Future Success

As someone with the FUTURE SUCCESS motive, your need to succeed relates to your larger potential, goals, and career aspirations. For you, feeling you are on the path to FUTURE SUCCESS is key to feeling positive and optimistic in your work life. You want to feel you are advancing at work in ways that matter to you, which is why this motive is in the Advancement Domain, rather than the Success Domain. Work that supports your personal vision for FUTURE SUCCESS tends to be the most compelling for you. While you may still enjoy incremental moments of success each day, this motive may allow you to delay gratification for the sake of a bigger picture. You want to be forward-thinking and strategic, with the long game in mind. You likely have specific end-goals that hinge on your unique sense of professional advancement, but clearly defined goals are not always necessary for this motive. You enjoy a feeling of forward momentum in your work life, regardless of whether your aspirations are specific, or more broad. Feeling like you are generally progressing in your career path can be enough to fill this need even if you don’t have all the details regarding the FUTURE SUCCESS you desire ironed out. Your motivation peaks when you believe the work you’re doing and the skills you’re developing will pay dividends and lead to favorable outcomes later down the road. If you cannot see a relationship between the tasks and hours you spend at work today and where you hope to be tomorrow, your wellbeing will suffer. When this motive is met you feel the success you desire is possible, and you are more resilient and driven to overcome challenges and expand your capabilities.

You feel this motive being met when…

+ The work you’re doing right now is related, practically or emotionally, to the work you would like to advance towards in the future.

+ You feel like you’re getting closer to (or maintaining) your own definition of success.

+ Your current work life invigorates, honors, and holds space for your long-term goals.

+ You feel like you are advancing in your work life; you are not stagnating or moving backwards.

This motive is at risk when…

– You feel like you’ve lost your forward motion at work, and you don’t know what your next step should be to advance toward success.

– Your ideal work/life situation and your current situation feel unrelated, with no bridge to connect them.

– Either by necessity or by accident, you’ve become so focused on short-term goals that you haven’t been investing in your goals for the future.

A Work Wellness Check-In for FUTURE SUCCESS

1. How does the work I’m doing now relate to my long-term goals for my professional life? How often do I reflect and track progress towards these goals?
2. How willing am I to make trade-offs today in order to support where I want to be in the future? Am I willing to embrace delayed gratification to support a bigger future? Have I cultivated a healthy mindset around this?
3. What skills or knowledge am I acquiring in this position that may aid my advancement and success down the road? What other knowledge could I seek that would support this motive?

4. Are there growth opportunities available in my current job that I haven’t utilized, but could pursue?
5. Do I have a clear vision of what FUTURE SUCCESS means to me? If I don’t, would it help me to define it, or for now can I trust my instincts? If I would like more clarity would it be beneficial to get help to develop a plan for the future?
6. On a scale of 1-10, to what degree do I feel I am advancing in my work life? (1 = I am not advancing at all; 10 = I’m advancing quickly and meaningfully) If I feel I’m advancing do I take time to celebrate this and use it as motivation? What may need to change if I want to progress further?
7. When I think about my future self who has the success I desire, in what ways are they similar or different from me today? (What is their mindset? How do they feel at work? Where do they invest their time and energy? How do they make decisions? What habits do they have?) How do I need to become more like my future self today to create the future I desire?

8. Am I diverging at all from my long-term vision for my future because of my current pursuits? Are there things distracting me that are taking me off course?  Are their things I need to uncommit to in order to make room to pursue my most desired aspirations?
9. Do I have a clear vision of what FUTURE SUCCESS means to me? If I don’t, would it help me to define it, or for now can I trust my instincts? If I would like more clarity would it be beneficial to get help to develop a plan for the future?
10. On a scale of 1-10, to what degree do I feel I am advancing in my work life? (1 = I am not advancing at all; 10 = I’m advancing quickly and meaningfully) If I feel I’m advancing do I take time to celebrate this and use it as motivation? What may need to change if I want to progress further?
11. Even though FUTURE SUCCESS is one of my core motives, am I able to enjoy the present, acknowledge short-term victories, and experience occasional satisfaction in the moment? Or I am I too preoccupied with demanding more from myself, rather than claiming and celebrating small progressions and victories?
12. Have I shared where I want to advance to in my work life with others? If not, would it help to share my goals and aspirations with those who could help or offer guidance?
13. What is the biggest obstacle, distraction or limitation that delays or potentially inhibits the future I desire? Is it fear? Time constraints? Self-doubt? My past? What steps do I need to take to manage these things?
14. Do I know what I need to do today to be successful tomorrow at my company or in my career? Can I seek out information if there is a knowledge gap?
15. How is my company helping me pursue my long-term goals? How are my peers and supervisors helping me? If my colleagues don’t support me now, how could they support me? What would my ideal situation look like?

16. How much of my time do I spend on meaningful work that positively impacts the bigger picture for my future? Or do my day to day tasks consume most of my time and energy? 

17. When I consider my definition of FUTURE SUCCESS, do I like that definition? Does it match my conscious goals and values? Does it feel true to who I am today, and to who I would like to be?
18. Does my image of professional success complement the FUTURE SUCCESS I pursue not only in work, but in my life as a whole? Do I need to reevaluate any part of my vision for my future in order to meet this motive?