Career Visualization: The Journey of Personal and Professional Growth

Have you ever audibly professed the dream job or position you want to secure? Or maybe you've shared your aspirations with family and friends the impact you wish to have on your local community. No matter the magnitude of the dream and its reach, I'm reminded by life that it's not how long it takes you to achieve the goal, it's the commitment to achieve the goal that says it all. 

There is a conscious road map that must be outlined according to the aspirational vision in that commitment. Then as we walk according to the roadmap, with a belief in the vision and moving toward the goal, opportunities and responsibilities present themself that get us that much closer to the achievement. We also develop a heightened awareness of our progress and where the goal may need to be re-calibrated to improve fruition. The challenge in this process is the inevitable periods of day-to-day distractions and pesky self-doubt. Through these challenges, it becomes imperative to pause and reassess why the goal has been deeply important. Otherwise, distractions will forever prove a stumbling block at risk of permanently derailing completion of the journey toward the goal.  

It is my intention that this article will lend perspective to overcoming self-doubt in your career. I want to inspire in you a commitment to set personal and professional goals in a way that they become your road map. This will empower you to keep focused on your purpose by setting intentions for you to show up in your personal and professional commitments with clarity and focus. 

Humble Beginnings

I consider myself a bonafide connector; I connect people, places, and ideas together for a greater good. And to know me now is to know a confident, decisive company leader with a clear path to success and a clear focus of her purpose. But before I could become her, I was a young, misguided professional. It wasn't long before I received feedback from upper management.

You need to work on your communication skills.

You need to improve your style of professional dress. 

You're not ready for leadership.

At times, I was able to take the notes in stride. But in other moments, it was demoralizing and left me wondering if I was in the right place at all. The journey from a misguided professional to accomplished Chief Marketing Officer and marketing consultant wasn't a straight path, but it was a path I had to take with intention.

I pivoted my perspective and the narrative I was telling myself. Instead of internalizing the feedback as the ultimate source of truth, I began to see my early failures as the ultimate launching pad. A commitment to myself was ignited and fueled a new-found determination within me. I realized that I would exceed every professional development goal in the moments to follow because I BELIEVED I could. And to achieve the success I had envisioned for myself, I had to reclaim my power.

A Promise to Myself

In the spirit of being mindful of how we show up for our teams, our families, and even for the outside world; I want to share with you a promise I made to myself at 28 years old. I was at a crossroads in a job where I didn't believe I was being fully utilized. While I could have gotten caught up in the undertow of negativity and despair, I was forever changed by this Maya Angelou quote. 

"If you don't like your situation, change. If you can't change your situation, change your attitude." 

This quote was pivotal in my decision to be accountable in approaching my life and career. At this point, I recalled an old resume I had designed soon after graduating college and was soon prompted to go down memory lane.

When I started college I had a dream of being a TV news reporter. But in my junior year, I contemplated switching my major to marketing and advertising. A team's development of print advertising campaigns and TV/radio commercials resonated with me for the creativity and intentional storytelling throughout a promotion. To gauge how serious I was about changing my major, I enrolled in a Principles of Advertising course in my spring semester. (Spoiler alert! I couldn't get my head past not finishing what I started. So, I stayed the course and earned my degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Drake University.) 

But here's what couldn't be denied. A seed was planted when I was contemplating changing my major and took the class. That seed would soon germinate after giving it a go at pursuing a career in broadcasting. In staying the course equipped with my journalism pursuits, I secured an internship with the local NBC affiliate my junior and senior college years. Four months before graduation, I earned an entry-level role as a camera operator during live broadcasts — with hopes of working my way up to news reporter. 

But within a matter of months after getting hired, I began to lose vision. I lost sight of my "what's next" and quickly watched self-doubt creep in and take residence. My confidence was lacking and I no longer felt the passion to follow the station protocols for advancement. Here I could not tap into opportunities to grow, and I soon found myself losing my go-getter attitude. Meanwhile, I watched my peers quickly advancing to weekend reporter and weekend associate producer. 

There was something about the broadcast news structure that wasn't resonating with me any longer. Admittedly, I was initially drawn to the glamour of being in front of the camera. But then I fell in love with the art of broadcast storytelling; however, it was the news cycle's pace and the sensational tone of the stories that brought on a shift for me. I couldn't put my finger on what specifically had shifted in my attitude, but the news station leadership and my colleagues took notice.

Coincidentally, at the time of this shift in my passion for my career, a larger news outlet soon bought the station. And with the buyout came layoffs. Just four months after college graduation, when I thought I'd successfully landed my job in my area of study, I was one of the last five hired who would become one of the first ones fired.

Being laid off from my first job after college was such a blow to the dream I had planned for my life that I chose to believe it was devastating. For the four years of my college career, I convinced myself to keep committed to this dream only to watch it unravel within 120 days after graduation.

But the shock reignited in me a tenacity to charge forward and redefine my career goal. I allowed myself a few days to grieve the loss. Then I recalibrated my passion for storytelling and determined that I wanted to pursue a career leading large-scale marketing campaigns that entailed video, brochures, promotions, etc. I discovered that my tenacity was so ingrained in my character that it would prove to be what would guide me in visualizing a career in advertising and marketing after all.

Within less than two years, at an all-knowing age of 24, I would work for an advertising agency that would propel me into my 22-year career in marketing.

In hindsight, it was one of my preliminary attempts at career visualization; a constant belief that would hold my eyes on the prize of personal and professional aspiration. Now, I want to pause and clarify that this is not a message about how to persevere with narcissism. I believe in the power of a shared vision in pursuit of a shared team goal. I also believe if we're not fulfilled in our life's dreams — or our acceptance — then we'll struggle to be fully present with others in our life.  

Projecting My Voice

Throughout my personal and professional development growth, I've discovered a new power in my voice. An honoring of my road map vision by sharing with friends, family, colleagues, and mentors my eagerness to develop new skills, grow in my leadership journey, and succeed in my career. 

By sharing my vision, I learned to be ready to advocate for myself thanks to one of my professional mentors and former boss, Rick Roth. He would teach me in my early thirties the value of talking about my work and contributions to the company whenever the opportunity arises. 

In Rick's words, "Always keep 2-3 of your projects top of mind for that moment when you encounter a company executive who in passing asks, 'How are you?', then you can share with them an update on any of your 2-3 projects. You're not going to simply say, "Fine," and transition to talking about the weather. You're going to share an enthusiasm about what you're proud to be working on; and that executive is going to remember you from that point forward." 

Rick introduced me to being intentional about promoting myself as a company asset.  

There began the journey where I advocated for myself in performance reviews, detailing my professional growth aspirations in a roadmap fashion – with my supervisor's support to help connect me with the resources and executive sponsors to assist me in navigating my career. Ultimately, I found myself feeling empowered to stand tall. 

But you know when people compliment you on your accomplishments, your determination and drive, and then imposter syndrome sets in. Having you question yourself about whether or not you deserve what you've achieved. Well, I call the antitheses to imposter syndrome being empowered to stand tall. 

So when you hear yourself or someone appearing to grapple with imposter syndrome, you tell them, "Girl, you stand tall in your glory! Look what you've done!" And tell them that you're cheering for them.

Discovering My Direction

My greatest discovery was learning that I have a responsibility and a calling to be of service to others aspiring to grow in their career, of service to the individuals I lead on my team, and to my community. I'm always thinking about how I can help support someone in getting to where they want to go in their career. You see, the legacy I want to leave is that I helped people get that much closer to their dreams.

In this regard, my roadmap remains clear:

• Responsibility to be of service
• Listening with intent to serve
• Value, passion, and purpose in alignment

So I leave you with this. I'm going to use a should reference:

We should speak to people as if all we see is their potential. Not everyone gets someone like that in their life. Let's be that someone who says:

• Let me help you build your communication skills.
• Let's talk about ways to enhance and elevate your individual style in your professional dress to assist in your career advancement.
• How can I support you in becoming a future leader?

We have two choices in the way we show up: we can be that leader who inspires people to prove us wrong because we said they couldn't rise to some arbitrary standard. We can also be a leader who inspires people to grow because you believed they could be anything they choose to be.

From working within the advertising industry to the real estate industry, and presently in the nonprofit sector. From a marketing coordinator to the Chief Marketing Officer for Mile High United Way. Visualizing my career (with the occasional updates) has helped me work my way toward professional advancement.

And through each iteration of my career, when I would begin to question my direction or evaluate what was missing, I would reassess my focus to not get knocked off course. And what would prove most fulfilling is how my tenacious spirit would lead me to a passion for civic leadership. Whenever I questioned whether I was being fully utilized in my work, being of service to community boards and mentoring organizations would rejuvenate me. I would apply my value to my community engagement roles.

And in my periodic moments of self-doubt, I choose to recall my trajectory shift because those moments continue to creep in. The Maya Angelou quote reminds me that if I don't like my situation, then change it. And if I can't change my situation, then that means I need to change my attitude. It's that accountability that fuels my tenacity and empowers me to remain focused on my end goal and stay the course on my roadmap.   

 Tasha L. Jones 

NOTE: Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.