Career Success: A Guide To Finding Your Own Unique Answers

Career success is a pursuit that transcends mere employment. It represents the realization of ones professional aspirations and goals. It is a journey marked by dedication, continuous learning and the ability to adapt to change. In this era of evolving industries and dynamic work places, achieving career success demands a combination of skills, resilience and strategic planning.
Career success is when you experience financial health and work you enjoy, while feeling fulfilled in your peer community and life choices.

What is Career Success?

Career Success can be defined as experiencing financial health and work you enjoy, while feeling fulfilled in your peer community and life choices. Building a career is like building a house. You can plan and draw up blueprints. But you will most likely run into unforeseen hiccups. If your career is your house, then your success makes your house a home.

There are stages to building your dream career, they are:

1. Set Your Foundation:
   The most important part of any house is its foundation. Even an uneven ground, a strong foundation can help a house stand tall through storms and floods. Community forms the foundation of your career success.
   A sense of community has been proven to ease you through career transitions, at any point in your career. Your career support network will help you not just stand, but grow and thrive. These are your peers, mentors, and coaches. They are your sounding board throughout your careers. They are there to help you in the difficult moments in your life and career. These people go beyond your education, they dont ditch you at graduation, these are people you trust. They invest in your development. Whether you are looking to change your career or you are just launching one, you will need to rely on others.
   Consulting many trusted people with differing opinions will help you make well-rounded decisions. Having a community will offer more opportunities for personal growth and propel you forward through honest and trusted feedback. If you trust them to have your best interest in mind, the power of a community cannot be overstated. That is why community forms the foundation of career success.
2. Building Four Walls:
   It has been established that, true career success begins with a strong community foundation. But, what about the rest of your house? That is where your 4 walls come in. it is safe to say that to feel valued in any industry, finding kinship in peer and mentor relationship is key. Once that is securely in place, it is time to push yourself and delve into expanding your skillset. While many forms of training offer knowledge, it is up to you to invest in lifelong career development.
   Learn
   Improve
   Launch
   Succeed
   As a basic framework, you can achieve career success in a few ways. Find your passion, build on key skills, invest in your future and stay curious. Apply these principles throughout your entire career: from hired to retired.
   Learn: Courses, on-demand
   The first wall needed for a successful career, a safe space to continually learn new skills and knowledge. The important word here is the word continual, not the word learn. Learning is about longevity, online learning helps offer opportunities for remote learning and self-paced learning.
   Improve: Workshops
   This is all about finding a safe place to improve your skill set. And how do you get better at something? Practice and refinement. Skill development takes time, also building your dream career takes time. But, through constant practice, you will see growth. To be good at something, you have to receive feedback and practice through repetition. In this repetition, the goal is not perfection, but growth. Use your community, find the right environment to improve the areas where you need to improve, and continue to strengthen the areas where you are already strong. Launch: Job Board Career Resources
   The launch pillar, is about more than getting a job, it is about getting the job you want, with confidence. The job search is no small feat. It is emotionally draining. Riddled with rejection and can be desired as a full-time job in itself.
   Launching into an industry or profession or relaunching after time away can be daunting. Especially, if you dont know anyone. If you have your community behind you, you can carve a path forward using those connections. Any industry feels warmer when you know people.
   Succeed: This is day-to-day victories that keep you growing in the right direction. Support, guidance and coaching can all contribute to your success. Things like mental health and work-life balance are all key players in your succeed wall as well. A career coach can help guide you toward healthy and sustainable career decisions. These, along with your wider community, will help you every step of the way.
3. Make your House a Home
   You have built up your foundation, you have set your concrete, you have built all 4 walls. The little piece of magic in your career is YOU. Your dreams, aspirations, wants, needs and lifestyle. Everything that makes you unique contributes to your career success. Success is personal, and so are your goals.                                      Reflect on the questions below, if you answer yes to at least 2, it is usually a good sign that you are headed in the right direction. This is where real career success can happen.
   i. Does it contribute to your financial health?
   ii. Are you surrounded by a community that uplifts you?
   iii. Do you find enjoyment in your work?
   Another way of looking at it. Your career should safeguard your home. It is your roof.
   Stability
   Support
   Satisfaction
   If your next move will make you feel stable, supported and bring you satisfaction then TAKE IT. That is the right move for you.

Conclusion

Career success is a proof of one’s hard work and resilience overtime, it shows the mark of dedication and grit. Building a good career involves setting foundation, building  its four walls through: Learning, improvement, launching and attaining success. These career should also be made to become a part of you, and something that you enjoy to achieve a high sense of fulfillment that you desire.

About Author

Amos Akande

A prolific writer and researcher, teachable and ready to learn at any point in time.

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