Use a compass, not a roadmap

A constant theme of our newsletters is that career awareness and career planning are crucial. Most people agree, at least in theory, but somehow it often ends up as only an agreement in principle and doesn't get implemented in practice.

We certainly don't start off early in life thinking about career development, and the subject is rarely mentioned in school. We often don't even realize we have a career, until we wake up one day and find that not only do we have one - it's well underway. By then there are too many higher priority tasks to have time left over to spend on detailed career issues.

If you're nodding your head and thinking, "yes, that's me," maybe you need to back off and look at the career forest instead of the trees for a moment. The most important part of your career plan is to develop a vision, a destination. Don't get bogged down in everyday details; concentrate instead on your future. Where do you want to go? Where are your heart, skills and interests leading you? Do you want to be a manager of people, a designer, a technician or a salesperson? Set your goals on a target point; picture yourself X years from now.

After you have a destination, imagine you have a personal career compass, an internal pointer that aligns itself automatically to your career north. Navigate to your career goals using your compass - don't try to draw a detailed road map. Don't worry too much about bumps in the road, or what you will do at each intersection. You will roll with the bumps and choose which road to take based on your compass and your judgment when you get to an intersection. Concentrate on getting your direction right, and learn how to pick your way through the jungle using your compass.

After you learn some of the basis of career navigation, a lot of the frustration goes away. You'll develop a sixth sense that helps sort out the important stuff and steers you away from many unimportant conflicts. Just keep your destination in mind and your compass handy. It makes the trip a lot easier.

Amy Schurr is an editor for Network World's Management Strategies and Features sections. If you have any career topics you'd like her to cover or want to comment on this newsletter, you can reach her at aschurr@nww.com.

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