Kondo for Your Career
Have you ever thought about spring cleaning for your career? If you’ve ever done it for your house, you know the feeling of accomplishment it can bring. Although we’re in a time of uncertainty, we currently have the rare gift of time to look deeper within ourselves to reframe, adjust, and plan for new possibilities ahead.
But before we do anything, we need to take stock and clear the clutter so that we can start to create more calm, focus, and vision around what we want for our future. For decluttering advice, who better to consult than bestselling author and TV celebrity, Marie Kondo. In her books, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Joy at Work, she provides methods that can not only be applied to our closets, but to our entire lives! I’ve tailored her steps to three parts for the purpose of career exploration:
Discard the old, and thank it for the purpose it served
Imagine your destination
Celebrate your strengths and spark your joy
Discard the old, with appreciation
Whether by necessity or by choice, when we make the decision to move forward with anything in our lives, taking the time to acknowledge and appreciate our experience will help us reframe a career change into a lesson that we can take with us into our next chapter. As you go through this first step, explore some of these questions:
·What did I learn from that experience?
What skills or lessons can I take with me?
Did I make important relationships that will stay with me?
How does that experience make me a better person? Am I more empathetic? More resilient?
Imagine your destination, share it with someone
Life comes in two parts: first in our minds, and then in our physical world. So rev up your imagination by writing down a few ideas, or creating a vision board, and see what happens. Take it a step further and share those ideas with a close friend or two.
The power of intention, speaking (sharing) and writing your dreams helps you build clarity around your goals, gives them life, and makes it much more likely that they will actually take hold. According to research by the American Society for Training and Development, our success increases by 42% when we write down our goals. And there’s 65% greater chance of outcomes when you share your ideas and commit to an action!
Celebrate your strengths, spark your joy
Many of us have been trained to focus on our mistakes or shortcomings in our schools, homes, and workplaces. This is often referred to as areas for improvement. Does this sound familiar: “you got all A’s, but why did you get a B in this class?” While it’s important to understand our weaknesses and aim for improvement, it’s even more important to spend as much of our time harnessing our strengths and cultivating activities that spark our joy.
Research from neuroscientists like Adam Kepecs at the Washington University School of Medicine has found that when we focus on our strengths, positive behavior is reinforced. Dopamine is released in our brain and we are inclined to repeat and expand our current levels of achievement. So how do we work on developing a strengths-based mind-set and get the dopamine flowing?
One simple way is to start a joy journal. Over the next week, take 10-15 minutes at the end of each day to write down and reflect on your activities and how they made you feel. This exercise will help you develop a better picture of when and where you are most productive, most happy, and most energized.
With more awareness, you can begin to plan for your next career move from a more empowered, joyful, and focused mind-set.