The clarity of your career direction is key for your success whether you in a leadership position, in a business development role or if you are looking for a new job. It is actually particularly important if you are looking for a new job or to start on a new career path.

How do you find clarity of a career direction?

What I have found works with my clients is to for us look at where the intersection of these three circles come together – your passion, your talent and where these overlap with a market need or a need in society. Where is there a need in the world for what you offer?

What are you good at that people have seen you do and about which you can tell stories? One way I help my clients wake up with clarity to their career direction is to get them to write their success stories. Look at what are you good at that you love to do and do well. With accomplishment stories, you can talk about these things and get known and hired for them.

So I challenge you to write 10 success stories. What have been your favorite accomplishments? If these are your favorite, then by definition these are what you love to do and that you are good at. And these will also clue you in to where there is a need in the world.

An accomplishment story has three parts:

1. What goals were set? What where the challenges that needed to be overcome?

2. What was the process? What were the steps that you took? You don’t have to write a lot about that. People are more interested in results but they like to know that you have a process and thank you know what you are doing.

3. What was the result? What was the outcome of the accomplishment story you wrote about?

Your accomplishment stories probably end with exciting results. But you can also write a story where the result didn’t hit the goal. Sometimes goals are set arbitrarily. I have had clients who have discovered great results even though the goals that were set in the beginning weren’t met. Listen to the audio recording of this blog post for more on that story.

You may find that failures and setbacks can lead to good stories if journey challenged you and your process represents you well.

All these are breadcrumbs on the trail of your career path.

Next week we will take that clarity and use it towards a rebranding of yourself so that you are communicating your value and meeting a need in the world. This makes you employable.

So what about you? How many accomplishment stories will you write this week to clarify your career direction.