Christie Mims* has advice for people who want to move on in their jobs and careers but somehow can’t get organised for the big decisions.
I like to be tidy, but I’m incredibly bad at paperwork and when faced with huge projects, sometimes I panic.
Contemplating a huge transition like changing jobs, or even changing careers, well —
it’s exhausting.
I want to help you do a little to offset the fatigue.
The first, and potentially most important, way to get organised involves your time.
Whip out whatever calendar you rely on most.
Maybe it’s on your phone, maybe it’s on your computer, or maybe it’s just sitting on your desk.
Take a look at how you’ve organised your time.
Now move things around so that you have at least one dedicated evening per week to focus in on all of your career business.
Sometimes it may be networking, sometimes it may be applying to jobs, sometimes it may just be research or reading blogs like this one.
Set aside that time and make it sacrosanct.
This is your career time — the time you have created so that you can get to a better place in your work — so it trumps everything else on that night.
Next up, I want you to think about what’s most important in terms of your next career step.
Is it getting a triage job? This is the job you take to get you out of the miserable hell (or just boredom) that you are in now, that also helps you get to where you want to be.
Is it learning more about a career?
Is it doing the hard work to find your passion?
Is it something else, like networking more or taking a program or course?
Plan out, for the next month, how you are going to use that special career time.
It’s your time so you can use it however you want — but it’s easier to follow through if you have a plan, and don’t have to expend precious energy deciding what the plan is.
Because let’s be honest, career change is tiring and we want to conserve your energy.
Now you need to enlist the help of your nearest and dearest.
Chances are that they are well-meaning but not always consciously supportive of you.
What that means is that they shoot down your ideas, or they rely on you for help with their big problems all the time leaving little time left for yours.
If that’s the case, then I want you to help them help you.
Talk to your loved ones and tell them that you need their help.
You are setting aside time each week to work on career stuff and you need their help to make sure you follow through and don’t get distracted.
Let them know this is really important to you, and you appreciate their support while you explore and prepare for the next big thing.
It will help keep you focused.
It will get them to rely on you a little bit less, which is not a bad thing.
You can’t help everyone, but especially when work is dragging you down and you need to find something better.
It will show you who really is supportive of you and your dreams.
The hard truth is that sometimes we have people in our lives who tend to pull us down rather than pick us up, and that’s never good.
This is a good test to find out who in your life supports you.
Quick story: I haven’t taken a real vacation in a while.
I can feel in my body and mind that I’m overdue for a break, and I have some big things I’m working on behind the scenes which are going to require a massive amount of effort.
So, to make sure I succeed, I know I need to focus in on what’s important — and what’s important is taking care of me.
Am I sleeping enough? Am I getting exercise and eating normally.
Is my next vacation or stay-cation scheduled, so I get some much needed downtime?
Am I playing enough, to help keep my creativity and focus sharp?
The science behind this is solid, play is important to our work wellbeing.
Take a minute and make sure that you put time on your calendar to sleep and eat some veggies, at minimum, and also set a reminder on your phone to play, if only for five minutes at a time.
Getting into a good routine around this will help keep you focused on what is important — work you love.
You deserve it!
*Christie Mims is Chief Executive of the Revolutionary Club engaged in career coaching for people seeking career happiness. She can be contacted at therevolutionaryclub.com
This article first appeared on the Revolutionary Club website.
