Are You Too Focused on a Career Destination? Don't Forget to Enjoy the Journey

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Career Development  

I have written about career journeys on here many times over the years. I’ve certainly read about the different legs of my career journey, and talked to people who were embarking on the next stage of the journey in their careers. The idea of a career as a journey is just a logical analogy, and it’s not wrong.

But not all journeys are created equal—and it seems to me that many of us view a career as a flight, or at least a series of flights. I don’t necessarily mean that it’s about getting to the destination as quickly as possible, although there is certainly an element of that. Rather I mean that you’re traveling at high altitude with not a lot to see outside. For most people, the process of flying isn’t particularly enjoyable, it’s about getting to the destination as efficiently as possible.

I think that’s the wrong kind of journey for a career. I think a career should be more like a road trip, or perhaps a rail journey. Those are as much about the experience of traveling as they are about the destination. They’re about enjoying the views out the window, the stops along the route, and the overall experience. If all we do in a career is pursue the next promotion, the next job opportunity, or the next contract, then we miss out on what’s happening now.

I know many people (in fact, I would count myself as …

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