What do you want to be remembered for at your retirement party?
Although I am (sadly) nowhere close to retirement, I was recently asked this question and presented with 18 choices to choose from. The purpose of this question was to reflect on where I am at in my career, where I want to go in my career, and whether I am on the path to achieve what I want or value as part of my career. I was instructed to choose the top three things I want to be remembered for, followed by five more secondary choices. Here were the options:
My Top 3 Choices:
- Played key role in most complex projects – For someone who enjoys technical work and working on projects, to be able to work on a complex project and have a key role in it is very rewarding. To me, having a key role means that you are bringing your expertise to the team and contributing to the success of the project. The work you do has a positive impact to the community and you are able to see how it improves others’ lives.
- Personal achievements and awards – While not all good work that is done comes with an award, receiving the recognition validates that you are making a positive impact and that others appreciate what you are doing.
- Technical expertise – As a technical expert in your field, it implies that you are continually learning about the latest updates and are the person that people reach out to with questions. With your knowledge, you also become a mentor to younger staff and can help them grow to become the best at what they do as well.
My next five:
- Highly Trusted – With Highly Trusted and Trusted advisor to clients, I realized that I really like to be trusted! I think trust is very important when it comes to your relationship with people. Having your colleagues or clients trust you means that they can depend on you and have a certain level of expectation from you that they don’t have with just anyone. Trust is something that takes a long time to build, and being a trusted person shows that you have consistently delivered your promises to earn this trust.
- Trusted advisor to clients
- Leadership in a professional organization – Having a leadership position in a professional organization shows that you have expanded your network to people outside of your company. You attend the organization’s events, meet other people in the industry, and take the time outside of your normal work hours to stay involved.
- Work / Life Balance – Why is this so low on my list? A lot of my peers selected Work / Life Balance and Financially Secure as their top two choices. However, I think that if you enjoy the work you do and work with good people, then going to work doesn’t feel like it’s just work, work, work.
- Financially Secure – Although I placed Financially Secure last, it doesn’t mean I don’t care about this! If I’ve achieved everything (or even just one) of the above, then finances shouldn’t be a concern.
What would you select as your top choices?