“Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do” - Oprah Winfrey
The summertime heat brings to mind a recent visit to Alaska and enjoying time with family and the beauty all around me.
Being able to have life flexibility while earning has long been a priority for me.
Don’t get me wrong - I enjoy my work when I am working - but I like to enjoy my life too. At the start, it was all about work - until it wasn’t.
That is when I had to develop a process and become intentional about my life-centric career goals
I was an entrepreneur early on and knew I would own my own business eventually.
In the beginning, I had to earn and gain the knowledge and experience that I needed to build my career.
I was working on what I had to do.
Owning a business was my main goal and I did get there.
But here is the glitch. In a business or a career for any of us, our life evolves and changes and we may want to have more flexibility as our priorities change.
It was important for me to continue to earn and I had worked hard to get where I was. The current business was not suitable for the life I was envisioning, yet I wanted to work. I had to create a new option for myself that fit my criteria.
I drew on my strengths, skills, knowledge, and experience to develop a new business.
Was it instant? No, but I got there and had the flexibility I wanted for my life and could grow my business on my terms.
I set a plan and worked towards it doing what I had to so I could do what I wanted to - eventually .
In conversations with women who have reached a point where they want or need to make a change, I find they tend to forget what they have accomplished.
I often ask; "How can you use what you have?" Surely it is valuable.
Your life criteria are going to evolve and change. You will want different things. You may feel unchallenged in your work, life priorities change, and the current environment is full of change.
You have options. You can repurpose your strengths into a new role, career, or business.
Here are some tips you can use to begin to chart your life map:
- Be clear on what you want for your work and life now and the next 5-10 years.
- Be willing to do what you have to until you can do what you want to. It’s your now- not your forever. (people forget that and don’t start or get stuck)
- Repurpose those strengths, experiences, knowledge and skills into a new position, business or career
- -Keep your accomplishments and the success stories that go with them top of your mind.
Most of us did our due diligence early in life and set goals. But are you doing it now?
Is life happening to you? Or for you? Life is always happening for you...Embrace this belief - Tony Robbins
With the rapid changes going on currently, we have to continue to check in with ourselves and see where we can be best in life and career.
Then set a plan. Nothing happens overnight.
Use what you have - it's valuable - and continue to see where you can do what you have to until you can get to do what you want to.
Whether just starting out, or starting again - NEXT encourages us to rethink and design how we live and work - empowering us to continue to remain relevant throughout life
Find out more about the author,( Speaker, Podcast Host): Elizabeth Ribons
See what is NEXT at NEXT Career & Life
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