1 of 10: What a Successful Career Looks Like

1. To answer the question about what a successful career would look like, ask yourself, “What would I be doing on a weekly, monthly or daily basis if I was doing what I wanted in 10 years?”

It is August/September in 2021, what will you be doing for your career on this side of eternity?
Some of you may be saying to yourself, "Matt, I have no idea what I will be doing in 10 years, how could I ever plan for that far out?"

I agree we can't be certain and exact but just for the thought exercise, if you could be doing what you have always wanted to be doing in 10 years, what would it be? If you are 10 years older, what type of things would you be working on? Is it retirement, or is it the pinnacle of your career? Is it spending time with your wife each weekend on house projects? Or is it still working on weekends finishing a PowerPoint presentation? The choice to pursue the destination starts today.

Some additional challenging and insightful questions that may help answer this question of what a successful career would look like are:Who or what type of people would you be interacting with?

• Who would you intentionally surround yourself with?
• Who are your Customers? Vendors? Suppliers?
• What would you struggle with, positively or negatively, personally or professionally?
• What influence would you have on this world? Or the next generation?
• Who or what are you looking to define success?Once you answer some of these questions and you can look at them in front of you, ask yourself this last question, "What do you need to start or begin or continue that will make these possibilities come to fruition?

The problem with 10 years out is that it seems so far away and so we put off thinking about it or planning for it. Much like businesses that only plan for the next year or the current year, they spend very little time planning for what could be and spend their days reacting or responding to the crisis of the moment.

Until next week...