In 2020, we all learned to survive in the face of a global health pandemic, an economic crisis and the unfortunate losses of so many of the advances accomplished in diversity and gender equity. Now in 2021, we learn to reinvent ourselves and strive, what with all the lessons, insights and feedback we keep receiving from this season of challenge and learning.
As working women and moms especially, we’ve experienced the brunt of this crisis, both at work and on the home front. Faced with the necessity of working remotely, the unfortunate loss of jobs, and the need to homeschool children and shoulder the majority of household responsibilities, we’ve had to find ways to reinvent the way we think about and do things. Our entire concept of what constitutes normalcy has been turned upside down, leaving us to re-create the foundation of our work and lives.
Whether we’re working from home or re-entering the workplace physically, or looking for a new job or career, this year is truly the year where we reinvent the way we work and live. As we make a plan for it, here are 3 steps to keep in mind:
- Overhaul your mindset: In any plan, your mindset comes first. How you think, how you view yourself and the world affects everything you do. I’ve learnt you can have everything, but if your mindset is not up to par, you won’t be able to sustain or enjoy much.
- Make a plan to have a mental and spiritual daily practice in place. It may be praying, meditating or just spending some time alone daily. For me, it’s prayer and having a few minutes to myself daily (even if I have to lock myself in the bathroom or spend a few extra minutes in the car J)
- Establish a journaling habit. Remember how we talked on Day 1 about identifying your predominant beliefs and steering away from negative ones? Documenting my thought patterns and mindset has helped me continue to gain the clarity I need to identify the mind blocks standing in my way.
- Plan to seek the help you need. It may be therapy, or identifying like-minded people around you.
- Plan to adjust your lifestyle: Reinventing yourself is also reinventing your habits and the way you live. It doesn’t need to be drastic, but a little change every day goes a long way.
- Prioritize the tasks aligned with your strengths. Remember the strengths assessment we did on Day 2? The tasks you do that are aligned with your strengths and bring you the most energy should have a place on your daily schedule, and ideally be prioritized if you can. I understand it may not be 100% possible at first, but starting to work on it starts opening doors of possibilities and attracting the right opportunities to you.
- Create more time: Transformation requires time. Plan to create more time in your schedule by waking up earlier for instance. On Day 2, you identified some activities not aligned with your strengths, which can be HUGE time-stealers. By eliminating some of these, you can also create MORE time for yourself.
- Plan to reconsider your network: Who you attach yourself to will help or hinder your reinvention process. Take a look at your contacts: are the last 5 people you called or texted aligned with your new, ideal vision of your life and desires you described on Day 3? If not, you may need to re-work your network.
- Recharge your career: The work you do is not separate from your life, contrary to public opinion. Work should be meaningful, fulfilling and purposeful, for it to have a positive and healthy impact on you.
- Take a look at the careers aligned with your desires and strengths you may have listed on Day 3. Which ones can you plan to transition to?
- If transitioning to a new career is not on your radar, which activities that are part of your current job can you prioritize or steer towards?
- Make networking a priority: Prioritize meeting new people who are more aligned with your new vision of the career.
Are you creating your Career Reinvention Plan in 2021?
The Corporate Sister
