Take a leap in your career

Is anything preventing you to take a big jump in your career? Do you have any inhibitions to bid adios to your present company and join another? There could be several reasons for your not wanting to take a leap in your career and the inaction that you are prompted to indulge in is evidently quite soothing. 

You could be passing through very difficult times, but somehow have got accustomed to them, despite you not being appreciative at all and are keen to change things for the better. However, the fear of the unknown is keeping you away from taking any initiative.

Consider this …. You are willing to take a leap and know that when it is over, you will have a safe and smooth landing. There will be someone who will welcome you. But to experience that safe and smooth landing and receive the welcome that is assured, you have to take a leap anyway.   

When you take a leap in your career, it amounts to be flying through the air for some time, with no known backing or cheer at your disposal till such time you make a landing. You are required to assume that your venture will offer you excellent prospects of growth and income. The risk is indeed colossal because you may be required to experiment with new issues, more so because as of now, you are living in a behavioural state within which you are required to operate in an anxiety-neutral condition.

So, how do you take a career leap?

You need to prepare yourself. A leap is a jump and implies being in the air, both literally and figuratively. You do not know how far you will traverse and hence should know how to manipulate your flight. Some questions that you need to find honest answers to before you line up for it are:

· What is it precisely that you seek?

· Who are your dream employers?

· What are the functions that interest you and which you want to perform?

· What is that you will achieve from your dream role, if at all you get it?

· How much efforts and contributions are you ready to make to let your dreams come true?

You need to discover what your fervours are and where they lie. Most people out to advance in their career generally resort to bettering of their hard skills and even people skills. People hunting for jobs usually realise the need to do well in an interview as also create a wide contact base. Whichever category you may be in, time short and you should not waste it. The shot is about to be fired and you need to get cracking at your preparation.

 If you have full faith in your capability to take a leap and on what you intend to achieve whatever you are setting out for, the first step is not going to be daunting. All that calls for preparation, sans which, you will not be able to go far and have a smooth landing. It is only when you land, that you will enjoy a feeling of attainment.

To move forward in your career implies work and hard work to be precise. You simply cannot glide and taste success. With focal areas being subject to change off and on, your career progress is totally contingent on the strength and steadfastness you display towards your work and career.

You may encounter varying advancement involvements in your career journey. All of them will have a bearing on your individual and professional progress which could be subject to valuation at three power planes:

· Reactive: These encounters do not call for much action on your part and development that follows is rather truncated.

· Dynamic: This development calls for initiative and display of know-how, expertise and experience by way of explicit tasks.

· Change inspiring: Development that inspires change sponsors and examines aptitude, abilities and familiarity effort in unacquainted duties and circumstances.

It will not be presumptuous to state that the greater the degree of intensity, the greater will be the effect of your advancement. However, it will be difficult to determine where particular encounters will lie on the gamut because aspects like individual acceptances, openness and timings have a telling effect on personal growth. You need to reflect about your experiences that made an impact on your career and visualise the spot that they fit in on the band. In case you are unable to decide, mulling over the following would help you:

· Crucial experiences that you had and which gave you pleasure; and which even contributed in smaller ways to your career growth.

· Tasks that seemed like a load and why they appeared so.

· New and diverse responsibilities shouldered by you.

· Circumstances that made you switch careers, in case you did so.

· Efforts you made to acquire additional qualifications and skillsets.

· Your encounters with new learning experiences, including visiting new places and coming face to face with diversities.

· Happenings and events where you did not acquit well.

With experiences at hand and readily re-countable, are you contended with the manner in which your career has moved forward? If you think on the contrary, you need to mull over efforts required to alter it. The leap that you are planning to take will be fruitful only if you understand with no element of doubt that it is only your sweat and toil that will make your career move ahead.