Best of the Rest: Looking Ahead

• November 23rd, 2013
• By Tony Valdivieso in News and trends, On the job, Work/Life
• Leave a comment

inShare2

Where do you see yourself in five years? What steps are you taking to make sure you get there or even pretty close? Don’t panic. You won’t have to answer those questions right now.

During my search for awesome job seeker content, I ran into a lot of forward thinkers – people who think about where they’re going as much as they think about where they are – and they had great advice to give. With a little help from them, let’s talk about the future and how to make sure it’s awesome. We’ll start small with stuff you can do right now and go from there:

Keep learning. You should expect change in your career. Unless you stay put for the rest of your professional life, you’ll have to go through the hiring process again. Rather than waiting until the next time you’re looking for a job to focus on development, frequently ask yourself, “What am I learning today that will impress my next employer?”
What Are You Learning Today… ? via The Simple Dollar

Lesson: You’ll likely have another job someday. Don’t stop developing your skills just because there’s no deadline.

Doing some work on the weekend can make your workweek a lot easier, and it may be a key to work-life balance. “Choosing a specific part of the weekend to work gives you the ability to have time off… yet still use your weekend hours for things you want to get done,” says Laura Vanderkam. “Working on the weekends is the flipside of having flexibility during the week.”
Is Working on the Weekend the Secret… ? via Fast Company

Lesson: Working on the weekend can lighten your load during the week. Set some boundaries and get stuff done.

Plant seeds for your future no matter how busy you get. Whether this involves networking, finding passion projects to work on, or taking time to revisit long-term goals is up to you. “It’s a constant process of stirring the pot, and putting in more ingredients, and stirring the pot some more,” says writer, comedian, and television personality Chris Hardwick. “It really is a never-ending process, and you have to learn to enjoy it.”
7 Time-Management Tips from Chris Hardwick… via Co. Create

Lesson: Plan for the future – it’s already on the way. Consider filling up your career bucket list.

Don’t become complacent with your duties or your role. “Every day, you get up and the world is changing, your customers are expecting more from you… Every day you have to get up with new energy and new ideas to contribute to pushing [your] organization forward,” says Abigail Johnson. Trust her, she’s a billionaire.
7 Career Lessons from Abigail Johnson via Forbes

Lesson: The world is constantly changing. Doing your job the same way and chasing the same goals won’t always cut it.

Don’t assume your company can’t help you do what you really want, even if what you really want to do falls outside of your job description. In all likelihood, that’s not the case. Do what you can to create opportunities for yourself and take advantage of the opportunities you find. Be vocal about what you’d like to try out and what you’d like to do more of.
How to Create Your Own Strategic Career Plan via Intuit

Lesson: The ball is in your court if you want things to change at work, and your employer is probably more willing to help than you think.

There’s no substitute for hard work and focus even if those take a while.Everyone wants to find ways to be more productive but, sometimes, you just need to hunker down. “There really are no shortcuts in life… if you want to do great things, you need to work your tail off,” says Steve Tobak, a management consultant and former senior executive of the technology industry. “You get out what you put in.”
How Managing Your Time is a Waste of Time via Entrepreneur

Lesson: There’s a time and place for working smarter, but some tasks will simply require working harder. The more you give, the more you get.