Soooo…if anyone knows how to slow down time, now would be the time for you to utilize those talents. I mean it is already July which means it’s basically August and it feels like tomorrow we will be officially welcoming our students back to our campuses. While I know we cannot slow down time, I hope you are truly making the best of your summer months in all the ways possible. You didn’t ask but I will share anyway…July is both my birthday month and this year marks 1 year of being married so I hope you will celebrate with me in your own special way!
Last month, I shared 5 questions you should ask and answer at some point during the summer and this month I will add 5 more…here’s a quick recap just in case you missed last month’s 5 Questions to ask and answer:
- What are my short-term and long-term career goals, and how can I align my actions today to achieve them?
- What skills or competencies do I need to develop to progress in my career, and how can I acquire or enhance them?
- Am I regularly seeking feedback from colleagues, mentors, or supervisors to identify areas for improvement?
- What networking opportunities am I actively pursuing to expand my professional connections and opportunities?
- How am I staying updated on industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies relevant to my field?
As we continue our slide into the new academic year, carve out some time to ask and answer the next set of 5 questions.
6. Do I have a clear understanding of my strengths and weaknesses, and am I leveraging my strengths while addressing my weaknesses?
This isn’t just an interview question these days. It’s important to be able to identify your professional strengths and your weaknesses and continuously work on both of them as a Res Life professional. By knowing your strengths you’re able to maximize your impact on the work and those around you. Whether you’re a new professional or a more seasoned one, you should also be able to articulate your strengths and not consider it bragging when you are talking about them to people. Identifying your strengths can also help you develop a growth strategy. Thus allowing you to build upon your existing skills and abilities and make you a stronger professional. Your strengths help set you apart from other professionals doing this work. Therefore, when the time comes for you to move up, move out or do anything else you are ready to talk about who you are and the strengths that you bring to any team or any position.
The flipside of the coin is being able to address your weaknesses and understand them. Recognizing your weaknesses helps you develop a deeper level of self-awareness which is important for both personal and professional growth. Identifying and understanding your weaknesses also helps focus on improving them. It demonstrates a growth mindset approach which is essential for continuous learning and development within or outside of our field. Be honest with yourself in this assessment of your weaknesses. Where are you truly struggling professionally? Where are the gaps? What do you need to do differently to show up differently as a professional? How can you utilize your strengths to make sure the areas that you are weaker in are getting stronger? What steps are you taking? Who are you involving in this process to help you? All of these questions should be answered at some point this summer to help you pour into your own professional development.
7. How am I actively seeking out new challenges or projects to broaden my skill set and experience?
This flows nicely from the question before it. New challenges can help you work on your weaknesses and further strengthen your strengths. Bottom line, never stop learning or challenging yourself. These things continue to sharpen your skills and continue to fine tune you into being a better professional. If able attend conferences or find webinars that speak into this. Work with your supervisor on a project that could make your workplace better or run more efficiently. If that’s not your strong suit, challenge yourself and lean into it. Find ways to step up in a different capacity.
8. Am I prioritizing work-life balance and self-care to ensure sustainable professional growth and well-being?
Self-care is not selfish. I bet you have heard or seen this a thousand times before but still someone (or maybe more than one someone) is not taking care of themselves and it shows. What is your go to form of self care? If it takes you longer than 3 seconds to rattle something off, it’s time to take care of yourself better. Here are few to choose from:
- Set boundaries: Establish clear but appropriate work related boundaries. You can’t just say I will never respond to emails because that’s kind of part of the job but you can say after 5 p.m. not emails until the next work day. That’s appropriate.
- Prioritize sleep: I am a doctor but not that kind of doctor. I cannot tell you how many hours of sleep you need to function but I can tell you when you operate from a place of sleep deprivation you will always complain about being tired. You aren’t tired, you’re exhausted. Unplug and release the things you’re holding. They aren’t yours to fix, let them go and REST!
- Exercise regularly: If you need me to do burpees with you…call me! Or just go for a walk, or stretch in your chair, do some yoga. Allow your body (as it’s able) to move and help release stress and anxiety on a consistent basis.
Other notable things to do:
- Connect with colleagues and friends
- Use your PTO
- Practice self-compassion
- Seek support
- Practice gratitude and mindfulness
- Take care of your physical health
9. What steps am I taking to cultivate a personal brand and establish myself as an expert or leader in my field?
I hate to break it to you but not everyone can be the President (of a university or otherwise) but you can be considered an expert in the field or in a certain subject matter if you put in the work. What are your passion areas within your professional work? What could you go on and on and on about if asked the question? Once you know this, lean into finding out even more about this subject matter. This is not the time for you to think there are too many people talking about leadership or too many people talking about residential curriculum. The conversation needs your voice. Your unique spin on the subject. Turn your passion into expertise. A few things you can do: create programs and present them at state, regional and national/international conferences. Find online networks and join in on the conversation to get your name out there. Keep abreast of the latest trends and find different ways to customize your message. There is always room for you!
10. Am I regularly reflecting on my accomplishments, lessons learned, and areas for growth to continuously improve and adapt in my career journey?
If you aren’t, you should. Reflection is often a lost art in our very busy lives but you must make time for it. Your hard work has gotten you to where you are and it will take you to where you want to be. However, you need to take time to stop and smell the roses and say, I did that. I rocked that presentation! I slayed this end of year report! I ran the most effective staff meeting on the face of the earth! Just take time to reflect. Once you reflect you continue to plan and conquer the road ahead. You’ve got this!
We see you August…we aren’t ready but we see you coming…ready or not. Until next month!
