Day 3 - Career Mapping towards becoming your Best Self

Have you really given thought to what you ideal career looks like? feels like? sounds like? If anything were possible, what would be different about your career? What would your responsibilities be? What type of boss and coworkers would you want to work with? What type of hours would you work? If your answers to these questions made you question your current employment, then somewhere along the road you might have allowed confusion, complacency, laziness, depression, procrastination or bad management to control your career. Throughout this 21 day process,  you will Create a Personal Career Map that will unveil answers to those questions and get you back on track towards Becoming Your Best Self .

A career map is a bottom up approach  used to address your career and learn more about yourself, oftentimes I use this method to help people Get Noticed and Get Hired!

Visualizing Your Career and Creating a Strategy for Success
The first step is creating a career map is truly believing you will be successful in your career. To be successful in this jouney you will need to remove negative influences in your life and prepare room for God to use you the way he sees fit. From that you can start implementing a career plan that works for you.
For example, 3 years ago I started a company called NPursuit and everyone would tell me to visualize success. In my mind, I thought I completed this task, because I was the visionary behind the idea. However over time,  I realized I didnt have a plan for how I was going to make the business successful. As I started opening my heart for the Lord to speak and give me direction, I developed a strategic plan for myself and my business. No less than 4 months later, my business began taking formation and I started embracing the fact that I didn't just have a side business, I owned a professional career development and recruiting firm in Atlanta, GA.

Today, I encourage you spend some time mentally preparing yourself for the change by answering the questions below.

• What positive influences do you have in your life? Do these influences have a positive impact on your career? Is there anything limiting you to be your best self?
• How do you motivate yourself? What things do you do to reward yourself when you have accomplished a goal? Do you reward yourself in the same manner, even when you haven't earned it?
• How do you spend your time? Create a pie chart and review how much time you dedicate to the "positive influences in your life"?
• Who are your mentors? Why did you choose them? What would you like to learn from them? How much time do you spend talking to them?

Creating a Strategy For Success
Did you learn anything about yourself? Are you committed to making some changes that can assist you in your personal career development? What will you do differently moving forward?

Now that you have mentally prepared yourself for a paradigm shift, you are ready to start prioritizing what is most important to you and your career. As a professional headhunter, I am oftentimes surprised by number of professionals I encounter that start new career searches without answering some of the questions below. On Day 3, I challenge you to spend some time assessing and prioritizing what'simportant in your career.  The questions below can help you get started.

• What are your professional career goals? What are you good at professionally? Provide an example of how you've demonstrated this skill in a professional setting.
• What is your most significant accomplishment? (Be Specific)
• What are you not so good at? Give an example.
• How would each of your last 5 bosses rate your performance in comparison to your peers? Are you noticing any patterns?
• Why did you leave your last 5 employers?
• What are your expectations as it relates to travel, work hours, schedules, work environment and compensation?