Create A Career Vision that Inspires You (In 1 Hour or less!)

1. Create a Career Vision - Trailor: hi, everyone, and welcome to this new course, creating a career vision. I wonder if this course has caught your interest because you want to make a change. You want to create a new career for yourself, but maybe you're feeling a little bit stuck and don't know where to start. I'm risk Thompson. I'm a trainer, a product developer and also a data science consultant. So I do a lot of different things. And if you looked at my bio three years ago, you would have seen that it was completely different from what I'm doing now on in three years time, I am sure that I'll be doing something completely different as well. I would say that I've had at least four career pivots on, and some people might argue that I've had nine or 10 on this technique of creating a career vision is one that I've used to really help me make those leaps on changes successfully. At the end of this course, I would love within an hour for you guys toe have your own really compelling career vision , something that will motivate and inspire you to push through some of those challenges that you have When you're making a career change or pivot in your career, invest one hour in this course on, I will take you through simple and easy exercises to build up your own unique career vision . Join me in less and one I can't wait to see that. 2. Learning From Now: welcome to Lesson one off, creating a compelling but realistic career vision. I'm really excited you've come to join this course first things first. Most importantly, make sure you have three things before you start. The first is a little bit of time carved out for some thinking some reflection and some writing. I've said, You know, you can do this in less than an hour, but you can chunk it up into different bits. So five minutes, 10 minutes here and there. The second is to have something to write on or in. So whether it's a notebook or a laptop, or however else you want to write down the things that you're writing about have those and finally and most importantly, is to approach the whole exercise with open on positive frame of mind on. So if you know negative things come up for you, we have ideas that you know that thoughts that are not so positive, accept them and then try and re Vontobel positive thoughts. In this lesson, we're gonna kick off. The first exercise is all about thinking about where you are now, on what's good about you know your career in your work right now, what's not so good? Maybe because one thing you don't want to do is lose any of the good stuff that you might be doing at the moment or repeat any of the mistakes that you might have made in the past. So, for example, or I, once a small career pivot into consulting on I joined a consultancy firm. I'm very quickly. I learned that the culture was definitely not for me. It was very negative culture. The CEO Waas kind of not the nicest person. And there were lots of kind of issues that I had with the company from an ethical standpoint on and I, you know, pivoted away from from that company away from that career. But I definitely took that learning from that experience, I will never repeat this. This takes again, So let's jump into the first exercise. So here the questions to get you thinking about where you are now before you move forward and I've created a handy download in the your project section downloadable files so you can download this. This is lesson one and use this after the lesson. So the first question is, why do you want to change and to give you an example. When I was pivoting away from being a fundraiser, there were two things that really were driving my desire for change. The first was I felt like I really didn't have much more to learn. I'd really done every single course I'd trained other people in most of the areas. I really was running out of things to learn the other driver. The thing that I wanted to change was that I kind of reached the pinnacle of where I could get to. I was head of a department, had a team of seven people. When I looked forward in my career as a fundraiser, I really was only going to be expanding the number of people that I managed, growing bigger and bigger apartments, going to bigger and bigger organizations on maybe becoming a CEO. And that didn't really excite me as an idea. So the first graders think about you know what is driving this desire for change for you. And the next question is, what don't you like about your current work? This is really important to give you clues about what you might want to strive towards by know what you don't like the moment. So another examples when I was ah running my own social media marketing business as a social media manager. Um, what I didn't like about it was that it felt very limited in terms of the money that I could earn. There was always gonna be a ceiling on what people would pay for social media marketing services. And that really frustrated me. I wanted to be able to expand and earn mawr as well as learn more. The next question is really important. What do you like and what do you want to key? Um, there's gonna be parts of your current career that you really find valuable and that are, you know, really useful for you. So an example from my fundraising days. I really loved the impact that I had the positive social impact, and I've taken that through my career from then. Another thing that I loved was the community around me. I was very active in my professional community, and I still am in every field that I work in. I find people to build a community with, and I want to keep that throughout my career. What skills do you have that you want to keep using right now? I mean, there are going to be things that you're doing right now that you want to be doing in, you know, in your future and you'll be not be surprised to know that one of the skills that I've taken through all of my pivots is training and teaching and helping other people to learn. I just love that I'm gonna be doing that, whatever feel that I'm working in. And then the last question is, what skills Maybe would you not like to keep using? And I know this could be a bit of a hard question sometimes, because if you're good at something, it's very tempting to keep doing that thing and example for me from my fundraising days. I was very good running events. I ran small events. I ran events for hundreds of people. I designed them, planned them, delivered them and evaluated them. I was quite good at that. I got some good feedback about how good I was at it. However, I did not like doing hit. I found it stressful. I didn't enjoy it. So when I was moving away from fundraising. I really decided not to do any kind of event organization if I could get away with it and if I could choose not to do it. So those are your five questions to really get your kind of thoughts flowing. So I really recommend now that you take these questions, download the pdf set a timer for five minutes, really limit the amount time and get writing as much as possible. So what's coming up in less in two? So you've looked away. Ur lesson to It's all about generating loads and loads of ideas, a very creative and very high energy session, So I really look forward to seeing you in lesson to. 3. It's Idea Time: welcome to listen. To lessen to is one of my favorites back creativity and ideas. In this exercise, you're gonna capture all of those ideas that you have. You might have thought about for a long time. Things you'd like to do things you'd like to explore, Andi, maybe do a little bit of a reality check on them. Like, pull out some ideas from the I see we know which ones you can take forward. Andi. It was gonna do some kind of creative stuff, mixing up different ideas and looking for ways to take forward some of the ideas that you have. So let's jump in straight into the exercise. Have you got your lesson to template in front of you? If you have, Let's get started. If not going, download it and then come back. I absolutely love this lesson. It's all about ideas and creativity. To the first thing is to start by writing down all your ideas crazy out there outlandish All the things your friends and family and people that you love might have said You you definitely can't do. Write them down. Get them down. This is your personal template. You can write down whatever you want to give you an example. Some of the things that I have, Khalid, where there's an idea of being I've played with the idea of being a professor. I like the idea of being called Dr Thompson on working, you know, in a you know, world class university. Thinking about very, very, very complicated things from another idea that I have played with us well, is to be a child singer. You know, this idea off touring the world, seen jazz being adored. Anyway, they never get lost. These ideas all really, really useful because although I have decided not to become a professor or a jazz singer, they give me clues. Tell what kind of things I might want to do in my career. The things that really make me feel filed a fire fired up and this is the important point is the reality check. So once you've written down all these ideas, don't get disheartened. You know that we're not saying you can't do these things. You might be able to do the jobs that you want to do, but you might want to have a quick reality check. So, for example, there's a reason that I am not professor. And that's because when you look at how you become a professor, you have to do a PhD that takes, like, 5 to 7 years. Um, and then you have to work your way up from the bottom, you know, is a very, very tough field getting to this more people who want to be professes. Then they're all profess their roles. Andi, When I looked at the salaries and then the amount that you earn a two beginning, you have to live very frugally at the beginning. And so I've decided that although I absolutely love the idea of the intellectual stimulation and the, you know, the thoughts and everything, I'm not going to work my way up from the bottom Doesn't mean that I can't take some of those elements forward. Quick reality check on the jazz singer uh, part. I mean, I do sing jazz, so I mean, at least I can sing, so that's a good start. But the reality off being a performer and a jazzing or especially is that you've got to be away from your family. You've got to work nights. You've got to work in you know, clubs and environments that are maybe not the healthiest. And if you look it, jazz singers generally, they're not the kind of healthiest to people because they live quite a kind of tough life. It really is. You dedicated your craft. So maybe in this column, when you've got all these amazing ideas, I work out kind of which ones are realistic and which ones maybe aren't realistic. But take forward some of the ideas from your job roles that you might want to take forward . So, for example, when I asked myself, What is it about being a professor that I love would love to do? One of the things about it is that I love the idea of continuously learning, so that's an experience that I want to take forward into my career. Continuously learning. I also love teaching. So I loved the idea of taking forward that idea of, you know, I love teaching. What is it I love about singing jazz? I love the creativity. I love the connection with the audience in my skills, elements or experience column. I'm writing continuous learning, teaching and creativity. So do that. Now take your ideas. The ones that are a bit on realistic. Take forward some elements off those jobs, the things that make you feel really inspired and then start kind of in the Combinations column, putting some ideas together. This is where you can put some ideas together and let them have idea babies. So, for example, if you take my teaching on my creativity ideas, I can creatively create courses like I do here on skill share. So I'm getting the benefit off being a professor on being a jazz singer without actually having to do either those jobs and taking all the downsides to go with it, have a play. It's This is a creative exercise. The the idea is you got as much down on this. She is possible at the bottom. You'll see here on Air Ideas for Exploration, exploration, Um, section. And this is where you might feel like you don't have enough of a knowledge about a certain area. So, for example, when I was looking at the field off user experience design UX design, I didn't know whether it would be a good place for me to move into, you know, is this, you know, kind of career that I would enjoy as it got good working environment. So I had a an information call. So I set up a cool with somebody who worked in the field. Really awesome. This question. What's it like to work in it? What are the hours like, What kind of organizations do you work in? You know what you like about it? What do you not like about it? And I learned very quickly that the type of work that she did would not suit me. Although I liked the creativity and the connection part of it, I wouldn't like the type of work that she did. So you put down some ideas. Who might you could could you talk to to get more information about these ideas. So as you know the drill. Now get your pdf set a timer for five minutes and get writing what's coming up next. The next lesson in lesson three and I'm gonna talk about exploring what you really like to do. I shall see you then. 4. What?: Welcome to Lesson three I have seen so far in the 1st 2 lessons that you're building up the source material for your career vision making. Lots of notes are capturing also things in the templates on in less than 56 We put it all together and write your career vision. It's a lesson three. It's very much like the nitty gritty than what the skills and the things that you actually want to do in your career. Going forward, Let's jump into the exercise in Lesson one. We looked at where you are right now, and now I want you to zoom out and look at your whole career, your whole career to date and start thinking about these questions with your template in front of you. So what type of work are you good at? You know what? If people told you that you've done well, what kind of work have you delivered? Well, when I look at this for my career, I see that a lot of people give me good feedback about the training that I've delivered on . If you look at my profile and if you looked already, you'll see there's lots of quotes from people there. I'm slowly starting to believe them. It can be hard sometimes believing the nice things that people say about you. But I know that that I've had a lot of people say that they've found my training very valuable. So that's definitely Paul of my career. Vision is training another area of work that I've received good feedback and good results in is the field of external relations. Essentially, So what I've done projects in the field of sales or presentations or networking anything that's about kind of going out presenting your organization or yourself on Do you know, building relationships with strategically important partners? I've bean good at that, and then escort is subtly different, so know about what you're good at. But what type of work do you like doing? What do you really enjoy? Um, I really love learning. And for a long time I didn't see that as asset Um, and then just recently, I've started to realize that being able to learn quickly and the desire to continuously learn is really valuable in fast moving fields. So fields where things are changing really, really fast on organizations need people you can keep up to date with those changes that it's also value is valuable in a field where organizations need somebody to go in. Andi become very knowledgeable about the subject and be able to help somebody in a new environment. So that type of work where I need to learn, read quickly, is very valuable for me. And that's questions. What kind of work would you like to try out? You know what kind of things have made you interested or kind of caught your attention on to go back to this example off UX user experience design that I had before I kept hearing that people were working in this field as I What is this field? So I should told that informational telephone call, and it's it's kind of still on the periphery of my my interest. Maybe one day I might, uh, I might get into an Explorer a bit more, So note down the kind of things you'd like to try it. They might not be for right now, but they might be for the future. And if you're struggling to come up with answers to these questions, here is a framework for how you can think about what kind of work you're good at, What you like doing what you like to try out. Would you like to do Mawr kind of social work? And that's not kind of social work in terms of the traditional meaning of the word social work. It means, Do you want to be a person who goes out to networking events? Do you like to do the sales and business development? Do you want to do stuff that is involved with working with other people? Sociable, Essentially, it extroverts kind of person. Do you feel fired up by that kind of work? Or are you the kind of type of person that loves reading, loves information, loves learning, loves your being a specialist in an area. That area might be useful for you? The next area is organizing. So are you a very organized kind of person? Do you like being the kind of executive assistant you know, short, like the event manager? The person you make sure that make sure that everything happens as it should do. Or are you a very creative person? Do you like art design? But also do you like innovation or you're kind of a ah, creative person in a business environment. Have you got one of those areas that you like more than the others? Or do you feel that you are a mixture of all of them, just in different amounts? This is gonna give you clues to the kind of work that you might want to include in your career vision. You know the drill. Now set the timer, get writing, and you get your ideas down on paper. Coming up next in less and four, we've looked at what kind of work you like to do. All the ideas that you have and where you are now, and lesson for is about who you like to work with, cause I'm sure, like me, you found that the people you work with are often as important as the type of work that you're doing. So I really look forward to seeing you in lesson for 5. Who?: welcome to lessen for So by now you have looked at kind of what you want to take forward from your current career. You've captured all those exciting ideas on dreams and things that you had in your mind. And you've also looked the nitty gritty of the what the skills that you want to use in your career. Go Ford. In this lesson, we're going to look at the who because it is really important who you work with, the kind of your co workers, the people in your community can really kind of make or break a career. It's really, really big difference until it's jump into the exercise. Identify who want to work with. Are you ready to get started? So who do you enjoy working with most? Think back to the projects you worked on the places you work, the place you loved working in the places you didn't love working. What type of people are you working with? The entrepreneurial people? Did you like working with managers and bosses who were vory directive? Who would be able to tell you kind of where you you shouldn't shouldn't be working Or did you want to work with people who kind of her coaching way of working. So helped you to solve your own challenges and answering questions, Or did you not working with managers who were very hands off? We kind of let you get on with things that working people who creative think of all the adjectives of the people that you really like working with. From my personal perspective, I like working with people who are entrepreneurial, says people who are always seeing opportunities, who are always looking to the future, optimistic and kind of excited about walking. You know what they can create in the future with the opportunities that are presenting themselves. I like working with people who are fast paced, too. How do you think of a night, dear? Assess it and then do it like, get it done, tested out, see how it's doing. And I like working kind of with clients and managers who are kind of reasonably hands off in terms of, you know, they trust me. Teoh deliver something for them that they're gonna value. The next question is, it's one that I've only realized recently is really important in the last couple of years. So do you like to work alone? Do you like to work in teams of people? Do you like to work with just one other person? Would you like to work in a busy buzzy office or a creative space? Or do you like a combination of all of those? I've come to realize in the last couple of years that I love the diversity off all of those . So I love one day to work completely alone by myself, at home, with my own tasks, with my own thoughts, choosing whatever I want to do. That, I think is going to help achieve the goals that I have set out for me and my clients. And then other days. I love being surrounded by a team and working with them. Sometimes a light working just was one of the person. So for me, it's a combination of all of them on. I wouldn't want to do one without the other, but I know some people prefer to work alone essentially 80 cents the time 97 time Or some people like hate the idea of not being in a kind of coworking space or in office. So, really, come look at kind of what your personal preferences are. They take the time to do that. And coming up next is asking ourselves where you like, toe work on. Then we're almost at the stage. We're gonna put it all together and create your visions. I can't wait to see you in less than five. 6. Where?: welcome to lessen five alongside who you work with. The environment in which you work is really important. I found that environments like this co working space make a really big difference. Teoh mindset on the way I think the kind of work produces well, So let's jump into the excise and identify what kind of environments really work for you. Here is your task for lesson five. What environment? Where do you like toe work? The best. Over the last 15 years, I finally realized that my physical environment has a huge impact on the quality of work that I deliver. Andi give you an example? If I'm doing some, no idea works there, coming up with lots of ideas, coming up with new solutions to problems, you know, thinking about strategy in the future. I find that if I'm outside in kind of an open space in nature or walking that I come up with so many better solutions and ideas that I would if I'm sitting in an office surrounded by people being distracted by the people's conversations. However, if I want to work in a team on, I want to work with other people, I don't mind being in an office so much going in and out of meetings, you know, being, you know, sitting around sitting with other people beside me. It doesn't make much of a difference. Andi, similar to the previous lesson. My personal preference is to be able to have a variety in the way in the place that I work . Sometimes I like to work outside on the inside, sometimes in offices, sometimes in my home. I like having a choice, depending on the task that I haven't had. So in this lesson do a very quick brainstorm about where you would like to be working in in the future and then coming up next is the a lesson where you start putting it all together on writing or vision. I can't wait to see you then. 7. Writing Your Vision: Welcome to this final lesson. Lesson six. This is where you take all of your brainstorming, your notes, your ideas and put them all together on you. Write the first draft of your career vision, so let's jump into the exercise. Grab your notes on doll The templates that you filled in Andi start reviewing Andi, highlighting and picking out the bits that are really important to you. So let's go back to refresh the lessons that we did. So lesson one, what do you keeping from your current role, your current work and what you like and what we're going to put into your vision for the future? Remember lesson to when we did the ideas and the idea hating and the idea babies. You know what you gonna pick out from there That's really important to go into your career vision? What skills? What kind of work do you want to do? Who do you want to be working with? Where do you want to be working and then for free, to add some more in that, like, you know, get more stuff. And if more things have kinda for more ideas have come to even better this is a really creative process. You no chance for you to refine and improve. You don't feel you have to feel stuck with any of these things. And I'd really encourage you to take that first step. You know that that phrase every journey starts with the first step. So start writing down drafts off your vision. You get the words down there Edit, edit, edit. When I wrote Micro Vision to give you an example, it's gone through, like, five or six revisions already in the last kind of couple of weeks on, and you know that it would evolve and change. Andi, I might actually do another career vision in a couple of months. Time on, show you how much it's changed as well. This is a living, breathing, changing things that don't feel you have to get something perfect down on paper. Just get something down on paper. So I'm going to share with you my current career. Visionics. It will change to give you some inspiration on. I know that yours will be different if we have to copy mine. But just to give you an idea, you can read this now office, Leah. But you can. Also, it's downloadable in the template section, and it's also not loaded to the project section as well. I really, really can't wait to see your career visions in the project space on school share. Please do upload them. 8. Conclusion: So we've come to the end off this class. I really hope that you've got the first draft of a career mission that makes you feel inspired and motivated on. Makes you want to start taking action, making it into a reality I would love to get, You know, you little bit better. So if you have written your career vision, upload it in the project section. Andi, I'm gonna offer the 1st 10 students that do that. I'm going toe. Look at your career vision. I'll give you some feedback. Some pointers, if you would have, if you would find that useful. Otherwise, I really hope to see at a future class. Thanks so much for being part of this one.