what are some difficulties you encounter in your career path?

One of the main things that I realized as I traversed my career is that what I thought about as a career goal changed over time, as I gained perspective, tenure, and experience in whatever I was doing.  That occurred in both my part time work through high school and college to current.  The bar is always being raised, by yourself (hopefully) or by others, as to what is expected, and what you (or they) think you can do.  If you always take the position that today you will be better than  yesterday, you will be on your way.

A realization I came to is that while you may find mentors, bosses, and even coworkers that are invested in helping you in your career, you are the owner of it, and where you go and what you do to advance in your career is probably about 70% up to you.  

The reason I said that is that not realizing that your are the steward of your career is often an obstacle to people realizing their full potential.  When you realize that you are the "captain of the ship", so to speak, you don't wait for others to push you toward opportunities- you look for those opportunities and take advantage of them.

Obstacles and difficulties then become learning experiences; you look at them as a "problem to solve" versus something that is holding you back.    Obstacles like not having enough resources, having competing objectives with other individuals/teams, having coworkers that are not as interested in success as you are, or having coworkers even working against your objectives regularly happen.  The key is to look at each of those as learning experiences, review how you handled each situation, think of ways you could have handled the difficulty differently, and prepare for the next time you may encounter it.  You will not always get what you want, you will encounter setbacks, you will deal with unreasonable people, and you will at some point not get the position you believe you deserve or have earned.  But if you focus on learning from each situation, you will be better able to handle it in the future when the opportunity comes up.  No one ever has 100% success in anything; but if you choose to be positive and learn from difficulties and set backs, you will learn to handle situations better in the future and position yourself for success.

The biggest challenge for me has been to stay motivated while dealing with administrative tasks. Even the most fun and interesting career involves some bureaucracy and the extra time and effort it takes can burn you out. But if you keep your eyes on what you like about your job and the benefits you bring to your clients, you can feel happy and rewarded. Also, a challenge with any career is finding the team that "clicks" with you and making sure they stay with the same employer. This is an aspect of work that is critical because we all need people to collaborate with and learn from even if we love everything about the job itself. I would suggest thinking about what you like most about your work and what you can change to make it even better. Then, look for like-minded people to bring to your team!

I've always found that I get myself in a trap when I find myself in the "shoulds" and "oughts" thinking pattern. "I should be..." "I ought to be..." There is so much pressure - between society, our peers, our family, and ourselves that create these expectations that might not always sit true with what we really want or need.

Career is a huge part of life. It helps us with our basic needs and if we are lucky, provides us with a sense of purpose and meaning. But as we grow, what that looks like changes, and so then does the "fit" of the job itself. These means we have to be adaptable and try new things. We have to see our challenges as opportunities and see every event, person we meet, class, or experience/interaction as an opportunity to learn more about ourself and the possibility of our career. Maybe we think we are in a job that is the "right fit" for us but we go to an event and meet someone who has an amazing job. We learn how they got there and maybe even shadow them one day or ask them if we can volunteer there.

As someone who can find change and what feels like rejection, very difficult, as I age, I am learning that those moments are also vital to learning more about myself and often lead me to another thing that I never would have found if I had gotten the job or the change had not occurred. If you can build a social network of people who care about you, and are there to support you with whatever you choose, it will make those changes easier. But there is no doubt, this can be tiring, difficult, and make us question ourselves. We just have to keep going, advocate for ourselves, and do our best to also speak up when we see injustice in the systems that perpetuate barriers to our success.

Also, always ask for help. Whether that's a teacher, career counselor, mentor, or friend - people like to help and you don't have to be alone in this process. I learned that asking questions and asking for help have made this journey easier than if I had tried to do it alone.

Hi Manuel

John has given you some excellent insight and I agree wholeheartedly with his comments. Difficulties cannot always be predicted and nor do you want them to be because it can instill "preconceived" notions that inevitably come true. It is part of your journey as you learn from each difficulty that you encounter. And it is also part of your story . . . how you overcame the difficulty and what it did for your journey. Look at each difficulty as just another challenge that you have the ability to overcome. Put and keep your mind in the right place and you will be able to manage anything that comes your way. Best of luck on your journey.

Hi Manuel,

I agree with the aforementioned advice. One difficulty that took me a while to realize was that I had set a career goal for myself and over time my desires changed and the original goal was no longer what I wanted, but I was still forcing myself to try and achieve it. It created so much stress and anxiety for me as I was spending many hours trying to excel at tasks that I was not interested in. Then I realized that I wanted something different and the weight has been lifted off of my shoulders as I am able to refocus my energy on what my new goal is and it is more rewarding. Continuing to challenge yourself and set new goals is great, but you should also take time to internally consider if the path you are on is still what you want and adjust as you progress through your career and life. Once you set it path, it can be changed, you are not locked in.

Best of luck.