Why summer is the perfect time to plan a career change
We’ve reached the halfway point of the year and – unlike January – the sun is shining, the evenings are light and you might still have a bit of energy left in the tank. Unless, of course, you’re a parent of young children and have attended so many sports days, plays and fayres that you’ve barely been at work in weeks!
As you wind down and book a few days off, summer is the perfect time to reflect on your career and reassess your goals. This time of year is considerably less pressured than the media-fuelled New Year scramble for reinvention when resolutions are made, fitness regimes are started and CVs ping into inboxes up and down the country. So, if you’re feeling dissatisfied at work, try to use July and August to recharge, realign and bring some unhurried consideration to your working life. Ask yourself, what’s lighting you up and what’s bringing you down…
Here are my 8 top tips on how to use the summer to rethink your career:
Take it slowly. Don’t try to rush through the reflection stage and leap to conclusions and action. Let ideas percolate, tune into your inner voice and reduce the time you spend online so that you can hear your thoughts clearly. A digital detox, particularly from the rabbit hole of social media, is a good way to silence the external chatter and turn your focus inward.
Have a physical change of scene away from the usual routines. It doesn’t need an expensive two-week holiday abroad, it could just be a few day trips to the beach, a night away in a B&B, a camping trip or even just working in a café for the day. When we break away from our familiar environments, we stop operating on autopilot and can see the world with fresh eyes. This can inspire you and get the creative juices flowing
Evaluate your values. Take a notebook (a nice one, good stationary is a form of self-care!) with you on holiday, or to the park, and start writing down what drives and motivates you. I’ve got a few tips to get you started, including considering the key areas that really matter to you when you think about work. It might be relationships with colleagues, work-life balance, opportunities for growth and development, salary and benefits, responsibility, feeling valued or something completely different. Give each area a score out of 10 for how satisfied you feel right now, in order to pinpoint things that need addressing and get an insight into what matters most to you.
You could try a scanning exercise where you google a list of values words and circle the ones that really resonate with you. Look for patterns between similar words, like empathy and compassion. Another great exercise is to plot your career history to date and consider the reasons behind each career transition decision to reveal your core values and motivators.
Picture your career a year from now. Imagine yourself on next year’s summer holiday. Would you like your working life to be different by then and, if so, how? With this big picture perspective, identify the top three areas you’d like to change.
Ask for feedback. Sometimes we’re overly self-critical and play down our skills. If you’re in need of a confidence boost, ask peers, friends and family what they think your strengths are. The answers might surprise you! Perhaps you thought your value lay in being highly organised but other people view you as an inspiring leader. Explain why you’re asking for feedback and offer to do the same in return for them.
What has brought you joy this year. At the halfway point, reflect on the things you’ve done in the first six months of the year that have brought you genuine pleasure. I’m not talking about the satisfaction of ticking off a goal but rather the authentic joy of getting totally absorbed in something you love. It doesn’t have to be work related – it could be a hobby, something you’ve done in your leisure time, voluntary work or even a home craft project. Once you start listing a few things you might spot a theme – perhaps you’ve loved bringing people together through PTA volunteering, organising your work’s summer social and hosting a creative family birthday party. Might this be something you might want to incorporate more of into your working life?
Reassess your finances. Summer is a good time to take stock, look at your household budget and consider what you need to earn each month. If you’re considering a career change, are there areas you can cut back on in the short term in order to achieve a more fulfilling life long-term.
Get inspired. Create a summer reading, and listening, list to inspire you. A few books I’d recommend are The Success Myth by Emma Gannon, How To Get a Job You’ll Love by John Lees and Please Yourself by Emma Reed-Turrell. Podcasts I’m enjoying are Conversations of Inspiration with Holly Tucker, How to Fail with Elizabeth Day and Enough, the Podcast with Mandy Lehto.
As you slowly reflect on your values and motivations, the summer sun might start baking some of your thoughts into exciting possibilities for a reimagined work life.
If you’d like to talk about a potential career change, please get in touch