How to Energise Your Career and Stay Motivated

Do you find it a challenge to energise your career and stay motivated, especially at the beginning of the year?

Are you thinking to yourself, ‘here we go again, back to the grind?”

It’s typically at this time, that many people set their new year’s resolutions and aspirations. You know, the usual things like lose some weight, get more sleep, climb a mountain, write a book, who knows…

But how many of us actually take the time and effort to factor our careers into these resolutions or aspirations?

Let’s face it, we all pretty much want a career that give us purpose and fulfilment.

Ideally, we want to go to a job where we get to fill the day with things we love doing and use all the amazing skills and expertise we’ve acquired.

We also want to be recognised for our experience, expertise, value, contributions, and of course, be paid handsomely for these.

Am I right?

Yet, I meet so many people who aren’t living their best career. They’re in jobs that are often below their level of true capability and as a result, they don’t get the opportunity to use the full range of their skills and experience.

In some cases, they’ve either stagnated in their careers or have been drifting from role to role, without really finding their sense of purpose.

It’s as if their career is on ‘auto-pilot’.

To better understand the situation, I usually ask them if they have any goals they’re working towards, such as their ultimate dream role.

Many say ‘no’ but for the few who say ‘yes’, they tend to not have a strategy or action plan on how they’re going to land that dream role.

You see, not having concrete goals is the most common reason why people drift or stagnate in their careers.

They often get caught up in the day-to-day grind of their jobs and as a result, struggle to get clarity on how to re-energise their careers and progress

This invariable leaves them feeling frustrated, emotionally drained and demotivated.

So how do you reenergise a drifting or stagnant career?

The key is to have GOALS!

To really energise your career and stay motivated and focused, you always want to be working towards something. 

Let me give you an example. I always love to have some sort of holiday trip planned, even if it’s months away and it’s only for a weekend. Knowing I have this to look forward to keeps me on-track, focused and energised.

The same concept applies to our careers too.

It could be working towards a certification, upskilling in a new area, climbing the ladder, a salary increase or landing that dream role.

The important thing is to establish a clear and specific set of goals.

I cannot stress this enough!

A goal usually starts off with a desire for something, a dream in other words.

 “A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.” ― Greg Reid

To make it easy, start off small.

What’s one thing you want to achieve in your career or job this year? And, I don’t mean for your organisation, I mean for YOU!!!

The next thing is to write down a truly big dream. Don’t worry how you are going to achieve it just yet, that comes later.

Now, we want to transform that dream into a goal.

When it comes to goal setting, there are numerous techniques and frameworks out there to help you. Here’s two of them to get you going:

The SMARTER Technique:

• Specific – Be as clear and detailed as possible. Vague goals are rarely archived, so you need to avoid ambiguous statements.
• Measurable – Set the metrics to help you keep track of your progress. In other words, quantify what you need to achieve.
• Achievable – Motivate yourself but also keep your goals attainable.
• Realistic – Be reasonable and keep your goals attainable so progress can be achieved.
• Timely – Create timeframes for completing steps. If you don’t set timeframes, you risk drifting or taking a lot longer to achieve your goals.
• Empowering – Make sure your goals feel right for you. They must serve a purpose to help you make the changes you want.
• Reviewable – Keep your goals flexible so you can adjust to changing conditions.

The BSQ Technique

BSQ stands for “Think Big, Act Small and Move Quickly.”

I love this technique and it basically works this way:

• Define your goal (“think Big”) – remember, be specific and don’t be afraid to go big (or go home).
• Determine a series of smaller milestones you want to hit along the way (“act Small”). In other words, break it down into manageable chunks so you don’t get overwhelmed.
• Commit to a manageable timeline (“move Quickly”).

It’s that simple!

It’s doesn’t matter which of the many goals setting techniques you use, the most important thing is to just write that goal down!!!

Now, I’ve realised that one of the main reasons why people don’t write down their goals, is because they’ve no idea how they’re going to achieve them. So, they don’t bother even making a start.

The self-doubt creeps in and sabotages the whole thing before it has even begun.

My advice is to not worry right now about how you’re going to achieve them. Just allow yourself to dream and then write down those goals as the first step.

Put those goals out into the universe!

The next step is to take that goal and break it down into a step-by-step plan of actions that you need to take. Create a set of activities that you do daily, weekly or monthly and make sure you put timeframes around those activities and goals as this will really set you up for success.

Having a goal and a plan on how you’re going to achieve them, means you’ll keep focused and prevent drifting.

Creating goals and working towards them has given my clients focus, which in turn has renewed their love for their career, where they feel fulfilled, motivated and excited for Mondays.

So, don’t make this year a repeat of the previous ones. Dream big, write down those goals, take action and make this year your year to become truly epic!

That’s how you energise your career and stay motivated.