Pump it up. Sweat it out. Make it burn.
These "no pain no gain" dictums may be customary at the gym, but they can be deadly at work. If your job is wearing you down, leaving you exhausted and depleted of energy, you're not likely to have much strength left to build a healthy personal and family life.
You'll take your frustration home and vent it to those who care about you the most. If this sounds familiar, it's time to get off the work treadmill. Your career may be hazardous to your health.
Career success in today's workplace demands an ever-higher level of energy and focus. Saddled with the demands of email, voicemail and mobile messaging, we contend with non-stop disruptions and distractions that break our concentration, blur our focus and add to our stress.
Unchecked, this can lead to increased health risks -- irritability, sleeplessness, gastrointestinal disorders, heart problems -- not to mention added tensions at home. If you keep it up, you'll eventually just "hit the wall" and burn out.
Pay Attention Your Tension
The mind-body connection influences your career success more than most people realize. You achieve optimal performance through careful management of your time, your energy and your career.
The American Council of Exercise (ACE) recommends 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five times a week. If you're wondering where you could find a free 30 minutes in your already packed schedule, try incorporating exercise into your daily routine -- walk to appointments or to lunch, take the stairs, learn some desk exercises, even arm-wrestle the FedEx guy if you have to -- just do it.
Similarly, effective career management need not be an add-on. Develop habits, behaviors and rituals that support, not constrict, you. Assimilate your professional development activities into your daily plan. Don't postpone your career planning activities until the next long weekend or vacation day. You'll just resent it. Career management is not an event; it's an ongoing process.
If you're convinced you need to look for another job, try scheduling specific job search activities into blocks of time in your daily calendar. Make breakfast appointments, place calls from your cell phone at lunchtime, find an outside service to handle correspondence and mailing. If you have the option, take public transportation and use your commuting time to write email messages and letters. Set your own pace.
A complete fitness plan addresses five essential components: energy, strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. So if you want to build a high-performance career, try integrating these components into your career management plan.
Here's how:
Energy: Stop, take a deep breath, exhale. Breathing oxygenates the blood, giving you more clarity. Your job doesn't need to be a marathon. Slow down, focus on what must be done now and let the rest go. Heed the old adage, "work smarter, not harder." Few people on their deathbeds ever wish they had worked harder.
Strength: Your career muscles are your skills. The more you exercise them, the stronger they become. Look for ways to stretch your skills toward new or expanded career options. Attend training programs, find a mentor to share lunch with regularly, join committees to develop your people and professional skills. Do some informational interviewing to learn about others' roles and responsibilities. The most indispensable players on any team are those who diversify their skill sets.
Flexibility: The pace of change at work today calls for greater resilience -- the ability to reach, bend, twist and turn with ease. Don't recoil from change, embrace it. If you see change as something that "happens to you," you'll be the perpetual victim. But if you join in "making change happen," you'll find it to be more tolerable, perhaps even exciting. Having a plan that is subject to change will help you bounce back during tough times and seize opportunities during good times.
Balance: Prioritize what you want in order to find a balance between professional and personal life. Despite what you may have been led to believe, you can't have it all. If you overemphasize your professional life, you'll do so at the expense of your personal life. Know what matters most to you in the long run, and balance the various demands on your time selectively.
Endurance: Even if your job were to go away tomorrow, your career will still go on. Develop a contingency plan. Keep your resume up to date. Practice interviewing -- internally and externally. Build and maintain your professional network. Stay current with trends in your organization, your field, and your industry -- and adjust your goals accordingly.
Staying in shape is an ongoing process, requiring clarity, concentration and consistency -- not just a few isolated activities exercised during crisis periods. Good career decisions are not made in a in a crisis. Your career health depends on a regular regimen of assessment, awareness and action over time.
So, let's get moving!
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