Employment

Tips for Writing a Career Development Plan

It is good to plan each next career step, and the end of the year is the right time to get started!

We want to remind that big plans don’t work – only small actions do. When we set big immense goals that require us to change more than one habit, we rarely achieve it. Our internal autopilot does not like change, so we resist something new – and that’s fine.

So, to achieve big goals, you need to do small actions, not to change all the habits at once, but to change them one by one. These actions are recommended by a team of experienced writers from a professional writing company established in 2008:

  • not “writing a novel” or “writing two hours a day,” but “writing only twenty minutes for starters”;
  • do not change your lifestyle, do not run every morning – but run on the spot for four minutes before dinner;
  • do not do it next year, but before the first of February, otherwise punishment is provided for;
  • not to do sometime in the evening, but on signal – as soon as you.

The microsolution should be feasible, and the simpler the better. It will save you from the risk of a halfway break.

And now look at these career steps and start doing one at a time in almost any order. The main thing is to do it following the principle of micro solutions.

Create a list of companies in which you would like to work.

It’s not so important that you are actively searching, being a student, or you have a job – make a list of companies that you really would like to work with. You should have it in order to designate a big goal to which you will go with micro-skis.

Get into the habit of writing ideas every morning

Keep a notepad next to your bed, and every morning after waking up, first of all, write down the thoughts you had in your head: whether it was an idea how to work more productively, or what changes you would like to see in your industry as a whole. If you do this for 6 months, you will become the owner of valuable ideas that you will begin to implement or donate/sell to someone. The main thing is to start thinking in the direction of a constant search for ideas.

Make a personal SWOT analysis

Personal SWOT-analysis – an exercise to improve professional performance, belief in yourself and your strength. To do this, you will need paper and a pen. Divide a sheet of paper into four squares and gradually fill. Wow, what a useful lesson this is, write on one sheet of paper what you do better than others, identify the skills you need to advance in your career, find threats and opportunities.

Remember your successes and victories

This is important to do not only at the end of the year but more often. A list of your major professional accomplishments is needed each time you update your resume. Take the trouble to compose it.

Give thanks

This item is desirable to do inextricably with the previous one. If there are people who are involved in your success, you should always thank them. Any work must be awarded at least a word.

Create a list of people to make contact with

You have noticed that when you start to think about something more regularly than usual, you begin to see references to the same issue everywhere. Mentors, coaches, HR-specialists – create a list of valuable people for your career (as you yourself think) and possible options on how to get to know them or communicate more closely.

Schedule career promotion

You should never stop learning. Well, if you do it consciously, and not by chance. Plan courses, events, make a list of books that would be good to read next year. Yes, you don’t have to do it on December 31st. But you need to do. This is one of the steps to a big goal, remember?

Quotes, manifestos, sayings

Print out your favorite ones or those that have an effect on you, evoke the right emotions to complete your steps, and place it in a prominent place. Good motivator. At the same time, it is good if they become a constant feed of positive thoughts.

Let drawing up a career plan for the next year become an important part of December.  Implement it on the principles of micro-decisions. Just do not chase the number: micro-solutions are simple, but they require effort and concentration. The new action becomes automatic and takes root in us in four to eight weeks – depending on its complexity and frequency. Identify two tasks: a daily one and one less frequent. Give the first one a month, and two months for a second one. And watch how small actions lead you to big changes 🙂

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