Life can feel a little crazy when you’re in the midst of a change like a career transition. If you have one foot in your current job and the other foot has stepped into dreaming about your future career, you may get overwhelmed. This happens, especially in times of transition.
The trick is to set boundaries for yourself as a way to manage your time and curb the feelings of overwhelm. Here are some tips to staying in balance during your transition by setting boundaries:
- Technology: Separate your job search tasks from your personal tasks.
- For example, if you’ve signed onto Career Builder to post your resume, or joined a new association to search their job boards, you could create a special email address for this purpose alone. This way, your career pursuits can be kept separate from your daily responsibilities, helping you to feel less distracted and stressed.
- Keep your career-related information in a separate folder on your computer.
- Time: Establishing boundaries with your time can be another way to maintain balance during your transition. For instance, you can make a commitment to not to think about anything career-related after 7:30 p.m. and reserve a time slot for your career search tasks. Your commitment could be, “I will work on my career transition from 5:30-7:30 at least twice a week.”
- Personal: Establish personal goals each week to make sure you set aside time to take care of yourself. Create a weekly habits checklist for exercise, spending time with friends/family, or your hobbies and write down what you will commit to doing each week — no excuses.
By setting and maintaining boundaries between your career goals, everyday responsibilities, and leisure pursuits, you will feel more in-control of your life, balanced and at peace with yourself and the process of career change. And let me know if you need help, career change is much easier to manage with the support of a coach!
Here’s to having a career you love!
Hallie Crawford
Career Seekers Coach
