself: Are you on the right path? How can you change it? Do you have any ideas? Do you feel stuck entirely and have no way out? Sounds familiar? It can or can’t be, though here is what you can do in your power of influence to break free. And that is simply setting yourself, your own micro goals. How to start? Here is the recipe for you.
Five Action Oriented Steps
1. Assess Your Current Situation
Focus first on what is working. What do you like about the job and the workplace? The first step is to recognize and appreciate what works well for you. It could be that you get along with your colleagues very well or that you simply have flexible working hours, which is what you need now.
2. Visualise Your Ideal Career Path
Since you know what you don’t want in your professional life, it is easier now to define your ideal profession. Take a strengths skill assessment and see what your natural strengths are. There are many out there that you can choose from. Check out whether you use them in your current job, to what extent, and how you would like to see them used in a new career path. What brings you joy and fulfillment? List them down.
Research time
Thankfully, we have lots of means to find out which professions use these skills, which are your strengths, and what the job titles are. One more research to be done is: In which industry do you want to work? Or are your skills transferable, and is the industry not relevant?
Then, ask yourself which organizations you want to work for. Is it in the Public or Private sector? Is it multinational or start-ups? Narrow down your ideal job search.
3. Set Your Micro Goals
What does this mean? Goals that you can achieve in your own circumstances, in your own field and family setting. This is important to let you feel, you are under control and not a victim. Every week, even if it is 10 minutes do your research. Put it in your calendar so it pops up and you are reminded. The points mentioned in the research section, needs to be under your micro goals to start the process.
Going further along, create your short term and long-term goals. Where do you see yourself in one year and in 5 years. Where ideally you want to work and what do you want to do? You can create a Vision Board for your goals and have it in front of your eyes, on your computer to be reminded about it.
4. Upskill Yourself
Another self-assessment. What skills do you need to dive in, improve, or learn to move in your desired direction? Make a list and start to seek support. Firstly, what are your quick wins in this space? Can you ask for someone more experienced in that field to be your mentor? Within the company, how can you make use of internal pieces of training? Do you need to go outside your organization for upskilling possibilities? What does exist that is practical for you to attend and learn?
Create micro-goals for the above actions, either weekly or bi-weekly. The importance is in taking that step forward, and the speed is irrelevant. It is your journey. You are in the driver’s seat.
5. Networking
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to get out of your comfort zone. Seek out what events happen in the industry you want to move to. If you are looking to stay in the company, attend any events that are happening within.
Ask for coffee meetings with professionals who might be influential. Go out for lunch with professionals that you don’t know so well. You might wonder what to say in the first place. It’s easy: Just say that you want to get to know more people, and the conversation will take off. Assess your networking circle. I have Hulya’s networking wheel at hand, which you can check here: Free Knowledge Boosters
Under this section, the essential is to be consistent and set mini goals to meet at least once a week with someone you don’t know or attend an event. Under the same link above, you can check out everything about goal setting.
Ending with…
Setting goals is more than a plan. It is about renewing your sense of purpose and passion, the famous “why” for you as a professional. It fuels you with energy and inspiration. The more you achieve your goals, the more you will see the benefits.
One step at a time. Life is too short to live an unfulfilled professional life. With your clear mini-goals, everything will look much more manageable.
Enjoy the journey. And if you need a hand, reach out.