Melanie Click asked:

Nearly everyone wants to do their own thing their own way and this includes having a career. If you’ve never thought about what your needs are in relation to your career, then perhaps it’s time to start. Just having a career is enough for some people, but if you are feeling dissatisfied with your career, maybe its because your career has you! To successfully own your career and make it go in the way you want it to, you must develop a plan that’s right for you and then put it into practice. By thinking of yourself as a product that must be competitively marketed, you can get your career on the path you want it to take. They may not always be amenable to advice on the best way to do things. Perhaps they stick to the principle that there are two right ways to do a thing, someone else’s and their own.

To have a good career your own way may mean that you must initiate your own principles. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses could be the first step on a fulfilling and interesting career journey. With a little more thought and introspection you will be able to set your own goals and realize what you need in the way of training and skills to achieve the kind of career you’ve always wanted.

This career may not be different to the one you have already, but it may be stuck in a rut with no clear way out. But once you identify your goals, you’ll be able to develop the strategic plans you need to attain them. Your career is really all about you. It’s not about the training you did to get there or even about the company who employed you. It’s not about your boss or your friends or your family. You are the one doing this job and you must own it. If your career is not the way you want it to be, then you are the one who must do something about it.

Your whole life is about who you are and what your needs are. Your career should be an outcome of your own needs. For instance if you are the kind of person who to feel good needs to help other people, then your career should be in doing just that. You could be a nurse, doctor, teacher or advisor of some kind. All these careers are based in helping people.

If you’ve never thought about what your needs are in relation to your career, then perhaps it’s time to start. Just having a career is enough for some people, but if you are feeling dissatisfied with your career, maybe its because your career has you! To successfully own your career and make it go in the way you want it to, you must develop a plan that’s right for you and then put it into practice. By thinking of yourself as a product that must be competitively marketed, you can get your career on the path you want it to take.

Higher Career