Work takes up a huge part of our lives. On average, a person spends 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime. That’s more than 11,000 days, or 5.4 million minutes. With so much time dedicated to our carers, it’s natural to look for ways to grow your career on your own.
While most workers (91%) understand the value of ongoing professional development, not everyone has the support or resources from their employer to advance. That’s where self-driven strategies come in. Taking control of your own career growth ensures you’re moving forward, even when workplace opportunities are limited.
Recent data show that nearly two-thirds of employees (63%) feel their employer cares more about productivity than their career development, and close to half (44%) believe their employer doesn’t value their career development at all. This context matters.
People who thrive professionally aren’t just tapping into their individual strengths, they are supported by workplace cultures that value their growth. But since not every employer adequately invests in self-improvement for professionals, these workplace success strategies can help you grow by focusing on things you can control:
1. Create Your Personal Definition of Success
Finding ways to improve yourself professionally begins with establishing an appropriate baseline for how you define and measure success. Some definitions might be all about revenue and the bottom line, while others may focus more on soft skills and personal attributes. Once you determine what success means to you, you can create a plan that allows you to chart a course toward your goals, measure your progress, and adapt your approach to course correct as needed. Your definition of success will likely shift based on where you are in your career, so it’s important to periodically revisit and revise your definition as you evolve.
2. Strengthen Your Mental Fitness
You’re not just a professional, you’re a person. What’s happening in your life impacts how you show up at work. Mental fitness includes things like your ability to manage stress effectively, navigate challenges with resilience, and reframe setbacks as opportunities. This empowers you to move through difficulty with clarity and grace. By establishing healthy emotional, physical, social, and psychological habits, you can build your mental muscles to be adaptive, optimistic, and resilient in the face of obstacles that might otherwise derail your growth.
3. Connect with a Professional Coach or Mentor
More than half of workers feel completely on their own when it comes to their career development. It’s difficult to map a path to professional growth when you don’t know where to begin, but a coach or a mentor can help you find your way. While the focus, structure, and outcomes of coaching and mentorship are different, both methods can provide guidance, skills, and tools that teach you how to be your best professional self every day. By working with one or both of these kinds of trusted advisors, both your individual and team performance will improve.
4. Choose the Right Professional Development Strategies for Career Growth
Professional development can take many forms including pursuing an advanced degree, securing a certification, attending conferences and workshops, or joining professional networks. The key is selecting the right combination of opportunities and experiences. As you weigh your options, consider which strategies will move you closer to your goals while also maximizing the resources (e.g., money and time) you have to invest in your growth.
5. Don’t Get Caught up in Comparison
It’s human nature to compare ourselves to others. When you see someone achieve something you want, it can trick you into thinking you need to do what they did. But there are so many factors that influence our growth and development, and what worked for them might not be realistic or feasible for you. While it’s valuable to learn from the wisdom and experiences of others, remember that every person has their own unique path to career improvement.
With the right resources and support, everyone can achieve personal growth in the workplace. While your path may be paved differently than another person’s, you can always do, be, and achieve more.
