In driving a racecar you will go where your eyes go; in driving your career it will go where your mind goes!⎯Jay Leno

Although Jay Leno is credited for the first half of the above quote, I made up the second part of this quote to make my point based on his first. It is true what Leno said about how your eyes “drive” your racecar. At those racecar speeds nearing 250+ MPH (400 KPH) everything is moving fast and the speeding, blurry scenery your peripheral vision catches hypnotizes your mind. To stay the course you must stay focused on the horizon—or the curve you are negotiating—and go ahead accordingly, without looking at the wall; because if you do, you quickly WILL run into it!

For “driving” your career the same metaphor is apt, too. How do I know this? Having now worked with over 6,000 clients 1:1 throughout the world I see the same struggles my clients go through when they feel lost in managing their careers. Many who come to me complain that they are disappointed in where they are in their career. Often, too, the refrain is that even though they were ready for the next promotion they didn’t get it. They were blindsided by the boss when someone totally out from the left field got promoted and no explanation was given to them, why, despite being seen as a shoo-in, they got passed over.

Gallop surveys conducted over dozens of years also bear this out. Although the surveys focus on engagement (only about 20% of the employees are engaged in their work) the net outcome of how this manifests as one’s career plays out is inescapable.

So, what are the lessons I have learned as a career coach of getting yourself engaged in a career and keeping your mind on the prize? Here are some themes that I have codified in what works when you are distracted by the “blurry wall” without crashing into it?

1. Physical Fitness: Just as racecar driving requires for you to get in good physical condition before attempting to race on an oval track (the high temperatures inside car’s cockpit can easily cause a person with a high body-fat index to perspire excessively, increasing the chances of dehydration and making it more difficult to keep a firm hand on the controls) doing well on your “career track” also benefits from physical conditioning. Physical conditioning helps you stay energized in your endeavors, keeps your focus, and gives you that extra edge of confidence that your out-of-shape competitors envy.

Being in good physical condition also helps when you are going through stressful times during career transitions. Those looking for work anew must keep themselves fit by working out regularly. Being out of work and being able to sustain a string of rejections until things work out for you require physical and emotional stamina. Keeping yourself in great physical shape makes this easier to manage!

Yet another factor that comes into play during times of transitions is how we respond to stress. When things do not go your way—and there will be plenty of those happening, even when times are favorable—we tend to de-stress ourselves by eating our favorite foods for comfort. Unfortunately, most comfort foods tend to be both, caloric and bad for our health. The same applies to alcohol and drugs. So, managing this and watching how you manage your stress are a part of staying fit!
2. Managing the Curves: Just as learning how to properly navigate through the turns while you race on an oval track can be your ticket to winning the race, being able to navigate through career transitions—metaphorically, curves—is how you define your winning strategy. Professional drivers recognize that races are won in the curves, not on the straightaways. It is analogous to concentrating on improving your times and increasing your speed through the turns by visualizing a line through the curve (Leno’s quote) and making your car follow that line, accelerating as you come out of the curve, which can greatly improve your relative position on the track. Similarly, keeping your focus during career “turns” can give you the momentum edge you need to come out ahead in tough times. When making a career transition you are leveraging your momentum more than you’re your successes. Any success has a short half-life! Also, do not act on where you are now, but where you will be in bit later, just as racecar drivers plan a few (milli) seconds ahead.
3. Maintaining Confidence: One aspect of this metaphor is apt when seeking a new opportunity while being out of work. It is normal in such situations to compromise and land a position just to re-engage with “lower” title, salary, and responsibilities. If you follow the “curves” metaphor you should be able to land a suitable position “one up” if you keep your eyes on the transition and prepare yourself to leverage it. I have done this with clients, who were willing to settle for whatever came their way just to re-engage. But, re-framing your situation you can land an appropriate role one or more “up.”
4. Learning to Draft: Just as racecar drivers prepare for a race on an oval track with other cars by learning how to draft—drive behind other cars—to reduce wind resistance and lower the amount of energy their vehicle expends to race, learn how to career by getting behind someone also on a fast track. Look for someone within your work group or company who is aggressively seeking new challenges and who is seen as a Hi-Po (High Potential employee). Ally with them and get on their team. Once you are associated with someone, who is being nurtured for success your own success becomes part of that process.
5. Celebrating Your Team: Winning racecar drivers are supported by a well-motivated team that is excited to win the race without getting in the way of the star; they play a support role in the background. True winners leverage team plays and acknowledge great teams. When you succeed in your career make sure your team gets the same kudos it deserves, both collectively and individually.
6. Being a Champ: Winning just one race does not a champion make! Crossing the checkered flag first gets you the trophy for one race, but there are many more races ahead that you must also win. So, keep your eyes focused on the next race and the one beyond that to keep your reputation as a champion in good stead. This requires not only making improvements in your own skills and abilities, but also your entire ecosystem—your team, your mentors, and your support system.

Being a champ also requires keeping yourself on a rhythm. When people are engaged in their workaday activities their work itself provides the structure for their routine. When work goes away (lay-off, voluntary time away, raising a family, etc.) the everyday routine can become chaotic. If you cannot manage this randomness and cannot take charge of your life, it can soon spiral out of control and a sense of doom can set in, which creates a vicious circle of frustrations and further lack of control. So, taking charge of your life and creating your own structure to maintain a certain rhythm are important for achieving your goals with efficiency. One leading indicator of the feeling of being out of control and being stressed is your weight. Keep a goal of maintaining your weight and honor that commitment through diet, exercise, and discipline.
7. Being Your Best: One of the key factors in keeping your focus on your own prize is not comparing yourself with where others are. Racecar drivers do not look at other cars and try to out-speed them because if they do then they are exposing themselves to inevitable crashes. I can’t tell you how many clients come to me complaining about how their classmates and others who were their peers just a few years back have now soared in their careers and how they occupy important positions in great companies. They also are not able to clearly articulate what they want for themselves in their careers. They often cite their parents’ desires in how they want to manage their careers. “My father wanted me to do well enough to have a large department reporting to me by now, but I am still an individual contributor. How can I get there quickly?” In such cases my advice is always the same: Do what works for you and let us work on that to get you there; forget what YOUR father wants. Let HIM run that department!
8. Integrity: Some racecar drivers “win” a race through skullduggery and subterfuge. Such acts are often illegal and can disqualify them from racing. Even if these shenanigans were legal, they sure as hell would be immoral. Decide for yourself if you want to be a rogue just to get ahead and suffer the consequences of such acts if you get exposed. Once your reputation is tarnished it is game over for you! Just remember what became of the “champion” Lance Armstrong when he was exposed after many years of denials, bullying, and defiance!
9. Being Fearless: If you heard the saw, You become what you fear, nowhere it is more true than it is in car racing. If you fear that you might run into the wall, you will; if you fear that your engine will blow up, it will; if you fear your competition will run into your path it will. So, part of the psychological makeup you must bring to this “game” is a certain degree of fearlessness. The same applies to what happens to you in your career. If you expect to get laid-off you will be riffed; if you believe someone else deserves that promotion you will be bypassed; if you think some one is better than you are, people will perceive them to be better. So, hold your position and keep your faith. Only you can sabotage your own success.
10. Shifting Your Mindset: Do not think that there is only one way to move ahead in your career. Career management is not linear and sequential. Similar to racecar driving sometimes you have to surrender your position to take strategic advantage of certain situations to move ahead. When there are major shifts taking place in the industry pick your wins and reset your priorities to get ahead of the pack and decide how you want to retool yourself. With MOOCs, Coursera, Udacity, and many other such free or near-free resources such retooling can be done much more easily and readily than was possible just a few years back. So, take the plunge and develop the Growth Mindset in preference to the Fixed Mindset and see how your career blossoms and how you feel about where you are in your “race” to the checkered flag!
Good luck!