As you head into another holiday season in captivity, you will likely have time between Netflix binges for daydreaming about your career and how to improve it.
Even when you love your job, you can think of ways for it to be better. Maybe you want to make more money or make more time for other things or set things up so you can start on your passion project.
All of those things are possible but not without planning and thought. I have tried the wishing-on-a-star thing and it does not work. You have to put in the time to visualize what you want to be doing in the future and then identify the steps to get there.
It does not have to be a complicated exercise. It just takes some time.
The first step is to identify what you want to do or change. Do you want to do something entirely different or just shift to a different team, manager or location?
Next, consider what you need to do to make that happen. Notice that action word? Make it happen. This will not happen by itself. No one is going to tap you on the shoulder to step into your dream role. But if you talk to the right person, they might open the door that gets you one step closer.
As you lay out your strategy, take some breaks to let it roll around in your head. Do some yoga or go for a walk with your pandemic puppy. Revisit your notes to make sure they make sense.
The third step is to assign timelines to your strategy. That’s the only way to keep yourself accountable. Put notes in your work calendar, the one you see every day. You can use a secret code (which sounds cool) or just put in notes and lock the appointment so no one else can see it.
Keep moving forward towards your goal. Pull in some support from a friend or relative. Maybe set up a weekly check-in with a friend.
It might be hard to stay with it when the hamster wheel of life starts up again in January, but if you stick with your plan, it will be worth it.
Recruiter's Couch 