You’ve no doubt heard the saying about the need for business owners and leaders to work on the business instead of constantly working in the business. The importance of taking a step back and working on the business instead of just in the business is crucial for success – it allows business owners and leaders to look at the direction the business needs to take to stay relevant, innovative and to strategically plan for the future. I’ve just returned from a business strategy conference (if you are a business owner you need to attend) where I spent three days working on my business instead of in it. I have come back from that strategy session refreshed, re-energised and have renewed clarity about my priorities and goals for Inspire HQ, both short term and long term; I am pumped!
As I sat in this strategy workshop, surrounded by inspirational business owners, it was pretty powerful to think that these people had made a conscious choice and financial investment to step away from their businesses to work on their business instead of just in their business. To take a breath, stop and look up to the future; not just keep running on the treadmill like we so often get caught up doing.
Yet I sat their perplexed. Why as business owners and leaders do we make this effort, yet we don’t do the same thing for our own careers? Regardless of if we are business owners or employees, why do we not stop, take a breath, lift our head and invest time to work on our career instead of just in our career?
Every week I am contacted by individuals who are so unhappy and disengaged in their careers. You are in a rut, you don’t know how to make a change, you feel you have more to contribute but your career is not progressing in the direction you had hoped. Opportunities aren’t presenting themselves, promotions aren’t knocking, new challenges are not forthcoming.
If this is how you are feeling in your career, my question to you is: are you investing in working on your career instead of just working in your career?
With a new year just around the corner it’s normal to start thinking about our new year’s resolutions. I see so many people sit back during the holiday season and think I can’t stick out another year of this – I need a new job. The problem is in the majority of cases you have left it too late; you’re being reactive. In reality a career change is something you should have been working on for at least the last few months if not always. If you haven’t invested the time in working on your career chances are you’ll end up making the wrong decisions and take the wrong path. Just like in business, if you don’t have a plan how do you know where you are going to end up; how will you know which opportunities to seize and which ones to let pass you by?
What should you work on or consider when you stop to work on your career?
- Your WHY – what are you passionate about, why do you do what you do, what sets you apart from others that do what you do; where do you want that to take you in the short term (next 12 months) and long term (3 to 5 year plan)?
- Professional Development – how are you investing in your own professional development, where are the gaps, where can you upskill to differentiate yourself from your competitors (other that are vying for the same career opportunities)
- How are you selling yourself – if you aren’t pitching yourself appropriately you’ll struggle to get noticed. Making sure your resume, covering letter and key selection criteria hits the spot when an opportunity presents itself is crucial to success. Don’t leave the preparation of these documents until you see an opportunity advertised.
- Your network – just like a successful business needs proactive support from their accountant or IT Consultant or Lawyer, when working on your career you’ll need to surround yourself with experts to challenge, inform, educate and support you. Begin now in building trusted relationships with a career coach, recruiter, mentor and industry experts.
It’s no fluke that successful businesses invest in working on their business not just in it. Begin with the end in mind; invest in working on your career not just in it to ensure career success.
