Step 1: Identify the Problem

For some time now I have been working hard in my spare time to try to advance my career to the next level by trying to continually learn. So far I haven't committed to any additional or new work outside of my current job since I already feel over committed with some of my other commitments. But for the past two weeks, I have been really struggling to fill out a self appraisal which is needed for our annual corporate reviews. It's not that I am having trouble evaluating myself; the problem is that I am so underwhelmed in what I have done so far in my brief career that I am struggling to judge myself in the context of my very limited professional opportunities instead of my lofty expectations.

So in order to "Get Things Done" and also to serve as a reminder of how to keep myself professionally satisfied, here is a short list of things that need to happen soon to help me meet my professional expectations.

1) Setting short and long term goals
Individually, I need to gain a sense of direction of what I want to accomplish. Long term goals will give me that sense of direction and short term goals will help get me going to gain some inertia towards those goals.

Orson Welles said, "Always have a vision. Why spend your life making other people's dreams?" That quote has really hit home for me. I need to discover my employer's short and long term goals for me and make sure that they match up with mine or help me accomplish them.

2) Gaining more robust and diverse development experience
This may seem pretty obvious, but in order to get better, I need to start and continue to develop beyond my current abilities and in different domains.

3) Forcing change or progress
In my professional career up until this point, I have waited or asked politely for my work to move towards what I have been interested in doing. So far, I have had minimal success. Going forward, I will need to ensure that some how I have work that will help me accomplish my goals instead of waiting for it to fall in my lap.

4) Shifting priorities and mindset
In order to "force change or progress" towards my goals, my career and work will need to become a higher priority than it is today. Exactly how high? I'm not sure, but right now it seems that it will need to be high enough to start putting my wants and needs before others (in the workplace).

So, what now? Well, a 1000 mile journey starts with 1 step (or "step 1").