The Surefire Way To Get Clarity And Make Progress On Your Career Goals

Are you ambitious? Driven? Check and check.

So why do you feel like you’re spinning your wheels professionally?

Here’s the hard truth: Busy is not the same as productive. And all the hustle, grind, and grit in the world won’t make up for a lack of clarity and awareness.

If you truly want to progress in your career, ask yourself these two questions:

1. What do I want?

You won’t make progress if you can’t identify your goals. When you’re clear, everything becomes easier. People understand you, what you offer, your value, what differentiates you, how you can help them, and how they can assist you.

Even so, this seemingly straightforward question can be surprisingly difficult to answer. Some wrestle with insecurities and fears about acknowledging their true desires; others have never pushed the pause button on their busy lives long enough to give themselves space to do so.

The key to answering this query is finding clarity on what matters most to you right now. It takes thoughtful introspection and, sometimes, a reality check: do you really want (fill in the blank), and are you willing to do what it takes to achieve it? Your answer will likely differ from your friends or co-workers, what someone else may want for you, or even what you thought you wanted. Realize that your response can—and most likely will—change over time. Early in your career, you might be looking for something completely different than you will be at a latter stage of your professional journey.

But here’s the thing about clarity: it demands specificity, and there is no room for a wishy-washy answer. You can’t make progress if you “kind of” want something. The more focused you can be on what matters most, the better.

2. Does this (thing, person, job, etc.) help me achieve that?

Having clarity enables you to align your goals with a plan to achieve them and avoid the things that can derail you. After you know what you want, you need to audit how and with whom you’re spending your time to make a conscious decision to align your attention with your goals.

Practice awareness to understand how you spend your days. Ask yourself what you’re currently choosing to devote your time to and if this choice supports your short- or long-term goals or prevents you from achieving them. When you’re intentional with your time management, you’ll find that certain activities drop away, making way for other, more productive pursuits.

And this doesn’t just apply to things; consider with whom you spend your time. Say yes to those people and things that support what you want, and don’t be afraid to say no to those things that do not. If individuals and activities drag you down and prevent you from moving forward, let them go. The power of saying no to things that no longer serve you is that you can say yes to more of the things that do.

One final note: We tend to make time for what’s important to us. Your actions—or lack thereof—can speak louder than words. If you’re consistently struggling to make time for what you say you want, ask yourself if you want something else. Because if you’re not changing it, you’re choosing it.