How to avoid a common career appraisal mistake

by Glenford Smith, career writer

For most persons, the end of another year usually signals the occasion for introspection. It is often when many people assess their progress in light of their broader career and life goals.

They use the results of this appraisal process as the basis for deciding to change jobs, go back to school, or try a new approach to finding or creating a job.

As you conduct your personal year in review however, there is a common mistake to avoid. It is to judge your progress only in terms of how far you may have fallen from the ideals you set yourself at the start of the year.

For instance, you may have set out to earn a million dollars in net sales in your start-up business but did only $600,000. So you may naturally focus on the four hundred thousand you failed to make.

Or you may have set a target to get a steady job but instead only got a few brief, low-paying temporary engagements. You may also have done several interviews, none of which was successful. The temptation might be to focus on what didn't happen for you.

You may have made great plans for buying a house or car, or for going back to school, and instead lost your job through redundancy. This may result in you feeling disappointed and wondering, why me?

In evaluating your year, it is crucial to choose your frame of reference carefully. Understand that even with the best of intentions, it is likely that there will be a gap between the ideals you had and your actual achievements.

If you use the ideal - what you set out to achieve - as your reference, this may cause you to feel frustrated at what you didn't accomplish.

A much more empowering paradigm to adopt is to assess your year in terms of what you actually achieved. So you didn't make a million dollars as planned, but celebrate that fact the you did achieve $600,000.

You were laid off and won't get to buy the house or car, or return to school. However, you can be thankful for the knowledge and experience you gained, the friends you made, and the freedom you now have to pursue your ideal career or spend some time with your family.

Unstoppable mindset

What about the fact that you tried your best and didn't land a permanent job? To answer you, let me remind you of the great American inventor Thomas Edison. In his book, The Law of Success, Napoleon Hill reported that Edison, whom he knew personally, made 10,000 attempts before he successfully invented the incandescent light bulb.

When asked by a journalist how he could have persisted through so many failures, Edison responded that he had not failed once. Instead, he explained, he had found thousands of ways how not to invent the light bulb.

In other words, he saw every 'failed' attempt as one step which led him closer to his goal, rather than merely another frustrating failure. Why not adopt this unstoppable mindset too?

Glenford Smith is a motivational speaker and success strategist. Email glenfordsmith@yahoo.com