Now I get that you may feel that there are more important things to think about right now than your career. The crisis and the uncertainty can feel paralysing. You may feel you’re stuck in panic mode because you didn’t plan for this. And underneath you may be worried about your job and the impact the lock down is going to have on it.
But it is valuable to use this enforced down time to do some self reflection and check in on your career. Yes, things will return to normal, but it may be a new normal. It’s good to be prepared for whatever that new normal looks like.
During the crisis you may find you’re working your usual hours and have very little space to be reflective. Or if you’ve been furloughed you may find you can devote quite a bit of time to thinking about yourself. After all there is only so much Netflix you can watch!
What can you do?
“Action conquers fear” so implement some crisis management techniques. Here’s 3 things you can do to prepare for what’s coming next:
- Take Stock – reflect on your current career situation to see what is possible for the future, what can help you right now and what action you can take. A career SWOT is a really handy tool for this. It encourages you to consider your career strengths and opportunities alongside your weaknesses and threats (the parts we tend to focus on).
- Take Time – re-evaluate what’s important in your life and career. It’s events like the current crisis that make you realise where you want to be focusing your energy, and where you don’t. Visualising what you want for the future so you can start to make changes, and begin moving in a more positive direction now. A vision board is a great tool to help you do this. Read my post on How to Create a Career Vision Board for tips on how to approach it.
- Take Action – review what has come out of both exercises and make a plan of action. From your SWOT it may be things you can do now to increase your opportunities, develop new strengths or minimise your weaknesses or the threats. From your vision board, it could be starting to plan out what changes you need to make to achieve the life/career you ultimately want to be leading.
You may not be able to change the lock down situation at the moment, and the effect it’s having on your life but you can start taking control of your career situation.
You can download my Career SWOT tool HERE, and if you want to kick start your career change thinking why not join my Free 10 day career change challenge –Click here to join.