What do you love?
What do you love to do? Think of this as a goals exercise. What type of person are you? Are you a people person? Do you like working from home or would you rather be in an office environment?
Make a list of those things you love.
Think about what you do and don’t like about your current job situation. What can make it better?
I’ve talked before about something similar (Take a Chance!) and a few weeks ago, about taking advantage of the current paradigm shift to make some changes if you’re not happy with what you’re doing in reference to your Family Schedule.
I talk a lot about work/life balance and juggling all the things. And I touched on this very briefly when I tossed out whether we can do it all back in May.
But, I’d like to take a deeper dive into what you really want. If you are looking to make a change in your work life, what are you looking for? Take the time to really think about what you want. How much are you willing to give?
What do you really love to do?
I love to travel. I have had some great career opportunities in the past that gave me some amazing travel experiences – while I was working! How can a job that includes travel fit in with family life? It is definitely harder now than when I was 22! My husband’s job requires him to travel constantly – which means I need to be here for the kids at home. Still, I run my business from home and remotely in order that I can work from anywhere. That means the kids and I can travel with him sometimes!
I am a people person. I love helping people and solving problems. I am also very type-A (organized) and methodical, so I like project management and meeting facilitation. Taking people’s issues and trying to find solutions to the problems that come up.
I also love teaching my kids new things. When we are traveling – whether it’s close to home or far away – I love how we can bring history or science into the conversation to relate something new.
What do you love? What are the top three things you think of when you try to come up with a quick list?
What is fun? I also love event planning. Whether it’s a big conference or a dinner party, I like to have fun putting things together, following a theme, and trying to make the most of the event for all the guests.
All of those different things – plus the fact that I need flexibility above all else – make for a great PR/Communications consultant. I like taking on all sorts of different projects! I also love working for myself, setting my own hours and schedule, and only taking on the things that I can handle within the rest of my busy life.
I know that’s not for everyone! So…what do you love? How can you take what you love and turn it into your dream job?
What is your dream job? Think of all the things you love, and what does that add up to? Is your dream job now different than what you envisioned before you had kids? Mine was!
I sat down a few weeks ago, thinking about this exercise, and I’ve debated long and hard whether I wanted to keep being my own boss and running my business. I have done this for a dozen years now, and I think it’s always good to ask yourself the question: do I want to make a change?
My answer after thinking for awhile? No change! I do still love working on my terms and for myself.
Are there things I still want to do – down the road? Absolutely. For now, being here for my kids is still #1 for me. With the prospect of all of them in school again (in person or possibly a combination of in person and remote) this fall looming, I will still have to be here to help them with all the things, and play mom’s taxi for whatever activities they are doing. I will still have to juggle life and be the primary parent at home while my husband travels for work.
What else will I be able to do? Take on some new freelance projects – probably one or two at a time – to give myself some new challenges.
Working from home, with kids is not easy. We have all figured that out this year! Now that we’ve done it for awhile, think about whether you want to keep doing it into the future. What do you love? I really love working at home and for myself. I wouldn’t change that for anything!
If you know this whole thing isn’t for you long term, but you also know you’d like more flexibility in the future, what does that look like for you? Is there a job share option for you to still go to an office, but for less hours (if you can afford that financially)? What about more of a flex schedule that could work better for your family?
Friends, child care is expensive. The prospect of potentially having our kids home for remote school for any part (or all) of this fall is hard.
Many companies are offering more remote work options now that they’ve seen it can work – if yours isn’t one of them, maybe exploring other options isn’t a bad idea.
What do you love? If your job is not fulfilling to you, take a look at what else might be out there.