Am I losing focus?
It’s a question I’ve asked myself a lot over the years and I realise, I’m not alone.
Constantly rushing from one destination to the next, to complete one home/work task after another. ‘Always on,’ in order to meet deadlines and stay ahead of work overload. Succumbing to the ‘email twitch’ of checking every email that announces its rude entrance into your neatly collated inbox, (or maybe that’s just me). Blurring the lines between home life and work life. Living for the holidays, because it’s the only time I can justify that it’s okay to fully switch off. Working harder to work smarter.
An insightful article by @Womenreturners outlines three predominate work styles, ‘Juggler’, ‘Integrator’ and ‘Separator’. If you are a fellow ‘integrator’ like me, then most of the time, this oscillatory way of working suits you fine.
However it is a fine balancing act, one that can implode on itself at any time - and in those moments, if you too, wonder whether you are losing focus, by that I mean, your work focus, your purpose, your effectiveness - then there could be some key questions and changes you may need to consider.
A great psychologist, coach and career counsellor @robnathan, Managing Director @CCS, conducted a thought-provoking piece of research with his team, into what constitutes career success. One of the areas which resonated with me was the wasted time, thought and energy, we career champions, funnel into areas of our working life, which our employers simply don’t give a sh*t about. (“Sorry not sorry”).
So many of us think we are working harder and faster, jumping through hoops to deliver, on the brink of burn-out and yet, not feeling your employer respects or values the hard work you put in, in quite the same way you do.
Without realising it, as Rob Nathan suggests, you could be creating an imbalance between your ‘employer’s focus’ and your ‘self-focus.’ To help tackle this issue, you may need to be brutally honest with yourself and ask a few key questions:
Have you gained a clear understanding of your employer’s focus - their goals, vision, needs and expectations?
What career management strategies do you have in place to achieve them?
What is your self-focus - your goals, needs and expectations?
Is there a balance between two?
It may be difficult to admit, (it was for me too), but if the two are at odds, then you’ll need to find ways to redress the balance, because once you do, you pitch yourself one step closer to achieving career success.
Czarina Charles, Managing Director, FLOURISH CAREERS
Licensed CCS Balance™ Coach 2019