Part 1 - Start With Self Awareness: The Foundation of Your Career Growth

Penny Izlakar

While many assume career planning starts with goals or job titles, real progress begins with self-understanding. Recognizing your strengths, blind spots, values, and aspirations is essential for informed career decisions.

Early in my career, two pivotal events shaped my perspective: joining an acquired company and experiencing a major downsizing. These moments prompted me to pause, reflect, and reconsider my career direction.

Over time, I made it a practice to reflect intentionally every one to two years. This approach

shifted me from reacting to circumstances to making deliberate choices about my development and direction. These practices helped me develop the self-awareness needed for intentional growth.

Tip 1 — Use Self Assessments to See What You Can’t See Alone

It is difficult to identify learning and development blind spots without external input.

Throughout my career, I have completed various self-assessments, each of which gives insight into how I communicate, lead and collaborate. While no single assessment is perfect, together they revealed patterns that I could not identify alone. In a previous post, Self Awareness— Are You Listening?, I shared some of these assessments and my key takeaways.

Self assessments can help you:

• Identify your natural tendencies in areas such as communication, leadership, etc.

• understand how others may experience you

• uncover strengths you may overlook

• spotlight areas for growth

The goal is not to label yourself but to learn how to lead yourself more effectively.

Assessments also reflect your current condition. Stress, life changes or time in a role can affect results. I have taken the same assessment twice within six months and received different results. Instead of dismissing the inconsistency, I treat it as additional data that heightens my self-awareness.

Tip 2 — Ask for Feedback (Thoughtfully and Intentionally)

Feedback is a powerful tool for growth, but it is most effective when it comes from the right

sources and is offered constructively. I value constructive feedback, but not all feedback is equally useful. Early in my career, I accepted every comment. Over time, I learned to consider the source, context, and motivation behind each piece of feedback.

My current approach is simple.

• listen openly

• consider deeply

• act intentionally, not automatically

In another post, Seeking Advice - When to Accept and When to Say Thank You and Ignore, I

shared how I discovered this lesson the hard way. I once gathered feedback from mentors,

coaches and trusted peers, and much of it was conflicted. Some even had hidden agendas. I

struggled until someone offered me a game-changing insight: “You don’t need to accept everyone’s feedback.” Sometimes you accept feedback. Sometimes you pause. Sometimes you investigate further. This mindset shift was transformative.

Tip 3 — Map Your Career Path to See the Bigger Picture

One of my preferred self-awareness exercises is mapping my career journey, not as a résumé, but as a mind map of roles, skills, lessons, and turning points.

Visually mapping your experiences reveals patterns such as:

• skills you’ve built

• strengths you’ve relied on

• gaps you may want to close

• themes that keep resurfacing

Several resources can support this exercise. One standout is Career on Course by Scott Jeffrey Miller. He suggests envisioning your desired career outcome, including role, title, salary, and impact, and then mapping backward to identify the capabilities, experiences, and roles needed along the way.

Not everyone plans their career in such detail, but just a brief reflection can help you identify

learning opportunities, rotations, promotions and development activities that correspond with your future goals.

Final Reflection

Self-awareness is not a one-time exercise; it is a lifelong practice. Understanding who you are, what you value, and how you present yourself leads to better decisions, stronger relationships, and purposeful growth.

Your career does not begin with a plan. It begins with you.