Maybe you’ve resolved that 2023 will be the year you change career. You’re motivated to get started but there’s one thing in the way. School holidays.
I love spending time with the family over Christmas but by the time the first week of January rolls around I am usually keen for my own space and normality. Instead what ensues is an endurance test of juggling school holiday care, playdates and trying to get some work done in the midst of the chaos.
So if you’re in the middle of changing career or just getting started it can feel quite frustrating to think you’ll be doing nothing towards this life changing goal until February.
But there are some quick and easy things you can do to keep the momentum going.
Read a book
Most of us will find time to read a book, even during school holidays. So why not make it an inspiring career change related book? Perhaps a biography of someone whose career interests you or maybe you want to read a personal development book with a career slant. Some of my favourites include Born for This by Chris Guillebeau, Rethink your Career by Joanna Maxwell and Reinventing You by Dorie Clark.
Do a personality quiz
There are a lot of free tests out there that can help you build self-awareness of your strengths, personality and motivations and how these relate to your career. Two of my favourites are 16 Personalities and the VIA strengths Inventory.
Write a list of your passions and interests
Write a list of the things you like doing and are interested in. Think broadly about this. What did you enjoy doing as a kid? If you had a day to spend however you please, what would you do? What sections of the bookshop are you drawn to? What issues get you fired up?
To take things further you could do some career related mind mapping with these interests. Get all the interests down on a sheet of paper and see how you can connect them or what further ideas they spark. For example, one of your interests might be nutrition and another one might be organising and project managing so a career idea there might be helping busy people stay on top of their nutrition.
You don’t have to do anything with this. It can just be for fun but it’s a way of getting your brain to make connections and see beyond the obvious job titles.
Daydream
Even your kids can’t stop you from daydreaming, although they might interrupt the flow a bit.
So I’m giving you permission to Indulge in some purposeful daydreaming. Think about what your ideal career and life would look like. Where would you live? Where would you work? Who with? How often? How would your work contribute to your life?
You can keep this in your head if you like but I find our daydreams become more real when you write them down. You could do some journaling during a quiet moment or even record in a visual way using Pinterest or magazine cut outs. The kids could even do this with you as you indulge in some family vision boarding.
Be a career detective
Just feel like sitting on your phone for a bit? Instead of reading about Harry and Meghan, do some career related scrolling. Look up jobs on Seek purely from an information perspective. What do you like the look of? Where do those jobs frequently come up and what skills are they looking for? Or you could search some organisations you like the sound of or randomly put some job titles into LinkedIn. What comes up? What is the career history of the people you find? Any surprises?
[Caveat to this: we know the job boards and LinkedIn can be big black rabbit holes, give yourself a time limit for research] And remember you’re seeking information at this stage, not a job.
Start planning for next year
If doing any of the above has got you thinking about things you’d like to do more of next year then it’s time to get planning. Whilst you might not have the time to start putting these plans into action until February, sometimes the act of planning can make you feel more in control and know that you will get there soon. One of my favourite planners is the Daily Greatness Journal which gets you to think about what you want for your whole life, not just career and chunks the year down into quarters so you can focus on 90 day goals.
You can also download my 12-week career change planner and resolve to get started on it in February. It includes some calendar sheets so you can start blocking out career change tasks in your diary.
Practice patience
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about career change when you’re a mum, it’s that it is a marathon not a sprint. My own career change has moved at a frustratingly slow pace and continues to do so as I integrate it with the other aspects of my life, aka my two boys. Accepting this pace as part of the journey is something I will be working on myself over the school holidays. My children won’t be this age forever and there will come a time when I don’t have to plan around school holidays. For now, I will clear space as much as possible to be with them – it’s one of the reasons I changed career in the first place.
I will be taking a break from the blog over the next couple of weeks so I can start practicing patience myself. I hope that you have a very merry Christmas and that in amongst the chaos you carve out some time for rest and rejuvenation for yourself.
I will be back soon to support you in your career change goals for 2023.
Denny