BETTER LIFE

A Career Success Strategy

by Shiv Prasad

Unless you know where you want to go with your career, you’re likely to end up at the
unemployment office. Sound harsh? Well, it’s become true for too many people in the past
few years. People who don’t know what they really want to do tend to accept anything that
comes along. They may spend years going through the motions in a job, not thinking about
what they’d really like to do.

48 ACCOUNTANTS TODAY • August 2006


A
s a result, they don’t devote the
energy it takes to become an
expert in their job, to become
a valuable member of the or-
ganisational team. They think what they’ve
been doing is “just a job” and treat it that
way. Then when times get tough or the
organisation restructures, they’re the ones
more likely to be considered expendable.
If you’re like many people, you’ve never
really thought about what you’d honestly
like to do with your life. You took what
came and made the best of it. Of the thou-
sands of people I’ve worked with in
outplacement training sessions who have
been laid off, most had never really thought
much about setting a career goal and tak-
ing the steps to achieve it. That is, until they
had to.
Think about your own situation. How
many hours did you spend planning and
analysing the purchase of your last car, your
house or condominium, or the rental of an
apartment? You probably spent days doing
your research, sizing up the options, talking
with people. How many days have you spent
doing research, analysing your options, and
talking with people about your career?
A good place to start thinking about your
career is to determine what your values
are. Ask yourself: What’s really important
to me? What do I really value? A value is a
factor that profoundly influences your life.
Any career move you make should be
solidly based on your values. Why? Let’s
say you value “independence”, having the
opportunity to do things your own way. You
take a high paying job at a large prestigious
company, and discover the only way to be
successful is to toe the line, to do it their
way. If you truly value independence, you’ll
soon be trying to make improvements, do
things differently, or bend the rules. You’ll
be squelched, frustrated, viewed as a mal-
content, and possibly laid off during the
next restructuring. You’ll have set yourself
up for failure by taking a job where you’re
not allowed to act upon an important value.
Being true to yourself by knowing and liv-
ing your values will enhance your long-
term career success, and your happiness.
Following is a list of values. It’s possible
that all of them are important to you, but
some will have more significance than oth-
ers. If you can, rank order your five values
August 2006 • ACCOUNTANTS TODAY
A Career Success Strategy
from most to least important. tain,” then challenge is not a value of yours.
Independence: The oppor tunity to do If something is truly important to you — a
things your way or on your own; the abil- value — you will make the time to do it.
ity to do a job or activity with little or no One way to verify your values is to keep
supervision. track of how you spend your time for one
week. Keep a time log for the next week,
Security: Stable, safe; not having to worry
and check if you act upon the values you
about present or future income and well-
chose earlier.
being.
Now here’s a tough question to ask your-
Friendship: Being liked by others; having
self: how much of the week did you really
close family and friends; having compan-
enjoy? How much time did you spend do-
ionship.
ing the things that are important to you? If
Power: Being able to control the situation you’re like many people, you’ll find that you
around you; to control or influence people, spend a surprisingly small amount of time
rules and money. doing what you enjoy, and a large amount
Wealth: Having or earning lots of money. of time doing things that are expected of
Self-fulfilment: Having the opportunity to you, and activities that you don’t enjoy.
be all you can be, to realize your full poten- Maybe it’s time to make some changes.
tial. Take a look at your top five values in
comparison with your job. Ask yourself if
Expertness: Being the best at something.
your values can be acted upon and
Recognition: Receiving credit, hearing ap-
achieved in your
plause.
present job. If your
Duty: Doing what is “First say to yourself what you answer is “no,” then
expected of you. you’re probably ex-
would be; and then do what
Challenge: The op- periencing some
por tunity to work you have to do.” frustration and lack
on demanding tasks of fulfilment. Per-
and problems; tak- Epictetus, Greek Philosopher haps you can engi-
ing on high-risk as- neer some changes
signments. in your job, or find another one. If your an-
Family: Meeting the needs of family mem- swer is “yes,” you are probably happy in
bers (security, financial and emotional). the job and performing well.
Some people in organisations stifle their
Health: Taking care of yourself, living a
values for years and wonder why they’re
healthy life.
not happy, fulfilled, or content. Mid-life cri-
Pleasure: Doing what you enjoy; the abil-
ses are sometimes precipitated by the un-
ity to be happy and have fun.
willingness to stifle values any longer. One
Helping People: Directly assisting or guid- day it hits you like a rabbit punch:
ing others, doing things for others.
䡲 I’m not putting up with all this travel any
There are no right or wrong values. You longer (if a value is family).
may find that your values differ from those
䡲 I’m not going to settle for the same bor-
of your boss, colleagues, spouse, and par-
ing work every day (challenge).
ents. This doesn’t mean they’re right and
䡲 I’m fed up with these constant reorgani-
you’re wrong, or vice versa. It just means
sations and changes (security).
their values are different.
How you spend your time is often a pre- 䡲 I’m tired of following the rules; I want to
dictable indicator of your values. People make my own rules (independence).
sometimes talk about their values, but sel- 䡲 I’ve been focusing on myself for too long
dom act on them. For example, if you claim (helping people).
“challenge” as one of your top five values, 䡲 This job is killing me: I look old and over-
ask yourself, what have I done that’s been weight (health).
challenging in the past week, month or “First say to yourself what you would be;
year? If your answer is “not much, but I’ve and then do what you have to do.” — Greek
sure thought about climbing that moun- Philosopher Epictetus. AT
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