When people feel that their career progress is frustratingly slow or has sputtered out, they can become dangerously demoralized. Without a clear understanding of what constitutes a reasonable pace for advancement or why peers are outachieving them, they write off promising paths, downscale their ambitions, or quit altogether. But often these people are simply not giving themselves enough time to succeed. They need to cultivate “strategic patience.” What does that entail? Five things: doing research on what it realistically takes to achieve their goals; recognizing “raindrops,” or small wins that are early indicators of success; abandoning harmful social comparisons and instead leveraging their relationships in a positive way; appreciating how far they’ve come rather than continually moving the goalposts; and understanding that it’s OK for their career goals to shift as long as they keep moving in the right direction.
Time and again, we’re reminded that there’s no such thing as overnight success. But how long should it take us to achieve our career goals? When progress is slower than we’d like, many of us are left wondering: Is my plan not working—or just not working yet?
HBR Learning
