Why now is the Best Time to Focus on Your Career Path
While you’re stuck at home, your life might be feeling a little like the world is right now, uncertain and somewhat chaotic. You ask yourself deep questions like;
Is my career at a standstill? What’s my next move? Where do I belong in this world? What is life??
Needless to say, we could all use a little inspiration right now.
What you may not yet realize is that during this unprecedented time the world has slowed so you can rediscover yourself. Take care of your mind, body and spirit, and reignite your passion. Why did you get into your career in the first place? Do you need a reminder why you love it so? Give yourself that, and good things will follow.
Many of us are feeling a little lost, especially in our career path, and that’s ok. However, it’s important to come back to ourselves. Grieve, if you must, over your former routine and any cancelled plans, then use this new-found freedom to reconnect with yourself and focus on a new path — your new normal.
Here are some ideas on how to move forward with your career:
What is your passion? First, clarify what it is you want. I don’t mean what you’re supposed to do, but what is it YOU want to do. Get clear on your goals and be specific so you can build a road map to success.
Practice Mindfulness. Mindfulness is a focused awareness on the present moment. It offers you peace within your mind to think more clearly and the ability to respond to a situation versus react to it. And it’s essential to feeling fulfilled and remaining effective in your work.
Take an online class, learn a new skill, and grow. Feeling like you no longer have a purpose? Now is the perfect time to do things you always wanted, but never had the time for.
Gain confidence. Is there something you always wanted to be more confident with in your career? Boost your knowledge and practice, practice, practice!
Decide what’s important. Evaluate your life right now and decide what you’re able to commit to. It’s ok to let some things go or even delegate them to other people if you can.
Practice self care. More than ever we all need to focus on our self care. Learn to say no. Take more “mental health days.” Before we can fully focus on our career, we must first take care of ourselves.
Clear your mind. It’s likely a lot of us are feeling an information overload right now and our minds full of unwanted thoughts. Practice deep breathing. Write in a journal and get all of your thoughts out on paper. Then refocus and make a to-do list, get organized and just do it.
Build your dream. Don’t let yourself be all talk, because that’s where dreams go to die. You must create and take action steps to feed your passion and make it a part of your everyday life.
Often when tragedy hits people don’t know how to cope and that’s what holds us back. If you focus on the negative, you will only see the negative. Don’t give up on your career because of setbacks, it’s easy to do. So what do you do when your career doesn’t seem to go the way you want it to? Reassess and work towards your vision still, but with a new strategy. Whatever you do, don’t quit. Our minds are a powerful thing, when you believe in your dreams and what you do, magic might just happen.
Remember, things fall apart only to shine light on how everything is really coming together.