Re-adjusting Career Tempo

Written on January 9 2018, published September 5, 2020

In the midst of our stressful work place dynamics, many speakers and writers have come forward to talk about methods to manage the daily chaos.

Concepts such as Mindfulness, Self-control, Positive Mental Attitude have become run-off the mill remedies. I even came across a review of an on-line coaching service that "cut and paste" advice. There is a lot of helpful information out there but even the credibility authors needs scrutiny.

My research has led me to uncover that these self-help concepts are deeply rooted in ancient philosophies and religion. Bits and pieces of advice such as "Know thyself", as the Greek aphorism goes, is truly old school. Mindfulness has roots in Zen Buddhism and it was actually Martial Arts legend Bruce Lee who tried to popularize the concept through his art and writings.

“Bring the mind into sharp focus and make it alert so that it can immediately intuit truth, which is everywhere. The mind must be emancipated from old habits, prejudices, restrictive thought processes and even ordinary thought itself.”

-Bruce Lee, The Tao of Jeet-Kune-Do

On the same token, Positive Mental Attitude has also been around for quite some time, it was made mainstream by Napoleon Hill and halfway around the world as well by Mahatma Ghandi who said:

“A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes.”

-Mahatma Ghandi

Our ever busy work styles coupled with continuous bombardment of emails, Facebook, Viber, Linkedin and Instagram notifications have barred us from pausing to take stock of our purpose . We truly have missed the writing on the wall. Look at the evidence, a 2016 Staying@Work survey by Willis Towers-Watsons ranked "Work-Life Balance" as the number one cause of stress across ninety-one Filipino companies. On the entrepreneur side, a Grant Thornton International Survey, said seventy-six percent of business owners are stressed.

We are slaves to our work and to our smart phones. According to an article written by Business Insider, Apple recently confirmed that i-phone users unlock their phones on average 80 times every day. That translates to as much as six to seven times every hour! Another piece written by the same company, states one in three people check their phones in the middle of the night. Can you take a wild guess at what they are checking? Instant messages and work email. Imagine the disrupted sleeping pattern and impact on work performance the next day. At such a pace, surely, we will all need some form of respite.

It's been five months since I decided to take a momentary pause from corporate life. After a few set-backs, the idea was to take the time to re-adjust my bearings then get my career on-track, and in parallel, take care of the kids while attempting to run the household.

Guided by both the wisdom of the ancients and support from close family members, I made the decision to drop the tempo and take a career break.

Looking back, I think it was one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I got to know myself and what I am capable of achieving. Being unemployed challenged my self-confidence but in the end boosted my self-esteem. I experienced being in a rut and used positive thinking and mindfulness to dig myself out.

Pretty soon I will be re-joining the workforce, but this time with renewed energy and very clear purpose. Here are eight lessons, I would like to highlight and share if you are deciding to temporarily un-plug from the matrix.

1) Measure your Finances; how long you can afford to stay out?

Typically to find a job takes about 3-6 months. That should be enough time to sort out whatever you are going through. Plan to have that much in monthly home expenses saved up. If you can afford 12 months then better! Spend wisely.

2) Talk to family and Friends:

Take this time to enjoy being around your loved-ones. If you have kids, take them to school or help out with their activities. Play with them. Visit your parents and have meaningful discussions. Tell them about your ambitions and goals. Reach-out to close friends you may have deprioritized in favor of your career. Who knows? They may also have opportunities to share with you.

3) Do something out of the ordinary

During my six-month break, I learned how to cook, fixed-up our garden, set-up my website and took up Boxing as a way to keep fit. Not exactly how I imagined spending my free time as I had planned to sign up for the jungle survival experience in Subic bay. But I think you get the point.

4) Assess your Goals

Are you still on the right track? Time to make a career change? Back to school to take an MBA? Whatever you decide, you need to be making choices that will take you closer to the goals you have set for yourself either career or personal. I was accepted in an MBA program but decided to back out due to my foreign assignment.

5) Allocate time to Branding yourself

After you have cleared your mind and reset your goals, you should ideally be thinking about what you stand for. Ask yourself, how your previous work experiences or current skills make you, you. I chose to harp on Organization Transformation on my resume and website seeing as my last two roles allowed me to contribute in positive organization change and business results.

6) Reach out to your work network

You should have at least three to four headhunters who you can trust and are helping you to re-integrate into the workforce. To increase chances of landing that interview, utilize your Linked-in account by temporarily upgrading to premier. Inquire about potential roles with former bosses and colleagues let them know you are available.

7) Prepare a re-connect story

One of the key questions that will be asked in your interview is "why the gap in work experience?" or "why did you leave your last job?"

This could be rather challenging if the reason you took a break was because you were made to resign. From my experience it's best to be honest , talk briefly about the reasons and then quickly turn the tables on your interviewer by stating the key learnings and how you would do things differently if you were given the chance to be part of the team.

8) Go forth with Self-Confidence! Stay Sharp!!!

Now that you've done the hard work, don't lose faith if prospects don't materialize. The key is never to give-up. Follow-up interviewers with thank you messages and reenforce how you could contribute by solving a current business issue. In the end, the key is "make your interviewer feel it's not about you. It's about them"---the interview guys

Enjoy your sabbatical and Good Luck!!!