4 steps to career success

What does success mean to you? Perhaps it means something different to you today than it did when you were in your 20’s. Maybe you’re looking to make a career change or working towards a promotion at work or maybe you’re planning on opening the business of your dreams. Whatever the reason you’re reading this is, you are on the hunt for career success and we’ll teach you how to get there.

You have already taken the most important step which is an interest in yourself and your success. 73% of workers are unhappy in their current job and 42% of people wish they had followed their childhood ambitions.

That is a lot of people who haven’t taken the steps you have already taken to make the change you are looking for by reading this article.

Step 1: Delving 

This first Step is about exploring where you are today and what motivates you to take action. If you wake up in the morning and aren’t giving 100% of your energy and motivation to your career you probably haven’t discovered your personal values or your reason “why”.

All of us need a compelling reason for why we do the things we do – it’s what moves us and drives our actions. Decide what your motivation behind your actions is. Align your reason “why” with your actions to ensure you aren’t on auto-pilot and haven’t lost sight of what really matters to you.

Step 2: Imagining

The next step to achieve your success will involve using your new found knowledge of ‘why’ you want to be successful towards create your working “wish list”. What organisations are you going to apply to? What will your new job title be? Where would you like to open your new business venture? Step 2 is all about bringing your ideas together and imagining what your next career move looks like, what you will be doing, the things you will be feeling and hearing. This Step is about being creative and willing to explore new things even if they appear unrealistic options right now.

Step 3: Realising

Take everything you have learned about yourself and your ambitions so far and bring it all together. Create a plan and put it into action. At this point you hopefully have lots of career ideas buzzing around in your head and now it is time to prioritise them and perhaps face a reality check. This is the time to work out which of your options are really possible for your next career move and which ones might need to go on the backburner for now.

Step 4: Caring 

Take care of the emotional side of your new career change. As much as change is a healthy part of life, it can also be somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster. It is important to prepare yourself for the feelings that come with taking a leap. You may experience rejection, feelings of inadequacy, fear, anxiety, and even shock. However, with applying the right steps, these feelings will turn into hope, excitement, focus, purpose, and accomplishment.

This roller-coaster of change is demonstrated below with a model that is based on the Kubler-Ross grief cycle model.