Ready For A Career Upgrade? Tidy Up Your Professional Life First

 This article was originally published on Forbes.com - click here to access

Cleanliness, simplicity, the absence of clutter, everything has its place: Those are all qualities of a well-organized physical space. Why does it feel good to be in a clean, well-organized space? Part of its magic is that it allows us to focus on the important things.

But what about our professional lives? If you were asked right now, “How is your professional life?” would you be able to use words such as alignment, clarity, certainty, intentionality and purposefulness?

Currently, there is a lot in the news about the phenomenon of the “Great Resignation,” the opportunities it may bring to the individuals wanting to make a career pivot as well as the driving forces behind so many people thinking of or making a career change. What’s important to remember is that as we switch companies, jobs and careers, the one constant remains — we bring ourselves everywhere we go, whether we realize it or not.

It is important from time to time to take stock of where we are professionally, to re-establish and reconfirm what is important to us and why it is important (or to do it for the first time, if you are just entering the workforce). 

Will you know if an opportunity knocks on your door whether this is something you want or something you “should” want? Will you be aware of what’s important to you in your next professional move? Will you bring the best version of yourself to that new opportunity?

There is a way to gain a feeling of tidiness and clarity as you take yourself to the next level of your career development. Let me introduce you to the professional organization model I call “O.C.C.A.,” which stands for organize, connect, create and act. The questions are meant to prompt deep reflection and, ultimately, action.

Organize

• Yourself

Do you have a vision for what your “ideal” professional life looks like? Perhaps you have just the beginnings of that vision. Time to polish it up and put it down on paper.

Take stock of your key professional artifacts. These may include your résumé, professional portfolio (e.g., your publications), your social platforms (LinkedIn profile), your website, etc.

• Your Time

How are you using your time currently? If you are truly honest with yourself, are you wasting a lot of it? Learn how to make a professional to-do list (not a wish list).

• Your Space

Do you have physical space where you can think and work? Is it organized appropriately? What tweaks can you make to transform it into an inviting space for creating, writing, thinking, etc.?

• Your Image

Do your outward appearance and internal self-image help or hinder your success? Give them some thought, and take steps accordingly.

• Your Support And Resources

What are you reading these days? What have you learned recently that made an impact on your line of thinking?

Who is on the board of your professional development advisors?

Who is giving you concrete and consistent feedback with candor and caring?

How are you taking care of yourself and paying attention to the state of your well-being?

Connect

• Connect with the world.

Do you know people who are highly successful in your field? How do they do it? How can you meet them and learn from them?

Recognize that knowing people in (and out of) your field and knowing about them is critical to your success.

• Use LinkedIn and your online presence wisely.

What will come up when someone googles your name? Try it, and see if the results correlate with your intentions.

Are you on LinkedIn? Do you maximize your presence there?

Do you have a website? Other online, social media presence? What story would someone conjure up about you if they were able to see all of it?

Create

• Opportunities

Think about the people who are important to you (professionally and personally). What can you do to be helpful to them? What opportunities can you create for them? It seems counterintuitive, but shifting focus away from your own needs and toward helping others can — and often does — lead to new opportunities.

• Visibility

Are you maximizing each professional event (virtual or in person) as an opportunity to meet new people?

• Positive Experiences

Are you following up and following through on your promises?

What would the last person you interacted with professionally say about you?

Act

You haven’t really decided until you take action. Actions always speak louder than words. What will you do today to tidy up your professional life and take it to the next level?

• Update your LinkedIn profile?

• Allow yourself to imagine what “ideal” looks like?

• Find a career advisor or a coach?

• Organize your professional image?

• Ask for feedback?

It may also be helpful to add an “R,” which stands for "repeat," at the end of O.C.C.A., because this process is ongoing and should be repeated, hence O.C.C.A.R.

Repeat

Schedule a periodic check-in and ask yourself how you are doing personally and professionally.

• What, if anything, feels disorganized in your professional life?

• Is there anything that you’ve recently read or learned about that you want to dig deeper into?

• With whom do you want to connect more, and how?

• What practical actions can you take so that your future self will thank you?

We don’t have much control of external forces, but we do have control of our own creativity, imagination and thinking and the way we interact with the external world and react to the circumstances of our lives. There is value in tidying up your professional life as a way to exercise your own sense of agency and create clarity of focus in the sea of uncertainty and potential opportunity.