Climbing the Career Mountain: One Hill at a Time

Our clients often ask what the single next step should be so that they end up in the career of their dreams. Other clients wonder if they can actually have a career of their dreams since what they'd love to be doing seems out of reach and not practical. In both cases our response is the same: this doesn't have to be a one-step solution.

Seth Godin says "The craft of your career comes in picking the right hills. Hills just challenging enough that you can barely make it over. A series of hills becomes a mountain, and a series of mountains is a career."

I like this approach better than the "bet the farm" method of career management. 

Many times, clients who have been considering change for a long time fall into two camps. The first are tired of waiting and ready to jump in something (anything) new. These leapers are ready to scale the next and highest mountain they can find rather than exploring the range of options within their current grasp.

The second camp have decided that they are too tired to climb even the smallest hill in front of them. They are tired of talking about what they wish was different. They've bored themselves into inertia and now have all kinds of reasons not to try. 

Last night's workshop showed attendees how to define a Career SweetSpot Statement that provides a set of criteria to weigh new opportunities against. For the leapers it brings the series of steps into focus so they don't leap without looking. For the bored it challenged their assumptions and stirred up creative juices enticing them to seek out the next hill.

People do take big gambles and make enormous leaps in their careers. But most progress at a more measured pace. One step at a time. The trick is in knowing what the end goal is and which steps among the thousands you could take will best get you there.