When you have a family and you enter a new stage in your life, you want to make the most of all of the time you have together. When you have bills, a mortgage, and other outgoings to worry about, you can lose that key family time in the mix. Getting a better, more harmonious, and sustainable balance is important. To do this, you may look at making a change to your career. A new, more rewarding career could open up new opportunities or you to realize your full potential, but it could also allow you to have more time for those that matter in your life.
Doing Something For Yourself and For Your Future
Before jumping in at the deep end, you need to think about doing something for yourself and your future too. You don’t just want a career or job that lasts just a few years. No, you want a role that allows you to grow, develop and hone the skills you will gain. When it comes to doing something for yourself, think about what you find rewarding. For example, do you enjoy volunteering and helping local organizations, or do you want to do something down a crafty or creative route? Or, do you enjoy helping people grow and evolve? What interests you, and how do you see your interests intertwining with your future?
Deciding What You Want to Do?
Now that you have this opportunity to make a change, and you have the chance to start sooner rather than later, you must decide what you want to do. When you are looking at embarking on something new, you can find that distractions and choices can become overwhelming – especially when you are still juggling family and other commitments. To decide what you want to do with your new career, you have to look at what you enjoy doing. What gets you up and out of bed each morning, and what keeps you going? The more questions you can answer, then the more enjoyable this process of change will be.
Following Your Passion
Your passion is important; without it, you will not have a fulfilling career. So, where does your passion lie, and what direction is it guiding you towards? On this journey, you may find that your passion may not be as strong as it once was, and this is going to be something you will have to work on. If you are not going to follow your passion, then you might regret choosing a career path. You are going to be spending time away from your family, so you have to be sure that the career that you choose is one that fulfills your passion and interest.
Full-time or Part-Time?
A new and rewarding career that is built around your family can be more flexible. There are lots of careers that provide you with flexible working options and flexible opportunities. So, what hours are you looking to work, and what is going to be suitable for getting the right family balance. For instance, would part-time hours give everyone a bit more flexibility, or would full-time hours give everyone more certainty and stability? When it comes to looking at how many hours you want to commit to your new role and career, you need to look at what opportunities there are that currently exist. When you are realistic with your expectations and aims, then you can walk in and weigh everything up – without the need for rose-tinted glasses.
Finding the Right Balance For Your Family Dynamic
To enjoy more family time together, you must find the right balance. It is important to remember that when you are embarking on a new career path, a balance may well elude you. Navigating the rough waters, learning when to say no, and how to say no to preserve that all-important family time is going to be crucial in your new career. To get the right balance, you have to set and establish boundaries. You have to restrict how much you share of yourself at work, and you have to ensure you do not bring too much of your work home with you.
What Inspires You and Motivates You?
By now, you will have already started thinking about where your passion lies and what type of career you want to do. However, have you thought about what is inspiring and motivating you? Being driven by better pay and financial rewards can be one motivating factor, of course, but it is rarely the only factor that is pushing your decision. So, just what is making you plan out the next few years, and what is pushing you to embrace this career change? Is it the possibility that you could influence others around you? Or is it that you have seen others lead fulfilling careers – and now you want to embrace the same? Motivation and inspiration will keep you going even through the bleakest of times, so focus on these key areas.
Advancing Your Education
After establishing what you want to achieve and why you then need to start putting the wheels firmly into motion. One of the ways you can do this is by focusing on advancing your education. Enhancing the current level of education that you hold can put you in good stead for your career and for those future opportunities. When it comes to advancing your education, you may want to look at getting a bachelor’s that will be highly relevant to your career path. Or, you may wish to focus on building your overall knowledge and awareness about the industry you wish to pursue.
Reigniting Your Drive
When you are juggling your family life, you will find that you will have to make sacrifices at one stage or another. This can leave you full of guilt, and it can leave you feeling overwhelmed, and this is something that you must work on when you can. Your drive and determination will push you a great deal of the way, but you must want a new career, and you must want a change for it all to work and fit into place. Without that essential element that is your drive, you would struggle to get the career you wanted, and you would certainly struggle to make the impact you were after – because you would simply run out of steam and fall out of the picture.
Making and Embracing Changes
As you embark on a new career, you may find it difficult to adapt and alter your way of thinking. Doing something new or different while trying to juggle your family can be challenging at the best of times. When it comes to making changes, you have to embrace change as much as possible. When you welcome change with both arms wide open, you then have a better chance at success. If you are not embracing changes, you will find that you are working against them, and then this is what is going to hold you back.
Build Strong Support Networks
There will be times when you need the support of others, especially when you are balancing work and family life. To ensure that you can do everything to the best of your ability, you must build and utilize support networks. Without string connections (family and friends) to rely on and turn to, you may feel misguided at times and possibly even a little lost. Professional strong networks are also important as you may build connections with future employers or work colleagues.
Commitment and Persistence
Two key things you must focus on in a new career are commitment and persistence. If you are not showing commitment to your news career and to your family at the same time, you will find that that balance is elusive (at the best of times). Being committed to everything you have going and remaining persistent with your efforts is challenging and it is exhausting. Taking regular breaks just for yourself (and for no one else) is going to be crucial on your journey.
Working Towards a Career Plan or Seeing Where You Go?
When you make the leap and you embark on a new challenge, you never quite know where it will take you. Will it open up new doors and opportunities for you? Or will it take you to a higher role? When you start off in your new career, you may wish to set out a career plan. If you want to be within a certain position or role, then a career plan can aid your efforts. However, if you are happy to see where you can go, then why not take more of a laid-back approach. Enjoy your work, and maintain your passion and drive for your new career without getting hung up on future ambitions so much. Whichever option works for you the best – then run with this, as this will help you ensure that your new career is the perfect fit (both now and moving forwards) for you and for your family too.
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