ALT-1 Career Success
We all want to be successful in ourcareers. But what one person calls success and what you call success may be very different things. Even with these different ideas of what success looks like, there are five factors that will help you reach whatever your definition of success may be.
1. Define success and set goals
In order to be successful in your career you must first have a vision – what success means to you. Is it making a million dollars? Or is it perhaps being recognized by your peers as an expert in your field? Maybe for you success means being able to provide for your family, while for the person in the next office it means running the company.
Once you’ve defined what success means to you (in detail), the next step is to set up actionable goals with time lines. For example, if your idea of success is to be recognized by your peers as an expert in your field you might set your first goal as joining a professional organization in your field within a month. You’d continue this process until you felt you’d realized the level of career success you’d set for yourself.
You should re-evaluate your definition of career success periodically since it can change over time. You may start out thinking that making a million dollars is your definition of career success but after a few years of raking in the dollars, you may decide that having the knowledge and opportunity to mentor junior staff is really how you’d define career success at this point in your life.
2. Persistence, Discipline, Great Work Ethic
You may have a crystal clear vision of what success means to you and a list of great actionable goals to achieve success but unless you consistently work toward those goals you’ll never realize that success. Persistence, discipline and having a great work ethic all relate to the same theme – in order to be successful you need to work at it. You’ll likely have setbacks along the way. The people that are truly successful don’t let those setbacks stop them. They continue to work toward their goals. They don’t get sidetracked or lose focus. They know what the goal is and they find ways to continually move toward that goal.
3. Be open to opportunity
Successful people recognize opportunities when they see them, and they jump on them. Opportunities won’t always come knocking on your door but they may be hanging around on your doorstep waiting for you to open the door and see them. If you stay inside your comfort zone and never open that door you could be missing out on a great opportunity.
4. Volunteer for projects and extra assignments
Successful employees know that in order to be recognized and trusted with increasing responsibility they need to volunteer for special projects and assignments outside their normal workload and perhaps even outside their field of expertise. Working on projects and assignments can show others that you want to grow and learn more about the company.
5. Be flexible and open to change
One of the most universally desired traits is flexibility. No matter what field you’re in or what company you work for you know there will be change. Everyone experiences it. Those who learn how to not handle change but embrace it will be the ones who are the most successful. No matter what happens, they will be able to deal with the change.
Keep these five factors in mind and you too can be successful in your career, no matter how you define success.
