Jared Seyl is a man who I have come to respect greatly and a man who has inspired me a great deal. I first met Jared when I was working as an intern for a Denver-based insurance company which was dedicated to farmers insurance, Jared was actually in his last couple of months with the company before he was heading off to pastures new to work in financial advising. Prior to meeting Jared I never really had a plan for my career and in truth the thought of one felt rather mundane. Jared used to speak to me about how he had achieved all that he wanted to in his career and this really resonated with me, so much so that I began to map out my own career, in order to achieve what I wanted to.

Specific Goals

When considering what it is that you wish to achieve from your career you must be specific, it isn’t enough to simply say ‘I want wealth’ or ‘I want power’ or even ‘ I want happiness’. If you set vague and broad stroke goals for yourself in this way then it will become difficult for you to focus on what it is that you are actually looking to achieve. Drill down into your desires, if you want power then think about what kind of power, what position do you want and with what kind of company? If it is happiness then what does that look like? Kids? Partner? Living conditions? The specifics are the most important part of mapping out your career.

Obstacles

We cannot plan for every obstacle that is in our way but we can certainly spend some time thinking about them and how we may find our way over the obvious obstacles which exist. Let’s say for instance that you want to become a CEO of your firm, you need to think about who is in that position now and why, then start thinking about what you need to change about yourself and your performance in order to put yourself in contention for that position. These are the obstacles to overcome and once you are aware of them, and you highlight how to get past them, that is when you can put yourself on the right track.

Plausibility

Don’t think about the probabilities of you being able to achieve your dreams because if you start thinking that they are improbable then you will be defeated before you start. Whether or not you achieve your dreams in the end is completely irrelevant, this stage of the process is about understanding what those dreams are, and working out what the path looks like to go and get them. If you fail then so be it but don’t fail before you even start, that goes against everything that you are trying to do.

Map those dreams out, work hard and stay focused, you will get there in the end.