How to spice up your career for 2013

Feeling a bit dismal about being back at work? Are you under-performing or are tired of reading about others’ success? 2013 could be the year that you achieve the success you dream of

Experienced business coach and personal career mentor Penny Davenport has 20 years experience helping people in big and small businesses achieve their career goals and personal dreams with a unique coaching programme. Nicknamed the ‘dream catcher’ by many of her clients, Penny lends us a few tips on how to enhance your career for 2013.

1. Visualise your goal but be specific. ‘I want to earn more money’ just won’t do. ‘By the end of 2013 I will be in the next pay grade or be promoted to manager’ is something you can work towards. Create a mood board filled with pictures of what this will mean to your life.

2. Analyse the gaps in what you have to offer as a professional. Again, get specific - if you want to be posted overseas, for example, do you need to improve your language skills? Work out exactly what you need to do to get to fill in those work skills gaps.

3. First steps. This is where you become proactive and actually book onto courses to improve your skills set. Take an evening class in French or if you need to be better at Excel try and find the correct level of course.

 4. Ask for help. Talking about your goals to a friend, your boss or a career mentor will keep you on track. 60% of UK business leaders have had a mentor, and of these, 97% said they had benefited from the advice given (DDI, 2005).

5. Keep focused. Try not to compete or compare yourself with others. It’s too negative and unproductive. If you do lose out to someone else, do not focus on them but go back to your gap analysis and spend your energies working out what you can do to move forward.

6. Reward yourself. It is important to reward ourselves for achieving our goals or for steps on the way to achieving our goals. We hold the keys to our success so it’s important to allow ourselves to tap into our potential and to recognise when we have done so.

Penny Davenport offers individual and group life coaching programmes to help career executives clarify their goals. You can contact Penny for a free consultation on 07990524202 or penny@pennydavenport.co.uk

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