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Building a healthy career is a lot like building strong muscle. It doesn’t happen overnight; it takes work, confidence, drive, and consistent performance over time.
There are several ways to achieve career wellness.
- One way is to focus on your inner self and exercise the talents you already have.
- Another way is to seek outside assistance and build a support system that will help point you in the right direction.
- And a third way is to build a strong financial footing from which you can spring forward and focus on your career, untethered from financial pressure.
Here is a closer look at how they all come together to help you achieve career wellness.
Tip 1: Set goals and track your progress
“Long-term goals are important; however, it’s the small, short-term goals that really build momentum. Set them regularly,” said Greg Dickerson, serial entrepreneur, coach, and mentor at Dickerson International in Charlottesville, Virginia. “Make them achievable. And use a planner or virtual calendar to track your progress. You’ll want to note obstacles and document experiences along the way.”
The goals you might start off with could be as small as improving a specific technical skill or improving your knowledge in a certain area.
As you achieve a few goals, set new ones. Consider sprinkling in loftier goals as you go, such as earning a certain award or getting promoted to a new position.
The objective? Set goals. Achieve. Repeat. That will keep your career wellness on track.
Tip 2: Ask questions and embrace feedback
Employees who feel more connected are more productive. Indeed, 71 percent of more-productive employees reported feeling well connected to colleagues than before the pandemic, according to one recent study.1
Start professional dialogues with your manager and work colleagues. Ask direct questions about your strengths and weaknesses. Hearing what they have to say will help you identify what you’re doing well. More importantly, it will help you focus on what needs improving.
“I always encourage honest, ongoing dialogue related to career development,” said Allyson Hay, director of human resources services at Innovo Benefits Group in Concord, Massachusetts. “If you wait for yearly reviews, you can miss out. Use your weekly meetings with your manager to ask follow-up questions and discover what you did well or could do better. Then continue to use those meetings to monitor your progress toward goals.”
Tip 3: Networking tips
Networking comes in many forms, but the idea is to build relationships and exchange information with professionals outside your organization who share common interests or who work in your industry.
Apollo Technical, a recruitment agency, points to data that suggest 80 percent of professionals say that networking is critical to career advancement and nearly all believe that meeting with others in person results in stronger long-term relationships.2
How to network?
- Be a part of online groups and social media platforms.
- Join professional associations.
- Do volunteer work.
- Attend workshops.
- Send check-in or follow-up emails to people you’ve met along the way in life.
The idea is to surround yourself with people in industries that interest you because they may know someone who may know someone who can help advance your career. Keep engaging to increase your chances of timing it right.
Tip 4: Finding a mentor
You don’t know what you don’t know. A good mentor usually does. They’ve been there and done that. A mentor will support you. They’re cheerleaders and advice givers and subject-matter experts and all sorts of good things. They want to help you in your career trajectory.
Tap into their experience because research reveals that mentees earn promotions five times more often than those who aren’t benefiting from a mentor’s guidance.3
Tip 5: Challenge yourself
Mentors are great. But it’s not entirely up to them to challenge you. It’s up to you. Don’t be afraid to push yourself.
“Give yourself permission to push beyond your comfort zone and make mistakes,” Dickerson said. “Mistakes aren’t failures. They’re learning opportunities. So, gift yourself the freedom to explore skills and ideas beyond your area of expertise.”
For example, if you don’t have public speaking experience — or you have a phobia of standing up and speaking in front of crowds — sign up for a workshop to practice those skills. They’ll likely come in handy at some point in the future.
Tip 6: Get organized
An organized professional will spend less time searching for the right information and correcting mistakes, many human resource and management experts note.
Indeed, Zippia, an online recruitment services agency, points out the perils of not having organizational skills. It makes you “more likely to miss deadlines, show up to meetings unprepared, and misplace important documents. You may even be slower at getting your work done or be a less-than-desirable teammate to have on projects.”4
So, make an effort to fix any clutter in your work environment – or your life in general, including cutting clutter in your finances.
Showing that you’re organized and can manage your time and resources efficiently and effectively will not only set your boss’s mind at ease but yours as well. Good organizational skills free you to focus on what you do best, which in turn sets your career up for success.
Tip 7: Take charge of your finances
Paul DiCarlo, retired former senior director of engineering at Skyworks Solutions in Woburn, Massachusetts, has managed and mentored many over the years. His advice for those looking to improve their career: Improve your finances.
“Financial health is career wealth,” DiCarlo said. “And vice versa. When your finances are a mess, they show up in the workplace. Before you know it, you’re spending more time trying to resolve your financial problems than you are resolving work problems. Not good when trying to earn promotions and climb the corporate ladder.”
Data supports his point. According to one recent financial wellness study, 75 percent of workers are stressed about financial issues and spending more than nine hours per week at work dealing with personal finance matters.6
That means financial hardship decreases output while financial health increases it — the latter of which serves both the employer and employee equally well.
This connection cannot be overemphasized.
While financial health is critical to career success, career success is critical to financial wealth. It allows you to better plan for your financial future. The more money you make from raises, bonuses, and promotions, the more money you have to invest for your future. It’s important to have a game plan.
Conclusion
Just like the path to physical fitness takes time, so, too, does the path to a healthy career. Keep motivated. Work toward your goals. Don’t settle. Be sure your finances are in order. And as career coaches will tell you, don’t put the burden all on yourself.
There are people and resources out there willing to lend you their professional expertise. Seek them out. They can help you move toward your goals with confidence and get you where you want to be.
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1 “New Study Reveals Boost in Employee Productivity and Well-Being Among Companies That Foster a ‘Connected Culture’ in Work from Anywhere Environment,” November 11, 2020.
2 Apollo Technical, “Important Networking Statistics Everyone Should Know,” January 17, 2023.
3 Guider, “Mentoring Statistics: The Research You Need to Know,” March 2, 2020.
4 Zippia: The Career Expert, “Why Are Organizational Skills Important?” June 28, 2022.
5 ColoradoBiz, “Why Financial Literacy Should be on Every Employer’s Mind,” March 23, 2018.
6 SoFi at Work, “The Future of Workplace Financial Well-Being,” 2022
