Originally posted on The Izzy Way Blog April 30, 2022
Trying to figure out where to start when elevating your career can be a daunting task and not one that should be taken lightly. If you really want to elevate yourself and your career – you need to put in the work.
Many people approach their life and careers with a “things just happen to me and I have no say” attitude. When in reality, it’s your responsibility to figure out what you want and put a plan in place to make it happen.
Everyone is unique and in turn has something unique to offer the world. Realizing the passion that drives you and going after it opens the door for true authenticity which everyone wins from, but especially you – because you will be driving and thriving in the most optimum way. And who doesn’t want that?
My passion is helping people be the best versions of themselves. I strive to encourage people to show up authentically by living true to what I call their whole life balance. This article is my way of sharing all the inspiration, coaching, mentoring and reading I’ve done on this topic into 5 helpful tips, so buckle up and let’s start the journey to the most authentic YOU!
Tip 1: Getting to the real you – finding your base
Playing off of William Arruda and Deb Dib’s “Be Grounded” in their Ditch, Dare, Do experiments, I feel that finding your base is key to how you choose to show up every day. Doing the work, self-reflecting and understanding your strengths, weaknesses, passions and goals is not easy and should not be rushed. It is also not a one and done exercise.
To help you in finding your base, I suggest uncovering your True North. Your True North is all about realizing and highlighting your top values. Showing up and living true to these values everyday will help you achieve whole life balance which is the first step in being the most authentic you.
To help in defining your True North, think about the following:
- What must I have to be happy? (my must haves)
- What am I open to considering? (my negotiables) and
- What are my deal breakers? (my non-negotiables)
It’s important to consider both your personal and professional self when defining these since they are intertwined. Both sides need to be working together for you to show up as the whole “YOU”. You need to know what guides you and what inspires you both in and outside of work (which we’ll blur the lines on later) to achieve your ideal whole-life balance. Once you have determined these components, you can begin to build off them.
Tip 2: Seek the Uncomfortable
Call it what you want, but taking calculated risks and challenges to further your career path are a mustin today’s organizations. 2020 forced the whole world to get uncomfortable by throwing all of us into a deepdive of the unknown, but are you willing to continue to seek the uncomfortable on purpose? Knowing your base (as described in Tip 1), helps clarify what you want and don’t want, but how do you achieve them? Here are somethings to consider:
- Elevate your skill set. The World Economic Forum is predicting in their Top 10 work skills of tomorrow article that 50% of employees will need to reskill by 2025. For you, this could mean going back to school or seeking out new opportunities where you are a beginner.
- Create and promote your personal brand – put yourself OUT THERE (and hello, Linkedin should be your new best friend – check out this 5 Ways to use Linkedin for Marketing your Brand blog by Martha Kendall for tips!)
- Tweak (or even) rewrite your resume – Think of creative ways that make you stand out (hint: video cover letters are hot right now!)
- Get networking – now’s the time to start meeting and collaborating with new people
- Examine your current role and organization – do you like it? Does it meet your must haves, non-negotiables and negotiables? Or is it just comfortable?
Tip 3: Embrace your uniqueness and SELL IT
You might remember me saying earlier in this article that everyone is unique and in turn has something unique to offer the world. Well, I’m saying it again because it’s true. You need to embrace your uniqueness and learn how to sell it! A phrase that stuck with me from the book Ditch, Dare, Do is what is your “Why-Buy-ROI.” Why should people pay for what you have?
Tips to build your Why-Buy-ROI:
- Define your unique attributes – what makes you YOU
- Think of your journey thus far – how have you grown, adapted or shifted? (Don’t be afraid to DIG DEEP)
- Review your resume – If it’s not doing you any favours, TWEAK it (like we suggested above) so it starts to sell what you want to be known for
- Take some strength and personality tests – Clifton Strengths and Myers Briggs are great starting points
Once you are feeling confident in your “Why-Buy-ROI” try selling yourself with a 30 second elevator pitch. A good place to start when creating an elevator pitch is:
- Define your top skills
- Define your experiences and the value they provided
- Clearly state how your skills and experiences would benefit an individual or a company
Try to think of your elevator pitch as a pool of information that you can pull pieces from depending on your audience. You never know who you might end up in an elevator with! It’s important to sound confident in what you offer and that if flows out naturally
Tip 4: Blending work and life? How about Whole-Life Balance Instead?
Maybe you’ve been like me and struggled to find the right set of words or concepts to define how you blend your work and life into something that fits. Another mandate I took from Ditch, Dare, Do was to replace “work you” and “life you” with “just you.” That’s what whole-life balance is, it’s just YOU. It shouldn’t change when you log on or off your work computer. To define your whole life balance, start by:
- Reframing what you do in and outside of work – are there any commonalities?
- When are you happiest both in and outside of work?
- Can you combine or optimize on that happiness or commonalities both at work and outside of work?
The goal here is to live true to you. So, for example, if you realize at the end of the day you really like helping people both in and outside of work – focus on how everything you do can feed that.
Tip 5: Develop YOUR Board of Directors
We all know a Board of Directors helps drive and guide companies in the decisions they make through their various expertise. In essence they provide a company with whole-life balance through their diverse viewpoints and experiences and act as a sounding board for key strategic decisions.
If we take the Board of Directors concept and apply it to your professional career – what does that mean? Do you have a set of people you rely on for direct or indirect advice? How about someone you go to for help with innovative ideas or strategic thinking? A great executive coach, Pat Liplinsk introduced me to the concept of my own Board of Directors and it got me thinking…
Who:
- Do I want in my corner supporting me?
- Fueling my curiosity?
- Helping me grow my mindset?
And, what:
- Skills do I desire
- Opinions/viewpoints do I need?
Having a great network and support system is key to a successful career, being able to answer these questions for yourself will help you find the right group of people to help you achieve what you want. I also took out a tried and true Stakeholder Map and Communication Plan to help me visualize the people I have in my network, where they fit and how often I should be in communication with them. But use whatever method works best for you, maybe that’s a sketched diagram or a spreadsheet.
I also found the book Career Rehab by Kanika Tolver to have some great advice. Kanika suggests developing a career blueprint and one of the elements to have is “career builders” in your life. These people build you up and help you define the career you want and deserve.
Another book with some great advice is Rise by Patty Azzarello. She suggests:
- Engaging with at least 10 smart people a year
- Recruiting a formal mentor as a career advocate every 2-3 years, and
- Having at least 3 business advisors
Bottom line, define a Board of Directors that is driving and supporting you to be the best, most authentic version of yourself and ensure you are using them to the fullest.
Conclusion
Being You and embracing your true north may seem like a lot, if you get stuck – I hope revisiting these 5 tips and taking them step by step helps you. I am quite certain there are many more tips and tools in your tool box, so as with everything, pick and choose what resonates with you the most to help you tackle the uncomfortable and become the most authentic YOU!
theizzyway.ca 