I know what it’s like to feel stuck in your career, to feel your trajectory just kind of putter out, and to feel like you have no control no matter what you do. It does not feel good to see all these people around you getting promoted or moving on to bigger jobs, while you’re just there. Do you feel left behind while others are on the fast track to their goals?
I know what that’s like. I know how frustrating it is. And I don’t want that for you. You deserve something better. How can you enhance your career development?
So I want to share with you three tips that have helped me to push my career and really drive my growth.
First, stop apologizing for things you didn’t do.
You want to show up like a boss. You want to show up and be respected. If you’re always apologizing, in the back of people’s mind, it may seem like there’s something wrong with you. There’s probably not, but your words matter.
Here are some examples.
If you show up late because your last meeting ran over. Instead of saying, “Sorry, I’m late,” you can say, “Thank you for understanding that my last meeting ran over. Let’s get started.”
This goes for times in your life too. If you’re getting into a busy subway car, or you’re walking into a room that’s very crowded, instead of going,” Oh, I’m sorry. Excuse me?,” you can say, “Thank you for making space.”
For that random person who sends you an email pointing out that you have a typo in something that you sent out. Don’t apologize, just say “Thank you for pointing that out. Now I can do better.”
Stop apologizing for things that you haven’t done wrong. To be sure if you did something wrong. If you hurt someone, if you wronged someone, then yes, you need to apologize. But if you didn’t, then don’t.
Don’t apologize. Just say… Thank you!
Next, share your strengths with the people who matter.
In this instance, the people who matter are those who can move your career forward – make sure they know what you’re good at. Make sure that they know what you like doing.
How do you do this? First, identify who can move your career forward. And then make sure that you spend some time sharing your strengths with them.
When you see them, and they ask how you are saying to them, you can say. “I’m great. I was just reflecting on that time when I gave that knockout presentation to the board.”
“I’m great. I just finished an amazing Excel sheet, and the formula that I just wrote is going to save everyone so much time and allow us to be that much more accurate with our projections.”
Don’t waste that opportunity when someone asks you how you are to share one of your strengths.
And the last thing, and this is by far the most important because, without this, you can’t move your career forward.
Get clarity on what you want out of your career.
Get clarity on what you want out of your career.
What are the next steps that you want? We’re not talking about titles. I’m talking about the actual day-to-day work that you’re doing.
Do you want to lead a bigger team? Do you want to lead a smaller team? Do you want to work more on strategy? Do you want to do less strategy and more execution? Do you want to make more money? What are the things that you want out of your career outside of the title?
You have to be really clear on those because if you’re not, it’s really hard to find out who the right people are to share your strengths with. And if you’re not, it’s really hard to actually take steps to move you quickly in the direction that you want to go.
So there you have it, mama, those are my three career-boosting tips that will help you to move forward to start to thrive in the office.
Take Action
Now, everything I just share with you doesn’t matter at all if you don’t take action. So I need you to take action.
The most important action you can take today is that third step, get clear on what you want out of your career.
Take five minutes right now and write down what you want most out of your career. That is the game changer to really launch you in the right direction and advance your career.
P.S. My Clarity and Confidence Bundle provides step-by-step guides to get you that clarity you need. Take back your power and show up as your best here.