Dare to be Deliberate

This week, I went to another monthly meeting for the PRSA Phoenix New Pros Mentorship Program. While the last meeting discussed PR as a lifestyle, this week we focused on how to streamline career choices to help meet professional goals, with the help of Linsey Careers’ Dare to be Deliberate Career Action Plan. The group discussed our goals down the line and intentional decisions we can make now to help get there.
The goal of the Career Action Plan is to help envision a long-term goal and make deliberate choices to achieve it, which is applicable to all PR pros, new or seasoned. As a new PR pro, it can be difficult to know if I’m making choices that will help steer my career in the right direction. Being fresh in the industry, I’m quickly picking up insight but still have so much left to learn.
One challenge I face in my career is that I want to do everything. I’ve had a hard time trying to solidify where I want my career to go because there are so many areas that I’m interested in. A benefit to working in an agency is that we’re exposed to multiple clients from varying industries, so I’m always kept on my toes and get to explore everything from nonprofits to restaurants.
What I learned from the Career Action Plan is that achieving a long-term professional goal doesn’t have to be daunting. The key is to break it down one piece at a time, bit by bit. This varies from small day-to-day changes to larger, annual reflections. The key is to be intentional: Checking my social media channels every day can be mindless, but it serves me better to be mindful and use that time to network and maintain relationships on LinkedIn. In addition, these calculated choices can range from tangible actions to thoughtful planning.
My main takeaway is that I don’t have to have everything figured out right this minute to achieve my goals. Small changes can still help me in the long run, and I find a lot of comfort in that.
What decision do you think lead to the turning point in your career? Help a new pro out!