At some point in your career, you may have felt the need to seek some insight and motivation. Well, for many, career coaching is the ideal solution. It is designed to equip people with the necessary knowledge, tools and opportunities to succeed in their career plans. It also helps to bridge the gap between their current situations and where they desire to be in the future in terms of goals and long-term plans.
Steps to follow to become your personal career coach
Many people will ask, “What does a career coach do for money that I can’t do myself for free?” The answer is that a career coach empowers you to utilize all your strengths, resources and other valuable assets to look for solutions to your career issues. But if you are determined to go through the process of self-building and self-supervision on your own, lack of face-to-face sessions and conversation should not hinder you from being a personal career coach. If you plan properly and responsibly, follow all the required steps, you can achieve the desired point within no time.
That said, what are some of the steps of becoming a career coach to yourself? Let’s find out!
Realize your motives
The first step is to ask yourself some of the most cringe-inducing questions that somebody else can ask you. List them down and answer them. You can have a list of questions such as:
Do I want to do this job?
What would I like to improve in my job? What am I not satisfied with?
Do I enjoy staying in this job? Shall I change the field?
If I want to switch industries, what industry am I interested in?
What am I good at doing? What is terrible to me?
Do I want to work for a company or become freelance/self-employed?
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How much time do I need to bring these changes to life?
Once you are through with the list, review your answers as a way of self-evaluation. This will help you ground yourself on your current job, whether to keep it or change it.
Set your goals
What do you want to achieve at the end of this session? Where do you want to be in the next 10 years? Define your short and long-term goals. Then, think of what you can do to achieve them within a given time frame. You can put it down on a piece of paper and review them every day to see if you are making any progress. This will prevent you from deviating from the main goal.
Define your weaknesses and gaps
Your list should include the weaknesses in your career. Most definitely, there is a thing or two that really pulls you down or prevents you from reaching your goal. This is the time to highlight and work out a plan to fill up those gaps and get rid of things you are dissatisfied with.
Overcome your fears and misbeliefs
Well, overcoming fear is the first step in making headway. Fear and misbelief will only drag you down and make you lose self-confidence. Once you have decided to be your personal career coach, you need to take up the challenge and beat all odds.
Highlight your skills and abilities
Your skills and abilities are the key determining factor of your success. Determine your strengths and work on them to make the best out of it. Invest your time in learning new things, improving your current skills and raising your literacy. Ideally, make a plan of self-improvement with certain deadlines to fit your main aim.
Track your ups and downs with the help of a journal
If you don’t have someone or a coach to help track where you are, a journal will be the most important tool for the job. The detailed actions and feelings written in a journal allow you to analyze each one of them later and you can be objective about these actions. Track the steps and don’t forget to put down the successful moments and failures encountered.
Report to someone you appoint
Tracking your results and progress is the most important thing in career coaching. Find a trustworthy person who will be accountable for your progress. Later in the day, you can analyze what you have achieved and what is needed to be achieved.
Don’t stop learning
Am I doing everything possible to achieve my goals? Where do I need to put more effort? What skills need upgrading? Always ask yourself such questions to ensure you stick to the plan. If you need to change something, don’t hesitate, add the corrections and adapt to the changes provided they will help reach the desired destination.
Never stop learning, whether it's knowledge related to your profession or just something you are curious about. People who are always in demand are those who are constantly striving to improve themselves. I hope that is you!
About the Author: Rachel Bartee is a blogger from Davenport. She writes about things that are currently on her mind. She feels inspired by her morning yoga and personal development classes she is attending at the moment. Follow her at Twitter.
