How to Write Your Story Around Your Goals

Everyone has a unique career story.

The steps by which we got from Point A to Point B, our educational backgrounds, our bosses and mentors, and the risks we take (or don’t take) carve out a different path for each of us, and no two people’s career stories are exactly the same. So why do we hear the same words over and over when it comes to our work stories?

You’ve read them before: irretrievably boring ‘About’ pages and bios full of jargon and old hat business clichés; websites that have a whole lot of words but don’t really say anything. How do we get away from sounding just like everyone else while remaining true to who we are—and still sound professional? Can we be “ourselves” and be successful at the same time? (Spoiler alert: yes.)

I created a new career for myself from scratch based on who I am: a wholehearted, imperfect human who loves people and words. I’ve thought about writing, career success, and personal branding a lot, and I’ve concluded that success in any role ultimately depends on 3 things:

1) your ability to problem-solve;
2) your ability to change and adapt; and
3) your ability to communicate.

Whether you’re looking to get promoted, change careers, or move from corporate to self-employed, these 3 competencies are what will take you there. The inevitability of change and evolution in nearly every aspect of life makes adaptability all the more important, especially as the dreaded R word (recession) gets mentioned more frequently.

Core messaging, a catch-all term for a mission, vision, goals, and core values (or some permutation thereof), is critically important not just for organizations, but for individuals as well. In my LinkedIn bio sessions, I work with clients to understand their career path, determine what their goals are, and write them into the career story they want to tell. Branding practices like Root + River help larger companies and brands choose the right words to describe themselves.

I’ve created a personal brand based on my core values of vulnerability, empathy, and fun. Whenever I’m asked what I do and who I work with, I tell the person I’m speaking with to read my LinkedIn summary: if it resonates with them, we’ll be a good fit to work together. When you write your professional story around your personal values and goals, amazing things happen. It attracts the people you want to be working with, removing the barrier between your “work self” and “real self”—and opening up a new world of possibility.

(Need help writing your story around your goals? Reach out and let’s talk. And the image for this post is my business’s logo, created by the estimable Amanda Guerassio. My brand (and this website) are getting a face-lift soon: stay tuned!)