Five Steps for Taking Your Career from Denial to Victory

Do you have a feeling that something is wrong in your career, yet you have not done anything about it? Do you feel like something is missing in your career, but you’d prefer not to think about it?nnThis is called denial—when you know something is not right, but you are not acting to change it. Denial in your career can be good: if you focused on every little thing that bothered you such as getting up early every day, dealing with difficult coworkers, or doing work that doesn’t thrill you, your career would be hard and not much fun. Denial works against you when your career changes for the worse and you do not do anything about it. This is when career distress wins.nnWhen you notice a change in your career and you know in your gut that it’s not a good one for you, you have to act and take your career from denial to victory.nnStep 1: You Know Something Is Off CoursennYour career has veered off course, but you tell yourself that it has not. You want to believe that what you are thinking or experiencing is a mistake. Maybe what is happening is too small to really pinpoint as the beginning of something big, for example, a change is made in your department, you are left out of an important meeting, or there’s a rumor about layoffs or outsourcing. You know something is off course, but you hope you are not right about your assessment.nnStep 2: Something Goes WrongnnThe “something wrongs” are beginning to pile up. You are left out of major decisions that affect you or the people for whom you are responsible. People stop listening to you or coming to you. The politics are getting worse, or your company does something that goes against your values. One thing after another begins to happen. You hope that the “wrongs” will disappear without any effort on your part, but it becomes apparent that this will not happen without your participation. nnStep 3: You Begin to Turn Your Wrong into a RightnnThis requires a shift in attitude. When your attitude gets better, your circumstances get better. This is when you start talking to people about what you want to change. You research different opportunities. You begin to shift your mind-set to make a change. This is a crucial step as most goals are reached in the mind first; the rest is implementation.nntep 4: You Take ActionnnYou put together a plan. You write down your goal along with concrete steps for implementation. You add these steps to your calendar so that there is a timeline for making them happen. When you do not know where to turn or what to do, you write down who could help you—you are not meant to reach your career goals alone. Be clear about what you want and what steps you will take to get there. This is your pathway to victory.nnStep 5: You Become VictoriousnnThis is when you become a better person in a better place. You are happier and are enjoying your career. You created a goal and reached it. You achieved your goals because you had the courage to do something about a situation that no longer worked for you. Congratulations!nnSo, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!nn** This article is one of 101 great articles that were published in 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life. To get complete details on “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life”, visit http://www.selfgrowth.com/greatways.html