1Look Toward the Future

Your first step is to look into your future and decide what you want it to look like.

This is all about you and what makes you happy. Don’t make the mistake of focusing your future just on the amount of money you will make.

Clearly you have to make enough money so you and your company can live comfortably, but that shouldn’t be the only consideration you have as you look into your future.

Some people rise to levels in their company where they make a sizeable income, but they end up hating their job. Most people spend 8 – 10 hours per day at their job. You will be much happier and content in your “real life” if you can be happy and content in your “work life”.

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself about where you want to be five or ten years down the road:

• Would you like to have more responsibility at work?
• Do you need more challenge?
• Would you like to take on more of a leadership role?
• Is it your goal to rise to the senior ranks of the business?
• Do you want to own your own business?
• Are you completely happy with your current job and just need to maintain it?

2Identify What Needs to Change

Once you decide what kind of job or career you want in 5 or 10 years, you have to compare that vision to your current life.

Sometimes working toward your goals may require you to start thinking about dramatic changes that are needed. However, other times you may just need to stay the course and keep working toward your goals.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Can you reach your goals at your current company?
• Will you have more opportunities to reach your goals if you make a lateral move into a different department or business?
• Do you need to work to develop new or different skills?
• Is a complete career change needed?
• What does the future of your current company or industry look like?

3The Grass Always Looks Greener, But It Isn’t Always Better

One thing to keep in mind is that changing jobs usually won’t magically solve all of your problems. The concept of “the grass is always greener” applies to many things, and changing jobs is one of them.

Chances are that if you find a new job, there will be problems of some kind that you have to work through because nothing is perfect. The decision is whether it will be better and easier for you to fix the things about your current job that aren’t working or to handle the unknown problems you will encounter with a new job.

Before you make the decision to leave your present job or company, make sure that it really isn’t possible to reach your goals there. Talk to your boss about your goals and find out what they think about your future.

4Develop a Plan to Change It

After you set some goals for the direction of your career and you determine what needs to change for you to reach those goals, it’s time to develop a plan.

Your specific plan will depend upon how different your future looks compared to your present.

If you are happy with your current job and just want to make sure you can maintain it, your plan will be pretty easy. However, reaching your goals for your future are significantly different, your plan will be more complicated.

Here are some of the things you can do to help you reach your future goals:

• Ask for a new responsibility at work that will focus on the skills you want to develop
• Look for company sponsored classes that may be available
• Check out online options or classes at your local community college
• Attend seminars or workshops
• Work with your boss on a personal development plan
• Start networking so you will be aware of job openings
• Begin looking for job postings
• Start a list of questions you want to ask a potential new boss. A great way to start this is to look at your current situation and figure out what you wish you knew before you started.

6Summary

Many people just let time pass and then wonder why they are in the same place they were five years ago. That doesn’t have to happen.

Look at where you want your career to be in 5 – 10 years, decide what needs to change in order for that to happen and then go make it happen!

Do you have any other ideas that might help someone else decide if they need to make a change?

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