Life Lessons in How to Make BIG Career Decisions

Decisions, decisions, decisions…they are one of the prominent tasks we have to do each day. Decisions about what to wear, what to eat, when to wake up or go to sleep, what time to leave the house (or if we leave the house 🤣).

Oftentimes, it isn’t necessarily the fact that we have to make decisions that is difficult, but more the question of if we are making the right decisions. 

One area that I deal with on a daily basis is making decisions regarding your career. And more specifically, women have to make big decisions about their own careers every day. 

Today, I will be sharing three strategies for making better career decisions. I hear each week about how women are struggling with decision fatigue. Anyone else?

I don't know about you all, but I'm constantly struggling with decision fatigue. Do I make this decision or that? Should I go after that opportunity? Should I say this to my coworkers? Should I definitely not say this to my coworker? Should I raise this with my boss? Should I not raise this with my boss?

It can be exhausting and overwhelming. We are constantly thinking about how to make better, faster, and stronger professional decisions, and how to make them more confidently.

I know so many high-achieving professional women struggle with decision-making in their careers.

You don't want to make the wrong move. You don't want to move too fast but you don't want to move too slow. You don't want to be too aggressive. You don't want to wait too long. The reality is that the fear and anxiety around what decision to make has many of us not making any decision at all.

So let’s dive into the three strategies I have for you. 

1, You need to know exactly what you're good at.

Too often, I see professional women saying, ‘well, I'm a team player. I'm a motivator, I'm a collaborator.’ They use these generic phrases to articulate what they're good at or what their skill sets are but it's not good enough.

You need to be able to clearly, concisely, and confidently articulate your skill set at a high level. It's an insider strategy to making better career decisions, because once you know what you are good at, it's so much easier to say yes to some things and no to others. Or to decline some offers and to take others. 

2. You also need to know what you're not good at.

You need to know what's not for you. You need to be able to say no to some things. You have to know exactly what you're not good at so you know where your limits are.

You don't want to pretend that you’re good at things that you’re not. You don't want to apply for jobs that you really don't want and that are full of things that you don't want to do or don't know how to do just to pad your ego. 

3. You must know what you value in your life and in your career.

One of the reasons why you may be stuck and why you don't know what to do or what decision to make is because you don't know what you truly value. Or you may not be used to making decisions that are aligned with your values.

For so many professional women, they value the ability to help people. They want to help their community. They want to help their students, clients, or customers. They want to have a real impact in the world. An insider strategy to making better decisions is to know what you really care about so that you only make decisions aligned with those things you value.

These are your three strategies—knowing what you're good at, knowing what you're not good at, and knowing what you value. Using these strategies to build your foundation for making better decisions in your career will help you stop stressing when it comes to decision-making and will help decisions come easier.

They will also help you make better decisions in your job search and as you approach interviews and position yourself as a top candidate in those interviews, you can move into those new roles with full confidence.

Want to dive deeper into the power of strategic career planning? Join the Mentor Me Accelerator program today. We will cover all these strategies and more during our sessions. 

For those of you interested in learning more about which industries you can transition into this year, read this blog post. 

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