In this, the first of a three-part series, consultant Jo Larbie outlines conversations she has had with trainees and lawyers in the early years of their careers, some of whom were unhappy with their work, their firm and their career. The underlying issue appeared to be the same for all – a failure to stop and think about their answer to the question: "What do you want from your career and life?"

Understanding who you are and what you want from your career and life can make a significant difference to your legal career. Are you doing what you love? Or do you feel that you are simply going through the motions in a job that you find unsatisfying?

One of the most important factors in enjoying your career is making sure that you are doing the work that you relish, and that you find what you are doing worthwhile. It is worth thinking about this carefully, because it only gets harder to motivate yourself if you are not passionate about your work.

I recently asked a group of new lawyers the question: "What do you want from your career and life?" Their response was stunned silence. Finally, one of the group responded that it was "too early to say"!

The sad fact is that many lawyers rarely spend time thinking about their careers from the beginning because they believe that their work is just that – work. This is surprising when you consider the time, money and effort it takes to graduate, qualify and then find a position within a firm. On average in the UK by the time most trainees start their training contracts, student debts of £20,000-£50,000 to repay are no longer unusual.

Really understanding what you want from your career and life will make it easier for you to choose the best career directions.

Taking responsibility for your career

It's crucial for you to know what you want or don't want, and how what you are doing relates to what you really want from your career. More importantly if you don't actively build a career you love, chances are you will not be fulfilled and not work at the peak of your ability – something you will need if you are going to achieve your fully potential within the legal profession. Law firms also expect their lawyers to take responsibility for their careers and have a plan.

In my experience, many lawyers don't take responsibility for their careers because they believe that their career path is established. Their thinking is that basically, if you do a reasonable job, stay out of trouble (i.e. don't annoy a client or partner), then career progression will take care of itself. Unfortunately, advancement within law firms no longer works that way. This is why you should take responsibility for your career from the beginning, not leave it until later when it may be too late.

Don't be lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that the first two years of your career is in your firm's hands. At every stage of your career, the only person responsible for creating the career and life you want is YOU. While your firm can help you to achieve your career aspirations, your firm is not responsible for your success. Only you can achieve the success you want. If you are going to achieve the life you want, you will need to take charge of your role at each stage of your career.

This means, for each job, regularly making time to set goals, make plans to achieve these goals and assessing progress against these goals.

You will know you are taking responsibility for your career when you:

• Accept that you are in the driving seat;
• Have identified what you want to achieve, both inside and outside of work;
• Have established a plan, with actions and a timeframe;
• Are moving forward against the plan, checking progress at intervals and making adjustments if needed; and
• You, and only you, can drive your career forward.

If you are serious about a successful future in law, take time now and again to work out how you see your career and life evolving – the things that you want to do and the goals that you want to achieve.

Jo Larbie is a management consultant at Redstone Consultants. Jo helps HR and business leaders address their strategic people issues, providing solutions that improve performance and deliver results. She is co-author of How To Make Partner And Still Have A Life.

This article was commissioned for the Turning Points hub, an online career development resource from Legal Week in association with Berwin Leighton Paisner.