If you don’t know where you are, it’s impossible to get where you want to go. It’s like asking Google Maps for directions to a restaurant when it can’t figure out your starting location.

It’s similar for professional development. You need to be clear about your strengths and weaknesses to determine a path to improve or gain new skills.

That self-awareness orients you to where you are on the map of your career. This is true for Pathfinders or people who would like to improve their Pathfinder skill sets.

Here are some strategies to help you understand your current position in your career and determine the steps necessary to move forward.

Assess Your Current Situation

The first step in career development is to take stock of where you are right now. This means evaluating your current job role, understanding your skill set, and acknowledging your accomplishments and areas for improvement. To do this, you might:

• Conduct a self-assessment: List out your skills, qualifications, experiences, and passions. Reflect on feedback you’ve received and consider how your current role aligns with your long-term career goals. Self-reflection is key. If you skip this part, it will be hard to move forward.
• Take a self-assessment test. The Pathfinder Assessment is the fastest way to see where areas of strength and areas of development in the Pathfinder values. There are other excellent career self-assessments in the market to understand other strengths.
• Seek feedback: Ask colleagues, mentors, or supervisors for their perspective on your strengths and weaknesses. You would be amazed at how many people overlook their strengths because they can’t see them for themselves. This can provide valuable insight into areas you might not have considered.
• Evaluate your satisfaction: Are you happy with your current role? Do you feel challenged and engaged? Your level of job satisfaction can be a significant indicator of whether you are in the right place or if it’s time to move on.

Define Your Goals

Once you have a clear understanding of where you are, you need to determine where you want to go. Setting goals is crucial because it gives you a destination to work towards. Consider these points when defining your career goals:

• Be Specific: General goals are harder to achieve. Instead of saying, “I want to be successful,” define what success looks like to you. Is it a certain job title, salary, or work-life balance? When it comes to improving your Pathfinder skills, pick one or a couple that are related to focus upon.
• Let Yourself Win—Set Short and Long-term Goals: If you don’t feel like you are making progress toward your larger goal, it will be pretty easy to get discouraged. It’s important to know your endpoint, but equally important to have a number of milestones along the way. Set long-term goals for where you want to be in five or ten years, and then break these down into smaller, achievable short-term goals. Achievable and knowable goals (meaning knowing that you accomplished it) here are the key.
• Align Your Goals with Your Values: We have repeatedly seen that true satisfaction at work comes when achievements align with your values; this leads to personal fulfillment, not just putting another notch on your career belt. Take that time to ensure that your career goals align with your personal values and life plans. If they don’t, we strongly suggest you reconsider those goals.

Create a Roadmap

With your current situation assessed and your goals set, it’s time to bridge the gap between the two. This is where you create a detailed action plan or a roadmap.

• Identify the Steps: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Break down each goal into actionable steps. If you want to move into a management role, what skills do you need to develop? Do you need additional training or certifications?
• Set Clear Actions: How do you know you are moving in the direction of your goals? You need to be clear on what actions to take, by when, with whom. Determine which actions will have the most significant impact on your career development and prioritize those. There will be some trial and error; that’s okay, it’s part of the process.
• Be Flexible: The old joke, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans” comes to mind. The planning process and the plan itself are critical and allow us to move confidently forward. However, life—and the global economy—often have other ideas that we could not have anticipated, such as falling in love, a baby, a sick parent, a global pandemic, recession, new exciting technology, a great new opportunity, etc. The job market and your personal circumstances can change, so be prepared to adapt your plan as needed.
• Celebrate Small and Big Wins: It’s great when you reach the top of the mountain, but it’s also great when you reach a number of points on the journey. Take time to celebrate smaller wins and appreciate all that you have done so far. This will provide encouragement and help prevent burnout.

Growing personally and professionally is part of this excellent journey we call life. These steps help you be on purpose about that growth; exercising the agency you have. The process will be challenging and rewarding, full of triumphs and failures, all of which grants wisdom along the way.