Success
The art of success
Taking the time to work out what’s important to you and setting meaningful goals could be the best thing you ever do for your career – and your life.
Success
The art of success
Taking the time to work out what’s important to you and setting meaningful goals could be the best thing you ever do for your career – and your life.
Success
The art of success
Taking the time to work out what’s important to you and setting meaningful goals could be the best thing you ever do for your career – and your life.
Set your success goals
1. Make a list.
Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper and on one side, write what you have and on the other, list what you want. Discuss your findings with a friend or partner- talking things through with a tangible list to work from helps create clarity.
2. Set yourself a time-line, along the lines of:
By this stage, I want to have achieved X, and then work hard to realise these goals. Setting tasks that are manageable, rather than trying to do too many things at once, is a practical way of making meaningful changes without becoming overwhelmed.
3. Do some reading.
Michelle Kennedy swears by Remote: Office Not Required, and Rework, both by Jason Freid and David Heinemmeir Hansson, as books that will help you rethink and reassess how you work and what you want from your career.
Set your success goals
1. Make a list.
Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper and on one side, write what you have and on the other, list what you want. Discuss your findings with a friend or partner- talking things through with a tangible list to work from helps create clarity.
2. Set yourself a time-line, along the lines of:
By this stage, I want to have achieved X, and then work hard to realise these goals. Setting tasks that are manageable, rather than trying to do too many things at once, is a practical way of making meaningful changes without becoming overwhelmed.
3. Do some reading.
Michelle Kennedy swears by Remote: Office Not Required, and Rework, both by Jason Freid and David Heinemmeir Hansson, as books that will help you rethink and reassess how you work and what you want from your career.
What does success look like to you? Smashing the glass ceiling with a six-figure salary and office with a view? Or perhaps it’s having a job you love that allows you the flexibility to work from home one day a week or leave early to pick up the kids? What constitutes a meaningful career and finding work that works for you is something women are striving for in 2020, and as a result the definition of success is becoming far more nuanced.
A recent survey by Powwownow found that 75 per cent of respondents would find a job more attractive if there was an option of working flexibly, while nearly a third would prefer flexible working to a pay rise – that number rose to a massive 81 per cent among women. Likewise, dressing to reflect your personality rather than fit a traditional office standard, be more commanding of your own time and working for businesses that share your values and have a sense of purpose is starting to ripple through the professional landscape.
Michelle Kennedy is the founder and CEO of mum’s networking app Peanut. She started her career as a corporate lawyer, a world, she says, where employees didn’t dare to leave work in the evening before the partner you shared an office with did. As an antidote to that culture, she’s ensured the working environment is very different at Peanut. ‘I leave at 5.30pm most nights to ensure I can get home for my kids’ bedtime,’ says Kennedy. ‘Others in the team leave to do nursery pick up, or for a gym class. There are no prizes for being at your desk for appearances’ sake. That’s not to say it’s easy, we all work really hard, and I have expectations as does any other business owner that the team put the graft in, it’s essential to the success of the business. But I don’t really care where the work is done, or – within reason – during which hours.’
What does success look like to you? Smashing the glass ceiling with a six-figure salary and office with a view? Or perhaps it’s having a job you love that allows you the flexibility to work from home one day a week or leave early to pick up the kids? What constitutes a meaningful career and finding work that works for you is something women are striving for in 2020, and as a result the definition of success is becoming far more nuanced.
A recent survey by Powwownow found that 75 per cent of respondents would find a job more attractive if there was an option of working flexibly, while nearly a third would prefer flexible working to a pay rise – that number rose to a massive 81 per cent among women. Likewise, dressing to reflect your personality rather than fit a traditional office standard, be more commanding of your own time and working for businesses that share your values and have a sense of purpose is starting to ripple through the professional landscape.
Michelle Kennedy is the founder and CEO of mum’s networking app Peanut. She started her career as a corporate lawyer, a world, she says, where employees didn’t dare to leave work in the evening before the partner you shared an office with did. As an antidote to that culture, she’s ensured the working environment is very different at Peanut. ‘I leave at 5.30pm most nights to ensure I can get home for my kids’ bedtime,’ says Kennedy. ‘Others in the team leave to do nursery pick up, or for a gym class. There are no prizes for being at your desk for appearances’ sake. That’s not to say it’s easy, we all work really hard, and I have expectations as does any other business owner that the team put the graft in, it’s essential to the success of the business. But I don’t really care where the work is done, or – within reason – during which hours.’
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Whatever point you’re at in your career, planning in regular times to think about where you are, and where you want to be in six months or a year’s time is a great way of working out what’s important to you, and how to go about achieving it. If you do decide you want to make a change, or need help achieving a goal, try to find a mentor or look to a career coach like Phanella Fine. She promises to help ‘break down your blockers and empower you to learn and grow, becoming the most successful, effective and authentic version of yourself’.
Alternatively, books such as Otega Uwagbu’s Little Black Book: A Toolkit for Working Women and Emma Gannon’s The Multi-Hyphen Method: Work Less, Create More and Design a Career That Works for You are full of useful advice. Or use your journey to work as a motivation session by listening to an informative and inspiring career podcast, such as Arianna Huffington’s Thrive, which promises to help you shift from ‘surviving to thriving’. And for established or budding entrepreneurs, Being Boss with Emily Thompson and Kathleen Shannon, gets to the heart of the routines, mindsets and success stories of women making money doing what they love.
It’s worth remembering, though, that because the path to personal success is never linear, it is likely that there will be a degree of one step forward, two steps back. According to Phanella Fine, embracing any failures is key to moving forward. ‘I suggest taking it in three steps’ she says. ‘Firstly, acknowledge the failure. Look it straight in the eyes and understand what went wrong. Ask yourself: where were the errors and what could have been done differently? Next, find the success. In every failure, there will be flashes of success. No product is all wrong, no interview is all bad. Ask yourself: what did I do well and what was positive in amongst the mistakes? Finally, learn and move on.’ Failure is powerful because it’s a real-life learning opportunity. ‘There’s nothing theoretical about a failed product, for example,’ says Fine. ‘In fact, it’s a mine of valuable information about what customers really want. Ask yourself: what can I learn from this experience and take forward for next time?’.
Whatever point you’re at in your career, planning in regular times to think about where you are, and where you want to be in six months or a year’s time is a great way of working out what’s important to you, and how to go about achieving it. If you do decide you want to make a change, or need help achieving a goal, try to find a mentor or look to a career coach like Phanella Fine. She promises to help ‘break down your blockers and empower you to learn and grow, becoming the most successful, effective and authentic version of yourself’.
Alternatively, books such as Otega Uwagbu’s Little Black Book: A Toolkit for Working Women and Emma Gannon’s The Multi-Hyphen Method: Work Less, Create More and Design a Career That Works for You are full of useful advice. Or use your journey to work as a motivation session by listening to an informative and inspiring career podcast, such as Arianna Huffington’s Thrive, which promises to help you shift from ‘surviving to thriving’. And for established or budding entrepreneurs, Being Boss with Emily Thompson and Kathleen Shannon, gets to the heart of the routines, mindsets and success stories of women making money doing what they love.
It’s worth remembering, though, that because the path to personal success is never linear, it is likely that there will be a degree of one step forward, two steps back. According to Phanella Fine, embracing any failures is key to moving forward. ‘I suggest taking it in three steps’ she says. ‘Firstly, acknowledge the failure. Look it straight in the eyes and understand what went wrong. Ask yourself: where were the errors and what could have been done differently? Next, find the success. In every failure, there will be flashes of success. No product is all wrong, no interview is all bad. Ask yourself: what did I do well and what was positive in amongst the mistakes? Finally, learn and move on.’ Failure is powerful because it’s a real-life learning opportunity. ‘There’s nothing theoretical about a failed product, for example,’ says Fine. ‘In fact, it’s a mine of valuable information about what customers really want. Ask yourself: what can I learn from this experience and take forward for next time?’.
