The following is a summary of Session 31 of my podcast, The Engineering Career Coach (TECC) Podcast with Anthony Fasano, PE. I will summarize the main points in this post; however, you can also listen to the show through the player below or by subscribing on iTunes. I offer a career-changing tip at the end of each podcast session.
- Develop Priorities – Develop your personal and professional priorities and break them down into six-month cycles. Pause and spend time on being clear about what your priorities are. Create your personal and professional vision, such as where you want to be in one, three, five or even ten years. Once you have the vision, write down what you need to do to accomplish it.
- Create Boundaries – This step is critical to protecting your priorities. Look at where you have struggled to establish limits in the past; for example, if you take all of your work on vacation, there is no boundary in this aspect of your life. Create SMART (Specific-Measureable-Attainable-Realistic-Timely) boundaries in the areas you have identified. Learn to say no to unimportant things and yes to more meaningful things.
- Manage Your Day Efficiently – Look for leaks or actions that pull you away from your priorities. Some common leaks include multitasking, social media, Internet surfing, unimportant phone calls, etc. Create a plug or use a strategy called time boxing, which is carving out very specific time for specific tasks. Some of the ways to put boundaries in place that allow you to maximize your efficiency include having a coach, using a program or an app, or working with an accountability partner or a mentor in your firm.
- Design Reasonable Expectations – Look for unreasonable expectations, either personally or professionally, and communicate about them so everyone is on the same page. Identify the unreasonable expectations you have set for yourself, because in the long run, they will burn you out.
- Reprioritize Your Values – Know what your core values are. What are the important beliefs and principles that are critical to you and make you who you are? These values should be the principles that drive how you live your life. Identify any conflicts in your values and modify or reprioritize them.
- Navigate an Unbalanced Organizational Culture – Acknowledge that our organizations do not always align with or support our work-life preferences. These organizations can be a job, professional organizations or even family. Consider being the one to take action to make a change in the culture of your organization.
- Engage in Self-Care – How you take care of yourself enables you to do all the things you need to do. Rejuvenate or re-energize yourself. Take the four steps: (1) make it a priority to care for yourself; (2) believe that doing so is valuable; (3) make sure it really is self-care for you; (4) surround yourself with supportive people.
Have you found this post useful? Do you struggle with prioritizing your personal life and engineering career?
Anthony Fasano, PE, author of Engineer Your Own Success, found success as an engineer at a very early age and now writes and podcasts to help other engineers do the same. Visit Anthony’s website at EngineeringCareerCoach.com and subscribe to the top 3 resources Anthony has used to become a partner in a firm at the age of 27.