No one – your company, your boss or the human resource department will care about your career as you do. Therefore, to reach your career aspirations you must actively manage it on your own. Here are some suggestions to set you off on the right course.

Keep daily record: At the end of each day make note of at least one accomplishment mentioning its significance. You cannot expect to have big achievements to your credit every day but even small wins count. The basic idea of writing down accomplishments is to get an idea of the value you add to your company. When you identify the significance of the work you do, for example, how you increased productivity, reduced costs or met milestones, you can be ready with specific examples to be presented during performance reviews. Increasing visibility for your work among peers and superiors is the first step that provides the perfect launching pad for your career to take off.

Update resume: Continue adding your latest accomplishments to the basic content in your resume. Your list of daily accomplishments helps you do this easily. You can also use this data to customise your resume to match the specific requirements of any good job opening that you come across. You can choose relevant points that make you a better fit for the job. Citing specific examples adds weight to your credentials.

Professional certification: It is highly beneficial to join any professional body in your area of operations. Acquiring professional certifications adds to your expertise and at the same time helps you keep pace with the latest developments taking place in your field. You also get an excellent opportunity to associate with successful professionals in your domain, seek their advice, learn about available opportunities and also understand how to face challenges and uncertainties.

Coach yourself: As you grow in your profession, you have to continuously adapt yourself to new roles. Needless to say, to become a better performer, you must make necessary changes to your behaviour, attitude and approach towards work. Even an external indication such as feedback from your boss might point towards a need for personal change. But on most occasions, you don’t know what exactly to change. In such situations it is good if you can find a mentor who can guide you appropriately but when this is not possible even self-coaching would do.

Self-coaching requires you to honestly make a list of what exactly is going wrong in situations that you know you cannot handle very well. For example you identify a need to improve your style of communication. Note down what happens when you communicate.

For example if you are too short tempered, write down the consequences of your behaviour say, your shouting at subordinates upsets them and they mess up things further. Then create your own goals to change your behaviour. You cannot control your anger overnight but you can target not to flare up more than once during the day. Remember to reward yourself everytime you succeed at controlling your behaviour.

Overcome setbacks: In an uncertain world things will not happen according to your expectations. You must accept that setbacks are inevitable but try not to get overpowered by them. You can maintain your self-confidence by rating your progress on a scale of 0 to 10. This way you know you have at least made some progress though you still have a long way to go. When you acknowledge your successes, it provides you the motivation to move forward.

To mould your career the way you want you must focus on doing certain things. Firstly, you must know your strengths and weaknesses well. Always promote your strengths and make sincere efforts to overcome weaknesses. But more importantly you must develop the tenacity necessary to move ahead in spite of stumbling blocks being present at every turn in your journey.