Guiding Principles of Career Planning

The guiding forces of career planning are

• Responsibility to yourself
• Responsibility to the family
• Responsibility to the world

Responsibility to the World

Spare a thought for our ancestors. adventurers, pioneers, seafarers, scientists, freedom fighters who dared to push the envelope so that we live in a better world. It thus becomes our responsibility to contribute to the world in our own little way.

Responsibility to the Family

The family is the greatest social invention. Families are the greatest shock absorbers of the society. Balance between work and life is of paramount importance. Time must be spent with the family adequately. The emotional and material needs must be met. It is in the mysterious equations of love lie the true purpose of your career.

Responsibility to yourself

Why is a Personal Development Plan central to your Career Plan and Growth?

Working in a modern organization can be demanding. The transactional pressures could be tiring. You could be going about the chores required by your job and realize one morning that you have not added much value to your resume or yourself.

Firefighting at work, demands of the family and the time you spend to rest, relax and recuperate do not really help in staying focused on the big picture. It is human to drift.

It is therefore imperative that time be set aside religiously for a Personal Development Plan.

Components of a Personal Development Plan

• Set aside a specific number of hours every week for your personal growth
• Analyze gaps in your competencies and skills and arrive at a roadmap for continuous development
• Get on to the social media bandwagon. Create an interesting profile of yours, have a strategy to network with profiles relevant for your needs and engage with your network. As you evolve, you are bound to have new ideas, and ideas are only great if you can execute them. To be able to execute you need the right network of friends and associates. And hence your social media presence is essential to success in the modern world
• Set aside time to catch up with latest developments in Science, Technology, Management, Finance and Commerce.
• Set aside time for your mental and physical upkeep.
• Ensure that your quality of nutrition and sleep cycle is excellent.
• Cultivate a passionate hobby to help you to switch off completely from your work. A great hobby is as important as your job or career.
• While having a balance between work and life, the ability to compartmentalize work and life is a great gift that you may want to cultivate. Hobbies can help you in that direction. You may want to switch off from whatever is official as soon as you leave the office. Similarly you may not want to carry your woes back at home to the office. Great leaders cultivate the habit of compartmentalizing. This is vital to your success.