Navigating Career Goals in Your 20’s

This blog post will help outline major steps that will lead you closer to successfully navigating your career goals and getting you on the right path. 

1. Setting Realistic Career Goals

For starters, most of you reading this don’t have real goals written down in a 1, 3, and 10 year plan. This is the first basic. What do you want to achieve in those time frames? This will look different for everyone. 

The second step is ensuring that they are realistic. I am not saying you can’t make an insane amount of money or get two promotions in a year. The “realistic” part is, how are you going to do that? Living in la la land and “manifesting” can only get you so far. Write out exact action steps that are going to make that dream a reality and set deadlines for yourself. Even if they are made up, it will give you a target to reach and a plan of action to get there instead of wishful thinking. 

The third step is periodic check-ins. Did your goals change? Are you meeting your goals? If you are on track or ahead, great. Do your goals need to be adjusted? If you are behind, you are going to need a new action plan to make up for lost time or change your goals if they change. 

To recap: 

1. Write down your 1, 3 and 10 year goals 

2. Write down the steps you are going to take to get there to make it more achievable and set deadlines for when those need to be done to meet your goals 

3. Time block for periodic check-ins. Quarterly, monthly, or annually

2. Getting the Pay you Want and Deserve

The importance of this title is significant. I didn’t put “Getting the pay you Want.” I believe that you can make the pay you want AND deserve, as an employee. If you are maximizing your capabilities and doing a great job, ask for a raise. Getting the pay you want, starts with you. 

If you are in the mindset of a CEO or manager, you are not often thinking about how much Maggie from accounting makes and throwing more money at her for doing a great job. No, you expect a great job because that is why you hired Maggie. But, if Maggie came to the CEO and showed how much money her accounting skills saved the company with time because of her efficiency and finding unnecessary expenses and cutting them, and asked for a fair raise or bonus plan, the CEO would be much more inclined to do so. 

If they don’t, that would be a fair time to find out what would need to be done in order to get the pay you want and what would be exchangeable to them for that money. Once you have done this, you can evaluate whether or not that is worth your time and if there is growth potential. 

Being a believer in “you get the pay you deserve,” if you don’t ask for it, you’re likely not going to get it. If you ask and don’t get it, don’t settle. Whether that means coming back with another offer or finding a new job.

3. Recognizing When it’s Time to Move on From a Job

When is it time to move on from a job? I think this question depends a lot on where you are currently in your career. Are there job advancement opportunities?  Do you like the work environment? Can you see yourself there forever? Those are all questions that will lead you to the answer that is going to be right for you. 

However, there becomes a point for everyone where you certainly need to move on. If you are not happy and have decided you want something else, you need to leave. After that decision, you are not going to happy if you stay. 

Now, you are probably thinking, “but I have spent this time here to learn x,y,z and ….” Sure, but whether you stay or leave, you spent that time there already. You cannot get that time back. But, you can change what you do with your time and where you invest your energy in the future. 

It’s time to move on when: 

1. You have already decided you want something else 

2. You have no advancement opportunity or future game 

3. You don’t enjoy the working environment or people 

4. Navigating Workplace Environments and Personalities

The biggest variable component that can mess things up are bad work environments and personalities that don’t fit. The best way to handle the situation is to find out what you CAN do about it. 

Are you in a position where you can influence company culture? Even if you are not a manager or HR, you are an employee and have a say in company culture. You are also your own person and can decide how you act and what you say in environments or with people you may not get along with. 

It is rare to have a perfect work environment and love everyone if you are not running the company. So, I am sure there are some instances where you need to suck it up. But, you can always say something to the person, manager, or boss. 

The one thing that is the most important to realize is that traditionally, you will spend a majority of your life at work. So, who you choose to have around you and the environment that you decide to work in is going to be who you are with and where you are for the most of your life. If that was me, I wouldn’t settle. 

5. Staying on Track with Your Career Goals

One of the easiest things to do is get lost in your career with your own goals. Every company has goals and your boss has goals for you, but what are YOUR goals and are you achieving them? Sometimes the answers to those questions have tough to face answers. But it is better to face them than to be left in the dark wondering where the last ten years of your life went. 

You want to look back and know that you made the right choice. And in order to do that, you need to create a system for yourself to stay on track. 

Systems to stay on track are much easier to come by with the rising popularity of planners and new technology. My favorites are ClickUp, Google Suite, and the Dailee Planner. Using these systems to set reminders, time block and plan your life will make you one step ahead of everyone else. 

In order to actually be successful, the way you keep track of your life needs to work for you primarily. If it doesn’t you aren’t going to end up actually doing it. 

6. Your Future is for YOU 

The most important section in this blog post is this. Your future is for YOU and nobody else. What someone else wants you to do is for them. If that doesn’t make you happy, that sucks for them. But, in the end, when they see you thriving and succeeding, they will be happy for you. Unless they’re a hater in which case, ha! 

Make sure that when you are planning your life, it is on your terms. You want to create a life that you want so badly you would do anything to have it. Anything less is subpar. 

You won’t find happiness living anyone else’s dream than your own. So, create that dream and do whatever it takes to make it happen. You will come out on top! 

You career goals are set and you are on the track for success!