A warm welcome into my A to Z of career success series where we have now moved onto the letter J. Today we are going to look at 4 more ways to improve your career success.

(Career) Journal   
 
Keeping a written record of your daily experiences and observations can be a great way to manage your career actively. Writing a journal helps you to process things that happen at work and provides you with some reflection time with which you can plan and organise your career. It’s also the most accessible form of professional development available to you.

So, what can you do with a journal?
 
- Capture ideas you have relating to your current role and also concerning your future career aspirations
 
- Use your journaling time to process what is working for you and what isn’t and what you can do about it
 
- Record things that go well for you, even the seemingly small things.
 
- Make reflective judgements on how you did over the last period. 👇


Judging your performance 
 
Your judgement of how you did over the last 3 / 6 / 12 months is a vital career evaluation process and is always a good starting point to improving your performance at work. It’s also good preparation for a performance discussion with your manager or before you update your career goals. And whilst most employers have formal performance review processes in place, we first need to take personal responsibility for the review and judgement of our performance.
Here are some questions that can help you: (Use your journal to record your evaluations)
 
- What went well during this last quarter/period?
 
- What goals did you meet? Which plans fell short?
 
- What did you enjoy about your job? What aspects didn’t you enjoy?
 
- What did you learn about yourself and your career journey?

 
(Career) Journey

The traditional idea of a long career at one organisation is becoming less of the norm. This ‘conveyor belt’ idea of progression is being replaced by the concept of a ‘career journey’ which comprises working for many organisations and increasingly changing career several times during that time.
 
So how can you attain some semblance of career stability and upward mobility on your career path? Here are some ideas:
 
- Be receptive to the idea that opportunity and abundance are everywhere.
 
- Write down your broad goals for your career and review this information regularly.
 
- Make a plan to help you to navigate your journey.
 
- Be aware of your strengths and continue to develop these further throughout your career.
 
- Stay flexible on your career journey and stay aware of the different opportunities that come your way.


Find the Joy in the Job
 
Maybe you love your job, and perhaps you don’t. Either way, it’s essential to find joy wherever you can in your work. Here are some ways that you can do that.

- Nurture your relationships at work. Friendships with colleagues and teammates can help to put the joy into the job.

- Get into the flow. When you are focussed on the task, and your ‘best self’ shows up, work can feel effortless and joyful.

- Laugh. Laughter brings you joy at work, whether this is laughing with your team, a colleague, or just ensuring you don’t take yourself or the situation too seriously.

 
As always, I hope you find these tips helpful and wish you happiness and good health always. Drop me a note and let me know how you are getting on or book a slot in my calendar for a chat. Please also forward this email to anybody that you think might be interested in the content.

Kind Regards

Mark

Mark Crossfield
Bravo Coaching