Who are you becoming?

If we are going to grow in our careers, if we are going to keep learning, if we are going to do new things we don’t fully know how to do quite yet, we are going to have to spend time in that (often) uncomfortable space of becoming.

Career advances require all of us to move beyond our comfort zones.

As the inspiring leadership trainer Cathy Salit reminds us, “Human beings are not just who we are. We are who we are, and who we are not yet. We are who we are, and who we are becoming.”

But as adults, too often we discount this process of discovery. And we forget how frustrating, scary, and exhausting getting up on the bike is time and time again after we keep falling off.

You have to bring your courage, your resilience, your focus, your curiosity and most of all a genuine sense of openness to the process of becoming — so that you can grow into what you need to know and who you need to be in order to succeed in your next level role.

My favorite thing to ask people who come to me for career advice isn’t “where do you want to be in five years?” but instead “who do you want to be in five years?”

As John Gardner reminds us, “Life isn’t a mountain that has a summit. Nor a game that has a final score. Life is an endless unfolding, and if we wish it to be, an endless process of self-discovery, an endless and unpredictable dialogue between our own potentialities and the life situations in which we find ourselves.”

Lean in to the journey. There’s so much you’ve yet to become.

Amy Varga

President

Amy Varga is a beloved fundraising trainer, coach and consultant. She and her team at The Varga Group have guided over a hundred nonprofit clients to raise millions of dollars through their services in capital campaign counsel, major gifts training, leadership coaching, and board development projects.

Amy Varga

President

Amy Varga is a beloved fundraising trainer, coach and consultant. She and her team at The Varga Group have guided over a hundred nonprofit clients to raise millions of dollars through their services in capital campaign counsel, major gifts training, leadership coaching, and board development projects.