Contributor The Corporate Sister is sharing tips on how to recharge your career after summer is over. This is great preparation for the Fall season.
The end of the summer almost always spells the end of a time of leisure and relaxation. Especially when it comes to your career. After all, we all know how challenging it can be to be productive during the summer months, when it’s 90 degrees out and all you want is dip your toes in some warm sand somewhere in the tropics.
Whether you’re coming back from vacation, or getting mentally ready to finish the year with a bang, the transition from Summer to Fall can be quite challenging at work. While the warmer months may have seen some productivity slowdowns, picking up the pace becomes important as the season comes to an end and we get ready to tackle the last quarter of the year.
Just as it is Back to School time for many families, for many career women and men, it’s also Back to Work season. A time when most of us buckle down to finish the year strong, often and hopefully re-energized from vacation and time off.
As a student, I loved going back to school and starting fresh at the end of the summer. Later as a career woman, I found myself looking forward to getting back to being more productive and focused in the Fall. After mid-year evaluations and hopefully some time to slow down and recharge your batteries, it feels good to start fresh, set new objectives and get renewed energy for the remainder of the year.
Here are some tips to recharge your career after the Summer months, and start fresh as you embark on the last quarter of the year:
Be grateful for what you have accomplished so far
As career women (and men), we often fail to take some time to show gratitude for the hard work and efforts we make. As our careers become more and more demanding, we continuously keep working and reaching for the next goal, the next objective, the next promotion.
Meanwhile, we seldom consider how much we’ve learned and mastered along the way. As a result, our incredible wealth of knowledge and experience often gets lost in the shuffle of accomplishments and career positioning.
Start fresh by showing gratitude for everything you’ve learnt, any feedback you may have received, opportunities you may have been granted, as well as for the time off you’ve (hopefully) had over the summer.
Assess where you stand
Coming out of the summer months is a good time to assess how many of the goals you’ve set at the beginning of the year you’ve actually met. And how much work you still have left to do.
It’s also a great time to determine whether you’re off course, or if your objectives have significantly changed since the beginning of the year.
How about the feedback you’ve received so far? What have been the results of your mid-year review, and how are they helping you towards your goals? How would you like to position yourself as you finish the year?
As you refocus on your career, take stock of the lessons learned, progress made (or not), and use your own career self-assessment to build a strong plan of action for the rest of the year.
Renew or set objectives for the remainder of the year
This is where you re-confirm, enhance or re-set your career goals and objectives for the remainder of the year. It’s one thing to assess how far you’ve come, and where you currently stand on your career path. It’s another to refresh your career mapping.
Take some time to figure out the areas where you’ve shown strength, and those where you’ve displayed weaknesses. Decide to capitalize on your strengths, and pay special attention to those areas requiring more effort. Based on these, renew and/or set updated, fresh goals going forward.
Enjoy the Process
In the midst of all this “career recharging” and refocusing, don’t forget to enjoy the process. It’s through enthusiasm and happiness in our endeavors that we’re able to multiply our accomplishments and truly benefit from our work.
If you’re still entering the last months of the year feeling depleted of energy and lacking in joy and enthusiasm, it may be time to reconsider the direction of your career.
Do you have any other tips to recharge your career after the summer months and finish the year strong?
Bio: Solange Lopes is an author, blogger and CPA. She writes about career and lifestyle topics for women at work in her blog The Corporate Sister (www.thecorporatesister.com). She’s the author of The Corporate Sister’s Guide to Taking Back Control of Your Career: 7 Steps to Reclaiming Your Work.
Leave a Reply