Hey friends,
Hope you had a good weekend.
Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction.
1 Doodle
A few months ago, I finally scheduled a one-on-one meeting with a mentor at work. There was only one person between him and the CEO, so I assumed he might decline my request. But he didn’t.
My main goal was to gain a clearer vision for my career, not to identify specific milestones, but to understand who I want to become.
This week, I started thinking about what happens when we have no vision for our careers, and I tried to capture the idea visually. I realized that vision is like the target square on a basketball backboard. It does not take the shot for you, but it gives you something clear to aim for.
1 Do
Most companies offer some form of mentorship program. This week, find a mentor and use the conversation to clarify your career vision.
1 Direction
Having different mentors at different levels, some at the same grade as you and others going higher (as much as the mentorship program offers), can broaden your perspective.
When I talk to higher-level mentors, I ask many questions to put myself in their shoes and see if this is who I want to be, viewing the work from their perspective. Once I do that, I try to explain what I enjoy doing at work (and what tasks are necessary, but not my favorite) and let them picture a future based on those.
I won't immediately adopt that as my vision. I'm trying to let that mentor envision something now and see if it's interesting to me. I always have the chance to have as many mentors as I want, see what drawn picture can be tweaked by me, and have it become my future version.
I usually don't ask any questions where the answer is just yes or no. I want them to talk more, which allows me to understand them better during the 1-hour meeting.
That’s all for this week.
Warmly,
- Ehsan /a-🌞/
P.S. If this newsletter made you think of someone, feel free to forward it to them. They can read all past newsletters here and subscribe if they like.
P.P.S. I recently made a video on How to Stop Under Delivering at Work. You can watch it here.
P.P.P.S. Feel free to reply and say hi. I always enjoy hearing from readers.
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