5 Must-Haves to Achieve Career Success and Fulfillment

Success is NOT fulfillment. 

Very few people have cracked the code to both career success and fulfillment. Notice I didn't just say career success. Because success means different things to different people. You can have the status and the money and still not be fulfilled. And far too often, people sacrifice their personal lives in pursuit of "career success." The goal is to build a fulfilling career that can be utilized as the vehicle to elevate and optimize other dimensions of your wellness.  

Our career (whether we own our own business or are W-2 employees) is the one dimension that can single-handedly impact all other dimensions of our lives. 

Achieving career success and fulfillment, what I call "Career Oasis" focuses on 5 core elements: 

The first core element is Clarity. 

You need to have a clear vision about your life's work to be fulfilled. You can only achieve absolute job satisfaction and leave a legacy for your family once you gain total Clarity on where you want to take your career and begin to create a plan of action to lead you there.    

The second one is Mindset. 

 
Your Mindset is critical in getting you from point A to point B. Your Mindset will help you execute the strategies you need to succeed. The reason why two people from similar backgrounds in terms of socioeconomic (racial, ethnic, gender, age, and education-wise) can have completely different outcomes in life, where one succeeds, and the other fails, all boils down to their Mindset. It comes down to the belief system driving their feelings, thoughts, and actions. 

The third core element is Identity. 

 
This is vital, as getting paid your worth requires you to be your higher self. It is not about what you do but who you need to become to confidently increase your financial worth. When you are making 100 grand per year, you operate differently than when you are making 500,000 or a million dollars per year. What's important to note is that you don't evolve into a higher version of yourself after you've hit your income goal. You need to be that person before you can ever achieve that income you desire. Because it requires a different level of discipline, focus and consistency to elevate your financial worth.  

The fourth is Presentation. 

 
No matter how smart and invaluable you are, you need to know how to package and communicate your value and expertise to be paid your worth. Everyone knows it is more affordable to go to the supermarket and buy produce than to go to a restaurant. But why is that? It's because the salmon you got at the restaurant has been cleaned and prepared by someone else. The chef used his or her skill to add just the right amount of seasoning to take it from awful to awesome! More importantly, when you are served the salmon, the Presentation is delightful: The food is plated along with its accompaniments, not just thrown into some plastic container you get from the grocery store. You are provided with an experience.   

When it comes to marketing your skills and expertise, it is no different. You are competing with hundreds of talents, so it is essential to present yourself in a manner where you stand out from the crowd.   

The fifth and final core element is Leadership. 

 
Leadership in this context is about taking full responsibility for your life and actions. It's about you perfecting your craft and building professional influence to affect change. It's about making the right decisions to balance and prioritize what is important to you, like your health and family. 

Leadership, although has many definitions to different people, to me the greatest of them all, is the self-leadership to be in constant pursuit to be well physically, spiritually, emotionally, socially, intellectually, vocationally, financially, and environmentally. Only when we are optimally well in all eight dimensions can we show up well to lead others. 

It is why I believe your career is the tool to design the life you want and to make a massive contribution to the world.

You can't live a fulfilling life if money is always tight or you are not serving at a greater capacity where you are effectuating real change. And you can't be in a position where your income is growing, but you have no freedom and time to enjoy a great lifestyle. To do that, you need to leverage your time so you have more freedom to enjoy your money, and optimize your contributions, so the value you bring to others is seen and appreciated and you can feel good about it. 

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Angela Ansa is the Co-founder and C.E.O. of Aspire Prosthetics and Orthotics, Inc., and the Founder of Career Oasis. After climbing the corporate ladder and obtaining a master's certification in life coaching, Angela created the most cutting-edge career development and career coaching program- Career Oasis. Designed to provide educated professionals with the mindset support, tools, and strategies to get unstuck and accelerate their careers into the direction they want so that their careers don't burn them out but give them more money, freedom, and a massive impact.