HAVING CONFIDENCE IS critically important to your development, but it alone is not enough to enable your long‐term growth. Confidence has to lead to effective effort because effective effort is what expands your skills and capabilities and drives your career. Effective effort gets results or moves you closer to your desired outcomes.

One of the most common mistakes professionals make is to confuse working hard with working effectively.

Germaine wants to be seen as the go‐to person in her department. She works at least ten hours a day processing claims for a casualty insurance company. She's been doing the same for five years, and she's very good at what she does—to the point where she often redoes the work of others on her team in order to meet the expectations of her manager. Recently, her boss asked her to be part of a project team charged with evaluating a new software package, but she declined due to the demands of her workload.

Germaine is working hard, but she is not receiving the best return on her investment of time and energy. She's not learning new skills, she's not developing the skills of others, and she's not expanding the ways in which they contribute to their organizations. I assure you that in her work group, there is someone who is putting in the same number of hours (or maybe even fewer) but who is getting better career traction because their effort is more effective.

If you're working hard but not accomplishing what's important to you, start by examining the nature of your effort. If you incorporate these steps into your career strategy, you're more likely to get the best return on the investment of your time and energy:

• Choose what you want as an outcome.
• Focus on what you can control.
• Expand your skills incrementally.
• Align your goals with the organization's needs.

Choose What You Want as an Outcome

Effective effort starts with the end in mind. What do you want to accomplish—in the short and the long term? It's hard to be strategic about shaping your career and garnering the support of others if you don't know the outcomes you're trying to achieve. What do you want to complete by the end of the day or the end of the year? What do you want people thinking or doing at the end of a meeting? The more precisely you can identify a goal, the more likely you will be able to figure out a strategy for accomplishing it.

This might seem obvious, but I'm struck by how often individuals are unclear about the outcomes they want. Imagine that you're driving and you don't know where you want to go. Without that orientation toward a final destination, it's easy to spend a lot of time going around in circles. It's also more likely you'll get distracted by the obstacles in your path. When you know your destination, however, you can choose some interesting detours, but you're still likely to make it to where you want to go. A clear vision keeps you focused on the effective effort that enables you to accomplish your goal.

When I started working on this book, I didn't have a dedicated time or consistent process for writing, and I wasn't making much progress. I finally realized that if I was going to get this book published, I had to structure my work life to support the effort. I also realized that I needed a team that could help me manage the many aspects of editing and producing a book. Clarity about my desired outcome—publishing the book—helped direct my attention to what it would take to make it happen.

Just as it's important to know where you're headed short‐term, it's also critical to identify what you want from your career long‐term. What will give you satisfaction and a sense of achievement in the long run? You don't necessarily need to identify a particular position or type of job that you ultimately want, but you do need to give some thought to how you want to invest your time and energy. What makes you enjoy coming to work? What impact do you want to have? How would you like to honor your values in the work you do? If you pay attention to what engages you and what doesn't and then craft your work as best you can to align with those interests, you are much more likely to feel fulfilled in your career.

Some professionals are clear about their interests and career goals early on. However, for many of us, it takes some trial and error to determine where we're motivated to invest significant time and effort.

My own career journey is a good example. When I was growing up, I always said I wanted to be a doctor. But after my freshman year in college, I had to be honest with myself: I wasn't motivated to pursue the years of academic training that becoming a doctor required. Still, I wanted to make a good living, have the opportunity to use my people skills, and exert influence in an organization. Business seemed to be a field that would fulfill those aspirations, so I changed my major to cost accounting. After my junior year, I landed a summer internship in an accounting department and made more money than I imagined possible at this stage of my life. Despite the financial benefits, the experience showed me that accounting wasn't for me. I wanted a career that had more to do with people than with balance sheets.

It was now the beginning of my senior year, and I desperately needed to figure out my career direction. I solicited the help of a career counselor at my college. At her suggestion, I switched to human resources. Fortunately, I loved it! I had to stay an extra semester to complete the requirements, but my good grades were proof of my interest in the field.

I landed my first job in HR in the retail industry My relationship skills were well utilized, but after some time, I realized I wasn't fulfilling my salary goals or those I had for strategic influence. To generate more income and to work in a position with profit‐and‐loss responsibility, I took on a role as a store manager. The switch into the operations area of the business led to several more promotions and prepared me to eventually become an officer in the company.

Measured in terms of influence and money, I had done a good job of accomplishing my vision, but I wasn't fulfilled. When I asked myself why, I realized that over the course of my career, I had come to truly value helping others develop, and I wanted to work in an industry where people were the central part of the mission. Going to work for the company that is now Korn Ferry was a way to bring all the threads together. I could do what I had learned I liked best—coach and mentor, build business relationships, negotiate deals, steer the outcomes of a team—and make enough money to support my family while doing it.

By continuing to ask myself, “What do I want as an outcome?” I was able to navigate through the twists and turns of my career in a way that kept me coming back to the things that were most important to me. Keeping my vision in front of me also helped me decline opportunities that weren't in line with what I wanted long‐term.

What pattern do you see in your own life? Look carefully at how you choose to spend your time. What work is most satisfying and energizing? You get a big payoff when you invest effort in something you care about. You come to work gladly. You're naturally drawn to improving. And you are willing to work through the problems that arise. Knowing what's important to you provides clarity when you have to make critical decisions about which opportunities you will pursue and which you will forgo.

Regardless of the outcomes you choose, you also have to be willing to accept the consequences of your choices as there are likely to be some trade‐offs. If you choose a high‐powered career that requires extensive travel, you are likely to miss out on some family milestones. If you choose to work independently, you're likely to miss out on some level of collegial support. If you choose to invest the majority of your discretionary energy in your personal life rather than your career, there is likely to be an impact on your perceived value to your organization.

I'm not suggesting you fear the consequences or avoid pursuing the outcomes that are important to you. Rather, I'm proposing that you take the time to identify what's most important to you—and consider what you could give up or forgo. Fully contemplate the likely consequences of your choices and then accept or actively manage them rather than be surprised by or resentful of them. Being clear about your desired outcomes and the consequences increases the likelihood that the investment of your effort will give you a return that you value.

Focus on What You Can Control

Effective effort is focused on what you can control. Remember, a key principle of the Power of Choice is this: It's not the stimulus, it's the response. You can't change the personality of your boss, but you can choose how the two of you interact. You can't keep the economy from taking a nose dive, but you can control how you respond to the challenges of a tight business climate.

Focus your effort on outcomes that are challenging but, at the same time, realistic. In other words, don't settle for the status quo. Look for outcomes that require you to stretch yourself. Try to improve a situation or learn something new, but concentrate on short‐term goals that you have a reasonable likelihood of accomplishing. It's difficult to work effectively if you're fixated on achieving something that's currently unrealistic. If the gap between your current skill level and the demands of a situation is too great, you'll be frustrated, and it won't provide you with the feedback you need to improve. It's better to direct your energy toward goals that stretch you and build upon the foundation you have in place.

A colleague once recounted the approach she took in her first college economics course. It impressed me as a good example of paying attention to feedback and focusing on what you can control in order to accelerate your development. The course textbook was dense; the lecturer was dry. She eked by with a C on her first test. She tried to spend more hours studying but was frustrated and overwhelmed by the content. Finally, she said to herself, “There's got to be something I can do to get a better grade.” She went to the local library and ended up in the children's section reading books about how the financial system works. Those books introduced her to the basics of economics. Once she was more grounded in the topic, she found the college textbook more understandable, and she was able to take better advantage of her study group's support. She ended the term with a B+. Her willingness to accept her initial level of development in the subject and read children's books to bring herself up to speed always impressed me. She took control of her situation to engineer better results.

When you're feeling overwhelmed or out of control, break down your goals into more manageable chunks. Seek support and coaching. Consider whether another approach might be more effective. Remember, effective effort either accomplishes your desired outcomes or moves you closer to your goal. If you're not getting the results you want, you need to face that fact. Don't blame others; don't give up. Focus on the steps you can take to achieve at least a small success. What can you control or influence? Even a small accomplishment creates momentum that moves you toward your ultimate vision.

Expand Your Skills Incrementally

When I advise you to focus on the things you can control, I'm not suggesting that you limit your goals. Quite the contrary. Dream big; have a grand vision for yourself. Dare to imagine that you can accomplish great things.

However, you have to work toward your vision incrementally. Development is a process of continuously stretching yourself. Start with what's possible and important to accomplish today. When you reach your first goal, take on a little more challenge. When you're successful at this next level, stretch a bit more. Over time, after a series of successes and probably some setbacks, a goal that was once unrealistic becomes attainable. Through an incremental process of development, you expand the scope of what's possible.

I often have conversations with sales professionals inside and outside our company about “unrealistic” annual sales goals. I always challenge these individuals to begin by focusing their effort on a quarterly sales number they think is a reasonable stretch—regardless of the ultimate target. When their attention is on a goal that feels possible rather than on one that they fear is impossible, they typically reach the realistic but still challenging goal they set for themselves. This initial good result helps them learn which sales approaches are effective and which aren't so that they can build their expertise and increase their confidence.

Then I encourage them to stretch a bit more: what additional revenue might be possible? More often than not, by pursuing their sales targets in incremental stages, they meet the original “unrealistic” goal. And if they don't, we both have more accurate information to set a challenging but realistic target for the following year.

Sometimes individuals limit their development because they are afraid to take risks outside the bounds of what they are sure they can accomplish. It can appear “safe” to limit yourself to areas where you've had a history of success and avoid stretching yourself to develop new expertise, but playing it safe is actually a pretty risky strategy. Job requirements change. The competitive environment changes. The company's expectations of you change. If you don't stretch your capabilities over time, you minimize your options. Proactively pursuing incremental learning and development gives you opportunities; it expands your circle of control.

That said, sometimes people jump too far too fast. There's no great harm in overstretching. In fact, if you don't overreach from time to time, it's probably a sign you're playing it too safe. The harm comes if you don't adjust your approach when you get the feedback that your strategy is unrealistic, given your current skill set or the demands of the external circumstances.

The diversity officer for a global company called us in recently to help her with her strategy. It was her first year on the job, and she had come to it full of ambition and great ideas. She had planned to host a global conference, start an aggressive recruiting strategy to boost the number of women worldwide in the company, and establish mentoring teams to support these women's development. Now, six months later, she was totally burned out from working nights and weekends, and she was angry with her boss for not giving her more support.

As we talked about her budget and staff resources, I learned that she had only a part‐time assistant and a budget of $40,000. No wonder she was exasperated! Her vision was a wonderful one, but it was unrealistic given the current size of her budget and staff and the amount of executive support. Together we crafted a plan that was more incremental. This year she would host a U.S.‐based conference, not a global one. She would focus on networking with the heads of business units to build their understanding of the connections between diversity and inclusion and the organization's goals. She would work on creating a more effective working relationship with her manager. When the diversity officer focused on plans she felt she could accomplish, she felt much less frustrated and burned out. In addition, these challenging but realistic goals gave her a better chance of getting buy‐in for a bigger budget and more staff for the next fiscal year.

When you're confronted with expectations that seem unrealistic, focus on a challenging but realistic goal. As you experience success, stretch yourself and take on something more challenging. This incremental process of development will enable you to accomplish many goals that were originally unrealistic and out of your control.

Align Your Goals with Your Organization's Needs

When professionals are deciding how to invest their efforts, I find they often underestimate the importance of aligning their efforts with the needs of the organization. You can be talented and busy with many responsibilities, but if you don't pair your talents and work with the organization's needs, you are not likely to be rewarded for your effort—or given opportunities to develop further.

Start by aligning your efforts with the goals of your manager and others you support. What are the results your area is responsible for? How is this work important to the business? What makes your manager successful? You are much more likely to receive both recognition for your value and opportunities to grow if the people you work with most closely see you as someone they can rely on to accomplish what's important to them and to the organization.

The organization also expects you to make connections with others that enable you to get things done efficiently. Do you know whom to go to for information and support? Have you established connections such that others are willing to work collaboratively with you?

Once you've learned to do your job well and use the available resources effectively, your organization looks to you to influence others' work. Because you have developed deep technical expertise, your organization rightly expects you to coach and mentor team members and junior employees, either as a colleague or a manager. Now you are not only expected to contribute the value of your own work but also to magnify your contribution through your impact on others or by improving work processes and outcomes. This is where Germaine was falling short. She was doing excellent work herself but she wasn't delivering higher‐order results by expanding her impact on the work of those around her.

The Highest Return on Investment of Your Time and Effort

However you define it, success requires you to choose how you will invest your effort. When you make these choices wisely, based on an understanding of your desired outcomes and the organization's needs, you increase the impact of your effort. Know what you want as an outcome, focus on what you can control, expand your skills incrementally to move toward your vision, and align yourself with the organization's needs. These four principles won't guarantee success every time, but managing your career with them in mind creates momentum toward accomplishing your vision and maximizes your return on the investment of your effort.