How To Control Your Own Career
Learning to control your own career is more than just deciding which company to work for. According to Apollo Technical, only 20% of people are passionate about their careers. When you control your own career, you make clear decisions about the life you want to live. Each decision you make will get you one step closer to your end goal.
Our CEO and Founder, Jessica Chen, recently hosted a Soulcast Media | LIVE event on LinkedIn, where she interviewed Author, Speaker, and Podcaster, Laurie Ruettimann.
They shared tips and personal stories about the importance of learning how to control your own career.
This Soulcast Media | LIVE event is brought to you by our amazing sponsors at Sabobatage.
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Balance
During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Laurie talked about how you should focus on a life-work balance rather than a work-life balance. When you focus more on the life you want to live; you will be able to take steps to find the career that will support this life.
In order to be good at anything in this world, whether it’s work or life, we need balance – Laurie Ruettimann
1. Get Goals
If you want to learn how to control your own career, you first need to get goals. This means figuring out who you are, what you stand for, and what you want to accomplish.
Consider the following:
- Who You Are – Who you are is more than what your job title is. During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Jessica said there was a point in her career where her identity was a journalist. She said this made her unsure of who she was if she wasn’t a journalist. If you want to control your own career, you have to identify who you are as a person outside of your career title. For example, think about what is important to you. Maybe the ability to travel is one of the most important things to you. In this case, your goal would be to find remote work opportunities.
- What You Stand For – What you stand for will help you set personal and professional goals. For example, if you are passionate about the environment, your goal could be to work for an organization that holds these same values. When you pursue opportunities aligning with what you stand for, you will feel more balance in your life.
- What You Want To Accomplish – Think about what you want to accomplish this week, month, or year. For example, if you want to get a promotion by the end of the year, you need to set clear goals for yourself. Your goal for the week could be to speak up during the weekly meeting to increase your visibility. Your goal for the month could be to set an appointment with your superior to see what you could do to take on a few more responsibilities. And your year goal would be to get the promotion. When you know what you want to accomplish, you can easily set goals for yourself.
Long-term plans aren’t just for governments or life coaches. Each and every person needs to create goals for themselves personally and professionally.
2. Perspective
Your perspective, or outlook, can significantly impact how you control your career. Inevitably there will be challenges or setbacks. No job is perfect. However, there are ways you can thrive when things get hard.
Consider the following:
- Eyes On The Prize – Perhaps you are currently in a job that doesn’t support the life you want to live, but it is paying the bills. If this is the case, you will want to keep your eyes on the prize. This means keeping your focus on your end goal. For example, your current job doesn’t support your love of travel or remote work. However, you are learning valuable skills. Focus on the skills you are learning, and use this current position as a stepping stone to reach your end goal. This will help shift your perspective of your current job.
- Pause And Pivot – There will be times when things don’t go your way. Maybe you realize you don’t want to be an accountant anymore. Or perhaps the company you work for didn’t give you the promised promotion. When this happens, you need to pause and pivot. For example, if you are going down a career path and realize it doesn’t support the life you want to live, you can decide to pursue something else. Giving yourself permission to pause and pivot allows you to take control of your career.
- Fix Yourself – During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Laurie emphasized the importance of fixing yourself rather than trying to fix your work. This means not relying on a company or job to give you the life you want to live. For example, if the job you have doesn’t offer flexible hours, you can start looking for another job that does provide flexible hours. When your perspective shifts, you take control, rather than giving all of the power to the company or job you have.
If you are feeling stuck, the best thing you can do is shift your perspective. Keep your eyes on the prize, and pivot when you need to. This will help you take control of your career.
3. Set Your Intentions
Before you know it, you could be working at a company for five years without making a dent in your goals. This is why it is so essential for you to set your intentions. You take control, rather than allowing the day to control you when you set your intentions.
Consider the following:
- Professional Detachment – One way to ensure you are taking control of your own career and setting the right intentions is to acquire professional detachment. This means treating every job like your favorite client. For example, when you have professional detachment, you are more likely to take your paid time off, you don’t take things personally, and you realize jobs come and go. When you do this, losing a job won’t derail you as a person because your identity isn’t in your job.
- Career Integrity – When you set your intentions, you do your work with integrity, but you don’t let your job run you to the ground. For example, your goal is to be the number 1 salesperson at your company next year. You set the intention to spend an extra half an hour each day working on client relations. You do your job with integrity, but you stop once the thirty minutes are over. You are still taking active steps to reach your goals, but you aren’t letting it control your life.
- Fulfilled – Setting intentions will help you feel more fulfilled personally and professionally. For example, during the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Jessica shared how she decided to switch from being a journalist to being an entrepreneur. She feels fulfilled as an entrepreneur. To become one, Jessica had to set specific intentions. She had to work extra hard to switch careers, but in the end, she is more fulfilled doing something she loves.
Setting intentions will help ensure you are in control of the day and your career.
In the end, your work is not your worth. When you control your career, you can live big, bold, exciting lives and have jobs that support your life.
If you want to see the full LIVE version of Jessica and Laurie’s conversation, check out Jessica’s Youtube Channel.
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