Establishing Your Professional Direction

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a long-rooted worker or even just an intern, it’s very important to establish your professional direction at an early stage. It’s a good tactic to ask yourself “Why am I doing this?”. For some, the motivation comes from supporting their family, for others it’s more about having income to fund a lifestyle they’d like to have. If you can’t figure out why you’re doing what you’re doing or if the “why” just doesn’t excite you then it might be a good idea to go back to brainstorming and think about what would motivate and excite you. If you can’t identify why you’re even doing what you’re doing, then you likely won’t go far in mastering many aspects of your field.

After figuring out the “why”, it’s time for the “what’. “What is my mission with my company?”. Are you trying to serve a huge number of clients or are you trying to maintain a standard of quality and have potentially less business? Are you serving a passable meal at an extravagant location or the best meal someone’s ever had out of a food truck? These are questions that need to be pondered deeply in order to set a certain and consistent direction in your career path. Once you feel confident in this area, you’re already ahead of much of your competition.

Now that we’ve figured out the “why” and “what” of the equation, we need to set some goals for our business or career. Some questions to ask ourselves here are “What would be a sufficient amount of income for me?” and “Why is that number compelling?”. Many people mentally shut down once they’ve made enough income to get by. It’s as though they don’t have a reason to push to the next level because all their needs are (seemingly) met. This is why it’s so important to keep thinking of things that motivate you to keep growing and keep you hungry for more refinement. We don’t reach our full potential living in our comfort zones and that goes both individually and professionally.

With the basic mapping of our direction and our motivational reasonings set, the only step left is carrying out our endeavors with purpose and spirit. The goal is to wake up one day and think to yourself “It’s incredible that I’m getting paid to do this”. While that might sound a bit idealistic or even unreachable to some, a little endurance and fortitude in your arsenal can go such a long way in aiding your efforts.