Ditching the traditional 'working your way up' mantra when approaching your personal or professional brand strategy might feel uncomfortable, but 'aiming high' and embracing failure as a tool for success offers you a refreshing alternative that can give your career brand a significant boost.

Traditional advice often revolves around the steady, incremental ascent to the top - work hard, gain experience, and move up the ladder one rung at a time. While this approach has experience-related value, aiming high consistently outperforms 'working your way up' when it comes to your career-brand strategy and positioning.

If the ambition or goal isn't big enough, you don't need a strategy, but when you set audacious and seemingly unattainable goals, you'll naturally push beyond your comfort zone. This stretch will require innovation, creativity, long shots and a drive to succeed. In contrast, a cautious, step-by-step approach can sometimes lead to complacency, with the focus being on maintaining rather than advancing.

Failure Isn't a Setback: It's One Step Closer to Success

Aiming high means you're more likely to encounter failure, but this isn't a setback, it's one step closer to success. It also presents an invaluable learning opportunity, and by aiming high versus starting at the bottom, you'll inevitably land further along.

By targeting high-impact goals, you'll open doors to opportunities that might not be accessible through a more conservative approach, potentially attracting attention from key industry players, mentors, and potential employers who recognise and appreciate your ambition. Prioritising goals in this way can lead to faster career advancements and unexpected opportunities, but it can also enrich your expertise and ultimately make you a more well-rounded professional.

Your Career, Your Choice: Shape Your Future

Regardless of what you do or what you'd like to be doing, it's your career and, therefore, your choice so don't let any perceived limitations stop you from setting the biggest vision possible for yourself because when it comes to professional success the daring and determined often leave the most lasting impact.

3 Ways to Bring Your Future Closer

1. Explore what future versions of you could exist: Write down everything you could be doing as a career. These don't need to be realistic; it's better if they're not at this stage so that you free up your thinking. If you dreamt of being an astronaut as a kid, add it to the list! Think 5, 10, and 15 years ahead and write it all down in a 'long list'
2. Explore how these future versions make you feel: Revisit your long list and go through each of the possibilities, asking yourself: If this was my reality, and I was doing [insert future version of you], how would it make me feel?
3. Identify the one thing that excites you most: If you're going to apply strategy, it may as well be to get you somewhere you want to be! Out of all your options and ideas, which of those future versions excites, energises and challenges you most... it has to feel slightly (or a lot!) out of reach. The most exciting future will be 'the one thing' you focus on - your big ambition - and this is where you can start to think strategically about how you position yourself to close the gap between where you are today and that future version of you.

Final Thoughts: Your Career, Your Future

Your career is exactly that. Yours. It's a personal journey, and when you take time to explore future possibilities, understand your feelings, and pinpoint what genuinely excites you (even if it feels a bit scary!), you'll be choosing a rewarding path.

There are no guarantees you'll get there, nor that it'll be easy, and not everyone beats the odds. Giving it a go is the only way to stand a chance of getting there. So, face the challenges head-on, learn from any setbacks, and grab each opportunity that shows up.

Here's to your future success. We can't wait to meet the future you!

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