When I’m coaching, or running courses, asking the ‘have you got a career plan? question usually results in some raised eyebrows and quiet-ish sighing, often accompanied with some self chastisement. It’s amazing how many of us have got where we are by reacting to events rather than taking charge. We can spend more time on choosing a car or an outfit than on planning our career.
If that’s you, this post might persuade you to take the time to plan and invest in your career.
Successful women plan to be successful women. Successful women are proactive. They take charge.
A Career Plan Can Help You Survive Change
A plan is important. If you don’t know where you’re going how will you know when you get there? If you know where your end destination is you can make choices about what kind of route to take there. Having a long term plan you can survive the ups and downs better and make the best decisions for you.
A career plan will anchor you through the storms and put you in a stronger position when the storm abates, (OK, enough of the maritime metaphors). Economic downturns have tended to affect women much more than men, a sad fact. You may have to delay a little or be more flexible when circumstances dictate, but you are still more likely to be successful than someone without a plan.
Making a plan really makes you think about what you want and how you are going to get it. Take your career seriously.
Have I convinced you yet?
How To Write Your Career Plan
Courtesy of Unsplash by @eyeforebony
You can google this and find templates, and make all sorts of beautiful plans using colour and creativity. I’m a great fan of making things fun and beautiful, read A Quick Creativity Tip). Here are a few tips to get you started on writing your career plan.
- Start at the end. How far away ‘the end’ is will be individual to you and whatever age you are now, etc. You might want to have a 2 year plan, a 5 year one, or plan ahead to retirement. Where do you want to be?
- Do not shy away from the money question. Be realistic in how much you think you want to earn, then add on a bit more. As a woman you are likely to be offered less than male counterparts, so be aware of this. Also be aware of any tendency to undersell yourselves.
- Plan for derailments and consider how you will get back on track. Women tend not to have linear careers, we go a bit wavy, but that can be OK. However, the quickest route is usually a straight line.
- When career planning, remember that most of the models you will see have been based on what men do, how men manage their careers. That may not be appropriate for you. You can plan your career, your way.
How Can I Career Plan When I Don’t Know What I Want?
Courtesy of Unsplash by @ospanali
Frequently I am consulted for coaching by women who know they don’t like the job they’re doing, but don’t know what they want to do instead. It’s a very common dilemma and one I experienced myself. On paper I had a good job and lots of flexibility yet I knew something was missing. It’s one of the reasons why I wrote DreamBig. Not knowing what I wanted to do held me in a post I didn’t like for quite a few years.
I have never regretted making the change. I made a plan and I followed it through. So can you.
Coaching Questions For Your Dream Job
Try this exercise taken from DreamBig, to help your thinking and answer each of the questions as honestly as you can. Once you have answered these questions it should be easier to formulate your plan.
In your dream job:
- How would your working day begin?
- How would your working day end?
- Would you be travelling?
- How would you be travelling?
- Would you be home based?
- Would you be in an office?
- Would you be based outdoors, in contact with nature?
- Would you be in a team of other people?
- Would you be working totally alone?
- Would you be the boss?
- Would you be running your own business?
- Would you be employing other people?
- Would you be managing other people?
- Would you have a business partner?
- Would you be in a large global company?
- Would you be working for a small local business?
- Would you be in the public sector?
- Would you be in the voluntary/charity field?
- Would you have plenty of development opportunities?
- What is a development opportunity for you?
- What would make you think ‘job well done’ at the end of each day?
- Would you be earning more or less than now?
- If you genuinely love your job, how important are the financial rewards to you?
- What does the term ‘successful’ mean to you? It’s your definition that matters.
Courtesy of Unsplash by @obcesar
Close your eyes for a moment or two and allow yourself to dream. Don’t fall into the typical women’s ‘trick’ of not aiming high enough. Set your bar high; there is so much more to you than you think.
Now give yourself some space and write yourself a career plan, your business plan, if you prefer. It doesn’t have to be perfect and it’s OK if there are things you don’t yet know how to do, if you can’t quite see how something will happen yet. It will come. Writing it down helps reinforce intention.
You could even go to futureme.org and send yourself regular reminders of where you expect to be at dates in the future. You won’t know it all yet but you can fill in the gaps as you go.
Age is no bar to this. I totally changed my life around at age 48 and many years later I am still changing and challenging myself.
RenewYou, My Tried and Tested Career Booster!
RenewYou has helped thousands of women make positive and lasting change in their lives. I deliver it one-to-one as part of a bespoke coaching package for women looking to move into leadership, to progress their career, or who wish to be the absolute best version of themselves.
Posted on January 14th, 2021 by Jane
