THE KEY CAREER QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

Our career columnist on the benefits of curiosity

The new year has dawned, which means there’s a general expectation that we should be bettering ourselves for the decade ahead. On a work front, at least, I want to help you navigate all of this expectancy by asking you three future-proofing questions:

1. A macro question: What is your definition of success?

2. A micro question: What makes you happy on a daily basis?

3. And an ongoing question: What are your values?

Before I explain how best to answer these questions, here’s a bit of context. It is fair to say that many of us, despite holding down good jobs or running businesses that pay the bills, overlook our true, just-to-us definitions of success. We often fall into our work and accept the status quo because it feels like the easiest option. To counter this, I am a huge believer in each of us uncovering our own success path, and the three questions above will help get you there.

So, let’s start with number one. First, clear your mind of that accepted definition of success; the one based around money, power and status. Because while one or two of those concepts might resonate, it’s likely that your success formula includes other facets, too, such as flexibility, purpose or expertise. A useful way to uncover your own combination of success metrics is by looking through your personal and professional lives and identifying the highs and lows you’ve navigated. Think about what was happening when the going was good and, equally, what helped you out of the darker periods. On my courses, I ask attendees to plot their lives on a graph, then pull out these key findings as a list. You might want to do the same. This list is the starting point for understanding what success really means to you. It also acts as a useful conduit to answering the third question: what are your values?

Call me clichéd, but I often refer to these as the hashtags of your life. When we think of our values in these terms (such as #kindness, #financialindependence, #influence, #flexibility), it can make the process feel less abstract. Once you have yours, add them to your ongoing findings list.

For the second question, I’m posing three more questions:

1. What do you most often daydream about?

2. What do you love doing? What do other people love doing with you?

3. If you had a month free from responsibility, how would you spend your time and resources? Knit together the big stuff, your values and these everyday answers, and you will be closer to understanding what success actually means to you.

One last thing: don’t pressure yourself to come up with the big answers straight away. Instead, focus on rediscovering what’s important to you, and how you can use those realisations to make the right decisions about your work going forwards. Until next time, happy success finding.