Capitalizing on Downtime

Professional Maintenance

Ultimately, we are laser-focused on helping each of you optimize your professional presence to grow into strong candidates in your field. Especially at the beginning of the year, it’s more likely than not that you set out on a few professional goals; whether this is intentionally guided by your HR department or manager, or an independent, organic activity, the New Year undoubtedly brings optimization to front of mind. If you’re aiming toward developing a new professional skill, embarking on a certification or role-focused course, or otherwise investigating a new career path, the winter is a perfect time to get started. We recommend you conduct a quick Google Search to scan pricing, availability, and access to a certification or course you have in mind. From there, identify whether this is an asynchronous or scheduled type of activity, and start to map out how it will look in your daily or weekly schedule. For example, can you dedicate 10 minutes per day to an online module? 30 minutes? Or maybe 2 hours every week? Creating accountability by integrating a new activity into your schedule is a great way to transition dreams into reality and begin the journey toward achieving your next goal.

• Extra Tip: ‘Down-time’ provides a perfect chance for you to re-engage with your online profiles, review your resume, and ‘upkeep’ your professional toolbox. Even if you’ve spent the past several years at one company, or do not have a current intent to leave, it is still crucial to be constantly treating your resume as an evolving product of your success and work. While it may feel easy to push this off to the side, tracking accomplishments and making updates in real time is the best strategy for ensuring you don’t forget about the little wins you’ve had along the way to your career growth.

Check-in on Your Personal Goals

On a separate note, downtime also provides an ample opportunity to check in on your personal goals developed in the New Year. Have you kept up with your new exercise routine? Have you practiced that new skill you were pining for in January? Have you maintained the healthy lifestyle, diet, or activity you embraced at the start of the year? If not, don’t get too down on yourself, and take advantage of a free night and its ability to help you reset into productive habits. For example, if you were aiming to become a better cook in the new year and embrace new recipes, engaging in a meal-prepping kit or service is a great way to map out your and ‘force’ yourself into a helpful habit. On the other hand, if you have fallen off of a New Year workout routine, this week is a great time to re-engage with an online video from the comfort of your home! However big or small the activity, showing yourself that you can stick to your personal goals is one of the key responses to developing confidence in all areas of your life.

Try Something… New! Building skills and Exploring new Hobbies

Finally, for those of us who embraced the New Year without a lengthy list of resolutions, then there is no better time to develop a new interest or hobby than today! Remember that not all activities need to become lifestyles, and diving into a new skill may be just the thing to get you through the day or week. But if you have ever been interested in learning a new language, practicing an instrument, developing a crafting or art technique, embracing a craft like knitting or embroidering, cooking, baking, journaling, meditating, or anything else… winter is the perfect time to do so! Take advantage of a day off of work (like a Sunday) to take a trip to the store and gather the materials you’ll need for your new activity, and transform a night of downtime into an exciting new experience.