Hey MMers,
How was the month of March for you? Some of you are probably experiencing Spring right now, while some folks I know are being vaccinated and looking forward to normalcy again.
February left me full of emotions. During March, I recuperated and cleared out all the negativity around me, which had been piling up after a certain dramatic incident in February (a story for another day).
Sorting out my emotions made me realize that some of the tasks I have been juggling are growing out of proportion. For example, one of my clients used to order assignments that take up 20% of my time weekly. However, because of a surge in his publishing business during the pandemic (more folks are staying at home; hence more are reading online), I am now experiencing a 40% increase in incoming orders.
Another example concerns my daughter. Since I homeschool her daily, there is a sudden need to increase mental stimulation activities for her, possibly a growth spurt here. However, I still find myself sometimes struggling to keep up creating new activities that challenge her. Therefore, I decided to increase our sit-down lessons from 1.5 hours to 2 hours, sometimes even more.
There will be a change in my time allocation shift, which means April will be the month for me to sort out my priorities.
Talking about priorities, we need to constantly evaluate them in our lives, especially in our career needs. Our needs and wants may change over time, which may alter our career preferences as well.
A friend of mine adores travelling around the world, so she jet-set as a flight attendant in her early twenties. She achieved her priorities of gaining experience and collecting memories through her carefree moments as a frequent flyer. During her mid-thirties, she was in a committed relationship. Her preferences changed to having stability in her life, so she switched to being an account manager that still required some business travel twice a month. She strikes a balance between her thirst for travel and her need to nurture a healthy relationship, which was both her priorities. In her late forties, being a happy wife and mother of three, her preferred choice is to spend more family time. Hence, she cut back her hours, changed to a less demanding role, and chose to travel only for pleasure. Her family is now her priority.
We need to evaluate our career needs every three years. Anything can impact or change your needs towards your job. However, I have realized that the major impacts usually include:
Industrial changes
Perhaps the role is becoming obsolete due to technological influences, or there is a shift towards government protocols in your role.
Milestones
Lifetime milestones like marriage, relocation, and children may affect how you view your career. You may want to travel less or earn more to meet the needs of your newly acquired lifestyle changes.
Purchases
Are you doing a degree, buying your first house, or maybe changing a new car? Those are substantial financial commitments to get ready for. If you are not making as much as you can to cover these expenses, then you should look at the reasons preventing you from making such.
Company Changes
Got a new change in management or perhaps a change in your superiors? Does that change impact your work? Will this change hinder your promotion or give it to you quicker? If you are going to put in all your effort, this is something serious to think about.
New Discovery
The last significant impact that you need to consider is discovering something new about yourself. With time, we evolve with new experiences, new people, and new places. Even as I picked up my old hobby in scuba diving, I was tempted to see if this returned passion can be made into a career like a diving instructor.
With that, I guess you should be thinking about when the last time you evaluated your career path was. I will leave you in deep thoughts as I get busy sorting out my priorities.
Until the next article, stay laughing and beautiful!
Signing Off,
Kally@MiddleMe.net
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