03 May MAKE TRANSITIONS WORK WELL FOR YOURSELF
© photo by Andrew Winter
Ride the continuing surf with balance and vigor.
MAKE TRANSITIONS WORK WELL FOR YOURSELF
By Ruth Schimel PhD, Career & Life Management Consultant, Author
© 2022 (Do not use for commercial purposes or distribute widely without author’s permission)
Continued accelerating change in work and life situations as well as environments will likely be pervasive for the foreseeable future. Whether your choice or not, you can make the most of related transitions. Though you’re not clairvoyant, you can create your own “normal” by anticipating possibilities. One foundation that offers a solid base is attending to what has meaning and purpose for you. That also provides bridges to your future.
As you’ve experienced already, many aspects of change are beyond your control. But replacing reactive tendencies with a longer-term focus often opens wider opportunities. Your self-awareness and attention expand choices for influencing and creating what happens in your favor. In the process, exploration and commitment to self-care, growth, and communal welfare will deepen as you define what sustains meaning and supports your purposes for your good life ahead.
Your expanded vision also helps transcend blocks and limitations such as fruitless automatic actions, worries, and habits. It can contribute to an improved version of the next project, job, vision, and shift in relationships as well. Your clearer, authentic focus is likely to strengthen motivations, actions, and results related to what you want now and as life moves swiftly forward.
Whether or not you’re considering some version of retirement eventually, you will likely have decades of living ahead of you. You could decide to “become unretiring” by imagining and designing a future that honors your uniqueness.
Ways Forward
Perhaps you wonder how preparation, planning, and actions related to your second half of life would be effective given the current dynamic situation and possibly messy, murky future. There are at least three approaches for taking proactive, open choices in spite of these realities.
- Attending to yourself ─ Improve clarity and appreciation about who you are and what you truly want ─ letting your capacity for courage open some new, varied, or different choices. This inside-out first process is continuously accessible and based on your own imagination and insight. They benefit from your knowledge, values, skills, and experience as well as intuition and perspective.
Making your health and lifelong learning priorities also strengthen and expand your options. The information from your self-care and self-inquiry processes provide both an authentic foundation and directions based on synthesizing inspiring information for choices and actions, ideally with benefits beyond yourself.
For some stretching and inspiration related to attending to yourself as well as to relationships, watch this film about music and far more: Talent Has Hunger https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Has-Hunger-Paul-Katz/dp/B01HOVRB36
And for considering what’s ahead for you, consider Arthur C. Brooks’ From Strength to Strength https://www.businessinsider.com/book-review-strength-to-strength-by-arthur-brooks-2022-2
- Attending to your relationships ─ Assess the range of healthy, balanced relationships you have and want in professional and personal situations. Considering the realities of your responsibilities, time, and energy, choose how you will deepen and influence the relationships you have and possibly bring some new worthwhile people into your life.
To support your emerging and freshening vision, collaborate with others for mutual appreciation to make your range of skills, interests, and experiences more apparent. Perhaps start with conversations with people whom you trust, enjoy, and respect. Seek win-win outcomes for yourselves and the community as well.
- Attending to contexts or environment: Understand what’s happening around you that can make a difference in your life. Choose several topics and situations that truly engage you that can make a difference. Follow them online, through periodicals, and other sources that support your authentic ambition.
To explore further and surprise yourself go beyond the predictable and comfortable, the routine and reactive. For example, type some fresh keywords into search engines to open paths to a few, new listservs and unexpected, challenging sources. Snoop around in short spurts, to avoid overwhelming yourself or eating up precious time. Also, let go of matters and issues beyond your immediate reach or influence for now.
Create some mantras or mottos for yourself as you continue exploring and creating possibilities and adventures. Personal keywords might include hope, fun, and stretch. What inspiring, authentic words come to your mind for motivation and action?
What else could reap wider, yet still accessible, benefits? Maybe start with one of your passions. Are they climate change, community building, empowerment through collaborative learning, animals, the arts, or ????
Ruth Schimel PhD is a career and life management consultant and author of the Choose Courage series on Amazon. She guides clients in accessing their strengths and making their visions for current and future work viable and engaging. Aspects of this process include clarifying meaning and purpose for motivation, pleasure, and success as clients define them. 202.659.1772
Obtain the first chapter of Ruth’s seventh book, Happiness and Joy in Work: Preparing for Your Future and learn about a free consultation via her website: https://www.ruthschimel.com/books/happiness-and-joy-in-work/
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