The Confident Career

Applying Life Lessons to Career Success

There is a frequent and nagging sentiment that seems as inherent in us as our desire to eat, breathe and love, and that is the desire to relegate our energy to that which will only benefit us in the long-term. Echoing throughout high schools decades past and still to this day, almost as frequently as the bells themselves, is the age old adage: “When am I ever going to need to use this?” Whether we are young and would much rather be doing something enjoyable, or we are getting older and beginning to attribute a quantifiable number to the time that we have, we, above all, rue having our time wasted.

Unfortunately, we are not always the best judges of how important the lessons we are learning might be. Think back to the most significant moments of your personal development, and I can almost assure you that you’ll arrive at something that seemed utterly insignificant at the time. Perhaps it was even something that you resented or dreaded doing in that moment. We have a great deal of trouble committing fully to exercises and lessons that we can’t see benefiting us in the scope of our vision of the future. For this reason, it is so very important to consider often how lessons in other areas of life can lead you to career success.

Love the Job You’re With

“And if you can’t be with the one you love honey, love the one you’re with.” Stephen Stills wrote these lyrics for his self-titled album in 1970. 

What does this have to do with your job search? Everything! Finding a new position can be a full-time job itself, but if you already have a full-time job, do not let your search interfere with your performance. Whether you are testing the waters or are completely miserable, the worst possible thing you can do during your job search is to mentally check out of your current job.

First, it’s important to understand that undertaking a job search can be a lengthy process. There are a lot of variables that impact how long the process may take, including the economy, the level of demand in your field, location, experience, job searching strategies, and employment history, principally.