How To Get Your Saturdays Back [And Other Top Tips!]

I was invited to talk for a few minutes at the opening of the Career Guidance and Development CPD Conference at The University of the West of Scotland. The whole day was fabulous on a number of levels and prompts some great practical tips for your career (we will get to the Saturdays in a mo).

There were some great key-note presentations and workshops, so it was wonderful for my own continuing professional development. I love that that there are always new things to learn and there were two sessions I particularly enjoyed:

• Dr Julia Yates sharing some great creative career coaching tools in a session she called “Unsticking the Stuckness”. I particularly liked that this added even more tools to my own career coaching tool kit as I work a lot with people who feel “stuck” in their career.
• Dr Jonathan Vincent from the University of York’s talk was about “The transition to employment for autistic students and graduates”. What I loved about this session was that it gave me a deeper understanding that will enhance the value I can provide to any future clients with autism.

What opportunities are you making and taking to develop yourself? Don’t wait for other people, make it happen for yourself.

By the way, if you want to find out any more about Julia and Johnathan’s work do follow them on Twitter and tap into their expertise:

Johnathan at @jvincent_ysj 

Julia at @CareerCoachUEL

The conference was also a great networking opportunity: I had some great conversations and met great people who share in my passion. They are conversations we will continue which may lead to the betterment of our profession, sharing of expertise, work and business, collaborations, or other benefits we haven’t even thought of yet.

How are you networking to improve your career?

It’s one of the biggest topics I work on with my clients as it makes such a huge difference to their career in identifying, finding and taking the opportunities they want.

And so to getting back your Saturdays!

My highlight of the day was when someone came up to me and said that reading my Monday Munch and this blog meant that she now has her Saturdays back.

Back to the Saturday. This person had got into the habit of working on Saturdays because she loves what she does and she’s dedicated (I know that she is fab at her job by-the-way). But, it meant that she never got time for other things that she enjoys.

Deliberately taking Saturday as a No Work Day has had a huge positive impact in terms of doing things with family and friends, having time to rest and switch off, and more.

My questions to you? Are you working weekends or evenings when you could (maybe should?) be doing other things? Do you feel like you get no time for yourself? Are you missing out on family and friends, or hobbies you never quite get around to? Is that making you feel stressed? Are you stuck in a stuck cycle that you’re not sure how to get out of?

If you are, it is time to take action and make decisions.

For example:

• Decide not to work evenings or weekends. Turn your work phone, laptop off. Lock them in a drawer if you have to. Block out time when you are NOT working.
• Set your boundaries at work:
  • Have the conversation with colleagues and your boss about when it is acceptable (for you) to be available outside of work hours.
  • Decide when you are going to leave each evening and stick to it. I find with some clients that booking an activity for shortly after work (say 5 or 6pm for most people) helps them to start those changes because they have to leave to be there. It could be a gym class, a meeting with a friend, or something else.

There are loads more tips in my earlier blogs:

How not to feel like you are missing out on relationships

Border control for your career

(Look out for the bit about thinking time in this one.)

The final thing for you is that sometimes you don’t realise the impact you are having and the difference you make, so take some time out one evening soon to think about the impact of what you do.

Who are all the people and organisations who benefit because you do what you do in the way that you do it? Follow the ripples out: because of those benefits, who or what else benefits and how. You can have a lot of fun following those ripples.

Remember to post your questions, comments and results below or on my facebook page.