Career Planning
Career planning is not like party planning. It doesn't just happen and then it's over. You have to keep doing it.
You should aim to do one career-building task every week. A career-builder can be furthering your skills, increasing your professional network, learning more about your industry, or talking to someone else about your future possibilities.
Sometimes your weekly career-builder is also something you need to do for your job. For example, suppose your manager asks you to give a presentation to another department describing how your department trained staff members to work in teams. You can use this opportunity to learn how to use a presentation software (like Power Point) to enhance your presentation skills. Not only will your presentation be professional and polished, you will also know a new program that you can add to your resume under software skills.
Ask people in your preferred career about how they got where they are. If you hear enough of these stories, you'll discover what you need to do and how to position yourself.
Aim to make money at your career but take time planning your moves. If you can afford it, taking a position that will help you develop a skill for your career is better than an unrelated job that pays well.
Spend time looking for paid opportunities to learn transferable skills. For example, you never intended to turn teaching aerobics into a career. But it gave you great leadership and teaching skills. That experience was a big help when youI started my college teaching career.
Shape your career, don't let it shape you. Decide what you want your career to be and make your opportunities match that. Sometimes, you have to take the role employers give you. But you can also make roles for yourself by acquiring projects, and those help you further your career. If you want to be a writer but are working as a bookkeeper, you could become department newsletter editor. Even if the job takes a few more hours a week, creating, editing, and writing a department newsletter puts your closer to your long-term career goal.