Show Notes
Today’s topic is new year resolutions. Specifically resolutions for success in your engineering career.
I love making resolutions. I love it because it challenges me. It brings a sense of accomplishment. And it’s a kind of a sneak peek into the future.
If you don’t like making resolutions, maybe you’ll skip this episode… Or maybe you’ll learn a way to make resolutions more intriguing and valuable for you.
Why am I talking about new year resolutions in the context of your career? In addition to your career planning and strategizing and training, you also need to do some dreaming and visualizing.
I believe that to get where you want to go, be who you want to be, and make the impact you want to make you must first dream it and put yourself in that dream, starting now.
Setting resolutions helps you do that. It’s worthwhile to imagine your world the way you want it to be, and resolve to get there. This applies to your career vision as much as anything else in your life.
How to Tailor Your Resolutions for Career Success
For me the process of making a new year resolution begins with a dream or a wish. What do I wish? What do I want?
I think about what needs to happen for that wish to come true. I define the stepping stones. I determine which steps I can take this year and craft resolutions to take those steps.
That’s pretty much all there is to it. That’s the how. But what I really want to share with you are these 8 insights and suggestions for tailoring your resolutions for career success:
- First when it comes to resolutions there are no rules. Or, more accurately, you make all the rules. And you’re allowed to change the rules. Even in the middle of the year.
Because the whole point is to make career progress, to grow, to experience, to find what you love. Not just to check off some boxes.
- Setting goals for the year is a good thing to do. Maybe you’ve already talked to your boss about your goals for the year. But although you may have them in parallel, goals and resolutions are not necessarily the same thing.
I like to think of resolutions as more fun or whimsical or magical. Not any less important. But worded in such a way as to be motivating, enticing, inviting, even exciting.
For example: You might have a goal to “attend a leadership course by the end of the year.”
At the same time your resolution might be to “obtain high quality leadership skills specific to women in engineering and use them to leverage your next career opportunity.” See the difference?
Here’s a personal example: I resolve to set aside 1 day per week to write new content.
To make this resolution more fun, I resolve to do it while exploring area tea shops and libraries – where I can go and sit and write. This will make it more motivating and enticing for me.
- Avoid making a resolution list that looks like a to-do list. A to-do list has its place. But it tends to be simply a list of tasks.
You want resolutions to be challenging. To allow you to explore and stretch yourself. You want to be motivated to carry out your resolutions and reap some benefits from them.
- Make your resolution list more specific with metrics. It’s too hard to determine if you’ve accomplished a resolution if it’s too generic.
For example, a resolution to expand your network is pretty vague. One way to be more specific: resolve to expand your network by reaching out to 6 more people in your field, including 2 that you admire.
Here’s a personal example: My resolution to do more walking wasn’t very specific. So instead: I resolve to take hour-long walks once a week and 20-minute walks the remaining days of the week.
You can see that the revised resolutions are much easier to measure and determine progress.
- Include a variety of resolution types: near term and far term, simple and more complex, easy and more challenging. That way you’re sure to accomplish at least some of them. And mixing it up keeps your interest level high.
- The number of resolutions you make should be whatever suits you.
Maybe you only want one to focus on for the year. I’m following Gretchen Rubin’s lead on the Happier Podcast: 22 resolutions for 2022. There’s no limit. Make your own rule on how many – or how few – resolutions should be on your list.
- If you do better with resolutions when someone else is cheering you on, find an accountability partner. Get together with friends or colleagues and make it a joint challenge.
- Maximize the use of your resolution list for elevating your career. For example:
- Use it to try new things; to gain courage and risk tolerance. (As Eleanor Roosevelt might say, to do the thing you think you cannot do.)
- Use it to feel accomplished and to revisit those accomplishments at the end of the year.
- Use it to explore your strengths and skills, what you like and don’t like.
- Use it to realize your dream career.
How is your dream career coming along, BTW? Have you lost sight of it? Does it seem out of reach? Consider taking a serious look at your career trajectory and your level of fulfillment.
Through my Signature Program I can help you get back on track. I can help you shift to fabulous. Find out more here. Fill out an application so I can learn about you and we can set up a Discovery Call.
Setting new year resolutions may not be your cup of tea. But there are ways to make it fun and inspiring. And to use it as an effective tool for your career strategy. So why not?
Next time on Her Engineering Career Podcast our topic will be strategic compliments. Be sure to tune in for Episode 33.
