After a difficult year, May Busch* has advice on how to build momentum for career success in the months ahead.
Every parent wants to give their child a great start in life.
At the most basic level, it’s providing a safe place to live, nourishing food, a loving home and a good education.
You give your child as much of a head start as you can because you know the world is full of unexpected surprises, both good and bad, and you want them to be prepared.
However, just giving your child a great start doesn’t guarantee they’ll keep developing.
They need to have continued access to different resources and support to keep progressing.
The same is true for you in your career.
Beyond getting off to a great start this year (or in your career overall), you’ll also need to have access to the right resources and support.
In my experience there are three steps for building on the momentum of a great start and setting yourself up for success.
Start by tapping into your ‘why’
They say the smarter and more experienced you are, the more you need to have a purpose for what you’re doing.
To be able to answer the question: “Why am I doing this?”
When you have a ‘why’ that truly motivates you, you can be unstoppable.
The more you have a purpose that resonates powerfully with you, the better you’ll be able to stick to and focus on your development.
Go and get the resources you need
No one’s career is handed to them on a silver platter; it takes a conscious, deliberate and strategic approach.
As part of that, think about the resources you need to have access to in order to keep learning, growing and performing at higher levels.
Expectations of you grow the longer you are in your career. So if you’re not moving forward, you risk falling behind.
Some of the resources I relied on during my career were people.
I identified mentors I could learn from and keep in touch with so I could call on them when needed.
Other resources were written and online, which for me were self-help books and articles. For you it might be podcasts, blogs and subscriptions.
Still others were programs that provided leadership development opportunities.
You’re the one who suffers most if you don’t have the resources you need, so don’t wait for your manager or organisation to do it for you.
Also, don’t fall into the trap of thinking it’s up to your organisation to fund your development.
Your employer is a great first port of call, but it will serve you well to also create your own budget for personal and professional development.
Keep taking action
Taking action is a crucial step for your continued success.
Without action, even the best ideas and strategies won’t become a reality.
Children are exceptionally good at the action-taking part.
When it’s learning how to walk, they keep trying no matter how many times they fall over until they finally learn.
Then they start applying the same action-taking to learning to run, jump, talk, swim and … well you get the picture.
Having been a child once, you can rest assured you still have this ability to take action and keep at it until you develop to the level that you want and need.
It’s not that hard to resurrect that action-taking instinct, you just have to get started.
If you started the year strong, then it’s time to build on that momentum.
If you’re just getting going, congratulations — there’s no time like the present.
Either way, these three steps will help you set yourself up for career success — the kind that has a positive ripple effect on the rest of your life too.
*May Busch helps leaders and their organisations achieve their full potential. She works with smart entrepreneurs and top managements to build their businesses. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared at maybusch.com.
