Are you feeling stuck in your job? From those just entering the workforce, to those going through the uncertainty of a company’s down-size, to everyone in between: there is a path to better work in 2017.
Career adviser Robert Dickie says we will always find ourselves in one of four quadrants: reinvention, revectoring, repurposing, or renewal.
“What we really want to try to get into is the renewal quadrant. This is where we have high passion for what we’re doing and high opportunity. We are in the sweet spot of our career where we are really having impact. We’re doing what we feel like God has called us to do, that we’re uniquely gifted and designed to do.”
However, throughout the course of our work lives, we will find ourselves in one of the other three areas; either because we have either little passion, little opportunity, or industry and technology changes require us to adapt our skills or methods. Dickie says now is the time to assess where you are in your career and begin a plan for a more satisfying future.
“The very first step is to make the decision that you want to have a better life. You want something different and you’re willing to take the steps to go there. This is a huge first step.”
“You can’t make a plan and know where you want to go unless you know who you are. This is where I really recommend people taking or some type of career assessment.”
Dickie is president of Crown Financial Ministries, which offers career resources, including an online assessment tool to gauge your skills and strengths.
“Once you know who you are and how God made you and what He specifically called you to do, then the next step is to say, Okay, where do I want to go? Where is that goal and target out there? This is where we get a coach or a mentor: somebody to come alongside us to give us some outside perspective. That’s when we can start crafting a plan–the final step.”
Dickie says the simple act of making a plan for your career is vital, but it can seem so overwhelming that most people don’t even start. His advice? Take the first small step today, and develop a long-term outlook.
“Moving into these various quadrants, it’s not something that happens in one day. You have to develop a plan. It might be a year-long plan, but as you start to take those baby steps, as you start to make those small incremental improvements, it’s amazing how quickly you can change your life and get to that zone of high passion and high opportunity where you’re just absolutely loving what you’re doing.”
Robert Dickie is president of Crown Financial Ministries and the author of and .
How to love your work in 2017
