Breaking your New Year’s resolutions already? Learn how getting out of your comfort zone can lead to major, positive changes in your professional life.
8 Steps to Shock Yourself Out of Complacency
Having trouble adhering to the career goal resolutions you made for 2017? Perhaps you weren’t thinking big enough.
Here are 8 ways to shock yourself out of complacency and make some real changes for the better.
Step 1: Perform a Career SWOT Analysis
Evaluate yourself as if you were a business.
Determine your career strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
If you begin to think about your professional career as a business enterprise (which it surely is!), then you’ll surely agree that you need to actively plan and manage your career goals and achievements.
Why not start today by performing an assessment to determine your professional strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats facing you and your career goals.
This type of analysis, which goes by the acronym SWOT, can help you work to your strengths as well as identify areas where you may need improvement. It will also encourage you to confront changes affecting your future, such as: ‘How can I take advantage of the new technologies that could transform my industry?’ or ‘Could my career job-function be replaced one day by artificial intelligence powered robots?’
Step 2: Be the Subject of Your Own Research Project
Are you confident you know your individual strengths and weaknesses?
Learn more about yourself through aptitude and personality assessments.
Perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to have an astute manager or career mentor who has provided you with honest, genuine feedback about your job performance.
Not all of us have been so fortunate — indeed many of us would benefit from receiving unbiased feedback about our strengths and weaknesses in the professional realm.
Why not take a personality and aptitude assessment online to learn more about your professional traits in a business environment? Here are two recommendations:
- VIA Institute on Character (cost: free for basic level)
- Kolbe A Index test (cost ~$50)
Step 3: Increase Your Energy Levels
Achieving your best work professionally takes an energetic spirit.
Challenge yourself to set and achieve new personal goals for improved health and diet in 2017.
Want to make a breakthrough in your personal health this year? Get out of your comfort zone — hire a personal trainer or coach, join an adult swim team, start training for a marathon. Pick a goal that’s right for you that will make a difference in how you look and feel. Consider this an important foundation for achieving all your other professional goals this year.
Don’t overlook health and energy concerns while at work. Ask yourself this question: Can you really do your best work when you sit for long hours at an uncomfortable desk?
Scientific studies and health authorities say NO — working long hours sitting at a conventional desk is not healthy and won’t help you achieve your goals. The solution: change your position throughout the day using a motorized ‘Sit-to-Stand’ desk to raise and lower your work surface.
Working with our Formaspace Design Consultants, you can design your own Sit-to-Stand desk with built-in storage that will help you work smarter and healthier in 2017 and beyond.
Step 4: Get Organized at Work Once and for All
Take control of your office environment with a custom workspace desk that you design yourself, and is custom built by Formaspace just for you.
If you are going to make a lot of changes in your career that take you out of your comfort zone, it’s more important than ever to make sure that you have one place that you can return to and feel comfortable — a custom work environment with a place for everything and everything in its place.
Take a look around your current workspace. Does it really meet your needs? Do you have convenient access to everything or do you have trouble finding what you need when you need it? Talk to your Formaspace Design Consultant. We will build you a custom-designed office workspace — tailored just for you — with a place for everything and everything in its place.
Enjoy the exclusive benefits of creating your very own custom work environment:
- Make a Powerful Personal Design Statement
When you design your own work environment, you are making an important statement that you take your work seriously. The design choices you make — from custom materials to accessories to fit and finish — communicate volumes to your organization, your customers, and your business associates.
- Use Precision Gear — Designed to Fit Your Personal Work Style
Whether you are an architect working with large drawing sets, an IT manager responsible for monitoring systems on multiple computer monitors, or an attorney who needs to maintain order amidst copious legal filings, Formaspace can help you build the perfect custom workstation that will create order out of chaos. Think of yourself like an elite athlete: like these top performers, you also need highly personalized gear to help you perform at your very best.
Step 5: Present with Confidence and Style
In a world of online video, it’s more important than ever to be able to speak to the camera to communicate your message.
No matter whether you are an experienced presenter or suffer from stage fright, you will need to come to terms with today’s social media video culture, which demands that each of us become more adept and effective at making public appearances — live or on video.
Not comfortable with being on camera or being in the public eye? Challenge yourself by joining an organization like Toastmasters, which will help you build your confidence to make public presentations or speak extemporaneously during company meetings.
Be sure to practice your presentations and view the recorded video. It may be painful to watch yourself the first time, but you will benefit immensely by learning to improve the way you come across on camera.
Step 6: Develop New Leadership and Organizational Skills
Professional associations can be an invaluable way to develop organizational and managerial skills that lead to career advancement.
If you are already in a leadership position, there are many resources available designed to help executives and managers improve their skills, ranging from pragmatic HR seminars to wilderness adventure camps.
But what if you are in need of more basic experience in order to get your first promotion to a management or executive role? Do you find it hard to become a manager if you haven’t had management experience? Many of us find that’s true, and it’s why you should consider joining a professional association in your industry that can help you acquire and develop valuable people skills, gain certifications, and take continuing education courses.
No matter your industry or interest, you can find an organization that will welcome you as a volunteer organizer, allowing you to get invaluable ‘on-the-job’ training while making valuable business and career connections at the same time.
Step 7: Try or Learn Something New that Scares You
Is there something that’s holding you back? Or is there a new skill you need to acquire but don’t know how to go about it?
Of course, we don’t literally mean you need to do something that truly scares you — like handling spiders if you are afraid of spiders — unless you happen to be working in a zoo and your arachnophobia limits your career! But on the other hand, if you have avoided opportunities because they involved a skill that you feel is not one of your strong suits, ask yourself whether you and your career could benefit from rising to the challenge. For example, if you are fairly shy and reserved around people, why not challenge yourself by volunteering to teach a small group of people a skill that you know?
What if you want to learn something new from experts in your field, or experts from an area that interests you?
There are a lot of online learning options today — you could watch YouTube videos on practically any topic, but here is a great suggestion: Why not work with a professional trade association to create a seminar on a particular topic, and invite subject matter experts to come and share their expertise at a workshop or roundtable discussion? As the organizer, you would gain valuable insight (and make professional connections along the way) by meeting and working directly with experts in your field.
Step 8: Reboot Your Career into a New Direction
Turn your avocation into your advocation.
Be honest with yourself. Have you temporarily lost motivation and interest in your career? If so, a six-week sabbatical away from work might be the right choice to help recharge your batteries and renew your enthusiasm.
On the other hand, it might be time to make important career changes — either by redefining your job where you work now, changing companies or industries, or even embarking on a second career where you can apply your knowledge and skills by becoming an entrepreneur.
If you choose to pursue a second career, give some thought on how to structure your work so that you can continue working into your retirement years — those pursuing second careers who are passionate about what they do are often much happier than those who retire promptly at 65 only to discover they are bored and have nothing to do.
Formaspace Wants to Inspire You to Be Your Best
Wherever your career takes you, Formaspace is there to help you be efficient and organized.
Known for our custom workstations at leading companies like Google, CapitalOne, and Twitter, Formaspace aims to help you achieve your career goals through a continued furniture partnership.
Create your own custom-made business furniture today.
Contact one of our friendly Formaspace Design Consultants to get started. You’ll be glad you did.
