When You Hit That Career Wall!

You make yourself knowledgeable. You search and read. You make notes and lists. You sign up for webinars. You learn how to blog and post. You make sure you look like, sound like and behave like “the most successful (job candidate, new team member, new team leader, consultant, and expert). Then you hit that wall! You have done all the preparations to get to where you are but forgot to prepare for what to do once you got there.

When I was training for my black belt in Karate and was learning how to break boards, the first thing our instructor told us was; “Don’t look at the board. Look through it to the other side. When you punch or kick, don’t think of the board as your contact point. See your hand or foot going beyond that board.”

Here are the top 5 things you can do to prevent yourself from hitting that wall.

1. In his post, 5 Ways to Get Your Resume Ignored, Greg Lachs writes: “Objectives. Often the first written statement after contact information, but they are useless fillers. Employers hire for their needs and interests. Instead, use a summary with a sentence or two that shows what you offer and who you are.”

You know what you want to achieve and you have done all the preparations necessary to get there. But have you actually looked at how you are going to contribute to that place, position or team once you get there? Have a clear vision of how you will be after being accepted to carry out your new responsibilities. Just like the board breaking instruction described above,project yourself beyond the point you are striving to reach.

2. Sculpt your motivation. “I need to make a career move.” can become, “I’m ready to put my experience and passion to work in a new way,”

Go back to look at what motivated you in the first place to go for that place, position or team. The motivation then transforms the goal into a means, not an end. If your motivation is generic, then you’ll have a wall waiting for you when you get there.

3. “Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The spirit of competition was the energy that propelled you to get to this point. Hitting that wall is the result of you not realizing that you don’t have to compete anymore. It’s time to begin to cooperate.

4. Look backwards only to assist you to look forwards. Make sure that what has brought you to this point will help you move forward. If what you did till now were strategies limited to attaining your goal, then the wall is right in front of you. Everything you choose to do now should be considered a stepping stone on your path towards growth and development.

5. Fear is great material for erecting a strong wall. There is no room for fear; fear of the unknown, fear of failure, or fear of success, in your vision to move beyond your goal.

Accept from the outset of your journey that you will travel through places of the unknown, that you will fail and that you will succeed. Be prepared.

The best way to prevent yourself from hitting that wall is to make sure it never gets built in the first place.

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, ‘Thus far and no farther.’ — Ludwig van Beethoven