The Professional Playbook
My Struggle
There are several times in my life that I have wondered if doing things across industries and disciplines reflect the ideal nature of a true career professional. I have often wondered about the concept of creating niches for career success. Why should I remain an academic because that was where I got my first expression for work? Why should I remain a consultant in Human Resources and People Management when Corporate Planning and Strategy is something I excel at effortlessly? These curious comments drove me to searching for what truly is a career.
What Exactly is a Career?
I believe very strongly that a career is a person’s long-term journey of work. It consists of your personal growth because it involves continuous learning, skill development, and self-improvement. I counsel people to embrace self development as the basis for determine the quality of their contributions to others. Your greatest gift to people, groups, institutions, societies, and nations, is your self development. When you become better, your outputs and contributions become enriched.
a career is a person’s long-term journey of work.
I also think that your career involves advancing through roles, responsibilities and even industries. It won’t be a career if it is static. Careers are known by their dynamism. They would evolve over time as they adapt to changes in the job market, industry, and even personal interests.
Your greatest gift to people, groups, institutions, societies, and nations, is your self development.
A career often time is driven by long-term objectives that can span from attaining a specific position to earning a certain income or even making a specific meaningful impact. Our careers are marked by their multifaceted nature. They are springboards for the fulfilment of our dreams and ambitions.
Your career is not to be static, it should always be dynamic because of the cycles and changes of life.
One major thing that we experience but don’t really talk about is that our career intersects with our personal lives. I have seen people take different jobs because of their family, and even marital relationships. Many people have moved into new fields of engagement because they have prioritised their well-being.
Careers are springboards for attainment
Meet the Shapers of Your Career
I said earlier that a career is a person’s long-term journey of work. I also believe that this long-term journey of work is shaped by certain forces.
My intention in this article is to help you identify, describe, and maximise each of these shapers and influencers of your work life. Your career is shaped by: