(143d) Seeing and Taking Forks in the Road

Forks in the road are not obvious to someone driving at 100 mph and can be missed easily. The aggressive driver must therefore have heightened awareness of surroundings and signage to plan ahead and make appropriate navigational decisions. And so it is with a career. It is a fast journey with many forks in the road, forks that may take you to faster highways or dead ends, or forks that can avoid you staying on a highway that peters off into pasture. Awareness of your surroundings and of yourself is therefore key in making decisions on which fork to take. Self-awareness can be obtained through people, tools, visual and auditory acuteness, and feedback requests. Awareness of your surroundings can be obtained internally through office communications, budgetary decisions and the like, and externally through publications. Ultimately these signs must be internalized, and analyzed and then from this new knowledge new opportunities can be defined and envisioned. As with a road trip, these inputs and visions can help you create a roadmap for your career and ensure that once in a while you consider and sometimes take new forks in the road towards further career growth.