<strong>What do you do after clocking out?</strong>
This was the question that confirmed what I suspected a long time ago. In this entire process of wanting to start a business or a social project, we keep our wants at a low action level because after clocking out, we feel there is where all our daily productivity efforts go.
I’m here to tell you it's all the way around. Today, I speak to those who want a change in their professional careers but fear high exposure to stress and personal management. Those people who have excellent ideas but because of indecisiveness they, stop acting and just keep planning for a day it might never come.
Take a moment to define your side hustle. Be sure that is what you are willing to spend your energy and time on after you clock out. Great opportunities can also arrive at the perfect moment, but in most cases, we need to put ourselves out there.
About four months ago, I got invited to this local panel about leadership. One of the main speakers got me thinking for the rest of the night. She explained the importance of networking and how participating in organizations changed her life forever. She described her daily life, waking up at 5:30 a.m. to take the bus and later clocking in at 8:00 a.m. to spend her eight-hour shift until 4:00 p.m. when she clocked out. Perfect time to get to the bus stop and go back home by 5:30 p.m. By that time, she was tired of the daily workload and spent her first months in this government job going from home to work, back and forth.
Then, at a moment of enlightenment, she thought about her routine and simultaneously got asked by one of her coworkers if she does something after work, maybe any hobbies or activities she likes to do. She became silent. At that moment, her coworker looked into her eyes and said that if she wanted to achieve her professional goals, she needed to wake up and act on her life.
Sometimes your goals can be accomplished if you put in extra effort after you clock out of your daily routine and start placing some discipline in your life.
If you have your passion parked in the garage, it's time to take it for a ride. So, keep in mind the following to get closer to those goals.
- Create your own schedule. Refrain from letting routine tasks push you away from your goals. After you are done with work, chores, or responsibilities. Make a space to determine your own schedule. Make a space to develop a plan/strategy that will require you to act on a daily basis.
- Begin and finish your day with a small reflection. I always find it useful. This reflection should be about the tasks you completed, those you couldn’t, and how to improve with the time you have left during your days.
- You are the protagonist. Sometimes we leave our passion-related activity to daily routine chores that we forget to put ourselves at the top of the list. I’ll talk more about it in the upcoming weeks.
We’ve got 1,440 minutes each day. There’s always space to do something that brings you closer to that dream you’ve always wanted to achieve.
You may also read: The need for emotional intelligence cours & its impacto on the workforce.
