New Year's Resolutions for Your Career

Another New Year's has just passed, and if you've opted for one of the typical resolutions, you've decided to lose weight, exercise more, or quit a nasty habit like smoking. And if you're one to make resolutions, have you considered adding a career-related resolution to your self-improvement goal for the New Year? Most of us spend a significant portion of our lives at work, so it makes sense.

Not surprisingly, since self-improvement is rarely easy, people often find resolutions difficult to keep. But in many ways, even making a career-related resolution is more difficult than making a personal one. After all, you know you should lose weight, or should exercise more, or should quit smoking. There's nothing to figure out. But figuring out what to resolve about work is usually more difficult because it involves one's identity, probably one's income, and almost always relationships with other people.

Nonetheless, the basis for deciding upon a career resolution is similar to deciding on common lifestyle resolutions: You look at what you feel is lacking in your work or career, what you would like to improve, and/or what you feel dissatisfied with, and make a resolution. The goal is to help you take charge of your career and make those hours you put in mean more than just the source of your paycheck. So for example:

• Are you a workaholic who doesn't want to be one? Resolve to say "no" sometimes, to use up your vacation days each year, not to be a martyr when you're really sick, and to spend more time outside of work – that also means away from your pager, cell phone, CrackBerry, etc. – and to spend more time with family or friends, at the gym, at the theater, or doing whatever you need to do to get your life back. Or it may be the time to start gearing towards retirement.

• Are you a perfectionist? Follow author Julie Fuimano's advice and resolve to strive for excellence, rather than perfection. You'll be much happier and much less stressed.

• Are you experiencing bad stress, rather than good stress? Are you burnt out or at risk of burnout? Read our article Are You Burned Out?, follow its advice, and resolve to deal with the problem before it becomes worse.

• Are you bored, or do you feel that your career is going nowhere? Does your career need some enhancement? If you don't know why you're bored, first resolve to do some self-assessment, and go to the My Work Style area of our site to take the ProStyle™ Survey to see which careers are the best matches for your personality, and maybe even talk to a career counselor to determine the reason(s) behind the boredom and learn about options. If you don't know what the problem is, you can't act to solve it. Maybe you need new duties, higher level responsibilities (e.g., charge, management), new challenges (e.g., a specialty change, taking on committee work, earning a higher degree), a new job in a new location, or even a new career.

• Boss driving you crazy? First determine whether you actually have a bad boss, or – be honest – whether you are a bad employee (e.g., a slacker, a gossip, a complainer, unhelpful, etc.) who, for whatever reason (perhaps the boredom mentioned above) is finding fault with your boss because s/he expects you to do your job well? Is the boss's behavior something that should be reported (e.g., is the boss a bully) and dealt with at higher levels? Is it that your personalities or your career orientations clash? If the relationship can be improved or repaired, start working on it immediately. If not, make a decision about whether working under this boss is worth the stress and aggravation, or whether you should find a job on a different unit, in a different department, with another employer, or in another field. (But if you're a bad employee, do some work on improving yourself before you look for a new job – it will help you to get a better reference.)

• Coworker(s) driving you crazy? Usually the problem is not one-sided. But unfortunately, you can only resolve to change your own behavior, not someone else's behavior. So remember: You don't have to like your coworkers; you just have to work with them. Therefore, if you like your job and want to stay, resolve to change what you can, e.g., by being more friendly, trying to share some of their interests, avoiding gossip, helping out more, developing a sense of humor, distancing yourself when they really get your goat, etc. And resolve to seek help where you can, such as in the case of bullying.

• Employee(s) driving you crazy? As in the case of coworkers, often the problem is not one-sided. At least, as a boss, you may be able to enforce some positive changes, in addition to modeling positive behavior and making personal changes. So for yourself, consider: Are you fair in delegation of duties, shifts, overtime, and vacation days? Do you tolerate or engage in gossip or bullying? Are you communicating effectively? Do you keep your staff informed about things that may affect them? Do you encourage staff to voice their opinions, make suggestions, and participate in decision-making? Do you provide feedback on their work, and, when needed, provide criticism appropriately and fairly? Do you support your staff in terms of their ongoing development and in relations with other departments, levels of management, etc.? If you're lacking in any of these things, resolve to improve. And you may even want to tell your staff that you realize that you haven't been doing well at, say, communication, but have resolved to improve this, and would appreciate their patience and help. But of course the problem may not be you, so it may be a case of: "I resolve to fire that employee who is causing problems for everyone else, and who has shown no improvement despite assistance, chances, and warnings, even though it will be difficult."

• Not earning enough money? Resolve to find out what you need to do to earn more, and do it: Do you need to ask for a raise, upgrade your education or certification, work more (or different) hours, change jobs, or change careers?

• Want to spice up your career with a little adventure? Resolve to decide what exactly this means for you – changing specialties, working in a new city or a new country, or doing some volunteer work overseas, then do the research, make your plans, and make it happen.

• Are you a procrastinator? Read our tips in Overcoming Procrastination, Part One and Overcoming Procrastination, Part Two, and take action! Now!

And here's a resolution for everyone:

"I resolve to update my résumé at least once a year (hopefully more)."

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To help you succeed, first, believe that you can change things. Second, share your resolution with, and enlist help from family and friends, and where appropriate, from your boss, coworkers, and/or staff.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Resolutions for Your Career

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Cynthia M Piccolo

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