6 Steps To Achieving Your Professional Goals

Your fitness goals are important and should be treated with the same regard as you do your career. Let businesswoman and life-long training enthusiast Kandace Hudspeth show you how to climb the corporate and fitness ladder.

Are you making progress with your professional goals? Do you feel stuck in your current role? If so, it’s time to take your career development as seriously as you take your fitness.

The number-one mistake I see young professionals making is fixating too much on the job above theirs, the next title or promotion, rather than truly understanding their strengths. Before you ever enter a conversation about your next role, you should have been preforming that role or the responsibilities that come with the desired position for some time.

The most important skill you can gain to continuously advance your career is being able to assess the needs of the business and align them to your skill- set, creating an opportunity for your development. And any development you make must strategically benefit the organization, particularly when that organization is you and your physique.  I’ve managed the last 10 years of my career this way and believe it’s the number- one reason for success in all things.

1. Do an honest self-assessment

Honestly evaluate your skill-set (strengths and opportunities for development).

List your top-10 professional skills in ranking order.

Keep an updated list of the top-five professional accomplishments to date, or a list of the top-five accomplishments you want to achieve.

Ask for comprehensive feedback on your performance.

2. Ruthlessly set goals

Identify the type of work you enjoy and excel at. Then observe the behavior or the people you admire professionally and/or those who currently operate in a role you desire. List your short- and long-term goals as specifically as possible.

3. Consult experts for advice

Set up informational interviews or mentorship discussions over coffee, and ask stakeholders the following:

What aspect of the business are you most concerned about?

Where do you see your team’s capabilities expanding in the next 1-3 years?

What business needs do you frequently hear feedback about from partners or clients?

4. Putting in the work

Take on additional work and assume the responsibility before being awarded a new role.

Oversee a new project, contribute significantly to a new initiative.

Start to mentor more junior team members.

Meaningfully participate in meetings.

Do this repeatedly for several months until it becomes second nature.

5. Develop an action plan

Synthesize all of the inputs you’ve collected from the previous areas, assess the needs of the business that you’ve identified and align those needs to your strengths to formulate opportunities for role expansion. One this has been done, communicate those ideas to your manager/trainer and gather feedback.

6. Build and maintain your personal brand

Keeping your personal pitch fresh as well as your resumé and Linkedin profile. Aim to update these every quarter.

Over time you’ll prove yourself an invaluable resource and leader to your organization. If you follow this approach, the next time you have a conversation about what’s next for you, the answer will be right in front of you and your manager, and it will seem like a no-brainer to everyone involved.

Find career and fitness advice in every issue of TRAIN for HER.