When was the last time you performed a self-check on your career goals? If you’re like most professionals, you may find yourself stuck in a rut, wanting to do something else or sensing that something needs to change, but you aren’t quite sure what. Or you may have your eyes on a particular prize - a significant pay raise, a bigger and better position title, or even a relocation to the city of your dreams - but you don’t have a clear strategy for how to realize it.

Unfortunately, if you’re like many people, perhaps the only time you really reflect on your career is during your company’s annual performance review. During that process, you may ponder on that year’s highlights, your top milestones, and the ways you made a difference. But that practice is not a holistic one that takes the “long view” on career development. In fact, it’s not even close to being a career audit; it’s a snapshot of your job during a finite period of time.

We recently served a client named Bill* who came to us wanting to refocus on his longer-term career goals and hone in on a strategy to achieve them. Bill shared with us his vision of living in a different region, closer to the coast, and spending more time hobnobbing with influential thought leaders in his industry. He said he wanted to attend several major professional conferences a year, learn more about expensive wines, travel for client meetings, and wear suits to work. After working from home for several years, he was beginning to feel that wearing polo shirts and sweatpants during the day shattered the image of who people thought he should be. 

The longer we spoke with Bill and consulted with him, the more we began to understand his underlying values. 

Guess what?

Bill realized that he didn’t even want what he initially said were his “North Star” priorities. Not only did he have no interest in wine, he hated dressing up! He was trying to be more like the leaders in his current company, an organization he intended to leave within the next 12 months.

Is it possible that you’re at risk of making the same mistake, or that you may be in that situation now? Here are three signs that a career goal might not be quite right for you, and how you can make adjustments to create goals that better sync with your values, needs, and priorities.

Misguided Motivations

You Want to Impress Other People

Are your career goals built around what others have in mind for you, or are they based on what you deeply want for yourself?

If you are extrinsically motivated rather than intrinsically inspired to achieve a goal, you may never reach it. Extrinsic means doing something in order to get an award or avoid punishment; it comes from outside of yourself, sometimes through the pressure or influence of others. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation comes from an internal sense of purpose and passion; it comes from within and feels natural, organic. 

This is why goal-setting should begin from within. 

According to Psychology Today, in reference to the world of employment, “[e]xtrinsic motivation is any reason we do the work other than the joy of the work itself.” 

And if your career goals are being driven by others, they may never ring true to you.

Do you remember being in high school and wanting to join the “in crowd”? You may have changed the way you wore your hair, your manner of speech, and even pretended to like certain music, movies, or sports to fit in. 

Sometimes the desire to please or impress others is the underlying reason people pursue career goals. They want to amaze others by the new letters after their name, showing off the attainment of a professional qualification. They may hope former bosses or co-workers are astounded by their new job title. Or they may hope to appear to be among the best in their industry – the next up and coming superstar – even if they silently despise their work and pine away for a work life very different from the one they currently occupy. 

If you’re primarily interested in pursuing a particular goal for reasons outside of “the love of the game” or “the love of the work,” you’d probably be doing something else if not caught in the trappings of external validation and rewards. And what if you don’t achieve the external validation originally in mind – whether it was impressing others, getting a huge pay boost, or finally being part of the good ole boys (or girls) club? You risk becoming among the many disengaged employees susceptible to burnout due to a values mismatch, a perceived lack of community, or absence of the rewards you felt were due. 

The silver lining is that it doesn’t have to be this way. And becoming aware of this vulnerability will support you in landing on an authentic career goal-setting.

Instant Gratification 

You Are More Interested in the Destination than the Journey 

It’s one thing to set your sights on your ultimate career vision, but it’s another if you can’t appreciate the landmarks along the way. Are you so dead-set on realizing a goal that you’re wearing metaphorical blinders that keep you from learning and growing along the way? There are various ways this may show up, such as racing through assignments as you work toward a new credential; cutting and pasting the exact same LinkedIn message to each new person in your networking outreach; or carbon-copying a redundant cover letter to various companies and roles in pursuit of a new job.

These examples are warning signs that you may not be making the most of the process toward a goal. Yes, the end game is the known objective. But much of the benefit in reaching a milestone – be it a new career certification, an internal promotion, or relocation to live and work in a city you love – are the building blocks that incrementally get you there. If you skim through the curriculum in a training program, are you really learning? If you take a haphazard approach to networking, are you really invested in meeting new people? And if you cut and paste the same cover letter for all job applications, are you truly taking the time to learn about the company beforehand?

Slowing down long enough to look left and right, and to appreciate the process, pays intangible dividends in working up to achieving career goals.

Too Costly

You View the Expense as a Drain vs. an Investment in Yourself

Oftentimes reaching career goals requires some level of investment. The investment may be measured in dollars, but it can also be calculated in terms of time, attention, and other variables. For instance, let’s imagine you’ve decided to finally earn a Project Management Professional (PMP) certificate. You’ve seen that your competition in the job market typically has one, it’s noted as a preferred qualification in roles of interest, and you even promised yourself to have one by this point in your career. 

But the PMP prep course costs several thousand dollars. You also have to drive 45 minutes each way to attend classes several nights a week, and you spend several hours each weekend on course material. While this is happening, you find yourself thinking of how that money could have been used for a great vacation, new furniture, or home remodeling projects. You start imagining how you could have been spending your time out socializing with friends, binge-watching your favorite shows, or sprucing up your garden. 

Gradually, with such a mindset, resentment and regret seep in. But instead of focusing on any inconveniences associated with the pursuit of your goals, this is a great time to work on your mindset. In this instance, you would focus on the long-term ROI rather than the short-term disruption. You’d realize that you’re not alone and that other people have been in those very same shoes - and survived to tell the story and reap the benefits! Plus, it won’t last forever. And one day, the hard work you did will become a story of perseverance and encouragement for others. 

If you’re having difficulty clarifying career goals, The Wilbanks Consulting Group can help you. Contact us to learn more about the options available to assist you in developing clear goals and a plan of action to get you there.