Maximizing Your Career Potential: The Importance of Self-Reflection and Assessment

How are you feeling today? Are you happy? Frustrated? Feeling a little down? 

Now reframe the question a little. How are you feeling about your career? Are you where you want to be? Do you realize how far you’ve come? 

Taking some time to reflect and assess different aspects of your life is really important! It helps develop some perspective and can give you the time you need to determine your next steps, find solutions to problems, and also just appreciate how well you’re doing overall. 

The practice of self-reflection and assessment — and it is a practice, not a one-time thing — is taking the time to look not just at where you are but how you got there. It’s also giving thought to where “here” is in the greater scheme of things by considering the bigger picture, both of your life and of your career. 

It also involves asking some questions: What do I like about how I approach challenges? What could I do better? Do I give people credit when they deserve it? Am I a good team member? Do I support my colleagues? Do they support me, or do I need to get better at asking for help? 

Taking the time to reflect means you’re giving yourself the space to make changes and improvements to help address problems or stressful situations that have occurred in the past and might happen again. It’s learning how to deal with difficult moments in a way that’s positive and useful rather than shutting down or responding in anger. 

Reflection and self-assessment don’t need to be a big, time-consuming, formal thing. It can be 10 minutes of staring out a window and asking yourself a simple question, like what do I like about my job or what’s my biggest challenge this week. Let your mind wander and see where it goes. If you can relax your brain and let it work out a question or follow an idea, you might be surprised at what you learn! 

The ability to be self-aware and self-possessed, knowing your stress points and how best to deal with them, can add to leadership qualities and build your own self-confidence levels. It can help you come across as calm, cool, and collected during stressful moments because you know you can do whatever is needed. That’s an impressive trait among managers who are looking to promote from within! It’s also going to do wonders for your self-esteem and health, as stress reduction and moments of mindfulness and gratefulness contribute in a big way to overall happiness. 

If your self-reflection and assessment make you realize it’s time for a change, the first step is calling SmartTalent. Our recruiters can help you find a great new job that fits not only your skills but your interests, leading to a new opportunity that will make you happier and more fulfilled. It’s as simple as giving SmartTalent a call to get started!