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This topic is for sure one of my favorite topics to write and talk about. Why? Because, it's notably something that I use a lot myself which helped me tremendously throughout my career. I also shared it with other people for their career reflections and it's proven to help. In fact, I am talking here about the Career Aspirations Plan (CAP), part of my blog series "Own You Career Path".

 

The CAP is a simple one pager document regrouping five specific key pillars or questions, enabling any professional to create space and time to define, plan and act on the way forward about professional career. While it can sound an easy exercise, it's actually easier said than done. The reason behind is that these five questions require a thoughtful work and sincerity to be able to make the most of it, and to generate the real change you're really looking for.

 

Around the world and across sectors, workers have faced a stagnation stage during their career at least once. Such stagnation leads to boredom, feeling stuck, work for no purpose and see no way out. Motivation therefore drops off, performance slows down, the feeling of working by obligation goes exponentially higher. And the longer this career stagnation is experienced, the more a person feels unable to overcome it.

 

Based on my own experience, one proactive way I use to encounter and avoid hitting this state of mind of feeling stuck, or lost is creating and maintaining a CAP.

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These are the 5 questions a CAP inspires you to work on:

 

1- Dare to dream and have a VISION: What is your career vision that you have for yourself? Articulate it as clearly as possible.

Think about the vision as a compelling image or several images of an achievable future which your brain can imagine and picture easily. That when you talk about this vision, it will sound just right for you and to others. One of the greatest TedTalks that I recommend to help you on finding your vision is the following "How I Visualized My Dreams Into Reality" by Maria Rahajeng. All you need to do here is to slow down and reflect, create space to dream and build a collection of pictures and visuals which describe best your vision for your work, career and professional aspirations.

 

Give it a try, you'll get positively surprised by all the clues this exercise will provide you, and the minute you'll finish it, you'll actually become quickly attached to it, and you'll feel instantly excited to share and debrief it with your loved ones.

 

As you continue this work through the next steps below, give yourself freedom to adjust your vision board as much as you need. This has not to be perfect neither final, it's a dynamic exercise supposed to inspire you and make you dream above and beyond your routine.

 

2- Project your dreams into ASPIRATIONS:

 

Describe your ideal 2 to 3 long term aspirations, even the craziest ones - by long-term here I mean a minimum of 5 years horizon.

Aspiration means any ambition or hope you hold for yourself, which you would love to realize or plan to realize, but you may have been procrastinating around it or left it aside for other reasons. So, write down these aspirations, don't limit yourself on the answers and remember there's no good or wrong answer. Most importantly, this has to come from your vision and dreams.

 

A quick tip here, leverage your personal values when completing this step, remember your values are the true compass to guide you on what you aspire to do later and what to avoid.

 

3- Manifest a PURPOSE:

 

When you think about these long-term aspirations above, can you describe what's behind them? What's your true purpose in reaching these aspirations?

 

Any career plan capturing goals and aspirations with no purpose will get you motivated and on a momentum for a short while, but it will quickly fade away with time.

 

Purpose is your fuel, it will feed you during the moments where you'll lose sight or feel lost in your career, purpose is something way bigger from chasing promotions for more money, perks or more power. Purpose is intrinsically related to your will, a positive impact and meaning. Your purpose comes from your heart and gut, if you listen to your inner voice, words will flow with no barrier or challenge. Purpose is unique to you and only to you and is your light house to keep going despite all hurdles you'll face. One known methodology which can help you on this step is the Ikigai, a Japanese concept which translates as "reason of being". Feel free to make your own research to see if this concept resonates with you.

 

A quick tip here, searching for purpose can sometimes come across as a big question that people tend to tetanize over, fearing to find no answer to provide. This is absolutely fine and it's part of the process. Keep in mind that the purpose you are looking for here is not the universal ultimate one but simply the purpose behind wanting to reach these 2 to 3 long-term aspirations you defined above. Keep it as simple as that and you'll be able to articulate your unique purpose with no challenge.

 

4- Define your short-term aspirations:

 

Now that you are clear on your career vision, long-term aspirations and for which purpose, describe 2 to 3 aspirations in the short term (in a horizon of 1 to 5 years maximum). These short term aspirations will be your gateway to reach your long term aspirations and your purpose.

 

You understand here that the difference lays in articulating your short term aspirations, which you feel will help you succeed to reach your purpose and give you all the chances to realize your long term aspirations.

 

5- Take action and deploy your CAP PLAN:

 

This is the finale - and it's maybe the easiest part, by this stage you are clear on your plan, and all you need to do is to execute it.

 

For each short-term aspiration you articulated above, go back to your strengths identify which of your strengths you can leverage even more as accelerator to reach your aspirations, then identify which skills you'll need to invest-in to fill any gap to reaching your dreams.

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I have created a fictional example to guide you on how to use the CAP template as following :

 

 

CAP Template by Hassina SAAD - Rubie's CAP Example

 

Note: You will observe that I didn't use the word "goal" in the CAP, that's because I personally don't believe highly in setting up goals for the sake of it. Just like new year resolutions, most people never stick with resolutions, the same way goes for setting up career goals with no vision and intention for a purpose.

 

Once you have finalized your CAP, you'll get ready for the next step - be it to discuss your CAP with your mentor(s). The more you'll talk about your CAP effectively, the more you'll believe in your aspirations and gain confidence to talk about your dreams and aspirations with passion. And that's what you need at this stage, you need to get yourself out of any state of mind where you feel stuck, powerless or insecure of the next possibilities for you.

 

I hope this article will inspire you to dare to dream, aspire for more in alignment with your strengths, true values and your purpose. The CAP structured methodology can sound like a lot of work, but finding the answers to these foundational questions will energize you in a special way and save you time on the long run, to find that job which will bring you fulfillment. To build the career you want, you have to be willing to work the process with no shortcut. Think about it as a transformation journey rather than a chore.

 

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