Make Time To Think About Your Career

Deborah Brown-Volkman

Do you spend time thinking about where your career is headed, or do you wish you even had time to think about your career?

Time to think about your career is crucial. Without it, you go along, more often than not, without difficulty, until the day that something happens. Then, you are left without direction or a plan.

Your career is something that you need to think about, plan for, and work on regularly, not just when you are looking for a new job, and you need an updated resume. If you think about your career now, on your timetable, when it works for you, decisions you make about your future will be easier for you.

So, How Do You Make Time To Think About Your Career? Follow These Four Steps Below:

1. Don’t Let Being Busy Win

One of the reasons your career may not be where you want it to be is because you are busy. We all have bills to pay, and that requires having a job, and putting in the time and effort necessary to keep it. As a result, your career aspirations could become secondary to your paycheck. But, that doesn’t mean that you have to abandon them completely. If I said to you, think about your career over the next seven days and I will give you a million dollars, I bet that you would find the time to think about your career. You would do what you have to do, because you wanted the money. Why not have the same intensity about your career without money pushing you, because having a career you love is worth the effort.

2. Commit To The Process

Time to think about your career will not be given to you; so you have to commit to taking it. This does not mean that you have to allocate days or weeks with nothing else to think about except your career, but taking an hour here, or half an hour there, on a regular basis will make a tremendous difference. Without a commitment to yourself and your career, this time will not materialize.

I have many clients that ask me what they should do next in their career. I ask them to think about the answer. What you are supposed to do next in your career becomes apparent once you give yourself the time to let the answer appear. Time is what allows you to get in touch with yourself and what’s important to you. Time is the foundation for career success.

3. Schedule Time To Think

Ask yourself, "When will I think about my career?" Knowing your body and your schedule, when’s the best time for you to think? If you get your best thinking done earlier in the day, get up 15 minutes earlier to think. If you are not a morning person, what time is good for you? Lunchtime? After work? The weekends? Choose a time that is right for you.

Open your calendar and put this time into it. Look at your calendar in the morning and in the evening before you go to bed. This will keep the schedule alive in your mind.

4. Think

Once you have made the time to think, find a quiet place. Take deep breaths, as many as you need to calm your mind. Your mind will want to wander. Bring yourself back. Remind yourself why you are doing this. Your goal is to be able to visualize what you should do next in your career. Focus on the importance of this goal and refocus your thinking.

As you are thinking, have something nearby to capture your thoughts. You’ll want to remember what you have described in your mind, so you can ponder now, as well as later. If you routinely follow your thinking schedule, your career plan will begin to surface. Once you can see your next move clearly, (or at least some of the elements that are important to you), you are on your way to making it happen.

So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!