Five lessons to support your career development

How do you gain insight outside of your day-to-day experiences? For me, it’s reading! If you are a regular reader of my blogs or see my social media, it will come as no surprise that my chosen personal development tool is a book (or five!). It’s like having a coach, lecturer, mentor and inspiring leader all at my fingertips. I can always find time to consume the information and it leads to some thought-provoking conversations with friends, family and clients! There are key books that always get recommended, with that list growing every month. Over the past few months, I have been collecting the lessons learned and attempting to theme them against the most frequent topics I cover with clients in my 1:1 Coaching and workshops, which include confidence, leadership and balance.   But today I want to share with you five lessons/questions to support your career development.

 

 

1. Autonomy plays a massive part in a career to enjoy.

It’s a recent review, but I would be amiss if I didn’t include it in this article! Research-backed creation of a positive work environment is autonomy and purpose (which is linked to overall life satisfaction). So, when you are moving to your next role, make sure you not only find out if the role allows autonomy, but how the organisation encourages this. 

 

From A Work in Progress by Gethin Nadin. 

 

This is the key, I feel, of all the HOW questions that leaders ask about wellbeing, In the past, numerous pilots have been run to help support wellbeing (how many yoga classes, fruit bowls and “pizzas” to say thank you have you experienced?) We are clearly shown that there is one theme that leads to higher measures of well-being. Namely, AUTOMONY OF WORK. When people are given more control over their choices in work, there is a marked difference in well-being (and productivity – for those that need to link it back to the bottom line). Nadin details the areas that YOU can start changing straight away, including timing and location of work, manner and pace of work, task order and job task. As he states on page 150; ask the direct question to your staff (“What more could we be doing for you”). They will give you all the recommendations you need to move forward. 

 

This is so important, it’s actually covered in Book Review: No Hard Feelings by Liz Fosslien & Mollie West Duffy – The Balance Collective too! 

 

2. What is your end goal for your career?

Are you still surrounded by the concept of working until retirement? If that is the case, it’s going to impact the decisions your make now, and in the future. However, what if your end goal wasn’t to look like giving up work? 

 

Retirement doesn’t have to look the way we have been told (from Jodie Cook’s Ten-Year Career)

So often when we think about work, we consider a time when we are not working at all; free to do what we want, when we want. Jodie’s approach in the book is to redefine our thoughts around our ideal financial situation, and instead create a situation where instead of winding down you “do what you love and love what you do” (pg 34). The aim of a ten-year career is to be in control of how you spend your time; it may be realised that I, in fact, may have retired!

 

 

3. Boredom can have a purpose if you allow it to,

 

I’m pretty sure this isn’t the first time I have quoted this in one of my “lessons learned” blogs. In fact, I think it’s relevant in nearly every self-reflection and grown context that I can think of!

Within Chatter, by Ethan Kross, we can find more about the power of the mundane.

 

We have all been there, working our way through something that feels repetitive and purposeless. It’s a means to an end, but you find yourself distracted and maybe even stopping this necessary thing. Like “temporal distancing”, you can also work on changing your perspective by considering the “big picture”. How does this frustrating task lead to what you want in the future? This is reinforced through research; for example, when students were asked to consider the big picture of their stressful and mundane work in High School, their GPA score was raised! 

 

 

 

4. What do you expect when you think of career happiness? 

 

So often we spend our lives striving for the next thing. We believe once that “thing” happens, everything else will fall into place. However, as the research used in the book uncovers, we human beings are VERY quick to adapt to changes in our lives. How would it feel to aim for happiness as equilibrium ( from Happiness by Design by Paul Dolan) 

Take winning the lottery, as an example (winners are used a lot for research purposes). Initially, money brings with it great happiness, new opportunities, stress reduction and a significant lifestyle change. However, over time (a period which is a lot speedier than you will think) you stop paying so much attention to what the money has created, and its impact on happiness reduces. Ultimately, in research terms at least, the aim of a happy life is actually getting your inputs and your outputs exactly where you want to be, with no incentive to change and comfort with the level of attention it gets!

 

5. You will never be “done” with career development.

 

The result is clear. You never stop learning. As clearly shown throughout Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed,  rebel idea helps the stagnant best practice become “best so far”, outings become safer, workers are happier, and people are open to connecting to those who can add value to their lives, not replicate their opinions. So how can you continue to build and connect with people to create your rebel ideas?

 

What do you think of those five lessons? Have they inspired you to read more of each book? 

If you would like to keep track of our monthly reading titles, then join Creating Careers to Enjoy! 

 

 

You can find all the previous titles here, and other articles supporting your career development here!

 

 

If you are interested in finding out more about my 1:1 coaching and workshops, you can see more here, or book a call to discuss your needs.