You don’t hear much talk about the health of a career, but it’s a thing, and it’s really, really important.
A few years back, people would have described my career as “healthy” …I was getting promotions, my income was increasing, and I was in a focused area of my industry. Problem was though, I hated it. My career itself was growing, but it was doing nothing for me. Money (important) and the
status of a corporate job aside, it felt like a detriment to my life. As a result, I could look down the road and see myself…climbing a ladder that was killing me softly.
Once I realized (and accepted) that, I began the slow (and sometimes difficult) process of disinvesting myself from traditional employment, and working toward building a freelance career that was healthy in itself, and for me.
Challenge Week 4:
Understanding Your Professional Health
Professional health is really about two, major questions
- How is your career benefiting your life?
- Is your career developing the way you want it to?
You can ask those questions about both your employed and your freelance life, but in
both, be completely honest. If you see that you’re dissatisfied in either area, you know that it’s time to focus there…maybe on finally investing in (or improving) a freelance career that works for you, maybe in building your freelance career, maybe even in freelancing
to build a resume that will get you to
your employment goals or connect with other professionals in your industry.
Have a great day!
Megan.
P.S. Next week I’ll be letting you know how my freelancer self-assessment went and I’d love to hear about yours, so don’t forget to take a
few minutes to fill it out!