1) Daily Reflection - Reflection is a powerful and effective tool for developing yourself. We often get lost in the day-to-day shuffle and forget to take inventory of our own accomplishments and opportunities for improvement. As the CEO of your career, you must put a plan in place that will allow you to become laser-focued on you and your success. Making reflection a part of your daily plan gets you fully cemented in the process and increases your chances for success. Give yourself a five-minute daily dose of development through reflection.

2) Create Your Own Big BANG! (Bold, Ambitious, Noble, Goal) You must create a visionary goal that employs excellence and empowers great performance on a grand scale. In order to successfully create and execute a Big BANG, you must have a raw ambition that shows you are ready to catapult your career to new heights. You must have an internal sense of urgency about achieving results. First, you must stop settling for less and develop a disciplined breakthrough mindset that allows you to move out of your comfort zone and be prepared when opportunities present themselves. Start by asking yourself this question: What ambitious goal, circle of influence or objective must you achieve in order to create a Big BANG? From there, you must take decisive action to make that ambition a SMART goal - (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-bound).

3) Ask for and proactively seek feedback and feedforward - Feedback and Feedforward are gifts - Use them to your advantage! While it may be tough to ask for and accept initially, soliciting feedback from your peers and colleagues can prove to be very rewarding. However, you must be careful to ask for feedback from those you can trust and who have your best interest at heart. As one speaker once told me, “seminar evaluations are worthless because those in attendance do not have a vested interest in seeing your succeed. So most seminar evaluations are filled with fluff and add no incremental value to helping you continue to improve your offerings.” This is so true and the same thing applies to you when asking for feedback. Feedback typically focuses on past behaviors and allows you to reflect and learn. However, when you pair that with feedforward, you have a true formula for success. Feedforward is a term that was coined by Marshall Goldsmith and he developed it on the premise that you can not change the past but you can certainly influence the future. Feedback helps you learn and grow from your mistakes while feedforward helps you focus on positive actions for future development.

4) Get a Mentor/Professional Coach - Serious Goals Require Serious Action. Put your career growth strategy in overdrive by getting a mentor and/or professional coach. The difference between the two is that a mentor is volunteering their time to assist you on an informal basis while a professional coach is paid to assist you in developing a roadmap for career success. Don’t let a financial investment in self prevent you from working with a coach who will be committed and dedicated to seeing you reach your full potential. Mentors are great resources as well and if you manage the relationship and expectations properly, it could result in you making that next career move — whether it be within or external to the organization.

5) Own, Execute, Recalibrate and Have Fun - You’ve Got the Ball - Now Run With It! Now that you are motivated and determined to take full ownership and accountability for your success, you must implement the plan, check for any bumps along the way by inspecting what you expect, recalibrate where necessary and keep it moving. But most importantly, you must fuel the process with energy, excitement and fun. The only way to do so is to have a relentless passion for whatever you are pursuing.

Self Assessment & Action Steps:
Think about your own career and the position that you currently hold. Now really dig deep, be honest and ask yourself the following questions:

+ I place a premium on being proactively engaged in my career growth. I use reflection on a daily basis to ensure that I am headed in the right direction.
___ Yes ___ No

+ I have a visionary goal about where my career is going. I’ve written this career map out and view it at least monthly to ensure that I am progressing.
___ Yes ___ No

+ I proactively seek feedback vertically and horizontally throughout the organization on a quarterly basis. When I receive that feedback, I take what’s useful and relevant and put a plan into place to work it.
___ Yes ___ No

+ I have a mentor or professional coach to assist me and give me guidance and feedback.
___ Yes ___ No

+ I am fully accountable for my level of success. I own it, take action and celebrate when I win.
___ Yes ___ No

For every yes, please write specifically what you are currently doing that makes it effective. Now look for opportunities to build upon these engagements to help continue to grow and develop. What will you do next?

For every no, please write one thing that you will do to implement this into your career development strategy. Be very specific and give yourself a deadline to get it done. Once you have it done, celebrate your success AND come back to this Tip Sheet and answer the questions to the Yes scenario above.

Felicia Davis is a HR Practitioner and Career Coach with over 14 years experience working with corporate clients, non-profits, high schools and colleges. Her unique Brand Promise is to empower people to professional excellence by helping to maximize their career assets. In addition to coaching, she facilitates career development seminars and workshops. She can be reached at felicia@thecareerqueen.com