Planning the right career

Hello there,I am back after a long gap. I now have a sweet pen pal who happens to be my friend through the article writing. Thanks to her, she keeps insisting I never leave my hobby - article writing, which motivates me further to pen down my thoughts. Thank you dear friend.So what am I going to pen down today.Something which looks mundane but when thought of and practiced really pays off to get what you have ever dreamt of becoming in Life!!We Indians, are always passionate about our future. But given a question - Where do you see yourself 5 years down the line? 99% people have a standard reply - I want to see myself Successful, at a very nice position, well paid, well respected.Surprisingly even I had the same answer till I met my current boss, who is indeed an Angel, instrumental in changing my thought process. I am very excited with everything that comes my way. And incase its something which someone is unable or struggling for long, to handle the project and get it successful within the deadline gives me a kick. I just love accepting challenges.My boss, when he met me last year, was curious to know what have I achieved so far and what were my future plans.In a candid discussion with him, I said I was doing MBA in HR coz I thought nothing else really interested or suited me or was my cup of tea. He was surprised at the way I chose my career and promised me he would be my mentor and try to help me find the right path.Thanks to the time he invested in me to explain that just as in Business Reviews, we prepare a slide on Company's SWOT which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. We have a set target which is greater than what was achieved last year and we design strategies to achieve it. But how far do we invest the same energy, effort and time in designing a career for ourselves???He said, as you climb up the ladder, you realise you are all alone with lot of grey area. Many times your decisions are based on your instincts but thats the way life is. Also you have to continuously keep thinking on bettering the current position, looking out for competitors moves, keep the team going, inspiring, motivating them to out perform.These thoughts really triggered the thinking in me.He gave me a project called Sales Excellence to drive within our Business Unit of 100+ people. He said its a challenge. Do you have it in you to accept it and make it success?Needless to say, I did. And I am so glad I did. I had a fantastic training from an Old colleague who now heads the CRM Project. I travelled like mad, giving presentations to team, tackling their objections, convincing the points, getting their committments.The end result was I grew more and more confident and felt happy about myself. More important the recognition that I got was amazing. People started noticing and knowing me wherever I went, I was never alone thinking what should I do. There was always someone unknown who could come up and start talking about the good work.I remember before the announcement of me handling the project, my boss had called me and said Are you really serious you want this? I said yes but i need your guidance and support. He plainly replied, Support you will always have. As regards guidance, I am holding a position of Business VP, if I had to hand hold you and make it successful, you were not needed. That came as a rude shock. I was taken aback. I felt helpless. But I was determined to make it. And the words you have my support seemed some relief in the complete new project where I had no clue to drive it.Later once when I had my F2F he gave me another fantastic food for thought, he said when you get a responsibility own it. If your designation says something, own it completely. Its only the Wise who make good use of the authority and are 100% confident that they have completely done all that they were responsible for. I loved the thought.Also he said dream what you want to be say in next 2 years. I said after my MBA (which is now changed to specialising in Marketing - after a serious thought and note of activities that I am into) I wish to start as Manager - Corporate communication since I always believe communication was my strength alongwith connect that I share with team.He said Its good to dream but its even better to start believing yourself in that position. Think what as a third person would you think are the responsibilities of the person in this position? Imagine yourself already in the dream position, act and behave the way the position requires. Result would be people around you notice the continuous improvements in you, if the spark in you clicks - you own the position. You never know, life is full of surprises.Such simple yet powerful thoughts really inspired me - am so glad and feel so blessed to have Angels in my life at every step to see that I dont go astray :-)