Milestones. They’re important for setting and measuring goals. Birthdays are important milestones. Today, it’s my 62nd birthday. It’s also exactly the 30th anniversary of an important milestone in my professional career.
🎂 It was on my 32nd birthday that I realized that I was in the wrong career and the wrong workplace.
On November 2, 1994, I made a commitment to myself to define success on my own terms and pursue my goal of becoming a Vice-President, Marketing with all the energy that I could muster.
Fast forward to today. I never achieved my goal of becoming a Vice-President, Marketing. The step to that goal was within reach, but was quickly taken away, through restructuring and downsizing. Disappointed and determined, I kept pursuing that goal. After many interviews and 3-year stint in another organization, I finally realized that I had already fulfilled the mandate of Vice-President, Marketing.
❓ The question was NOT “What’s next?”
I realized that my goal was labelled with a job title, not an intention.
⁉️ The question that HAD TO BE ANSWERED was “What’s the intention/motivation behind my goal?”
“What’s the intention/motivation behind my goal?”
I kept coming back to the intention to make a difference in the world, by using my training in business and marketing, by leveraging my experience in health, finance and the social sectors.
Following my intention, my next role was as CEO of a nonprofit organization, a position that gave me the greatest satisfaction in my career.
Thirty years later, in retrospect, I want to share these takeaways with my network:
⬆️ 💡 1. Live without regrets. Learn from every professional experience. When a job doesn’t meet your expectations or if you’ve concluded that you’re in the wrong career, rather than having regrets, decide to take the best you can and learn from it.
Every experience, even when I was in the wrong career and wrong workplace on my 32nd birthday, contributed to my ability to fulfil the responsibilities in the CEO role.
➡️ 2. Set goals and milestones but leave goals open ended. Sometimes our goals are too limiting and won’t bring out the best in us and the best that we can offer the world.
Who knew that my greatest professional fulfilment would come from a role that would push me beyond the limits of my labeled goal of Vice-President?
💡 3. Live intentionally. The greatest fulfilment in life comes from having a strong sense of purpose that is meaningful to you and to your world.
Looking back, I am grateful for the milestones and checkpoints in my professional journey. I’ve had to course-correct to get back on track with my intentions that have motivated me to pursue my goals.
See the BIG picture. Focus on what’s important.
theBIGpicture Camille 