Almost nothing happens immediately. For example, it takes a series of decisions before you’re brave enough to begin a battle with foot fungus; it takes years of professional upgrading before entrepreneurship is certain; and growing a career takes, if not actual planning, then a series of well planned decisions. Open your views to delayed satisfaction now, and you’re building a door for opportunity to knock on.
I think that Rebecca makes a good point in that the less you try to plan and instead live in opportunities now, the better your career will naturally lay itself out before you. But, as some commented on her post, without plans to at least give you a range of decisions to work with there will be no road to travel on.
Professional upgrading can be expensive and leave you planning less for the time being (because as you get through it you need to be stable), but it will definitely pay off when you put it into action as part of a plan. Eventually.
I cannot use my upcoming certification in proposals yet, which is a bummer because the work and funding is there – while I am in part-time school I have to know that it may take two years to pay off. Know this, and be comfortable with it.
Building a network as an action plan will have a delayed pay-off. I have a number of business cards and connections that I cannot, frustratingly, put into action yet. I tried too early once, and in being overly keen may have scared off a potential client. If you are the service provider, make that connection, but have the potential client contact you when the time is right. If you sell yourself well upon initially meeting them, the call will come in.
Think of this: when our forests are re-stocked, they are planned as harvestable in 40 to 80 years. Sometimes more. That means that the company with the lease on the land plans to exist for that amount of time, a rather lofty goal. Often the lease is auctioned off, but then the next company needs to believe in that future target. Knowing the condition of the market and industry right now the risk is massive, but the goal of that satisfaction is fair: the larger the time frame, the more disbursed the risk is.
When I finish my nearly two year investment in school I am taking that risk that more opportunities will have risen in a two-year period. Realize your niche, and bank on growth, it’s usually worth it.
Lastly, something that I am familiar with, putting your time in as an intern may suck the life out of you at times, but it is an investment that will give you a business-shoe foot in the door. Because of my 6 months (with my current company), I know lines and levels of the firm that many other employees never bothered to notice. Take pride in where you stand as an employee and use it to make your boss look good: it will pay off in time.
So, as review:
- Professional Upgrading;
- Networking;
- Interning; and
- Banking on growth of a niche
…are three specific factors that you need to have some patience in. Growing a career path takes time and patience. More often than not it is about growing that path, and not a career: you may not know where that path leads to.
