Tactical Thursday - The key to career success

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Tactical Thursday

What is Tactical Thursday?

Throughout the Courageous Career Programme you have spent time developing a clearer understanding of your Career and Leadership Identity, your Super Skills, your definition of success and your Non-Negotiables. The purpose of Tactical Thursday is to help you stay connected to all of that work.

Tactical Thursday is a focused 60 seconds of your time that you choose to invest, on a weekly basis, in your personal and professional development. It is designed, using best practice in evidence-based psychology, to enhance your career wellbeing and foster your overall professional and personal development. During your 60 second pause you reflect on the week that has passed, focus on the strengths and weaknesses in that week, acknowledge personal and professional victories, and pinpoint areas where improvements can be made.

Sixty seconds is a deliberately small ask, and over time those sixty seconds become one of the most important habits you build as you deepen the skill of working on your career as well as in it.

Why Thursday?

Thursday earns its place for a number of different, and very practical, reasons. First off, Thursday is the day of the week when you know how things have gone over the past seven days. You are close to the weekend, so before the chaos of Friday hits, it is a good time to reflect upon the week that has passed, whilst giving yourself enough time to plan for the week ahead.

It is also a good day of the week to check in on your progress with your Non-Negotiables. At this point in the week you may notice a pattern emerging with your Physical Non-Negotiables that is ultimately impacting your ability to thrive.

You might have binged on Succession and ended up going to bed at 1am, so you are exhausted.

Maybe you are so busy at work that you have not eaten well, and this means your energy levels are depleted.

You may not have moved much this week and your ability to focus is compromised, or you notice that niggly pain in your shoulder, neck or back is bothering you.

None of these things happen overnight. They happen gradually, and Tactical Thursday helps you notice them while they are still small and before they start to compound into something that is more difficult to manage. Small adjustments made at the earliest point of slip are almost always easier than trying to recover after weeks or months of gradual drift.

Pen in hand

As you know, I am a big fan of writing and the multiple benefits that writing provides for our ability to think more deeply and clearly.

For this reason, Tactical Thursday focuses your attention by asking you to write in your favourite notebook, with a pen that you enjoy using. As you grab your pen and notebook, alongside your favourite drink in your favourite mug or glass, use these five questions to guide your thoughts.

1. What went well this past week?

2. What were the challenges?

3. What was in my control?

4. Where can I get help?

5. What is the smallest thing within my control that I can change to make next week a better week?

Keep your answers short. The value of Tactical Thursday comes from the returning, week after week, rather than from any single entry.

Why it works

The decision to incorporate Tactical Thursday into your weekly routine supports you as you become more conscious and engaged in your own career development. In many ways, it puts you in a position of agency over the things that are within your control and shifts your focus away from the things that are outside your control.

Not alone this, by celebrating victories, embracing challenges, understanding your sphere of influence, cultivating your support networks, and embracing incremental progress on a consistent basis, you begin to reset your relationship with your career and notice the small things that, if tweaked now, will ultimately pre-empt future issues.

Over time you will also begin to notice your own patterns. You may discover, for example, that whenever work becomes busy your Physical Non-Negotiables are the first to slip. Those patterns are valuable information, because they tell you where your definition of success is most vulnerable and where a small adjustment now will protect it.

Additionally, using Tactical Thursday as an opportunity to check in on your Non-Negotiables keeps your boundaries in check and preserves your ability to protect your yes, and own your no. This in turn enhances your career wellbeing and your overall sense of wellness.

A habit that stays with you

The Courageous Career Programme will eventually come to an end, and Tactical Thursday does not need to end with it. It is one of the most practical ways to continue working on your career long after the programme has finished. Sixty seconds each week helps you reconnect with your definition of success, protect your Non-Negotiables and continue making career decisions that reflect what matters most during this season of your life.

As always, be kind to yourself, and aim for progress, not perfection.

See you later,

PS - If you would like to hear more about Tactical Thursday, you can listen to my interview with Taragh Loughrey-Grant for RTÉ Lifestyle.

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Tactical Thursday - The key to career success