Received wisdom about the world of work would indicate that unless you have a five- or 10-year plan, your career path will tank.
Harvard Business Review, for example, asserts that “five-year plans work”. This, it says, is because “Having a long-term plan can help you focus on developing your transferable skills, as opposed to skills just for your current role and organization”.
On the flip side, though, critics point out that five year plans, like everything else in life, are subject to change. A step-by-step, written-in-stone career trajectory you put together in your 20s may not be fit for purpose if commitment and kids arrive, your health needs change, or you get made redundant, for example.
As people switch up what it is they want and need from their lives, the work they do to support this may change too. The average person has 12 jobs in their lifetime, and it is far more common now to do a couple of career pivots across a long working life too.
While a plan can provide you with structured goal-setting, adhering to it rigidly for five or more years may not actively serve you. You could feel honour-bound to commit to what you set out to do despite not really feeling it. Or you may feel disappointed that you didn’t manage to achieve all of your plans.
Meet the intimidation list
That’s why there’s a better way to look at a method for career development. It’s called an “intimidation list”, and no, it’s not about cultivating a forbidding aura at work. Rather, this is a piece of work you can do to identify all the things you’re scared of or intimidated by, professionally. Getting to grips with them can provide you with both personal and career growth.
All of us are intimidated by something. That could be a fear of public speaking or presenting to an all-hands video call. Or it could be a mental block around a particular aspect of our roles. Others may be intimidated about the idea of working abroad for a spell.
You may also be wary of speaking your mind or unsure about making a move into management, or afraid to say no to an overwhelming workload.
For lots of us, the path of least resistance is the easiest one to travel. If you stay in your lane, things are easy because you’re in your comfort zone. That’s nice, sure, but there is little to no growth happening.
By challenging yourself to do something that scares or intimidates you, you’ll probably experience some temporary discomfort as you work through the process––but will likely emerge better for it.
Feel the fear
You guessed it: This is all about feeling the fear, and doing it anyway. Philosopher Jean Vanier said that “growth begins when we begin to accept our own weakness”. More prosaically, the Canadian-American motivational speaker Brian Tracy has said that “personal development is a major time-saver. The better you become, the less time it takes you to achieve your goals”.
And so if your inability to achieve a specific thing at work is holding you back due to your own ingrained imposter syndrome, then it’s time to do something about it.
Firstly, identify what you’re scared of or struggling with, and why that might be. Outline your main stumbling blocks and pain points at work, and then place actions against them. For example, if the idea of doing a presentation breaks you out in a sweat, one of your goals may be to work up to being confident enough to speak at an industry conference.
If you’re baffled by how the move to a more senior position or into management can be achieved, then this is another avenue well worth exploring. From finding a mentor to guide you, to engaging with learning and development opportunities to upskill, these are both important steps to take to demystify yourself and also develop the tools you’ll need to move up.
Being realistic about how you resolve each of your intimidation list items is important too. Often, it will be an iterative process where you take small steps to achieve a bigger goal. So if public speaking is your ultimate nightmare, then start within your team, or even practice with a trusted colleague. As you get more comfortable, stretch yourself a little more.
Worrying about what you’re not doing, and fretting about things at work that you don’t feel able for can take up a lot of your mental energy. Setting an intimidation list is a practical and useful approach to cutting out that noise, and making you a happier, more confident person both in and out of the office.
Looking for more workplace updates? Check out our careers Cheat Sheet series:
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- This is how to write your best ever CV
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