Sort Your Career Out

7success and goals on your terms

tl;dr

• Define what success looks like to you before you set your career goals.
• Your career goals don't have to be linear; you can move in all directions.
• Don't let external pressure influence your career goals. Instead, your goals need to align with your version of success.
• You'll reassess your goals regularly across the course of your working life.

Shell in the driver's seat

Rethinking career goal‐setting

I want you to do something for me. Google ‘career goal‐setting’.

Now click on images and go for a little scroll.

*Cue stock image overload*

You'll see some people in suits climbing up a ladder. You'll see a person next to a line graph that's pointing upwards. Or, my personal favourite, a stick figure skipping up a staircase full of goals.

Here's my rendition, in case you want to frame this quality piece of art.

If only achieving your career goals was as simple as skipping your way up the staircase of your dreams. Reality is a very different story. Most people's careers don't look like a nice line graph that steadily goes up and up.

For most of us, it feels more like a dodgy rollercoaster. One where you jump in, buckle up and hold on for dear life.

Typically, career goal‐setting has been built around a linear career path, ...