little steps: a career-development series - Laura Lundahl Baga

I'm frequently find myself in the career-focused discussions about how to get it all done, how to move past barriers, and how to make the most of the time you have. Especially as a full time working mom. All this thinking and chatting is aimed at increasing successful goal achievement- whatever that looks like for each person.

A few of my closest mentors would tell you different stories about what has led to their success, but all with the same underlying theme: it is about the small steps. There wasn't one big monumental moment that led them to be successful it their roles. It's small steps every day.

Take Kendra Oester, an architect in Seattle. Since graduation a decade ago, she has been taking small steps, and started her own firm this year, Placed Designs. This was not an overnight success, but a paced, planned success. Looking at her career to date, it is obvious she intentionally drove towards  her own architectural design business. And that day is now, but not by accident.

A lot of this is talked about in one of my recent favorite books, The Spirit of Kaizen by Robert Maurer. I was talking with some other moms who work in the tech industry, and though this book is not specific to that industry, we agreed - it feels a lot like a book targeted towards the mom who is running the whole show - the job, the home, the kids, wanting to be great in her marriage and loving her life. The book makes anything seem attainable through it's simple and logical goal management approach. Small steps.

Hence the series: Small steps - reaching your potential through small steps each day.

-- Laura Lundahl Baga