Bring a Fresh Perspective to Your Career by Michelle Vandepol

Right up there with getting the life/work balance equation right, is the desire to be in love with your job. You know the saying – do what you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. Like most kinds of love, part of the equation is about choice. Making things more complicated is the slowed down economic system we currently find ourselves in. Fortunately, a fresh perspective to your career is not out of the question, even in tough times. In fact, it is part of the big picture that will help get you through until the next prosperous cycle.

Getting excited about your work is an important part of ensuring that it positively affects the rest of your life. In tough economic times it is even more crucial. You don’t have to wait for time to read a new book on getting your act together or for that donuts and lunch conference that is probably not going to happen this year. The skills that you need to get fresh on your work life are already inside you.

Your morale is key. Keep yours up and you will get noticed. In times of overall economic stress, more people at the same time are working with a shorter fuse. Management might not be really popular right now, seeming to make the lives of everyone else harder with top down increased productivity challenges and less staff resources in most places. Be one of the understanding ones.

If there is a bit of a hole where a complete management team used to be, this might be your opportunity to make yourself indispensable. Working as an acting manager, even at your regular pay if need be, is a smart career move. Not only is it another acquired skill set, it is seeing you do well in that role and starting to think of you as management material that will pay in spades when the company’s arching through the black again. Look for the tasks that are falling through the cracks and offer to do them after your own work is done.

Building your skills is like having a work emergency fund. Whether you’re gradually learning other people’s job sets at work or studying different ones at night to increase your job opportunities elsewhere; now is the time to acquire the luxury of a variety of job descriptions. If you are nurturing a home business dream, spending more energy building it up is a good back up plan too.

You don’t have to think of these things as negative. Sometimes it takes tough economic times or less work to find and hold on to what we really want. Take out pen and paper and brainstorm about what your ideal work situation would look like in five years. Read it every day and you will start to work towards it, recognizing new opportunities as they come along.

You may currently be in a job that you’ve taken when you lost the one in your field. A lesser job that pays the bills is not to be scorned, but don’t let it take out your career aspirations. Slash spending to keep your stress levels down and save the energy for finding your new perfect position while doing a really good job of the one you currently hold.

The down economy brings with it new flexible work opportunities. Part time, flex time, and working from home have never looked more appealing to companies because these are the options that generally cost them less. Wherever you are right now, look at what your benefits and drawbacks are right now. It will help you to identify where you want to go in terms of your next career step.

While being a consistently good asset to your company is the ticket that will build your career with ease, don’t get stressed into becoming a workaholic because of unemployment fears. You’ve always been a good worker, right? If you do lose your job, it will be because of something unavoidable like lay-offs for the whole department. Do your best, definitely be efficient, and a team player. They can’t ask for anything more. Whatever your circumstance, investing in your own vision of your career is something no one else can touch.