August Take Charge of Your Career

Welcome to August!  If you’ve stuck with my monthly career navigation suggestions, congratulations on completing “The Hidden Golden Quarter.”  Investing time and resources to work on critical priorities, implementing meaningful change, and expanding your relationships across the organization.  Your focused energy puts you in good shape for accomplishing major goals and having a positive year-end performance review.

August is an ideal time to relax, recharge, and reflect.

Relax

Relaxation has physical and mental benefits, as well as helping increase your sense of well-being.  When physically relaxed, your muscles loosen, you can breathe deeply, lower blood pressure and improve digestion.  Mentally, relaxation can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. It can also improve brain function and memory.  Finally, relaxation can produce a sense of well-being that can help you feel calmer, more confident, and improve your ability to cope with the situations you’re facing.

With all these benefits it is important to identify what activities truly relax you.  Use the following questions to identify your optimal relaxation activities:

  • What activities help you forget about work and your responsibilities?
    For me it’s tennis. When I’m on the court, I’m never thinking about work or what I need to do next.  For others, reading a good book helps them relax.
  • What environments help you relax?
    For me it’s the beach. Watching and listening to the waves as they crash on the shore.  Maybe it is a forest, a lake, or an open field for you.  Other people love traveling to different countries and experiencing other cultures.
  • Who are you with? Are you alone, with a special person, or a group of people?
    For me, I’m with no more than four people.  You might prefer to be alone because you work with large groups of people or have many family responsibilities.  Conversely, you might want the comfort of a large community of friends and/or family.

Take a few moments to discover the activities, environments and people that facilitate true relaxation.

Recharge

Recharge is an important corollary to relaxation.  While relaxation helps you take a break from your job and career responsibilities, recharge is focused on restoring the energy, spirit, and passion you have for your work.  Recharge activities connect you with your purpose, values, and career goals.  Consider:

  • What activities link your values and purpose to the mission and vision of the organization?
    For me it was the senior leader forum. The top leaders in the organization would hear from the CEO, business unit leaders and outside speakers.  It energized me to help people achieve their optimal health, and better understand how I could make that dream a reality.  Maybe attending a conference or industry trade show works for you.
  • What people inspire you to action?
    We all benefit from positive role models and thought leaders who inspire us to perform our best and strive for excellence in our profession. For me reading, listening to podcasts, and speaking with mentors inspire me.  Clayton Christensen, Gus Young, and Berne Brown are all thought leaders who made me want to be both a better person, and leader.

Take a few moments to discover the activities and people who ignite the flames of hope, dreams, and excellence in you.

Reflect

Reflect is the final August activity, along with relax and recharge.  But I want you to reflect on an extremely specific question:

What can I subtract, or do less of, to make my life and work better?

I was exposed to this concept early in my management career, and it has been reinforced by the research of Leidy Klotz, a Professor at the University of Virginia and his book Subtract: The Untapped Science of Loss.

I’ve been part of three major turnarounds of organizations in my life.  One a large non-profit health care company, a public health care company, and a small community development corporation.  In each case, the key to returning the organization to long-term sustainability was not adding but subtracting.  Shutting down unprofitable businesses, walking away from problem customers, and eliminating non-value-added processes, procedures, and policies.  It sounds simple in hindsight, but our natural tendency is to increase complexity, add new products, open new markets, etc.

Professor Klotz and others research point to the fact that often the best solutions involve less, not more.  In today’s work environment colleagues feel overwhelmed by meetings, work, multiple priorities, and personal responsibilities.  It is time to invest real effort and thought to what you can subtract or do less of to make your life more rewarding and enjoyable.  Try to produce five things you will stop by the end of the year.

Bottom Line

August is time for the 3R’s – relaxing, recharging, and reflecting.  Identify the activities, environments, and people who connect you with your purpose and values.  Take time to engage in activities that give you the energy to do your best.  Finally, think of ways to do less so you can achieve more.

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