Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Balancing Actions (...72)

I haven't been targeted in my career path thus far.  Actually, I was targeted early on.  Around age 24 I decided I wanted to work as a digital video editor.  I taught myself the software, interned, freelanced, and started working full time.  Then I changed my mind and moved into a related field, broadcast post production.  It was a good shift for me.  I liked the work, learned a lot, committed myself to the job, and got promoted.  But then a big health scare, a brain tumor, shifted my direction, or, better put, my concerns.  Work felt insignificant to me.  The product, a television show, lost its luster.  I couldn't see my work goals anymore but my personal goals came into focus.  Personal goals got most of my energy, effort, emotions, and thoughts.  Career goals suffered.  But now I want to shift my efforts.  I don't intend to drop personal goals, but I want a better balance.  I want my personal and professional goals to coincide.  So, with that in mind, this evening I  went to the Marsh’s Women’s Executive Business to Business (WEBB) Women and Wine Reception.  It was held at Brix on Broad, an impressively well stocked boutique wine shop, owned by two women in Boston.  The intent of these events is to provide networking opportunities for women in the form of interesting and educational social events.  The combo of a wine tasting, networking, and author talk is brilliant.  Talk about a good balance! 

The speaker, Pam Lassiter, gave us all a copy of her book The New Job Security Rather than read from her book, she offered a few bite size career questions for us to think about as we consider our future.  Her ideas were easy to swallow along with our glasses of wine, cheese, and charcuterie!

My favorites of the ideas she presented were these two:  "What do people seek you out for?" She suggested we ask ourselves.  I like this approach to thinking about career direction because everybody can come up with an answer to this.  Another tip from Pam:  "Be a jack of all trades, master of two."  This suggests that we need not neglect any of our interests. We should pursue all of them but make a few our focus.  Helpful advice for me right now as I find myself skipping around from one thing I like to do after another.  Which do I want to focus on and incorporate into my next job?  And why is this question so tough for me?

No comments:

Post a Comment