Are You in Charge and in Control?

In many of my posts, I have emphasized the importance of a proactive and accountable approach to your own career. Do you feel that you have a handle on it, are you ‘in charge and in control?’

If you are not sure of how to respond to these questions, or cannot respond quickly, then I would suggest that you are likely not feeling as though you are in ‘the driver’s seat,’ as it were.

With a New Year quickly approaching, it is naturally a time for us all to reflect upon the past year, review what we have accomplished in our personal and professional lives, and think about our plans for the coming year.

I believe that if you sit down and focus on what has transpired in your role over the past year, you will surprisingly conclude that you have accomplished more than you initially thought. If your efforts are not rewarded in some way, or publically acknowledged either through your firm, or with your friends, it is easy to forget about ‘the good news’ of your efforts over this past year.

Perhaps you have improved your skills in one of the computer programs you use, or have learned a few new tips & tricks. There may have been an especially challenging project or two over the year that you took on successfully. With either a decline in staff, or new staff to train, you managed to meet all your project deadlines, and made time to assist others in your group as well.

I am sure there are many more ‘good news’ events that took place in your personal life over the year as well. These personal events and triumphs definitely have a positive impact on your overall performance and attitude at work, because it shows.

The point is, I would hope that you do acknowledge your value and contributions to your group, and the firm overall over this past year, and realize that you are in charge and in control of your career, unless you ‘choose not to be.’ That last statement may sound odd to you; however, there are those that prefer to ‘give their power away’ to someone or something else, outside of themselves. This is truly ‘not accepting accountability.’

Allowing, or asking others to make the decisions for them, or at the very least, give them ‘very firm direction’, takes the ‘pressure’ off, and permits this group of individuals to ‘lay blame‘ on someone else if things do not go well. This person, or group of individuals, are certainly ‘not in charge or control,’ and have no desire to do so.

Assuming you are in charge and in control of your career, I feel confident you are already planning what your next challenge will be in the New Year. You may be reviewing the goals you had listed on your performance review, and thinking about what you have already achieved, and have yet to master in the next year. Excellent, and congratulations to you!

With a positive, proactive attitude, you can make anything possible and within your reach.

Today’s Computer Tip

To ‘lock’ and keep your desired ‘desktop icons,’ create an icon shortcut on your desktop by typing the following code in the ‘Run’ command box – click on ‘Start’ and type in the following code:

rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

 

 

 

Tags: accomplishments, accountable, assisting others, attitude, career, challenges, charge, computer tip, congratulations, contributions, control, excellence, goals, learning, New Year, performance, personal, positive, pressure, proactive, professional, reflection, reward, transpired, triumphs