Your Guide to a Well-Designed Corporate Life: Module One

A personal improvement plan created to support big career moves.

The reason why we want a job promotion or a new career is to feel better. Feel better about how we contribute, how our work is appreciated, and how we are acknowledged or rewarded for our time and effort spent.

In the many job moves we've made and coaching others through their own, we realized a secret. If you can get yourself into that feel better place by taking the thoughts in your mind and placing them on paper, you gain clarity, quickly identifying what you want for your future. This identification leads to new opportunities when you know what you are going after. This simple act makes all the difference.

Your Guide to a Well-Designed Corporate Life

In module one, we focus on reflecting and creating a vision, inspiration, and creating a plan.

In module two, we will deep dive into the concepts of finding expanders (people doing this work today) and loads about how to build relationships that create a network.

In module three, we will explore celebrating and sharing accomplishments - presentations, coffees, progressive resumes, interviews, demos, and more ideas to set you up for ongoing success.

Module One Slides

In this, our first module on crafting a well-designed corporate life, we are going to dive deep into your brilliance. You will learn how to look at how you contribute today in a different light and set a firm foundation for growing into who you will become. Take your time, and you may want to revisit module one exercise multiple times. We encourage you to do what feels useful to you.

In the many job moves we've made and coaching others through their own, we realized a secret. If you can get yourself into that feel better place by taking the thoughts in your mind and placing them on paper, you gain clarity, quickly identifying what you want for your future. This identification leads to new opportunities when you know what you are going after. This simple act makes all the difference.

According to the work of neuroscientist, Dr. Joe Dispenza, when we choose thoughts to trigger our neuropeptides before circumstances change, our experience instantaneously shifts. We being to attract experiences of a similar frequency with less or no action.

“I choose to feel_____ and thus, create ____.”

The personal improvement plan workbook is broken up into three specific sections - reflect and create a vision, inspiration and make a plan and share.

Example: the pivot. Let’s say that under ‘in the last six months, I’m most proud of’ you capture every detail about how you killed a new project, writing down how it felt and why you are proud of yourself. Maybe during the project, your boss told you to pivot, and that didn’t feel super great, reflect on this, and flip it. Maybe that pivot was you being brave enough to ask for feedback on the project, or perhaps you uncovered a detail that needed to be addressed – don’t spend your time focused on what didn’t go well – flip it into a positive! So often we use the words but or however, which takes us out of that positive vibe, use this space to own your contribution, don’t give that power away!

In step two, inspiration, you will begin to think about how relationships and network connections (in person or virtual) provide unique opportunities to observe or talk to others doing something the same or similar to what you would like to do. For Brooke, this meant going out to blogs and contacting the author for a list of recommendations for additional studying or trying out multiple podcasts to find insights and connections. You can also search on LinkedIn, ask peers or friends, or members of church or organizations such as young professional groups for recommendations. We will explore more about this topic in module two, so if it feels hard right now, go easy on yourself and know more assistance is coming!

The last section in step #2 is to give yourself permission. We often forget to give ourselves permission to explore or dream or connect. Write it down to declare and encourage! For example, maybe you are in a new city and don’t have a lot of connections, but want to build up your network, yet that feels hard. You can give yourself permission to reach out on LinkedIn to people doing the job you want and set up a coffee. That act of just telling yourself it is okay to do that can help boost your confidence!

Three reasons why this step is a big one for your growth:

#1: The act of celebrating changes your physiology and strengthens your psychology

#2: Celebrating with colleagues and your boss tightens your network

#3: Your celebrations position you to attract more success

Module One: Bonus Content

Three big mistakes people make when planning their future corporate role and how you can avoid them.

1. Only looking up.

   We know very few people that succeed in strictly vertical paths. When thinking about your future path, take care to look across, don’t worry about the title. Often times lateral moves (manager to manager title, director to director title) gives you more of a lift because you are learning, growing and contributing in new and different ways to the organization.

2. Not going deep.

   By the time you have been in the corporate world for 10+ years, you’ve likely accomplished a lot in different areas. This experience is your greatest strength to the organization. At the beginning being jack of all trades may give you opportunities to learn a lot, but as you begin to have exposure we encourage you to choose a few different areas to go deep into. Maybe this is really understanding Google Analytics or perhaps it is becoming an excel wizard - find something that you really enjoy.

3. The importance of curiosity.

   Curiosity takes your mind from passive to active, it ignites passion and brings diversity. Asking questions, reading or studying a variety of topics is critical to growth in a corporate role.