Getting a good job and being successful in your career is not an overnight event. Furthermore, what success is for one person isn’t necessarily someone else’s idea of success. For example, career success for one person might be having a good paying executive level job whilst for someone else it might be the achievement of a good work / life balance. For this reason it doesn’t pay to compare yourself with other people your own age when it comes to career progress and career success. You need to consider what is right for you, and what you want out of life.
How do you do this?
The Meaning Of Career Success
Think about what career success means to you. Don’t spend hours every day agonizing over it though. Rather, let it float around in your mind for a while. Think about it when you have time to let your thoughts wander. Be prepared to spend a bit of time doing this – as long as it takes in fact. Don’t try to force answers or resolutions.
Perhaps you’re a firefighter with ambitions to climb higher in this industry. Don’t rush into the next step. Take the time to review your options. You can keep going as an active firefighter by climbing the Fire Officer ranks or you can branch out into other areas. Becoming a Fire Investigator, Fire Inspector, or Fire Instructor are also worthwhile ways to build your career success.
The Career Marathon
Regardless of your industry of choice, if you’re at the beginning of your working life you have many years ahead of you to build your career success. It’s like running a non-competitive marathon where the only goal is to finish. You have to prepare properly, put in the groundwork, do the hard yards, build stamina and strength, and train properly. Your focus is on reaching the finish line, far ahead in the distance. When you get there doesn’t matter. It only matters that you do, in your own time, and at your own pace.
What you don’t want to do is try and sprint. Marathons are not about sprinting. They’re about being there for the duration. Sprinting, or trying to rush your career, is a sure way to end up defeated, and burnt out. Burnt out people usually end up dropping out for the sake of their health and sanity. Don’t do that!
Key Tip: Do Not Rush Your Career.
However, don’t slack off either. Keep running your marathon at a steady pace, one that suits you. Your goal is to finish, to achieve a positive result, and ultimately, that’s what success is. Earl Nightingale probably said it best – “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.” Note that there is no precise definition of that goal or ideal. That’s because it’s your goal, your ideal, and only you can determine what that is, and when you’ve attained it. When you do that, you have achieved your success.
Make Haste Slowly Lest You Err
If you rush to get ahead in your career, you overlook the small but important things. You forget to do the right exercises for your marathon. You fail to see the devil in the detail. Opportunities pass by because you’re in too much of a hurry to spot them when they arise. Conversely, if you are lazy you won’t work as hard as you need to in order to succeed.In other words, it’s all about moderation. If you want to be successful, you need to make haste slowly. In this race, you’re up against yourself.
