Although it can be hard navigating your career during time of uncertainty, 2021 can be your best year yet. We constantly hear about the importance of having transferable skills when searching for work, but high-performance skills are often overlooked. During this time, it’s key that you don’t lose sight of your goals, but keep working on your personal development alongside your career development. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, it comes down to breaking down the foundation of your strengths. There will always be bumps in the road and unforeseen hurdles, but if you learn to set yourself up for success despite of these, there is no reason for you to not come out on top. Below, high-performance career coach, Andrea Martin, outlines the power of transferable life skills during an economic downturn.
Being intentional.
I am very intentional with what I do every day. My morning routine is so important to me as it sets my day up for success. I wake up before everyone else, set up my schedule, think about what is the one thing I want to accomplish that day. Being intentional with what I do every day and checking myself along the way to make sure that am I actually doing it, enables me to remain accountable and on track.
Setting up a morning routine and scheduling your day will allow you to plan around distractions and many hats we wear. So, focusing on a set goal day to day will allow you to move forward and focus on the present rather than the past few weeks as a whole. It will allow you to celebrate a win and propel you forward. An object in motion stays in motion, so I make sure that every day, I am moving forward. Some days I sprint. Some days I just take a couple steps, and that’s perfectly fine. So, even during these times, it’s my intention to make sure that I’m always moving forward.
Being disciplined.
A question I get all the time is ‘how do I stay focused and motivated’. The reason why I no longer struggle with this is by really working on being disciplined every day, because motivation doesn’t always appear. I don’t wake up thinking, ‘I can’t wait to work really hard today!’ Instead I’ve focused on implementing discipline into my personal and work life. I’ve analysed what I am capable of achieving within a day, and I don’t allow myself to do anything less than what I am know what I’m capable of doing.
The key to becoming, and remaining, disciplined is knowing your why. Having your why at the forefront of your mind serves as a reminder of what you are constantly working towards. When setting up my day, I simply ask myself, ‘what can I do in the next 24 hours to move this needle forward?’ So, think about what it is you want for you. Think about what it is and write it down somewhere; what you would be like, when would you retire, who would you take care of, what would be your dream life, etc. Make it so vivid that on the days you are just not feeling disciplined, you can take it out, read it, and visualise your dream life.
Handling uncertain times.
I’m going to get straight to the point here. Be aware of what is going on in the world, but accept that there are things simply outside of your control, and it’s no use expending your mental bandwidth over. However, we’re human. So, there are going to be times when at the beginning, you don’t know how something is going to play out, and there will be feelings of stress and anxiety there. What I do is listen to those cues, but those are signs to me that something else is needed in my life, not necessarily control over a situation, it just means that I need to focus on something else. So, that might mean that I need to go for a walk, or listen to some music, or anything that helps me to just tune out for a little bit.
I know a lot of this may sound easier said than done, because these are habits that won’t be formed overnight. Doing little things to enable intentional and disciplined practices each day will quickly progress over time, and allow you to more easily navigate uncertain times. You’ve got this, you are a force that is so much more powerful than any pandemic. So, don’t let this derail you. Right now, what’s happening is that there’s a crack in your windshield that can easily be fixed, and you are still en route to your destination.
If you would like to learn more from Andrea, click here.