Do you have a career goal?

Who can answer ''no'' to this question without embarrassment?

• We see not having a career goal as a weakness.
• Admitting it can undermine our confidence.
• The reality is that very few people have any set aim in mind.
• It's a myth we're fed in school that we must have a career goal.
• When everyone worked on farms, career goals were simple.
• Today, it's all too complex.
• Even organizations find it hard to form a long term strategy.
• Now it's emergent strategy = ''We'll figure it out as we go.''
• There's nothing to feel guilty about. Being entrepreneurial means adjusting quickly to opportunities as they arise.
• The world is changing too quickly for long term plans.
• Who could plan a holiday somewhere that changes by the minute?
• It's respectable to be entrepreneurial.
• This is organizational learning - learn from mistakes as you go.
• Does this mean that no form of career planning is possible at all?
• No, focus on the ''how'' rather than the ''what.
• Developing a career goal can be compared to house hunting. When you start shopping for a new house, you can set out a list of criteria, but once you start looking at houses you might change your mind. You see features you like or don't like that you hadn't thought of in advance. Similarly, we can't make a final decision on a new career until we start doing this sort of ''window shopping''.
• Some decisions have to be discovered through action rather than made in advance.