Often the biggest career change happens when you are not focusing on your career: you pay attention to the rest of your life. So with a career in the doldrums, here are some things you can do to explode yourself into a new life. I’ll blog more about each of these in the days and weeks to come.
You don’t have to take these steps in order. If you don’t feel ready for one step, just hold the thought and try another.
Here’s the first. Kill the television for 30 days.
Ouch. You have to be ready for this one.
I tend to be up and down about television. I count myself lucky: I grew up in a home without television. My college dorm had one set for several hundred students. So television didn’t enter my life till I took a job with lots of travel and a TV set in every room. Sometime around the mid-70s the color TV became standard.
So I have an off-again, on-again relationship with television. I’ll go a few years without no television, then get cable and watch for awhile.
For the past 3 years, I’ve enjoyed cable with ESPN capability and a DVR from Comcast. I first splurged to watch the Sopranos, then got rid of HBO. They gave me a deal when I threatened to cancel awhile back. But this summer, I realized I was paying about $70 a month to watch shows I could borrow from Netflix (or the public library).
And most days I’m not watching at all…just watching the recorded shows pile up.
So I pulled the plug. At first I noticed the silence. And suddenly I was reading all kinds of books. And I noticed that even a good murder mystery left me feeling more energized and motivated than watching television.
I miss C-Span and PBS. I loved Carrier. But they tell me podcasts are available and Carrier can be purchased as a DVD set.
Mostly, I noticed there’s a new energy in my home. Somehow there’s more space as well as time. I feel freer, more empowered and more productive.
So without changing anything in my career or business, I’m different…and my work feels different, too.
And I’d like to invite you to get started on your own career change, even if you’re not ready for this step. Check out my 21-Day Extreme Career Makeover.