Holidays are a great time to recharge and re-evaluate your career. It’s a common time for businesses to slow down, and it is expected that employees will take at least some time off to spend with family and friends, so use this to your advantage.
Take some time for yourself and evaluate your current situation
The holidays are all about spending time with those you love, but don’t forget about self-love either. The holidays are a great time to recharge and re-evaluate your career to see if you want to make any changes for the new year. Do a quick self-assessment and ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I enjoy going to work?
- Am I happy with my current job?
- What do I love most about what I do?
- If I could change something or do something different, what would it be?
- Where would I like to be in six months?
Answering these questions will help give you a better sense of your current situation and where you want to go next. It doesn’t mean that you have to take action immediately, but at least you’ll have a better picture of where you stand and what you’d like to shift or change in the coming months.
Give yourself time to relax
Even if you’re currently searching for a job, it’s important to give yourself some time to actually enjoy the holidays. Killing yourself with the job search won’t benefit you. It’s always important to craft unique and effective applications to make you stand out, and if you’re running yourself ragged, your applications likely won’t reflect all that you have to offer. Career coach, Alyson Garrido suggests to approach your job search in an attainable way: “Take time for yourself. You can’t job search all day every day, so enjoy a bit of down time and schedule your search related activities so you can see progress and also enter the New Year refreshed and ready to go.”
Avoiding burnout is a key factor of success both in the workforce and in the job search. It will be much more beneficial to work a little at a time without overwhelming yourself instead of working yourself until you burn out and need a serious break.
Remember that your state of mind reflects on how you interact with others
If you’re miserable and overworked, other people will be able to see it. While the holidays can be stressful, they are about spreading love and happiness, so give yourself the break you need, find a little happiness, and share that with others. Ensuring that you’re happy and that you get the rest you need will help you in all facets of your life from work relationships to personal relationships. People gravitate towards positivity, so if you’re giving off positive vibes, this will translate into everything you do, and you’ll likely have more success with work and your job search than if you spread negativity.
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This holiday season, give yourself the gift of relaxation, and take a break from work. Use this time to recharge and re-evaluate your career to see if you want to do anything different in the coming year. Whether the break is short or long, give yourself a bit of time to recharge. You’ll be surprised at what a big difference a little self-care can make!