Prioritize in your Career: A Real Simple Look at This Stage

“Ground yourself in what is important to you today & a year from now. 

Dream, Explore & Ground in what is needed in all areas of your life. 

Order is important in this exercise. This is what you WANT to happen. Don’t get worried about HOW these will happen. 

Be honest with yourself. “ —From The Clarity Map by Lynn Mull

After you have been working over 12 years, your priorities will shift. Work has a pattern like any industry or timeline. Busy seasons can become predictable like the sun rising and setting. Periods of high stress can move like a cloud as you work for a deal or gather funding.  These cycles operate like clockwork, creating a comfort zone for your nervous system, despite high stress. These adrenaline rushes can create a loss of your own priorities as work sets the tone for the majority of your week.

Creating a list of priorities at this stage, for the next year helps with decision making and goal creation.

I stretch my clients to go back to basics, like the 90s presidential fitness challenges. 

Categorizing who is most important in your life and what they need right now (caregiving elderly is different from a new puppy or your kids’ schedules).  Prioritize your work needs next (financial, time constraints, travel limits). Be realistic about what is a non negotiable for your life and finances. It’s impossible to compare your situation with someone else's mortgage, bills or caregiving needs. 

If you love traveling for work, keep that on your list and enhance childcare. If you want to work for a culture that’s supportive to working mother’s then don’t put lofty work title at the top of your priority list. This can all change, and it will, as years go on.  

If you want it all, get realistic and rank the top 2 needs and top 2 values for your work life.

When you line up your values and priorities, decisions can be made swiftly by making a note if that next career pivot makes sense for what you need in the next year or two.