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Edwin DayThese days, it seems like technology is changing the world, and by extension careers available within it, at a faster and faster rate. When I graduated college, people were still using Friendster instead of a Facebook, MySpace hadn’t even succeeded yet before ultimately failing, and nobody knew what it meant to be “social media manager.” Fast forward less than two decades, and social media offers many graduates prosperous and meaningful careers.
In 2009, Bitcoin was introduced to the world. Just over a decade later this revolutionary asset and medium of exchange is only just becoming mainstream, and not without controversy. Irrespective of what one thinks of Bitcoin and its prospects of future success, it’s hard to argue that if we were to fast forward another decade or so, when many high school seniors today would be finishing undergraduate or graduate school and be looking out in the world, what careers could Bitcoin offer then that we can’t even imagine today?
Is it even possible to have long-term career goals in such a technologically fast-moving and ever-changing world? You may think you know what you want to be now, only to have your 5-year plan upended by something you didn’t even see coming.
Career planning is a continual and evolving process that involves constant evaluation of your own values, interests, financial goals, etc., all of which will affect your outcome. Your experiences, new information, technological changes and other life changes should all be assessed when creating both your short and long-term career goals.
Being adept at managing your career requires flexibility and openness towards trying new things. Here are some things to keep in mind that can help in this process:
- It’s Never Too Late – Have a clear idea of what you’d like to do. What is the overall goal that you’d like to achieve, and not just the short-term/immediate one-off problem that you can fix. By framing the question this way, it can help you focus on identifying your ultimate goal, even if how you go about doing that can be achieved in a variety of different ways through a variety of different roles.
- Don’t Let Your Career Plan Become Stale – The world is fast-changing and evolving. You need to review the relevance of your career plan on a regular basis.
- It’s Probably Not Going To Be Easy – If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. If planning your career was too easy, maybe you’re not asking yourself and those in your network the right questions. Or perhaps you need to evaluate what assumptions you’re operating under. Are there things that you don’t know that you don’t know, that maybe you should?
- Realistic Steps – If your next career step is realistic and practical, it can help in creating concrete plans to achieve your next goal. You can create a list of realistic options and alternatives to help identify and balance all your options as well as the likelihood of achieving each.
- Take Action – After you’ve made a decision, take action. Give yourself that push you need in the right direction, even if it means only achieving a small result, because that small result will motivate you to keep going. You can even find a partner that understands what you’re trying to do and will help keep you on track and accountable.
Be constantly aware of what’s changing in both your professional and personal life.
Prepare to plan for change.