What makes a satisfying career? What success means to you depends on what you value.  At the end of the day, it is up to each person to decide what they need from their work and work place to achieve career satisfaction.

What we each will define as a good career move is a very personal thing. What’s important to us can also change over the span of our career and lifetime. The decisions we make reflect what matters most to us at that point of time in our lives.

Remember that the decisions you make about your career affect other areas of your life. The different dimensions of your life—family, home, relationships and hobbies—all fit together. If you make a change in one area, it’s sure to have some effect on the others.

It’s important to keep this in mind when making decisions about your career. Every time we say yes to something, we are saying no to something else. Make sure you can live with any of the trade-offs required by your choice and that what you are saying yes to makes any sacrifices you have to make worthwhile.

Think about your past work experiences. What did you like? What do you want to be different? What’s the right work environment for you? What do you prefer?  Think about the future you want to create. What is important to you at this stage of your work and life?

Here are some examples of the features of work that people consider in matching their values, needs and preferences to career choices:

• Leadership style of your boss
• Organizational culture (i.e. not toxic!)
•  Degree of autonomy in the role
•   Work and life balance
•  Ability to influence outcomes
• Dynamic or structured work environment
• Interaction with others to achieve results
• And the list can go on……….

At this stage of your life and career what requirements must be met for you to have career satisfaction? Reflect on your answers to this question considering what you know about your goals, skills and values. Where are there synergies or are there areas of tension in what you want and need?

Knowing your values and preferences is a way to define your own criteria for success. Let your own success criteria guide your choices and find the career path that’s right for you.

Do you want to explore your own personal career success criteria? Contact me directly at Jane.Zakreski@gmail.com for a complimentary consultation to discuss your needs.

Like all of you, my plate is full.  Sometimes I get overwhelmed and realize I’ve said “Yes” once too often. And I know I’m not alone. I’m in coaching conversations daily with people who struggle with saying “No”. When is it OK to say “No”?

Most of us can agree that it’s absolutely a must to say “No”:

-When you’re stressed or overwhelmed
-When you’re already doing too much
– When you’re tired or sick

If we don’t learn how to say “No” we risk staying stressed and getting overwhelmed with too much to do and not enough time. And isn’t it usually our priorities (our health, ideas, our writing, our quality time with ourselves and others) that suffer?

Children go through a phase in their growth when their favourite word is “No”. That’s because “No” is a power word. It gives a definite sense of self. It allows us to separate ourselves from others. And this means saying “No” is an ideal opportunity to rediscover your sense of who you are.

Here’s a list of times when you may have the right to say “No”. You also have a right to say “No”:

-When it’s someone else’s problem
-When it’s something you don’t want to do
-When there’s something else you’d rather do
-When it takes away from your values
-When you need some time to yourself

How many of you read that list and went immediately to the – “Yes, but…” place and thought of all the exceptions (and of course there are many)? The point is the above are radical statements when you are wired to put other people’s needs before your own.

But what happens when you say “Yes” when you’d rather say “No”? Resentment creeps in and sours the relationship. And as an old mentor of mine used to say: “If you aren’t getting mad, then how are you getting even?”

Isn’t it better to choose saying something temporarily uncomfortable over becoming resentful?  And risk showing up in your life, tired, stressed and overwhelmed and blaming others for what you didn’t have the courage to say?

So whether you learn to say “No”more often, or just learn to say “Yes” on your terms, it will release yourself from the burden of constantly chasing approval. Give yourself more permission to do what matters most to you. And by doing this yourself you are modelling the way for others to do the same.

Now, grab a pen and write down the first things that pop into your head in response to these questions:

What in your life do you need to say “No” to?
What stops you from saying “No” to these things?
What are you losing in your own life by saying “Yes” when you need to say “No”?

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” Thomas J. Peters

January is the month for new year resolutions. We’re constantly bombarded with messages about self-improvement and new year disciplines. By mid-month many of us are already demoralized and hoping no one remembers our bold new year promises.

If we really want to make some changes where’s a better place to start? How about first taking an inventory of your achievements? Taking stock of successes is an important counter balance to focusing on what’s missing in your work and life.

And don’t just consider your obvious successes. Think about areas where you made progress by taking smaller steps toward a larger goal. The lessons you learned when things didn’t turn out the way you planned. How you managed to show up and be gracious while getting through difficult times.

Why is this so important? Because if we do take an inventory of achievements and take stock of successes we are more likely to make the change. The truth is most of us need more encouragement than criticism to successfully make that change.

Most of us need success reminders – especially when we are facing a new challenge. It’s easy to lose perspective as we experience the inevitable ups and downs of making change real. To be successful with our resolutions we must find ways to stay motivated and hold the course before the benefits of our new choices show up.

Our success inventory is evidence of our capacity to change. Reviewing and acknowledging our achievements offers us proof that we are indeed growing and learning. It can inspire us to have some faith in ourselves and keep going. It can also take away our excuses for staying stuck.

The  crossover into a new year is a natural place to pause and celebrate success and what’s been achieved so far. Recognizing where we are already successful can build our confidence to make more change. The purpose of doing a success inventory is to support you to achieve more of what you want.

Take some time to reflect upon the questions below.Think about all areas of your life – not just your professional life. Acknowledge where you are succeeding. Recognize your strengths. Celebrate what you’d like more of in your work and life in 2016.

• Thinking about last year, what are you most proud of?
• What were your biggest successes in the personal area of your life and the professional area of your life in 2015?
• What “smaller,” less obvious things are you proud of achieving?
• What have you accomplished that has surprised you?
• Where did you not achieve what you set out to accomplish? What smaller steps have you made towards larger aims, that you need to recognize yourself for?
• Where did you miss the mark or make a mistake that needs recognizing? What did you learn and what are you proud of in how you handled it?
• Entering a new year, what do you need to stop blaming yourself for?
• Who do you need to thank for their contribution to your successes in the past year?
• As you crossover into a new year, what can you not deny you are really good at? How can you lead with your strengths to get more of what you want in 2016?

Today I’ve had a good day and nothing extraordinary has happened. I’m writing this blog on a Wednesday. What does it mean for me to be happy on a Wednesday?

Well, I started the day making time for reflection and some exercise – and a great cup of coffee. I have a scenic and short commute to my office. I approached my office door appreciating my comfortable and creative work space and looking forward to my day.

I spent my day doing work that allows me to use my gifts in a way I can see makes a difference. I am well compensated for my work and I feel appreciated. I work with people I enjoy, trust and respect.

I tackled some tasks I like to avoid head on and I just got them done.  I left my office at a reasonable hour and I felt good about what I accomplished. I paused a few times throughout the day to connect with a few friends and I had some good laughs with my colleagues.

At the end of the day I’m tired but I’m not depleted. My transition from my work self to my home self isn’t jarring. I don’t have to become a completely different person on my way home from work.

There is a harmony between my work and life that works for me. I’m in the right work and living a life that fits for me. This is what I call finding out how to be happy on a Wednesday. How did I find this harmony?

In my 20s I was making career and life choices with an audience in mind. I was more concerned with what my life looked like to this imaginary audience than to my experience of living it. I tried to solve the question of finding my purpose by fulfilling other people’s definitions of success.

It was a shortcut that didn’t deliver satisfying work for me. I spent a lot of time planning vacations and exit plans to get through those Wednesdays. But all of this shifted when I was ready to become honest about what was really important for me to be happy in my work and life.

And then I needed the courage to make choices and decisions in line with what I really valued. And what’s important to me has changed over time. I have to keep looking at the question: “What’s important for me to be satisfied at this stage of my work and life?”

And I need the courage to act on those answers. Sometimes answering this question honestly has made me say yes to an opportunity, sometimes to say no, and sometimes to wait.  What’s true every time is that accepting every choice and decision I make has a tradeoff.

And this can be more humbling and challenging than it sounds, but it is worth it. After all the hoopla of a promotion, the praise or the rush of impressing someone else dies down – here you are again – on a Wednesday.

What makes for a good Wednesday for you? Are you living it?