Your career is yours, no matter what, regardless of what your boss does or doesn’t do. You are the one in control. For better or worse, your career goes with you everywhere. Of course, as any superhero fan knows, with great power comes great responsibility. To truly leverage the benefits of such a concept, you must first embrace an ownership mindset.
I love planning. When I have a plan in front of me, I feel more in control of my destiny. I’m less stressed, more empowered.
Here’s the most interesting part: A plan helps me feel these positive things, even when I can’t follow the plan perfectly.
Over the past year, I’ve really had to come to terms with this. After all, the pandemic has made life unpredictable for most of us. But I haven’t stopped planning. In fact, I’ve become even more diligent about it!
As a career coach, I often work with people when they’re dealing with an expected job loss. They’ve either been terminated for cause, laid off, or asked to resign. In any case, it’s never an easy situation. Most people tell me they were blindsided—they had no idea! Yet, after some time spent...
No job is perfect. However, there are almost always things you can do to make an imperfect job a little closer to perfect. When you’re not happy with your current role, instead of jumping ship and finding a new job, you might want to first engage in a process referred to as “career crafting” or...
As you may know, I host a free Q&A session every month. (You can sign up to be a part of them here.) During this time, I put on my “career coach” cap and answer questions submitted by participants related to your career and workplace issues. It’s truly one my favorite things to do! Oddly,...
No one goes to work with the intention of performing poorly. Yet, it happens. Quite frequently, I hear from people who have been put on a formal Performance Improvement Plan (or PIP) and they’re wondering how to handle it. The process can be overwhelming and emotional. However, if managed well, a...
If you’ve been following my work for any period of time, you know that I’m a big fan of Professional Development Plans (also referred to as PDPs). I often create these plans in collaboration with my career coaching clients, and I frequently provide training workshops on this topic. However, one...
This is the second article in a two-part series on the topic of Professional Development Plans. Read the first article here. In the first part of this series, you learned that a professional development plan (or PDP) is a written document used to focus, evaluate and prioritize professional...
This is the first article in a two-part series on the topic of Professional Development Plans. As a career coach, I spend a lot of time helping my clients create plans for professional growth. One of the most important tools we use is known as a Professional Development Plan or PDP. Many...
As a career coach, one of my main roles is to help my clients develop the professional skills and abilities required to achieve their goals. It’s a process that takes time and planning, but I love helping people figure out what needs to be done, how to get started and how to stay on track....
In a recent Eat Your Career community poll, there was a resounding request for more information on career planning. As always, your wish is my command! One of the first questions I always hear around the topic of creating a career plan is this: “Do I really need one?” If you’ve been in the...
I have a question for you: Three frogs are sitting on a log and one decides to jump off. How many frogs are left? If you answered two, you’re wrong, but don’t sweat it. Most people fall for it. Here’s the thing: One frog decided to jump off the log, but that doesn’t mean he necessarily did...